From Sarasvain's perspective, ever since that mysterious elder had announced that he would like to have a private chat, he had only seen him wave his hand dismissively–and then, a single blink of the eye later, the senior was gone!
'Huh? Did something just happen?'
A bit confused by the sudden change, he turned his head and observed Theodore's expression. Clearly, the guy was deep in thought, and his mood appeared to be complicated as well.
'It seems like some time has passed, and that old man has left already. What terrifying means! For him to be able to restrain even me so thoroughly... if he had wanted to harm me in any way, it would have been impossible for me to become aware of his intent or actions at all!'
With a cold shiver running down his spine, he shook his head and cleared his throat to garner the Winter Saint's attention.
"Ahem. So, how did it go? Is there anything you can or want to share with me?"
Observing Theodore closely, Sarasvain awaited his answer. Perhaps, the elder had left behind some more words of wisdom for him?
"It all went smoothly, in a way. I learned very little, and am faced with an ever-increasing amount of questions. So in other words: It's exactly as expected! For now, please accept this invitation."
Giving him not much time to ponder what had just been said, an invite to Kiran's network popped up in Sarasvain's field of view mere moments later. Sensing that this was clearly a gesture of goodwill from the enigmatic 'young man', he accepted without much hesitation–after all, if it really was dangerous, then the Heavenly Dao would have given him a warning.
'Here, we can securely exchange intel–especially of the kind that shouldn't be overheard by those in control of this competition. Also, as you may already suspect: Everything here is routed directly through the Heavenly Dao, therefore it's as secure as it could ever be. However, I still wouldn't recommend insulting the Heavenly Empress on here, as she might catch wind of it if you do.'
Finding that the network was not yet fully open to him, there was only a private chat with Theodore, where the Winter Family heir introduced to him the basics of this communication method.
'Why would I badmouth her to begin with? Well, thanks for the warning. So, what is it that you couldn't discuss freely?'
Responding quickly, the Undying President was looking forward to what he was about to learn.
'The gist of it is this: Everything that happened here, to this entire civilization–it was all because the senior, whose name appears to be 'Weaver', aimed to reunite me with my Armament Spirit, Faavi. But obviously, he and his people never should have been here, or been able to meddle with the Heavenly Succession–yet they managed to do so. I got a bit more advice and a few reminders, but nothing that's of immediate relevance–except for one thing.'
Feeling Theodore's gaze change from a polite, calm one to an amused, ever so slightly teasing one, Sarasvain felt a bit confused–until the next message arrived.
'You see, Weaver told me that you're one of the two most powerful potential allies of mine in the entire competition. And he stressed again and again that I should try to recruit you to my side–that was why he spoke to you to begin with. He wants me to win and become the Heavenly Emperor, and convincing you to join me will make that far more likely to occur.'
Not having expected this level of directness and honesty, Sarasvain raised an eyebrow and stared at the man in front of him for a while, contemplating how to respond. It was then that he picked up on something that had been mentioned earlier.
'I'm genuinely flattered. Give me some time to think about it, alright? I barely know you, and although I want to get out of here, I won't just support someone I don't understand. Still, earlier, you claimed that the senior's goal was to 'reunite' you with this Faavi, right? How come you were ever separated? And aren't you too young for this civilization to have perished in between your birth and the beginning of the Heavenly Succession? So how could any sort of reunion even take place?'
Smirking slightly, Theodore nodded in approval, then shrugged with a hint of nonchalance as well as helplessness.
'Take all of the time you need, you still have a few centuries! And... you bring up an important point. As you might have guessed, it appears that I am a reincarnated individual, and Faavi was my Armament Spirit from a past life. At the moment, I'm missing too many of my memories from before, though, so I'm afraid I can't tell you who or what I was prior to my current self.'
Sensing that he was leaving a few things out, Sarasvain wasn't offended–no, internally, he thought highly of this decision. As a Transmigrator himself, how could he not understand the weals and woes of all those who lived more than just a singular life? It was also not unlikely for some memories to truly be unavailable for the time being, so he wouldn't make it hard for the guy.
'I see. Thanks for trusting me with this. I promise, I won't tell anybody about it. As you might have already guessed–because Sir Weaver practically revealed it–I'm not particularly restricted by life and death either. So in a way, we're in a similar boat.'
Smirking at each other, the two of them formed an unspoken understanding–exactly as Theodore had planned. From the moment that Weaver had put Sarasvain and Arvystas on the same level, the way in which he viewed the man had changed completely.
Fortunately, there were no irreconcilable differences between them–or even any significant misunderstandings. He had simply been a bit too internally arrogant before, but thankfully, he hadn't let any of that show.
From here on out, he would be nothing but genuine and straightforward in his interactions with the Undying President. The first measure that he had taken was to invite him to Kiran's network, and to reveal some not too dangerous pieces of information. He even let Sarasvain know that he was thinking of making him his ally, basically telling him that he had an agenda.
But that was exactly the point. He would operate openly and above board, winning him over with his sincerity!
At the same time as Theodore's main body and the Undying President were catching up with each other, outside of the central spire, everything else silently unfroze, continuing on as normal.
"Did something... just happen? Where did those two go?"
