Chapter 546: Unfathomable Power (1/2)

Aiden was stunned as he arrived at the end of the hallway he was placed in.

The tunnel opened into a spacious cave, a grand artificial hall with dimensions that he had never seen.

No, calling it a cave or a grand hall would only belittle the unbelievable sight, this hidden world, it wouldn't do it justice! There were no ends to it. No matter where he looked, -left, right, front or upwards- he couldn't see the end, there were no cavern walls in sight!

Instead, a living, breathing world, a city of sorts expanded before his exotic eyes. Strange, pale block huts lined up in an organized manner next to each other. Between them, bustling streets, lamp posts elevating the atmosphere with the flickering lights glowing in them.

An endless sea of similar, striped-skinks wearing fur clothing. Soldiers and probably guards wearing shining metal plates, holding stone-made primitive spears, clubs, and axes patrolled, keeping up the peace and order.

Aiden was astounded, he couldn't process what he was seeing. These creatures, unlike Thuk's people in the outside world, weren't forced to live on the scraps and trash of others. These creatures have created an entirely new world for themselves. Though strangely, they still kept living below the ground for whatever reason, the fact was that most of them had smiles on their faces. They were content with what they had.

A series of loud clicks and guttural noises broke Aiden's reverie in the next moment.  As the trance cleared from his mind and clarity returned to his eyes he saw a small, but sturdy-looking figure wearing shining metal full body armor, with an illustrious dragonhead-shaped helmet as it stepped forward, stopping before him. He held a spear, larger than himself in his right hand.

His tone of voice as it continued clicking and gurgling, sounded arrogant, slightly annoyed. His demeanor was cold, his stature, figure radiated slight killing intent. From the hatred that oozed from each of his words he spat, it was clear he had some issues with the elderly robed skink he was strutting around as.

Still, though he felt he was throwing accusations, and even some threats at him, Aiden still couldn't understand a single word of it.

Not knowing what to do, he continued his ignorant, contemptuous outward display, matching the cold gaze of this commander-, or perhaps captain-like figure with a similar of his own.

His two guards took his silence as a sort of signal for them to take a stand. They saw it as an opportunity to show their master their loyalty. Realizing this, both stepped forward almost at the same time, taking a stance between their master and this armored captain, raising their spears and entering a battle-ready stance in the next moment.

The guard on the right began to shout, throwing some similar-sounding clicks towards the captain. From his tone and the way he heatedly spewed each and every phrase, as well as the increasing red tint on the contorted, angry look, Aiden could guess that there were some colorful profanities involved.

Not wanting to be left behind, and to seem weaker from the two, the guard on the left quickly joined in. His tone was cheekier, yet, each and every phrase he fired, seemed to be sharp as an arrow if only judging by the twitching corner of the captain's growling mouth.

Still, despite not understanding a single word, Aiden could feel that the situation was escalating in a manner that wouldn't be beneficial for either party. He quickly glanced over his system, only to sigh with a displeased look on his face.

[Analysis complete, processing information, creating skill. Remaining time: 0 hours 02 minutes 47 seconds]

Though more than half of the required time had passed, what remained was still much more than he could afford to remain silent and ignorant.

Even worse, he was yet to assimilate the memories of the absorbed elder, he had absolutely no idea what was going on. Who was this captain, what was his problem? Why was he alone, and so aggressive towards them? Did these three do something that went against him?

'Could it be that their visit to me wasn't supposed to happen?' He pondered. With no other hint, this was the only conjecture he could come to.