MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith

Chapter 1686: The Art of Deception

“Er…”

Pausing for a bit as he briefly glanced at both Vaughn and Septeine, the young man was able to smoothly shift his gaze towards Valyr, sending a message to him through [Soul Entanglement] not even a second later.

’Just to be sure… I have to pretend like I don’t know them yet, right?’ he asked, looking at his other self as if whether he lived or died depended on the latter’s answer.

’It wouldn’t make sense if you did,’ replied Valyr with a faint nod, sending over the conversation he had with Vaughn regarding their connection to his other self.

’Of course, Vaughn already has an idea of what’s going on since he’s Vaughn. However, it’s best that we keep up the facade.’

’Well, that goes without saying,’ said Ataraxia in agreement, taking a couple steps back after that as he looked at both Vaughn and Septeine with vigilance.

“Who… are you two?” he asked, only to then look at Valyr with a slight frown on his face. “Don’t tell me you hired them to make sure I keep my mouth shut about this entire thing.”

“As if.” Valyr scoffed, though he inwardly praised his other self for coming up with the topic. “If I did hire them, they would’ve attacked you the moment you took your hands off the crystal orb.”

“We mean no harm.” Getting a rough idea of what Valyr was trying to do, Vaughn spoke up after the former was done talking, raising his hands up to show Ataraxia that he did not come with malicious intent in mind.

“We just wanted to take a look at the ones that were able to clear the trial I created.”

“…You created the trial?” Looking back at Vaughn with a hint of doubt, the expression on Ataraxia’s face soon turned into shock and disbelief after the former decided to release a bit of his aura as a show of proof.

Seeing that the woman beside him had also gone ahead and released a bit of aura to confirm the words Vaughn had spoken out, the young man fell silent after that, eventually looking at the two with a hint of reverence in his eyes.

“I… my apologies for misunderstanding,” said Ataraxia, his expression apologetic.

“No need for apologies,” replied Vaughn with a slight smile as he waved his hand in nonchalance. “After all, vigilance is something one should always have, especially in a place such as this.”

“Then again, since I’ve already introduced myself and my companion to your friend Valyr over here, I suppose it’s only right that we introduce ourselves to you as well.”

As those words left his mouth, Vaughn went ahead and did just that, giving Ataraxia a better idea of who the two were.

Of course, considering that both he and Valyr constantly shared information through [Soul Entanglement], the young man already had an idea of them even before he let go of the crystal orb.

However, to keep up the facade the two had been maintaining, Ataraxia showed reverence in his expression as he gave both Vaughn and Septeine a respectful bow.

“Greetings to the both of you,” he said. “My name is Ataraxia, leader of the Azure Coalition, as well as Ylvar’s friend.”

As he received nods of acknowledgment from the two in response, the young man briefly glanced at Valyr before looking back at them. “Now that I think about it, you called my friend over here Valyr earlier.”

“Have you perhaps mistaken him for someone else you already know?”

Hearing those words come out of Ataraxia’s mouth, Valyr had a slightly grim expression on his face, looking at Vaughn as if he was asking the latter to fix it.

Of course, the reason why he had his other self bring that up was to make Vaughn slightly question the conversation they had earlier regarding the connection he and Ataraxia had.

Other than that, considering that the trial itself was only accessible to the insanely talented and to the chosen ones of the Zeihardt Clan, it would be somewhat stupid for him to keep using the Ylvar name.

Especially with everyone else being able to sense the blood of the Zeihardt Clan coursing through him.

Feeling a bit speechless at the interaction that was happening between Valyr and Ataraxia, the man did not hesitate to enlighten the latter with consent from the former, informing him about the Zeihardt Clan and the requirements of the trial.

Finding out that one of the requirements of the trial involved needing one to be a Herald of the Zeihardt Clan, Ataraxia looked at his other self in disbelief for a bit, only to then look back at Vaughn as a question both he and Valyr had soon surfaced in his mind.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why does the requirement to be a Herald of the Zeihardt Clan exist?” he asked, raising his eyebrow in curiosity. “As far as I know, the Zeihardt Clan does not have that many Heralds.”

“That it does not.” Vaughn bitterly smiled as he faintly nodded in agreement. “The reason why I’ve set such a requirement was partly because I wanted to give the clan that I founded an advantage.”

“However, it was mostly because I was under the impression that a lot of Heralds would be within the clan while I was making it.” The smile on the man’s face turned more bitter than before. “Who knew that ended up not being the case?”

Hearing those words, both Valyr and Ataraxia looked at each other for a bit, the gears in their minds turning as they gradually formed an idea as to when the Trial of Crystallized Truths came about.

’Considering that humans were only able to have access to the system after the Age of Uprising, it would be safe to say that the Trial of Crystallized Truths was created at least a thousand years into the Age of Innovation.’

’At most, it would be around five thousand years,’ said Ataraxia in return as he inwardly nodded, getting the feeling that their guess wasn’t far off.

“So… what did you get from the crystal orb?” After talking about their guesses on when the Trial of Crystallized Truths was established a bit more, Valyr and Ataraxia returned their attention back to reality, with the former asking the latter about his gains.

“A lot more than I thought I would,” replied Ataraxia, already beginning to send some of the information he obtained from the orb to his other self. “Though it covers a lot of skills and occupations, the part I inherited could be summed up with one name.”

“Manaweaver.”