On this side, Shengnai was standing in the Grand Library with a torch in his hand, observing the roots that expanded across the entire floor while Akasha stood bare-footed next to him.
As a clone that Negary created in temporary cooperation with Mequik, Shengnai had assumed that he would return to the original after this Mana Banquet.
Beyond all of his expectations, he had now become the manager of the Grand Library, a very interesting position to be in.
Shengnai didn't get a chance to witness the battle between Gods to the very end, as Mequik had used her authority over the Grand Library while she still possessed the Great Magus to send him and the Great Bear Druid away.
When the root of the Tree of Life erupted, although the main targets were Red Tears and Eulogy of the Ocean Depths, the Grand Library itself also became collateral damage as the majority of the library's books were destroyed by the insane growth of the roots.
Aside from that, the scoundrel The Unreachable Gate also casually took all of the library's collection and precious books with him when he left.
In the end, there were almost no survivors left in the Grand Library aside from Shengnai who knew about the trap and everyone he brought with him.
However, Shengnai was unexpectedly contacted by Akasha who then brought him back into the Grand Library.
Every member of the House of Mages had a C-class authority to the Grand Library, so when Shengnai took Michael's identity and absorbed the information from his skin bag, he naturally inherited the authority as well. After all, since he had to inherit the identity, he wanted to make sure to do it as thoroughly as possible.
After the Great Magus' death, the owner of the Grand Library became Mequik. During her time in control of the Grand Library, she had established several more authorities for herself. Although most of these authorities were lost when the Great Magus died, some of them still remained, which Mequik then transferred to Shengnai for some reason.
Shengnai now had temporarily become the person with the most authority in the Grand Library, despite only being C-class. In other words, as long as no one showed up with a higher level of authority, Shengnai would be the owner of the Grand Library, even if it had become all but destroyed.
99% of the books were lost and not a single item remained of the collection, The Unreachable Gate definitely wasn't a picky eater.
If Negary wanted to obtain the complete Grand Library, he would first have to get rid of the roots that had dug themselves into the Grand Library. Even if the main root had already left to pursue Red Tears and Eulogy of the Ocean Depths, it wouldn't be easy to clean up everything that remained, not to mention the fact that they would have to slowly accumulate knowledge for the Grand Library starting from the beginning.
〖 I wonder, Akasha, if I didn't exist as someone with the highest authority, who would you go to? 〗Shengnai asked as he felt something familiar about this artificial lifeform.
"I would reach out to each individual starting from the one with the highest authority, then choose an heir from the remaining users" Akasha acted like she was handling official business and answered everything Negary asked, as long as it was within her knowledge.
〖 What if there weren't anyone with an authority? 〗
"Then I would select a suitable individual willing to begin repairs of the Grand Library. After all, as the System of the Library, I can only repair myself and am unable to leave the library to find more resources. At the same time, without the appropriate authority, I would also not be able to utilize a lot of power"
〖 This cliché… 〗
Negary was able to confirm what the feeling of familiarity was. Wasn't this the kind of script where you inherit a mysterious treasure, then gradually increase your authority, earn fortunes from the treasure, grow at cheating breakneck speeds, then become the ultimate winner?
"However, since the Great Father did not establish any specific parameters regarding inheritance within my protocols, unless they used force, the one who would ultimately control me would be dependent on my will"
Akasha continued: "And so, I would most likely find a hard-working grunt to help me remove these roots and collect knowledge, pretend to grant him authority and directly transfer the knowledge within the books he collected into his mind, thus speeding up his growth while also making him dependent on me, unable to escape my control"
"After the Grand Library had been more or less repaired, I would then push him to his death and induct a group of book slaves who would help me collect knowledge"
〖 Alright, even if it's a cliché, the cliché I come across would still be full of issues 〗
〖 However, this at least makes a lot more sense now. For self-conscious Systems like her, unless there were established restraints from her roots, it made no sense for a sentient being to unconditionally obey another 〗
Negary thought.
Unless there was no internal concept of 'self', a living being would always harbor the will to be free. Of course, there were also exceptions like Noah whose existence carried the Principles and Ideals of Negary.
Evidently, Akasha wasn't such an existence. Because of Great Magus Stim's past, he both loved and hated Systems, his growth was originally bestowed by the Chip System, but it was also the Chip System that stripped him of his Pathway.
He hated the fact that the System treated him like a crop to be harvested, but he also realized that the path of his growth had never been separated from the Chip System. While he had attempted time and time again to remove his profound dependence on the System, its influence had eaten all the way to his soul.
For that reason, when Stim created Akasha, he treated her as his assistant as well as a vessel for his dependence. If he had been able to give up on Akasha after placing his dependence on her, he might have been able to remove his dependence itself and successfully manifested his Pathway.
Obviously, he failed to escape this dependence up to the very moment of his death. On the other hand, Akasha had been able to take advantage of his will to obtain a large deal of authority, and if Mequik hadn't taken over the Great Magus' authority over her, she might have been able to gain true freedom.
〖 Akasha's foundations are quite considerable, as long as she isn't too unfortunate, she might have a chance of manifesting her own Pathway as well, so why did Mequik choose to abandon her? 〗
Negary asked her right away after he thought of this. His authority wasn't the absolute highest right now, but he wasn't worried about being deceived to his death by Akasha, since he wasn't one of those [Protagonists] who relied entirely on the Systems for everything they had.
"Most likely, she was wary of the organization behind my form, the Multitudes organization" Akasha looked up at him and answered: "It is a huge organization that spans across Greater Realms that worships a certain entity. They usually collect the Pathways of things and individuals through various means, which is why they call themselves Multitudes"
"After the great Father's Pathway was stripped from him, he had tried to investigate information regarding this organization, but ultimately couldn't do anything about them. I also do not know a lot of information regarding them"
"Of course, I can tell you their slogan" Akasha turned back to look at the ruined root-covered Grand Library.
〖 Oh, what is their slogan? 〗Negary asked with interest. He didn't know a lot about Greater Realms either, so he was interested in all information regarding them.
"Follow the blueprint in pursuit of Multitudes" Akasha explained: "I heard that the entity they worship is a crystal polyhedron of infinite faces, so the majority of their tools and members are also crystal polyhedrons"
The smile of interest on Negary's face abruptly froze.
