Primordial Expanse: I have the Strongest Talent!-Chapter 582: Nobody knows...

Regardless of his horizons being broadened, Alex was still far from reaching that kind of power himself. At the moment he only had one thing to focus on, digging deeper into the secrets Mikhail had left behind – although now that he knew that things were much more complicated than he had anticipated, he was going to be much more cautious in his approach.

'Okay, so it's clear that Mikhail didn't keep his forge in or anywhere near Eternal Forge city, which sucks.' Alex thought to himself, ruminating over what his next steps would be.

Honestly, Alex was half expecting Eternal Forge city to house Mikhail's forge, or at least some major clues that might lead him to it, considering it was basically the forefront of forging in the Primiordial Expanse, or at least this sector of it.

Alex still had yet to delve into the mysteries of the Primordial Expanse itself, as he and the upper echelon of the Federation knew that the mystical realm wasn't exclusively open to the Human race anymore.

Out there somewhere, there had to be lands occupied by Alien races, of which the human race had never encountered or even conceptualised before.

The idea that they shared such a heaven-sent realm like the Primordial Expanse with all the other sentient races in the universe didn't exactly leave a good taste in the Federation's mouth, but there was nothing they could do about it.

They, along with probably every single other being in the universe, were helpless before the power of the System behind the Primordial Expanse.

'Wait…'

Just then, Alex stopped his stride mid-step as a terrifying, but perhaps brilliant thought crossed his mind.

'Maybe I've been going about this wrong the whole time… If there are other places, far, far off in the Primordial Expanse where other races occupy, then who's to say that Mikhail's forge is in the human territory to begin with…'

As he delved deeper into his thoughts, a feeling began to well within Alex that made him certain he was on the right path this time.

He didn't know why, or how, but he thought for sure that this feeling came from the very same source that had led him on this cat and mouse chase.

'Mikhail…'

Alex was afraid to acknowledge it beforehand, but the faceless figure who visited him in his memories was most likely Mikhail himself.

This, of course, brought up many questions which quite frankly stumped Alex.

How could Mikhail communicate with him if he was supposedly dead? From the way the old man in the Blacksmith Association headquarters spoke, he was certain that Mikhail was dead for a fact.

In fact up until this moment where he finally acknowledged his thoughts, Alex also believed this for a fact.

After all, he hadn't been heard of for countless years, before the Federation even existed and the human race had even stepped foot off Earth's surface.

"How could I not see it!"

Alex couldn't hold his thoughts back and blurted aloud.

"The answer was right in front of me this whole time!"

His thoughts drifted through his memories back to the answer the old man had given him.

"What happened to him then?" Alex remembered asking.

"Nobody knows…"

He muttered under his breath.

Where did the news of Mikhail's death even come from?

Nobody knew… It had been so long since the information was spread that people had long forgotten.

Where did he disappear to?

Nobody knew…

Was Mikhail really dead…?

Nobody knew… but they all assumed he was.

Of everyone he had ever come across that knew about Mikhail and his legendary feats, none of them ever questioned the validity of Mikhail's disappearance.

Why was this?

'Silenced…'

The heavy topic he had discussed with the old man surfaced back to his mind once more.

Alex realised now that the old man wasn't like everyone else who simply believed what they heard at face value.

Nor was he a senile old man like he first made himself out to be when Alex first encountered him in the empty Blacksmith Association.

'Nobody knows…'

His reply to Alex was all he needed to hear to come to the truth.

For some reason, the old man couldn't say it plainly, or tell him directly.

But what he could do was follow the crowd and give the same answer that everyone else always gave, but never questioned.

'The old man had faith that I would come to this conclusion myself… because for some reason, he couldn't tell me such information directly…'

Alex took a few seconds to calm his bated breaths.

'Mikhail isn't dead…'

'He's alive.'

***

Elsewhere, in an unknown area of the Federation.

"The cherry blossoms look beautiful this time of year, don't you think?"

A voice called out into the emptiness of the space around him. The voice belonged to the only person who occupied this space, a middle aged man who at first glance had no redeeming features. He looked just like any regular man one might pass on the street and take one glance at before completely forgetting his face a second later.

Despite the apparent emptiness of the area surrounded him, he spoke as if he was certain there would be someone on the other end to respond to him.

"What do you want, Nick?"

Out of nowhere, a crack in space opened and a tall, slender woman stepped out of it.

"Oh don't be like that, you know exactly why I called you here, isn't that right, Althea?"

The middle aged man turned to look at Althea with a subtle smile on his face.

Althea seemingly had no reaction to his taunting words or expression, ignoring them as she dragged the topic further on.

"I'm not in the mood for games Nick. Tell me what's so urgent that I had to travel half way across the galaxy to come here."

The middle aged man, Nick, turned away from Althea for a few moments to look at the blossoming petals of the trees nearby drift away in the wind.

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