Relic Of Yore

Less than ten kilometres from the group's camp, deep within the bowels of a nearby mountain, there was a sprawling underground city. Judging from its architecture, it was completely different from the Imperial Han Family's building style, more reminiscent of what one would expect a certain popular fantasy novel's Dwarves to create.

It had clearly been ages since anyone had last set foot in here, as what was once indubitably a hub of activity had turned into forlorn ruins. Signs of erosion could be found wherever one looked, having removed most of the colours and ornamental designs which had once decorated these halls. Every now and then, small fragments of them still shone through, stubbornly resisting the merciless tides of time–however, they were very few and far between.

Unsurprisingly, it was entirely dark here, but fortunately, Theodore wasn't hindered by the lack of light. And even if it bothered him somehow, then there was always the option of bringing a torch with him. But who knew if that would lead to a dust explosion? After all, his arrival had already stirred up a small cloud of it, and everywhere he went, he disturbed the layer of fine particles which had been blanketing the ground for an indeterminable amount of time.

He was somewhat surprised at the fact that he could still breathe normally, and that the air wasn't stale at all either. Yet, he could not detect any airflow anywhere within the range of his perception.

The entire city was very expansive, to the point that even with his current speed, it took him a good ten minutes to make a round through it. During his exploration, he could see that the connecting passages leading outside of it seemed to suddenly end in abrupt rock walls each and every single time.

Upon closer inspection, it became clear that they hadn't collapsed, and there were no stone slabs which had been placed here to cut these paths off either. Instead, it felt like the entire city as well as the cavern that it was in, plus the surrounding rock area, had been brought here from somewhere else. It was clearly not native to this place.

'There are no bodies or remains around. But maybe those have long since turned to dust over the course of time.'

Scrutinizing his surroundings further, he could only come to the conclusion that this city had been abruptly transported to this place via some method of teleportation, replacing the original underground area which had been here before, as if it had been swapped with it. As for the inhabitants, they had not made any effort to escape to the outside–or at least he couldn't see any indication of such an endeavour anywhere.

Despite how much he had been taught about the various factions, families and cultures of the Heavenly Court, he did not recognize anything in this place. Perhaps, this was due to all of the erosion, but he doubted that, considering the pieces of murals, writing and engravings which he could still occasionally come across.

'It's just like those coordinates. There are too many possibilities. I cannot make any reasonable guesses yet.'

With no further avenue of gathering additional intel, he finally turned to the figurative elephant in the city–a particularly enormous building complex which reminded him in part of a temple, as well as a kind of palatial district. From deep within, a strangely familiar sensation emanated, causing him to feel unsettled to his bones.

He absolutely should not be experiencing anything of this sort here in the Heavenly Succession's event venue. Nothing connected to him should be around the area! And even if there was, he would recognize it immediately. All of this, though–whatever it was–was entirely foreign to him.

'... interesting.'

Intermingled within his cautious approach, there was a strong excitement. Other than whatever was beyond the Heavenly Dao, he had not encountered anything truly surpassing the limitations of his knowledge. Instead, due to being aware of too many things, he often wasn't sure which of the vast number of possibilities that he could think of did actually apply to what he was encountering. Something entirely new felt like a breath of fresh air.

'Let's have a look.'

Even in the worst case scenario, he would simply regress back to that time in Shanxi Village, so he didn't hesitate at all. With resolute but alert steps, he made his way into the structure, walking along its silent halls until he noticed a faint light appearing at the edge of his vision.

Speeding up a little, he soon entered the room which housed whatever it was that was calling him. Blinking a few times to adjust to the different light level, he stared at a floating, strongly glowing... grey blob.

It was faintly pulsating as if it had a heartbeat, and these contractions sped up and almost turned erratic, akin to an excited animal, once he got closer. Yet, no matter what this was, he didn't sense any enmity or danger from it. Instead, he felt at peace, relief and joy washing over him from deep within. He couldn't say where those sensations were coming from, but they most certainly were real!

'What is going on? How am I connected to this... thing?'

Furrowing his brows, his eyes betraying a strong emotional bond with whatever it was that he had just encountered. Due to his Spring of Clarity Talent, he was aware that he wasn't being manipulated in any way–or if he was, then that which was acting upon him had to be of at least Unique-grade. Choosing to give up resistance, he let his instincts take over.

Stretching out his hand, he got increasingly closer to the blob, which was throbbing stronger and stronger, in a clearly elated manner. Eventually, he touched it–or rather, his hand sank into it as if it wasn't facing any resistance, leaving it surrounded by a grey, luminescent cloud. At the same time, a notification popped up in his field of view.

[ Unknown-grade Armament Spirit detected.

Attempting to establish a connection and obtain ownership.

...

Error! Theodore Winter already owns this Armament Spirit.

...

Error resolved. Database has been updated and ownership has been reacknowledged. ]

Silently pondering what this meant, he eventually came up with the most likely reason for this occurrence. John Doe, who he had partially been in the past, clearly had some sort of connection to the Heavenly Dao or Heavenly Court. But until now, he still had no idea what it might be. Ever since fusing with the original Theodore, John's influence on the new self had been minuscule, mainly because Theodore had experienced far too many illusory lives. The tiny blip that was John could not cause too significant of a change.

