I Can Copy And Evolve Talents

Chapter 1244: Truth of the Past [part 1]

[...]

Northern’s brows furrowed slightly.

’You don’t know, or you won’t say.’

[Impassable Command]

’Then how the...’

Northern paused, internally suppressing the will to curse.

’How do I make it passable, Aoi?’

[Become a Primordial?]

’Is that even possible?’

[I don’t know. What I do know is that authority level increases with your soul rank]

Northern was silent for a moment, thinking about what Aoi said. It added amidst the silence.

[The alternative of course would be continued research and investigation]

His eyes narrowed for a moment.

’Looks like I do have to visit the other wonders...’

Northern thought about the island that the academy used to be on. The place now lay in ruins after his battle with the Chaos Dragon and Rughsbourgh, but he suspected that the wonder of the place had to be beyond the Chaos Dragon that was imprisoned in the Sea of Crimson Clouds.

He wanted to believe that the Sea of Crimson Clouds might have been possible in the first place because of whatever wonder the island was. After all, there had to be a reason it was only reachable by airships.

But of course, he’d have to visit and properly inspect to know.

He straightened, looking at Anike, who was pale from surprise. She looked like any more elements of shock at this point were going to send her to her grave earlier than planned.

’Might need to dial it back before I accidentally kill her.’

Northern gave a genuinely grateful look.

"Thank you, Anike. Did I pronounce it right? Uhm, this really was helpful. I’m fortunate to have stumbled upon this place."

Anike smiled as though Northern was being cute.

"We are the grateful ones."

Northern’s gaze quickly gained a serious edge.

"But—"

"I know." She interrupted. "It’s not the reason why you are here in the first place."

Northern nodded.

She moved to the edge of the oasis island and sat down, her legs dangling down on its edges.

"Will you sit for a moment while we enjoy the fresh wind? They don’t come like this down there... you’d rarely get a flush of wind this fresh anywhere really."

Northern looked at her with a bit of concern as she settled down. But then he shrugged and also indulged himself. Instead of dangling his legs like her, though, he settled into a lotus position beside her.

Anike did not speak immediately. Instead, she closed her eyes, enjoying the cold night breeze gently caressing her smoothly and scarcely wrinkled face.

Northern just sat and stared awkwardly into the distance.

’Old ladies are tough to deal with... what’s the good of this?’

Maybe a time was going to come when he’d understand and also value the sentiment of sitting amidst clouds and relishing the cold wind. For now, though, he was absolutely clueless.

’Will it though? Can I even age?’

Anike’s voice came through just as he was about to dedicate another thought trail to answering that question.

"Your mother—I mean your adopted mother. When I first met her, it was almost two hundred years ago..."

Northern looked at her.

’Ah, that’s right. Mother is an elf! Does that mean!’

Anike smiled at his instantly widened eyes.

"No, we Seraphae are not elves. We are just different because of the River."

He nodded slowly in understanding.

"Ah, I see..."

A moment passed before another thought hit him.

’Wait... does that mean Shin is dating his great-grandmother worthy... geez, that guy certainly is weird. Well, I wouldn’t blame him... not with her wayward beauty.’

"Eisha was young and terrified, untrusting of others, always suspicious of everyone. She was incredibly strong too, a great healer. Her temper was equally as ferocious, and she usually set even the clouds on fire." Anike laughed softly, the memory clearly fond despite the violent imagery.

Northern curled a corner of his lips.

’So on point...’

Anike had just described the Eisha he grew up with. Before, he’d just thought she was feared by both him and Shin because she was the generalism of an iron-hand mother. Now that Anike was talking, Northern began to see that Shin’s fear of her and his fear of her at the time must’ve been worlds apart.

’Shin probably had actual reasons to be terrified. I just got the watered-down version.’

"It took a while for her to make friends—over fifty years, in fact. She was okay being alone. And she spent another fifty in perpetual self-sabotage that we all thought we couldn’t save her from. But thank Astrin we never gave up on her."

She smiled, and there was genuine warmth in it.

"I’m proud of who she has come to be. She raised you well."

Northern was silent. He was feeling a bit wistful because as Anike told him about his mother, his mind was replaying buried memories of his childhood in this world. They were so much and so meaningful that they had covered the ones of the old world. He barely remembered sometimes that he had actually lived once.

’Strange how that works. Two lifetimes, and one just... overwrites the other.’

Those memories made him remember something odd, though. The night he was found, just after everything had happened, after the heavy rain, Shin and Eisha strolled in as if they were the next characters of a movie scene. As if they’d been waiting for the brutal scene to end.

They strolled in—well, logically, kissed in—and found him.

’Very convenient.’

Of course, as a child, he had gone back multiple times but then never found any unnecessary traces. There were no bodies, which led him to believe those three sisters escaped somehow.

’Or someone cleaned up. Either way, too convenient to be coincidence.’

That monstrous knight was to demonic for those harmless sisters to have escaped it.

"It wasn’t a coincidence, was it?"

Anike gave him a little confused look.

"Was... what?"

"My mother and father finding me in that forest that day... it wasn’t a coincidence, was it?"

Anike had a bitter smile on her face.

"I guess it’s time I told you about your real grandmother, her tribe and the prophecy that preceded you."