Chapter 671: A strange encounter (part 3)
Speaking of the black sea emblem, as if proud of having its achievements recognized, the rune shark which allowed that little thing to "express" some emotion, proudly raised its head to then make a turn around the cave as it released a wave of black energy which permeated the walls, ground ad roof of the cave.
The result was that the cave was now isolated from the outside, as in not only those outside of it couldn’t detect the ones inside, but the same applied the other way around, well, it could also be that the interference was too strong to be skipped by Daimon who has no access to any mana.
"I guess that’s a thanks for the meal", jokingly said Daimon as he saw the rune shark disappear into the black sea emblem, which then flew into his pocket.
"I have been wanting to ask, but what is that?", asked Lyn referring specifically to both the black sea emblem and the rune shark, as she stretched her body a bit in order to ger rid of the remaining numbness that she was feeling after breaking out of the seal.
"I was hoping you could solve that doubt, but it seems like it’ll remain a mystery for now, what I know is that there are many of these "emblems" spread all over Neptune, some have interesting special functions, while others work as "invitations" to challenges that if overcame will allow the challengers to obtain rewards tailored for their needs".
"Interestingly enough, some have the influence of the Northern Sea’s army, while others have clear ties with Nethereals, in fact Ophelia was overseeing one of those challenges when we met", said Daimon, to then add.
"Is this kind of technique common back at your place of origin, or the one from which the nethereals come from?", to which Lyn frowned.
"I have never heard about something like that, and it honestly sounds way too complex for let alone the array masters from the Northern Sea to pull off, but even for the researchers to develop it, the same should apply to the nethereal’s side but who knows, those guys didn’t originally live near to us, a breach into space suddenly appeared out of nowhere in our territory, if they have the technology for that, maybe it’s their doing", she said as she shrugged.
"Couldn’t it be that your memories regarding it were lost or sealed, Ophelia had no recollection of many things, including what happened at the final battle among other crucial bits of information", said Daimon, which made Lyn shake her head in response.
"Nope, you see, I’m exceptionally talented with things related to the mind, and even if the other party outranked me by a lot, and my memories were to be tampered with, I would have at least noticed it, my race is pretty known for this capacity and I already had a royal level innate ability of this aspect when I was at the mortal realm", she proudly said to then add.
"Speaking of which, though we can’t see what’s going on outside, those three bastards must be going crazy looking for me through corroded peak Arch rank blood specters, so I should start with the concealment process...", Lyn looked for a place to sit down and was positively surprised when she saw Daimon place a blanket for her to sit, meaning he actually had access to a storage type treasure despite the restrictions of the Blood Prison realm.
She sat down cross legged with her back leaned against the wall of the cave and then closed her eyes, sky blue light started covering her body the next second, that wasn’t mana but the same energy as the one which composed the lightning tiger used by Dana, or the silver light used by Daimon, in other words it was related to her lineage.
It made sense, she has been trapped in that lake for a long time, so just like the nethereal, she must have killed blood specters before, of course most of that energy was used to fight and restrain the nethereal and more recently to break out of the seal, so there wasn’t much left of it, she’ll probably have strength around the peak of the Lord realm once she finishes with whatever she is doing.
Finding the sky-blue color of the energy that was surrounding Lyn, oddly familiar, Daimon couldn’t help but ask.
"Now that I think about it, what is the name of your race, Ophelia mentioned a few which she still remembered before, but I can’t help but find that sky-blue color oddly familiar, it could be because I can’t use my detection techniques but I can’t pinpoint what does it remind me...", Daimon’s words stopped midway as he saw the changes through which Lyn underwent in a matter of seconds.
’Ah, so that’s why I found it familiar’, thought Daimon, as in Lyn’s originally human-like ears, had turned into the fan shaped ones he has seen in some of the people from the Clear Water kingdom, however she also had another special characteristic which only two people he has seen in Neptune, have, pretty blue crystal horns which decorated her head.
"Sorry, I had to remain silent for a second there, I’m from the Alabaster Horned Dolphin race but to hide myself from those guy’s detection, I adjusted myself to appear as... what, you don’t seem as surprised as I expected, let me tell you that there hasn’t been a crystal horned variant in my family in hundreds of thousands of years, so no one would even know this appearance anymore" she said, to which Daimon chuckled behind his mask.
"Well, that’s because let alone seeing it, I have befriended two people from the Crystal Dolphin race, with those exact characteristics, in fact one of them might have ended in this place, since I didn’t find her along the way", he said as he took off the mask of the hollow suit.
Even if isolated, his instincts told him that he shouldn’t come out, and it was night anyway so the journey will have to wait until tomorrow in the morning when Arch ranked blood specters won’t be able to be out in the open.
"They have crystal horns you say... that’s not possible, sure there were other members of my clan in the army and their deaths could have influenced the natives of Neptune, so I wouldn’t be surprised if a Crystal Dolphin branch has appeared, they are a result of the Alabaster Horned Dolphin lineage’s having been thinned down through some generations, we might not have had a Throne appear in our race ye, but we are still royals after all, so we have the capacity to produce lower ranked races with relative ease".
