Veritas read the Origin of his black blade and pondered Death's story. Something so Divine is not for a mortal to know about. But here he was, reading more on to Death.
He moved on to the text underneath the Origin, which read the Description of Nihlity.
[Description:
A black blade born Death itself.
The Sovereign of Skulls once used this, the Windblessed once used this, the King of Abyssal Origins once used this, the Crowned Dreamless once used this, and now.. the Visionshaper holds Nihility in his hands.
Nihility can kill anything it touches, but.. it solely relies on the strength of the user. Although high-ranked, Nihility is aligned with the user's Soul, making its rank whatever their Soul Rank is but not further surpassing the Lost Soul's initial rank.
Once held, Nihility takes form based on the user's preference, perfectly suiting it to its wielder. ]
Upon staring at the runes, Veritas could not help but be curious about the Pathbearers that the description mentioned.
The Skull King was an entirely unfamiliar Path for him, no history books, no records, and no statements mentioning that name anywhere. As for the Windblessed, that individual was once a distinguished King of Elrod, leading the kingdom throughout many perils and wars.
The royalty of Elrod looked up to the Windblessed but the history that came after his reign was unknown, as if it had been erased from the books.
Veritas guessed that the timeline between the Windblessed' rule and the Crowned Dreamless rule was not quite far off.
But why was it that there were no records of the Queen of Elrod, especially due to its uniqueness because of the patriarchal rule?
It was weird..
Nonetheless, another familiar name appeared from the description.
The King of Abyssal Origins was another King of Elrod. He ruled the kingdom right after the Windblessed and served for quite a long time, eventually dying of old age.
As far as Veritas knew, the King of Abyssal Origins was best known for his sole voyage of the Abyssal Sea. He traversed the great waters in search of the Depths Soul.
A type of Lost Soul that belonged for those that lived in the Seven Layers of Hell.
Some may say that the King of Abyssal Origins had even managed to descend down the first layer of Hell and lived to tell the tale! But as time passed by, the stories were more fabricated and exaggerated for the entertainment of the masses.
But the truth was he really did descend down, but it was only for a couple of months before he returned. As the reports stated, once he returned, the King of Abyssal Origins was no longer the same man.
Which brings it back to the most mysterious and unknown user of Nihility, the Crowned Dreamless.
If it were the Veritas of the past, he would've been completely clueless about it. But now, he experienced a very surreal dream that he lived through.
It is by far the most intriguing experience that he'd ever had.
Not only did he live through an entire age and apocalypse but he also witnessed the end of a reign!
But nothing came after that, actually, it was all blank after the King of Abyssal Origins' rule.
No one knew what had happened nor what transpired after. The most recent notable King in their history of royals was the Zephyr, which is Veritas' great great grandfather.
If Veritas were to assume the years between the Crowned Dreamless and the Zephyr then it would've been almost 700 or so years!
'Thinking about it, the age of the Zephyr was almost 300 years ago by now. This year, it will be marked as a 1000 years if my estimations are correct..'
The gap between the Crowned Dreamless and the Guidance's rule was nearing 100 years! Well, it was based on Veritas' calculations and based on the dates that he read in the records.
But still, he vaguely remembered the Queen's worry! It deliberately stated that it would take centuries or at least a millennium for the Sun God to completely heal from the damage that she dealt to THEIR Soul.
Now... centuries have already passed and a millennium is soon going to be reached!
'This is bad..'
Upon realizing that everything aligned coincidentally, ranging from the Veritas' Vision about Elrod's ruin, the Puppeteer's massacre, a speculated Faceless Apocalypse that is brewing, and now.. the thousand year mark of the Seraphim of Feeling's death!
Veritas felt dread looming deep within him.
He had no more time to mess around and he needed to focus on the task at hand. Additionally, he knew that the Tournament was a facade for something much sinister, but he could not quite discern what it is..
'Just what is the Student Council planning?'
After the second stage, Veritas prepared to investigate the Student Council. Initially, he was going to do it alone but now that his brother was here.. thing's were much more different!
Getting the help of the smartest person in the kingdom would surely bear great fruits!
Feeling focused, Veritas stared at the skills of his Lost Soul.
[Passive Skills:
(1) Death's Touch.
- Inflicting a wound, scrape, or graze upon an individual will leave a mark of Death, spreading a lethal black fluid to flow until the individual is met with the concept of Death. Upon receiving the concept of Death, the individual will turn lifeless and die immediately.
(2) Suitability.
- The blade matches its power with the user's Soul, changing its rank to whatever Soul the user possesses. However, the rank may not exceed the Lost Soul's initial rank and once held by a Pathbearer or higher, then the Lost Soul will be optimized to its max potential as an Empyrean.
(3) Killing.
- You can kill anything and everything. However, if an opponent bears a higher rank than you, then it is impossible for you to kill them. Upon raising your rank, even concepts itself can be killed.]
[Active Skills:
(1) Physical Death.
- You can turn your slashes into physical manifestations of Death, making it projectiles for long-ranged combat.
(2) Weaponshift.
- You can change the shape of your Lost Soul at will.]
Veritas already read these but it was nice to be refreshed about what Nihility could do.
He had not used it in real battle yet and did not plan to do so. A simple cut from Nihility would cause instant death!
So, Veritas stayed with his old Wind Blade.
It suited him very well so there was no complaining on his part.
He dismissed his runes and looked at the direction of his partner, Jade.
She did not look as flustered as before and she regained her composure, looking calm as if focusing on something in front of her.
'Is she also reading her runes? She must've noticed me doing it out of boredom so she replicated my actions..'
With that, Veritas stood up and walked towards her, careful as to not interrupt her.
His soft-spoken voice resounded inside the cave.
"Are you fully rested?"
As if dismissing something in front of her, Jade waved her hands and looked towards Veritas.
"Yes.. I'm alright now.."
"That's good, we'll take off tomorrow morning. For now, you should get some sleep, I'll take first watch."
Not that anyone could ever find the cave, of course.
"Sure.. I guess I'll do that."
Veritas backed off and walked back to his corner, noticing her tucking herself with blankets and laying down on her sleeping bag.
'She's really well prepared for the wildlife situation huh..'
Veritas did not bring a sleeping bag with him, only a couple of survival tools but the lack of comfort could be easily fixed by a cushion of winds.
Hearing the embers of the cozy campfire, he stared at it meagerly and was reminded of his time at the Ruins of Orph.
Every time he thought of that place, his memories seemed to become hazy. It was as if something was preventing him from remembering.
And it was the same scenario as the Dream! His memory of the Tree of Life and Death was mostly hazy.
Something was up.. but Veritas could not think properly when he tried to deduce it.
So, in the end, he gave up and forgot about the whole ordeal. Even his subconscious does not record about the peculiar occurrences so Veritas was led to forget the issue.
He stared at the campfire and felt its cozy heat radiating in the cave. Usually, this was bad because the oxygen inside could potentially run out.
But as the Whisperer of the Winds, Veritas made sure that the air flowed naturally and steadily.
It was to the point where he had been controlling the Winds passively, without the use of his skills. A major improvement when compared to a month ago!
He stared at the ambient cave and felt the warmth envelop his body.
A soft smile curled on his lips and he felt the nostalgic heat of the past.
'Let's see what happens tomorrow..'
Veritas kept watch solemnly in the quiet night.