Chapter 199 - Power Explained

"Gladly," Lumie answered.

Before she would start talking, though, Rynold's mind felt slightly adrift. It was the part of him that wished he didn't have to deal with any of this. Hell, before he was even made known to all of these things, Rynold would've been more than glad to be mediocre — the same as before the New World came.

Prior to a lot of things that happened this past year, Rynold knew who he was: A fucker that was really mid. No ambition. No overzealous crap that would put him in the spotlight. He was happy then because he didn't have to deal with the bullshit other people had. It was one of the few benefits of being some guy in the background.

Back then, he was free.

But now, though? The series of events that led to him being here was more than enough for Rynold. He wanted to go back. A part of him wanted to run away from his problems.

Unfortunately for him, though, that part of Rynold was overshadowed by his sense of responsibility.

That said, Rynold paid close attention to the Emissary of Order's explanation. Like it or not, he had to deal with this right now. He had to prepare in case this thing happened again.

"The realm you entered is where we, the Beings of Order, reside. It is where we watch over the threads of fate and make sure that nothing is upsetting the order of the known world. We watch for decades, millennia, never acting unless necessary."

Rynold, hearing the enthusiasm in Lumie's explanation, interrupted.

"I get all that. What I need to know is what exactly did I do back then. What did I do to have caught the attention of your superiors and put a target on my back."

He wasn't trying to be forceful here, but Rynold had more than enough of the mystery. What he needed right now was answers and, with his patience running out, he became a bit more direct about it.

"Hm..., well. It depends on what you saw there."

"What I saw?"

"Yes, what you saw is imperative to the answer I'm about to give you. It can range from being okay to being dangerous for your safety and the known world's."

Rynold didn't know how to respond to that. What sort of scale was Lumie working with for the response to have a range that wide? It was impossible to tell if what Rynold saw was a safe answer or not.

"Well," Rynold hesitated for a split second before deciding to tell the truth. He needed answers about his specific situation, and ballparking vague answers would have only raised suspicions.

"I see," Lumie answered with a relieved tone to her voice.

"I assume that it wasn't that bad, then?"

"Let's just say that you're on the safer but more exposed side of things."

That was far from the answer Rynold was expecting, but it was a good one nonetheless. Rynold was, at the very least, safe from whatever fucked up shit that might happen to him if otherwise.

"Let's start from the top, shall we?" Lumie gleefully started her enthusiastic explanation. If Rynold hadn't known any better, it was as if the Emissary of Order was excited to explain these things to a mortal.

"You said that you felt a cycle of pain and relief in a matter of seconds, right? Things like that are necessary for any mortal to reach the higher realms. At least, that was the backdoor way of doing things. Anyway, the intentions and will you had at the time must've brought that to life accidentally. Although the conditions of triggering that aren't clear, you made it happen. Even if it's by some dumb luck."

"Alright, alright," Rynold didn't want to remember the hell of a time he spent with that experience, as unique as it was. "I appreciate the praise and all, but can we get a move on?"

"Of course," the Emissary of Order answered with the same energy as before. "The next part was when you got to the realm itself, yes? Although with your uncanny methods, you managed to get to that place in one piece. It's nothing short of impressive, Rynold."

Even if Lumie had said that, Rynold didn't know if she meant it. Regardless, Rynold needed answered, so he pushed her to keep going.

"Those white strings you saw there were the threads of fate. They are constantly moving forward at a pace impossible for mortals to comprehend. You said you had to go out and touch one, right? Well, that's actually a good thing."

"How so?" Rynold asked while simultaneously expressing his doubt.

"Because when we do it, we don't have to exert any effort at all," Lumie answered with pride, "We can see through the strings and watch with a single glance. Rynold, you putting in the effort to do such a simple task means you're weak. And, also, weak enough to not be a threat to the known world."

Rynold didn't know what to say. Nor did he want to say anything right now. He was just quiet, quieter than he's ever been.

"You okay, Rynold?" Lumie concerningly asked.

"I'm fine," Rynold played his thoughts off like it was nothing, "Thanks for answering all of my questions, Lumie. I appreciate you reaching out, even though it's not in your job description."

That said, Rynold was about to cut the conversation just like that. But, before he could, the Emissary of Order added one last thing.

"Be careful, alright?" Lumie gave one last warning. This time, it felt a bit more personal. "When other beings know about this gift of yours, they'd want to take advantage of you. It might not be any of my business to tell you what to do. But, try to be careful, especially to the other sentient beings."

"You know who I am, Lumie, and you know what I can do, probably more than I do," Rynold answered as the tone of his voice became more sincere and less abrasive. "Thanks, Lumie. Really, I'm more than grateful. So, you can rest easy and head back home. Besides, I already know what you mean. You don't have to say anything more that would jeopardize your position."

