CHAPTER 538: THE MISSING PIECES (2)

’...’

Nothing on the Enforcers’ expression revealed anything about their displeasure or lack thereof. Even so, Nyssa wasn’t the only one displeased.

’Does it even matter?’ Calyndra chimed in. ’If Alexander had the affinity to grasp what he was missing, he wouldn’t be asking. That means, even if we tell him, it won’t make much of a difference.’

That was one way to look at Alexander’s dilemma. Simply knowing what you were lacking did not guarantee that you would grasp those concepts.

After all, the entirety of grasping concepts, principles and laws hinged on the fact that one had to sense them, interact with them, understand and then manipulate.

’Why are they just staring at you?’ Julia asked her beloved. ’Is it so hard to share what they know?’

’In a way, yes.’ Alexander replied calmly.

Although he had no clue what they were discussing, he could more or less guess what it was. ’I’m asking them to share their knowledge of things that I don’t know. It’s like one of them asking me how my Nexis Radiant works.’

’Yeah... They’re already weary of him as it is.’ Ross added calmly.

’Hmph! If you ask me, they’re just being stubborn.’ Julia, of course, did not see things the same way. ’Compared to you, they’re already in the dust. Holding on to what they know makes no difference.’

’Hehe, let’s hope they see it that way...’ Alexander inwardly chuckled, though his expression remained stoic.

After what felt like hours of silence, Drakmor replied, his expression remaining as nonchalant as ever.

"Lord Alexander, I’m sure you already know this, but sharing what we know won’t make a difference to you if you can’t sense them yourselves."

"Indeed..." Alexander nodded in agreement, his gaze sweeping the seated Enforcers. "But that is for me to worry about. Of course, you’re free to keep what you know to yourselves."

"..."

His response caught them off guard for a split second. Wasn’t he interested in knowing what he was missing?

Did he not just say time was running out? They could not understand Alexander’s thought process.

’Is he serious?’ Vornarax echoed. ’If he knew all this, why come to us in the first place?’

’In case you’ve forgotten, this reminder should jog your memory.’ Rycan inwardly scoffed at his companions. ’Alexander is not like the rest of us! How many times must he show this to us before we realise it?! Tch, if you guys aren’t willing to talk, then I’ll do it.’

’Wait, Rycan.’ Calyndra rushed to say. ’No one said we won’t be sharing. Just give us a bit of time to think this through.’

’There is nothing to think through! It’s either you say or you don’t!’

Had his facial features been human, they would have revealed how ridiculous he felt about their hesitation. ’The only reason I’m not saying anything is because even someone like me knows when to give face.’

Drakmor remained silent throughout their little discussion. While he agreed with Rycan, he was also a bit hesitant.

He was one of the few chiefs who respected Alexander for his achievements. He wanted nothing more than for Alexander to succeed where they had failed.

However, for whatever reason, he was feeling hesitant about sharing what he knew. In all honesty, it came as a surprise to him. And he had no clue where that hesitation came from.

A part of him wanted to believe that it was because they were extensions of the Omnisoul, fragments of this reality wishing to prevent the birth of an anomaly, wanting to stop a wayward child from going astray.

But that thought went out the window with Rycan by their side. He was just like the rest of them, so he wondered why he wasn’t feeling the hesitation they were feeling.

’Are you not hesitant at all?’ Nyssa asked, snapping Drakmor out of his inner thoughts.

’Why would I be?’

Rycan replied almost as if he did not understand what they meant. ’The boy has more than proven himself to us. If anything, we should be doing everything we can to aid him in cleansing the mess that we created.’

’...’

The Enforcers were once again reminded of what brought them here in the first place.

They were the ones to seek out Alexander; they were the ones who needed his help, and the boy answered.

So why? Why were they hesitating when the boy was asking for their help?

The realisation hit them like a battering ram, especially Drakmor.

Focusing his attention on the boy sitting across from him, the dragon saw how Alexander remained patient, not showing any signs of urgency.

Drakmor inwardly sighed, reprimanding himself for how selfish he was. ’Had the roles been reversed, the boy might have revealed everything without a second thought.’

