Chapter 389: Realization...


    ?


    Ever since the very first time Rio encountered Alverto''s clone, he''s always had a question in his mind.


    Why did Alverto send his clone to that dungeon during the final exams, and what was his actual purpose for doing so?


    Rio was unaware of Alverto''s purpose, and he had never once seen the character''s name appear in the novel he had read.


    Someone as significant as Alverto wasn''t mentioned in the novel, which is very strange.


    If Alverto truly existed in the original novel''s timeline, he should have appeared when Fade was executing Demons during the ''Second Demon Extinction War''.


    A genius spear master like Alverto, who can use the power of time element to utmost levels, could not have been an ordinary person who was ignored at random.


    Up until now, Rio had no idea what was causing this strange change in the timeline.


    Although Rio indeed messed up the original plot a lot by stealing various chances and opportunities, he never went to the Demon Continent after all.


    Which means he never really caused changes in the plotlines rted to the demons.


    Right now, there are two possibilities: either Alverto is an ''Anomaly'' like Rio, or the problem lies with Rio from the start altogether.


    ''I kind of have a feeling... I don''t know how to describe it, but I feel I have felt that unique aura of Alverto before...''


    Originally, Rio thought that this body might have sensed Alverto during the Drift City


    Massacre, which happened before his transmigration, but now that Shadow has awakened, his memories of the past have be clearer.


    The original Rio never knew Alverto, and he didn''t even see that guy during the drift city massacre as he was running away with his mother and had no time for anything else.


    In other words, the one who sensed Alverto''s aura wasn''t Rio but the original him, the him before transmigration.


    ''But the biggest problem is... I have forgotten a lot of my memories...''


    Rio can''t even remember his past life''s name. Apart from numerous personal memories, Rio has also forgotten the appearance of the friend who initially gave him this book to read.


    Rio has forgotten all these important things.


    ''Wait, have I met Alverto in my past life?... No, that''s not it...''


    Although Rio''s memories are partially gone, he is sure he never senses that unique aura that Alverto has.


    ''There is something moreplicated going on in the background that I don''t know about... Something that likely happened in the time gap when my soul traveled from the previous world to this one...''


    Rio''sst memories of his past life end where he slept after reading the book; he doesn''t know what happened afterwards, and next he found himself in Rio''s body.


    ''All things aside, the biggest confusing factor was how Alverto was tracking those fragments.'' After Alverto appeared in Oaklum to kill Zach and snatch the fragment away, Rio figured out one key thing, and that was that Alverto can track these ''fragments''; he definitely has the way to track them.


    After all, the moment Zach got that fragment from the tree of blood, Alverto immediately came right after to snatch it.


    As the fragment''s description says, you can''t take this fragment from someone by force; you must either get it from the other party by either getting their approval or by killing the other partypletely.


    But until now, Rio wasn''t sure what method Alverto was using as a tracking target.


    Now that he has two fragments in his possession, he has a deeper understanding of the situation.


    Right now, Rio can feel a new vague sensation in his mind; he has a newfound tracking ability


    now.


    It feels as if he can see through the space-time fabric itself and can sense things happening in great detail.


    ''No wonder Alverto was able to detect it both times...''


    Right now, Rio is sure that wherever those fragments are in this world, as long as they appear in the open, Rio can easily sense them while directly ignoring the distance.


    As long as those fragments are within ten light-years of him, Rio can easily sense their presence if they appear in the open.


    (1 light year = distance traveled by light in a year in the vacuum of space. It''s around 5.88 trillion miles.)


    But of course, if those fragments are in someone''s body, Rio can''t sense them at all; only if the fragment''s user dies or passes it to a new owner can Rio sense its presence.


    ''This means, when that octopus died and transferred the fragment to me, Alverto sensed that instantly andunched an investigation...''


    ''He then likely figured out that around that particr date and time, only the ship of the academy students had passed by that area of the sea, and thus he waited for the perfect opportunity...''


    ''When the opportunity finally arrived, he sent his clone and his subordinates into the dungeon, where he wanted to likely find the person who had taken the fragment for himself...''


    ''In other words, that clone''s main motive was me all along...''


