Ia pun merekahkan tangan dan langsung terasa koneksi terbentuk. u201cHey Villy, aku-u201d
u201cJake, jujur aja deh. Duskleaf dan aku emang ada di sini untukmu kala butuh. Gak perlu lagi kamu guling-guling diri atau semacamnya. Kami mau ngobrol, ya jadi berhenti deh dengan memotong tanganmu. Sudah cukup dia menderita... entah, sudah cukup kamu yang menderita,u201d suara Villy menurun dengan nada khawatir palsu yang paling janggal yang pernah didengar Jake.
u201cHa, ha, bener,u201d jawab Jake pada candaan si Ular. Sekaliannya dia sudah seribu kali memotong tangannya dalam beberapa hari terakhir. Tapi itu bukan berarti dia pakenya gawai bunuh diri.
Well, kecuali kalau itu bunuh diri yang produktif. Dalam hal itu, dia siap pakai.
u201cHeh, jadi ada upgrade keren gak nih kali putaran? Dari pandangan singkat sekilas, sepertinya kamu akhirnya berhasil nge-upgrade Blood. Aku jujur, aku lebih dulu mengharapkan itu jadi salah satu yang pertama, gara-gara kamu pernah mencuri segelintir darinya,u201d kata si Ular.
u201cYep, dapatnya. Dan juga dapat visi...,u201d kata Jake.
u201cCuit! Cerita apa sih yang diajarkan sekarang? Oh, aku tahu. Kayaknya ini, di mana aku pernah mengisi seluruh danau dengan darahku, lalu aku ubah jadi u201cramuan penyembuhanu201d buat membantu satwa liar setempat, eh ternyata justru mempengaruhi mereka semua dan akhirnya membunuh seluruh pasukan, lalu aku digiring keluar sama seorang musang raksasa yang kebal sama racunku?,u201d tanya Ular itu.
u201cGak, tapi aku yakin ceritanya menarik. Visi ini cukup santai tapi jauh lebih menarik. Pertama...,u201c kata Jake sambil menggoda. u201cKamu dulu punya seseorang yang kamu panggil Master? Kamu tampak sangat menghormati dia. Sungguh, seorang murid yang setia sekali.u201d
Beberapa detik sunyi.
u201cAku pernah punya beberapa orang yang kubuang panggil u201cMasteru201d seumur hidupku. Tapi kalau dari dulu, hanya satu yang benar-benar kudukuhkan rasa hormatku. Asal-usai dari Garis Darahku.u201d
u201cSi itu lah,u201d kata Jake. u201cCeritanya gimana? Aku punya banyak pertanyaan.u201d
u201cJake..u2026 kamu orang pertama setelah istriku yang pernah tahu tentangnya. Bahkan Para Primordial yang lain pun tak tahu ia pernah ada,u201d kata Villy dengan nada serius dan melankolis yang sangat tidak wajar baginya.
u201cAku sama sekali tak pernah belajar namanya, hanya tahu gelarnya. Ia dikenal sebag sebagai Dalang Pertama. Sebagai referensi, negara yang ia cingkup punya para ahli yang berperan sebagai para penasehat suci, dan ia adalah yang tertinggi di antara mereka. Ia juga masih hidup ketika sistem pertama kali muncul dan sudah cukup terkenal, meski terkadang sedikit rumit. Aku lama melewati jenjangnya, jauh lebih lama dibandingkan kebanyakan orang, dan jujur saja aku sempat tertinggal.u201c
Wilayah planetku dianggap lemah dan sunyi, jadi ketika akhirnya aku mencapai C-grade, dunia sudah penuh dengan mereka. Namun, di planetku saat itu, tak ada keraguan siapa yang paling kuat. Ia seorang pria yang aku yakin bisa kubohongi, dan aku ingin memanfaatkannya untuk belajar alkimia. Si tua itu langsung membaca topengku seperti bukaan dan langsung mengerti aku adalah Si Wardi yang ditakuti dari Tanah Terlantar. Tapi... apa yang dilakukannya? Mereka undang aku untuk minum teh.u201d
Villy berkata dengan emosi yang jauh lebih dalam dari biasanya, membuat Jake diam.
