Single Wish: Rise Of The Omniscient Paragon

His mind first went to the Supreme.

He recalled the appearance of the Supreme, and as he recalled the Supreme's appearance, he had a feeling that if he was not a Paragon, he would not have been able to do such a thing because the Supreme he saw was most likely at the level of the descending Old One.

'An extremely dark face that has no nose, no mouth, no ears, and even no hair... Only seven different colored eyes are on its head- Crimson Red, Deep Blue, Deep Brown, Misty White, Bright Yellow, and a Gold colour.'

'The six colors represents the different elements the Supreme can control, and the last eye which all Supremes have... Is always closed and always at the center of the forehead.'

'He also has a lean but muscular physique and large folded wings at his back... I wonder how many that particular Supreme has.'

Corey frowned deeply as he made sure not to forget the image of the Supreme in his mind.

This was the first Supreme he was seeing.

Apart from the image of the Supreme Ancestor's face that appeared in the sky when the apocalypse began, and also the countless corpses of Supremes he saw when he was experiencing the Paragon Ancestor's killing intent.

'The last thing I expected was to find a Supreme in the memories.'

'Why was the Supreme there?'

'What was or what were his goals?'

'And why is it that I'm discovering the presence of a Supreme in the second place that deals with the Old Ones.'

'The Shattered Dimension of the Old Ones had a sealed Supreme in it, and Virendell which had to face the descent of an Old One had a Supreme in it.'

'The Supremes and Old Ones... I wonder what their connection is.'

Corey looked up, and his gaze landed on the rubbles of the stone slab.

The moment he had finished going through the memories, the stone slab exploded most likely because it could no longer contain the energy in it.

"The city fell not because of war alone... but because of rot from within."

His mind flashed with the image of the tree made of bones and flesh. Of hearts as fruits.

'They called HIM... Death...'

'But is HE truly Death?... I wonder.'

He closed his eyes briefly, remembering the eye in the sky. The air turning to water. The world fracturing.

And then he recalled the five leaders.

The three with antlers and blindfolds, the jellyfish of eyes, and the writhing ball of tongues and red eyes.

As he recalled all of these, he suddenly remembered the carvings in the tunnel.

Most especially, the eyeless figure that had attempted to possess him.

'What... Or who was that?'

Corey looked in the direction of the entrance, and the dark entrance was like the maw of a beast that was just waiting for him to enter.

He frowned.

Not because of the feeling, but because he had not been able to find any clue as to who the figure was.

'Could that be the Old One? Or is that maybe the true leader of the Hollow Cult?'

'How come I didn't see anything related to him in the memories?'

The gears in Corey's mind turned as he suddenly recalled a line in one of the books he read.

----

And when the last monarch of Virendell asked them about their purpose, they offered a crown made of broken ribs and asked, "Would you like to listen?

----

'Was it the eyeless figure that offered the crown of broken ribs?... Or was it another member of the Hollow Creed?'

'I just hope the eyeless figure is not in this system trial.'

Corey decided to change his train of thoughts since he could not find an answer from all the broken pieces of information he had gotten.

His thoughts went to another enigmatic figure that could have been easily ignored.

The First Librarian.

Out of everything he had discovered and learned, the First Librarian was the most enigmatic piece of discovery.

And it was for one reason and one reason alone.

Because he had been present from the time period of Kael Yurien to the last moments of Virendell.

There was a difference of tens of thousands of years between these two time periods, and not only had the First Librarian been present, he was still called The First Librarian... Not The Librarian.

Corey recalled the appearance of the First Librarian, and unlike how most would expect to see an old man with long white beards, the First Librarian seemed young.

He looked like a young man in his early thirties with a cleanly cut beard, and gold-rimmed glasses.

He was dressed in a white suit, and his hair was pure gold in colour.

He replayed the final scene- the puddle, in his mind over and over, and his gaze always alternated from the reflection of the First Librarian to the Supreme.

