SWNOVELXO Chapter 39: Final Desination
"…Just so you know, I'm not interested."
Sunny stared at her in confusion for a second, before sighing out of exasperation. It seemed like he was being misunderstood.
"That's not what I meant. I was just giving you examples since you asked."
An awkward expression appeared on Seele's face.
"Oh… sorry about that."
Sunny didn't think that he seemed that desperate. Really, he wasn't desperate at all! Considering how much downtime he had suddenly obtained after the incapacitation of March and Dan Heng, he had gotten a little caught up with Natasha. The offer of free things was something that he couldn't ignore.
In reality, he was simply fooling himself into believing that he was infatuated with Natasha when he simply favored her a little more than others. It was a good way to keep his mind off of things for a bit, so he kept up with that charade.
It would take much more than a good first impression to find a place in his heart. Besides, it was already filled by his darling little sister…
…Sunny's eyes darkened slightly as he thought about her.
'Let's forget about that for now.'
Either way, Sunny had long given up on the possibility of romance. Such a thing required great amounts of trust. Although Sunny had abandoned the fear of exposing his secrets, he had no desire to tell others what went on in his mind. At most, he might attempt to create a Legacy Clan in order to further his goals.
But that came with it's own set of problems. Creating a base of operations in the Dream Realm, gaining the necessary funds, adopting those with high potential, and finding a worthy spouse.
Sunny was currently in the Chained Isles, which had two known Citadels. They were both already run by a Saint, so unless he stumbled across one by chance, he wouldn't have an exclusive foothold for his Legacy Clan.
As for money, Sunny was actually quite rich when it came to credits. He could probably buy a large and luxurious mansion if he so desired, while still having enough funds to live the rest of his life without working. He suspected that his impressive wealth was obtained using less than honorable means, but when had Sunny ever been honorable.
The thing is, Sunny didn't know what the credit to soul shards conversion rate was, so he would have to put in some research when it came to that.
As for adopting valuable prospects, that would be insanely difficult. There were three Great Clans in the Dream Realm, Valor, Song, and Night. If any Awakened showed any potential, they would certainly be scouted out by these three families, which would provide them with both prestige and resources.
That wasnt even including the factions that existed outside of the Dream Realm due to the Great Clans' monopoly. Sunny had once believed that their were only a little more than a dozen Saints, but that only applied to the ones that operated in the Dream Realm under the three Great Clans.
There was a strange rule imposed by the rulers of the Dream Realm. Supposedly, only those with special permission are given the opportunity to become Saints. Those who do not have this permission are completely exiled by the Great Clans, as they seemingly have the means to monitor those that challenge the Third Nightmare.
As long as these Saints stay in the Waking World, they will not be bothered by the Great Clans. Sunny wasn't quite sure why this restriction exists, but he suspected that the leaders of the three Great Clans had a problem with two things.
The first was the number of Saints. They had the obvious desire to regulate the amount of people that challenged the Third Nightmare, but didn't want to kill those Saints. Sunny didn't believe that they didn't have the means to do so, so this brings him to the second problem:
The Great Clans didn't want the Saints in the Dream Realm. He guessed that this was because they were worried about a bloody rebellion being started by the unaffiliated Saints, which would bring about the deaths of multiple of humanity's strongest champions. This would undoubtedly hurt both worlds.
However… there was also the possibility that instead of the Great Clans wanting to keep unaffiliated Saints out of the Dream Realm, they wanted to keep them in the Waking World. It would be the same effect, but the intent behind their actions would bring completely different meanings.
Unfortunately, Sunny couldn't find any reason for them to want to do so. Of course, he wasn't a leader of a Great Clan, so he couldn't guess what they truly wanted.
Either way, even if an Awakened with high potential didn't get scouted by a Great Clan, they might dedicate their abilities to their nation in the real world — similar to what Seele was doing for the Underworld.
…Honestly, when Natasha had told him that the third Awakened in the Underworld would be able to assist him, he hadn't thought that it would be Seele of all people. The world must have brought some twisted pleasure from his confusion.
Well, it was still convenient for Sunny.
As for the last hurdle that needed to be crossed over in order to create a Legacy Clan… well, it would have to do with Sunny actually making a Clan. To do that, he would have to actually go out and find a woman to propagate with.
As for Sunny's choice of words, that was because it would be exactly that. If he wanted to make a Legacy Clan, he didn't expect to find a suitable spouse that just so happened to be romantically attracted to him. It would be a matter of mutual benefit. Nothing more.