u201cIa tertarik pada kemampuanku dan ingin tahu lebih banyak. Jake, dari apa yang kamu lihat, apakah ia tampak seperti alkimiawan yang bakat?,u201d tanya Villy.
u201cTanpa pertanyaan panggung, aku yakin. Orang tua itu cukup gila-gilaan dan pasti-u201d
u201cIa bukanlah begitu.bahkan, ia tak pernah sungguh-sungguh memilih spesialisasi mana pun, tapi selalu cenderung mengejar hal-hal baru. Di samping itu, ia bukanlah seorang pejuang, bukan karena ia tak bisa bertarung, tapi karena ia memilih untuk tidak melakukannya. Aku mengerti mengapa. Tak ada entitas di planetku yang punya peluang sepenciptaan untuk melawannya.u201d
u201cAku agak bingung...,u201d kata Jake.u201cJika ia benar-benar kuat dan bakat, bersama Garis Darah-nya, kenapa ia tak berevolusi ke B-grade? Atau apakah ia akhirnya mencapai evolusi?,u201d tanya Jake.
u201cTidak, ia tewas masih di puncak C-grade,u201d jawab Villy, kekesalan jelas terdengar di suaranya. u201cHingga kini, hal itu masih mengganggu. Aku sebenarnya merasa bertuhan jika pernah bertemu dengannya adalah salah satu alas sebabku berhasil menjadi seorang dewa. Jake, kamu cukup berbakat, tapi pria ini... lebih dari itu. Bakatmu aneh tapi spesifik, sementara ia adalah genius universal. Jack of all trades, master of all. Dengan usaha pun tidak ada, setiap keterampilan yang ia miliki pasti mencapai raritas legendaris dan di atasnya. Seolah-olah ia tak benar-benar ada di dunia ini seperti kita. Seperti ia berdiri di atasnya dan mengamat. Ketika aku berada di puncak C-grade, kuduga-kudanya tak akan punya peluang melawannya. Bahkan tak setelah berevolusi ke B-grade juga... ia monster. Jauh lebih dariku.u201d
u201cAku makin bingung,u201d kata Jake. u201cLalu kenapa tak berevolusi? Apa yang menghentikannya?,u201d tanya Jake.
u201cTidak ada, selain keinginannya sendiri. Ia... memilih untuk tidak berevolusi. Seperti yang kubilang, sampai kini hal itu masih mengganggu dan menjengkelkan bagiku. Ia seharusnya bisa berevolusi, dan kuberani dia pasti akan menjadi dewa. Tapi ia tak punya keinginan untuk menjadi seorang dewa. Ia punya sedikit keinginan, hampir tidak ada. Seolah-olah keinginan-keinginan itu di bawah dirinya, atau mungkin tak peduli sama sekali,u201d jelas Villy. u201cSetengahnya kuduga mengerti, karena ia juga sakit hati. Ia dilukai. Ia tidak ingin hidup lagi, dan baginya, mungkin keabadian adalah sumpah.u201d
Ekspresi Jake semakin dalam, tapi dia tak sanggup mengganggu tanpa diminta.
