" As for the method to seal the god's, I know everything about it since I'm the one who perfected it! " Said Arandale as he boasted about his achievements.
The clone who was silently listening to Arandale's story up to this point understood a lot about this man's character as he both sympathised and disapproved of his choices.
What he made from Arandale's story was that without the protection of the codex which made this hidden city a safe haven for the abyssal mages, they staged a walkout and decided to move to other hidden safe havens to experiment leaving zogaroth and his disciples to their own devices.
Zogaroth being connected to the Codex put so much strain on the divine object that to keep him alive, it could almost no longer support anyone else, however due to Zogaroths contamination by the time the disciples decided to seal him and leave the city, it was already too late for them as their bodies had also absorbed too much of the death corrosive aura and without the codex to keep them alive, preventing them from venturing into the free world.
To keep his younger brothers from going insane Arandale connected them to some weird imaginary world in what was potentially the universe's first VR helmet.
The blob of mass and the weird roots that he saw emerging from the brains of the 4 individuals downstairs was probably a result of that.
In the end, Arandale who had the choice of joining them instead chose to put himself to sleep, and only wake up the day someone came into his tower.
While the clone could sympathise with Arandale's pitiful situation to be alive and in hibernation for over 4200 years, alone, waiting for someone to visit one day, he also did feel that his current situation was a direct consequence of his choices made in the past.
" The method to seal the god's, it's a technique that you will be able to use as a tier6 god, an invaluable spell that can restrict even tier8 gods! And I'll give it to you- but the knowledge of that move is not something that can be given for free. According to the law of equal exchange, if you want that knowledge you must complete a quest for me first.
What do you say adventurer? How badly do you wish to obtain that information? " Arandale asked the clone with a crazed expression on his face as the clone realised that this bastard had also lost his lucidity long ago.
*********
( Meanwhile Max )
Max was worried about the clone as depending on the corruption by the death aura, he should have long returned by now.
He was inside the mage tower for over 18 minutes now and it seemed like he might have been unable to escape and died inside since there was no way one could survive inside for more than that.
" Damn it… " Max cursed as grinded his teeth. He really wanted to obtain the clues regarding his brother's death, but he would now need to wait another 48 hours before his perfect Cloning skill's cooldown period ended and he could summon his clone again.
With the 30 minutes since the wind elementals death being over, the bastard resurrected again and engaged in combat with Max for round two as Max let out all his frustrations on losing his clone upon the wind spirit.
This time Sebastian also joined him in battle rather than watching from the sidelines and after an intense battle that lasted 20 minutes the duo did suppress the wind elemental and sent it to resurrect for 30 more minutes.
************
( Meanwhile Regus Aurelius )
" Hmmm… " Regus hummed deeply as he read a report on the activities of his youngest son Lucius.
Both his children Felix and Lucius were at an age where they thought they had become smarter than their father and could hide things from him effectively, however, they were both gravely mistaken as every confidant the two had and every step they took were all controlled by Regus from the shadows.
Regus only turned blind eye to his son's activities and pretended to not know because he understood that he could only ever confront them about it once.
Once he used the opportunity to confront them, they would understand that their networks were all compromised and that every action they took was being monitored, under such circumstances they would create new networks and become more secretive in their approach making it difficult for Regus to track them.
Not wanting to waste that one opportunity on meaningless confrontations, Regus patiently bided his time and allowed them to live freely.
This time his youngest son was seemingly trying to rope in Ravan to his faction while also exploring some ancient ruins alongside him.
It was not a bad thing, especially because the experience would allow him to grow whereas roping Ravan into his faction would help him strengthen his political hold over the lower clans.
As a father Regus was happy to see Lucius's calculated approach, but was also concerned that the ancient ruins he was exploring might be dangerous and lead to his death.
Except for that one concern, the situation was extremely favourable for Regus.
If the exploration succeeded and Ravan did not report his findings to him, he could use it as material for blackmail and hold him accountable.
If the exploration was successful and Ravan did end up reporting his findings then his son would need to report his involvement in the matter too and it would be a win for him as a father.
If the exploration was unsuccessful and they found nothing, it would be a lesson for Lucius to learn from and mature.
If the exploration was unsuccessful and Lucius was injured or died, Regus would be heartbroken but it could be used as excuse to execute Ravan
Either way, in the end it was a win for the monarch.
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/// A/N - Chapter 12/20, end of day3.
This bonus sponsored by patron allcat_gaming please thank him in the comments for this one ///