Lone's eyes twitched when he heard a knock at the door of the room in his Spirit Pavilion that he had converted in a workshop for the purposes of researching Sofia's mana concealer.

  "Is it time already?" he muttered.

  He had forgone sleep for over a week now in an effort to learn as much as he possibly could before the next Conclave of Seekers. The less he felt he needed to ask, the better.

  From the other side of the door, Breena said, "Um, Master Lone, it's the time you told me to knock at..."

  He sighed deeply and rubbed his eyes. He wasn't exactly tired, not physically at least, but his mind had certainly been strained since he had worked nonstop even since entering this room.

  "Thanks, Breena. You're free to do whatever you want now, but I'd appreciate it if you stayed out there until I'm done," he replied loudly so she could here him.

  "Y-Yes, Master Lone!" Breena replied rather happily, no doubt pleased to be given another direct request with which she could prove her worth.

  "So long as it makes her happy, I suppose," Lone muttered under his breath before he cleared a space in the workshop and summoned a single bed.

  'As always, keep an eye on things, will you?' he asked Soph telepathically.

  'Of course! Make sure you learn everything you need to! I can't stand being in here for another minute more than needed,' she replied.

  'Kyuu...' Kyuubi whined sadly.

  'No no no! I don't hate you, I love you! I just don't like how everywhere you look past your... nest? Home? Past here, it's just endless darkness. No! Don't open your eyes only to look at me like that! You're making me feel bad!' Soph protested.

  Lone chuckled as he climbed into the bed he had summoned, and he then closed his eyes. The next moment, he fell asleep instantly and found himself inside of his soul.

  Not much had changed since his last visit. The only thing of note was that the damage done by using Nothing Vortex had reduced substantially.

  "You should have been here a week ago. Your aura made everything in here so much dimmer. Though it did drain Void too, so that's a silver lining," Darkness remarked as its galaxy body appeared next to Lone.

  "I see," Lone replied, still looking around with most of his focus on the chains that lead into Void's abyss. "Do you think it'll take another week maybe for all of the damage to be gone?"

  "Thereabouts," Darkness shrugged. "It's a safe estimate but who can be sure?"

  Death's large skull head of a body floated over as it added, "Do not take that as an invitation to use Void's Primal skill once every three or four weeks. I would recommend never using it again. It gains power when you do and who is to say the damage will be the same or will recover at the same rate as this time?"

  "That's true and I agree," Lone said before adding, "But if I have to use it to survive, I will. Better a fucked up soul than death, no offense."

  "None taken," the skull replied.

  Lone then felt a strong tug trying to pull him away. "Well, talk to you guys later. It's time."

  They both nodded.

  Lone opened his eyes and found himself in the hall with Swamp sitting across from him, Devil next to Swamp, Monsieur Librarian at the head of the table, and a new dull silver figure sitting to his right.

  'Shit. I hope introducing them to this place's rules doesn't take too long. I have a lot to ask Monsieur Librarian today,' he thought, and the next moment, he noticed another Tome of Omniscience had been added to the shelf alongside the other two.

  "Let the 16th Conclave of Seekers begin," the multicoloured godly being that was Monsieur Librarian announced. He then looked to Lone. "As you introduced Devil to the conclave, so shall you introduce our newest member."

  Lone nodded. He took a brief moment to study the new member. As previously observed, their body looked just like his, Swamp, and Devil's did, but it was an ashy silvery instead of shimmering gold, grassy green, or crimson red.

  The person was quietly but curiously looking around with not even a shred of fear or uncertainty in their eyes, almost like they were busy analysing and studying everything around them, completely unaware that their life now hung in the balance. It just felt like a fearlessness born of ignorance, not of experience. That's what the person's eyes told Lone.

  This was far more unnatural to Lone than Devil's cautious approach to the conclave had been, so he wasn't quite sure how to tackle this, but he supposed introductions would be in order above all else.

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  "Hello. I'm Human, a founding member of the Conclave of Seekers. Do you have any immediate questions, or would you rather listen to my explanation first?" he asked.

  The silver figure focused their sights on Lone and stared at him blankly. "Hello, Human. I have no immediate questions. You may explain first."

  'That was monotonous and the voice... It was very androgynous like the Primals. A genderless species, maybe?' Lone thought. "Well, introductions first. As I said, I'm known as Human. This is Swamp, and this is Devil. The host of the Conclave of Seekers is Monsieur Librarian. The meetings are held once every two weeks, or once every second seventh sun at midnight. Let me know if where you're from neither of those units of time make sense to you."

  "No, I understand. Proceed," the silver figure responded.

  "Okay. The purpose of these meetings is to exchange information. Doing so empowers Monsieur Librarian, but also ourselves since his breadth of knowledge is vast, and we all stem from different walks of life. Or we do so far, at least."

  "Can you elaborate?" the silver figure requested.

  "Yeah, sure, but first I'll say you can't lie here. You can refuse to speak and you can probably obscure the truth, but you can never lie here. As for elaborating, I'm just a guy from Teresta, a continent on Altros. I can't be more specific or it will be censored. Swamp is a religious devotee, the last of the religion he follows, and he lives in a place known as the Great Swamp. We don't know much about Devil yet but she was the most powerful of us all but she is currently sealed in some way, correct?" Lone asked.

