Death… And Me

Chapter 4525: Easier than Expected

Back in Dlaval, Thery’s group was brought to meet one of the High Elders of the Thousand-Script Sect. The disciples had clearly decided that a group containing two Law Gods was far beyond their authority to handle on their own, so they didn’t waste any time and directly reported their arrival to one of the higher-ups.

In the room, High Elder Sorano received them. "The disciples informed me about your group. My name is Sorano Concrua, a High Elder of the Sect. From what I heard, friend Thery and Arcis are both Law Gods. Is that correct?"

Arcis and Thery immediately began to control their laws, something that Sorano definitely noticed as he did the same for a short moment. The three of them released their power only briefly, but it was more than enough for a Law God to recognize another of the same realm. A few seconds later, all three stopped, and Sorano nodded, satisfied.

"Thank you for confirming it. Still, I have never heard about either of you two. Sure, there are quite a lot of Law Gods, but I think I would have known the other Thousand-Script Law Gods who aren’t from the Rosvelt Sect, at the very least."

"That’s because I’m a new Law God," Thery answered.

Of course, that was a lie. It was a good thing the other part could only confirm it if Thery allowed him to do so. For all intents and purposes, Thery was an Initial Stage Law God, and there was nothing about his current cultivation that should have raised any immediate suspicion. As long as he didn’t reveal too much about himself, Sorano had no way of knowing just how long he had actually been cultivating.

Sorano had his doubts, of course. His expression didn’t change much, but his eyes became slightly more focused as he examined Thery. "Is that so...? Then let me ask you, what made you suddenly decide to join our Thousand-Script Sect?"

He paused for a moment before continuing, apparently wanting to make his position clear.

"Don’t get me wrong. I can see that your bloodline is very thick, and it is definitely welcome. We need pure bloodlines to have more pure-blooded descendants. It is quite a delicate balance since we also have to worry about genetic variability. We often have marriages between our sect and the Thousand-Script Faction in the Rosvelt Sect exactly to prevent that kind of trouble."

Sorano leaned back slightly in his seat. "Nonetheless, it bothers me that only now that you are a Law God you decided to come to us. Are you sure you aren’t part of some other power, some other power wishing to cause trouble to my Thousand-Script Sect?"

Sure enough, the guy wouldn’t just say yes to Thery. The reason was simple: Thery might indeed be a Law God, but the Thousand-Script Sect had quite a few of them. Elder Sorano was one of them. They had no need to desperately acquire a new Law God Elder, especially since they knew nothing about Thery or his companions.

In fact, from Sorano’s perspective, someone suddenly appearing with such a powerful bloodline and claiming to have only recently reached the Law God Realm was precisely the kind of situation that required caution. It wasn’t impossible, but it was certainly suspicious.

"Your concerns are well founded, friend Sorano," Thery started. "The problem is that it won’t matter what I do; you have no way to really confirm that I’m not part of some other power. Anyway, the thing is that I’ve been pretty much alone with my companions here for many, many years, and we purposely avoided catching anyone’s attention."

Thery continued after a brief pause. "Truth be told, we also had no intention of joining any power, be it this sect or the faction in Rosvelt. We were intending to eventually build our own power."

Sorano nodded slowly. "And the reason you changed your mind was...?"

"History," Thery went straight to the point.

Too bad that reason only puzzled Sorano. His brows rose slightly, and for the first time since Thery entered the room, his suspicion was mixed with genuine confusion. "His...tory? What do you mean?"

Thery smiled. "I know I’m part of the Thousand-Script race like you, but I know nothing about the origins of my race. What I want in exchange for joining your sect is free access to the history of our race. Where do we come from? How did we get here? Where were we going? Things like that."

Sorano thought for a moment. He clearly hadn’t expected such a request. Of all the things a newly arrived Thousand-Script Law God could ask for, historical records were probably among the least valuable.

"Is that truly all you want to know? It doesn’t look like something that’s hard to provide since it doesn’t touch any of the sect’s secrets. In fact, if you had simply paid us enough, we could have revealed those records to you."

Thery was surprised to hear that. He had expected the sect to place far more importance on its history, especially since the Thousand-Script Race seemed to be so concerned about preserving its bloodline and maintaining its influence.

"I thought they would be pretty important for your sect."

