So that was it.
While Blight had read many books about the history and state of humanity, he lacked real-world perspective and understanding.
Maybe that was it, perhaps they hadn't defeated or survived the horrors.
It was nothing like that. No. They merely escaped, erected these high walls, and hid behind them.
They could not truly survive the onslaught of horrors if they chose to attack in one powerful unified army like he had foreseen.
But then, this changed everything.
Why would an army of horrors suddenly attack and destroy the Red Legion?
Blight spent his entire afternoon reading these books and learning as much as he could about the state of the world around him.
He found that the books his parents had left behind for him oversimplified many topics, even to the point of inaccuracy, and some concepts were explained entirely differently.
Blight never realised just how ignorant he was. His understanding of the world was really quite poor.
After Bastion paved the way for humanity and established the human zone, they had enjoyed relative peace up until now only because of the systems they established and practiced.
Each clan would always take the initiative to venture beyond the walls and cull the surrounding horrors before they could grow in numbers and power.
This way, the horrors could never take the initiative to attack their settlements, and they could have a continuous supply of ether fragments.
The attack legion would do the brunt of the expedition and extermination, whereas the defense legion defended the wall and the outposts beyond.
And also because horrors were not intelligent like humans, they would not all band together and attack them in swarms.
This made sense to him.
If new precedents were being set, who was to say the entire human zone wouldn't be attacked?
In that case, would anywhere be safe? Would anybody survive?
But then, if the attack reached further than the red legion, why did the vision from [Bound] only show the destruction of the great wall of Riven and the red legion?
Blight had to trust that his resonance existed to help him, not sabotage him.
In that case, he had to make sense of the fact that after centuries of peace and relative safety beyond these walls, the red legion would suddenly be destroyed.
Was it possible that he was supposed to alert the clan so that they would survive?
Blight considered all the information he had available to him and began to infer meanings and extrapolate understanding.
Eventually, he reached a point where things made sense to him.
Maybe, just maybe, he was the reason this was happening.
He looked into the etchings of the guide.
Name: Blight
Realm: Awakened
Ether Core: Awakened
Ether fragments: [0]
Lineage: [Rite of Challenge]
Lineage Description: [You are the final living descendant of [Unspoken] the [Unspoken]. You are cursed by [Unspoken], and your existence is puny and fleeting, but your potential is limitless.]
Rank: [Divine]
Attunement: [No Attunement]
Lineage abilities: [Gaze into the Abyss]
Ability Description: [The future is unstable. Force your will between the cracks of time and reality to peer two seconds into the future.]
Boon: [Limitless]
Boon Description: [Your ether core can be strengthened infinitely.]
Flaw: [Tormented]
Flaw Description: [You hear the thoughts of others when you look into their eyes.]
Resonances: [Bound] [Concealed]
[Bound]
Resonance Description: [You are bound by a great force. Its effect is unknown.]
Resonance Attributes: [Unknown]
[Concealed]
Resonance Description: [Abhorrent Blight! The forces of the Forsaken want you dead.]
Resonance Attributes: [Concealment]
[Concealment] Attribute Description: [Your presence is concealed.]
'Was there really a need to call me abhorrent, though?'
Actually, there was no need for so much consideration.
After all, it had always been right in front of his eyes.
He should have known. Maybe deep down he already did, but didn't want to believe it.
While he had never heard of the term used before, he could infer that 'forces of the forsaken' meant the horrors.
Was this his curse?
Wasn't his presence supposed to be concealed?
Why would this be a curse? Didn't the horrors want to kill everyone? Did this mean they just wanted to kill him, especially more than everyone else?
Perhaps this was the trade-off? He would get a powerful lineage and a powerful affliction to balance that.
This was, after all, the way of the path of ascension granted by the gods.
For every boon, there must be a flaw. All power has a price.
Yes. He thought he understood now.
He remembered that when he first obtained his resonance, [Concealed] it was a few seconds after he first awakened.
Could it be that in those first few seconds, he was not concealed, and visible to the 'forces of the forsaken' who locked on to him.
They were coming to kill him. Therefore, the red legion would be destroyed because of the target on his back?
Blight scrunched his face.
There was too much he didn't know, and for the first time ever, he disliked it.
This wouldn't do.
He wanted to know everything. He wanted to be in control over his life.
If he really was the catalyst behind the clan's destruction, then he could be sure that he could not reveal his secrets.
He carried a divine-ranked lineage, yet it seemed more like a devilish curse.
It had gotten dark outside. The night settled, and a nearly full moon hung in the sky.
The regiment was settled in, having dinner at the main hall.
It was buzzing with activity and rackets of chatter.
By now, most of them felt at home after becoming accustomed to life in the barracks.
His group always sat in the same place at one of the tables near the end, so he went to find them.
Many of them looked surprised when they noticed him.
Shazbot waved at him.
"Blight! Where have you been all day?"
Marsuu chimed.
"I haven't seen you since battle training this morning, seriously, where did you go?"
Blight chuckled lightly and took his seat. The assortment of dishes tonight was even more extravagant than usual.
"Hey guys, what's up?"
He explained, "I was just in the library and got carried away."
Avil looked at him like he didn't believe his words at all.
"The library? You?"
Leyhart joined the nonbelievers.
"What were you doing in the library all day?"
"You missed everything!" Shazbot exclaimed and shook his head with disapproval. "If only you could have seen it."
"Seen what?" Blight asked.
Marsuu replied.
"Flonecia fought with Ray, Eldrich, and Yone."
He found it hard to believe. Didn't she reject him just last night?
"Really? Who won?"
"Who do you think?" Marsuu smiled.
He didn't need to think. He already knew.
"Flone, obviously."
Shazbot nodded exaggeratedly and added, "She didn't just win, she destroyed all three of them! It was a one-sided beatdown."
"But why would she spar with them?" Blight asked.
Bernault spoke up, "She originally rejected them the first time they asked, but then Eldrich said something to her that made her furious."
"I see."
Blight tuned out the rest of their conversations and continued thinking to himself while he ate.
Unlike this morning, he was a lot calmer.
It would soon be time for the ranking competition.
He had some time to finalise his preparations.
He could continue to learn [Spider Sling] until he could successfully cast it, and spend the rest of his time developing his fighting prowess.
While the attack from his vision was of the utmost importance, he had more pressing matters that were immediately at hand.
He would deal with everything in due course.