Chapter 56
In a place filled with fog and mist, a girl lies unconscious on the ground. The girl has long silver hair and beautiful facial features that could invoke one’s desire to protect. And on her side lies a long jade-green spear waiting for its master to awaken.
Indeed, the person lying unconscious on the ground is none other than Rennel who was thrown into a crack in space by her own teacher which leads to an unknown space. As the girl was already greatly weakened after battling the avatar of the god of the void and using every ounce of mana in her body, she soon lost consciousness the moment she realized that she’s safe inside the unknown space.
Physically and mentally exhausted, the girl remained unconscious for many days, completely unaware of the chaos that ensued after the defeat of the avatar of the god of the void. Of course for the same reason, the girl was also unaware that the power balance in the continent had changed completely. Still, chaos or whatnot, it’s not something that a girl that’s not even fifteen yet should concern herself with.
Normally, a person’s body that had been sleeping for many days should have starved or was near starvation after not receiving nutrition for so long. And yet, the girl’s unconscious body remained healthy. Also, dust and dirt should have covered her body by now but for some reason, she remained clean and pristine as if someone was taking care of her.
But how could that be? Chaos had sent her into the mysterious space on her own so who could possibly took care of her needs while she was unconscious? In reality, the girl was indeed not alone inside the mysterious space. When Chaos sent the girl in that space, he also sent someone there to take care of her.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
In the darkness footsteps could be heard and a shadowy figure could be seen approaching the sleeping girl. The shadowy figure then stopped at a few feet from the girl, observes her for several seconds before walking towards a nearby rock to sit down.
“She should be waking up right about now,” said the mysterious figure. It was a man’s voice. Calming, composed, and pleasant to the ears – that’s how the mysterious man’s voice sounded.
Moreover, as if on cue, one of Rennel’s fingers twitched ever so slightly. And then soon after the girl let out a soft moan before slowly opening her eyes. The girl has finally woke up after days of sleeping.
“What happened? Where am I?” Rennel softly asked to particularly no one before moving her eyes without getting up to scan her surroundings. Despite the fact that it was dark without a single ray of light, the girl could still see clearly thanks to the effect of her ‘seed’.
“You’re finally awake. I’ve been waiting for you,” the mysterious man suddenly spoke, greatly startling the girl who suddenly stood up only to sit down again due to sudden nausea. While groping around, Rennel felt a cold, long, hard object on the floor. It was her spear, Jade Thorn.
Although still feeling slightly nauseous, Rennel forced herself to speak while gripping her spear tightly. “Who’s there?” She asked loudly.
“Calm down. There’s no need to be so alarmed. I’ve no intention of causing you harm,” the mysterious man clarified seeing how the girl acted.
Rennel followed the voice and saw a mysterious person wearing a cloak that covered his entire body including his face seating on a rock. But since the man was seating, Rennel could not tell how big or stall he is. She could only tell that he was a man based on the shape of his body and his voice.
“Like I said already… I mean you no harm,” the man repeated after seeing that the girl remained extremely vigilant.
Although Rennel didn’t fully believe the mysterious man’ words, her vigilant did ease up a bit. That said, her guard was still fully up just in case the mysterious man does anything. The mysterious man on the other hand could only shake his head and raise both of his hands as if to show that he didn’t have a weapon on him.
Seeing this, Rennel realized that she might have overacted a bit but considering her current situation and the event that leads to it, her vigilance was actually considered justified. Using her spear as support, the girl slowly stood up while not taking her eyes away from the mysterious man.
After adjusting her balance, the girl spoke to the mysterious man again,” Who are you?” She asked.
The mysterious didn’t answer the girl’s question right away but instead also stood up, before giving the girl an elegant bow. “My name is Rance,” the mysterious man replied. “I was summoned her by our teacher to take care of you,” the man explained further.
Hearing the name ‘Rance’ and phrase ‘our teacher’, Rennel was slightly in daze. She had heard her teacher, Chaos, mentioned that name before. No, rather than call it a mention, the word complain would be better suited. That’s because if she remembered correctly, Rance was the name of her teacher’s most troublesome student!
