CHAPTER 732: COMPILED KNOWLEDGE

Caelan has seen many things in his years alive.

He had lived long enough to see the passing of the eras. A new generation rise and fall.

He has seen the world reshape itself from the ashes only to burn down into ruin.

He has witnessed the birth of cities promising grand gestures now a forgotten name carved into the annals of history. He walked the marbled streets, watched the crowning of kings and queens.

He has seen the era of a genius, tales and songs of his achievements sweeping the realm. He has seen the death of one, falling into obscurity.

He has seen the ascension of Extalia through the flames of the old regime.

He’s seen the battle between the Gods, the calamity brought forth by the collision of realm rulers.

The collapse of the barriers to the realms themselves.

He’s seen the mutation of beasts, experiments done to humans, the creation of what shouldn’t be. The invasion of the Outer Gods, Eldritch energy plague their deserts.

The haunting lullabies of sirens that brought a nation to ruin, the cunning of a fox that drove man insane.

He thought himself immune to such surprises after seeing so many things in his life yet now he found himself unable to utter a single word.

His dearest sister bringing more friends over as she had mentioned in her letter.

But this? This was. . .

"Rosey, can you explain why you have. . ." Hesitating on what to say, Caelan looked towards Alice.

His view of the world was different to normal people.

Some saw it through colours, some saw it through sound. Some through touch and some through other means such as energy.

Caelan was someone who could see the world through a special light.

And the moment he laid his eyes on Alice, her understood one fact.

The gears of the world was turning.

Nyer’s experiment was a success.

And the product of that success was now in front of him.

However. . .

"Why is she hanging upside down atop the carriage like a ship mast? I thought you told me you wanted to travel inconspicuously. I don’t think this counts as inconspicuous." Caelan’s smile twitched as he tried to maintain his composure.

Having such an. . . abomination tied upside down like this was certainly a sight to behold. And more than that, the fact that the girl was actually accepting it.

"Don’t even f*cking remind me!" Rosalyn stormed off past Caelan, still angry while the rest of the group smiled apologetically.

While Alice may have tried to escape at the start, she learned to accept it and sleep instead.

With the carriage suddenly coming to a stop, she opened her eyes and gave her body a stretch to the best of her abilities.

She noticed a man looking towards her with a faltering smile while trying to maintain his calm.

Judging by the way he looks and his energy, Alice summarised that he was probably Rosalyn’s brother.

Although. . . Seeing the different strands of energy emanating from his body, Alice couldn’t help but furrow her brows.

A strange and eerie feeling.

That’s what she felt from Caelan.

"The journey must’ve been rather exhausting. If there’s anything you desire to eat, let me know and I will have the chefs prepare something for you. And as for Ria and Luke, I’m glad to see that you two are still alive." Caelan chuckled, ignoring the fact that Alice was frowning at him and turned to the duo.

Before the two could reply, Rosaly popped her head out from around the corner.

"By the way, Cael, if you tease Ria and Luke too much like last time, you’ll get a rude awakening. The upside down b*tch with the split hair is Allura and Kaden’s adopted kid."

"I’m well aware." Caelan chuckled, causing Rosalyn to pause with a raised eyebrow.

"You are? Why am I even surprised." She sighed, leaving Caelan to do whatever he wanted.

It’s not like she can say much else other than this. And even if she did, he probably won’t listen as per usual.

Like last time, he’ll probably tease Alice using his own methods and get burned.

As for how much he’ll get burned. . . Rosalyn was a little curious. During their spar, even if Alice didn’t go all out with the intention to kill, it still forced her to take the fight a little seriously.

As a Lord against someone who hasn’t even used their Second Resonance.

So what kind of power would Alice be able to force out of her brother?

Regardless, that was the least of her concerns right now.

Looking at his sister that left a warning then left, Caelan shook his head with a chuckle.

"Please, make yourselves at home." Caelan glanced back at the group before disappearing with a spiral of blood.

Ria and Luke were a little used to what Caelan was like while Alice simply shrugged.

They were strangers to begin with so she wasn’t exactly expecting a grand welcome.

