Inside the base, Elina and Alex sat on opposite sides of a small table while the others sat in separate places, though within earshot of whatever they were about to discuss.
Through it all, Elina's smile never wavered as she looked genuinely happy to have Alex with her.
A woman probably in her thirties walked in with a tray to serve Elina and Alex some refreshments while another group did the same for the others.
"Thank you, Stephanie," Elina said while Alex recognized her as the woman who passed him the note.
Stephanie glanced at Alex and winked at him, surprising him yet again. 'She's quite expressive.'
Once the refreshments were served, Elina removed her veil, revealing her true appearance for all to see. Of course, Zol and Mason were the only ones truly surprised.
"Have a sip and we can go straight into talking." Elina gestured to the beverage in front of Alex. "It's not poisoned or anything." She added with a faint chuckle.
Naturally, Alex could see that and didn't need to worry. With nothing to lose, he took a sip and was surprised at how good it was.
'Never had something before,' Alex took another sip before putting it down and focused on Elina.
"What would you like to know?" she proposed. "Whatever questions you have, I'll do my best to answer them."
"Then let's start from the beginning," Alex said. "How did The Order come to be and how do you know the things you know? Also, why did you guys come after me at that time?"
Already expecting the question, Elina didn't delay and told Alex everything.
"Well, we needed to know the kind of person you were and how much you cherished the people around you." She explained flatly, however, the message was clear.
'If they found me lacking, they would have killed me back then,' Alex gulped at the thought. 'These people aren't messing around.'
"And as you've guessed, I'm different from a normal awakened." She brushed that statement aside.
"A little over three centuries ago, at the time your companions over there were still making a name for themselves," Elina looked over to Zol and Mason, prompting Alex to do the same.
"I had a vision." This part caught Alex's room's attention, including Zol and Mason who were aware of Alex experiencing a similar thing. "As an oracle, I am attuned to the universe on a similar scale as you are."
She described in vivid detail her vision of the Origin space, the multiversal core's state and the void creatures, how they initially intended to inform the empire but changed their mind seeing how they were acting at the time.
Would they have agreed to make way for the universe lord when he made his appearance? What would be their response if they felt threatened by that person's existence?
Alex was initially shocked to see someone experience the same thing as he did and was even more surprised that she had this vision years before he was born.
'So all this was as a result of a chance event?' Alex pondered deeply. 'It could have been anyone on the ship that day. What's more, she had more clues than I did.'
Alex stared at the stunningly beautiful woman before him and asked a question. "You say the core removed the limiters of all beings chosen at random to become masters of their universe. How do you know this?"
Elina had stated that the beings known as Veilwalkers were incredibly blessed individuals with the power to do almost anything so long as they had the understanding of what they wished to achieve.
The only limit was themselves as the universe had literally given them everything—infinite energy at their fingertips, the capacity to see things as they were and grasp their underlying concepts and so much more.
It was honestly a scary gift and one that scared Zol, Mason and even the other hunters, despite knowing all this already.
"From what I could infer from the core, it wanted the beings selected to act like guardians of their universe in its place and eventually find a way to help extricate it from that monster. What happens after that is anyone's guess."
Would they still have the power they wielded or would they continue to grow to unimaginable heights of power?
But first, they needed to defeat that monstrosity, and how they achieved that was up to them.
'Hence the gamble.' Alex mused. 'I don't think everyone selected would be merciful and kind beings who only want what's best for their world.'
"You and the others like you are more than just soldiers." Elina continued after a moment of silence. "You are the one to guide the beings of our world to greater heights."
Alex raised an eyebrow at her words. Of course, he had every intention of finding a way to allow everyone to surpass the S-Tier as it was proving insufficient.
But to hear the same words from Elina like some divine duty felt weird. 'But if I don't do it, who will? The only issue is I don't know how, at least not yet.'
All of this was good, but there were still questions to ask. "How did you convince this many people to believe in this? Even I would have found that crazy if I didn't know better."
"Naturally." Elina smiled. "I shared the vision with them and they experienced everything that I did. Of course, I didn't do so for every single member. For the others, they were made aware of what The Order stood for."
"I see…" Alex muttered and turned to the listening hunters. "But then, why do I get the feeling not everyone sees things the same as you do?" He wasn't by any means taking charge, but he was simply curious.
Some of the hunters flinched subtly at his words. They knew themselves all too well, but they didn't think they would be caught.
"Some of them still harbour doubts about you." She turned to look at the hunters with visible disappointment in her eyes. "They aren't convinced everything we built should be handed to you on a silver platter."
Alex remained silent as he mulled over the statement. 'I can understand them to a point. To build all this just so some random guy, no matter how special, comes in and starts ordering everyone around.
'For all they know, I will make a mess of things and make them do things they don't want to do. At the same time, I thought they knew what they signed up for.' Alex sighed and then turned to Elina.
"Thank you for telling me what I needed to know," Ales said. "But I don't think I can accept all this."