Unfortunately, that’s the only thing she knew about the person in question as her teacher didn’t clarified when he called him troublesome. And this was despite her best effort of trying to convince Chaos.
Beyond her expectation, she actually met that ‘troublesome’ student…
****
“Rennel,” the girl returned the man’s gesture and also bowed a little. After that introduction she didn’t say anything else and just looked curiously at the mysterious man named Rance. Unbeknownst to her though, there was a strange expression on her face that didn’t escape Rance’s notice.
The mysterious man also stared at the girl for a little bit before speaking, “Judging by your expression, you seemed to know a little about me. Teacher should have mentioned something about me during a conversation if I’m not mistaken. And if I'm to be presumptuous, your expression of me… should not be that good, correct?”
Being easily read by a stranger even if that stranger was a fellow student, her senior even, made Rennel flustered. She wanted to deny the man’s accusation but could not find the right words to say.
“Hahaha… Its fine, its fine... Teacher is someone like that. He could be very tight-lips but from time to time he would let some things slip. Still, was it on accident or did he let some information about me on purpose? Knowing his personality, I think it’s the second reason. And if my guess is right, he probably planned our meeting from the very start,” Rance said in a playful manner. “That said I was a little surprise when I found an unconscious girl in this place.”
Rennel’s eyes widened after hearing the mysterious man’s words. “Teacher planned our meeting since some time ago? What do you mean by that?” The girl asked with a confuse look on her face.
“Aye. Teacher seemed to consider me an assistant of sort and would often send me to his other students to train them in his place. Not that I mind since I like to travel and meet new people,” Rance explained. “That said, I think it’s a little too early for you to meet me. At minimum, teacher would wait till his student reached third awakening before passing them to me. But as I see it you've only attained second awakening. However, since something unexpected crops up that forces teacher to advance our meeting, it couldn’t be helped.”
The girl tried to digest what the mysterious man had said. As Rance revealed a lot of information despite not saying much, Rennel needed a bit of time to take it all in.
“Where’s teacher now?” Rennel finally asked after understanding the situation. This was her greatest concern. As she lost consciousness after being thrown into a space crack, she didn’t know how the battle ended or what happened to Chaos.
“Teacher allowed his avatar to dissipate after destroying the avatar of the god of the void. Right now all the knowledge and memories he accumulated from his travels should have returned to his real body that’s currently slumbering.” Rance answered.
Surprise could be seen in the girl’s eyes after hearing that Chaos’ real body was slumbering. “Our teacher’s real body is… slumbering?” She asked.
“That’s right. It has been slumbering for who knows how long now,” Rance confirmed. “With the exception of yours truly; none of our fellow brothers and sisters has seen teacher’s true form yet. Not because teacher didn’t want to see them but because they weren’t eligible to see him as they haven’t reached the required level yet – only by gaining the ability to enter ‘Chaos’ could they meet Chaos.”
“Only be gaining the ability to enter ‘Chaos’ could they meet Chaos? What’s that even mean?”
Rance could tell that his words only serve to confuse the girl further but didn’t attempt to give more clarification as he wanted the girl to figure what his words really mean on her own.
Not hearing further explanation from Rance, the girl knew that she couldn’t rely on him to clarify her confusion. Crossing her arms the girl wracked her brain to the point that it’s starting to hurt but as she was about to give up, she remembered Chaos’ last words before passing out.
“Look for me at the beginning and the end of everything: Chaos.”
Rennel knew that the word ‘Chaos’ wasn’t just referring to her teacher but to something else entirely. Probably a place somewhere in the cosmos…
“Teacher probably wanted me to go to that place called Chaos…,” Rennel though to herself. “But judging by this mysterious senior’s words, that place isn’t a place that one could go and leave as one pleases without reaching a certain level.”