"However, if they have horns they wouldn’t be a part of that lower ranked version of my race, but a variation that would be considered a sister race of my Alabaster Horned Dolphin one and to even have a chance of someone like that appearing, you would need to have a Throne candidate, which is the highest level of lineage purity that has appeared in my family, to have died back then, and the only one that has existed in recent generations is me".
"That’s how I know of this specific appearance I’m using as a disguise, the information was codified in my lineage and only Pheli has seen me using this disguise before, are you sure they have the exact same characteristics?", asked Lyn to which Daimon nodded.
"Yeah, crystal horns and fan shaped ears, even the memory thing is the same, though you appear to be a knight and those two are mages, on the other hand they have high talent for close combat as well", he answered.
"Well, color me surprised, I would need to see them first hand to confirm it, but that sounds exactly like what I learned from the information codified in my lineage and if that the case that would be amazing, the sister Thrones of my family have never been owned before, maybe candidates from both races are needed for it to happen!", excitedly said Lyn to then add.
"Now that we are talking about that, how come you have become the inheritor of the Dracolevia Throne, forget about a candidate, there is not even a member of their race alive in the whole territory of the Northern Sea?".
Daimon was in a slight predicament, it’s not like he could say "I obtained it as a reward because I’m a system user", so he adjusted his answer to not lie, but keep that part of the truth in the shadows.
"I happened to obtain the Black Armored Shark lineage in Neptune, and experienced something like atavism, advancing or more accurately regressing to the Dracolevia lineage", he said, which made Lyn nod with sparkles in her eyes, apparently, she also shared that intense curiosity for "rare" things that Annete and Mellie had shown to have, and so she was now looking at Daimon as if she was looking at a strange mythical animal, it was rather amusing, at least for Eve.
"Wow, you either are the luckiest person I have met, or your original lineage must have been equal or stronger than the Dracolevia one, you see, though all the royal races of the Northern Sea are considered equal in terms of potential and overall strength, with the sole exception of Thrones, the Dracolevia is the oldest of the royal lineages, their last known member died not too long after our Stellar Kingdom was founded".
"Not much of the records of back then remain, but there is a passage I do remember, which stated that the Dracolevia member of back then, was a mixed race from other royal clans and during the war of foundation he suddenly changed to become a Dracolevia, without any explanation, the accepted theory is that anyone from the royal clans can become a member of the Dracolevia race, but no one knows the requirements, another way to put it, is that all the royal clans... can be traced back to the Dracolevia race", she said.
Daimon was lost in his thoughts for a moment, he of course didn’t go through the same process that guy should have unknowingly followed, in his case it’s because he stole the best opportunity that was supposed to be for Adam, and that was adapted and improved through his own system, otherwise he would have at most ended up with the Black Prison Megalodon lineage, through evolving the Black Armored Shark one.
Anyway, it seemed like Lyn had no more information about the Dracolevia lineage, but there still remained one interesting question, how come knowledge about such an obscure race which faded from the history of the Northern Sea, made its way to Neptune, though according to Annete, the Dracolevia they knew about was called a deity of the sea, that was probably just a way to say that it was a magic beast strong enough to be considered divine.
People in this world, know about gods, but their concept is different from the one of the earth from which Daimon originally came from, here, a god is basically a mage or knight that has reached a realm so high others can only look at them from below, which creates that sense of divinity.
Which totally makes sense, even a Lord ranked can be a god for mortals that can’t use magic or battle aura and as of current Half Emperors are considered the gods of all mages and knights at the four galaxies.
"We can leave those subjects aside for now, if we meet Mellie, you can confirm whether she is a member of the sister royal race of yours, for now, I would like to ask you some things about what happened back then, how much can you tell me without suffering any repercussions?", asked Daimon, to which Lyn smiled in response.
"Those restrains don’t apply to me, one of the exclusive innate abilities of the Alabaster Horned Dolphin Throne candidate, is to be able to store, consult and share knowledge without being punished for it, that’s why my family is in charge of the kingdom’s library, though I find that boring which is why my mother manages it", she said.
Daimon couldn’t help but be surprised at such an amazing ability, that meant he could ask basically everything which Ophelia was unable to tell him, unfortunately his enthusiasm was short-lived, as Lyn added.
"Of course, I don’t have access to my "Royal Library" as of current, but I can still speak about subjects that touch what’s above the Mortal realm for a few realms, and other generic stuff, for example since I have been mentioning it quite often, I think it’s necessary to explain what a Throne is, but for that let’s give you a summarized version of my place of birth first".
’Eve, is there a problem if I get this information now, won’t the system make things harder for me on purpose for this?’, asked Daimon to the administrator girl, who answered right away.
’No problem, the information that woman can provide as of current doesn’t affect the system, nor your current scope in any significant way, you would find some references to it in the memory orb anyway, just avoid realm related information as what she might be able to tell you is not as good as what you can obtain from the system at its given time’.
