'I wonder if the elf has the treasure, or if he's lived here for as long as he claims perhaps he at least knows where it is.`
Limbo noticed that Rebecca was lost in thought, though he wasn't skilled at expressions he can easily tell she's scheming something judging by the blatantly obvious smirk she's wearing, but he ignored it thanks to the wealthy aura she gives off which could be useful to him.
'...Sigh, this Rebecca doesn't seem to be a people person, if I have to kill her then that would be a wasted opportunity to establish myself using her family's connections.`
'This elf doesn't look gullible and he certainly doesn't look forgiving, ahhh, sigh, if she makes a wrong move she will probably die, oh whatever if she dies then she can only blame her arrogance from being the favoured young lady of the mont family.`
Limbo noticed she is wearing the mont family crest, he took a few minutes memorising the crests of the important family's from the continents, which is why he is being formal hoping to get into her good graces and hitch a ride to a continent when he is ready.
"Come friends, let us go to my mansion and seek warmth from the night blizzards."
'I said that to give them comfort and develop our relationship from acquaintance to friend,
But most importantly my body isn't ready to withstand the harsh environment just yet.`
"Excuse me sir, but did you just say night blizzards, as in there are forest Wisps here, aren't they the guardians of nature."
"Indeed that is correct... umm what's your name."
"Ohh pardon my rudeness, I am the ninth son of the house of occupation, Alex triumph."
The triumph family is notorious for being a family that constantly breeds warlords naturally they are constantly fighting in wars across the world and many die that's why all the men have at least ten wives to maximise the breeding rate.
"Oh I didn't notice!"
Limbo noticed he's not wearing a family crest.
'He must be here in secret, I'd rather not incur the wrath of multiple family's in such a short time coming here, I'll have to find out if they informed there family's they're coming here.`
Limbo sent a message to his servant.
'Servant on the tree, find an opportunity to abduct the young woman wearing grey & black clothing, and force her to reveal information about why they came here and if anyone knows where they were going.`
A few minutes later.
'It seems the dark haired introvert looking woman, is highly sensitive to assassins or maybe just danger in general, even though my servant is a level 10, she can still sense my servants I'll intent.`
A few minutes later.
"Almost there friends."
'We're getting close to the mansion, kidnapping her seems unlikely while there are so many eyes, I think I will just separate them once we're inside and kidnap here when she is sleeping to make things easier.`
They arrived at the gates of the mansion.
"Wow, you're not kidding when you say you've lived here for a long time, a mansion like this would take decades to build."
"Oh my! You must be a king, how could you afford this."
"This is much more grand than the palace from the continent."
'Huh odd, the dark haired woman doesn't seem impressed by my house of solitude, perhaps she has an impressive background, I should try to find out.`
Limbo whispers to Michael.
"Do you mind informing me of your groups names, my memory is a bit fuzzy."
'An elf's life span is rather long even if he's at least 50 years old he's still just a child elf, but the aura he gives off makes me think he's older, but he doesn't look old enough to develop memory problems.`
"Sure! I am Michael caster we are sorcerers from an alchemy family, an ally of the
fire-Bolder kingdoms royal family, and that is Rebecca mont she is from a branch family of the mont family located in fire-Boulder kingdom, that is Alisha tang, she is from the branch tang hidden sect located in fire-bolder kingdom, and he is Alex triumph, he is from a family blessed by gods and destined to rule battlefields, although he is the ninth it's actually a high position in his family, because each generation has numerous children so in his family his authority is decent."
'So I have many important guests, and potential future servants, In total there is (Michael caster) (Alex triumph)
(Rebecca mont) (Alisha tang), offending them is definitely not good for me, and it explains her lack of shock after seeing my palace.`
'On second thoughts, servant abort the last order I gave you.`
'Yes master.`
The day passed happily, limbo or Achilles gave them a tour of his mansion and introduced a servant of his posing as the grand elder of the house of solitude, demonstrating his vast power and influence, they were thoroughly impressed, after that he took them to the dining hall to have a banquet to celebrate there meeting and build friendship, they ate a feast for a king consisting of jade apple, sun apricot and other exotic and legendary fruits that are thought to be rare if not extinct, after this they took the initiative to cement bonds by offering to introduce there families, this pleased limbo as this was his intention all along, also after the plot was called off Alisha stopped being so awkward and started opening up, limbo noticed she is an interesting woman, he also found she's quite cute after she lowered her guard and took off her mask.
the day passed peacefully but unbeknownst to limbo the gods had gathered for a crisis meeting.
Meanwhile in the jade palace. The jade emperor has summoned a few high ranking gods to discuss the sudden disappearance of a cosmic being.
The jade attendant speaks with a calm tone.
"My heavenly emperor, the high ranking gods have gathered in the throne room and await your arrival."
The jade emperor walks passed the attendant without acknowledging his presence.
