Chapter 883 Four Pillars: The True Apparatus
Chapter 883 Four Pillars: The True Apparatus
“Something special…” Valyr muttered to himself, soon recalling the ethereal state he was in while fighting against the Lee twins back in the Gates of Awakening. “Are you talking about that otherworldly state I was in?”
“Nah, that part is just a bonus of absorbing the Shard of Defiance,” replied Vaughn, leaving the young man slightly surprised. “In fact, there’s a way to willfully harness its powers, but let’s save that topic for after this conversation.”
“In any case, what I mean about the Shard of Defiance being special is…”
“Something I can’t really talk about,” said the man with a bitter smile.
Seeing Valyr frown in response to his words, the man’s smile turned even more bitter as he scratched the back of his head.
Getting the feeling that the young man was thinking that he was beating around the bush on the real answer, a hint of hesitation flashed on Vaughn’s face before he eventually made a decision.
Whoosh!
Raising one of his hands up in the air, Vaughn released a bit of his energy before transforming it into a barrier that surrounded the two of them.
Then, after closing his eyes, an intangible energy began to suffuse throughout the barrier, causing a bit of sweat to appear on the man’s forehead.
Watching this change happen to the barrier in real time, Valyr felt as if the barrier was separating the two of them from the Gates of Transcendence at first.
Though, as more and more time passed, this feeling of isolation grew more intense, eventually reaching a point where it felt like they had been isolated from everything possible.
“Haah… This is the least I can do for a descendant of mine who’s willingly taken up my task.”
Taking a few deep breaths to compose himself, Vaughn soon looked at Valyr before giving him an apologetic smile. “I don’t know how much information the system is going to obtain from this, but I’ve reduced the chances of it picking up the important parts as much as possible.”
“Huh?” Just as he thought that he would understand the situation from this point onward, Valyr was left confused once more, slightly tilting his head as he looked at Vaughn for an explanation.
“There’s no easy way for me to phrase this, but…” Seeing the anticipation in the young man’s eyes, Vaughn inwardly let out a sigh. “Though the Apparatus only collects all of the information on those that have the Authority stat, the same can’t be said for conversations.”
“Throughout the entire universe, there’s no conversation the Apparatus can’t pick up.”
At those words, Valyr continued to look at the man in confusion for a bit, mulling over the information he had been given.
Fortunately, it did not take long for him to understand what Vaughn was telling him, his eyes slightly widening in realization as he was being introduced to yet another side of the system he hadn’t known as a player.
“You’re telling me… the information you couldn’t talk about just now is something the Apparatus would… get angry about?”
“Not just get angry about,” replied Vaughn with a serious expression. “If I didn’t conjure this special barrier and continued blabbering about it without even thinking about the consequences…”
“There’s no doubt in my mind that the entire galaxy Veldanyr is in would’ve been wiped out without a trace.”
“Hiss…” Sucking in a breath of cold air at those words, Valyr took a while to compose himself before asking Vaughn how the system had such an ability.
In response, Vaughn flashed a wry smile as he conjured a wisp of energy that Valyr was too familiar with.
“Mana…” muttered Valyr the moment he saw it, easily getting an idea of what Vaughn meant by the action.
“It’s not called omnipotent and omniscient in the oaths we make for nothing,” said the man in response, giving the young man time to process the information he’d given.
By the time a few minutes had passed, Valyr let out a long exhale as he went through all of the thoughts that lingered in his mind.
Though the information he had gotten in regards to Veldanyr, Vaughn, and his true identity so far had shocked him, it was still something he could eventually understand. After all, it was more or less related to the body he had possessed in the first place.
However, the same could not be said for the information Vaughn had just dropped on him.
‘The Authority stat, the omniscience of the Apparatus…’ inwardly murmured Valyr to himself. ‘At this point, I’m seriously beginning to doubt that Greater Beyond is just a normal game.’
At those words, the young man recalled the final battle in his past life, causing a wry smile to creep up onto the edges of his lips.
‘Then again… I should’ve already thought about that back when the final battle had erupted.’
“Haah…” Taking a few deep breaths to compose himself, Valyr soon turned to look at Vaughn, feeling that he could now continue where their conversation left off.
“So… what about the Shard of Defiance makes it special?”
“Concepts that you wouldn’t understand at your current level,” replied Vaughn. “However, it has something to do with the task that comes after you killing those two Arbiters.”
Seeing Valyr look at him with furrowed brows, Vaughn gave an apologetic smile. “This task is the actual task that I’ve started. Having you kill the two Arbiters was just something I did in passing.”
At those words, Valyr let out a low sigh. “What’s the actual task, then?”
“I’m not expecting you to make progress anytime soon,” replied Vaughn. “But the task I want you to complete in my stead…”
“…Is to destroy the Apparatus.”
“…”
“…”
“…You’re kidding, right?
Out of all the things that the young man was expecting the man before him to say, he was confident that this was the least he was expecting.
‘Then again, conjuring this barrier makes a lot more sense now,’ thought Valyr to himself, now understanding more of the man’s thought process.
“Killing the two Arbiters is a pretty straightforward task.” Scratching the back of his head for a bit, Valyr looked at Vaughn directly in the eyes. “But how the hell do you expect me to do something like that? Where do I even begin?”
“That’s something I’ve already prepared beforehand,” said Vaughn with a reassuring smile. “I’ve enlisted the help of a few people I know to help you out with the task.” “In fact, I’ve asked the first one to establish contact with you the moment you obtain the Authority stat from the shard.” “In any case, that’s something you should only start thinking about after you reach the requirement needed for the Shard of Defiance.”
Whoosh!
Feeling as if their conversation had now shifted onto a topic that would not realize their worst fears, Vaughn dispelled the barrier surrounding them, bringing them back to where they were in the Gates of Transcendence.
Then, just as Valyr was still processing what the man had told him, Vaughn stood up all of a sudden before looking at him with a slight grin.
“Well, I’m sure this is already long overdue…”
“But let’s get to your rewards, shall we?”
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