The Martial Unity

Yet, when he reached his quarters, the first thing he did was not dive right into the summary report of a hundred years of investigative efforts.

He simply fell into his bed and fell right to sleep.

He hadn’t caught even the slightest bit of rest even once after arriving at the Nest of Terra.

Of course, he didn’t feel tired at all.

Not ever since he got the Blood of Solaris.

His stamina and energy reserves had reached a different level. If not for the fact that his cells needed rest, as did his brain and mind, he would have had the energy to go on for what felt like indefinitely.

He slept for half a day.

It was only after he freshened up after getting up that he finally got to work.

“Let’s see…” he opened up the huge summary report that sat in front of him at the table in his luxury quarters. [AOMA 451 Former Consul Kilingua commissioned the Scriptures of Terra taskforce with Bill-G268, forming the first team that would officially oversee the investigative efforts into the Scriptures of Terra…]

Rui grew engrossed in the history of the search into the Scriptures of Terra. The summary report merely touched upon all major investigative efforts and attempts and covered the results and conclusion of each attempt in the past hundred years.

An hour into the summary report, he had to admit, they were much more systematic and thorough than he had expected.

They divided their investigative efforts into active and passive while immediately setting up a secret task force at all ports of entry, paying attention to anything that resembled what they imagined the Scriptures would look like.

They even set up a parallel legal structure that allowed for the swift issuing of search warrants that allowed them to search any and all private property when they pleased, looking for the Scriptures of Terra.

And thus, over a century, they covered literally every square inch of all one hundred cities of the Nest of Terra in vain.

They even recognized the possibility that the Scriptures were not discrete objects and perhaps information hidden in more public channels of information, like the architecture that covered the walls of the cities.

They harbored hope that perhaps the scriptures of Terra had been hidden amid the artwork that covered the walls of the cities.

“But, after decades of continuous study, they have ultimately concluded that there is no greater significance or meaning to art on the walls,” Rui mused. “That must suck. I’m sure there were many people who harbored the hope that the secret was hidden in the art. Although it wouldn’t make sense for hired sculptors to possess knowledge that would help a peak Sage to break through to the Transcendent Realm.”

The mystery thus persisted, boggling the minds of all those who dared to tackle it, including Rui.

Over the next few hours, he carefully poured over the entirety of the summary report. He had to admit.

“This is truly perplexing,” he muttered. “It makes me wonder if His Transcendence is just trolling everybody.”

Rui put the summary report aside as he fell into thought. “No identifiable object was ever identified to be the scripture. No public channel of information or art was ever found to convey anything even remotely resembling the Scriptures of Terra. Nothing ever leaving the Nest of Terra through the port of entry was ever known to be the Scriptures of Terra. A hundred years of investigative efforts have yielded nothing.”

He heaved a deep sigh. “Assuming it’s real at all, then one thing is absolutely clear.”

His eyes narrowed with certainty. “It isn’t physical.”

The fact that the name of the treasure was a physical object and the fact that the Shield of Gaia was known to be physically traveling all around the Nest of Terra had thoroughly convinced everybody for a century that they were looking for something that was material in nature.

However, Rui could only conclude that there was an extremely high likelihood that the Scriptures of Terra were not discrete material objects.

“I have already concluded that they cannot be entirety natural in nature,” he noted. “I have also ruled out an esoteric treasure. That leaves…”

His tone grew more thoughtful as he grew engrossed in the matter. “…Something that is not naturally occurring but is also not discretely material. Something that came about to be the way it is due to human intervention, and something that transcends material constraints and is a bit more abstract.”

It had to be more abstract than just art on the walls of the cities of the Nest of Terra, surely. Given that the Martial faction had already thought of such divergent options. But even such an open mind had failed to happen upon the Scriptures of Terra.

“Abstract, non-natural, and non-esoteric,” he closed his eyes as his mind parsed through the possibilities. “And also simultaneously something that the Shield of Gaia could have found by physical search, alone, as a peak Sage.”

His eyes flew wide open as he deduced a possibility that he hadn’t considered before. “If it was abstract and non-localized, then it is possible that the information that constituted the Scriptures of Terra is spread over an enormous area and distance, requiring the Shield of Gaia to physically travel around the entire nation…” He grew even more engrossed as his powerful mind processed all the possibilities. “Spread across the entirety the Nest of Terra… but what is it?”

A lot of things were spread across the entirety of the Nest of Terra.

Things, people, infrastructure, life-sustaining systems like water supply and ventilation. Perhaps it was even more abstract than that in the form of culture and tradition of the Nest of Terra.

There were countless possibilities.

A hopeless task for any ordinary individual to process.

And yet, Rui’s powerful mind encompassed all of them as he considered each and every possibility of what the Scriptures of Terra could be.

Unfortunately, he was reaching the very end of what purely mental considerations could give him.

“If I want to find out which of those endless possibilities are the true Scriptures of Terra…” His eyes narrowed. “Then I will have to find out myself.”

It was time to retrace the steps of the Shield of Gaia.

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