After taking a good look at Nakama’s sleeping face and making sure that her posture while lying on the bed wasn’t problematic in any way, Gaius got down to business. Nexus had requested to talk to him regarding his future path in cultivation, and its voice was stern enough that the boy didn’t even entertain any thought of refusal.

The wooden sculpture looked at the boy as he made himself comfortable on the sofa. In the middle of the room was the Map of Stars, but the artificial intelligence wasn’t paying any attention to the artefact at all. The wooden sculpture’s eyes were focused on the boy and the two velvet cases laid out on the table.

“I assume that it’s regarding these two Engines, no?” Gaius asked. “You wanted me to buy as many as possible, after all. Perhaps to absorb them like I did with the Astral Wind?”

Nexus levelled a look at the boy, and although its face couldn’t display any emotion, the boy couldn’t help but feel somewhat chuffed. Eventually, the wooden sculpture nodded its head. “Yes. But absorbing two such Engines was your natural limit.”

“Natural, eh?”

“Yes. Even with the power of the gods within you, you’ve reached your limit,” said Nexus. “But the reason why you’ve reached your limit is due to the inefficiencies involves in the absorption.”

“You can optimise it,” Gaius said quietly. It wasn’t a question, nor one that sought affirmation. Just a statement of fact.

The wooden sculpture didn’t reply, but the boy could somehow glean a hint of satisfaction. “However, this process of optimisation will take a long time. You’ll be unconscious for the entire period.”

“How long are we talking about?”

“A month or so,” replied Nexus. “I’ll put you on life support, so you don’t need to worry. At the same time, the two Engines you brought along will be absorbed by your body in the course of optimising your pathways.”

“It seems that letting Isabelle leave was a good idea, then,” said Gaius. He hadn’t known anything about this when he randomly decided to let the Knight out to do her own investigation, but it would be better than tossing her out for random reasons.

The wooden sculpture got up. “Get her to leave, then. I’m quite sure you’ll have your own ways of doing so. After she leaves, I’ll place the Library on lockdown, and then I’ll get started on your procedure.”

“Make sure that you can teleport her back if anything happens to her, however,” said Gaius. “I don’t like the idea of a potential subordinate getting offed on her first day of her revenge quest.”

“Yes, yes. Now, hurry and get her to leave.”

Gaius couldn’t help but rub his head. Nexus looked like it was in a rush, but when he thought about it, the artificial intelligence probably knew far more than it let on. He got up, and headed towards the room where he last spotted Isabelle.

The Knight was sitting on a bed, her eyes looking through the intelligence that Gaius had given her. She jumped slightly as the boy floated into the room, a hint of what looked like fluster in her eyes, and then her expression returned to serenity. “What do you need?”

It was a question that Gaius had pondered for some time about how to answer, and the little boy’s experience in being cryptic didn’t fail him. He looked at Isabelle and said, “I think you should make haste in leaving for Orb. Something’s about to happen in the Library.”

The girl breathed in sharply. “What do you—”

“I’ll make sure that you’ll be teleported here if you’re in a life-threatening situation,” Gaius said, interrupting her words. “Beyond that, the crime lord Flynn in Lower Elinaris will assist you if needed. Do remember to provide your name to him, however.”

“Elinaris?” Isabelle echoed. “You went there?”

“Obviously,” Gaius replied. “He’ll be able to provide support if needed, but if I were you…I wouldn’t go near that city if possible. Things are going on there, and it’s better if you stay out of it.”

“What happened there?” Isabelle asked.

Gaius licked his lips. “Many scions of the great Houses were murdered there. Some guy in the clothes of House Varita did the poor bastards in, and then vanished in full view of the crowd.”

The girl let out an involuntary hiss. “It’s going to be insane over there then. How many died?”

“More than five,” replied Gaius, concealing the fact that he had first hand knowledge of the murders. There was a chance that she might leak the fact that it was his doing to the great Houses after all, and as much as Gaius trusted her to keep her word, the boy wasn’t by any means an idiot. The events that had happened to her thus far were rather unbelievable, but as long as they didn’t affect the Houses, no one was going to investigate.

Someone of her stature, even if House Lorenze had fallen, would be taken seriously if her words had any relevance to the world as it was right now. The last thing Gaius needed was for Isabelle to draw attention to the pieces he was preparing and had prepared, after all.

“That’s a lot,” said Isabelle. Her eyes were clouded over, as though as she was cooking up some plan of her own.

Gaius ignored it. “The culprit can apparently vanish into thin air too, so be careful while you’re out there. No one’s going to know how you died if he got his hands on you.”

The Knight bit her lips. “I’ll be back safely."

“See that you do,” replied Gaius. “Do what you need to do, kill those you need to kill, and save those that you need to save. Don’t leave behind anything that you might regret.”

She gulped.

“It’s time for you to go now, Isabelle,” Gaius continued. “Time is of the essence, after all. Make sure that you have everything you need before you leave, because the Library will not be accessible for quite some time.”

“Everything I have is already with me,” replied Isabelle. The boy couldn’t help but notice that she hadn’t referred to him by name or title throughout the entire conversation, and wondered at the implications behind such an act for a moment.

“Good. Best of luck out there then.” The boy gestured at the Knight to get up, and then led her to the Library’s entrance in silence. It didn’t take long for them to reach the entrance, and as the two approached, Gaius couldn’t help but nag a few more times.

Isabelle drank all his words in, and eventually, Gaius got her out of the Library. After making sure that she was entirely capable for traversing Heritage on her own, Gaius headed for the ward where Nakama was. On the way, he removed all his weapons, and poured out a small canteen of water to place beside him later.

Nexus was waiting for him there, and without any prompting from the wooden sculpture, Gaius got onto a bed beside Nakama’s. Each of the hands gripping the Engines he’d brought from the Odd Tinkerer, the boy laid down and closed his eyes.

“Now,” said Nexus, “follow my instructions. Channel your General Formula…”

It didn’t take long before the boy sank into a deep slumber.