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Riven’s eyes widened for a moment as he realized the truth behind their presences here, and what it meant to even be in front of such powerful beings, even if only their vestiges.
The three of them were not complete souls or full resurrections, yet the weight of their remaining presence still pressed on the space around him, or rather, his very soul.
The Divine King of the Cold Star continued his explanation.
"When we die, we do release all accumulated energy and life into the universe, so new worlds with strong life can be born, some of them even inheriting our power as a whole," he said. The process was presented as a natural result rather than a deliberate choice on their part. "But above that, some of our powers were so vast that they couldn’t be destroyed. And because they were left without master or vessel, they were lost between dimensions, and eventually, those that survived, gained conscience on their own."
"?!" Riven’s eyes widened. "The Authorities! ...Right?"
The connection formed quickly once the description matched what he already knew about them.
"Correct," the Divine King of the Cold Star nodded, he did not add anything further and simply waited for the others to speak.
"Tsk, I hate them," said the Ten Thousand Poison Master. "They really shouldn’t exist! But now they populate a large quantity of the Cosmos and even the Sea of Consciousnesses. They’re psychic parasites!" His voice rose slightly on the final word and he made no attempt to hide the dislike.
"Hahah, I wouldn’t go as far as calling them parasites," laughed the Asura Blood Sea Emperor. "But I have to say that they are indeed rather powerful beings born from the death of Precursors and a combination of several other factors." He kept the tone lighter than the Poison Master’s while still agreeing on the basic origin. "Are they cooperating with Andromeda?"
"Andromeda?" Riven asked. "What’s that?" The name was new to him.
"The Universe-Spanning Cosmic Computer that runs on Psychic Power and is fueled by tens of trillions of stars," the Ten Thousand Poison Master said. "Hm, what you call the System!" he said, drinking another cup of golden wine. He finished the cup in one motion and set it down while waiting for Riven’s reaction.
"...!"
Riven’s eyes narrowed as he heard the revelation of what the Universal Cosmic Computer was, the real name of the System, Andromeda! The memories from his mother’s explanation lined up with the new name in a way that left little room for doubt.
"I see," he nodded. "My mother said something about it, I had no idea it had a name."
He had treated the System as a simple interface until now and had never considered it might have a full designation of its own, let alone a name.
"It’s grown rather out of control, the Authorities are cooperating with it, but they cannot serve as complete replacements to us," said the Divine King of the Cold Star.
Apparently, although its cooperative abilities were interesting, the results still fell short of what the Precursors had once managed on their own.
"They can seed planets, create spiritual realms and the strongest even worlds or... galaxies I think, or realms! But at the end, they lack the complete predisposition our race had to create life," sighed the Asura Blood Sea Emperor.
"And like "Genesis" they can also be corrupted and led toward darkness," said the Ten Thousand Poison Master. "I can’t say they’re all bad, there’s some really good ones, working with mortals, trying to save them, but ultimately failing more times than they’d wish." He listed the failures without any attempt to soften the numbers.
"Why?" Riven asked. The question came out quickly once he noticed the pattern of repeated failures.
"It’s because of their unique existences, they exist between planes, unlike us, who could move freely between them, Authorities are specifically anchored between the Material Plane and the Immaterial Plane, what you call the Noosphere," explained the Asura Blood Sea Emperor.
These restriction sat at the center of every limitation they had described so far.
"So they cannot move?" Riven asked.
"They can move and go anywhere they want, it’s just that they simply cannot interact, they are bound by special rules that define their existences," explained the Ten Thousand Poison Master.
It seemed that the ability to travel existed within Authorities, but the rules still kept them from acting the way a full Precursor once could.
"Hm..." Riven nodded. "I see. Is it... possible to slay them and steal their power?"
The Precursors looked at one another, the three Heavenly Kings seemed to know something, although it felt like they didn’t want to tell him.
The shared glance lasted longer and carried a clear reluctance to reveal more to him.
At the end, however...
"It is possible," the Divine King of the Cold Star said with a nod, making the other two slightly annoyed.
Noticing their glares, he sighed. "What? Do you expect to hold secrets to our inheritor and the vessel of our remaining power? Don’t be fools. He has to know this," he said with clear determination.
He met their looks without backing down and then turned his attention fully back to Riven.
Then, he looked back at Riven once more. "From what I can gather there’s mortals who had "triumphed" escaping their destroyed worlds and moving into the wider Cosmos, some of them had slain Authorities and stolen their powers, becoming specially unique beings, but also warped on their own..."
"Warped?" Riven asked, shocked.
Just what did he meant by "warped"? That single word carried enough weight that he needed the rest of the explanation immediately. Could someone go mad by absorbing an Authority?
"They are referred among other civilizations as "Star Eaters", but some that worship them call them "Overseers", or something," said the Divine King of the Cold Star. He finished the sentence without adding further detail and waited to see how Riven would respond.
"Overseers..." Riven whispered.
The title stayed in his mind and already felt heavier than the name "Authorities" to him, for some bizarre reason.
"Whatever the case, what do you plan to do with this information, Riven? Don’t tell me you plan to consume Authorities to gain power and protect the planet?" the Divine King of the Cold Star asked, lightly narrowing his eyes, his question came with a clear expectation that Riven would give a straight answer.
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