The attendant smiles and doesn't even seem bothered.
'They've arrived quickly, that's good, at least they know there place, now lets see who made it first.`
The jade emperor looks upon the gods and begins identifying them.
'Hum. I can see.`
(Water god) (wood god)
(Fire god) (earth god)
(metal god) (war god)
*Snarl*
The jade emperor noticed four other gods were not there. Those gods being.
(Time god) (space god) (light god) (dark god)
'These gods are powerful, they should have been the first to arrive. In this palace and the holy domain, I am the strongest, unless the gods combine forces I will not be defeated.`
"Respected gods, let's get to the matter at hand, about the disappearance of the first and oldest cosmic being."
Gasp*
The water goddess mumbles.
"Oh my! Obviously I felt the disappearance of the ancient cosmic, when the universe stopped being pressured by archaic aura but to think it was limbo."
"Emperor! In your infinite wisdom I'm sure you know everyone is already aware of this occurrence and is devoting there efforts into finding out what happened. Though as for me I believe this matter to not be a simple one, though his essence has vanished, dormant may it be his soul power is still there, I the wood god theorise that the ancient one has voluntarily relinquished his immortality in pursuit of something he desires, which is why I have ordered my elven race to find an overly powerful low level being on the planet apex."
"Impressive! I would expect no less from you, the one who's intelligence is almost on par with the ancient himself, your analysis of the situation is well thought, you say powerful because there's no way any being of his level would give up immortality without making some assurances, and you mention apex because he himself looked over the creation of this planet, which indicates it holds importance to him."
'I should have suspected that he would scheme something, being in darkness alone for so long would drive anyone mad, I'm just surprised he decided to wait so long. Damn I should consult the time god for answers he might know something, after all he is one of the oldest beings the ancient created and knowing the mindset of a god, he would certainly introduce himself to one of his first creations. Perhaps I should summon the cosmic being spirit of nature, nature is his most beloved child, she should be informed of his mortality, in case of inconveniences.`
Jade emperor thought about it for a moment, before a cold sweat ran down his face.
'But then again it could be nothing and I wouldn't want to risk upsetting limbo and nature, if I do limbo might order his cosmic spirit children to break the laws of reality and I especially don't want to be consumed by the spirit of oblivion just because I was curious of limbo, maybe I should wait awhile for limbo to come back, and I can try asking him.`
The gods meeting ended early, the other gods were sceptical of why the jade emperor would decide to ignore the disappearance of limbo, but with the permeating powerful aura mixed with a slither of fear, they decided not to question him in case he thinks they are accusing the strongest god of being afraid, which would not be a wise decision.
Meanwhile in the house of solitude, morning has come, Michael Rebecca Alex and Alisha are making use of limbos God-like training grounds the arena, Michael is over at the enchanted weights section, Rebecca is trying to memorise the maps section of the library, Alex is studying the art of war written by the leaders of the modern century, Alisha is at the technique section of the library.
'Huh... she's quite bold, trying to master my techniques without my permission, mmm oh well it doesn't really matter, the important techniques are locked with a rune seal anyway so the only techniques she could learn are limited to ground or sky level, perhaps I should give her a teacher instead of punishing her, which will show my magnanimity and prove my wealth is endless, after all in this little continent most people don't even know about techniques, and only a few people will be able to get their hands on a ground tier technique.`
"Oh... hello Alisha I noticed you're having trouble putting this technique into practice."
'Eek, he caught me, but he doesn't seem angry, perhaps I should play it cool, he might even help me learn it.`
She tried to be calm, but her racing heart and the slight tremor gave her away
"Oh Achilles, I apologise for trying to learn your techniques without permission, but becoming a holder sounds to enticing."
'I assume a holder is someone who has mastered a technique.`
"It's perfectly okay, but aren't the tang clan famous for there weapons and techniques, shouldn't you have already learnt something."
Alisha gave a frown before she put on a poker face and spoke.
"Well yes I have learnt something, but it's not anything good, it's just a fragment of a lost technique, an incomplete ground tier technique [harbingers gaze], it allows me to see danger in colours."
"[harbingers gaze] Huh, I think I may have this technique somewhere around here."
Gasp* Alisha looks surprised.
'I don't see it, hmm I should ask a servant where it is.`
"I will assign you a teacher, servant step out of the shadows."
A servant dressed like a ninjutsu master suddenly appears behind Alisha.
Alisha is expressionless she was ready and waiting for something ridiculous to happen.
'Oh my. His servant is a level 10, and this is no ordinary level 10 either.`
"Master I await your orders."
"Teach her the [harbingers gaze]... in under a week."
As if expecting this, his servant did not even try to protest to this seemingly impossible order. And with that limbo walked over to Michael after glancing at Rebecca and deciding to let her memorise the maps, these maps have even the unexplored areas like the undead city fully mapped out, this is extremely valuable stuff however limbo was not indeed of wealth.
