Gathered around a table made from polished neural latticewood, myself and my confidantes, Charis, Verina, Viviane, Kuzunoha, and Lupina—still excitedly vocal despite being a disembodied head—sat in silence as we examined the map Viviane had drawn with her foresight spell.
The map shimred faintly on the table's surface, its enchanted ink casting an ethereal glow. It detailed the surrounding kiloters with alarming accuracy, down to every crevice, slope, and peculiar energy signature. At its center, a circular glyph marked our target.
The Theotech Site.
Kuzunoha, ever the collector and reliable secretary, should be the one who led this briefing.
She leaned back in her chair, her crimson eyes gleaming with vivid intrigue.
"So," she began, her voice smooth and commanding, "Before we delve into specifics, let ask our dear Narcissus sothing important."
All eyes turned to , though Verina's were laced with amusent, and Lupina managed a dramatic scoff for attention despite lacking a body to match her bravado.
"Narcissus," Kuzunoha continued, folding her hands neatly on the table, "Is this your first ti hunting for Theotech in Carcosa?"
I tilted my head, giving her a soft, sarcastic smile. "Yes, Kuzunoha. Unlike you, I haven't been scouring ancient death traps for millennia. This will be my very first Theotech hunt. Oh, how lucky I am to have a seasoned expert guiding ~"
"Seasoned expert?" Verina chid in, her voice dripping with mockery despite the deadpan she wore. "You an glorified hoarder?"
Kuzunoha's smile didn't falter, though her eyes glinted with bemusent. "Oh, darling Verina, I'd be careful about throwing stones. Especially when you're once living in my mansion, surrounded by the so-called hoard you so thoroughly enjoy ddling with."
"That's enough," Viviane said softly, her tone gentle but firm, as she gestured toward the map. "We have more pressing matters, don't we? I didn't draw this giant map for all of you to aninglessly bicker near it."
When it cos to her creation and possession, Viviane was definitely picky about how it was treated.
Just a few monts ago, I heard that she scolded Naosi for placing the legendary sword that was given to her on the floor of the workshop. However, Viviane's opinion of Naosi was rejuvenated after seeing how hardworking she was when blacksmithing a new weapon that could rival the legendary sword.
Case closed, Viviane was just a strict grandma.
Kuzunoha cleared her throat, brushing aside the minor squabble. "As I was saying," she continued, now addressing the group, "Let's start with the basic knowledge, for Narcissus' benefit."
"Gee, thanks for the consideration," I uttered with a smile.
Kuzunoha then leaned forward as her crimson eyes glimred with an enigmatic intensity.
"A Theotech, to put it simply," she began, "Is more than just an artifact or relic. It is a piece of divine technology, a fragnt of knowledge, power, or design that was created by an ancient civilization so advanced that it defies comprehension. These aren't just tools, items, or weapons—they are the last remaining shards of a world so ancient, so forgotten, that its very history has been consud by the All-Dreaming Beast."
The atmosphere in the room shifted as Kuzunoha uttered those words.
Viviane's expression darkened, her heterochromatic eyes distant as though recalling a mory too heavy to bear. Charis remained silent, her white eyes fixed on Kuzunoha with a faint gleam of curiosity. Verina, leaning against the back of her chair, nodded slightly as though confirming sothing she had read long ago.
And then there was Lupina.
"Hold up!" Lupina's voice broke through the heavy silence, high-pitched and indignant. "The All-Dreaming Beast? What the hell is that? Why does everyone look like they know sothing I don't?"
"Perhaps," Verina said dryly, "Because we actually read books, Lupina."
"Excuse ?" Lupina snapped. "I don't have hands, thank you very much! So no, I haven't exactly been flipping through ancient tos in my spare ti!"
"Co on, Verina, be kind to our precious guinea pig—I an a precious ally of limitless potential, isn't that right?" Kuzunoha said, though her tone carried an edge of amusent. She turned her gaze to Lupina, her crimson lips curling into a faint smile. "Since you asked so loudly, let enlighten you."
She paused, letting the weight of her words sink in before continuing.
And just like back then when she was first explaining the concept of the All-Dreaming Beast to , her aura changed drastically into that of dread. Her pupils shrink as her eyes are wide open, and her smile maniacally lengthened into a crescent.
She appeared to be recalling a forbidden and deadly knowledge, one that was enough to put a re mortal in a constant madness, and she was trying her best to dumb down this massive and deadly nuanced piece of reality into digestible words that won't outright kill everyone in this room.
"The All-Dreaming Beast is an eldritch entity," she explained, her voice reverberating with a maddening cadence. "It exists far beyond the comprehension of even the oldest beings in Carcosa, lurking, mingling with the string of existence within the past and future. It is mindless, vast, and infinitely destructive. Its nature is tied to the very fabric of ti itself, for it consus history as it moves forward to the present—swallowing entire tilines, civilizations, and records of existence into absolute nothingness."
And the day the All-Dreaming Beast awakened, will be the mont where it accelerates fast enough that it would be able to catch up with the present.
There were still more details, but recalling them might have given permanent brain damage, even though I was already considered a demigod.
