Building A Clan. 3

TRENT'S POV

"Sire? I hope your words still stand? Will I be taken under this clan and away from the punishment of treachery of the brotherhood?" Olaf asked in a shaky voice, speaking so fast he sounded like a hamster.

"Is the Darth Society really this powerful?" I asked in return.

The dwarf frowned and licked his blunt lips with a fat pink tongue. "Who am I speaking with? Don't you know the brotherhood you emerged from?" His eyes darted to Pana, who had already started eating, deviating from his earlier statement.

I knew very well that these indigenes of the outskirts hated human gamers, and if I mentioned that I was actually a human, it might change their directive towards me. "I told you I'm a celestial anomaly sent down by the goddess to restore balance to this tilted world."

"Goddess?" Pana repeated, raising a heavy brow. "The Paradox lives up to no goddess, we worship our beasts."

'I see,' I pondered in my mind. It seemed that what atheists say about the existence of a god or God being unknown to the people if that god was truly all-powerful and supreme might be true. A thought crossed my mind. I remembered the she-devil I had bred mentioning the goddess. She shouldn't have, right? This could only mean that the Darth Society was well aware of the goddess' existence. They are indeed dangerous. My interest grew, and I beckoned Olaf to continue, assuring him he'd be by my side from now on.

"I'm only working as a Sentinel, Sir. Don't take all my words for it," Olaf rapped and continued. "This first orb you seek? It's wielded by the society... the Darth Lord."

I leaned in, intrigued more than ever. "What's the structure of the society?"

-Darth Lord and sublords

-Darth Executives

-Darth Assassins

-Darth Lieutenants

I frowned, wondering why the goddess didn't role me as a Darth Lord; surely, that sounded more menacing and powerful. Certainly, the Orb must be wielded by them. "Who are these Darth Lords?"

Olaf gulped, his eyes dancing with uncertainty. "From what I've heard, Sire, it's headed by an Aetherian, along with a few other Aetherians, Elvarians, and Infernians."

"Just the three races?" I asked, remembering what my System said about these races being humanoid.

"Yes," Pana answered with a growl, as if he disdained the conversation or, rather, the Darth Society itself. "Especially the Aetherians," he muttered.

I started to wonder what this Aetherian race looked like, and how their females might be. It would be a wonder if I got the chance to smack one from such a race. "If I may ask, Gen? How do these Aetherians look?"

Pana glanced at me with unmistakable fury in his eyes. However, he maintained his cool and dropped his utensils. "Why do I have this nagging feeling that you are one? Perhaps unmasking yourself would foster a sense of unity within this new clan of yours," he said.

I couldn't help but laugh out loud at that statement, causing Ascezeca to wake from her slumber. "Are you speaking for everyone or just for yourself?" I asked the male minotaur, further enraging him.

He threw one arm into the air, pointing at the window that revealed the dark sky. "Your bird is roaming all around above us, frightening everyone with the thought that you're studying their every move!"

A smile spread across my face, one they couldn't see, as I snapped my fingers and pointed at him casually. "Bingo!" I exclaimed. "And listening to their every word," I added with a chuckle. Pana couldn't believe it; his eyes were wide, and he forced his robust, muscular chest to relax. He grumbled and picked up his utensils to resume his meal.

"And to answer your question—I've never seen an Aetherian. They always cover their appearance, but I know one when I see one. They have figures just like these pestering human gamers," he glared at me again and added, "With excessive Mana."

I turned my gaze to the dwarf after thanking Pana for his contribution. The dwarf nodded, agreeing with Pana's description of Aetherians, and threw more light on them, highlighting their outstanding characteristic of channelling Essence. In fact, things just got more complicated, because Olaf had just mentioned that the Aetherians were the founders of channelling Essence; before that, only Mana could be channelled to Manifestations.

I made sure I was listening to every word, trying to piece the puzzle together. Another bit of information caught my ear and completely decimated the building blocks of my puzzle: Olaf had just said that Aetherians were never original indigenes of Paradox and had emerged the same way human gamers had, but in smaller numbers.

The reveal was quite shocking, and I found it very suspicious. Perhaps the Paradox world's chaos began with their arrival—they might be the start of the Turmoil. No wonder the indigenes hated the human gamers who had been roaming what was once their land. Little did they know, I was the cause of that problem.

'So, first things first is the Darth Society,' I told myself. They seemed to be the starting piece, and I needed some questions answered. One: How the Highs knew about the goddess. Two: Why was a Sentinel group established by the Darth Society to protect human gamers from frightened attacks by indigenes, even though they couldn't be truly killed? But whoever the player was would lose all Paxcoin, and as we know, Paxcoin equals real money in my world.

Suddenly, it struck me! I remembered when the goddess said some humans had started making contact with Aetherians—those humans were surely my murderers: Nathan Vyle, Kamila, all of them! 'Are they affiliating with them?' I asked myself in enthusiastic confusion. I find the Darth Society Highs, I find the Orb of Permanence, I find my killers. This was indeed a win-win endeavour for me and the goddess.

"Where is this Darth Society located?" I asked Olaf, taking a short glance at the brown elf on the bed, who was awake and toying with my lightsaber.

"That's it, Sire! No one knows—not even the Assassins. It must be limited to the knowledge of the Executives and Lords," Olaf bawled, chunking down a huge bite of meat. "Surely, it wouldn't be in the outskirts. The Square seems more like a fitting place."

'The Square...' I muttered to myself and glanced at Pana. "I heard you mention that before. What's The Square? A place? A gathering? A market square?"

Pana rolled his red eyes and shook his horned head. "Don't you know your maps? Why do you think this is called the outskirts? Get into the Square, get into the real Paradox civilization... Sire."

I relaxed in my chair and stroked my chin. 'What the heck am I doing at the edge of a world when I plan to bring balance?' I watched them finish the rest of their meal as I drowned myself in thoughts and plots, piecing together what I could with the help of the System. Surely, I should head into The Square

I got up from my seat and announced my journey to the Square. Olaf seemed scared that he might lose protection and offered to join me, while Pana seemed outrightly glad. However, his joy was short-lived as I tapped him on the shoulder and bent for a whisper. "You're tagging along, Gen."

His eyes widened, leaving him speechless as my footsteps resonated on the floor, walking toward the entrance. The lightsaber vanished from Ascezeca's grasp and materialized in mine. "Gather whatever you use as a means of transportation."

"And where are you going?" Pana-agen asked me.

"I'm going shopping. You wouldn't know what it is," I said, walking out. Indeed, I was going shopping—shopping at the nearest Substore I could find. I had to be ready for the journey with Perks and Power-ups so I could effortlessly collect the Orb.