THE LORD IS TOO OVERBEARING

As Solomon looked at the emptied river, he gaped his mouth so wide, Basil's fist could fit inside. He soon composed himself however; he didn't think acting like that would fit for someone as old and great as him.

Now, looking at Basil who was standing in the emptied river calmly, he pondered about how what had happened happened.

Basil said he had just walked to the river, secretly implying that he didn't know how to absorb the golden liquid, but he was a little bit sceptical about this. Therefore, he went with Basil purposely irking him by absorbing all of the golden liquid.

Still, even if that had been the case, he didn't know how Basil could possibly absorb all of the golden liquid. After all, that liquid contained the essence of a Phoenix's Mana Core, which should normally make people explode if consumed excessively.

"Do you know what you have just absorbed?"

"I do."

"You don't even deny that you did it purposely..." Solomon sighed lightly in exasperation. "Anyway, what is the liquid?"

"It's a heavily diluted Phoenix Core's essence."

"... Oh, how could you..." Solomon blinked in surprise. "Do you even believe in Phoenix?"

Although Basil had never encountered one even in his past life, he had consumed—absorbed the essence of a Phoenix's Core in his past life. He had retrieved one when he conquered The Sixteenth Obelisk, Obelisk of Zepar.

He had absorbed a far more concentrated essence at that time that was incomparable to the one he had just absorbed. Coupled with his experience of handling overwhelming power, absorbing the heavily diluted essence was a breeze to him.

That, however, wasn't really important to Basil. He didn't do that just so he could irk or amaze Solomon, but to find out if Solomon knew that he had traveled back in time.

Judging by Solomon's reaction, unlike his mother and Asia, Solomon didn't know that he had traveled back in time. If Solomon did, he wouldn't have been surprised by what Basil could do after all.

"You are a monster, aren't you?" Solomon looked at Basil in astonishment.

"Tell me, what is the true identity of the Fated Child?"

"You are a stubborn one, aren't you?" Solomon quirked his eyebrow. "There was one and only male child born in Pacifer Clan, and he was—"

"I already know about that story."

"Then, why are you still asking me about that?"

"I believe there is more to the Fated Child." Basil looked at Solomon seriously. "There is no way he is only amount to the hero who will bring the Clan back to its feet."

"That is essentially what you are, Basil..." Solomon sighed. "Your talent, your wits, your gifts—everything about you makes you outstanding. You are a Pacifer that will only be born once after the last one."

"You didn't deny that there was more to the Fated Child."

"Yes, and I can't tell you about that."

Solomon entered the emptied river, then patted Basil's shoulder when he was in front of Basil. "No matter what you are born as or where you are born into, you are yourself, Basil. No need to worry that someone will dictate how you will live your life."

"I guess there are also things you don't know," Basil mused as he found that Solomon didn't really get his question.

"Indeed. Like you, I also wanted to uncover the mysteries. Alas, I died while I was doing it. I did uncover some, but unfortunately I can't tell you about them now." Solomon smiled wryly. "I still couldn't uncover the bigger mystery until I died though."

"Is it about the Lord?"

"I... Am honestly surprised you know about the Lord already, but yes, it is about the Lord. I haven't figured out why the Lord died even though I saw how he died." Solomon chuckled emptily.

"That's a roundabout way to tell how stupid you were back then."

Solomon's mouth twitched before he sighed helplessly. He then let his hand go of Basil's shoulder to stare at him silently for a few seconds.

"I understand that you have faced many hardships in your life. Being born as the one and only male Pacifer mustn't be what you wanted, and I believe the current Maha Dmitras also don't want to burden you with responsibilities."

Solomon bowed at Basil. "However, please, avenge your Clan. Those bastards have done a lot to your Clan, and I believe they won't let your Clan go anytime soon."

"... Why do you care?"

"Pacifer Clan occupied a special place in the Lord's heart. As someone who is indebted to the Lord, I feel necessary to repay his kindness by taking care of the Clan he loved so much ... Alas, I can't do that as I am dead already. Therefore..."

"Your reason doesn't justify why I should do it in your stead. I was born a Pacifer, but none of them has ever helped me in my struggle—I am not indebted to them."

"Indeed. Which is why..." Solomon extended his hand then touched Basil's forehead with his index finger. "...I will not ask you to do it for free."

