Chapter 237: Mysteries of the Eternal Realm

Adrian stood in the middle of a clearing surrounded by dense trees, performing sword swings while constantly shifting his center of gravity.

This was an exercise he had started performing in order to get used to the abnormal increase in strength brought about by his ascension to Phase Four.

Up until now, Adrian had never needed to do this sort of exercise to get used to the strength increase. It would usually happen on its own within a month. But that didn't seem to be the case this time, simply because the strength increase was much more significant.

As he continued his sword swings, Adrian suddenly felt a stinging pain in his hand, causing him to pause mid-swing.

He turned his gaze to the bracelet on one of his wrists.

'Hmm…'

The stinging pain stopped abruptly moments later.

It had been about five days since his meeting with that supposed leader of Nebulous Veil. Since then, the bracelet would start acting abruptly and then suddenly stop. He hadn't found himself in any sort of danger either.

If the bracelet caused the stinging pain because Adrian was in danger, then the pain would only stop once the source of that danger disappeared. That was why it was so strange that it stopped so abruptly every time.

That could only happen if the source of danger was appearing and disappearing constantly.

'Is it malfunctioning?'

But that couldn't be the case. Much like Origin abilities, the fragment relics didn't malfunction. More often than not, it was just that one didn't understand their function properly.

'So its function is different from what I understand?'

Adrian pressed his temples.

"Ugh, this is such a headache. First, that strange creature left me with that cryptic warning, and now this is making me more confused. Just what is this 'something big' that's supposedly coming, and how exactly am I supposed to prepare for it?"

These thoughts simply hadn't left his mind ever since that midnight meeting.

Was there some reason behind those coincidences? If so, then what were they trying to achieve? More than anything, were they going to benefit him, or would they cause harm to him?

'As always, there are just so many questions, but no answers.'

But just then, his thoughts suddenly paused as he recalled the words of that creature.

"There is no fixed future, only possible futures. The futures brought about by cause and effect. Cause and effect…"

His eyes widened in realization.

'Thinking back to the time with the prophet, I wasn't ever technically in danger even though the bracelet kept constantly causing the stinging pain.'

Matters related to time were complex, so he had pushed them to the back of his mind back then. But the reason that the bracelet had been constantly causing him stinging pain was because of the existence of the prophet's Origin ability that could see the future.

If Adrian harmed the prophet in the future, then the prophet in the present would see that future and deal with Adrian preemptively.

But his future self hadn't done that. That was just a possibility. But the same could apply to every other cultist. Their future selves also had the possibility of harming the prophet. Sure, it was extremely unlikely, but it was a possibility nonetheless.

'So reasonably, it should have caused the pain to all the cultists who wore it. But that didn't happen.'

What made him different from any other cultist?

Well, that was pretty obvious. He had the motive and intention of bringing harm upon the prophet so that he could escape. The other cultists had no reason to harm the prophet.

'This bracelet… it doesn't detect danger. It predicts danger based on the cause and effect. Back then, the cause had been the amalgamation of several factors, such as my intention to cause harm to the Prophet and the Prophet's ability to see the future.'

If that really were the case, then it would mean that currently there was a cause that could bring about a future where his life was in danger.

A shadow fell over his face.

'Just what is it this time? I am getting tired of this now.'

In the end, that was all he was able to surmise with the limited information he had on himself. Mulling over it was not going to do him any good.

"Besides, there is a more important matter that I have been postponing for quite a while."

He turned his gaze to the nearest tree and looked at the black bird sitting on its branch.

"Alisardarc, why didn't you tell me about the existence of Grade Three fragment relics until that point?"

According to the terms of the contract, Alisardarc couldn't lie to him or try to deceive him intentionally. And if Adrian were to give the Eternarch an order, then it must obey regardless of what the order is.

Adrian had constantly used this to extract new information from the black bird. The fact that it didn't reveal the information about Grade Three fragment relics at that time should've been a direct violation of his orders.

But the black bird gave him a familiar answer.

[I could not tell you before because of the restriction of the Eternal Realm.]

Adrian frowned.

"That doesn't make sense. If it was because of the restriction, then how come you were able to tell me about it back then?"

The black bird gently flew off the branch and landed on his shoulder.

[That is not how the restriction works. Even if a topic is restricted, I can still talk about it as long as the one I am conversing with either has some idea about the topic or is in a position to learn about it. You would've also learned about that information from that sword even if I had remained quiet, so the restriction didn't restrain me.]

Adrian began walking through the maze of trees, as Alisardarc added.

[There have been several such instances until now. Even talking about the eternarchs or the summoning itself is restricted, but I can still speak about it since you already had some context to go off of.]

Adrian nodded.

"I see… the Eternal Realm, huh?"

The contract was in effect because of the power of the Eternal Realm. As such, the rules of the eternal realm took precedence over the terms of the contract. One such rule was the restriction placed upon Eternarchs on what information they could share.

He let out a sigh.

'If I have to point to the greatest mystery of this world, then it would be the Eternal Realm.'

Despite having been discovered in the early periods of the Era of Divine Rule, not much was known about the eternal realm even to this day.

During the beginning years after his reincarnation, Adrian had looked for information related to the other worlds to find some link to Earth that could explain his reincarnation.

From what he had found until now, this world knew about only one other world. And that world was the Eternal Realm.

Naturally, he had tried his best to gather information about it. Up until this point, there was not much he was able to find.

According to what he learned, the Eternal Realm was a separate dimension that was discovered in the early periods of the Era of Divine Rule. The discovery itself was purely an accident. The same was true for the summoning method.

Apparently, beings called Eternarchs dwelled within that realm. They were supposedly creatures who had once lived in this world but entered the eternal realm after their death. Apparently, any being could enter the eternal realm as long as they possessed the 'qualifications.'

The said qualifications were that the being must have reached at least Phase Six during their life. That was how the rank of an Eternarch was decided.

Rank One to Rank Five was basically Phase Six to Phase Ten. Of course, they lose a significant portion of their powers when becoming an Eternarch, which is why a Rank One Eternarch could not possibly compare to a Phase Six mana user.

'This also explains why Alisardarc always refers to me as Feeble One. Even though the bird is pitifully weak now, it had been a Phase Six creature when it was alive. To it, I would probably seem feeble until I reach Phase Six myself.'

According to Alisardarc, this qualification was applicable to all living beings in this world, yet nobody had ever summoned a human eternarch or a humanoid one.

That was pretty much all that was known about the Eternal Realm. Nobody knew what the eternal realm was like or its history.

There were mainly two reasons for this severe lack of information. The first reason was the restriction from the eternal realm, which made it impossible to extract information from Eternarchs.

The second reason was that nobody knew of a way to go to the eternal realm, despite there being a method to summon the beings dwelling in that realm.

Adrian would've liked to learn more about the eternal realm. But that was obviously not possible for him. After all, how could he possibly accomplish something that the people of this world were unable to do for hundreds of years?

Just then, Alisardarc's deep abyssal voice entered his ear, pulling him out of his thoughts.

[Feeble One, it seems that your so-called sister is looking for you.]