Tale of Discovery

Chapter 311: Records ; Equal Exchange

With a solemn look plastered to my face, I continue to gaze at the blue orb as barely perceptible changes take place inside it.

"Shido, what's going on," Kotori says hurriedly as she takes a few steps back with her left arm raised and set in front of her eyes.

"Just give it a moment," I respond in an exhausted tone.

Contrary to my expectations, the blue orb takes much longer to go away compared to the last time, topping at approximately five minutes.

Once the blue orb dissipates and reveals the now-changed stack of sheets, I slump down to the ground due to fatigue.

"Shido!" Kotori worriedly exclaims as she rushes to my side and holds me up by locking her right arm underneath my left arm.

As for Reine, on the other hand, she simply walks past us and approaches the desk on which the stack of sheets lays.

"Hmm," the woman hums as she begins to look at the papers one after another.

Great. Looks like my 'sacrifice' wasn't for nothing. All that's left is to figure out how much time I was able to reverse through the weapon.

Of course, I am well aware of how hard of a task that could prove to be, so I shake the idea off, for now, and force my body to get back on my feet.

"Hey, you need to rest," Kotori's worried tone reverberates within my ears, "I don't know what you did, but it seems to have tired you out a lot."

Having said that, Kotori shifts her sight away from me and begins looking around for a few seconds before she spots something - a chair.

Determined to have me rest, Kotori tries her best to support me as she slowly begins to guide me toward the chair.

Like most of the objects in the room, the chair is worn out and looks like it's in serious need of some repairing.

Releasing a deep sigh, I lean back against the chair, causing it to creak as I feel my clothes getting a little wet.

Hmm? Why is it wet, even if it's not that much? Odd Now that I think about it, most of the 'damage' done to anything present in the room seems to be the work of some liquid, which I assume is water.

Be it through humidity or some other state, water has found its way to almost everything present in the room.

I will look into this shortly, but for now, it's time to see what this stack of sheets that I just 'fixed' consists of.

As such, I begin to make use of Clairvoyance to check out the papers that Reine is skimming through.

Minutes pass by and a complicated look has formed on my face as I continue to peek at the content present within the papers.

The reason for this is that the information I acquired is rather unusual and somewhat different from what I was expecting.

Based on what I've read so far, the topics that the sheets cover can be split into two. One is the origin of spirits and theories related to said matter.

The second topic is completely different from the first, as it covers the details of a secret experiment in which scientists attempted to create 'artificial gods'.

Expectedly, the term 'artificial god' was a fancy of referring to spirits.

But, that's not important. What I found worthy of interest is the data recorded regarding their experiments and how close they were to success.

"In the end, all their effort went down the drain," I lament as I take another look at the ruined room.

Apparently, they had gotten quite close to achieving their objective, but there was one key item that was missing.

The aforementioned item was absolutely necessary, as it practically acted as the 'core' of their research.

Alas, they were unable to get their hands on this object, which is shrouded in mystery with zero data regarding it being present within the papers.

Either way, this has broadened my view regarding this Platform and has definitely given rise to a few questions within my head.

Currently, the question that's bothering me the most is: Could all spirits be the products of some experiment?

Although this seems too far-fetched and unrealistic in a lot of ways, it resolves quite a few things I had been doubtful of.

Still for some experiments to be able to replicate Codes, even if way weaker, speaks leagues regarding how absurd this whole thing is.

Hah~ This matter turned to be so troublesome

Reine was right regarding this place containing the answer to most of my questions, but in the end, I am going to be leaving with a headache due to what I've come across here.

"I see, no wonder" Reine mutters in a low voice while setting another paper aside, causing me to bring a halt to my thoughts and focus on her.

This woman I need to settle everything with her properly. Today is a chance as good as any ever, so I better not let it go to waste.

Gritting my teeth, I ignore the overwhelming jolts of pain all over my body as I get up from the chair and begin to walk toward Reine and Kotori.

Noticing my actions, Kotori breaks her gaze from whatever she was looking at on the desk and says in a loud voice, "Hey, what did I tell you?! You need to rest!"

"You're wrong," I say while trying to appear as composed as I can with a small smile on my lips, "Can't you see I'm doing just fine?"

"Don't push yourself," Kotori says, "We won't hide anything from you if that's what you're worried about."

Hearing her, I chuckle a little before shaking my head and saying, "I've already seen everything."

"What?" Kotori utters in a confused tone as she stares at my face doubtfully.

