Chapter 577
Ajax couldn’t say he was shocked by HelSotHein's words. As far as he could see it was just humanoid nature, back when the Reaper would have ruled it would have all been on massive Empire for the humanoids, one bigger than all the kingdoms put together, it simply made sense that it evolving wouldn’t be all that rare for humans with all that opportunity since they would have had access to all the dungeons in humanoid lands. At least as long as they were all there back then, he still didn’t know if it was possible to create a dungeon.
“So once the Reaper died humanoids picked fights, lost those fights, lost a lot of ground.” Ajax started summing up how he figured the history of humanoids went. “It wouldn’t have taken too many losses for them to realize they couldn’t challenge the Ascended races anymore but they would also be left alone so the infighting started. No wonder the knowledge of how to evolve was lost to time.”
“I do have to admit I am curious as to how a humanoid evolves.” Sot said. “I have knowledge of how another Awakened race can evolve to Ascendant but I know all are different.”
“What do you know about humanoid defining ability?” Ajax answered with a question.
“I know you get stronger from clearing dungeons, specifically different dungeons.” Hel answered. “Hydras are not all that attached to knowledge for the sake of it so that’s as far as I know.”
“That’s true, there are limitations that come with it but that’s the basis of it, each dungeon floor around our level or above we clear makes us stronger, though we can only gain the bonus for said floor once per dungeon.” Ajax explained, he knew for sure other Ascended races would have this information already so it wasn’t like he was leaking anything secret. “Clear one hundred and fifty of them and you evolve.”
“That’s why you mentioned infighting.” Sot approached Ajax so quickly that Ajax found himself tensing, that particular personality of the hydra was clearly intrigued by his explanation. “Kingdoms formed and each kept their dungeons to themselves, so no more Ascended. I have to wonder if someone didn’t push them in that direction after all it wouldn’t be considered a direct attack.”
Ajax felt a chill colder than anything else he had felt in his life run down his back. That wasn’t something he had considered at all, that one of the Ascended races had steered the humanoids towards forgetting how to evolve though it certainly made sense. But now that he existed he would be a foil in that plan. He was suddenly very glad he had shared the method of evolving as it removed a lot of the incentive of just outright killing him. Now all that was left was any resentment from being the one to spoil the plan.
“Can we expect other Ascended humanoids in the future?” Hein asked.
“Yes.” Ajax was relieved to see the hydra didn’t seem bothered by the answer. “I shared my discovery with my own kingdom and I am sure they shared it with at least one other or they soon will. It's part of what will lead to the increase in population as evolving doubles the lifespan of humanoids.”
“Thank you for indulging my curiosity.” Hel said. “Now you mentioned you are here for knowledge, since you saw fit to answer my question I am inclined to help you at least a little on your own search for knowledge. What are you looking for?”
Ajax took a moment as he thought about what to ask about. There were three big topics he could choose from. The first and most obvious would be more information about the Ascended races and how things worked in the Wild Lands. This wouldn’t be information that was immediately valuable to him however and it could be gained from any Ascended race he ran into, free of charge most likely if he managed to Bond with one of them.
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The other two topics were much more immediately relevant. The first was information from the ruins and the civilization of humanoids that lived here in the past, from how curious Sot had been Ajax was sure they had found and researched at least some things about the former civilization of the ruins. The only issue there was that he didn’t know what HelSotHein would consider as important information, it could be something that had already passed to Gryndor or rediscovered there.
That left the final topic and one he was sure would be the most valuable of them all. “What do you know about other dungeons here outside of the humanoid lands?”
“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you are interested in dungeons considering how tied they are to your power.” Hein nodded in approval. “Though I do hope you don’t expect to find as many of them outside humanoid lands, while they do have their purposes here they are much more limited and diminish very quickly when more than one is present. The ambient Mana they absorb is insane as it is. Considering the direction you came from I am guessing you already cleared the one in that direction. I know of two others that lay outside the home of an Ascend.”
“You mean to say that dungeons can be created and destroyed?” Ajax’s eyes widened as his eyebrows made a break for his hairline, he wasn’t even bothering to hide his shock at the revelation.
“Dungeons naturally occur when certain conditions are met.” Sot explained. “What those conditions are or how they are destroyed I do not know but I know both can be forced.”
“That… that is…” Ajax was too shocked to speak clearly.
“Don’t get too excited, from what you said about the dungeon density in your lands I am very much surprised your people haven’t turned into Mana starved husks.” Hel hissed at him. “No wonder the Mana density is so low in most areas of your land. Maybe your population size makes up for it and produces enough Mana for the dungeons.”
Ajax had a lot of questions about everything but from what HelSotHein said none of those would be something that he could answer or was willing to answer, instead he chose to focus on what he could get from their interactions.
“This is all very valuable information for me, even if it may seem like common knowledge to you.” Ajax started with flattery. “Before I move on from your home and towards the nearest dungeon would it be okay if I looked through the remains of the library in this place.”
Watching how restless the heads seemed to be getting, Ajax decided to cut the conversation short and just move on. He had already come out ahead, a trip to the ruin’s library would be the only other big reward he could even expect.
“You would take from a hydra?” Hein sounded slightly outraged.
“It shows that you do not know much about the Ascended races.” Sot chastised him. “While us hydras do not guard our wealth in the same way dragons do nor are we so stringent as the sidhe when it comes to giving something for free we are still plenty territorial and greedy.”
“Lucky for you we are also competitive.” Hel said. “How about we turn this into a game.”
Ajax’s [Danger Sense] was starting to hum as all three heads started showing their fangs.
“We’ll make it into a game.” Hein started to coil its neck in excitement as he used one claw on its leg to point towards the most intact section of the building Ajax assumed to be the former palace. “That building right there is the library, you’ll try to get to it and I will try to stop you.”
Ajax looked between the building and the hydra that was blocking his path to it. As tempted as he might have been to challenge himself to see if his initial assumption of being able to flee from the Ascended creature was correct he knew there was no way he would be able to trick it and get past to reach the library, HelSotHein was standing directly in his path towards the building.
“To make things more fair I’ll also give you a head start.” Hel said. “For every ten levels I am higher than you, you get one second that should give you seven seconds before I begin my chase.”
“If you make it to the library you can spend half an hour searching and reading whatever you find but you can take nothing with you.” Sot continued.
“If you somehow make it there unharmed you can spend an hour and choose one item inside that you can take with you.” By this point Ajax could feel the excitement rushing through the hydra and he was having a hard time not getting excited by the idea of the game it proposed.
If anything Ajax was reassured by the difference in their strength as HelSotHein didn’t need to play such games if it wanted Ajax dead, it would simply charge after him. Taking a deep breath to focus himself Ajax gave a nod of acceptance.
“Begin.” all three heads shouted at once and Ajax wasted no time as he boosted himself as much as he could with [Mana Syphon]. The library had to be at least fifty miles in the distance so that would mean that the race would be short; there wouldn’t really be a need for him to act too conservatively with his Mana and Stamina as he pushed for the prize.