Narrowing her eyes and warily glancing around herself, Ninna took in her surroundings, immediately noticing that one of Theodore's bodies had vanished, alongside Sarasvain. But when she extended her perception further, she found the two of them inside of the building ahead, seemingly communicating with each other.
'I have no idea what it was, but something took place here. And everyone but that Theo and the president guy were none the wiser! That... stings a little.'
Basing her judgement on the confused expressions of the people around her, Ninna heaved a pained sigh. She had thought herself to be her husband-to-be's equal, and now, a random inhabitant of the event venue had seemingly outdone her? That revelation felt a bit hard to swallow.
'... I can't let my ego get the better of me! I clearly underestimated this Sarasvain before. Never again!'
Clenching her fists, she briskly walked towards the duo, dragging the Theodore next to her with her and bombarding him with questions on the network.
The others reacted somewhat similar to her. Under the protection of the maids and guards, Xie Mei was escorted inside, the girl clearly a little unsettled. This was the first time that she had been so thoroughly powerless in the face of another being, therefore she was a little bit shaken–but not too much. Regardless, though, she still wanted to reunite with Theodore as soon as possible. The main body had been with her just earlier, before it had vanished into thin air out of seemingly nowhere.
Vigdis had taken this development much better than Ninna and her new sister, but she still eyed Theodore and Sarasvain with a curious look. Naturally, she had also contacted her boss via the network.
To give everyone a rough explanation with regard to what had occurred to them just now, they were soon all dragged into a newly created group chat. There, Theodore revealed that he had had a conversation with a senior from ages past, but didn't exactly divulge much information beyond that point–merely enough to let them know that they were safe and shouldn't be worried.
In private, he of course told Ninna, Xie Mei and Vigdis about the details–but only approximately as much as he had revealed to Sarasvain earlier, to avoid any future complications.
While he was busying himself with that, he sent one of his three present bodies down the lift shaft that Weaver had been protecting. Only after the old man had disappeared from the Array's core did it reveal itself to him.
At the bottom, he was met with another network of paths, but this one was a bit different from those that he had seen in other parts of the World Shard. Their entire layout was clearly a part of the present Compound Array, and they all led to a single destination–although they took convoluted routes to get there.
'As expected, the 'Sanctuary' housing Faavi–or in other words, the place where I met her in the last round–was originally right here. Just like Weaver claimed, he swapped it with another part of the event venue. It all checks out.'
Right in the middle of this smaller underground labyrinth, a perfectly spherical region had been replaced by a completely different kind of rock and soil. Upon recalling his memories from a century ago, he could confirm that the cut-off points at the edges of the sphere matched perfectly with the pathways leading outside of the underground city that he had come across back then.
'I guess that part of the mystery has been solved. But there's still so much left to figure out...'
Mentally sighing to himself, the Theodore who had scouted the area below the tower structure made his way back to the others. Eyeing those seals within his soul again, yet another sigh escaped him.
'I can only hope that all the puzzle pieces will start to fall into place once I unlock these two. But that's something that next round's me will have to worry about. For now, I'll just do my best to make it through this one.'
Despite this unforeseen encounter with someone from his past, his plans could more or less still move along as he had intended.
He would first visit his other Subordinates and cleanse those that they had captured, then he would incorporate all of the conquered worlds into his territory–and into his Lesser Void Guarding Array.
Following that, he would focus on his lovers and wives-to-be, as well as on silently growing stronger for a period of time. Then, next on his list were the Naxsir, who would very likely prove to be extremely powerful opponents–and he was really looking forward to battling them!
'Everything is still on track. By the way, what should I do about these fellows?'
Glancing at the hundred or so devoutly kneeling corpses relatively close to the spire, a slight wave of sadness once more overcame him. He was now very much certain that there had long ago been some sort of connection between him and them–but there was a problem.
How should he deal with them? Their dead bodies were too powerful for him to damage in any way, and even moving them could prove to be challenging. Should he just... leave them here?
'Theo, Theo! I feel like I should be able to store them!'
All of a sudden, Faavi's voice interrupted his thoughts. He had previously never considered putting them into his Storage Ring, as regular versions could definitely not handle perfectly intact corpses of such incredible calibre and power. If they had at least already degraded into mere skeletons, he could have given it a shot.
'Are you sure? Alright, let's try it. But don't put on a brave front, okay? I don't want you to hurt yourself...'
His gentle words of worry caused Faavi to rejoice in delight, but she still repeatedly assured him that everything would be fine–therefore he complied.
Putting a single body inside, nothing unexpected happened–so he continued. And exactly like Faavi had claimed, she could easily handle storing all of them!
'I admit, I underestimated you. I'm impressed!'
Praising the adorable little Armament Spirit, he reasoned that he had truly been a bit foolish. Not only was this Storage Ring created by Faavi, but he had also been reinforcing it himself whenever he had a bit of spare time and Energy. As a result, he should of course have expected this creation to be far more exceptional than a normal Storage Ring!
After extracting some more useful materials from the present Compound Array's core, Theodore led the three groups back to the surface. It was high time that he departed from here–after all, his other Subordinates had already been waiting for him for a while.