Chapter 148 148 - Lacaster
When Ryan arrived at the guild base in Khalazhan, the scene looked a little different than normal. He was noticeably out of the standard dress of that meeting, from one side to the other, the clothes were a bit more formal and there appeared to be many more serious looks than usual.
Confused, he looked from one side to the other until an orange-haired elf touched his shoulder. She spoke in a low voice in his ear, "You have been invited to the meeting with John Wrynn, follow me.
He nodded and followed the elf, who walked to a metal door with a fingerprint reader. Placing his hand on the reader, the sensor detected the magical flow and released the two of them to enter, going into a hallway much larger than the rest of the base.
'I've never walked this way before' he thought, as he assessed every detail of the place. The corridor looked like the rest of the base, but this one had thick glass windows that gave a view of what looked like the bottom of the sea.
As the seaweed hit the glass he noticed that far away in the water was a huge creature. 'Is that a whale?' he thought as he looked out, the gigantic gray creature passed through the glass and then went on its way.
'Yes, it is a whale' said the elf, who continued walking without looking back.
The long corridor had several closed rooms with iron doors, and with a touch of her hand the elf released Ryan's entrance to a small closed room. There was nothing in that room, just four iron holes that were lined up in each of the corners of the cube that made up that room, with the push of a button a blue portal appeared inside that cabin.
After passing through the portal, Ryan went into an elevator, and upon passing the door he instantly recognized where he was. Glass walls throughout the room revealed a view filled with buildings and winged beasts, with dragons and griffins flying back and forth.
'That's the guild base in Lacaster...' he thought. The elevator door opened again, and out of it came Aether and John Wrynn, both were dressed in social clothes, which showed an air of professionalism to the situation.
"Sorry to bring you somewhere so far away" John said, as he pulled up one of the armchairs that stood in front of the living room table. Aether did the same and Ryan copied them both. Without asking too many questions, he looked at them both as if waiting for their answers.
Holding out one of his hands, Wrynn opened a holographic projection on the table. Ryan was able to recognize the details of that window, remembering the conversations he had had with the regional guild officer. A graph with mana variations was in one part of the window, while the other showed the continent on the map.
Lacaster was in the center of the continent, close to the empire and close to Khalazhan and Neodrazzil. In the center of the point that comprised the city was a giant energy reading, signaled by a red pulse that oscillated every two seconds.
"My theory was right" Aether said, looking at Ryan.
"You are more hopeful than you show" John said, as he lit a cigarette.
The only one who had been left out of that conversation was Ryan, who remained silent staring at the two. He was not sensing any irregularities in the emotions of the blond and the guild member, who remained with a neutral view towards him. But before he could reassure himself, the window of his system refreshed.
Aether was looking at him with a look of concern on his face. 'Did I do something?' he thought, as he assessed the mana flow of the blond and John, afraid that they might try to do something against him.
"Do you remember that map?" John said, as he lounged in the armchair. Ryan nodded, confirming.
"The portal readings are intensifying every day. A new impact could happen any second, but watch this point in Lacaster" Aether said, reaching out his hands to the projection.
Making a pincer gesture, Aether zoomed in on the map until a building appeared. As he zoomed in, a 3D projection appeared, revealing the exact room they were in.
"The center of that energy, is that me?" Ryan said, as he observed a bright dot that signaled ground zero of the signal they were tracking.
The two nodded their heads. And after blowing off some of that gray smoke, John began to speak "For some reason, an energy reading identical to some portals has begun to be identified wherever you go. We identified it a little while ago, and thanks to your duels, Aether concluded that this energy was coming from you."
'An energy identical to that of the portals? But the portals don't release demonic energy, the readings weren't just mana? What does that mean?' Ryan's mind began to work quickly, and in the center of his eyes a different energy appeared. Again he began to visualize possibilities of the future, but unable to hear what Aether and John were talking about, he just watched different reactions of the two. With an intense headache coming on, he closed both eyes and concentrated to deactivate what was happening.
Aether and John were aware of Ryan's confused movements, but the regional guild officer's perception had always been his greatest skill. Crossing his arms, he sighed "So you have no idea what this could be either?" he said.
Ryan nodded "What kind of reading do you recognize on this map? I know I can emit an energy aura, but I didn't imagine it would be recognized by the guild satellites."
Settling back in his chair, John began scratching his own throat as he stared at the window in front of him. After another puff of smoke, he pointed to the chart "The guild readers work with mana crystals, we recognize energy variations on a relatively high scale. I don't know what kind of breakfast you are eating, but for this to be detected by the satellites, something wrong is going on with you."
"You said it's only been a short time since this started, right?" he said, looking deep into John's eyes.
The regional guild officer gave a yellowish smile, nodding
'The only change that has happened to me is contact with the guardians' He thought.
Rising from his chair, Ryan extended his arm to the holographic projection and began and started moving the windows from side to side. Until he found a calendar that showed the date of the readings, all the dots were connecting now.
"So this started after that portal" he said, Aether and John exchanged looks.
"What happened at the portal, Ryan?" the blond man said.
A notification popped up in front of his eyes, signaling that Aether had a look of doubt and concern. A new notification appeared next, signaling that John Wrynn was also cautious and with a worried look on his face.
"I defeated one boss, then another, then another. I don't know how much time passed, as my body began to ignore everything that was happening around me. To tell you the truth, it was almost like a dream, my mind shut down as I became completely consumed with the focus of getting out of that place alive. After a few days my mind completely blanked out, and as much as I could observe what was going on, it was as if nothing really made sense... All those monsters would appear and disappear right away, and as much as I was feeling hungry and tired, every time I exterminated another one of those hordes of creatures, my body would feel restored as if I had just started in that place again. I don't know what happened, nor can I describe exactly what happened, but I'm sure I spent much more than a few hours in that place. It was weeks."
Aether and John nodded.
"We were monitoring your responses with a device. The reader said you are not lying" said the regional guild officer.
"Good to know, why that army down here was scaring me" said Ryan as he pointed downstairs. "Their mana reading is a little higher than normal, Mister Wrynn".
The regional guild officer put out his cigarette and began to laugh at the response he had received. "You are shrewd boy, but we didn't bring you here just to talk about it" he said, and pressing a button, two girls dressed in social clothes entered through an iron door. "Take Mr.Whitemane to change his clothes, he needs to be well dressed to attend the meeting."
'Meeting?' he thought. But before he could question anything, he was already being pulled out of the room by the two women.
Aether was looking through the door and with a smile, he waved goodbye.
//SleepyNotes//
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