As a golden light covered the tip of Solomon's finger, Basil saw many places in his mind. These places were all where Solomon's Legacies could be found.

"I can not aid you directly, but I hope the things I left behind could." Solomon retracted his finger. "I am sorry I don't know where the Lord hid the Fragments, but I hope you will be able to find them even without my help."

Basil took a pause at the mention of Fragments, then asked, "Have you ever heard of Matheus?"

"Of course. He was the only male Pacifer before you."

"Asia told me he was but the Lord's right hand though."

"Oh, you have met Lady Asia?" Solomon slightly recoiled in surprise. "What a strange thing fate is..."

"Can you tell me more about Matheus?"

"Of course. It won't affect the present too much anyway." Solomon cleared his throat. "Kuhum! Matheus was called the Lord's right hand after he 'died.' There were so many individuals who felt threatened of his presence, he was forced to pretend to die."

"He protected the Clan from the shadow afterwards, is what you wanted to say?"

"Yup. In fact, he was so good in being in the shadow, everyone forgot him by the end of the day. I also didn't hear much about him after the Great War ended, but I think he also disappeared the day the Lord died."

"I see..."

Basil had thought that the First Patriarch and the Lord had been the same individual. Now that there were already two people that confirmed they were not however, he was finally convinced they were two different people.

He had initially found it odd the First Patriarch wasn't known to the Clan—he had judged Matheus had simply lied about his status—but now that Solomon had given him an explanation, he found it reasonable.

The Lord was, after all, a God—he must have planned to leave the humans when the war had ended. Therefore, many people were cautious towards the people who were very close to the Lord—Pacifer Clan.

If Matheus, the strongest human at that time had remained in the strongest Clan, many factions would be afraid that Pacifer Clan, in his lead, would reign the world after the Lord left.

Although as stupid as he thought the way they handled the problem was, Basil agreed that it was the least bloodied way to vanquish the people's worry.

Still, erasing the history of the First Patriarch of Pacifer Clan was a little bit overboard in his opinion. With a twist of fate, this, unfortunately, also didn't end well since in the end, the Four Heroes betrayed the Lord, leaving the rest of Pacifer Clan hunted.

"I will take what you have offered me, but I am not going to support Pacifer Clan because of them," Basil said to Solomon. "I happen to have a problem with the Church, so my interest is aligned with the Clan's—nothing more."

"Hahaha... Whatever you say, Basil." Solomon smiled. "By the way, Caliburn's Sword Soul is not me. You will meet him after I disappear, and you will meet me when you obtain my other Legacies. So... Until then, goodbye."

Solomon winked and slowly disappeared from the realm. Basil, in truth, still had much to ask him—who the Lord was, where he came from, and how he died—but he had still decided not to because he knew Solomon wouldn't say a thing.

Everyone who knew something about what he wanted to ask had always said the same thing to him: "You will figure it out some day." He had been fed up with it, but the talk he had with Solomon had made him realize that he needed to slow down.

He had been looking too far ahead that he had overlooked the present. He already had so much in his hands, but he still chose to burden his mind with something that didn't hold much significance towards his current situation.

"I need to live in the present, huh? It's funny." Basil chuckled humorlessly. "It was the first thing I had reminded myself, but it is the exact thing that I am not doing."

As Solomon completely disappeared from the Realm, Basil didn't even wait for a second to expel himself from the Realm. He didn't care if he didn't meet Caliburn's Sword Soul; he just felt a great urge to return to the outside world.

"Basil, are you okay?"

As he returned to the outside world, Basil could once again feel Iliana's warm hand on his chest and also the pain that was torturing him internally. He immediately exhaled deeply, before drawing the essence of the Phoenix's Core from his Core.

Unlike the inexperienced people who didn't know how to properly absorb Phoenix's Core essence, Basil knew he had to store it inside his Core. This was the reason why he had been able to dry the whole river.

As he drew the essence and spread it throughout his body, his internal injuries were being rapidly healed. In result, it took the essence only 10 seconds to bring him back to his healthy and battle ready state.

"I am okay. You can rest assured." Basil stood straight then put his hand on top of Iliana's head. "Rather than that," he looked to the Legion Commanders, "let's take the army back into the camp. It is time to give them the rest they deserve."

The people around Basil could only blink their eyes when he suddenly regained his health out of nowhere, but all of them nodded their head regardless.

By the time they knew it, they already treated Basil as their leader.