Shades of the New World

Chapter 84: The Choice

The two then went on to write the details of the agreement on the Velvet Contract. After they both signed on it, Kena gave the contract to Evin. The old man didn't need the powers of the Contract, but Evin could have Arza or someone else touch it for a swift increase of their mana-core.

Kena certainly did not stand on ceremony, as Evin could feel the invasive power run through his memories and record them separately in a place inaccessible to Evin. But he could also notice that it took notice to not touch any of the information that could be found on Evin's personal stash of memories.

The process did not take long, Kena was done in a few minutes. His processing speed was much higher than Evin's and his mastery over the World of Thoughts was virtually unparalleled under the Authorities.

His eyes started gleaming as he looked at the millions of inventions and ideas that could be found on Earth. And this was but the tiniest fraction of the entirety of Earth's history. Even though Evin could be called one of the most well-knowledgeable people on Earth, he could only learn about a limited amount of things.

Evin also received a lot of benefits from this memory therapy. If he ever decided to trade his memories with others, he could stay content knowing that he didn't give false info. Also, his memories had a slight psychological effect on his brain. He became slightly less humane in a way, since the clear and concise memories of living as a spirit were overflowing inside his mind currently. But that should be fixed over time.

There were also some benefits, such as Evin becoming more close to his original personality, which is the diligent and enduring type.

"Well, it's time for me to uphold my end of the deal," Kena said and his hands started shining with silver light. He touched the boy's forehead slightly and Evin could sense some sort of spell taking hold inside his head. At first, he couldn't quite notice anything out of the ordinary, but a string of information appeared soon after.

[ Find Selat and inquire about the origins of the Horn, as well as the battle of the Fourteen Heroes ]

'Selat, as in the Authority of the World of Fire, right? How am I supposed to find such an individual and how am I supposed to make him meet me?' Evin thought in wonder. But just in case, he accessed the World of Fire and entered it.

A landscape of an inferno met him. Most places' Flaming counterparts looked burnt down and destroyed, but Kena's place looked quite normal, although there were still some embers and flames bursting forth from some inflammable objects. Perhaps the materials that were used to build the old Cobfolk's house were resistant to fire.

Inside the World, Evin shouted for the Lord of the World of Fire to appear, but no progress was made for his efforts.

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'It was worth a try,' Evin said before leaving the World.

"Do you know where he is currently?" he asked Kena, who noticed the boy take on a hue of red briefly before coming back.

"Not really, we're old acquaintances, but connections can only hold on for so long But I do know he is loitering around the North somewhere. He never leaves this place and he designates some Super-imposers under him to take care of the World of Fire in his stead," Kena said.

"So I just need to look out for him as I go? Do you have a picture of him or something for me to use?" Evin asked.

"I do, but he's most likely changed his appearance to stay low, so it's pointless. But here you go," Kena said and touched Evin's forehead. Another image appeared inside Evin's head. A tall individual, with a pair of blistering red horns on his head and charred black skin. His eyes were crimson and his hair was ashen, like over burnt soot.

'Somebody definitely would've found this guy if he went around looking like that. Guess I can only take a look around,' Evin tried to make peace with his situation, but he couldn't help but feel that he was scammed.

"Don't make that face Your greed will be the end of you," Kena sighed, before continuing. "Besides, there should be many benefits for you to meet my old friends. I like to pride myself in being generous with gifts," Kena said with a harrumph.

The old Cobfolk was definitely right. Just the amount of refined sorbothium that Evin received would make most others want to rob him dead.

'If the other three received a similar gift from Kena' Evin could only guess how much profit his group made during this small side quest. Moreover, if the other individuals or places that Evin meets and discovers thanks to the spell are also this generous, Evin simply had to follow these footsteps that Kena walked beforehand and his life would be set.

Feeling better, Evin beamed a small smile.

"Also, take this," Kena said and gave Evin a ring.

The ring was simply designed, with a sorbothium base and a thin, dark purple line went around it. All in all, it looked like three stripes, one dark blue and two silverish ones.

"What's this?"

"It's a time bomb," Kena answered flatly.

"A what?" Evin made a dumb face.

"If you ever get in trouble insert mana into that thing, and there might be a chance that it might be helpful," the serious butler said.

"Guess I'll keep it on my thumb for the time being, then," Evin replied and told Iorn send Evin's regard to Lord Kena.