In the end, it was quite horrifying knowledge, even at the lowest level of comprehension. A re mortal knowing this piece of information may risk to get induced with low level lunacy that would make them give up on life itself, since everything would be destroyed anyway, and nothing ever mattered with that logic.
However, to , that wasn't what makes it scary and destructive.
For those who want to seek knowledge, the key information lies on the na itself, the All-Dreaming Beast.
But, eh, I guess even the smartest person on Earth won't be able to co up with the 'idea' and 'truth' of the All-Dreaming Beast, since it was just conceptually impossible for a re mortal mind to comprehend.
Right, I shouldn't indulge in this daydreaming thought.
Lupina's eyes widened, as if the eerie appearance of the animaphage in her vision wasn't any less disturbing. "Wait. So you're telling that this thing just… eats history? Like a giant cosmic vacuum cleaner?"
"An elegant description," Kuzunoha said with a scarier smirk, "But yes. It consus history, erasing it from all mory and reality, leaving only fragnts behind. And those fragnts—those history and existences of worlds long devoured—are leaving physical evidence of their existence in the form of what we call Theotech."
Lupina let out a low whistle. "So basically, Theotech is the last thing left of a civilization that got eaten by this giant history-eating monster?"
"Precisely," Kuzunoha replied, her smile widening. "That's also why it was near impossible to uncover the ultimate truth of a Theotech, since their truth was already obliterated into fragnts by this so-called giant cosmic vacuum cleaner a long ti ago. Only hypothesis and facts from observation can be made, but not its history."
However, if the fragnts were still there within the 'graveyard' where the fragnts, or breadcrumbs, still exist. It was possible to still see a piece of its truth and history.
Just like the injector that gave the Valtherion gene.
Speaking of it, I sohow still kept my Valtherion form a secret outside of the select few that knows it.
I already checked its state post-ascension, however. And oh boy, was it amazing.
Won't spoil it until it was the ti for to use it again, though—and kinda sad that I couldn't change my spiritual projection into that unless I somashifted my vessel into the Valtherion form.
After grasping the slightest, and safest idea about the All-Dreaming Beast and Theotech by extension, Lupina puffed out her taphorical chest. "Well then, looks like I'm officially the smartest head in the room!"
The silence that followed was deafening, broken only by Verina's barely-contained laughter.
I pointed out dryly, "Sure, Lupina. Let's go with that."
"Jealousy doesn't suit you, Narcissus," Lupina shot back, her tone haughty.
"Enough bickering," Viviane interjected with a sigh. "We are already nearing the Theotech Site, let's not prolong the eting any longer."
Kuzunoha continued, her expression growing serious as she gestured toward the map.
Also, her state had also returned to normal. No longer she gazed at soone with the intent to rip them atoms to atoms, or smile so eerie, a kid might instantly cry when seeing it.
"A Theotech can technically appear anywhere in Carcosa if you're lucky enough," she began, her tone turning clinical. "But the majority of them are concentrated in what we call Theotech Sites.
"These are places where the estranged presence of lawless divinity clumps together, creating a noticeable signal for those attuned to it."
"Like a beacon?" Charis asked, her voice soft but clear.
"Exactly," Kuzunoha said, nodding. "The longer a Theotech remains untouched, the stronger its signal becos—drawing energy to its location, almost like a gravitational pull."
"So a strong signal ans it's old?" I asked.
"It is," Kuzunoha replied. "And in the case of the site we're approaching, it's very, very old."
She paused, letting that sink in before continuing.
"Theotech Sites, generally fall into three categories: Ruins, Chambers, and Vaults," she explained, holding up three fingers for emphasis. "While these terms can be used interchangeably since the aning was skewed as ti went on, like how soone refers to them with any of these three irresponsibly, it is best to possess this knowledge."
That person she ntioned was , heh.
"Theotech Ruins," she began, "Are exactly what they sound like—destroyed, degraded sites where the majority of Theotech-related objects are likely worn down or broken."
"Charming," Verina comnted
Kuzunoha ignored her. "Theotech Chambers, on the other hand, are better preserved. These sites often include ancient architecture and chanisms designed to house Theotech artifacts."
"And the third?" Charis prompted.
"A Theotech Vault," Kuzunoha said, her voice lowering slightly, "Is the most secure and dangerous type of site. These are massive, highly-protected infrastructures with active Theotech defenses—sotis even entire populations of ancient inhabitants who continue to guard the site."
"Wait, you an actual people?" Charis asked, her brow furrowing.
"Or what remains of them," Kuzunoha clarified. "They could be automatons, bioengineered constructs, or sothing else entirely. Regardless, they're more often than not, hostile, and they're as dangerous and unpredictable as the Calamity Objects we faced within the ti of the Ordeal.
"And let guess," I said, crossing my arms. The map looks detailed, vast, and full of pristine and shapely infrastructure. That was definitely not Ruins or Chamber. Considering my luck so far, there must be a reason why Kuzunoha did this whole lesson before the eting started. "We're heading straight for a Vault, aren't we?"
Kuzunoha's grin widened. "Indeed. An extrely guarded one."
The air in the room grew cathartic as her words settled over us. I leaned back in my chair, a mix of apprehension and excitent swirling in my chest.
"Well then," I said, my tone light but edged with determination. "Let's see what this Vault has in store for us."
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