He turned the head of the golem to glare at her and say sternly, "You might be willing to pay that price, but I am not. In fact, I am far from willing to pay the price for your folly."
She became disappointed when she heard that. But her mind was still itching to know.
She felt like her mental sanity was dependent on her knowing what everything was for. But she saw that he was very serious, so she didn't try to argue with him.
She only nodded in understanding and said, "I remember what happened to that ancestor who tried to take control of the last person who managed to fuse the two elements."
He said, "It is good that you understand. Both he and that child he tried to control were destroyed. Don't follow in his footsteps for your sake and for mine. Especially for my sake."
She looked at Arthur and said, "He is about to wake up. About time too."
She knew he was about to wake up because she could sense the mental energy within him starting to become active. It was a sign that his mind was about to begin active operation.
The two patriarchs became silent and waited for him to wake up. It wasn't as if Arthur could hear what they were saying to each other with their divine sense, but they were not going to take any chances.
They became still like statues, or in this case, they became still like the third patriarch, who had been silent all this time.
Arthur groaned audibly as he woke up. He touched his head and said, "My head. What happened?"
Even though she had been warned not to touch anything, she still made an attempt by saying, "It seems you received something from the gateway which stressed your mind a lot and caused you to black out."
She was only fishing in the dark. But Arthur took the bait and got hooked anyway.
He said, "Maybe that's true."
He had indeed received a very complicated technique. He had put understanding the technique on hold when dust got into his mouth, but apparently it had still burdened his mind enough to make him black out.
Lady Evergreen suppressed her curiosity and excitement as she asked nonchalantly. "So what happened? What did you get?"
This time, she didn't use a mental technique to compel him to tell her the truth. But Arthur still told the truth anyway because he didn't think he had any reason to hide it.
He said, "I received a message and a technique. The message said that I had passed the first stage of the trial. Do you know anything about that?"
Sword Flash said, "No. We have never heard of a trial. This is the first of it that we are hearing."
Arthur continued, "The message also said that I need to learn to use the technique before I can move on to the next stage of the trial and that when I learn the technique, I should inform you, and you will take me to the handler."
Sword Flash said, "Oh. We know who the handler is. You don't have to worry about that. We will take you there when you're ready."
Arthur nodded and said, "That is all."
Lady Evergreen still wasn't willing to let things go. She smiled sweetly and asked him, "What is the technique you need to learn so badly? With the way you make it out to be, it must be a world-shaking technique."
Arthur shook his head and said, "I don't know about that because I don't know what the technique can do. I won't know until I learn it. All I know is that I need to learn the Wood Vessel Sigil and the Lightning Vessel Sigil before I can learn the technique."
Lady Evergreen was surprised by what he said. She said, "Wow. Those two techniques are the apex techniques of the Divine Lightning Armament and Everlasting Wood Art series. And you have to learn them both just to learn this technique? I hope it will be worth it."
She suspected that he was lying by saying he didn't know what the technique was for, but he truly wasn't lying. He told them as much as he knew because, according to the message he received, these people were stewards of the trial.
The message hadn't been only about the technique and its importance for the next stage of the trial he was a part of. The message had also given him more information about his situation.
One of the things he learned was about the curse that the founders of the sect and the patriarchs of the sect had been saddled with. He learned that the curse made them stewards who can't harm him.
He also learned that they used to be his caretakers. During that period of time, it was their duty to keep him safe and do everything they could do to help him fuse the two elements.
But now their status has been upgraded from caretakers to stewards. This means that they don't have to stay around him watching him and protecting him. It also means that they can finally leave the Five Veins region without designating a successor for their position.
However, one thing that hasn't changed in their duty is that they can't tell anyone about him and his secrets. They also can't harm him in any way.
As stewards, they are supposed to help him, not harm him. If he needs something related to the success of the trial, he should ask them, and they will help him as best as they can. This is why he was open with them.
So after explaining the situation to them, he couldn't help but ask, "Do you have any advice as to how I can learn the two-vessel sigil techniques?"
Lady Evergreen replied, "These two techniques are very complicated and difficult to learn. Not only that, they also require a lot of energy to execute."