u201cDalang Pertama mengajarku hanya selama sekitar satu dekade. Selama waktu ini, aku tak pernah meninggalkan sisinya dan menyerap segala sesuatu seperti spons. Alkimia-ku mencapai tingkatan yang tak pernah kuduga, tapi lebih dari itu, ia juga membantu menyempurnakan cara pandangku. Jika kamu belum memperhatikan, aku suka mencari cara untuk memanfaatkan sistem. Pria ini adalah salah seorang yang pertama mengajarku pemikiran itu. Ia juga pertama yang mengajarku apa itu Transenden. Ia adalah ahli terkemuka di segala hal yang berkaitan sistem, dan apa yang ditemukinya dahulu kini menjadi pengetahuan umum di sepanjang multiversa. Pengetahuannya melebihi batas... dan sebelum kamu bertanya, ya, ia adalah seorang Transenden. Bukan hanya satu juga. Aku belajar dari empat kemampuan Transenden yang ia miliki, tapi mungkin ada lebih yang tak pernah kuduga. Mau dengar yang paling lucu? Salah satunya justru dibuat dengan tujuan untuk memendekkan usianya.u201d
u201cJika kamu pikir salah satu penyebab bajetnya adalah Garis Darahnya, kamu benar-benar tepat. Aku sudah memberitahumu bahwa ia bukanlah Garis Darah yang memberi kekuatan bertarung, dan itu benar-benar benar. Bahkan, banyak yang akan menyebut efeknya cukup buta jika tidak berguna. Aku belum pernah memberitahumu apa isinya, dan kuduga sudah waktunya kuhubungkan dengan pengetahuan kita,u201d kata Villy.
Jake akan berbohong jika bilang ia tak penasaran. Terutama setelah mendengar banyak hal tentang pemilik semula.
u201cNamanya pendek dan manis. Garis Darah dari Punak Enam. Ia tak memberi statistik, tak memberikan peningkatan apa pun... kecuali satu hal. Ia memberi memori yang sempurna,u201d jelaskan Villy sambil memberi jeda bagi Jake untuk bertanya.
u201cTapi bukan itu sudah kamu dapatkan dengan statistik cukup tinggi?,u201d tanya Jake dengan bisa disebut sudah diprediksi.
u201cYa, kamu dapatnya, yang membuat banyak orang merasa Garis Darah ini sia-sia dan tidak perlu. Aku juga akan mengakui bahwa kuduga skeptis dulu, seperti yang dikatakkan Dalang Pertama, tapi kuberharap bahwa ini adalah salah satu faktor utama kekuatannya. Biarkan aku menjelaskan. Seperti yang kuduga, seperti kamu, dulu kuhidup sebelum sistem muncul, dan namun kuhabiskan Garis Darah yang memberi memori sempurna, yang membuatku bertanya-tanya apakah ini memungkinkan ia tahu dan ingat hal-hal yang sebenarnya tidak terduga sistem,u201d jelaskan Villy.
u201cItukah sebabnya kamu menginginkannya? Tunggu, gimana kamu bisa dapat itu?,u201d tanya Jake, bingung.
u201cSeperti yang kuduga, aku mendapatkannya dari sebuah acara sistem setelah menjadi dewa. Ini seperti tutorialmu, dan di akhirnya kamu bisa meminta imbalan. Aku meminta Garis Darah Dalang Pertama, dan dengan terkejut, sistem langsung memberikannya. Tidak murah, tapi lebih murah dari yang kuduga. Lagi-lagi, kuduga si tua itu pernah mengharapkan hal ini akan terjadi suatu hari nanti,u201d jelaskan Villy.
u201cNgerti,u201d jawab Jake. u201cKenapa kamu meninggalkan master pertamamu? Aku tak bisa membayangkan kamu hanya belajar selama beberapa tahun saja.u201d
u201cAku tak belajar semuanya,u201d jawab Villy, enggan melanjutkan.
u201cLantas kenapa?,u201d tekan Jake.
u201cAku sudah bilang master pertamaku itu aneh, dan baru di akhir aku menyadari tujuan sebenarnya dari membuatku menjadi muridnya. Ternyata, ia sangat terobsesi dengan Catatan Catatan Catatan. Mungkin sudah sampai sejumlah tidak sehat. Ia ingin memastikan, bahkan setelah kematiannya, Catatan Catatan itu tetap dikenang. Baginya, Catatan adalah bentuk memori yang paling sempurna. Memori dari seluruh dunia. Aku tidak tahu bagaimana atau kenapa, tapi jelas ia meyakini bahwa aku bisa mencapai puncak dan dengan demikian memilihanku. Ia ingin memuliakan keberadaannya melaluiku dan melalui sistem itu,u201d jelaskan Villy sambil menghela napas.
