Chapter 194: The Titan.
The Shadow Dimension... Ash’Kral Ruined Castle.
Levi had left purchasing his own little island and checking the game tokens for later, exiting the Boundless Expanse to awaken The Titan’s wisp... he could buy it in three days and explore it to his heart’s content.
For now, he watched as The Titan’s Crown devoured the newly purchased treasures with a pained grimace.
The same Array, the same process, and the same pain in his wallet.
92%... 94%... 96%...
"Come on... come on..." Levi kept praying under his breath for the treasures to be enough... they were the last ones in his possession related to the Titan’s aspects, and he really didn’t want to buy more.
98%... 99%...
The moment 1% remained, the devouring process slowed down, making Levi’s heart skip a beat... just as he thought that he would get screwed over at the end, the Titan’s Crown started shimmering with beams of colorful lights!
Then, it started dimming while slowly descending to the floor.
"Did we succeed?" Levi asked, leaning closer to the smoking, broken crown.
"Yes... The wisp is complete now." Ash’Kral replied with a stern tone, "I will go in and awaken him, keep guard."
Levi’s brow twitched, knowing the bastard didn’t want him to learn about his past or the Titan’s... he needed to use memories to awaken him, and Ash’Kral’s memories were integrated with them.
"Fine."
Levi let it happen, knowing that there was no point in forcing it... a time would come when he would learn about everything.
After a few minutes... Ash’Kral’s voice resounded in Levi’s mind.
’It’s done, take the crown and return home... the Titan will wake up soon, be fast if you want to join us.’
Once Levi heard this, he swiftly took off back to his apartment in Heliodor’s region... his face showing excitement and a hint of nervousness.
He didn’t know how the Titan’s personality would be, and this scared him a bit... as he had no wishes of having another Ash’Kral.
...
After returning home, Levi found that his little brother was already snoring soundly... he didn’t check much on him in the past week, and this didn’t really upset him.
Instead, it made him relieved, knowing that his little brother was growing stronger and becoming capable of taking care of himself... though if his plans related to the Titan worked, he might have a massive opportunity for his brother.
Levi placed the crown on the bed and willed his consciousness to enter its Spiritual Leywell.
Once his spiritual eyes adjusted to the light, Levi was stunned to find himself standing on top of a rainbow-like, still lake with a gigantic humanoid primordial tree in front of him.
He was sitting on a throne crafted out of peculiar roots sourced from minerals and stone.
It would be less surprising if the primordial humanoid tree weren’t made of similar materials.
His body was a seamless fusion of petrified wood and mineral veins. His thick, twisted trunk resembled an ancient tree fossilized over countless centuries, lined with quartz, iron, and copper that reflected rainbow-like light into the lake.
His face was formed from granite-like brown bark, with deep amber muddled eyes that glowed softly, matching the gigantic nine colorful gemstones on his chest... positioned in a circle around his heart.
Massive crystalline pillars bulged from his back, each entwined with deformed branches that coiled around them like living sculptures.
As his muddled amber eyes landed on Levi and Ash’Kral, he spoke... his voice as rough as uncut stone, and filled with ancient wisdom, but tainted with slight confusion.
"Ash’Kral... what happened to you, to me... to us... I can’t seem to remember... my memories are nothing but brief flashes..."
"Old Bark... no need to dwell on the past." Ash’Kral smiled bitterly, "It wasn’t kind on either of us."
"So, we have lost... I see."
No more words needed, the Titan closed his eyes briefly... he seemed to understand the terrible implications behind Ash’Kral’s words. Implications, he wished, were wrong.
Soon, he opened his eyes and asked again, his voice resembling two stones rubbing against each other.
"What happened to my realm?"
"Same fate as hers, as everyone’s..."
"Ah... how cruel of them."
The Titan’s lips lowered in grief, realizing that none of his people should be still alive... if his realm failed to survive, then, almost no one would.
"How many remained?"
"Nine..." Ash’Kral shared, his tone calm, but Levi could pick the immense hatred buried within, "They are now called The Nine Greatrealms."
’Wait... there were more than nine realms in the past?’ Levi was left stunned.
The first thing Levi did once he gained access to the dimensional network was to see how big the universe and its realms were.
Although he found no image available of their appearances for some unknown reason, he did learn that the chained universe was connected to nine Great realms.
Shadow Dimension and Boundless Expanse were among them.
"The Nine Greatrealms... what a travesty."
The Titan stood up from his throne, the entire Spiritual Leywell rumbling in rage... matching his current emotional turmoil.
He raised his head to the colorful skies... his eyes still muddled, but his heart was as clear as crystal.
Then, he uttered coldly, "Ash’Kral... don’t tell me, you have given up?"
"Given up?" Ash’Kral sneered, "As long as a drop of blood is in me, I shall not stop until the day they suffer the same fate as hers."
"Good..."
The Titan looked down at them as his body started shrinking rapidly until he was two meters tall.
Then, he appeared right in front of them and asked with a bashful cough, "By the way... what’s my name? I don’t seem to remember it."
"..."
"..."
Levi and Ash’Kral were left speechless at once.
He was just being all authoritative and dandy, yet he failed to recall his own name?
Ash’Kral told him his name was Lithoryn
and swiftly asked him what he still remembered.The Titan went on and told them that he remembered only the last ten seconds of his life with some flashes here and there.
’Ten seconds... I knew the memory loss might be bad, but I didn’t expect it to be this bad.’
Ash’Kral’s eyelids twitched as he watched his old friend asking Levi about the current year and if his favorite play was still relevant.
Levi answered with what he knew, feeling bad for the old man, as he could tell that he was suffering from a severe memory loss.
"Old Bark... I will try to help you restore your memories, for now... we should move your wisp inside Levi’s Spiritual Leywell. Communication between us will be much easier." Ash’Kral said.
"Ah... you do as you see best." The Titan smiled kindly as he kept looking around, appearing like a lost tree in an ocean.
...
After another grueling session of piercing through his own subconscious barrier, Levi had helped the Titan’s wisp move from the crown to his own Leywell.
The moment he went inside, the Titan looked up at Levi’s soul and the three Origin Seeds orbiting it slowly... a confused question escaped his lips as he gazed at Levi and Ash’Kral.
"How?"
"Heh, you thought I got out empty-handed?" Ash’Kral smirked proudly as he eyed the Void and Sun seeds.
The Titan laughed for a moment, a fading memory coming back to him.
"I might not remember much, but your shamelessness has left an imprint in my soul... not even time and death can erase."
"Tell me about it." Levi muttered on the side, uncaring that Ash’Kral was giving him a death glare.
"Enough chitchat about the past... It’s theirs, the future is ours." Ash’Kral smiled coldly, "The key is those three seeds uniting as one."
’Theirs... who is he referring to exactly?’ Levi thought inwardly, too many questions burning a hole in his head.
"Interesting approach..." the Titan rubbed his rough, granite-like white chin and asked, "I believe it should be quite challenging... Origin seeds aren’t meant to be united; each commanding its own set of Aspects and Laws... each with its own path."
He turned to Levi and smiled kindly.
"I believe you aren’t the first partner he has chosen for this approach?"
"No, Sir..." Levi smiled, "I don’t know how many were there exactly, but Ash’Kral had quite a slutty phase."
"Slutty phase... that’s one way to put it." The Titan laughed in amusement.
He might look rigid with a voice capable of silencing a crowd with a word, but deep down, he was quite approachable.
Levi had spoken with him for a short while, making him realize that he wasn’t as uptight as he had expected.
Before Ash’Kral could intervene, Levi suddenly asked the Titan about what he meant regarding the Origin Seeds’ inability to unite.
"You see..."