Yet, Sorano continued, puzzled. "Well, it is nice to know more about the past, but what matters at the end of the day is strength, isn’t it? Unless knowing about the past could genuinely increase our strength, who cares how many people know about it? Of course, that’s only if this knowledge of the past doesn’t cause any trouble for us. Otherwise, we would indeed not allow it to come out."

Only then did Thery’s group remember something. Something that was the rule here, but pretty much forgotten outside.

In Woster, the concept of unity and shared efforts for the greater good didn’t exist. Everything they did was all about acquiring more and more power, standing at the top of the food chain, and living as long as possible. Unless there was some special connection between people, there was no such thing as fighting for everyone, only for oneself.

That difference in mentality was becoming increasingly obvious as they interacted with the various powers in Dlaval. Even something as important as the history of an entire race was treated as nothing more than information that could be sold if it wasn’t directly related to increasing one’s strength.

"Well... I thought that perhaps such knowledge could indeed make me get stronger. Have you never heard of this saying: Know your past to understand the present and build your future. Even if you say this kind of knowledge doesn’t have much use, I truly believe one can learn a lot from it, regardless of whether one acquires power or not."

Thery’s expression remained sincere as he said that. It wasn’t even entirely a lie. The history of the Thousand-Script Race could indeed contain clues about what had happened to them, and knowing those details could prove extremely valuable to their investigation.

Sorano sighed. "Alright, I’ll pretend that you are only interested in our race’s history as you are saying. If that’s truly the case, you are quite the weird bunch."

He shook his head slightly before continuing. "Now, that will also mean we will not give you any of our techniques, skills, or anything regarding the strength of our race, only historical events we have here. In exchange, you will have to work for us when necessary. Is that okay with you?"

"Feels like I’ll be watched constantly while here," Thery pointed out the obvious.

Sorano immediately smiled. "Would you let yourself free if you were me?"

"No, I wouldn’t," Thery agreed with Sorano.

"Good!" Sorano was satisfied.

That answer was precisely what he wanted to hear. At least Thery understood the position he was in and wasn’t going to make unreasonable demands. As long as he remained cooperative, there was no reason for the Thousand-Script Sect to make things unnecessarily difficult for him.

Then, finally, he turned to Arcis and Celis. "This friend here is also a Law God, while the other seems to be a subordinate of yours. What do you want here?"

Arcis shrugged. He didn’t seem bothered by the fact that Sorano was treating him as little more than an accompanying expert. "You can just let us stay in some forgotten corner and employ us as guest elders or some shit like that. We’re ultimately here to follow Thery’s orders, that’s all."

That surprised Sorano. His eyes moved between Arcis and Thery before he asked, "Under his orders? How come?"

Thery smiled. "Let’s just say they have received quite a good deal from me in the past. In any case, they won’t be of any concern. Just like they said, you can keep them in some far-away corner of your sect where you are sure they won’t cause any trouble. Of course, leave an exit for them to go out of the sect if they need it."

Sorano sighed in relief. If both Law Gods were truly willing to accept such an arrangement, it would save the sect quite a bit of trouble. At the same time, keeping them in a relatively isolated area would allow the sect to monitor them without making the situation unnecessarily hostile.

"If this friend Arcis is willing to accept such conditions, you definitely won’t hear any complaints from me. He also won’t receive any access to our secrets; keep that in mind."

Arcis didn’t mind, indeed. "I don’t think a Demon Bird like me or a Demon Plant like Celis would have much use for skills, techniques, and secrets of the Thousand-Script race anyway. We are just too different."

"Well, that’s true," Sorano agreed.

There was little reason to give Arcis access to their inheritance in the first place. Even if Arcis were genuinely interested, most of what the Thousand-Script Race cultivated wouldn’t be particularly useful to a Demon. Their bloodlines, bodies, and cultivation methods were simply too different.

Sorano then looked back at Thery. "As for you, I’ll have someone arrange a place for your group to stay. You will have access to our historical records, but remember what I said. You are free to investigate our past, but don’t assume that joining the sect gives you the right to interfere with anything else."

"Understood," Thery replied with a nod.

Sorano nodded in return. "Then there should be no problem. Maybe in the future, when you gain more of our trust, we can share some better things with you."

And so, Thery’s group joined the Thousand-Script Sect.