u201cSi tua itu hanya pernah meminta satu hal dariku, dan itu terjadi di hari-hari terakhirnya. Permintaan tunggalnya ialah untuk mengingatnya dan menyerap semua Catatannya. Ia meminta kuberikan mati padanya,u201d kata Ular dengan sedih di suaranya.
u201cItu juga sebabnya akhirnya kusadari betapa banyaknya ia menderita. Ternyata, ingatan biasanya dikontrol. Otakmu hanya akan mengingat sesuatu ketika kamu membutuhkannya, tapi bagi Dalang Pertama, tidak seperti itu. Ia ingat segala sesuatu, setiap saat. Jangan pernah mencoba bayangkan seperti apa itu terasa. Ia butuh waktu sangat lama hanya untuk bisa bertahan. Tapi yang benar-benar membuatnya menderita adalah mengingat segala sesuatu yang pernah terjadi. Setiap hal negatif yang kecil, setiap kegagalan, setiap momok dosa yang ia rasakan setiap hari. Pikirkan, biasanya kecendrungan negativ itu buruk bagi manusia biasa? Baginya, itu menghisapnya. Ia tak pernah menunjukkannya, tentu saja, tapi setelah kubutkan Garis Darah itu sendiri, aku akhirnya mengerti. Dikatakan waktu sembuh semua luka, luka dan duka yang akhirnya pudar? Baginya, setiap detik setiap hari penuh dengan emosi-emosi itu, seolah-olah ia baru saja dirasakan
He reached out and instantly felt the connection form. “Hey Villy, I-“
“Jake, just know that Duskleaf and I are both here for you in your time of need. You do not need to resort to self-harm like that, okay? We are willing to talk, so you can stop cutting your hand off. It has suffered enough… no, you have suffered enough,”Villy’s voice descended with the fakest tone of concern Jake had ever heard.
”Ha, ha, very funny,” Jake responded to the quip from the Viper. Just because Jake had cut off his hand a hundred times or so over the last few days didn’t mean he was into self-harm.
Well, except if it was productive self-harm, in which case he was all for it.
“Heh, so, got a good upgrade this time around? From a cursory glance, it seems like you finally managed to upgrade Blood. I had quite honestly expected that to be one of the first ones considering you stole a drop from me,” the Viper said.
“Yep, I got it, as well as a vision…” Jake.
“Spill it. What kind of embarrassing moment did it show you now? Oh, I know. Is it this time I filled an entire lake with my blood and turned it into a “healing potion” to help the local wildlife, only to poison them all and end up killing off an entire army, to then just get pushed out of the area by a giant weasel that was immune to my toxins?”the Viper asked.
“No, but I am sure there is an interesting story there. This vision was quite a bit more relaxed but far more intriguing. First of all… I didn’t know you once had someone you called Master?” Jake asked a bit teasingly. ”You seemed to respect him a lot too. Truly a loyal disciple.”
A few seconds passed. “I have had several people whom I would call Master throughout my life. But based on me actually showing genuine respect, only one comes to mind. The original owner of my Bloodline.”
“That is the one,” Jake said. “So, what is the story there? I have so many questions.”
“You know, Jake… you are the first one besides my wife to ever know about him. Not even the other Primordials are aware he existed,” Villy said in a very out-of-character serious, and melancholic tone.
“I never even learned his name, only knowing his title. He was simply known as the First Sage. For reference, the country he belonged to had sages as their elders of sorts, and he was naturally the highest-ranked one. He, too, was alive when the system arrived and was already an accomplished, if troubled, man. I took quite a bit longer to progress through the grades than many others and, quite honestly, fell behind. The area of the planet I was from was considered weak and desolate, so by the time I reached C-grade, the world was already full of them. However, on my planet at the time, there was no doubt who the most powerful person was. He was a man who I believed I could fool, and I wanted to take advantage of him to teach me alchemy. The old man saw through my disguise like nothing and instantly knew I was the feared Wyvern of the Desolates. But what did he do? He invited me in for tea.”