Sunny found that he didn't mind too much. As long as he could use his hypothetical Legacy Clan to increase his overall power, he wouldn't have to worry about something so small. His goal was to achieve revenge on the world by surpassing everything that existed on it. Once he did that, then there wouldn't be any issue with him pursuing something more genuine.
Either way, Sunny was in no way prepared to create a Legacy Clan. One he became a Master — no, a Saint, then he would have enough power to actually accomplish that feat. Even so, that didn't mean that he couldn't prepare for such a thing.
Sunny gazed at Seele with a look of appraisal.
'We're both pretty agile, so would that kind of thing pass down genetically? Is it multiplicative? Would their child be… super agile?!'
He looked up and down her body, causing her to look at him with an uneasy expression. She unconsciously wrapped her arms around herself as he looked her over with a serious look.
'A little malnourished, but that could be easily fixed. Her face is quite nice. Her hips are quite wide too, lessening the burden of child birth.'
Sunny silently nodded to himself. Seele flinched, instinctively feeling that her life was in danger.
'Her Aspect is quite powerful as well. Since the Aspects of the parents sometimes have a hand in the Aspect of the child, it would be quite interesting to see the results between a divine shadow and whatever her strange butterfly powers are.'
Sunny held his hand out — palm facing upwards. Ethereal sparks coalesced in his hand, slowly taking the form of a journal.
Sunny opened up the Vessel of Remembrance to a blank page. He handed it over to Seele, who looked at the notebook in confusion.
"It's fine if you don't want to, but it would be useful if you could write down your runes. I'll give you mines too."
His gaze darkened.
"The bare minimum that we are going to face is an Ascended human — someone that is a whole Rank higher than us. Chances are, things are probably going to get a whole lot worse. It would be better for the two of us to know each other's capabilities."
Normally, Sunny wasn't too enthusiastic to share his abilities in such detail. However, this was an exchange. As long as Seele gave Sunny all of her runes, he would give her all of his own. In a way, it was collateral.
Another reason would be that Seele probably didn't see it as collateral.
Seele blinked at him. She glanced down at the notebook, before looking back up at Sunny with a strange expression.
"That's fine and all, but… I don't have a pencil."
'Oh.'
Sunny rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish smile.
"It has an enchantment that automatically writes down whatever you want. Just think about what you want to write… oh, you can exclude Memories."
The Vessel of Remembrance only had two enchantments. The first gave it infinite pages, while the second allowed for thoughts to be translated into writing.
Seele gave the Memory a curious look. She closed her eyes — presumably to look at her runes without any other visual stimuli. Sunny watched as words started to magically appear on the blank page.
After a few seconds, Seele opened her eyes. She looked over the information on the page before handing it over to Sunny.
Reading the runes that Seele had given him, Sunny smirked. He had really hit the jackpot, hadn't he?
***
Name: Seele.
True Name: [Final Destination].
Duality Cores: Awakened.
Rebirth Residue: [68/1000].
Death Residue: [68/1000].
Attributes: [Boundary Walker], [Swift Hand], [End of All Things].
[Boundary Walker] Attribute Description: "You have faced death itself, escaping from it's grasp. You tread the fine line that separates it from life."
[Swift Hand] Attribute Description: "Your blade strikes fast and true."
[End of All Things] Attribute Description: "You ignore the law of death, bringing about the truest end to those slain by your hands."
Aspect: [End Monarch].
Aspect Rank: Sacred.
Aspect Description: [You are a butterfly that traverses between the lines of life and death. Death is your weapon, and rebirth is your blessing. With these eyes of yours, you judge what deserves to exist.]
Innate Ability: [Dual Cycle].
Ability Description: [Whenever you kill an enemy, both of your authorities grow stronger.]
Aspect Ability: [Compound Eyes].
Ability Description: [Your eyes can see the lines of death itself. By tracing these lines, you can kill anything.]
Aspect Ability: [Boundary Shift].
Ability Descripion: [You can phase through space as you attack.]
Flaw: [Life and Death].
Flaw Description: [You have two souls. Everytime you perceive death, the dominant soul will swap.]
***
Scanning the runes, Sunny silently thought:
'What a monster.'
Everything about her runes made her seem extremely imposing. Wielding absolute death as a Dormant Ability?
For a completely normal Sacred Aspect, it's Abilities were horrific. Even though Sunny had a Divine Aspect, he was jealous of how unreasonably powerful [End Monarch] was.
It almost caused him to believe that Seele was an Emanator of some sort. However, Sunny didn't see anything in her Aspect Description or Attributes that stated anything about an outside force being the source of her powers — similar to how Sunny had recieved Shadow God's blessing in his First Nightmare.
…However, as he read the the runes, he felt a strange sense of distant familiarity.
Was this déjà vu?