Chapter 394 - 386. A Dying Star
"Zein, I need you to do something for me," before they left the Chairman’s office, Radia gave the guide homework. "Can you find out how many shards there are in the Deathzone?"
"I’ll try," Zein nodded, feeling that it was time that he conversed with the shard again.
And so, rather than returning to the guild, Zein and Bassena headed to the basement research lab. It had been a while since he last saw the team there, with how busy he was, so the welcome was rather boisterous. It wasn’t just the researchers; a device attached to the glass that separated them from the shard also beeped repeatedly, and the screen on top of it flashed the word MISS repeatedly.
"The interpreter can do it in real-time, now?" Bassena whistled at the device.
"Of course! We keep increasing the capability so we can converse smoothly with the shards," Eugene said proudly. "There’s still a second or two delay, but that’s almost nothing, right?"
"Eh--even calls through link got delayed that much sometimes," Bassena shrugged, before looking at Zein with a grin. "Seems like you’ve been neglecting it too much."
Zein chuckled as he walked to the door of the shard’s chamber. "I know."
The door let out a familiar hissing sound as he stepped inside the chamber. The pure, refreshing air that reminded him of the Temple welcomed him along with a soft vibration coming from inside the tube. The glass surface of the tube lowered into the pedestal to reveal the shining, pulsing shard which vibrated even harder as Zein walked closer.
"Do you miss me?" he put his hand on the shard, and it let out a buzzing sound like a purr of a domestic pet.
Unlike before, his consciousness didn’t instantly get sucked inside the shard’s memory. Perhaps because there was no longer any remnant of memory left for him to peruse, or perhaps because he had reached an understanding with Setnath in the temple.
This time, however, he had wished he could obtain some memories. Still with his palm against the shard, Zein sent his consciousness inside, conversing with his soul rather than his mouth.