Chapter 391: War of Information

Hearing Torvas's answer to his question, it almost took Argentum all of his willpower not to drop the glass of strawberry juice he was holding. Then again, for someone like Torvas to give Argentum prophecies that would actually happen, it would make sense for him to have a method or two to help in making sure that the prophecy wouldn't happen, right?

Of course, that was the thought process in Argentum's mind before he came here. After listening to Torvas's response, he was visibly shaken, distraught, and had an expression that gave off the feeling he had lost all hope. Nevertheless, he still tried to find a way, thinking that Torvas was just not telling him, needing a price for it or something.

"If you need me to pay for the method to save my original body, then I wouldn't mind paying any amount. Even my loyal servitude would be up for offer, just so I can help out," Argentum said, shocking Torvas as he did not expect someone like him to be this steadfast. Of course, that was because Torvas had lived most of his life only half-trusting the words of others, so something like Argentum's unwavering resolve to help his original body was definitely a new experience for him.

Scratching his head as he felt a headache coming, Torvas repeated his answer once more, saying, "As I've said before, I do not have any method to speak of. It's not that I don't want to help you or anything. If I had any idea as to the method on how you could make sure the prophecy doesn't reach its end, then I would've already told you back then. Unfortunately, my mastery over divination has not reached the level of knowing how to resolve it yet."

As he said this, he could not help but let out a light sigh. Since he was part of the Origin Pantheon, that meant he had control over a variant of the element of Origin, which he did. Akin to what Argentum had control over, he had control over the element of Lesser Origin, but that was the only thing similar between the two of them. Adding onto the four foundational elements of Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth, he had also fused the element of Time into it, transforming his element of Lesser Origin to the element of Lesser Temporal Origin.

With his control over the element of Lesser Temporal Origin, he now had the ability to manipulate through time, and in his current case, seeing through a few fragments of it in the future, allowing him to create prophecies. Unfortunately, that was all he could do. Since he could only see fragments of the future, he could not find out the cause of his prophecies, or the methods that would help stop the prophecies from happening.

The only way he would be able to achieve that was to fuse the element of Space into his Origin as well, creating a synergistic effect with the element of Time, forming the element of Lesser Spatiotemporal Origin. As time had something to do with space and vice versa, he would be able to see the future clearly, allowing him to form prophecies that would happen in the future, as well as help stop it.

Nevertheless, Argentum had no care for that, the only thought in his mind being to help stop the prophecy regarding Aurus from happening, or in this case, worsening. Since Torvas had no method to offer him, he wracked his brain to the limit, thinking of various ways to make sure the problem with Aurus doesn't worsen. Eventually, an idea he thought was genius soon popped up in his mind as he looked at Torvas with expectation and asked, "Since you don't have any method to stop the prophecy, can't you instead come with me to Erudinia and stop my original body from wreaking more havoc? That would give us enough time to find a way to recover his sanity, right?"

Although he found Argentum's slightly crazed expression uncomfortable, Torvas let out yet another sigh as he replied, "If only it was that simple. If this were to have happened back then, then it might have been possible to do. But unfortunately, due to the current restrictions placed on us Transcendents, we can't head back to the world of Erudinia."

Seeing that his next plan seemed to have reached a dead end as well, Argentum could not help but bow his head down in despair, as if he had already lost all hope. After that, he took in a few deep breaths, realizing that he had been frantically asking questions to Torvas like a maniac for quite some time. Feeling that his emotions had now returned to normal, he then asked Torvas, this time calmly, "Is there a reason as to why you can't head back to the world of Erudinia?"

With Argentum being calmer than before, Torvas nodded as he explained, "It's not just me, Argentum. Any Transcendent, except for a select few, can't head back to the world of Erudinia. Almost all of them could only be seen in the Transcendent World. As to why, I cannot tell you yet until you've reached the strength of a Rank 9 Animate at the very least."

"In short, I just can't, no matter how much I want to," Torvas ended his statement with those words, prompting Argentum to go silent for a bit before drinking all of the strawberry juice in his glass. He then placed the empty glass on a nearby table before standing up and thanking Torvas. "Well, I guess I have a few ideas in my head on what to do to help my original body out. Thank you."

Nodding in response, Torvas said, "Although I can't help out in terms of my presence, if you need any financial help, I don't mind helping out."

"I'll keep that in mind, thanks." With his final statement as his words of parting, Argentum then left Torvas's house, letting out a sigh as he pondered over other things he could do to stop Aurus from entering a worse condition. Just as he was about to head back to the pantheon where he first appeared on his own, the sight of a familiar man gradually getting closer to him soon greeted him. Coincidentally, while looking at this man, a thought popped up in his mind as he wondered, 'Wait a second…Torvas told me that only Transcendents can't return to the world of Erudinia. If that's the case, then…'

"You're finally out, Argentum," Cardis said at the very instant he got close to Argentum, smiling as he noticed Argentum had returned to his previous appearance the moment he entered the Pantheon. "So, what did you two talk about?"