"Hey Michael need help."
"Oh Achilles, did you inscribe these yourself?"
'Well I did. But you wouldn't believe me without a demonstration, and I don't have enough soul power to inscribe these again.`
"No... the grand elder inscribed these runes, but I also understand runes, if you'd like I could guide you."
"Really I... cough, actually I should learn it myself but I appreciate the offer."
'Haha, he sounded excited for a moment there, he's from a knowledgeable family, he probably doesn't want me to think less of him, as if you a lowly human of meagre intellect could possibly comprehend the infinite knowledge of myself. Hahaha.`
"Well I wish you luck, oh btw the library could help you with comprehending the runes."
Limbo inwardly mocked him as he walked away.
'The way he spoke and the stiff smile, it's as if he was mocking me. Humph you think I can't learn it, well just wait and see.`
'Damn, it's as if I'm running an academy, they keep looking through my stuff without permission.`
An idea popped into limbos head.
[soul warp] limbo disappeared in a white flash
"Time to have some fun."
1 hour later.
the palace gave a warning.
"YOU HAVE EXCEEDED YOUR WELCOME, PLEASE LEAVE THE ARENA OR I THE HOUSE OF SOLITUDE WILL ERASE YOU."
Startle*
"Huh, What was that?."
'Is that elf messing with us.`
"Hey we should leave here, I can see red all over the room, excuse me teacher."
"Yes."
"Is this really the house of solitude talking."
The servant stood there for a moment as if he was consulting himself, before he answered.
"Indeed, the master of this mansion is not an ordinary person, if he felt like it he could bestow a certain title on anyone or thing, instantly making them a higher being he is not to be trifled with".
While saying this his servant was filled with pride, but kept a stern appearance.
She didn't know this, but limbo had the ability to grant cosmic powers as long as there is an open seat, for example if the spirit of earth was to be destroyed it would be limbos job to find a new spirit otherwise limbo would have to reabsorb the spirit of earths powers, along with his duty, and he doesn't want to be tied down by being another cosmic entity even if there is a perk like omnipotent power, limbo is a person with simple needs one of them is he likes being entertained.
Hi servant knew this, and when she was quiet she was actually receiving orders to make them fear and respect him.
Limbo lacks common sense so he was painfully unaware that they already envied his life, mainly because of his wide variety of knowledge in the art of runes, formations and techniques, as being an array master is basically the difference of treatment much like a commoner and a king, formations were constantly used in daily life such as, [water generation] for showers and baths, [temperature change] for bathing water or boiling water for food, [metal manipulation] to control weapons or to aid in the creation of weapons, [searing metal] to soften metal in the quenching process, and countless others.
As this was going on Michael caster was thinking 'perhaps I should ask him to be my master, I could learn a lot from him, although I doubt he would help just anyone.` Michael was desperate to make a plan to be accepted by Achilles.
Following the orders the house of solitude gave, they left the arena.
Not long after they left... though they don't want to admit it they feel deep shame over there display of greed in front of an old master,
Next morning.
*Yawn*
Michael opens his eyes to a pure white decorated ceiling, he admired it and thought, 'wow... even the royal family's artisan and architect wouldn't give such a serene feeling, it's as if all my worries are like a drop of impure liquid falling into the vast ocean and dispersing into nothingness, though this may be related to the [tranquility] formation I noticed engraved into the crevices of the walls.`
Michael quietly mutters
"Humph... even these simple formations seem to be more profound than my caster family's research on the exact same ones."
10 minutes later.
The frustrated sounds of Michael echo through the halls.
"I DON'T UNDERSTAND..."
He lets out a long deep sigh.
"Perhaps I'm just not meant to walk the path of a formation master, these runes comprising the formation seem ordinary and the composition formula is not special, there must be another key factor to these arrays."
*Knock 3x*
"Excuse me guest. The master has summoned you to his study."
Moments later.
Michael arrived and opened the door to find Achilles in the middle of engraving a formula into a tablet.
"Hello... I'm sure you've speculated why I've called for you Michael."
Michael holds back from stupidly grinning.
Cough* "yes I am confident in my assumption."
"Good. Our lessons will be over in 1 month, you're now a 3rd order array master considering this I am confident of making you a fifth order array master."
Michael caster was shocked by this declaration and naturally so, as a fifth order array master is extremely rare and anyone who can surpass this is considered a heaven defying talent which explains why he was stunned by Achilles since all it would take is a month, this means Achilles has likely surpassed the fifth order.
'Every day in discovering something new, but how come I've never heard of him before. Perhaps achilles is a false name, or maybe he has just stayed and grown up here, I can't think of anything else... I'm willing to bet even his worst profession is enough for him to spread him name throughout islands and even holy domains.`