Chapter 59: Passing three passages

"That was quite the stunt." Lily picked him up by collar and placed him on a golden chair covered in magical gems.

The gems glowed as they recognised his potential for different kinds of powers, magical energies, and his affinities with different kinds of beings. She placed him under a simple looking box after that, and while he did not feel anything inside the box, when he came out, the others were gasping.

"He... she looks pretty cute." He did not notice but the box had analysed him and synced his disguise ring with multiple data sets for the different identities that he would need going forward.

This box was very important to them since it did not only recognise what the selected person would be fit for a collection of identities they had in their database, the box was an item of the olden times, an artifact that can tune special weapons like Andrew’s red dagger and their Contradiction rings.

After finishing that, she placed him back on the chair as the four of them took a step back from him, leaving him to the mercy of those who had become angry at what he had just done.

< "Huh. No muscles, no bones. That child can’t even swing a knife much less a weapon!" >

It was a thunderous voice, however the boy that the voice was shouting at could not hear anything it was saying.

The rest of them already knew just how weak this boy truly was. But then again, to think he was going to know the will of a relic like that was a matter the rest of them would be shocked at if it were true to any level.

"Umm, why am I in this form?" The boy, now looking like a young girl with blond hair and blue eyes asked them with a confused look on her face. But there wasn’t really any specific reason behind this.

They just told him he was like that because he was looking cute, but he had a different opinion when he saw the innocent look that Andrew had on him.

There was no way to know what that guy wanted from them. But the certain thing was how he was doing things that did make some sense.

When it comes to creating scenarios that are impossible to figure out by simple minds like his, he was simply too good.

"Is that so...?" He looked around himself and knew there was something big happening that he couldn’t understand.

They all were chatting among themselves, but it was obvious that they were reacting to something else.

This something, most likely, was related to the eighteen boxes that were floating above them right now, making unique orbits.

’He said they had their own wills.’

Maybe they had their own voices as well. Perhaps they could hear it because they already possessed a relic of that level.

He wasn’t certain but that was the logical conclusion that he had reached. Still, he knew for a fact that the things that were present inside of those boxes weren’t anything like the treasures that were present all around him right now.

This place was absurd to begin with. But then again, there was an evil spirit here that they seemed to be friends with, and the main reason he had come here was to get an ancient relic.

However, it doesn’t seem like he was going to get anywhere if he just sat there.

"Am I supposed to do anything?" He asked the rest of them, pulling their attention from the boxes that they were looking at.

They seemed to be listening to something carefully, but since he had no idea what it could be, he didn’t dive deeper into it.

"Hmm? Oh, you can try convincing them. None of them are interested as of yet." Andrew was the one who spoke to him so now Arcos knew those things were at least listening.

"Fine then." Arcos got up from his seat and looked above, his eyes filled with disappointment.

"If I am being judged, I should have the right to listen as well." He glared at

the floating boxes, his face devoid of any hesitation.

He knew one simple thing: even though he was in the presence of those relics with wills of their own, they cannot harm him directly.

At the very least, if something does happen that angers those things, then the rest of his team will save him. He trusted them at least that much.

So, with nothing to fear, he glared at the relics of the ancient civilisations, already aware that he was unfit to be with any of them by logical means.

’But logic isn’t the only way you convince someone in this world.’

Throughout his life, he had been surrounded by things that fascinated him more than anyone else. He used to stare at a single blade of grass for hours. He would sit there and he would question the grass even though it wasn’t listening.

He would ask the grass what it was, what color it was, what it was made of, whether it knew about its properties, whether it knew what would happen if it were to react to different kinds of magical energies, whether the grass would even have a reaction to most of them.

Asking questions was an activity that he loved more than anything else. And, in this place where he had come to convince the relics of the golden times to accompany and help him, he wouldn’t just sit there and take their passive judgement.

"You speak, you know, you see, you understand, and I know you were the ones who pushed me out of whatever chaos I had fallen into. So, you are not evil either."

Arcos did not feel evil from these weapons even though much of them contained demonic or dark auras to them. What he could feel from most of them was a different kind of power than what he had known.

They were unique, but who gave them authority to silently judge someone when there was so much more to him than what logic could define?

"I know I’m not ready yet, that I’m nowhere near enough for what you need. You must have been aware of my potential but I’d die if I wielded a weapon that’s more powerful than what I could handle in my current state. I know that."

While he wouldn’t know it, his assessment of his current state brought surprise to the ancient weapons.

They listened to him, some cursing at his boldness to address them directly when he must be being crushed under the sheer pressure of what they were when he made eye contact with their boxes.

He was right. He was nowhere strong enough to have these relics.

"I know little about the world. But then again, I’m still a child. I know a few things, a little about some truths, and I don’t know most things that I should before I can be the right choice for you all. But, does that make me an ’object’ of scorn?"

He stepped forward and called out his Aura and once again pushed his limits to a level that he should not in his current state.

Then, one by one, he showed off everything he could do right now. Every single thing.

From Mana control to energy evaluation, from magic to witchcraft, from diverse magical application to unfathomable levels of skill when it came to the ’Magicalness’ of different elements of the ’world’ that he had not yet awakened.

"I have potential." He looked directly at each and every one of the boxes, simultaneously enduring their presence with sheer will.

"I will learn, I will survive, I will beg to the fate if I have to, but I swear upon my name and my honour as a member of the Parliament that I will not die before I achieve the potential that I require to be worthy of you. Any of you."

He deactivated his power and held off the blood and vomit that was about to burst out of him.

The whole performance, the whole speech, the entire demonstration required immense mental stamina. No ordinary ten year old would have ever done what he just did here.

But was it convincing enough?

"..."

The four of them were looking at him with sad looks as they glanced upwards, their expressions showing no positive or negative signs.

There seemed to be a silence in the air for a moment before a subtle smile bloomed on Andrew’s face as he nodded while looking up.

"You have one opportunity, Arcos." Of all the boxes currently floating in the air, six started glowing as their consistent orbital march came to a halt.

They came downward and while they were doing so, the smallest of them intentionally crashed into Arcos’ head, hitting him as if an elder were hitting a child.

< "You’re a baby." >

A strange voice he had never heard before, a voice that sounded like the voice of a hundred different people merged together, scolded him.

"Huh?"

It was a strange voice. An old voice, a tired voice. But it also contained something powerful... a will so great he felt completely empty as he tried to recall the voice he had just encountered.

"Don’t try to understand them." Lily advised him before he hurt himself any further. "When the time comes, you will know the answers to all of your questions."

She didn’t say he was doing anything wrong at least. So, the boy nodded at her and once again faced the relics of the ancient times that, at the very least, had given him an opportunity.