"Well, this and that, I guess," Argentum said, non-verbally telling Cardis that what they talked about was of no importance to Cardis, prompting Cardis to nod in response. Though, after saying those words, he then went ahead and asked Cardis, "Hey, mind helping me ou—"

"Hmm…?" Just as Argentum was about to finish his question, he stopped near the very end, making Cardis ponder as to what Argentum was about to ask him. Unfortunately, his curiosity regarding that question as Argentum shook his head, telling him, "It's nothing, it's nothing. Can you help me get back to the pantheon as quick as possible?"

"Well…alright then." Cardis nodded, tightly gripping onto one of Argentum's hands before dashing forward at full strength. Along the way, he could not help but sense the solemn atmosphere surrounding them as Argentum had a pensive expression on his face. Although he gradually became more and more curious as they got closer to the pantheon, Cardis thought that Argentum was not telling him about what he talked about with Torvas, wanting to not implicate him into the problem that he might be having.

With that in mind, he placed the thought at the back of his head as they eventually arrived at the pantheon. Letting go of his grip, Cardis went silent for a bit before eventually telling Argentum, "Before you go, just let me know if you need my help or something. I'm always here in the Origin Pantheon, after all."

In response to those words, Argentum went silent for a bit before lightly nodding, letting out a wry smile soon after. As Argentum gradually disappeared in front of Cardis's field of view, the latter could not help but notice that there was more to the wry smile Argentum sported. It was as if he was telling him that it would be a long while till he got back.

Realizing that, Cardis let out a long sigh as he muttered to himself, "Well, let's just hope Argentum stays safe after resolving all of his problems."

And so, Cardis went back to greeting all of the newcomers that entered the Origin Pantheon for the first time, placing the thought of Argentum at the back of his head for now.

…

Whoosh!

Appearing on the spot he had disappeared from some time ago, Argentum then hastily made his way back to Verdant Breeze Town, easily finding Felix and Eleanor talking with Delmann and Valstra regarding how the development plans Argentum had drafted would be carried out. Though, upon seeing Argentum arrive near them, Delmann and Valstra instantly moved closer to Argentum to ask him on what to do regarding the development plans, only for him to respond that they should approach it from a standpoint that would be the most accessible and would benefit a great portion of the townspeople.

After that, he asked Delmann and Valstra to leave for now, telling them that he needed to talk with Felix and Eleanor. Looking at each other for a bit, feeling that there was more to the situation at hand judging from his tone, the two eventually nodded as they told him that they would be back to ask him questions within an hour or so. Of course, an hour was more than enough for what he would discuss with the two, so he merely nodded in response.

Now that the three of them alone, Felix instantly went ahead and asked Argentum, "So, what did you find out from the Origin Pantheon?"

With a sigh, Argentum replied, "Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do about the current state of my creator."

After that, he circulated a bit of the energy in his body to establish a contact with two more people, telling both Felix and Eleanor soon after, "Though, I do have something in mind that would help us become more knowledgeable as to what's happening to Aurus. I'll need your help, as well as Rosalia and Helios's help on this one."

Making sure that his connection with Rosalia and Helios was stable, he then connected both Felix and Eleanor to it, allowing all five of them to talk at once in private. Seeing that all of them were waiting for him to talk, Argentum lightly nodded as he said, "I'm sure all of you have obtained news regarding the person called The Great Calamity. Rosalia, Helios, I'm sure you've heard of the person, right?"

Rosalia nodded as she replied, "I have. Although I'm located near the south of the continent, the fact that he was able to destroy five villages and two towns within the span of a day has still reached this part."

As for Helios, he of course replied in his usual narcissistic tone, "The same could be said for this divine being right here. News regarding The Great Calamity have become widespread here, to the point that a great portion of the cities and towns near the inheritance have gone on lockdown. It's quite hilarious in a way, if I do say so myself."

Ignoring Helios's comment, Argentum nodded in response as he then told both Rosalia and Helios, "Since Felix and Eleanor already know of this, only you two are not in the know. So, let me tell you right now that the person called The Great Calamity is actually my original body."

In an instant, Rosalia and Helios were left at a loss for words, finding it somewhat hard to process. Of course, Argentum knew that they were pressed for time, so he said, "I'll explain the specifics to the two of you later, but let me tell you the idea I have in mind regarding this original body of mine."

"I need the help of you four to create…"

"A real-time information network."