Chapter 243: The undercurrents that surface briefly

Lily leafed through a book, a sparkly light in her eyes. Under the bright lights hanging around the room, Claud found himself distracted time and time again from her relaxed manner, which didn't really help much in his attempt to create some useable tools.

Sweeping aside a bunch of black powder, Claud created yet another smoke bomb and decided to call it a day. He was too tired, and other than Lily being a welcome sight for his eyes, there was also something else he wanted to check up on.

"Oh, you're done?" Lily asked, as Claud sidled up beside her in bed. Her violet hair, under the bright light, rippled once with an enchanting shimmer, and Claud found himself shaking his head a bit more vigorously than usual.

"Too tired. I'll make more tomorrow instead," Claud replied. "What's that you're reading?"

"Oh, I picked up the next book of this series I was reading." Lily showed him the title, The Unravelling World. "Feels a bit like an autobiography, but otherwise, it's a good fantasy."

"You can tell me about it when we have time, then."

"You're checking on something now?" Lily asked, having picked up the implication behind his reply. "Your status?"

Claud nodded. "I received some rewards from slaying the Bearer of Destiny…even though it's completely by accident."

"Quest rewards, yeah." Lily's eyes lit up. "I'm not sure how they work, but they actually award lifespan. You burned a lot during when you became a tri-folder, right?"

"Yeah," Claud replied. "Only had seventy-eight years of life left. But I apparently gained four-fifths of the Fourteenth's remaining lifespan when I obliterated the Moon Emissary."

"Obliterated…"

"Is there something wrong with my choice of word?" Claud asked, tilting his head. The sight of Lily repeating his words was somehow adorable to him, but since she was reading a book, he wasn't going to do anything.

"I think it's a good way of summarising the Moon Emissary's end," Lily replied, before she stuck a bookmark into the book in her hands. Setting it aside, she turned an expectant gaze to Claud. "Go on, open your status!"

"Alright, then."

Claud hadn't opened his status at all, since he was too busy fleeing the sovereignty and finding their current location. He didn't want to run the risk of distracting himself until a suitable time arose, and while he knew that a certain bartender might call him inefficient or similar…

Focus and discipline held a dear place in his heart for a reason.

With his left arm monopolised by Lily, Claud called out his status and gave it a good, long look.

Name: Claud Primus

Lifespan: 305 years

Active Skills: Presence Nullification (8), Flight (5), Binding Order (7), Cleanse (6), FiBoD;A??? (0), FiBoD;A??? (0)

Passive Skills: DiL???C, Mana Hub, Omen, Understanding

Mana Circuit Superimposition: 3.00

Mana Control Proficiency: Expert

Authority: 3

Comments: Not all things are as they seem, Omen.

"How is it?" Lily asked, worry in her words. "How many years do you have now?"

"Three hundred and five years," Claud replied. "I suppose that's good, right? Should I try to become a tetra-folder? With Crown's help, I can directly grow stronger once more.

"You'll be better able to protect yourself, true," Lily replied.

"And to protect you too," Claud added. "You're now as important as me in my scales."

"You're…quite the honey-tongued rogue, aren't you?" Lily asked. Despite the disapproval in her words, she had a happy smile on her face, and Claud tweaked her nose a bit.

"Hey!"

"Sorry. Can't resist." Claud rubbed her hair.

Lily smiled. "That said, you shouldn't do it just yet. There's something like a trial when one becomes a tetra-folder, right? You should at least learn what that trial is about, in case you put yourself into danger."

"Good point." Shelving that thought, Claud glanced at his status again. Other than the disturbing set of comments, something new had been added to his status, something called 'authority'. This time, however, he had absolutely no intention of forgetting about his second skill, Understanding, and he took a deep gaze at that particular area.

[Authority]

[Certain pieces of information have a processing load. <Category name: Authority> is a quantifier of the hearer's ability to process such pieces of information. Information of such a category is linked to the secrets of this world.]

"You mentioned something about authority, right?" Lily asked.

"Yeah." Claud eyed Lily, who looked perfectly fine, and nodded to himself. "I checked it myself. Authority is…err, to put it simply, the ability of your mind to process certain pieces of information, information linked to the secrets of the world."

