'What happened..?'
Hua thought as she looked at the two people eating silently. Whenever Senti looks at Aleph, she proceeds to look away immediately. The movements of her chopsticks aren't as agile as usual.
She exchanged glances with Aleph, to which the latter spoke.
"Let me do the dishes."
"Um."
The moment he broke the silence, Senti finally had the courage to do the same.
"I want to work at a dojo."
"Hm?"
Amidst Hua's questioning look, she continued explaining:
"It's boring to stay indoors everyday. I found a vacant lot yesterday. Isn't it just right to pass on our lineage's teachings?"
No matter how Hua looked, she found zero faults in her. It was as if she was really serious when it came to opening up a dojo.
Nevertheless, a slight suspicion was still there—something proven by Aleph moments later.
"Let me guess. To attract customers, you will challenge every single dojo on Fanghu. That's how it goes in every martial arts movie."
"How did you know?!"
Aleph merely replied with a smile of being ten steps ahead.
"You are looking for trouble."
Hua placed down the chopsticks on the side. She picked up a handkerchief and wiped her mouth. This table etiquette made her truly look like she came from an ancient imperial drama.
"It'll take a while before we can go home. There's also Aleph's status as a god. Can't we use this to make him famous?"
"That's…"
"Are you still thinking about what happened in my world?"
Senti's bluntness was akin to a sharp knife.
Hua received her parallel self's memories of fifty thousand years later. Her mentality, way of living, and exasperation upon being betrayed by her disciples was something she brooded from time to time.
It wasn't just that.
Ever since the huge mess happened a year ago, Hua has been like this.
In a sense, she was similar to Senti. Both received the memories of fifty thousand years. However, they processed it differently. Hua slowly drowned in the darker moments of her life.
After all, Hua was still a high schooler before she received these memories. Her previous immaturity caused her to have such a reaction. She did not experience these memories herself.
"That won't happen again. We have Aleph by our side."
She silently looked at the other version of herself.
'Five days… No. Had she always looked forward to this moment? For Aleph to return and alter that future…'
That was the difference between them. Senti looked forward to the future, while Hua got unknowingly stuck in the past.
This realization removed the haze in Hua's mind. She looked at Senti and Aleph before looking down. A smile unknowingly crept up to her face.
"...You are right."
Thud.
Aleph gently placed the chopsticks on their designated position.
"It's decided, then. Senti gets to open up her dojo."
"Yes!" (Yatta!)
"But… you should be accompanied by Hua."
"I have no problems with that." Hua spoke with zero hesitation. "I will keep an eye on her."
Senti's smile faded slightly.
*****
Sanctum.
It was the place that first introduced the concept of complex information to Aleph. Over the year and a half, he gained a lot of access cards. Each one of them allowed him to take out a corresponding knowledge.
Coincidentally, the achievement he gained after meeting with Nous gave something related to it.
[Eye of Knowledge: Have a direct meeting with Nous, the Aeon of Erudition, for the first time.]
[Reward: Access Authority (Sanctum)]
'Just like this…'
He looked at the sleek dark black card in his hand. Its composition was done perfectly. Its dimensions are all in whole numbers. Its symmetry was also the same.
There was a concept of perfection written all over it.
'The entire access authority for the Sanctum…'
Aleph was aware of the six Sanctums. Each one of them enclosed a certain field. The Third Sanctum, for instance, dealt with biology. He already went to four of them, with each entry giving him useful technology.
The full Access Authority signified Aleph's grasp over the six Sanctum's countless information.
'It's about time I learn more about Transcendent Grades…'
He pinched the sleek black card. A horizontal slit appeared in front of him.
Looking at the undisturbed courtyard, Aleph decisively inserted the key. The translucent black light began to seep at the back of his palm.
Just then, the conflict began.
Hum-!
The black light headed first to Aleph's left hand, only to change its direction to his other hand in an instant. It resulted in the red lines to fight against the seeping black light.
On Aleph's left hand was the sword-like mark of Worlds' Light. It was the mirror that helped him travel to Kurumi's world. It was the manifestation of his visit throughout numerous worlds. It did not change despite his transcendence into an Aeon.
On his other hand was the mark of the Seven Swords. These were the seven red lines that enabled him to call forth the stored weapons in one thought.
Clearly, the black light was willing to fight the Seven Swords instead of Worlds' Light.
'Hm… I should test this one out.'
He did not have much use for Seven Swords anymore. The Door authority allowed him to open a pocket dimension of sorts. It was an inventory that enabled him to store countless things—the army of Abundance included.
Seven Swords did not have any use for him.
Aleph's left hand touched the red lines. They disappeared for a moment before reappearing midair. Pure white light surrounded it. What followed next was the emergence of the pure black light dotted with stars.
Under his careful manipulation, Seven Swords turned into a mark symbolizing a sword made of red light.
Aleph took it in his grasp and placed it inside his pocket dimension.
Consequently, the black light from the Sanctum's authority seeped into his right hand. It formed a black mark denoting the head of a phoenix. The mark's details was so intricate that Aleph immersed himself into it for a while.
Countless lights flickered inside his pupils. A serene atmosphere descended out of nowhere. The tree behind him swayed as it happened.
'...Sanctum. The universe's end.'
Aleph woke up after a round of contemplation. The amount of complex information intercepted by him was detailed enough to fill in the blanks on things he did not know.
He placed them at the back of his mind.
'I should pay it a visit first. Let's see… the third sanctum first.'
With a thought, Aleph's surroundings changed. It happened so smoothly that most people would think of it as a dream.
"...am a hundred years old—"
The first thing he heard was the voice of a girl. The voice halted the moment he appeared inside the Sanctum.
What greeted Aleph's sight next was the calm gaze of a black-haired man.
The moment his gaze met the man's, a familiar sensation swept over him. His True Dragon reacted the most strongly, followed by Door, World, and Time.
'He's like Terminus… but different.'
{Reminder. The entity in front of you exhibits the same characteristics as the Aeon Terminus. Intercepted complex information includes conceptual immortality…}
Metatron rang inside his head. Aleph's currently active elemental sight fed vital information to Metatron, in turn creating an information model based on the man within mere moments.
Surprisingly, the man spoke first.
"I temporarily stopped entry in this place. How did you get in?"
Aleph decided to be blunt. Whatever the reaction of the man may be, his plans were already formed.
"I came from another world."
"Which one?" The man asked curiously. "I can't recall any other dark universes out there."
Hearing this, Aleph reiterated.
"I came from a literal another world. A world far different from your own."
"..."
The meeting with otherworlders began so unexpectedly.