Chapter 58: Break & Enter II
It was a gaudy environment in his opinion. The parlor he was in, meant to host all manner of opulent gatherings, tea parties and important people. Dazzling chandeliers of gold hung from the ceiling, the walls were made of sparkling marble and inlaid with jewels and the curtains and banners lining the room were of the finest make. All while the sunlight filtered in and created a scene the old Orodan couldn’t have even dreamt of.
It was a stark contrast to the dreary and haunting landscape of Narictus in which he’d died in the last checkpoint loop. Beauty and luxury at the start, destruction and the end of his loop at the finish.
“Still, I’m of half-a-mind to call this entire venture off… I was not aware the enemy had that vile weapon prepared,” Zhou Shan said as the High Sovereign stared at the ground in thought and a bit of worry. “Should that weapon successfully hit you I’m not sure there’ll be much left to salvage even within a time loop.”
“Absolutely not,” Orodan immediately rejected. “If the beam hits me, I’ll find some method of countering it. Besides, with how quick Zaessythra is to kill me, you needn’t worry to begin with.”
Zhou Shan shook his head.
“You don’t understand, Orodan. That thing… the records we have suspect that it’s not of this world or any that we know of. The ancient records state that it’s been brought out quite sparingly, however whenever it has… the victims have had their souls damaged in some irreparable way, unable to access the System at all! This is no casual matter!”
“It was the weapon used against me,” Zaessythra said. “My memories are still partially jumbled, and I cannot recall exactly why the Hegemony saw fit to use such a thing on a mere Transcendent. Regardless, it worked frighteningly well, and my access to the System and my Status is still tenuous.”
“Define ‘tenuous’,” Orodan stated.
“As you know, skills are a product of our own understanding and that of the System’s coming together. It’s why people suddenly improve at level thresholds and how skill levels don’t exactly have diminishing returns even as you advance to high levels,” she explained. “That however… can be taken away…”