Arcane Era-Chapter 79: To Sarvos (Part 4)

Endless Ambition left his home abruptly to find a way to get rid of his burning desires so he could live peacefully with his wife, Renewal Flower, and his three children.

He was determined to achieve this, no matter what.

And so, Endless Ambition traveled all around Trae’h seeking a solution to his problem, but he found no place in all of the corners of the world that could sate his desires. Even if they could do so temporarily, they couldn’t completely quell the burning passion.

After some time searching, desolate and missing his family, he stumbled upon an old sage who had nothing, yet remained content. This old man held no desire for food, water, or riches, yet he had a peaceful smile on his face and was said to be the wisest in the region he occupied.

Endless Ambition naturally asked the Great Sage how he could also achieve such a state, devoid of any desire and possessing a tranquil heart. He desperately wanted the old sage’s tranquility and to completely be free of the raging flames within him so he could be with his family.

The sage was called Nameless, as he held no desire for a name.

He told Endless Ambition that there was no way in Trae’h to get rid of his ambitions, as his desires were too hot to be quelled by anything in the world. However, bringing Endless Ambition out of his despair, the sage told him of a clear white milk that exists in sheer vacuum of darkness.

These waters were the only thing that could cure his ailment.

Endless Ambition, excited about this solution, sought to obtain this milk, his desires burning brighter than ever before.

The Sage was being destroyed by the flames, but he had no care for his life at that point too.

He told Endless Ambition the milk existed far above, in the High Realm. However, he offered a final word of caution to Endless Ambition—not to let his raging desires cause him to take too much of this milk.

"You can only bathe in the milk for ten breaths of time, but after that you have to step out." The old sage’s words were clear. "If you remain inside, the waters will wash away too much of your desires. You will lose even your precious desire for your family and will be trapped in the endless vacuum forever."

Endless Ambition understood this grim message and promised to take it seriously.

He gladly thanked the sage, who was nearly burned up at this point. Afterwards, Endless Ambition quickly left for the High Realm, not even looking back to see the dying sage whose body had already burned up completely.

The Old Sage, Nameless died there, not even caring that his life was coming to an end.

This is why there is no one that can be nameless, and why all things in the world possess some kind of name or identifier.

The Old Sage didn’t exist anymore.

"Huu..." Theo stopped reading at this point. "What an absurd story."

He wanted to go further, to see if Endless Ambition actually found his way to the High Realm and found the milky waters in the dark vacuum, but he was too hungry to continue.

"I’m starving, guys." He told both Liyah and Kaycee, who were already done with their previous discussion and were now talking about random things.

"You think we can grab a bite in the cafeteria? We still have the Arcas Miss Kamara gave us."

Upon hearing Theo’s suggestion, both of them nodded and rose alongside him. They had nothing better to do at the moment, and while they weren’t as hungry as Theo, they felt they could still use a meal.

"How did you get hungry so quickly, though? It hasn’t even been half a day since we boarded, and you ate a great deal when Miss Kamara treated us." Liyah gently shoved Theo as she teased.

"Haha! Mostly because of this..." Theo pointed at his face—or rather, the black skull mask that covered most of it ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom

"I’ve been testing out its effects and also refilling it with Ne’sh. The whole thing has made me hungry."

"Ah, fair enough."

The group had only taken a few steps forward when Theo stopped and turned towards Arlet.

"You should join us."

"Hm?" Arlet slowly looked at Theo with mild surprise, pointing at himself, as if trying to confirm if Theo was referring to him.

The surprise on Liyah and Kaycee’s faces were even more evident.

Theo definitely knew of the friction that existed in the team, especially Liyah’s disposition towards Arlet. Inviting him meant stirring up trouble, and the disapproving glare from the girl was enough to reveal she wasn’t pleased.

But, Theo ignored it and continued. "Miss Kamara told all of us to stick together, so we should do as she says. Also, we’re a team now... so I think it’s time we actually start talking to each other. If we have grievances, it’s best to air them out."

After saying this, he glanced at Liyah, who quickly looked away, embarrassed.

"So, you coming?" He asked Arlet again.

"Sure..."

Since Arlet was already on his feet, he simply strode forward and followed the group as they entered the ship’s interior and navigated their way to the mess hall.

While they did this, Arlet stared at Theo’s back and a indulged in his silent thoughts.