'Were the First Librarian and the Supreme allies?'

'Was the Supreme aiding the Hollow Creed?'

He frowned.

'Or could it have been trying to stop the Old One from descending?'

'Was the First Librarian trying to save Virendell... or... Damn it!'

Corey held his head in frustration, and then he accessed his memories.

He pulled every scroll, every book, and every source of knowledge he had absorbed into his Tri-Pupil Eyes.

But...

Nothing.

Not a single record of the First Librarian or any Librarians for that matter.

Not a mention.

Not even a whisper.

His frown deepened.

'Erased?'

'Hidden?'

'Or ... did they never exist within the official records?'

He sighed again.

And let his thoughts swim.

'What if the First Librarian was the one who created the Archive?'

'What if the Archive itself had another goal?... Like sealing something beneath?'

He looked down at the hundreds of neatly arranged bones, and he didn't know why, but he had a feeling that he was right.

Because why would there be piles of neatly arranged bones beneath a library?

Although he had the urge to destroy the ground beneath him and explore what was below, he dared not to.

His instincts did not have to warn him that what was below was most likely extremely dangerous.

After seeing all those memories and the battles that occurred, he knew that the warriors and mages of the past were far far stronger than any Tier 6 he had ever encountered.

In fact, a lot of them felt stronger than the Throne of the Shattered Dimension of the Old Ones.

And this was extremely significant to him because the chances of him and the Thirteenth Dawn encountering something that was far above their power levels was high.

Virendell had not been a world with mortals.

In fact, Corey was certain that Virendell was ancient. It was one of the ancient cities of their universe because of all the books and scrolls he had.

The repeated mention of cultivation and several methods of gaining power without mentioning for once the terms- Tier or Universal System, made Corey to realize that Virendell was a city that existed before the Universal System.

'Now, I'm curious if I was ever meant to be able to enter the Archive.'

'No.'

'Even if I was able to enter with the Thirteenth Dawn, none of them would have been able to read the books and scrolls... The language used is extremely ancient and extremely similar to runes.'

'I doubt even Pamela would have been able to decipher the books and scrolls... Well... She might, since the runes would speak to her.'

'Hopefully, what I've discovered here does not make the trial more difficult.'

'And hopefully... We don't have to fight a being that is equivalent to a Tier 7 or higher.'

'Might as well find another way out of here.'

He shook his head.

'I shouldn't be too pessimistic... Since this is a System Trial, I doubt it'll give us something we can't handle.'

'Besides... the Universal System said that the recommended Tier is Tier 5.'

He looked down at his hands, and felt the dull pulse of Dream Healing still repairing the damage done to him from the explosion of the stone slab.

His body would have healed far more quickly, but his Stars of Consciousness were making sure to purge any foreign energy, no matter how minute, that had found its way into his body and mind.

Although he planned on not thinking too much about it, he couldn't help himself from thinking about the First Librarian once again.

'Maybe... the First Librarian wasn't from Virendell.'

He tapped his finger against the broken floor.

Slowly.

Rhythmically.

'A possibility... perhaps... the Librarian was a hidden guardian... a traitor... or something else entirely.'

He rose to his feet slowly.

His body was still hurt, but his mind was steady.

He had pieced enough together.

Not all.

But enough.

'There's more to this... far more.'

He looked around the hall one last time.

The shattered slab.

The cracked columns.

The bones under the glass floor.

And then he blinked.

Surprisingly and coincidentally, the insects he had placed on each of the Thirteenth Dawn were telling him of an approaching danger the Thirteenth Dawn were about to encounter.

'I need to return.'

He took a breath, and lifted his hand.

Void energy surged from his heart, swirling around him like tendrils of ink and shadow.

He didn't hesitate.

He vanished into the void.

And the hall returned to silence, but a few seconds later, a harsh wind blew from the entrance of the grand hall.

Which was then followed by a howl of rage and frustration.