“Well, she was never known for being patient or anything but hot headed. It’s been a while since I stretched and fought, let’s use this opportunity.”
He would clear the misunderstanding later, it’s been too long since he fought and while he despised war, a good duel between gods was rare. He was already hearing the bets being done on how long he would last. Bunch of brats, he played with all of them as a kid and look at how they so casually discarded him.
Akhenamen found himself opening his eyes back in the middle of the Prothean ruins under Kork, holding a packaged gift and the small scroll sent by Finion in his hands. This simple trip had been fruitful, he now knew how to “harvest” Intents and Laws and had apparently obtained a gift. He was curious about the new secret he had obtained but decided to first see what this gift and scroll contained.
[Finion’s Gift] : As you are a new soul in this world which has never received Finion’s gift, you now finally have received it while also being amongst the few beings below the Throne levels who is aware of Finion’s existence.
[Primal Source of Pure Divine Moon Essence’s Map] : A map which leads to one of the oldest and most ancient sites where Saphyrra was once worshipped, in the middle of the Oleron desert before the Oldest of War started.
Putting the map in his limited Inventory, now having four slots out of ten filled. He looked at Finion’s gift and opened it, inside he saw a curious decorated scroll.
[Your Gift] : A simple scroll that may reveal a helpful hint or even a location to any questions you might have, this scroll will be destroyed after three uses. Every answer given is directly asked to the System who has no choices but to respect his part of the deal and answer truthfully.
“That’s… actually extremely useful. Confirms a few things too.”
Akhenamen was now certain that unlike what Sceptus-Vector had told him, the gods were definitely not as chained by the System as he believed. The System had work deals with the gods, and even back when Sapphyra was trying to take over him, the System had been unable to personally stop a weakened Sapphyra.
However he already knew what he wanted to ask so he wrote in his first question after thinking about how to word it for five minutes : Which places carry the strongest, rarest and most compatible Intents that I can comprehend and will be most beneficial to my ascension?
His answer came almost immediately after :
- Gnomish-High Factorum : [Legendary Intent of the Eternal Current]
- Cygislas : [Legendary Intent of Gauss Unmaking] and [Legendary Intent of Machina Genesis]
- Peak of the Mirror Mountains [Legendary Intent of the Sanctified Voltage Thunder]
A green tri-astromath cube surrounded the scroll after he made sure to remember the location and corresponding Intents. He started to plan his trip.
“No matter what we must reach Cygislas. Accomplishing the world quest takes priority. I only have one year to finish it. And I also have gods that I must be wary of now that I carry a part of Sapphyra.”
[We know where the Primal Source of Pure Moon Essence is located but we still need to be discreet as we apparently can provoke three organisations to unite against us.]
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“Agreed. I have no intention of waging war with Zenthia, we should be discreet. We must only reveal ourselves when we are ready. Strong enough to protect ourselves if war comes, and most importantly, strong enough the rewards wouldn’t be worth the efforts required to fight us.”
[So the plan is?]
“All roads lead to Cygislas, so we go to Cygislas. We’ll enter the Desert of Olleron, find and claim the Primal Moon Essence and go to Cygislas to take back and activate the factory. Once this is all done, we'll give back the Blue Sapphire and the bulbs to Ruby-Khion.”
[En route, then?]
“En route, Syllena.”
Akhenamen’s body floated slightly above the ground, moving toward the liquid silver door, his new GAALs attacking every Prothean console he found, each of them being swiftly turned into a pile of greenish dust. They made a sharp sound for every shot, a bit like a railgun.
As he reached the door, Ascylla who had been flying around him interrupted his hand just before it could open the silver door.
[Wait, Hierarch. There is a gnomish fleshling behind this door.]
“Wow, she’s still trying to enter? I’ll give her that; she’s determined. Ascylla can you do anything to act as a translator for me? I do not understand her and she struggles to understand us.”
[We know every language that was available in the Prothean Database, on Zenthia, only one main language exists, called Common. However some races communicate in other fashions.]
[We will need some time to update our current understanding of common as it has no doubt evolved since our creation but in a day or two everything should be ready to transfer mastery of Common directly inside your data base, Hierarch.]
“Perfect Ascylla. I’m definitely glad to have you with us.”
[We’re happy to be of help, Hierarch.]
“You do not need to call me Hierarch every time, Akhenamen is perfectly fine.”
[Very well… Ak.. Akh…Hierarch!]
“Mmm… We’ll get there eventually. Alright, let’s greet our gnomish guest then, this time we’ll bring her back to her parents.”
Syllena’s curious voice appeared in his mind. She sounded more and more distinctively feminine.
[But isn’t she sixteen?]
“Won’t stop a parent from giving her the harshest punishment and scolding she ever received.”
With a simple wave of his hand, the door opened.
“Yes! Finally I opened i… Hello…again.”
Sofya’s face morphed from a proud smile to a terrified awkward grin. Akhenamen’s aura felt even stronger and more powerful. This being in front of her was even more powerful than what she believed originally. A Beyonder?
Maybe higher. She was starring at a Cygilite that might even be a Throne! An actual Throne ranked Transcendent who was also a Cygilite! Her face was glowing with restrained excitement, as if she wanted to ask thousands of questions but she was holding herself back because of her fear.
“Hello, young one. I am sorry for having scared you earlier. Your name is Sofya correct? Mine is Akhenamen.”
[Translation…..]
Ascylla’s green core would make a few “blink” as it started to translate Akhenamen’s words directly to Sofya. She reproduced his voice directly, so despite his voice coming from Ascylla’s body, it just sounded like he was speaking through some auto-translator.
Sofya stared at him dumbly, she hadn’t expected to suddenly hear common, a very old and slightly outdated version of common nonetheless. Regaining her composure swiftly, coughing in her hand, she straightened her clothes and tucked her hairs properly before giving a slight bow.
“Greetings Lord Transcendent Beyonder Akhenamen. I am Sofya Pipelette.”
“What a polite young lady you are. No need for all those fancy titles, simply call me Akhenamen.”
Sofya nodded wordlessly, trying to come up with… well, anything, her mind trying to rank by order of importance every subject she was curious about on Prothean culture, architecture and mechanics.
Akhenamen did the same, but he was instead trying to think on how to present himself. Who and what should he be? He was a Cygitek. But he had been human before. He didn’t want to trouble Sofya with all his life story as it truly didn’t concern her. He silently decided he would play the role of an old and powerful expert that had hidden himself from the world and only recently woken up from some sort of stasis.
“Lord Akhenamen, I.. I have so many questions…about the Protheans, your creators, or even you, their constructs! Or Cygislax! What does the city hide! Would it be possible for me to get a sample of what you are made of? And…”
A warm laugh interrupted her, Akhenamen being quite amused at eagerness to learn more about his people. He had no need to be offended anytime someone mentioned the Protheans, to the people of Zenthia, Protheans and Cygilites were one and the same. He would not blame them for their lack of knowledge.
“The Protheans are indeed our creators, but that is not our name. We are Cygilites. The Protheans discarded children. As for Cygislax, I would advise you not to go inside the Desert of Olleron, it’s a very dangerous place for someone who is only level 15. I suppose you may call it a factory. A sort of main base for my people.”
“But…before you ask more questions… let’s make a deal. I happen to have been secluded for a very long time. I have a few questions I wish to ask you. So for every three questions you answer I shall do the same for one of your questions.”