    If that day, Alverto''s clone had killed Rio, then Alverto''s n really would have seeded


    right there, and he would have gotten the fragment easily.


    But Rio tricked the other party and won the battle, thus Alverto''s n failed.


    ''The same must have happened in Zach Senpai''s case too...''


    Alverto likely sensed it when the tree of blood transferred the fragment to Zach; thus, he went


    to Aaron''s hidden cave, killed Aaron, and did soul-search on him to find out about Zach and


    the others.


    Then heid out the n to beat them while taking into consideration that Jin might be on his


    way.


    That day, Alverto was pressed on time; otherwise, he would have definitely wiped out the whole team, Astra, and by killing Rio, he have gotten another extra fragment that day.


    ''In other words, Alverto already had two fragments from the start, and now that he has Zach Senpai''s fragment, he has three of them in his possession...''


    But one thing that Rio has yet to figure out is,n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    ''What actually are these fragments for? Why is that Demon Prince so obsessed with them, and why is he looking for them in the first ce?''


    Although Rio got answers for his question, new questions popped out again, and now he has even more questions than he already had.


    Not only is he missing key information about what happened during the time when his soul came to this world, he''s also missing information on what Alverto might be nning. ''Right now... I can''t sense the presence of a single fragment in my whole ten light-years big detection range...''


    The main effect of having two fragments on you is that you gain this detection range, but this detection ability will only work for the fragments; it''spletely useless for other things. Rio can''t use it like ''Mana Detection'' that is used for tracking enemies and other stuff; this detection range is solely focused on the fragments alone.


    ''Maybe... the reason why Alverto massacred the whole Drift City was because he had sensed the presence of a fragment there too? Maybe that was his real purpose for destroying so many


    lives...''


    After all, you can''t sense who got the fragment in such a big city, so Alverto chose the easy method; he likely thought that killing everyone would eventually reveal the fragment


    automatically.


    At that time, there were only Ashtel and Neo who were the sole SS-rankers; Raji was still


    young.


    Neo probably didn''t even bother saving the people, and Ashtel was raiding an SS-rank dungeon; thankfully, James and the other S-rankers arrived on time; otherwise, Rio would


    have died that day already.


    ''Thinking about this now; this body has escaped death so many times now, it kind of feels like the ''Law'' of ''Death'' itself doesn''t have a hold on this body...''


    ''Maybe this is also another side-effect of being an ''Anomaly'' perhaps?''


    Ever since Rio mastered the sword intent and came into contact with the ''Law'' of ''Sword'', he has sensed that various ws'' of the ''world'' actively avoid him.


    Although he can''t really see the ws'' with naked eyes, he can sense their presence faintly


    with his sword heart''s help.


    ''It''s like I am some kind of glitch in the software of aputer that the software actively avoids in fear of getting affected... This is quite the strange feeling...''


    This world doesn''t reject his existence, but it doesn''t seem to ept itpletely either; there''s a gap between him and the ''world'' that can''t be crossed.


    ''Just getting this second fragment has given me so much new information that it''s hard to digest everything at once...''


    Rio saw strange memories; he saw a certain ''creator'' go against the flow of the ''Primordial Chaos'' to create life in a newly formed world; he saw the birth of the ws''.


    ''Even now, these memories seem vague and bizarre that they don''t seem real at all... The


    same thing happened when I got that first fragment; those memories I received were also very


    vague...'' Rio''s mind ispletely jumbled up; right now, not only he has his own memories in his mind, he has original Rio''s memories, and then there are these two vague, unknown


    memories.


    ''If this goes on, my mind will bepletely jumbled up, and I will have difficulties finding what is the real and worst-case scenario... I might even forget my own identity too...'' There''s only one thing that''s keeping Rio sane and is forcing him to never forget his existence, and that is his ''Love''. That is the only emotion keeping him intact.


    ''Yet again.... I have be indebted to you, Lia...''


    ...


    Author''s Notes.


    Yo! It''s your beloved author here!


    Question of the day.


    What are your thoughts on this situation? What is Alverto nning?


    (Tell me your thoughts in thements)


    By the way, don''t forget to use those power stones!!