Chapter 481
Both Professor Atkinson and Dolores went silent when they heard this question - they did have a very fragmented piece of this information, which they gathered from coming into contact with the Spring of Repentance - it was revealed through a series of random flashes of images in their heads, the weight of which stunted them for a few hours before they could even move again.
“Yes - but the information is really, really heavy, and random, and incoherent.” Dolores asked with concern in her eyes and voice: “Are you sure? You looked - still in recovery. If we’re not careful.”
“Yeah, don’t worry, I have my own way of handling knowledge. ” Jianmen smiled: “Thank you for your consideration. Now, lay it on me.”
“Alright.” Professor Atkinson exchanged looks with Dolores, then said: “Let us try - we actually can’t make good sense of it - we saw different things, but like Dolores just said, the information is very random and incoherent. We saw different things, Dolores, do you want to go first?”
“Sure - let me, let me try..” Dolores drank up all the coffee in her mug, took a deep breath and said: “Here’s what I saw: I saw a giant hand - a bit like the one I saw in the vision down below the Spring of Knowledge, but I could feel some kind of warmth around me - it’s not directly radiating from the hand but somehow I know it came from it. And there was also this breeze of cool air blowing through my ears and to my face. I then saw a moving image of some kind of cosmic system, with stars, planets and asteroids and even several remote galaxies. Hrm, whoa - that was easier than I expected. Is it the coffee?”
“It might have helped.” Jianmen nodded with a slight frown: “And these images and sensations, you sensed them after touching the ‘Spring of Repentance’?”
“What I first saw was a lake, connected to a river, inside of which flowed crystal blue liquid - it’s definitely not water, but some other things. And in the lake, I could see living creatures with glowing bodies, not that dissimilar to the bodies of the elementals we met in the edgelands.” Professor Atkinson also finished his whole mug of coffee and said to Jianmen slowly, as if he was trying to come up with the most detailed description he could: “There were strangely shaped trees around the lake, like they were made of moving crystals and rocks. Then I felt that I landed upon a mountainous high land with blue icy glaciers and red hot lava flowing through the ridges, I saw a giant eye in the sky, staring down at everything. There were lava flows, rocks and even crumbled boulders of ice that floated up to the sky, defying gravity. This time the whole land was barren and reeked of emptiness and despair.”
“Interesting.” Jianmen nodded while frowning harder: “What are your theories about these visions you had?”
“It’s his kingdom.” both Dolores and Professor Atkinson answered at the same time.
“It’s a vision of what his kingdom looked like.” Dolores continued: “We figured it’s the only reason we could think of that these very small and incoherent pieces of information would weigh so much. But - ”
“But we’re still not very sure.” Professor Atkinson scratched his head: “Because something is not connecting - I vaguely remember something about God’s kingdoms, which doesn’t fit here.”
“Yes, it doesn’t really fit. Because information about Gods’ kingdoms is usually low in weight.” Jianmen nodded and picked up the coffee pot: “More coffee?”
“Yes! Yes, this is the piece that doesn’t connect.” Professor Atkinson slammed his hand on the table: “Ouch, sorry - ”
“How come? It’s information about gods, no?” Dolores asked and pushed her mug gently forward.
“Yes. But gods’ kingdoms are also their ‘heavens’, they’re places of happiness, companionship, ascension and the entrance of which is a reward for those faithful and those who sacrificed for their belief. ” Jianmen filled up Dolores’ mug: “If that information is weighted, they would have a hard time attracting believers.”
“Hmm - I see.” Dolores was silent for a brief moment, then sighed.
“So what could it be?” Professor Atkinson also gently pushed his coffee mug forward and wanted a refill.
“That I don’t know yet. But I suspect something about the true nature of Xyn himself.” Jianmen gave the professor a refill, then put the coffee pot back on to the counter and let the coffee ground auto-fill and auto-brew: “Did he say anything to you?”
“No. ” Dolores answered: “He said that he needed to rest so he just disappeared.”
“Understandable.” Jianmen nodded: “Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful. But I think I may need to have more information instead. I should be getting something from Fubei Li soon, he’s a bit late this time. I will let you know when I have something. What’s your next step plan?”
“No, no, you’ve helped a lot already, we really appreciate it. ” Professor Atkinson shook his head: “We’ll probably go back to the academy and spend more time in the archives next. Because of what happened, I think it’s wise to wait a bit of time before we go back. ”
“I also have some documents and records about the elemental realm in my library, you’re welcome to go and have a look.” Jianmen shrugged and said: “Some are actually relatively rare, I bought them from one of the temps that used to work here. Even the Grant Academy doesn’t have everything I have - at least I think so.”
“That - that would be wonderful, thank you!” Dolores’ face lit up.