Tale of Discovery

Chapter 25: Tiny Guardian's Account ; Unknowns

"Who are you... no, WHAT are you?"

I was curious about her identity, but then I remember what she did, making me more curious about what sort of existence she is.

"I've told you already haven't I?", she tilts her ahead and asks,

I've met her before? No. I don't recall ever seeing her. I'm pretty darn sure I wouldn't forget it if I met and talked to someone like her before.

"I'm Irene. The soul of your System. A creation of Father's.", she says.

The only Irene that I know of is the one that also claimed that she was the soul of my System. But, she talked in a very inhuman way, unlike this girl in front of me. Also, their voices are... different.

"I've determined that I will be of more use to Father if I had a physical body, and so, I created one."

"Don't you need the data of the Platform to be able to do that?"

"No, I am a part of Father. I can take on my physical form within a ten-meter radius of Father wherever Father is. Upon the destruction of the body, I will enter a three-day cessation period."

How convenient. Wait, she said she could be of more use to me in her physical form. How exactly? Once I asked her about it, she replied,

"As the soul of Father's System, I have various privileges. As I am right now, I can make use of three of them: Light Guidance, Barrier Creation, and Shutdown."

I get the gist of the first two, but what is "Shutdown"?

"Of the three, Barrier Creation should be of most use to you right now. I am able to create a barrier that can withstand almost anything once a day that lasts for about six seconds."

"Then, there is Light Guidance, which is a weaker version of your Light Manipulation."

"The last one, which also happens to be the most prominent one is Shutdown. Simply put, it grants me the ability to make Father lose his consciousness and sensations for three hours. The cooldown time for this privilege is the longest of the three, and can be used only once a week."

What the heck? Isn't she supposed to help me out? This privilege is literally made to be used against me. This is wrong! I thought that she could be my shield when she mentioned the Barrier, but now I'm more worried about her appearing mid-battle than anything else...

"I request Father to not misinterpret the purpose of such a privilege. Everything that I am to do, is for Father's sake. I was born for Father, live for Father, and will die for Father."

This is insane. What the hell is wrong with this... girl? Annoyed, I ask her,

"What am I to you?"

"My Father."

"Who is your mother?"

"Such a person doesn't exist."

"Then how did I create you?"

"It is beyond my understanding to figure out the capabilities of Father."

This is going nowhere... Oh right, I will just ask her about other stuff. For example,

"How do I increase my parameters and the tiers listed in the System?"

She takes a thinking posture and closes her eyes for a few seconds before responding with,

"That's easy. You just have to train! You can access the Tales and train using them. If you have Knowledge of the Tales, you can freely choose among them. I've checked your memories and you seem to not know of them, and so, I will grant you a calling per the RoR Agreement."

{Calling Received.}

I heard Irene's voice, even though she's here and her mouth isn't moving, inside my head as the text appears in a bright red right.

{Gather Knowledge of the Tales.

Time-limit: 29d:23:h:59m:59s

Upon failure: Loss of Essence - Destruction

Platform bound: No}

Are you kidding me? I have yet to know what that Essence is even capable of and now there is a chance that it would go away before I even do so? What even is "Knowledge of the Tales"? I immediately forward the question to Irene, to which she replies,

"It's extremely complicated, so I will over-simplify it. The Platforms and Rift as a whole are referred to as the Playground by the principal quintessences. Some of the principal quintessences granted several Platforms knowledge about other Platforms. The knowledge is a timeline or many of their choice. Someone with the Knowledge of the Tales is a person who has read through the knowledge provided."

"For Father to become such a person, Father has to travel to a Platform containing the knowledge and study it as fast as possible."

"The reason for all of this is that once the time comes, the Arena will be unbarred once again. This is as far as I know."

"Another way for Father to get stronger is to use the power granted upon entering a Platform that has it. To do so, Father must integrate with said power. However, integrating with powers has both its pros and cons."

"The pros are that it lets one use the power outside of the Platform it originates from, and it gets rid of almost all the side effects that come with it."

"The cons are that the power gets severely restricted and weakened."

"You currently wield a power. Would you like to integrate with it?"

Uhm. My power is to possess people for five seconds, right? I can see how it can be useful, but according to what she said it will be restricted and weakened... What if it's something like "Can be used once a day and only lasts for two seconds"?

"No, thanks. Not worth it right now."

I sense some movements in the distance. I focus my eyes, making it seem like my vision has zoomed in, but whatever it was, it's behind the trees and bushes.

"Father isn't making proper use of the ability.", Irene suddenly says as she looks at me.

"Your eyes are under the influence of a passive Effect called Clairvoyance. As it is a passive Effect, the amount of energy needed is negligible, unless Father makes use of its complicated properties. Clairvoyance allows the user to shift the angle and position of their vision at will."

I don't exactly understand what she means, but I try to influence the way I'm looking at the location. It moves. My vision just moved. It's exactly like that time when I "saw" the dragon-rider fighting against the winged people.

Forget that. Through the use of Clairvoyance, I find the source of the movements. A teen. He's dressed weirdly... Wearing a blue bandana on his head with a casual white t-shirt and grey cargo-pants.

He's hastily running away. Judging by the look on his face, he seems to have no malicious intent. Whatever. Going back to the topic at hand,

"Am I able to leave a Platform whenever I wish to anytime I want?"

"Of course not. Father can leave a Platform only when three weeks have passed since arrival."

Great. Here I wast thinking of using it as a trump card of sorts to use when a situation takes a turn for the worst... Speaking of which,

"Am I able to take inhabitants of a Platform outside?"

Irene doesn't respond to my question for a whole minute and just stares at nothing before she says,

"Yes and no. In order for a person to leave the Platform, they must be an Anomaly or be influenced by one. Father is an Anomaly capable of making inhabitants leave the Platform by keeping their souls. However, to do that, their physical body in the Platform they originate from must be completely destroyed. There is also a limit to the number of souls that can be kept; Father can keep a maximum of three souls as of right now."

"The souls that are kept can make contact with outside only in the Mete. For a soul to able to enter other Platforms, a body must be constructed for them by an individual capable of doing so."

Ok. I wonder if anyone will accept the choice of leaving their Platform at the cost of their original physical body...

"I would like to suggest to Father to avoid staying in a Platform for a long period of time. The longer Father stays, the more time and space is disturbed, allowing for Unknowns to form."

Ah. The talk about Unknowns again... what are they exactly? Juno said that they're someone or something that shouldn't exist. What's that supposed to mean?

"Unknowns have a different level of threat towards Father and the Platform. To make it easier to comprehend, I will break them into different classes based on their Rank."

She came up with the following:

1st Rank:- Disturbances. They ruin the flow of events.

2nd Rank:- Headhunter. They will hunt down anomalous existences at the cost of anything.

3rd Rank:- Ambitious beings. They'll attempt to gain control over a Platform.

4th Rank:- Chaos seekers. They will stop at nothing to bring down the Platform.

5th Rank:- Influencers. Extremely conniving beings that will guide existences to do their bidding. Their goals are irregular.

Well isn't this great. I will have to face these things? Wait. Juno said that there is one already in this Platform... Seriously? I just hope it's a 1st Rank Unknown.

My thoughts are interrupted by the sight of a glow covering Irene's body. Her body visibly shrinks until she is the size of a doll that could possibly fit in my palm. She then floats, yes, slowly floats over to me and sits on my shoulder.

"Father should head back now.", she says casually.

She is right... I should head back now and rest. Now that I think about it, Juno said something about copulation being able to restore my Essence energy if it's done with an individual that has the same amount of power as myself... What did she mean by that?

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