CHAPTER 105: ORACLE

"Hello World?" Zephyr leaned back and asked in confusion. He’d thought it would be something more...

Komi nodded, "A whole new way of communicating with these Hollows was then created. And not too long after, their uniqueness was discovered. These Hollows could make real world predictions about a lot of things with near-perfect accuracy as long as it existed in our world, or had something to do with it."

’Aegis, any thoughts on this?’ Zephyr asked inwardly. Aegis had suddenly gone silent after being vocal just a few moments ago.

...Well all I can tell you right now is that what she’s describing is similar to a ’supercomputer.’ An origin powered ’supercomputer.’ This is even more intriguing because of her earlier statement. If that was the first thing that was really said by these ’Hollow’, then it makes me question the true nature of origin even more...

’An origin powered supercomputer...’ Zephyr repeated. The word ’supercomputer’ translated to something along the lines of ’super processor’ in his mind, so he still had a very good idea what Aegis was talking about.

"These Hollows eventually became what we now refer to as Oracles." Komi finished.

Zephyr went silent for a minute, readjusting his understanding of this world based on the knowledge he just gained. The implications were staggering. An all knowing, all processing ’supercomputer’, plugged in to origin directly... whoever controlled such a thing...

"And these Oracles can be asked for information about anything at all?" He asked.

"Not anything. They usually don’t answer most questions. Not unless it has to do with something that might affect the world... but there is a period of every year when Oracles answer a few minor queries." She explained. "Here in Freehold, this chance is given to the Elders or people who have performed outstandingly well to further the cause during the year. Their requests are forwarded to the Elders, who then proceed to give their queries to the Oracle."

"Oh, yes! Back to why I’m so tall when my father is extremely short. Well that was his query to the Oracle. It was one of his most weighted criteria for selecting a wife from his many admirers," Komi shrugged. "He chose who was most probable to give him very tall children.

"...Uhh. Okay." Zephyr said. It was weird to him, but everyone had their own weird quirks and interests. He didn’t really care for why the Sage had such a specific criteria at all. His main interest now was the Oracle

itself. He wanted to ask more questions. Where was the one here at Freehold? How did they create it? Someone had to turn into a Hollow for there to be an Oracle, right? So who was it? Was it voluntary? What were the limits of this... Oracle? And why were they not using it to create spell models and pathway inheritances on the fly?

He held his tongue though. Although Komi didn’t look like it, he could tell this was all she was willing to reveal at the moment. So he simply filed the information and questions about Oracles away and changed the topic to something else.

He steered the conversation towards the subject of magic and fighting, something she also seemed to be enthusiastic to talk about. He learned she would be his sparring partner for the entirety of his two-year stay here, and his goal was to be able to defeat her comfortably by the end of this time period. Something she confidently assured him was never going to happen.

Zephyr took it as a challenge though, confident that within a year, he’d at least be able to stand his ground against her. He could tell she was dangerous even though he’d never seen her fight. But still, he was confident. Their magic system here involved casting spells outwardly with spell models that did not leave much room for versatility and had slower casting times than the current him, even though he’d still not comprehended a whole lot of words. So, a year...

"Do you want to make it interesting?" Komi asked after seeing how confident he was.

"What do you have in mind?" Zephyr grinned.

"When I win, you have to tell me how you are able to sense my presence so accurately... that’s if I’ve not figured it out by then," she said.

"When?"Zephyr chuckled at her confidence. "Okay, whenI win, I want you to answer a few questions I have."

"What kind of questions?" Komi pursed her lips in a thin line.

"Nothing too difficult, you’ll see."

"Hm. If for some reason you actually win, I’m not answering any questions that might be detrimental to the Sanctuary and our cause," she said very seriously.

Zephyr nodded. And they both agreed. It was nice to have a challenge.

"You can rest tonight and have tomorrow off to yourself. We start the day after. With your recovery speed you should be fully healed by then..." Komi stood up to leave the room, carrying the tray and leaving Zephyr to rest.

’One year, huh...? We’ll see.’

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A Seaport... Thassalia Region. Planet Apraxis

A plump-looking man with gray scales all over his hands and on his head where his hair should have been, was walking around a bustling coastal city full of merchants shouting the prices of their wares to travelers boarding ships and those just arriving, seafarers and dock workers hard at work loading and unloading cargo from various ships. The sound of seabirds and the incessant chiming of ship bells filled the area closest to the dock where this man was perusing some wares.

He had an assessing look on his face as he tried to gauge the quality of a silk material he was holding between his fingers.

"You don’t need to worry, good man! I’ve got the finest silks in the whole Thassalia region!" The stall owner boasted.

"Hm." The man simply hummed absentmindedly. They were still there. How had they found him yet again?! He held the fabric up to the light, scrutinizing it with a sneer on his face like there was something wrong with it, causing the stall owner to grit his teeth.

"Old boy!" The stall owner scowled, glancing at a few people who were beginning to look at his wares weirdly, "If you’re not going to buy, get a move on and stop scaring away my customers!" He walked angrily from behind his stall, intending to snatch his ware back from this plump man’s hands.

The plump man’s attention wasn’t even on the fabric, or the stall owner, he simply used the silk ware to obscure his face just enough to glance at the men a few stalls away who were trying to be discreet while watching him, but were failing miserably. They looked so out of place. Almost as if they had a posh background and were doing this for the first time, using just their idea of what they think ’normal’ should look like.

’Look at that...’ the plump man nearly facepalmed. Two of the men were standing with their backs to him, with only one of them having a direct view at him, with a newspaper pointed in his direction that he peeked over every few seconds.

"For goodness sake, we’re at a bustling marketplace. Who stands so awkwardly and reads a newspaper where people are rushing around in a haste." The plump man muttered under his breath in amusement. Their amateurish pursuit was the only reason he was not yet on the run. He wanted to find out who they were and how they kept finding him— "Wait... is this reverse psychology?" The man halted his thoughts, considering if that was their play.

"Give that!" The stall owner snatched the silk ware from the plump man, shoving him away from his stall like he was a nuisance.

Suddenly, the man who was watching him perked up, dropping the newspaper totally. He alerted his colleagues and they turned around, scanning the bustling crowd quickly.

Their target was nowhere to be seen.

"There!" One of them pointed after looking at the direction a small tool hidden underneath his sleeve pointed at. The plump man had just crossed into a cramped alleyway between some wooden stalls where a few people squeezed through to weave their way through the marketplace faster.

The men followed after their target quickly, entering the same alleyway as he had and spotting his plump figure scrambling through the tight space in a haste. The jig was up. There was no more use for pretenses.

"Stop there!" The man at the front called after him.

"How is he so fast?! No.5 You split up at this branch to block him if he decides to change directions!" The first man called just as they crossed an intersection between the alleyways.

The response he expected didn’t come though, causing him to look back. "No.5—" his eyes immediately widened.

...

That was the last thing he was able to say before his head popped like a balloon.

...Another figure had entered the alleyway along with them.