’Theo... there’s definitely more than meets the eye when it comes to him.’ His eyes narrowed as he began to consider many ways to explain Theo’s strange level of competence.

’His abilities as an Arcane Vessel already exceed the realm of the ordinary, and he was even able to stop the Mercenary King with his limited power. Lord Shen spoke to him even before he joined the Ak’ashi Guild, and I suspect he’s the main reason we’ve been placed into this special squad...’ Many other thoughts like this swirled within Arlet Bouli’jer’s mind. ’Could he be connected to nobility? Maybe...’

Despite thinking along these lines initially, Arlet’s thoughts were quickly dispelled once they started eating.

"Munch! Yum! Hmmm!!" Theo’s manner-less approach to eating rubbed Arlet off the wrong way, and he quickly rescinded his earlier suspicion of the former’s connection to nobility.

There was no way anyone could fake such brutish actions.

’He was more composed when we ate with Miss Kamara. Is this what he’s like when he’s hungry?’ Arlet pondered. ’What a strange guy...’

Not only was Theo’s chewing loud, but he also ate very quickly and had no leftovers on his plate.

No crumb... no drop of soup... nothing was left by the time he was done.

By the time Arlet was barely halfway through his meal, he had already lost his appetite due to mild disgust and disappointment. From doubting his suspicions about Theo, he downright rejected it.

"Oh, you don’t want yours anymore? You don’t mind if I finish it, do you?"

"I... don’t mind." Arlet sighed, watching as Theo took his plate and also emptied it within seconds. In a way, this was another display of how amazing Theo was.

To distract himself from his bewilderment, Arlet decided to tackle another issue in his mind.

It involved the mission to Sarvos.

’Miss Kamara disappeared on us so suddenly, and I still can’t find her despite diligently observing my surroundings for so long.’ He sighed. ’She’s definitely hiding a lot from us, and I have a bad feeling about it.’

Staring at the group of three friends in front of him, Arlet began to wonder if they knew more than what they were letting on. If they did... he wanted to be in on it.

’But they’ve ostracized me. I’m the outsider here, so it’ll be very difficult to gain their trust.’

Still, his curiosity wouldn’t let him rest.

In the end, he decided to try.

"What do you think about our mission? Frankly, I think Miss Kamara is hiding important details about the mission, which makes me a little worried about it."

"Hmph! Didn’t Lord Shen say she’s allowed to do that?" Liyah scoffed. "Whatever Miss Kamara is hiding is justified, and I’m sure there’s a good reason for it."

"You sure?"

"I-I mean, she’s a Captain... a veteran that has been in the Guild for ten years. She knows better than to jeopardize the mission. Whatever she has told us is most likely what we need to know." Kaycee added, stuttering a little since he still wasn’t used to talking to Arlet.

"But she isn’t used to operating in a team, right? This is her first time as team leader, so she might have the wrong idea about compartmentalization." Arlet went on, trying his hardest to sound convincing. "Aren’t you guys curious? Or do you guys already know more details that makes you so certain?"

The conversation continued, and Theo watched in silence, smiling to himself.

’This Arlet guy is really smart... he’s trying to pry for information, but his method couldn’t be any more obvious.’ Naive people like Kaycee and Liyah could fall for something like that, but he was different from them.

Such provocations were completely ineffective when it came to him.

’He must be very curious about the mission details if he has to resort to this tactic, and he also suspects we know something he doesn’t. Well... he isn’t entirely wrong in that department.’

Theo couldn’t speak on behalf of Liyah, and Kaycee only knew a few vague details about the Ak’ashi Guild’s involvement in Sarvos, since Theo told him about how the Zenith emancipated him, however he didn’t know any more than that.

’I’m the only one who knows the full details about the destruction of the fortress...’

It was possible that Liyah knew, since Fae was her older sister, but the Fae he remembered—especially during the Mercenary Crew Incident—didn’t seem like the type to mix family affairs with business.

He highly doubted that Fae told Liyah anything.

’As for Kaycee... I already told him to keep the little I told him a secret, so he isn’t going to reveal just that.’ He chuckled silently. ’So Arlet here is simply grasping at straws.’

At this point, Kaycee and Theo exchanged glances, confirming to Arlet that they knew something.

But so what?

Kaycee wasn’t going to break his word, and Theo had no intention to reveal anything.