As we walked back to the abode of the Medusae, we—my team and I—learnt a lot about this planet Xythris and its denizens. We also learned a lot about this dimension in general.
There were five races known as the overlord races of this planet and from their names, I could already immediately tell that these creatures were indeed evolved versions of the creatures from my dimension.
Medusae Espera, Celeris Lacerta, Rana Obscurus, Araneus Electra and Anguilla Viscera, all in Latin which when translated, literal meant; Esper Jellyfish, Swift-Tailed Lizard, Camouflage Frog, Electric Water Spider and Slime Eel respectively.
'That explains Noemie's ability. It must be something inherent to the race but probably only a few can awaken….'
We also learnt what the swamp was.
There were three major terrains on Xythris, a tropical rainforest kind of terrain which was where they currently were, a dry rainforest kind of terrain and a swamp-ish bog kind of terrain.
Each terrain was as large as what I estimated to be hundred of thousands kilometres and two of the three were occupied by the five overlord races, each one picking a territory.
The terrain that was left out was obviously the swamp bog, a land where according to Vaku,
"Survival Was An Art."
I could remember the fear in Vaku's eyes when he spoke about it, he didn't even want to talk about it.
"There is also the Lotus." Noemie suddenly said and the whole group of Medusae, who had been active in answering our questions earlier suddenly fell silent.
I could tell immediately that this was a sore spot, hence, I decided to take a hint and not ask any follow up questions.
At least Nerissa and I did.
"What is that?" Faris asked, earning him an immediate smack to the head from Nerissa.
Vaku also glared at Noemie who seemed to not be bothered. After chatting for a while, I was able to tell that for some reason, Noemie wasn't as respectful to Vaku as the rest of the Medusae were, instead, only a certain Ferelith, who's mere name seemed to make Noemie docile, had control over him.
"Why didn't you ask? I know you want to know."
I looked at Noemie, raising a brow at him. He immediately looked away, before replying reluctantly,
"Sorry, it just happened."
We came to an agreement that he wouldn't enter my mind as long as I didn't act hostile but it seems he can't fully control his abilities.
"Sometimes, you have to learn to take a hint. It is obvious that Vaku doesn't want to talk about it and it is a sore spot for your race."
I sighed and glanced at Vaku who was giving me a look of appreciation,
"But Vaku is only reluctant to tell you because he doesn't trust you."
Vaku stumbled and the rest of the Medusae nearly facepalmed but Noemie didn't seem to be affected at all.
"I trust you."
There was silence for a while before Vaku sighed.
"Ferelith will have my head for this," he began with a helpless chuckle before continuing.
"Xythris overlord races are just there for show. Planets have grades and Xythris is on the lowest level. To increase the level of your planet, the denizens have to earn faith from the tower but we can't for two reasons;..."
Although I couldn't understand some of Vaku's words, I kept quiet and continued listening to him. I knew it would make sense later on.
"The first is harmony. There is no cooperation amongst the overlord races and even within. Aside from us, the Medusaes, the other races don't even have a common organisation. They see it as a weakness and they form teams at most."
I could hear the anger in Vaku's voice. They must have tried to unite them but to no avail.
"And secondly, we are being colonised by a stronger race from a stronger planet."
At this, I raised my brows. I was finally getting the full picture and I have to say, I was more than intrigued. The first thing that came to my mind was 'why?'.
I wasn't new to the concept of colonisation, and if there is one thing I am sure of, it is the fact that if a stronger group wants to take control of a weaker group, it means that group has something special about it.
"The Cerebrum doesn't work alone, it has a subsidiary body which we call the lotus. The lotus is usually located at the center of the planet and grants a variety of boons like access to the metaverse, the enigmatic tower and…"
"The evolution pool." Noemie completed.
"So everytime you want to access these boons, you have to journey to the center of the planet?" Faris asked.
I also found it impractical. No matter how small, this was still a planet. Who knows how far from the center we are. Journeying to the center everytime is just unreasonable.
"No. Only when you want to access the evolution pool do you journey to the lotus. Aside from that, the other boons are accessible through the pillars." Vaku explained.
"But the pillars are impossible to access either."
"Due to the lack of faith, the races on Xythris are weak. Fighting a primitive creature is already a deadly endeavour and mutants are things of legends. A pillar releases a gentle wave of aether…"
"And aether attracts monsters?" Nerissa asked. I was also guessing the same thing. This aether was a mysterious force so it was only normal that it created some form of allure. After touching the core, I guessed as much.
"Yes. Hence all pillars are infested with monsters and powerful ones at that. And we can't even journey to the Lotus because that's where the enemy camp is."
"So basically, you all are sitting ducks on your own planet, stagnated while monsters keep getting stronger?" Faris asked. I wanted to face palm at how direct he was but I knew he was just stating facts.
"Yes." Vaku sighed.
It was quite the situation indeed. Now a lot of things seemed to make sense, one of which was how basic looking their weapons were even though they were effective.
Unfortunately, my teammates survival is of paramount to me, or I would have helped them.
"Well, now that you guys are here, you are in the same position too because without access to these boons, you'll be even weaker than us."
My heart went cold.