Undoing herself from the bindings, Alice yawned.

Rosalyn wanted to take advantage of her brother’s information network to get some info about the movement of the churches before they plan their next move.

Ideally, Alice wanted to visit Darrow before going anywhere else. Though it might be a little risky considering the fact that Tristan is there and most likely, the Moon Church.

Another option would be going back to the north so that they can meet up with Selen and Egil.

[Going to the north has its own set of problems.] Cayla spoke up as Alice nodded her head in agreement.

First of all, since the north is connected to Extalia, there’s a high chance that the family was still keeping their eyes there.

Second of all, she still wasn’t entirely sure of how to confront Caera regarding her usage of Eldritch energy.

Which Outer God did she make a contract with? Why did she accept a contract even though she knew that Velouria wanted to keep them out of the realm?

Or was her hatred towards the Will and the Gods so potent that she’ll abandon everything in pursuit of revenge?

’Where do you think would be ideal?’ Alice asked curiously.

[Depends on what you want to do. Different places will help you achieve different goals. If your goal is purely on growth, I suggest going to the Abyss and looking for Allura again.] Cayla suggested.

Now that she was partially unsealed, there were certain things that she could. . .sense as the Eye of the Abyss.

A connection to the previous holders of authority.

It’s a sense that Alice wasn’t quite in tune with yet considering her senses are being permanently overloaded by energy and other factors.

She didn’t want to say it outright but Allura wasn’t in a great condition. If she was to tell Alice straight up. . .

Plus, it wasn’t like Allura didn’t have a method of communication. Rosalyn was here.

But if she chooses not to say anything, Cayla didn’t think it was right of her to make a choice for Allura.

Folding her arms, Alice leaned back.

She wanted to see Allura again and soon. Especially since she might be able to figure something out with Restriction.

Though with Allura injured, Alice felt like going to see her without making the right preparation was going to do more harm than good.

The churches are after her. With Allura’s injury, Alice doubted she’ll be able to fight at full power. And if she was to bring Apostles to Allura while she was like this and something was to happen. . .

Alice would never be able to forgive herself.

’Let’s take it slow for now. Rushing into things blindly won’t be good for anyone.’ Alice shook her head as Cayla nodded with a smile.

’Actually, do you think we can get a clearer picture of what happened to Ayr from Caelan? Since he deals with information, he should be privy to knowledge that a new lord like Rosalyn wouldn’t know.

’Plus if Rosalyn was around during the time where Feris killed the Realm Lord, he should know a bunch of stuff from that era.’ Alyss suggested.

’You’re not wrong. . . but he gives me the creeps. Something about him feels a little unnatural?’ Alice couldn’t shrug this feeling off.

[Caution is always good to have. From what I’ve seen, Rosalyn holds a spot in his heart. So maybe if you were to talk to him while Rosalyn is around, you might be able to eliminate this uncertainty.] Cayla suggested.

Nodding her head in agreement, Alice followed the rest of the group inside the building for now.

###

Sitting behind his table, Caelan pulled out a lock for one of his drawers and opened it. A strange gateway leading into the darkness opened and he reached in.

"Pay...ment." A voice gurgled from the darkness.

"A hand." Caelan smiled, expecting this.

*CRUNCH!!!

The sounds of bones breaking and flesh tearing echoed out as he slowly pulled out his arm. The hand was now missing but Caelan wasn’t phased.

Little by little, the hand began to regrow.

"De...sire?"

The voice asked.

"Records. Topic. . . Hmm. . . Let’s go with the Era of the Great Hunt. Subject classification, Nyer." Caelan rubbed his chin.

From the darkness, a mound of flesh began to grow as a single split opened up.

Teeth began to invert as it transformed into a mouth, regurgitating a file for Caelan to grab.

Once he received the file, the mouth disappeared and the drawer shut itself.

As a long living individual, memory was always going to be a challenge no matter how much he believes he might remember. Thus he has split his knowledge into certain. . .files.

Opening the file, there were several thin sheets of blood, split into different classifications of knowledge.

Finding the one he wanted, Caelan traced his finger along the sheet and a smile grew on his face.

"How interesting."