"Where do you want to start?" Drakmor asked, ignoring the abrupt looks he received from his colleagues.

"Time, I want to know why temporal energies flow differently in our reality." Alexander replied without hesitation.

The dragon nodded, his gaze growing distant as he organised his thoughts. "To understand why temporal energies flow differently in the different demarcations of our reality, you should know about the veil of reality itself."

"Veil of reality?" Alexander echoed.

"Chaosveil, if you will." Rycan shipped in, grinning slightly. "The true void isn’t as chaotic as it seems, Alexander. There is more to it than meets the eye."

"Void energy, although chaotic, has a bit of order to it." Drakmor continued. "Just like there is chaos in order, so too is there order in chaos."

"I see..." Alexander muttered to himself, his mind going over everything he knew about void energy. "So that’s why something like that abyss of absolute darkness exists. The chaosveil had been devoured."

"Exactly... Void energy is the will of the Omnisoul, the energy of reality.

"Laying down the foundations of the universes required a stage, a stage that thinned out the farther away a universe was from the Omnisoul." Drakmor explained, silently watching as Alexander digested his words.

Alexander had no way of knowing whether they spoke the truth, as he was unable to pick up on some things.

However, because he was the one asking, he had no choice but to listen and interpret it in his own way.

This was why he compared what he knew with what he didn’t, allowing him to make sense of the information.

He strategically arranged what he was hearing in his mind, dissecting and analysing it until it made sense.

His companions, on the other hand, had frowns on their faces, not quite grasping what the Enforcers said.

Fortunately for them, with the Nexis Radiant shielding their minds, what they heard sounded gibberish at best, only picking up bits and pieces.

’This is more complicated than I thought.’ The redhead argued. ’It’s like learning math in some foreign language with strange shapes and symbols never seen before.’

’Yeah...’ Julia agreed. ’What we’re grasping is already complex enough, but this... this is too much!’

The truth of the matter was that none of them spoke the same language, only sharing their intent via the surrounding energy.

It was akin to making vibrations with the larynx to transmit sound.

In their case, however, intent was shared and then interpreted by the listener.

It was something that came naturally to beings after achieving a certain level of power — the latter stages of the Venerable level, to be exact.

Naturally, Drakmor made the explanations as easy as possible. Once he noticed Alexander had more or less grasped what he said, he continued.

"However, unlike the veil of universes, the chaosveil cannot be torn, or at least that was what we believed."

Drakmor’s voice trailed off as he thought back to the abysses of nothingness. "Chaosveil is the amalgamation of all the essences of reality."

"In other words... Everything that is, everything that can be perceived, experienced or thought of." Rycan took over once more.

"Think of it like preparing soup with everything that exists around you. And I mean... everything." The lionkin hammered on that point.

Alexander slightly narrowed his eyes when Rycan explained it with his analogy. In a way, it made sense. At the same time, it made everything messier.

’That is why it’s called Chaosveil,’ Alexander pondered, realisation slowly dawning on him. ’Because it is, it becomes. Essence itself forms the platform, and universes are like specific regions in the soup that came out well!’

Even with this realisation, it only made things a bit clearer. Regardless, he was glad to have picked up on a few of the details.

"So what role do the universe cores play?" Alex asked in line with his interpretations.

"Cores are like nodes of the Ominsoul." Calyndra finally chipped in, realising there was no point in holding back. "Their purpose is simple; take chaos and mould it into something beautiful, something... purposeful."

"And the more cores you fuse with, the clearer your surroundings become, the easier your path to clarity is, and the closer you get to the Omnisoul." Nyssa added her take as well.

"It’s sort of like reverse engineering how you were put together, only in this case, those at the lower end of chaos have bits and pieces missing.

"Low-level universe cores can be seen as foggy pieces of the Omnisoul gradually maturing via the chaos energy.

"The original intent was for those cores to evolve until they reached higher levels, strengthening their foundation as they went."

"That is where time comes in..." Alexander nodded thoughtfully. The more he heard from the Enforcers, the clearer the picture became in his mind.

"Yes..."