"As long as it was a cursed monster, Radix Augmentation worked. The boost I received to my physical strength was so immense that I had to hint to my superiors that my gains were a result of something I discovered within the ruins."
"I noticed," Edward said, as his foot on the accelerator of the van pushed forward ever so slightly, increasing speed. "When I fought you, I noticed that your performance was actually significantly better than last time. But then again, the best Neophyte alive should be at least that strong, or it would be a little disappointing."
Nero did not flinch or show the slightest sign of weakness. If he let his father know he was embarrassed his life would be over. Adopting the mentality of someone willing to die through torture than reveal critical information, Nero put on a stoic expression, and instead questioned his father.
"Old man, how could you never experiment with the Radix Augmentation card? Even if you didn't try it on yourself, you have experimented with someone else."
"I don't know what to tell you kid. Whether it's pure oversight on our part, or sheer stupidity on your part, no one ever thought to use Radix Augmentation on cursed creatures. I think pretty much everyone just expected it to be pure suicide. Let alone try it, I don't think anyone even ever conceived the idea of it."
Outside of the illusionscape, the van was crossing a particularly dense line of trees. It was not large enough to be called a forest, but the gentle downward slope, accompanied by the towering evergreens on the hillside made it so that the van was no longer in open view.
It was at that particular time that the van seemed to suddenly veer off the road, suddenly driving into a clearing, the vehicle bumping up and down as it struggled to traverse the uneven path.
With his seatbelt keeping him firmly seated, Nero had no idea what was happening outside the illusionscape. He did not even feel as his body jumped up and down due to the bumpy ride.
"Well, either way. Now we know. I will have it tested shortly. For now, what I want to tell you is that besides just being targeted for belonging to an ancient family, another reason your mothers family is targeted is because it was a secret heritage. Radix Augmentation is just one of the things from that heritage."
"What do you mean? What else do they have?" Nero asked with immense interest.
"I only know some of the details regarding your mothers heritage. Unfortunately, your grandfather died before he could tell much to your mother. Your uncle hinted at the fact that your mothers family has a hideout where the secrets of the family are recorded, but there was an assassination attempt on his life before he could share the details with your mother.
To preserve his life, he escaped from Kolar, though we do not know where he went."
"Do you know where this heritage came from? What's so special about it?" Nero asked, his thoughts quickly going to the Luminari compendium. He did not automatically assume that his family's heritage might have to do with that, but the more light that was shed on the ancient secrets of the Eldrim, the greater the chances of him learning about his newest innate ability, and what it meant.
Edward looked at Nero and smirked.
"Kid, do you really think it's such a good idea learning about this? Can you afford to keep a secret like this? When your mother told me about it, I even lost my appetite for a full thirty minutes."
Nero could tell that his father was just teasing him, but he also heard the truth in those words. Having too many secrets also might not be a good thing - at least before he could protect himself. Maybe he should-
"Alright, alright, if you insist I'll tell you," Edward said, as if Nero had been nagging him. "Let me share a bit of hidden history with you. You should already know that the emperor began his conquest when he was already an Ascendant. That much is taught in schools.
You'll also know that the main threat he faced against when he began his conquest were the innumerous curses that plagued the lands, as well as the cursed zones which had no restrictions in those days.
"But there are things that are not taught in school. This part, I learned from your mother. Apparently, when the emperor and his armies made it past the twin rivers that divide what is currently Dolziya and Kolar, they were in dire straits. The rivers, at that time, were home to an insidious cursed serpent that lived underwater.
"After a fight with the serpent, the emperor and his generals were forced to retreat. That is when they encountered the first tribe of humans who lived in these lands, and took refuge with them. The name of the chief of that tribe was Koaler Soren."
Edward paused, as if to let Nero speculate on what that meant.
"Later on, after the emperor became a Sage and started his conquests once more, this time determined to rule the lands, and he crossed the twin rivers, and once again found the same tribe, he discovered, to his wonder, that Koaler Soren was also, already a Sage."
"How is that possible?" Nero suddenly exclaimed. "Are you saying that the emperor wasn't the first Sage? But… but that doesn't make sense. How is it possible, then, that I haven't even heard of this Koaler Soren before? In fact, I'd never even heard of the name Soren before you mentioned it to me."
Edward shrugged.
"How am I supposed to know? That's what your mother told me. It could easily have been a story made up by someone in her family. At the same time, this story is somewhat an explanation of where the Soren family's heritage came from. Apparently, it was all passed down from Koaler. As for where he got it from, even she didn't know.
Alright, get off. We're here."
Suddenly, the illusionscape ended, and Nero looked out the van to find himself inside what looked like a young forest. There was no sign of civilization anywhere.
"Where the hell are we?" Nero asked, suddenly pulling out his dagger and opening his card case, looking for the Aether pulse card.
"Relax kid," Edward said as he opened his door and jumped out onto the layer of accumulated mulch. "I told you, we're going to test Radix Augmentation. I found a nice little cursed plant for us to try on."
"Isn't this a little drastic?" Nero asked hesitantly as he suddenly recalled something someone had told him once. They said that those in the Whisper Guard were all crazy. At the time Nero had scoffed, but right now he felt like he was looking at things from a fresh perspective.
"Drastic? Definitely," Edward said.
Before Nero could respond, the ground started to tremble. At first he thought it was an earthquake, but then he saw the ground beginning to crack and split until a thick, barbed root was revealed.
Like a massive whip, the root was suddenly pulled into the air, before lashing down at the ground. Fortunately, the place where the root was targeting was far away from the van.
The ground trembled as the root pulverised a tree with a loud boom. Many other trees splintered as well, breaking under the force of the whip, and the relative silence of the forest was broken. Yet that was not the end, it was only the beginning.
The ground continued to crack, as more roots emerged from the ground, all beginning to whip the very first location that had been attacked. From a distance, Nero watched in awe and horror at the explosive might of the attacking cursed plant!
He realised almost immediately that all the roots belonged to one tree in particular - a very thick tree, devoid of the green needle like leaves that usually filled trees of its kind. Instead, it grew sharp, dagger-like cones that looked like they would make incredibly lethal shrapnel grenades
"Don't worry, the tree is trapped in an illusion," Edward said casually as he watched the carnage unfold with his hands in his pockets. The man's hair was on fire, but the golden flames covering his blonde hair made it look like his hair just had a forcefield around it.
"Trees can suffer illusions?" Nero asked, shocked.
"I guess so. Who knew?" Edward shrugged, though Nero was certain that the man had known. He was just showing off.
"Is this about me saying I'll be the best Arcanist when I reach that level?" Nero suddenly asked. "Forget it old man. In the same realm, I won't fear you."
Edward only smiled at Nero, as if he could not be bothered to reply, and activated his Arcanist form.
"Good luck with that," Edward said and pointed a finger towards the cursed tree.