Kena then took out a box that looked quite familiar to Evin, a metal box with a flesh-like circular hole running through it. Evin couldn't forget about the box even if he tried. He reluctantly put his hands through the hole and felt the needles pierce through his skin and inject the tentacle monster into his body.

A few hours later, he would see two of such creatures comfortably tugging onto his heart, watching every move he made and deciding whether they should gently squeeze his heart as a warning, or if they should outright squash it to death.

"Now, for the second most important matter. The "Choice"," Kena began.

'Oh yeah, he was talking about something like that,' Evin thought and he perked his ears to listen closely.

"Well, we're not short of time, so I'll explain from the beginning. First of all, there are a few misunderstandings that the North had created for the rest of the World. The horns are not some sort of blessings from Selat. The upper echelons have known how to artificially create them from when Selat first created his own two pairs of horns"

"The Horn Ceremony is in reality a magical spell that bombards the children with thousands and thousands of kilograms of various World energies. There's also another World of Life spell that grinds and thins the recipient's bones and uses the excess bone powder to create a horn or two on top of their heads, hence the immense pain they have to go through when the horn starts forming"

"So, as you can imagine, since the process itself is artificial, why not let the children choose which horns they want to get? It's just a small sacrifice to make this whole process seem authentic. The North may be tough, but they can't survive through the pressure of the other three countries combining their efforts to receive the same benefits as the Northmen. The various world energies that are thrown between the children randomly attach itself to a host and start gathering other similar energies of its kind. And the World of Life spell will only activate if it finds an excess of such energies in a child"

'So there are only a few people who receive horns and the ones that don't receive anything don't just get a useless decoration of a horn,' Evin thought.

"Now, with all of this information, you probably guessed what the choice is," Kena smiled.

"I'm guessing it's an offer that is given to only a few children, where they can choose the World for their horns, right?"

"Yes, now ask yourself, which horn would you like to receive? Think about the matter for as long as you need and show this emblem to the supervisor of the Horn Ceremony," Kena said and brought out a badge with the symbol of a six armed Cobfolk warrior.

"Can I ask you something about the users of the Heavy World?" Evin asked.

"What about it?" Kena asked.

"I'm not sure if you've reached that part in my memories, but there's a concept called gravity in there, and I'm very sure that it has something to do with the Heavy World," Evin said.

"Now that you mention it, that is true Hmm, the most prominent user of the Heavy World are mostly blacksmiths and lodestone tinkerers as far as I know. I've never seen anyone use that world in combat, aside from using it to float around the battlefield," Kena dug through his old archive of memories.

"How about Two Tales? You've been acquainted with him for some time right?"

Hearing the name of his former colleague, a nostalgic mood encompassed Kena.

"That guy He always wore that weird clothing of his But I can't say it didn't suit him. Now that I've seen your memories, I can see where he got the inspiration from. As for his abilities, he rarely fought and when he had to, he would usually use his fist to solve everything. I've never seen him cast his magic, I'm sorry," Kena replied apologetically.

'Weird, then does that mean that Two Tales and Twelve Jokes know more about other Worlds, while the rest of them don't?' thought Evin.

Evin left the man's study and headed towards the guest room that Kena directed him towards.

Inside, he found the members of his group loitering around, each of them playing aroun with an object in their hands.

Arza was holding the Channeling Artifact that Evin got for him, but now it had three more colorful metals on it: Pink, Blue and Red. The World of Life, Water and Fire respectively. It must have been the suitable gift that Kena spoke to Iorn about.

Ssatsko was holding a dagger in his hands, one which emitted a dangerous red aura, one that was close to the crimson horns of the appearance of Selat that appeared in Evin's head. His old dagger was able to absorb Fire energy into itself, shaping itself to become slightly longer to surprise its enemies. Evin wondered what kind of new things Ssatsko could do with his new weapon, which was an obvious upgrade from before.

Rith, on the other hand, was simply beaming as she sat on one of the cushions in the room. Evin didn't know what she received, but it seemed to be quite good, judging from her expression.

"Hey, all," Evin greeted as he entered.

"Oh, Evin, how was your business?" Rith chimed in.

"It was quite good, I got quite a few boons for myself You three also seem content with yours," Evin began and started explaining the things that he was allowed to to the group.