  Devil nodded. "That is correct."

  The silver figure processed that information and then asked, "What do you mean by 'censored'?"

  "Swamp, if you wouldn't mind," Lone said.

  Swamp smiled happily and responded, "I am ### of the Great Ssswamp. I jussst ssspoke my real name, and it wasss censssored."

  "Interesting. Let me test. First, an attempted lie. I am greatly uninterested in all of this. That did not work. Does the intent get factored in?" the silvery figure asked.

  Lone, Swamp, and Devil were shocked, Devil chief among the three of them.

  "You just lied? How? I cannot do such a thing despite what I am," she asked.

  Monsieur Librarian raised an open palm to interject, "You are correct. Intent does matter. You did not wish to hide anything in that statement and it would be obvious it was a lie, so you were not stopped from speaking it. Try again."

  "I see. I am greatly un... un... I cannot. Interesting. Intent to deceive does matter. Now the censoring. I am #### #### #### #### #### #### ####, the only remaining resident of #### #### laboratory. Repeat what I just said, Human," the silver figure requested.

  'That was a hell of a long name,' Lone remarked internally before he said, "I am blank blank blank blank blank blank blank, the only remaining resident of blank blank laboratory."

  The newest member held their chin in interest. "Very interesting. Continue with your explanation. I have no further questions at present."

  "There are just two more things to cover. The Tomes of Omniscience, and the price for knowledge. Which interests you most?" Lone asked.

  He was trying to get a read of this person. They were strange, to say the least. They were far too calm and monotonous considering the situation. They'd been pulled into a magical midnight gathering with hidden colourful figures, for Pete's sake. Some shock and scepticism would be warranted.

  They were clearly a very logical person given the fact they immediately tested the inability to lie, even finding a weak workaround in the process. Then there was their name. Seven individually censored words or phrases, then two more for their location. Lone wasn't sure what kind of being would have so many names. Definitely not a normal person. Maybe a really pompous noble, or a fae or spirit of some kind. He wasn't quite sure.

  "Omniscience, you say? Explain," the silvery figure requested.

  Lone pointed to the bookshelf with three books in it. "Once read, a Tome of Omniscience will tell you exactly what you need to know. The price to read one is something Monsieur Librarian was previously unaware of and that he considers to be valuable information. Swamp once overshared and was given access to a tome in exchange during normal conversation with me. Devil revealed the previous peak of her power for one. I had to state my true age for one. You can offer up information and tell what you want but risk being rejected, or you can have Monsieur Librarian ask a question to guarantee a tome, but the question may be one you do not wish to answer."

  Swamp nodded. "Human hasss been asssked previousssly to reveal the name of the owner of the ssskill Basssic Regeneration, which he hasss refusssed to do ssso."

  Lone winced. 'I fuckin' hate how innocent you are at times, Swamp.'

  He moved past it and wrapped up the explanation by saying, "Lastly, you can ask Monsieur Librarian anything. He may answer for free, but he may demand a price in the form of knowledge. All answers and questions are shared among all members. That wraps everything up. Do you want to choose a name for yourself now? I'd rather not just call you 'the silver person' if possible."

  The figure didn't laugh alongside Lone's chuckling. "I am silver to your eyes? Interesting. And yes, that would be inappropriate given I am not a person. Seeing as how my #### #### is censored, Robot will suffice for my designation here."

  "Robot? Like an automaton?" Lone asked, some of the pieces were coming together in his mind. 'That would explain the logic, the stupid long name which might be a string of serial numbers or something like that, and the androgynous voice.'

  "What isss a robot?" Swamp asked.

  Devil frowned. "I share his ignorance in this case. I have never heard that term before."

  'Oh... Fuck. Is it from a more advanced world or something? I hope so. Could always be some super advanced pet project of some science-oriented Divine or something, but yeah, robot isn't a term used on Teresta, like, at all. It's all machine or automaton. Golem is pretty common too even when it doesn't fit,' Lone thought.

  "Is that a pretty standard term where you're from?" Lone asked.

  "I do not know. All I have ever known is the laboratory and what lies within its walls," they responded.

  Lone pursed his lips. "It'd probably be better to give you a more recognisable name for these meetings then, given only I knew what the word robot meant. Mach or Auto might be better. Short for machine or automaton. They'd be easier to explain to any future new members."

  "Auto will suffice. It is more accurate. How is it you are familiar with the term 'robot' when the others were not?" Auto inquired

  Lone shrugged. "I've met a good few individuals summoned from other worlds - that's a practice on Teresta, hero summoning. It's a common enough word for some of them."

  "I see. Monsieur Librarian. I wish to purchase a Tome of Omniscience. Ask me a question," Auto stated.

  'I was willing to expose myself as a summoned hero if it detected my half-truth there, but it didn't or chose not to expose me. How fun. Well, this might be perfect. Maybe Auto knows how to build a mana concealer and will tell me for free instead of the ol' godly disco ball?' Lone wondered hopefully.

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