Rowan chuckled, “I needed certain resources and information from you, so I think my actions should warrant a more favorable return from your end.”
“I told you he was direct. Of course, we intend to do so and much more.” This time it was Nana that spoke, “If you check your personal Trailer–Motor. You would see the resources that had been dropped for you, a gift from Circe and a personal surprise from Scarvros here.”
“A surprise?” Rowan asked as he took more cookies from the plate, this one resembled a lion.
“Please, Scarvros would explain it better, he was sent by the family from our home world Trion.” Circe gestured to Scarvros who bowed to her, and then he turned to face Rowan.
He cleared his throat, “I am Scarvros, Chief Administrative Officer of the Tenth Legion for the Boreas Family. The Ancestor Boreas is aware of the calamity from the stars that had fallen on Boreas, and has therefore made a wide call for heroes far and near to aid us in this disaster. These are trying times, and more than ever we need heroes.”
“To ensure the heroes are properly compensated for the risk they are willing to take for our sake and the safety of the world, we have created a list from which every resource that is under the purview of our innumerable Trading Houses across the entire empire is up for exchange.”
Scarvros paused for effect, clearly this must be significant news as he expected Rowan to be impressed, Rowan took a cookie.
He sighed and continued, “The Ancestor Boreas does not just want the calamity to be managed, he requires them to be eradicated! There is a copy of the exchange list in your quarters and I promise you, the rewards are substantial, with many exotic resources that are impossible to be found in any other places but our trading houses.”
Scarvros, picked up a slate by the side that gave out a blue glow, many names were recorded on it, “Plus as further incentives, the Ancestor has brought out three great prizes to be awarded to the three most powerful contributors to the eradication of the calamity. You should be pleased to know that your name is in the top twenty.”
Scarvros said all these in a single breath, and Rowan did not take much time to consider his proposition. He had guessed that the Boreas family would mount a counter-attack on the beasts ravaging the planet, although he had always thought it would be after they had gathered all their workers planet wide and secured them in the underground cities before any attack might commence.
A Great Storm was coming, and from the books he had read, they were usually a wild affair, so the people called to exterminate the beasts would be facing attacks on two fronts, but this was not his concern.
Instead, Rowan was feeling a slight bit of annoyance, he had already allocated every beast on this planet as his prey, and to find out that he would have to share them, and that there were nineteen other people above him that had killed more beast were annoying. He shook away this childish thought as he focused on Scarvros.
Scavros turned the slate around, so Rowan could easily peruse the contents, it was a list of names and a series of numbers beside them, he swiped left to show Rowan the exchange panel and swiped back to the screen of names.
Rowan collected the slate from his hands, and viewing the names, he frowned, “I would like to ask, how are the lists being tabulated. I mean, how do you know the amounts of beasts that are slaughtered by each person and assign the right number to their undertakings?”
“Are you not aware of the Nemesis Plate and of its functions?” Scarvros asked in surprise.
Circe replied in place of Rowan, “Scarvros because of certain circumstances, he is not aware of certain facts about the world around us.”
“Oh, you would have me believing he is Erohim, if such coincidences keep happening.” Scarvros laughed.
“Who says he is not?” Circe countered.
“he he… good one. Well, for the fact that he shot up the list from the low thousands to the top twenty in a matter of hours, is already causing quite a commotion among the Nemesis Plate Guardians, and with the name assigned to him, there are already wagging tongues in all of Jarkarr.”
“Let’s focus back on the question, shall we?” Rowan asked, “How are these kills tabulated?”
“Allow me the honor of answering your question, Erohim.” Nana smirked, she had stood up a while back and went to fetch more cookies for Rowan, seeing as he clearly loved the tasty treat.
“There is a Nemesis plate on most planets of our Glorious Empire, on it are recorded all living creatures inside the planet, both beast and people included. This practice of creating a Nemesis plate began during the Great war as a way to record fatalities in troops, but its usage has expanded over the years until it has become a verifiable tool to track various population parameters inside a planet. With me so far?”
Rowan nodded and ate more of the cookies in relish.
“The Nemesis plate is a series of Transcendent Treasures, crafted by the Alchemist Union under the guidance of the Bramian court.”
Nana must have understood that he may not comprehend all the terminologies he was using, but Rowan understood a few, like the Bramian court and the Alchemist union, but he would not call out that he knew those words.
Rowan was too clear about the hidden purpose of his host, and the books he was given did not have heavy details about the various powers in Trion. He did not think it was a coincidence.
“I have made sure the latest books deposited in your vehicle have all the necessary information about the various Thrones and Dominions in Trion. Witnessing your abilities, I find it very necessary for you to understand the various power plays and politics of the Empire.”
Rowan could not ask for a better gift, no doubt they would have restricted this knowledge from him until they understood who he was, or he showed his capabilities.
Rowan felt this was a sign of their increasing interest in him. They had begun dangling the bait in front of him slowly, and they were watching to see when he was going to bite.
“However I can tell you the ranking of Treasures, as those are easy enough to list out. They are: Mortal, Refined, Earth, Heaven, Transcendent, Immortal and finally Origin. Treasures of the Transcendent Grade and below can be used by Dominators, but from the Immortal Grade, it can exclusively be used by Ancestors of the family or our Primogenitors themselves—The gods.” .𝘤𝘰𝑚
Rowan was curious about the grading of Treasures, as he saw the similarities between their grading and the advancement of his Berserker techniques, although he now wondered why the rest of his abilities did not have the same grading.
“Coming back to your question, as a Transcendent Treasure that is at the peak of the mortal world, each Nemesis Plate can be used to track and collect the statistics of every living thing below a certain threshold of power, but there are caveats to its abilities.”
“For one, each Nemesis plate can only be paired to a single planet, so that means the Nemesis plate for Jarkarr would not function on Phobeh, the closest planet in our solar system.”
“The second is that the Nemesis plate can only passively collect the details of natives of the planet, so that means if you are a foreigner on the planet, the Nemesis plate would be able to know there is an extra individual on the planet, but it would not be able to track or passively collect any information on that individual.”
“It might not seem like much, but it is a necessary tool for any planet worth its salt, as the void of space is filled with malevolent creatures such as those that attacked Jarkarr, and the Nemesis plate would immediately detect when something new enters the planet.”
