Death… And Me

Chapter 4118: How

"Wait, wait, wait!" Rean immediately intervened. "He is inside our Pocket Dimensional Realm. Even if you attack with everything you have, you won't reach him!"

Soltrex's power stopped gathering. "Send him out! You have nothing to do with it anyway!"

Roan looked at Hick inside the Celestial Soul Dimensional Realm. "Just what did you do to him?"

Hick looked away. "Hum... You see how people can access Soltrex Library Knowledge to ask a question, right? Well, Soltrex once had these kinds of Libraries spread all over, all of them with the same kinds of challenges. This is something he likes to do. Well... I might have changed the system that shared the Libraries' knowledge a little bit."

Soltrex's expression grew darker, and it was impressive that you could notice it with this Mist Form of his. "A bit? A BIT?! Why don't you tell them what that BIT you talked about was?!"

Hick insisted. "But it was just a bit, wasn't it?! I just changed a few words, nothing else!"

Then, Hick explained the story. Before the Primordial Demon Beasts were imprisoned, Soltrex already had a habit of spreading knowledge across various Universes. He didn't just accumulate them, as knowledge had no use if sealed away.

So, Soltrex had many other Mist Libraries or other names everywhere during a time when the existence of the Primordial Demon Beasts was widely known. As its owner, every time someone passed through his challenges and acquired new knowledge, the system Soltrex created for these Libraries always signed the information with his own title:

Soltrex, the Archive Devourer.

Obviously, Soltrex wasn't present in all the Libraries. His system, not to be confused with the twins' system, was just a kind of library manager without emotions that took care of his libraries. Each library had its own.

That's where Hick, feeling bored, had an idea. He went to many of these Libraries and altered the system in each of them. He didn't touch any of the knowledge itself. He only changed the title.

So, without Soltrex knowing, many of his various Libraries all over the Great Void would have the following introductions of their owner at the very bottom of each piece of knowledge:

Soltrex, Keeper of Mildly Useful Knowledge;

Soltrex, Supervisor of Previously Known Facts;

Soltrex, Consultant of Second Opinions;

Soltrex, Author of Lengthy Explanations;

Soltrex, Pillar of Footnotes;

Soltrex, Encyclopedia With Opinions;

Soltrex, Ask Him If You Have Time;

Soltrex, The Long-Winded;

Soltrex, Wisdom (Terms and Conditions Apply);

Soltrex, Floating Page Turner;

Soltrex, The Wise Pancake of Mist;

Soltrex, Glide-Approved Knowledge Entity;

And many others...

At some point, Soltrex heard of it. In fact, those became his new titles in many, many Universes, and he simply couldn't change them anymore. Well... you could imagine the Manta's rage when he found out.

Soltrex had been after Hick for many years after that, but until the Werdlem Empire event took place, he never managed to catch Hick. When he did find Hick in the Werdlem Empire, they were both under Default's orders, so Soltrex couldn't exact revenge. Finally, they all got imprisoned, and Soltrex could only hold the grudge... until today.

"See?" Hick continued. "I just changed a few words. There is no need to be all that angry."

"You!!!" Soltrex was fuming!

Roan and the others felt helpless. Then, Roan spoke. "Hey, Soltrex. He is under our authority inside our Dimensional Realm. If you want your chance to beat him to your heart's content, we can definitely arrange it."

"What?!" Hick was taken aback. "You can't do that!!!"

Soltrex, on the other hand, calmed down pretty fast. "Tell me more."

"You know what? I think I can focus on my own without losing control. There is no need for me to talk from within the Dimensional Realm. I'm coming out now," Hick spoke as he shot in the exit's direction. The tunnel was still open.

*Bzzz!*

Too bad, though. Sister Orb acted, and Hick was immobilized once again inside the Celestial Soul Dimensional Realm. "Let me go!"

[Sure, as long as Soltrex says you can go.]

"If you don't, I will release the boundary that keeps your cultivation sealed! At that moment, you will all be expelled from F956!" Hick countered.

[But if you do that, then you won't just receive a beating from Soltrex. You will get Rean, Roan, Kentucky, and Celis to contend with, so it will be four times the beating. Is that okay?]

"Ah!" Hick forgot that detail. "You guys are too much!"

Soltrex was already feeling quite good with all of Hick's complaining. "A very interesting situation this is. Alright, you got my attention. First of all, what is Hick even doing here? What are you all?"

Herbert, who knew nothing of that, was completely lost. He was just as curious.

"Many things happened, Soltrex," another voice echoed, and someone else appeared on the other side of the Spatial Tunnel.

"Xyrath!" How could Soltrex not identify the Chronoblade Serpent?

Rean also connected his CD to Laiana. -To think Soltrex was in the same Universe as me. That was unexpected. I'm also an idiot. I should have made the connection when I heard the twins speaking of the Mist Library before.-

"Ah! Laiana!" Soltrex felt more and more shocked. "Can someone explain to me what is happening here?"

Roan nodded, organizing his thoughts in a Divine Sense Message and sending it to Soltrex.

...and Soltrex answered almost instantly. "That was quite the story. What is wro-"

"There is nothing wrong with us!" Rean and Kentucky cut in!

Surprisingly, Soltrex only needed a second to understand the entire story, all the way back when the twins first arrived in the Werdlem Empire. Well, he wasn't considered the Pillar of Wisdom for nothing, and having the Archive Devourer title was a perfect fit. His ability to acquire and process information was definitely higher than that of any other Primordial Beast, Default included.

"So you came here to help get me free, right?" Soltrex asked, now aware of everything.

"That's the idea," Roan nodded. "But first of all, are you really imprisoned here? How exactly?"

Soltrex thought for a moment. "I am indeed imprisoned here. You guys probably thought that this realm and this construction were something I owned and controlled as I liked, right? That's not exactly the case. The Library was something I brought out of my Pocket Dimensional Realm. All these books are floating here to make the environment a little bit more bearable."

"This construction uses Starlight Energy, which is the same energy that I need for my own cultivation, to keep me sealed. After many, many years, I managed to take control of some of its functions, and even started to use it as one of my Libraries you heard about. However, I can't leave it, nor change its location. That's something I'm still working on."

Rean immediately raised his hand. "Well, it is time for us to give you a hand! Tell us exactly how you are sealed here."