Half a month passed quickly. I spent most of my time sparring with Farbauti at the mansion to give me pointers and hone my skills after the increase in my power. Climbing the two sets of stairs increased both my physical and spiritual powers greatly, and if I didn't get familiar with it, it would be uncontrollable and in turn limit the intensity of my attacks.
Once again, Farbauti proved to be the perfect warrior. I don't know how a man could fight brutally, offensively, and defensively at the same time without one aspect overshadowing the other. Mimir, talking while we sparred, even revealed that Farbauti has mastered every weapon available in history.
While the training routine he prepared mostly involved practicing with a sword, he made me train with a battle axe, daggers, twin swords, shields, and spears. He even made me use my fists. Little by little, I was improving and becoming better at fighting, with or without a weapon.
Most of my free time was spent in the library, reading books, spells, and techniques. Honing the mind was just as important as correctly swinging my sword, or else I would be just another mindless brute holding a sword.
Once, I learned an illusion technique that would turn me invisible, and I tried to cast it in front of Starlet, the Mansion Spirit, to see if I could get a book out of his precious library. Naturally, it didn't work and I got slapped as a consequence, and Richard just had to be watching. He kept laughing at it for an entire day.
On this day, none of my senior brothers and sisters were in the library, so it was just me and Starlet. I was holding a book in one hand and went to lean on one of the lamps on the wall. The action was purely out of instinct, but the lamp was pulled down like some sort of lever.
Thinking that I broke it, I turned to Starlet and prepared to face his wrath, but the spirit was frozen in place. I took a step toward him to examine the situation, blinked once, and found myself in a dark place.
Raising an eyebrow, I cast a spell with my wand to produce light. It turned out that I was on a declined and narrow staircase, and judging from the thick layer of dust on the walls, it may have been centuries since anyone stepped there.
Having no other option, I went down the stairs and soon was in a round hall that had a short ceiling. It was awfully empty, except for the tome hovering in its center.
"My my," Pangu exclaimed. "What a surprise!"
"It's been a while since you last talked, that's unlike you," I said with a raised eyebrow.
"Frankly, I was afraid you'd ask Richard to cast a spell to take away my voice if I continued to blabber."
I shifted my gaze back to the tome and asked, "What is this?"
"The tome is called the Threads of Fate," Richard said, suddenly appearing beside me. "A secret creation of mine. And when I say secret, it means that no one, not even the Spirit of Yggdrasil, knows of its existence."
"Pangu seemed to know..." I said.
"No I didn't," Pangu replied, "But I did sense that it was related to fate itself. I didn't know you had the ability to create such a thing, Richard. From what I know, it's not something anyone can create."
"What's so special about it?" I asked, getting more confused with each passing moment.
"The tome collects prophecies, as in every prophecy that has been issued by any seer since the beginning of time is recorded in it. Furthermore, it can issue prophecies by itself like a seer," Richard explained slowly.
"Aren't there nine books that held prophecies?"
"The Sibylline Books, yes," he nodded and continued, "They were similar, but they only recorded the prophecies by Sibylla herself. This one could even be considered a copy of mine, albeit a lot simpler."
"You taught her how to create the book? Richard, this is madness," Pangu said with some disbelief.
"I wanted to see what effects if someone other than me would be capable of such a feat, but unfortunately, it was a failure. Besides, I indirectly taught it to her through her dreams. Naturally, I also wiped out the knowledge on how to create one after that."
"You obviously tried this with several other people, so I'm now curious if anyone managed to create such a book," said Pangu.
"No, no one did. Besides, even if someone did manage to succeed, I would have destroyed them immediately."
"Why do you specifically hide it here?" I asked.
"This place exists out of time, and within a special space. I have to tether it to the real world, and it was so for thousands of years without it being discovered because no one that lives here has a habit of leaning on lamps while reading a book."
I smiled as he continued, "If it fell in the hands of any normal person, let alone an enemy, it would be a disaster. Moreover, if Yggdrasil simply knew of the tome's existence, it would immediately destroy the universe."
"If it is so precious, don't you think you should put some defenses?"
He smiled and asked another question in response to mine, "Do you think you would be here if I did not let you in?"
"Then why am I here? I can't think of anything good that could come from knowing about this now."
"You will understand the significance of this finding in time," he replied. I was silent for a moment and was contemplating whether to ask the question in my mind or not, to which he noticed and said, "Ask your question."
"Are you a seer, Richard?" I finally asked. I had been thinking about this for a long time now, but I didn't know how to bring the topic up.
He remained silent and then slowly shook his head. I wanted to ask about how he made Threads of Fate, but after some thought, I found it best not to ask. Richard was, after all, the ruler of the universe, and if he didn't have this kind of knowledge, who would?
Just as I was prepared to leave, Richard suddenly said, "You have to swear an oath, Orion."
I turned to him and asked, "What's an oath going to prevent? It's just empty words."
"No, they are not. When someone makes an oath, they are binding themselves to an authority higher than Yggdrasil's. I don't know whose, but even I cannot go back on an oath, as even I, with my immortality, would die when breaking one."
I gulped and said, "What do you want me to swear?"
He told me the words and I swore, "I, Orion Fistore, swear on my life that any knowledge regarding Threads of Life will be kept to myself unless I have the permission of the Lord of Chaos. If I violate my oath, let my soul be scattered and each part feel unending pain, and never to be revived."
I took a deep breath and I could feel that I was bound to something now. "Happy now?"
"I am," he nodded. "Now it's your turn, Pangu."
"You don't trust me, after all this time?" Pangu asked, and from his tone, it was clear that he felt hurt.
"I trust you, but this matter's significance does not simply depend on trust."
"Fine!" Pangu grumbled and reluctantly swore the same oath, to which Richard nodded, and some relief could be seen in his eyes.
Richard teleported us back to the library, and time was still frozen as Starlet was in the same position before I left. As for our Lord, he was nowhere to be seen, so It was just me, Pangu, and Starlet in the library again.
Then, everything returned to normal.
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Updated on 20/3/2025