The joy of honing your limits and discovering yourself Of seeking an answer to a problem and discovering one Of following his own Path without regrets Of spitting in the cruel face of reality and daring it to do its worst
For a brief moment his three images shifted further and more completely than they had in the past They settled together in one pure blended form But then the balance was lost and Randidly released a long sigh
Edraine tilted her head to the side and smiled Well then here we are No matter the motivations we share our goal changing the Nexus But as IÆm sure you all can tell this is not an easy task There are some very powerful individuals with vested interests in keeping the Nexus the way it is Any sort of shift will be met with resistance and among us we donÆt have much political power in the Nexus
That is slowly changing Edraine glanced at Randidly before she continued to speak But it still isnÆt enough Even if we were to gather enough Citizenship Coins to get us all to Tier III we still wouldnÆt have an easy time So I suggest that we cheat
Edraine smiled Power can make up for some deficiencies in influence but we would truly need an absolute power in order to make a serious ripple in the current Nexus And I know where we can find one
Is it you Lady Iellaya asked disbelief clear in her voice No one was quite clear on how powerful Edraine currently was but Randidly shared Lady IellayaÆs doubt that they would be currently hoarding citizenship coins if she really was that powerful
Chuckling Edraine shook her head No but only someone with my ability to read the flows of energy would be able to find this tool It might sound crazy but what I propose is that we steal and weaponize the sealed body of Elhume
Chapter 1501
stealing ElhumeÆs body sounds like a bad idea Randidly said after a beat of silence He had wanted to listen longer to EdraineÆs entire plan before he interrupted but when he heard the name Elhume he felt compelled to speak up He is the creator of the Nexus and the most powerful person in it Even if his body is truly sealed Just attracting his attention
Edraine raised up a hand You are correct that attracting his attention comes with so much danger that even I am unsure if I could survive But donÆt be so quick to reject the idea Plus if you have some useful information about Elhume IÆm willing to take it into account
Randidly blinked In a way he did have some information about Elhume but what he had learned from Yystrix was how powerful Elhume was and the origin of the System None of that seemed really relevant to this planned larceny three thousand years later so he shook his head rather helplessly maybe the biggest reason IÆve come so far in such a short amount of time is that a certain individual interfered on Expira From her I learned some background about Elhume But nothing relevant
There was interference in my Cohort Octavius muttered
Meanwhile EdraineÆs gaze turned sharp That interference is highly irregular She must certainly be very powerful in order to escape the notice of the System architecture Is there any chance that we could meet with this woman If sheÆs truly that capable
Elhume tracked her down and killed her Randidly said lightly but his chest tightened as he said it Which was exactly why he was deeply wary of a plan involving Elhume From his recent usage of the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night the sensation of ElhumeÆs gaze fracturing his Class was still fresh in his mind A tremor ran through his Class just thinking about it
IÆm sorry for your loss Edraine said with a very genuine expression on her face Then while Randidly was struggling to cope with the conflicted feeling he felt when being given condolences for Yystrix Edraine continued to speak But I believe there are a few things that you do not know about the situation Elhume is overwhelmingly powerful but by and large he exists entirely as an image being at this point When his body became useless to him he discarded it He keeps tabs but has made no attempt to liberate it
In addition I perhaps was being slightly dramatic when I said we would steal his body I too wouldnÆt want to weaken the seal on his body Instead what we want to make use of is the massive amount of power released by the crystalized Aether sealing his person That ambient energy will be the fuel to effect the change we want
Lady Iellaya reached up and cracked her neck Heh Even if he doesnÆt use it anymore I doubt that Elhume wonÆt have something to say if we attempt to take his body I like the spirit but I have to agree with the Ghosthound This is dangerous The deepest parts of the Nexus I would tread lightly
Across the room Octavius Shrike shivered His eyes were filled with dread as though he was a small child remembering a nightmare Everyone had experienced the harsh truths of the System in the past
Meanwhile Edraine frowned around at them Yes there is extreme danger But I have one thing to say to all of you we will not be able to change the Nexus without brushing up against Elhume Above all of the trash that has congregated at his feet in the NexusÆ three thousand years of existence he is the true hurdle Taking his body would give us an opportunity A pice of Elhume to stave off the whole But if you have any other ideas about how to rival that monsterÆs power
Randidly had been about to say something else but that truth silenced him Even in his current tier of strength Elhume was a being that could shake him to his core with just a look And that wasnÆt a psychological commentary RandidlyÆs body had been physically impacted just by the manÆs attention
His gaze was the least of his weapons and it was still overwhelming
But ultimately Edraine was correct Any true change to the Nexus would need to at least partially brush up against ElhumeÆs awareness Expecting to hide meaningful change was foolish Therefore they didnÆt have any other choice but to take these sorts of risks And as long as they prepared and planned well
Randidly licked his lips Well who sealed his body anyway If thatÆs possible perhaps that will give us a blueprint about how to go about this
Edraine released a low laugh No one sealed his body Heh we donÆt have much reliable information about what exactly happened but I believe we can piece things together between my memories and secondhand accounts From what I can tell his body being sealed happened around the time of the Second Cohort I had known of Elhume in my original life and he was moving around freely although he was rarely seen But at that time he pursued a now defunct Path to power image physicalizations
Randidly gradually began to frown
Meanwhile Edraine continued to speak While we currently use our images to push toward making thought projections condense as physical presences there used to be a school of thought that these projections could be used to gradually modify your physical body to resonate more directly with your images While I was just entering the army and my family was fighting it was an extremely popular school of thought In terms of Stamina none could match those who physicalized their images within their bodies They seemed to possess endless wells of energy
When I first recovered my senses it struck me as strange that this practice has largely disappeared After some investigations I believe itÆs because of what happened to ElhumeÆs body Edraine pursed her lips The details are unknown but it is clear that at some point ElhumeÆs body reached a tipping point There was so much energy in his body that it began to attract more energy From what I can glean Aether began to crystalize around his body eventually sealing its movements completely
Octavius shook his head slightly and cleared his throat There are some records of ElhumeÆs body moving in the past briefly forming a crack in the crystalized Aether that allows the body to have some influence in the outside world The results were catastrophic to areas nearby So he was moved But just as quickly as it is formed the ambient energy heals those flaws in the seal around him So theoretically if we had enough power to endure those brief attacks we could safely utilize his body as an energy source