Rynold wasn't a mind reader.

But, based on the tone of Lumie's words, the Emissary of Order seemed keen on speaking more. However, Rynold stopped her before she could say anything else. That's because Rynold knew how much trouble Lumie would be in if she said anything else.

Lumie, a being responsible for watching over the world, shouldn't take sides. Especially not to some mortal above-average human like Rynold. That said, Rynold did the right thing of cutting her off there. In that case, there wouldn't be any more trouble from either one of them.

With that last somewhat bittersweet goodbye, Rynold opened his eyes and returned to reality. He still hadn't recovered, not in the slightest. But, at the very least, he got information as to what had happened.

He could rest easy now, knowing the series of events that transpired. All Rynold really needed to do now was to focus on his recovery.

'Damn it.'

Sporting a rather frustrated look as he opened his eyes, Rynold couldn't help but feel lacking. He was frustrated by the fact that none of his abilities came with any healing. All he had was for him to sustain much longer in battle, using spells that would beef up his survivability.

However, there was nothing that would've helped with his recovery. Even if he could survive any battle, there was no guarantee that he wouldn't get harmed in the process.

'I really need to upgrade the Accord Spheres. They need to serve a bigger purpose than utility right now. Speaking of which, where are they?'

Not paying much attention to Neana'a gaze, Rynold commanded his Accord Spheres to life. The battle before now was messy, and Rynold had no idea what had happened to them. Rynold was too busy trying to save his own ass, after all.

Without hesitation, Rynold sent out commands to all three Accord Spheres. He hoped that they weren't so damaged to the point of no return. Otherwise, it would be a pain to try and fix them.

That said, the response wasn't so good.

Axiom, the one that had served Rynold the most, wasn't at all damaged. Hell, it didn't even look like there were scratches on the thing as it descended from the sky. It had floated high above as Rynold had instructed, sending Rynold information from a bird's eye view.

The other two, however, weren't so lucky.

Maxim, whose purpose was to attack, was in a terrible state. It responded to Rynold's command rather poorly as it floated to its master's position. And, at this point, Rynold didn't even have to look closely to see the damage it had suffered.

There were dents all around the metallic surface of the sphere. With a simple glance, it looked as though the Accord Sphere suffered a violent crushing. It was as if Maxim got in the way of the fight between Rynold and the brain creature. The result of which was this rather unfortunate mess.

That didn't appear to be the end of the bad news, though, as Rynold would soon face the worst one of them all.

Dictum had done its job. Hell, it might've done it a bit too well. The damage that it suffered was nothing compared to the other two. Case in point, the Accord Sphere didn't even respond to Rynold's summons. It simply stayed in the grass, dead silent.

In other words, Dictum was broken beyond repair.

Rynold was only able to spot the Accord Sphere as he took a look around. He could feel the Mana Core powering the Accord Sphere still active, but its signal was weaker than it's ever been. In that state, there was nothing for Rynold to fix anymore.

'Damn. I — I can't believe it.'

His face visibly darkened as he came to the realization. It was the first time that Rynold's creation had been destroyed. Even though Rynold wasn't one for putting an emotional weight on things, but an Accord Sphere was the fruit of his months of hard work. Rynold wasn't heartless.

But it was a bit weird how easily he would move on.

In a few moments, Rynold let out his frustrations in one last audible sigh. It was a sign that he had accepted Dictum's 'death' and vowed to create a better, more powerful Accord Sphere.

It was the craftsman in him that had brought him to terms with Dictum's sacrifice. And, it was by the same craftsman that made Rynold strive to create something better.

"Uh.., is something wrong?"

Neana waited in silence for Rynold for quite some time. Even though Rynold was too quiet with his eyes closed, Neana still chose to wait. It wasn't until now that she spoke, with both her anxiety and patience reaching their limits.

"Nothing," Rynold answered weakly but didn't cough up any blood. It was a good sign of his recovery. But, in order to preserve his voice, Rynold fell silent following his one spoken word.

Following this, Rynold then gave Neana a light and honest smile. He wanted to make sure that Neana didn't have to worry any more than she already had. And, with Rynold's rather prominent facial expressions, he had to be wary of the signals his face was giving off.

Even with that, though, Neana was still doubtful. But, instead of pressing on, she decided on accepting Rynold's words for what it was. As much as she wanted to know what was going on, there wasn't much she could do to help out anyway.

"Well, if you say so," Neana answered with a hint of passive-aggressive tone to her voice. "Can you walk now? Or should we keep still for a bit?"

Rynold looked down on his bloodied feet and found himself wondering if he had the strength to pull it off. Even though his mental state had recovered, his body was another thing.