And if Rance was to be believed, aside from him, none of teacher’s other student reached that level yet. Just how dangerous is that place that even Chaos’ other students that were most likely far more powerful than Rennel couldn’t go there whenever they wanted?
“With my current power, I should be one of the weakest of teacher’s student,” Rennel thought. She then secretly glanced at Rance for second before lowering her eyes. “Since he could go to where teacher is does that make this senior the most powerful amongst teacher’s students? Yes, that should be the case…”
“Senior, what should I do next?”
As Chaos sent the mysterious Rance to replace him, Rennel thought that this senior should be responsible in teaching her. And she’s right. Rance was indeed tasked to teach the girl in Chaos’ place.
Rance examined Rennel for several seconds with his eyes after hearing the girl’s question which made the girl fidget a little in embarrassment. Of course Rance is simply examining her physical condition to ensure that she’s fit to train, and has no other thoughts beside that.
“You seem to have reached a certain threshold that makes you eligible for a third awakening. We shall focus on that first,” Rance answered. “After that we shall return to the continent.”
****
While Rennel was trying to breakthrough to the next level with the help of her mysterious senior, the political landscape and power balance on the entire continent had experienced a shift after the appearance and defeat of the avatar of the god of the void.
The four major churches for example had lost a lot of their influence due to the action of the gods they worshipped. Although the four churches are still powerful thanks to their thousands of years of inheritance and influence, it couldn’t be compared to what it was before.
Being forced back to their remaining sanctuaries by the angry mobs, the nobles, and royalties that had long been displeased with their interference, the religion of the four major churches could only lick their wounds as they bid their time in their holy cities.
Besides the churches, the angry mobs also did not spare the aristocrats and the royalties. This was especially true in regions where the peasantries are often maltreated by the nobility and members of the royal families. Taking advantage of the chaos, many leaders of the commoners and peasantries in said regions rallies the populace to overthrow their kings and the aristocrats adding more to the chaos and turmoil.
Still, it can’t be said that the effect of the news was really negative. Although there were chaos everywhere after the news disseminated, the four major churches losing much of their power and influence, and abusive aristocracy and royalties being overthrown left and right might actually be for best interest of the people in the continent. So depending on who you ask, they would even say that the overall effect was more positive than negative.
Also, one of the biggest effects of the news was that the wars that had been raging for years finally stopped. For example, the war between the Kingdom of Forst and Almena had finally stopped as both kingdoms have bigger threats in the form of the Sect of the Void.
Yes, the warring kingdoms finally understood that the biggest threats to their survival were not their neighboring kingdoms but an organization that was powerful enough to threaten them all. If not for the accidental discovery of the vessel for the god of the void, everyone would still be in the dark of how much of a threat the sect has become because of their negligence.
Thankfully it wasn’t too late yet. Although the god of void had succeeded in descending into the world, it was stopped by a mysterious god before it could even start devouring the world. Nonetheless, they’re fully aware that they couldn’t always to depend on some otherworldly being to save them every time.
What if the next time it happened they weren’t so lucky? Could they only some power hungry god devour their world? No they could not. As the inhabitant of the world, it falls to them to protect their home. As such, most power in the continent set aside their differences and worked together to destroy the threat that was the Sect of the Void.
But aside from the Sect of the Void, they must also remove one of the biggest tumors that could threaten them at any moment – the four major churches!
Yes, majority of people in the continent considered the four churches as a tumor after the god they were worshipping unhesitatingly abandoned their world when it was facing one of its biggest threats yet. Since their gods abandoned their world, how could they allow the four churches to continue existing?
It was for this reason that they didn’t tried to stop but instead hastened the dissemination of the news that the four administrators had abandoned them all despite fully knowing what the effect of the news would be. For the people behind the scene, if they could destroy the four churches once and for all, then any sacrifice was worth it. It’s because only after the threat of the four churches are neutralized could they focus on destroying the Sect of the void.
And so while chaos ensued, a new chapter opened for the continent, nay, the world…
****
To be continued
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