Altair dismissed his Avatar and leaned back into the chair with a long sigh as he began digesting the memories. He looked at the crisp papers on the table in front of him, mulling over what to do next. Despite the Sytsem claiming to be shielding him from the gazes of the Gods, he felt trapped on all sides. As Altair, he had Alexander and the agents of the Churches to contend with, and as Endyr he had Kulkiri looming over him. For the former, he at least had the identity as a scion of a Great Noble to protect him, and Le'garde wouldn't allow any blatant attempts on his life within Academy grounds, but that alone wasn't enough to assure him.
'My biggest problem is my age...If I hadn't Ascended so early, I could have stayed back in the estate and slowly grown from there. A bloody death to whoever sent that assassin. Tch, that reminds me, I also have to deal with the other Great Nobles who are targeting my House. No matter the reason, everyone wants to kill me! Is this some kind of karmic joke?'
Being in the body of a four year old child was essentially crippling. All his classmates were in their tweens, with even the second youngest being twice his age. 'Actually, there wasn't as much fuss about someone barely past being a toddler Ascending, was there? Nephelae was excused too, but she isn't Human so maybe they have different expectations. But apart from a few wide eyes, nobody else said anything. Is Ascension at such a young age really that common? No, it can't be that.'
As Altair mindlessly stared into space for over ten minutes, he shook his head to snap back to attention. Coming to a decision, he reached out and grabbed a pen from the table and began writing on a spare sheet of paper. He once again noted the juxtaposition of Orvonia's society. Thanks to the presence of three Gods focused almost entirely on fields of science, they had advanced architecture, cameras, electric ID, fountain pens and even blimps but lacked cars and advanced food products. Out of all the worlds and realms that Altair had visited, the disconnect between fields of science were rarely as extreme as this.
'There are three primary reasons I can think of. The first is that the Gods are purposefully suppressing this world's development. Metallus and Consus being sidelined by "Their" fellow Divines fits this hypothesis. The second is that Orvonia itself is restraining the Gods from making any big changes, but the reason eludes me. Society's growth has no obvious connection to Orvonia's condition as a mobile planet.'
'The third possibility is that a highly advanced civilization did once exist here, but was wiped out in the past and society regressed. Serfdom was abolished in the Third Era and reintroduced in the Fourth, only to be abolished again in the Fifth. The Chaotic Era isn't described as being advanced either, being more or less on par with the Golden Age. However, knowledge on the First Era is very scarce. Most of what we know is centered around the first Gods, such as Allmer and Abaddon, not the civilizations that existed back then. Hmm, perhaps that Era holds a few more secrets than I though.'
After pondering over that, Altair wrote down all his impressions of his classmates and teachers. Kieran Durnoff, Alexander and Le'garde were marked specifically but Altair also reminded himself to pay more attention to Elizabeth. While he found it regrettable to be wary of his friend, he would find it even more regrettable to be stabbed in the back by her. Caution came first, no matter what.
'Now comes what I'll do next...I have the papers so I can more or less move to any city on the Gaian Continent. Still, it's best I keep Endyr in the backseat for now, to let any residue attention wear off. Waiting for Kulkiri to leave Sky Cross for real is also for the best. Now my biggest concern should be increasing my Level and unsealing more of my Core...but Endyr has the EX Rank Core and is far more suitable for Levelling than Altair. Fuck!'
'No, it's fine. Since I let Endyr have all the EXP for herself, my Level hasn't gone up. My current Core is enough to stably raise it, and the resources from the Academy won't be minor either. It's just a matter of waiting and riding the waves. In that case, I should focus on deciphering my way off this planet, and how to find the rest of my body, if it's even here. The System said my ultimate goal is to find something called the Ephemeral Sanctuary, but I've seen and heard nothing about it in any book I've read. I presume the Gods know, but I can hardly just go up to one and ask, can I?'
'If this Sanctuary does exist, it's unlikely to be in the material world. The Astral or Spirit World are more likely, but the Underworld and Abyss can't be ruled out either. The former should have been divided between the various Gods since no God of Death was arisen after Serapis, while the latter is firmly in the possession of Aenrys. Hmm, I suppose there's a possibility that the Sanctuary is also on Astoria or Neriea. If it's related to Abominations, I imagine the Almighty would have taken interest in it too. Sigh, I would rather tangle with the Angels than deal with Seraphic...'
Altair put down the pen and rubbed his brow. Nothing would come easy, but he had a general plan: grow as strong as possible, as quietly as possible. He could afford two or three weeks of Endyr being offline in order to let the heat subside, and after that he would have her grinding Levels. If the need ever arose, he would then siphon off some EXP to increase his own Level. According to both the System and his own intuition, he had at least six months of peace. Any later than that and neither could predict the flow of Fate.
'As long as nothing bizarre happens to my House or the world, everything should be fine. Right?'