Villy spoke with far more emotion than Jake was used to, making him just shut up.
“He was intrigued by my skills and wanted to learn more about me. Tell me, Jake, from what you saw did he strike you as a talented alchemist?” Villy asked.
“For sure,” Jake said. The old man had been insanely talented and was no doubt-
“He wasn’t one. In fact, he never truly chose to specialize anywhere but always ended up pursuing new things. On top of that, he was not a fighter, not because he couldn’t fight, but because he chose not to. I understood why. There was not a single entity on our planet that stood a sliver of a chance against him.”
“I don’t understand… if he was this strong and talented, along with having a Bloodline, why didn’t he evolve into B-grade? Or did he end up evolving?” Jake asked.
“No, he died still in peak C-grade,” Villy answered, exasperation clear in his voice. “To this day, it still troubles me. I actually think meeting him was one of the reasons I even managed to become a god. Jake, you are talented, but this man… was something more. Your talents are bizarre but specialized, while he was a universal genius. A jack of all trades, master of all. With no effort, any skill he had would reach legendary rarity and beyond. It was like he didn’t truly exist within the world like the rest of us. As if he stood above it and observed. By the time I was in peak C-grade, I knew I still would not have stood a chance against him. Not that I would have after just evolving to B-grade either… he was a monster. Far more than I.”
“I am just getting more and more confused here,” Jake said. “Why not evolve then? What stopped him?”
“Nothing except his own will. He… chose not to evolve. As I said, to this day, it still troubles and frustrates me. He could have evolved, and truthfully, I do not doubt he would have become a god. But he had no desire to be one. He had barely any desire at all. Like such desires were beneath him, or perhaps just not something he cared about,” the Viper explained. “I partly understood why, for he was also pained. Tortured. He did not wish to keep living, and to him, perhaps immortality would have been a curse.”
Jake’s frown only deepened, but he didn’t interrupt without getting asked.
“The First Sage taught me only for about a decade. During this time, I never left his side and took in everything like a sponge. My alchemy reached levels I had never even imagined, but more than that, he helped refine my mindset. If you haven’t noticed, I like to find ways to take advantage of the system. This man was the one who originally instilled those thoughts into me. He was also the first one to teach me what a Transcendent was. He was a premier scholar in all things system and what he discovered back then is now common knowledge throughout the multiverse. The knowledge that man had was out of this world… and before you ask, then yes, he was a Transcendent. Not just one either… I learned of four Transcendent skills he possessed, but he might have had more I never knew about. Wanna hear the funniest thing? One of them was made with the express purpose of shortening his lifespan.
“If you think that one of the reasons for his blight was his Bloodline, then you would be entirely correct. I have told you it is not one that offers combat power, and that is entirely correct. In fact, many would call its effects rather mundane if not useless. I have never told you what it does, and I guess it is about time I tell you, considering how much I know about yours.”
Jake would be lying if he said he wasn’t curious. Especially after hearing so much about the original owner.
“Its name is short and sweet. Bloodline of the Immortal Mind. It gives no stats, no boosts to anything… besides one thing. It gives perfect memory,” Villy explained, leaving a pause for Jake to ask.
“But don’t you get that already with high enough stats?” Jake asked predictably.
“You do, which is why many find the Bloodline useless and unnecessary. I will also admit that I was critical of it, as the First Sage explained, but I have come to believe it was a big contributor to his power. Allow me to explain. As I said, like me, he existed before the system arrived, and yet he had a Bloodline that allowed perfect memory, which makes me question if perhaps this allowed him to know and remember things the system never intended for anyone to be aware of.”
“Is that why you wanted it? Wait, how did you even get it?” Jake asked, confused.
