Realm Lord
Chapter 138: We Know Nothing

Chapter 138: We Know Nothing

Arthur now found himself surrounded by the towering shelves and hushed atmosphere of the school’s extensive library, a vast repository of knowledge that had taken considerable effort to navigate. The building itself was an impressive structure, with high vaulted ceilings and natural light streaming through tall windows, creating the perfect environment for serious research and study. It had taken him quite a while and some assistance from the helpful but overworked librarians to locate the specific books he was seeking, but after persistent searching through multiple sections and catalogs, he finally found himself settled at a sturdy wooden table near one of the large windows.

Before him lay a carefully selected stack of books, each one representing hours of potential reading and discovery. The first volume he opened was a comprehensive tome on the history of the second realm, known as Aragon. The book’s worn leather binding and yellowed pages suggested it had been consulted by many researchers before him, each seeking to understand the mysterious realm that had become so central to their world’s survival.

According to the detailed text, Aragon was, as far as current research could determine, a realm consisting of only one massive continent. However, that single landmass was described as being double the size of the largest continent on Earth, making it an almost incomprehensibly vast territory filled with diverse landscapes, climates, and ecosystems. The book contained hand-drawn maps that attempted to chart the known regions, though large sections were marked with ominous notations like "unexplored territory" and "dangerous zones."

The continent had once contained numerous kingdoms and city-states, some of which had maintained peaceful relations with their neighbors while others had been locked in constant territorial disputes and resource wars. From what the researchers and explorers had managed to piece together through archaeological evidence and surviving records, that realm had been no stranger to conflict and warfare long before the void creatures had ever appeared on the scene.

What struck Arthur as particularly tragic was how utterly unprepared the inhabitants of Aragon had been for the arrival of the void creatures. Despite their political sophistication and military experience with conventional warfare, they had been so technologically and magically disadvantaged compared to the otherworldly threats that they hadn’t stood much of a chance when the void creatures had finally showed up. The book contained several sobering accounts of once-great cities reduced to empty ruins within days of the void invasion, their populations either killed or transformed into something far worse.

Besides these basic historical facts and geographical details, however, there wasn’t much concrete information available about the second realm. The book repeatedly acknowledged gaps in knowledge, areas where researchers simply had no reliable data to work with. Most of the information had been gathered from brief expeditions by chosen who had managed to return alive, and their accounts were often fragmented, contradictory, or colored by the trauma of their experiences.

Growing increasingly frustrated with the limited scope of information available, Arthur moved on to examine the other volumes in his carefully selected stack. Each subsequent book focused on different aspects of the realms, with several devoted specifically to the various gods and divine entities. He spent hours poring over these texts, reading detailed theological discussions and comparative analyses of divine hierarchies and pantheons.

However, after several hours of intensive reading, Arthur began to realize with growing disappointment that these academic books wouldn’t tell him anything he didn’t already know from his experiences in the second realm. The scholars and researchers, despite their best efforts and extensive theoretical knowledge, were working with incomplete information and secondhand accounts.

’I was right,’ Arthur thought to himself with a mixture of vindication and frustration. ’We really know nothing. These books are just dressed-up speculation based on fragments of information.’

The realization that the academic establishment knew so little about the realms that had become central to humanity’s survival was both disappointing and somewhat liberating. It meant that his own experiences and observations were potentially more valuable than he had initially realized, but it also highlighted just how much humanity was fumbling in the dark when it came to understanding their new reality.

After closing the final book with a dissatisfied sigh, Arthur decided to shift his research focus entirely. He made his way over to one of the library’s public computer terminals, settling into the somewhat uncomfortable chair as the machine slowly booted up. His goal now was to catch up on the major events and developments that had occurred during the almost two years he had been absent.

As he began browsing through recent news articles, government reports, and statistical databases, Arthur quickly discovered that an enormous amount had happened during his time away. The world had changed in ways that were both encouraging and deeply troubling, and the sheer scope of the developments left him feeling somewhat overwhelmed.

One of the most significant changes was in the sheer number of people who had developed realm cores over the past year or so. Apparently, more individuals were manifesting these mystical energy centers than ever before in recorded history, leading to an unprecedented expansion in the ranks of the chosen. The numbers were staggering: chosen ones now numbered well over 200,000 worldwide, representing a dramatic increase from the amount that had existed when Arthur had left.

Among these newly awakened individuals, approximately 30,000 to 40,000 had already advanced to the pathfinder rank. Even more impressively, just over a couple thousand had achieved the prestigious realmbound rank, marking them as truly elite individuals.

The military and exploratory implications of this growth were enormous. Arthur read about how these expanded forces had recently managed to establish and fortify a stronghold around the core of the fourth realm, representing a major strategic victory for mankind.

For quite some time, according to the articles Arthur was reading, there had been an intense competition between the major guilds and a group known as the "Heroes of Humanity" to be the first to successfully reach and establish a presence in the fifth realm. The Heroes of Humanity was an unofficial title bestowed by the public upon the five strongest and most accomplished chosen ones in existence, individuals whose feats had transcended normal expectations and entered the realm of legend.

These five individuals were not just powerful fighters but also tremendously influential figures in the chosen community. All but one of them served as leaders of major guilds, wielding not just personal strength but also significant political and organizational power. Their achievements were the stuff of legend, including stories like that of the Flame Lord, who had risen through the ranks at a pace that had shattered every previous record and redefined what was considered possible for a chosen one’s advancement.

However, the competitive race to reach the fifth realm had recently slowed considerably, and Arthur soon discovered the sobering reason why. The catastrophic attack on District 3 had fundamentally changed the priorities and resource allocation of the chosen community, forcing them to redirect their attention from exploration and advancement to immediate crisis response and damage control.

As Arthur delved deeper into the reports about District 3, he began to understand that the situation there was far more dire than the carefully sanitized media coverage had suggested. The truth was significantly darker and more hopeless than what the general public was being told, and the implications were terrifying.

The gates had opened with such devastating speed and in such overwhelming numbers that they had caught everyone completely off guard. The void creatures had poured through these portals faster than any organized response could be mounted, and by the time large groups of chosen ones had been able to mobilize and reach the area, the damage had already been catastrophic beyond imagination.

What was being portrayed in the media as a campaign to prevent the void creatures from taking over District 3 was, in reality, a desperate attempt to reclaim territory that had already been completely overrun. The district hadn’t been saved—it had been lost, conquered, and transformed into something unrecognizable. Millions upon millions of people had already been killed in the initial assault, their lives ended in ways that Arthur preferred not to think about too deeply.

The chosen ones who had responded to the crisis had managed to save several major cities, transforming them into heavily fortified strongholds where they could coordinate evacuation efforts and provide some measure of protection for the surviving civilian population. However, these islands of safety were constantly under siege, and their long-term viability was questionable at best.

Every single day, according to the reports Arthur was reading, the void creatures managed to take over another town or settlement, systematically eliminating the remaining pockets of human resistance and expanding their control over the district. Each day brought more death, more destruction, and more evidence that District 3 and all the people trapped within it were coming closer to being lost forever.

The way Arthur saw it, the fight in district 3 was a losing battle. The void creatures had already sunk their fangs too deep. The fight was lost before it even started.