Now, it seemed like he had come across something related to John's past, an Unknown-grade Armament Spirit. Naturally, he had heard of these kinds of beings before, he had even seen a few of them, yet they had felt nothing like this one. He wasn't sure if what differentiated the two was merely the fact that even the Heavenly Dao could not figure out what its actual grade was... or if it had simply never encountered a being like this one before. As a response, it had analysed it and slapped the label most closely resembling it on top of it, patting itself on the back for a job well done.

But whatever this Armament Spirit was, in some aspects, it clearly exceeded what the Heavenly Dao was aware of. This did heavily hint at it originating from outside of it, although this also couldn't be guaranteed. After all, there was still the possibility that some information had been restricted and the Heavenly Dao simply didn't allow him to access it.

'John, what secrets are you hiding? And you as well, little buddy.'

As he was thinking to himself, he didn't expect to get any response. However, he soon froze up, staring at the grey mist shrouding his hand with strong interest.

'Master, Master! You're finally back! I missed you! So, so much!!'

A bell-like voice akin to that of a little bird or a young girl appeared in his mind the moment that his thoughts had directly addressed the Armament Spirit. It was as if a dam had been broken, as the overwhelmingly cheerful emotions of this new–or old–companion of his suddenly flooded in.

'Hold up! How long were you waiting for me? What's your name? And do you know who I was? Forgive me, for I do not have any memories of the past that we shared.'

Attempting to extract information, he cautiously probed, yet made sure to pre-empt any possible questions about his own lack of knowledge with regards to ages past.

'What?! How could you forget about me just like that, Master?! I'm heartbroken! I'm Faavi. You gave me that name, so don't forget it again, alright?'

Deciding to treat her as he would a little girl, because that was exactly what interacting with her felt like, he smiled slightly at the pouting, a bit unhappy but still rejoicing sensation which she had sent him.

'I'll try my best! But what about my other questions?'

A bit stumped, Faavi seemed to ruminate for some time until she got a headache, her 'voice' filled with utter confusion when she eventually 'spoke' up again.

'That's... weird. Why do I not remember how long I've been here? I only recall that you... are my Master. And that I've waited for you forever. But... it's all kind of a blur? Why is there... nothing else? How could I forget it all?!'

Despite the panic that eventually seemed to overcome her, Theodore stayed calm. In a part of his mind which he had separated from their conversation, he couldn't help but sigh helplessly, but not in a surprised manner. Of course, nothing in his life would ever be that simple.

'It's fine, it's fine. Don't worry about it! Didn't I also lose all of my memories of the past? If we work together, maybe we can rediscover them someday. But more importantly, it's nice to meet you again, Faavi. Just call me Theo, alright?'

Quickly brightening up, it felt like she was nodding repeatedly, almost akin to a bird bobbing its head up and down in rapid succession.

'Got it, Theo!'

With a slight smile on his face, he proceeded to engage in a bit of small talk as he opened his Status Panel and discovered a new category which had appeared underneath the Subordinates one.

[ Equipment ]

[ • Faavi (Armament Spirit, Unknown-grade) ]

Interested in seeing what more information that he could obtain about her, he opened her Status Panel, which was unlike any that he had come across before.

[ General Information ]

[ Name: Faavi ]

[ Age: Unknown ]

[ Race: Armament Spirit ]

[ Grade: Unknown ]

[ Owner: Theodore Winter ]

[ Talents ]

[ Armament Transformation (Unknown) ]

Never had he seen a more bare-bones, lacking description of anyone. The Heavenly Dao truly didn't know what to make of her. Yet, the absence of information was still a sign in and of itself.

Not ready to throw in the towel just yet, he pulled up her sole Talent as well.

[ Armament Transformation (Unknown):

• Can transform into any kind and number of equipment that its owner can imagine.

• The transformation requires Energy.

• The quality of the equipment depends on the amount of Energy utilized.

• Unable to determine any further effects which might exist. ]

'... any kind of equipment that I can imagine, huh? It's too bad that I cannot make use of this in any way until I break through to the Energy Refinement Stage.'

Not too miffed at being locked out of yet another one of his Talents–or rather, out of Faavi's this time–he eyed the last line in the Talent window for a while, then he closed it and refocused on his surroundings.

He had been so distracted by her and the familiarity which she had exuded that he had not taken note of the extremely high Energy concentration in this room. After a bit of searching, he soon found the cause behind this absurdly unusual occurrence.

'How ridiculous and ingenious! Someone placed countless Energy Veins into the walls! Yet, they're solely pouring all of their Energy into this room, not outside. There are only a few thousand of them remaining, but based upon the tiny crevices in these stones, there seem to have been many orders of magnitude more of them here in the past. I have no idea what happened to them, though.'

No matter how thoroughly he looked, he never came across any sign of an Array. This could only mean that it either completely surpassed him and all of his theoretical knowledge as well as his Array Luminary Talent, or that what was made use of here was an architectural Technique instead.

'It's too bad that I have no experience with that. Still, this is a great place!'

With an amused smile on his lips, he playfully shook his head.

'I guess I have to alter my arrangements for the second time today. No matter how carefully it was made, a plan truly can never keep up with the changes.'