“As I said, I got it from a system event after becoming a god. It was a bit like your Tutorial, and in the end, you could request a reward. I asked for the Bloodline of the First Sage, and to my surprise, the system gave it. Not cheaply, but cheaper than expected. Once more, I felt like the old man had expected this to someday happen,” Villy explained.
“I see,” Jake simply answered. “Why did you leave your first master? I cannot believe you learned everything from him in only a few years.”
“I did not,” Villy said, hesitant to continue.
“Then why?”
“I told you my first Master was peculiar, and it was only at the end I realized his true purpose in making me his student. You see, he was obsessed with Records to a probably unhealthy level and wanted to ensure that even after death, they remained known. To him, they were the truly perfect form of memory. The memory of the world itself. I don’t know how or why, but he clearly believed that I would be able to reach the pinnacle and thus chose me. He wanted to immortalize his existence through me and through the system,” Villy said as he sighed.
“The old man had only ever asked me one favor, and it came in those final days. The only thing he ever asked me was to remember him and absorb his Records once and for all. He asked me to kill him,” the Viper said, sadness in his voice.
“It was also only then I truly became aware of how much he suffered. You see, usually, memories are controlled. Your brain only pulls something up when you need to remember it, but for the First Sage, it wasn’t like this. He remembered everything all the time. Don’t even begin to think you can comprehend what that is like. He spent ages simply becoming able to function. But what truly made him suffer was remembering all that once was. Every little negative thing, every setback, every period of grief he experienced every day. Do you think negativity bias is bad for normal humans? For him, it was all-consuming. He never showed it, not truly, but after I got the Bloodline myself, I understood. It is said time heals all wounds, and trauma and grief eventually fade? To him, every second of every day was filled with those emotions, like he had experienced mere moments before,” Villy explained, but Jake got an odd feeling.
As if he was not only talking about his old Master but himse-
“Before you say it… yes, I experience this negative downside too. However, there is a stark difference between him and me. First of all, I got the Bloodline after becoming a god and can handle all this far better. Second of all, I was not born with it and thus had ways to still separate it from the core of my being. Thirdly, and perhaps the most important one: his mindset differed from mine. He was more emotional on a base level, and he grieved more than I ever did. Even when I suffer, my first thought is not to grieve but to try and fix the problem. I comfort myself with pretty lies of being able to find a solution. And I can admit that even if the Bloodline has downsides, the benefits it brings are also exemplary. I wanted it for a reason,” Villy said.
“Did you… you know?” Jake asked.
“Yes. How could I not fulfill the one request my Master ever made of me? I did not want to, but I respected him too much to refuse. However, as I said, then I like my pretty little lies. He wanted to be immortal but not alive, and he found his Path through me. Today he is forever immortalized through the Records of the multiverse, and to him, dying was simply a form of transcending above the mundane world. Transcending through me. I still remember his smile as his life faded, and that is the memory I choose to see over his times of suffering,” the Viper said, Jake practically seeing his sad smile on the other end.
Jake just sat silently, not saying anything. He had never heard Villy speak this highly of anyone before, not even his fellow Primordials. There was always a quip in there, a joke about their shortcomings… but with this First Sage, there was only sad recognition.
Neither of them spoke for a while, even as the telepathic connection remained. Jake did not ask any of his usual questions, like if the Viper thought Jake would be able to match the old man if they were the same level or anything like that. Jake already knew that the answer wouldn’t be one he wanted to hear… not necessarily because it would be a no but because of how pointless it was. A minute or so more passed before Villy sighed.
“The First Sage is the apex of why motivation and drive are important. He had the talent of a thousand geniuses but the will to claim power of none. There was no passion in anything he did, and he truly never cared to get stronger. There was only a sense of hopelessness, like the Path he once followed was impossible. Or, perhaps, in death, he got exactly what he wanted. I truly don’t know, as even now, his mentality and mind are above my level of comprehension. All I know is that he was perhaps someone that was never meant to have existed, but that I am glad he did,” Villy finally finished.
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