John maintained a calm expression, but groaned internally. He had been expecting this question to arise, but had hoped it would not.
'Furi said my Qi would fully replace itself after a few weeks, and its been a few months now, so it can't be that. It can only be my answers during the verbal trial that aroused his suspicion. Do I feign ignorance, or should I be forthright with the truth?'
"There's no point in lying, child," the Prime Shadow said calmly. "I have been the Guildmaster and Prime Shadow of this guild for tens of thousands of years. It is my job to know every single power that exists on this world, from the smallest village, to the strongest individual. I have visited every corner of this world, and have never heard of the Fenix Clan, or the Heavenly Lighting Sect."
John pursed his lips, thinking of how to best reply to the question.
"On top of all that," the Prime Shadow continued. "There is no way a prodigy such as yourself could grow to this point, unnoticed by me or the Guildmaster. With all this taken into account, there is only one answer to the questions surrounding you, and that is you are not of this world."
John shifted his gaze between the Prime Shadow and the Guildmaster, who looked at him with curious expressions. It was clear they didn't really care where he came from, and were only curious, at least he hoped so.
"So which world are you from?" the Prime Shadow asked curiously. "Are you from one of the Hegemon Worlds? Or perhaps one of the Great Worlds?"
John frowned in confusion, having never heard of those worlds before. However, he felt a bit surprised, as it seemed like the Prime Shadow was incredibly knowledgeable about the worlds outside his own. John yearned greatly for such information, and with the Prime Shadow potentially able to offer such information, it made him antsy with anticipation. He buried that anticipation for now.
'First, I need to figure out how much I can trust these two,' he thought.
"I have no idea what a Hegemon World or Great World is," John said, shaking his head.
The two men shared a look, one of doubt and confusion.
"Child," the Prime Shadow said firmly, tone a bit heavier than before as if he would not accept any lies. "We know you are from another world. That much is a fact. So there's no point in lying."
"I'm not lying," John said firmly. "You're right, I am from another world, but not from one of these Hegemon or Great Worlds you speak of."
"Then what world are you from?" the Guildmaster asked.
"I have no idea," John said, shaking his head. "The world I come from doesn't have an official name, and if it does, I do not know what it is."
"Doesn't have an official name?" the Prime Shadow mused, slightly surprised to hear that. "Almost all worlds have official names. The only world's that don't are the fringe worlds, the ones that everyone ignores these days. Surely your world must have had a name."
'Fringe world? Is my world a fringe world?' John wondered. He didn't know what a fringe world meant exactly, but he could take a guess based on its name.
"Like I said, if it had a name, I didn't know it," John replied firmly, crossing his arms over his chest.
The two older men shared another glance for a brief moment, before looking back at John.
"How much stronger is your homeworld compared to our Nine-Dao World?" the Guildmaster asked. "What is the-"
"Stronger?" John said, laughing lightly. "You've got it all wrong. The world I come from is most definitely weaker than this world, and by a decent margin."
Based on what he knew of this world, it had Holy Manifestation cultivators by the dozens, and Late World Expansion cultivators by the thousands. On the Divine Martial Continent, the latter was considered the pinnacle of power, with only ancient monsters like the Jade Dragon Emperor and Grand abbot breaking through to the Holy Manifestation Realm. While he couldn't compare those two monsters to the Holy Manifestation cultivators of this world just yet, as far as everything else was concerned, his homeworld was far, far weaker.
"Surely you're lying," the Guildmaster said, "one with your level of talent must have come from a Great World at the very least."
"It's alright," the Prime Shadow said, quieting the Guildmaster. "This boy is not lying."
The Guildmaster gave the Prime Shadow a questioning glance.
"Then that means…"
"Yes," the Prime Shadow nodded. "As hard as it is to believe, this boy comes from a fringe world."
"What exactly is a fringe world?" John asked, curious about what it meant exactly.
The two other men fell silent for a short while, clearly thinking things over. Eventually, the Prime Shadow spoke up, an almost relieved look on his face.
"If you are not from a Hegemon or Great World as I had suspected, then that makes things a lot less complicated," he said, sighing with relief. The Guildmaster nodded his head, clearly agreeing with the Prime Shadow.
John glanced at the two, so many questions burning in his mind. Before he could ask any, the Prime Shadow spoke again.
"Child, if you are truly from a fringe world, then you need to tell us how you got here, and what you are doing here. Only then can we decide on how to move forward," the Prime Shadow said, then smiled lightly. "And do not be afraid to reveal the truth. You already passed the trial to become an official member of the Guild. From this point on, you are a true member of the Guild, and are now under my protection."
John studied the two men for a long while, then sighed. There was no helping it after all. He would need to reveal the truth of his past, as he had done with Furi, to fully gain the trust of the men before him. And at this point in time, with Lilian's whereabouts unknown, and her potentially in danger, there was no other way.
'I guess it's story time again,' he sighed internally, then started to explain the events that had led him to this world.