And with Eve’s greenlight, Daimon nodded at Lyn, who explained the basics so that any other question could be properly answered.
"Let’s start with the basics of the basics, I guess you already know that the Stellar rank is not the end of the road, but just an intermediary for what’s above the Mortal realm, I won’t deepen in the names and capacities of the realms, because that would need me to use Royal Library".
"However, let’s say that reaching the peak above the Mortal realm, allows one to stablish a faction called a "Stellar Kingdom", the size, organization and overall way to manage it can vary a lot, but normally at least three to six galaxies or an average sized Stellar Chart are required as territory to stablish a kingdom".
"The Northern Sea kingdom is like that, we don’t have a single ruling figure, but a council made by representatives of the royal clans as well as the army which represents the will of common people and are in charge of maintaining the public order, they are the ones who make the decisions, nobles and royals also have influence in the process, this is the standard organization that magic beast related forces normally follow".
"It’s a bit messy but it prevents someone to do as they please as easily as it happens in single centered power kingdoms, like the human ones for example", she said.
’Heh, so that’s why the White Fang galaxy has both a council and an army, it’s probably influence from the past’, thought Daimon.
"At the Northern Sea kingdom there are forty-eight royal clans, classified into minor, middle and high ranked ones, a royal clan is stablished when someone from that race reaches the peak of the realms above the mortal one and here is the interesting part".
"We have a ceremony for when a new royal clan appears, and through that ceremony, a "Throne" might be granted, a throne it’s literally that, a lavishly decorated chair, but it’s a very special one, as in it is a magic treasure of a rank which we can’t grade, and it grants its owner a way to surpass their peers in terms of battle prowess".
"Ah right, in case you want to ask about it, even we don’t know how it works, there is a magic array in an historical site which is only accessible with the approval of more than half the royal clans, and after standing on top of it, a Throne might be granted or not".
"If the owner of the throne dies, it returns to the place where its owner previously decided, or it goes back to the historical site, in any case until a new owner is decided, it becomes unusable, you can’t do anything to it though, regardless of your power, which is interesting because when it’s active, it can indeed be damaged in battle".
"Those that have resonated with it, but can’t have access to their functions are known as "Candidates" like myself, those that have limited access to it but can’t take them away with them are "Inheritors" like Pheli, and lastly those that completely control them, are simply called "Thrones", when we left, there were twenty-two Thrones, eight Inheritors and from two to three candidates per each royal clan, except mine where historically only one appears randomly, and a new one can’t appear until that one dies", she concluded.
"Okay, that does explain a lot, but can you tell me why did you guys came all the way to this place, I know you were followed in secret and ambushed by the nethereals, but I don’t know the reason of your expedition", said Daimon.
"Oh that, sorry but let alone me, even Pheli wouldn’t know it, only the Black Megalodon general knew the objective of this mission, but it should have been something really important because he is a Throne and one of the strongest experts which the Northern Sea has to offer when it comes to control as you can see and yet he was dispatched to such a faraway place".
"Which is why I don’t understand how come those three bastards were the ones leading the group that attacked us, none of them are King rank nethereals and Pheli has made a King rank nethereal bleed with her strongest attack before, because of her extreme offense focused abilities, not to mention the other general who was also an Inheritor of a higher realm than Pheli".
"Not to mention that they survived, well that guy from the Balax was said to have taken a step into the King rank, but even if that was the case, a tie with the generals from our side should have been their best possible outcome, I don’t know how it ended in mutual destruction, I actually had never seen or heard about the Megalodon general doing anything like this Blood Prison realm, before either".
"Amusingly enough, I bet even those bastards didn’t know why they were sent after us, because they were clearly frustrated every time we met in the battlefield, they probably wanted to return to their luxurious life style, with the exception of the Balax guy", she said as she mockingly laughed at Byron.
’Oh well, I guess that even with the memory orb, there are some things I’ll only be able to know when I meet that shark old man, or maybe if I get rid of Ereth before that, then I’ll get another missing piece of the puzzle’, thought Daimon.
He saw how Lyn’s eyes were closing against her will since earlier, breaking out of the seal and then using this disguise probably tired her out, so it was time to sleep.
"We can continue our conversation tomorrow, here have something for dinner and then have a rest", said Daimon, with a wave of his hand he took out a bed for the little tiger girl another one for Lyn, as well as one for himself, alongside some food for the three of them.
"I honestly want to ask how come you have access to a space storage, either from an innate ability which would be extremely rare, or a treasure which can ignore the restrictions of the Blood Prison realm which would be even rarer than the previous, but thanks for the meal!", she said as she dug in.
If Dana had quite a decent appetite, Lyn was basically a black hole for food, she ate the portions of three people before being satisfied, it’s worth mentioning that she isn’t malnourished, as she has consumed the red strands of blood specters, that was her normal appetite.
’Luckily I have so much food stored in the inventory, what high maintenance teammates have I gotten for myself’, thought Daimon as he saw both the little tiger girl and Lyn going to sleep with full stomachs.