Lily spent a minute to mull over his words for a moment. "I wonder what happens if someone hears information that is beyond them to process. Would it just be limited to headaches? Or is Nero telling the truth?"

"Let's assume he's telling the truth," Claud replied.

"Can we weaponise such things, then?" Lily wondered. "Imagine shouting out something like the Black God's love life in battle. That might actually do something to tilt the scales in your favour, right?"

Claud blinked. "That's a really good idea. But what kind of information are we talking about here? And…I suspect that something bad might just happen if we actually do that. I mean, you can't be the first person to think about it, right?"

Lily rocked back and forth. "Well, maybe it's because doing so is pointless."

"Huh?"

"Think about it," said Lily. "If your authority is higher, doesn't that mean that you have more mana folds? A difference in mana folds creates an overwhelming advantage. Maybe it'll be useful when there are twenty or so bi-folders confronting a single tri-folder, but…that's not really likely."

"Considering the population size…" Claud let out a small sigh. "Yeah, it is indeed pointless, now that you mention it."

"Right?" Lily pulled out a small canteen of water and sipped from it. "Want some?"

"Yeah, sure."

Claud looked through his status as he took a sip, his eyes focusing on 'Mission' and 'Quest'. One of them contained the various faction quests, for the Moons, the Dark, the Coloured Gods and the Omen, while the other had a bunch of question marks and hidden names.

"That's odd. It isn't like there's nothing there, but why the question marks?" Claud muttered under his breath.

"What question marks?" Lily asked.

"…I am definitely going to forcefeed you with lifestones until you become a tri-folder too. I really want to explain things, but I don't dare." Claud grumbled for a minute or so, before lying down on Lily's lap. "This is infuriating."

"There, there." Lily ran her fingers through his hair. "Oh, wow. Your hair is really smooth and soft."

"Well, if you like it, you can go ahead and touch it…also, I want to play with your hair too. Long, silky…just my cup of tea," Claud replied. "You don't mind, right? Also, I want to wash your hair. I bet it'll be fun."

"Only if I wash yours first."

"In that case, we better choose a house with a big bath. The one here is too small for the two of us," Claud replied. "Fortunately, I brought lots of money with me…my private savings, in case you were wondering."

"Can't go around using official funds for a private trip, right?" Lily chuckled. "But I also brought my own stash! We'll be able to live like kings or something for the next few decades if we really have to."

"I do want to establish myself as a noble first, though," Claud replied. "Or at least as someone important. The…special person here seems to have the connections required."

"A noble…well, you are one, technically. We just need to officiate our bond," Lily replied. "I mean, I am still—"

"No. I'm not going to put you through that nonsense with your family name again. We'll start from the bottom, as the Primus nobles!" said Claud. "Or so I would like to say, but I think we can achieve that easily when we return to the Moon Lords. If we ask really nicely, Nightfall might sponsor us as knights or even a baronet."

"Is that possible?" Lily asked.

"Yea—"

A shudder took hold of Claud and Lily at the same time, and a screen appeared in his eyes. Unlike the bloody red or the azure blue — two colours he had gotten used to in the past few months — the rectangle that appeared this time was a tri-coloured patch of red, blue and yellow — the colour of the Moons. The words were written in pure white, a blinding white that stabbed through his eyes.

<The Fifth Bearer of Destiny has fallen, his flame extinguished by bloody steel.>

<By covenant of the five grand skies, the Moons will descend in a year.>

<Fate, sundered by the quiet night, shall hence congeal.>

<And under the howling winds, may the Dark protect those it holds dear.>

Claud stared at the poem. "What in the name of the Moons?"

Lily rubbed her eyes. "So, uh… Claud three, Bearers of Destiny zero?"

"Wasn't me this time, sweetheart." Claud shook his head. Before he could do anything else, however, yet another rectangle had appeared in his eyes. Fortunately, it was the usual azure blue, but…the contents on it were awfully familiar.

[<Hidden Quest: Mastermind's Murder> has been completed. Calculating result grade.]

"Eh?"