"Forget that," I state in a dismissive tone, not intending to elaborate on my abilities right now, "Reine, it's about time we began our discussion, don't you think?"

As a response to my words, Reine's hands which were shifting through the papers freeze in the air as she slowly turns her head to face me.

"You're right," she says casually as she sets the papers in her hands down and turns her body in my direction.

Following this, the air tenses as silence ensues with neither of us apparently intending to break the silence.

Perhaps realizing this, Kotori takes in a deep breath before turning to face me and asks, "Hey, what have the two of you been planning exactly?"

"Nothing much," I respond while shrugging, "According to our agreement, we would exchange vital information, but as I see it, neither of us knows where to start."

Hearing my words, Kotori's brows slightly furrow as she draws her hand to her mouth and begins to nibble on her finger with a look of deliberation on her face.

A short while later, she sets her arm down and peers into my eyes before inquiring, "You said you have hazy memories of various powers, right?"

"That's correct," I respond, not planning to reveal the whole truth just yet.

"How powerful do you deem yourself to be?" she continues while squinting her eyes.

I see how it is. On the surface, Kotori is asking me this in a way as if she has suspicions regarding something, but in reality, she wants to look into two things. First, my trust in her. Second, my powers.

"I might be exaggerating a little," I say in a dubious tone, "But flattening this city shouldn't take much time."

As expected, my answer catches both of them off-guard as Kotori's eyes widen while Reine's gaze on me sharpens.

It's the truth. I am aware of how absurd some of my abilities can get if utilized properly, hence why I made such an assumption.

As for hiding this from them, why should I? Not only will this pressure them and force them to make compromises with me in the future, but it would heighten my 'position' in their eyes to the point that I could have their direct support for an operation that I might undertake in the near future.

"That was quite the question to ask," I state with a friendly smile plastered to my lips, "I presume you have something as equally compromising to share with me?"

While it seems that my question is directed at Kotori, I am asking this of the two of them.

Reine understands this as she releases a sigh before taking a few steps away from the desk as she says, "Like you, I also possess hazy memories."

"Oh?" I utter in an intrigued tone, "Do your memories contain any abnormalities?"

Upon saying this, I as I fixate my gaze on Reine's face before saying in a firm tone, "Such as 'Spiritual' abilities?"

"Yes," she responds, surprising me a little since I expected her to be more reluctant about giving me a proper response, "I am a spirit."

Hearing this, I shake my head with a wry smile on my lips as I state, "That's no news to me. You should've tried harder in keeping that a secret."

So I say, but I am aware that she herself knew about this.

"As such, I will be asking you a question instead."

To this, Reine simply nods her head once.

"Earlier, why were you in DEM industries' main building?"

My question causes Reine's eyes to widen slightly as Kotori looks at her with a curious glint in her eyes.

"To set a captive spirit free," she responds after a few seconds.

Hmm I somewhat expected this. Unlike Kotori who is visibly relieved, I am rather concerned about what she just said. After all, a spirit is being held captive, according to her words.

"Did you succeed?" I continue to ask.

"No."

"Why?"

This time, Reine goes completely silent as she continues to gaze at my face.

"What; is the information incomparable to what I shared with you?" I say in a slightly irritated tone.

"It's your turn to share once again," she says without any change in her expression.

"Fine. How about this" I say as I move closer to Reine, "There are more of them."

"More of what?"

"Spirits," I respond, "Not only that, but those I speak of are much more powerful and dangerous than any of the spirits here."

Having most likely paid attention to my wording, Reine repeats, "Here?"

"That's right," I reply while grinning, "They're not here right now, but in a different world."

"Another world," Reine mutters with a deliberative look on her face.

If nothing goes wrong, Reine will most likely misunderstand the 'other world' I speak of for the Neighboring World, if she knows about it, that is.

"Now then That should be some valuable information in more ways than one. Could you answer my question now?"

"I was discovered and stopped," she abruptly says.

"By who or what?"

"I don't know," she responds as her expression becomes a little complicated, "It was so sudden that I had to make a quick retreat."

Interesting. If she's telling the truth, there is something in there capable of warding off spirits easily.

"Tell me what your experience was like," I say, to which Reine responds by nodding her head once and beginning to recount what occurred in the building.

Once she is done, an odd expression has formed on my face as I ruminate over what she just said.

Seriously? Golden bullets and fissures in space? Isn't that Dominion?