SOS CH 68 (Patreon)

Scáthach Uanaind?

—From the information I have, she was a relatively major figure in Celtic mythology and was mainly known for her skill as a teacher in the art of combat and for having taught Cu Chulainn.

I do remember that one.

When Noah had been searching for a name for his special attack he did some research on mythology and spear users. In the end, he settled for the name Gugnir but it wasn’t an easy choice had he had to choose between Gugnir and Gae Bolg.

This is truly fascinating.

He was reminded once again that he was not in his universe but in a universe where fairy tales and mythologies seemed to be real. This made him wonder just how much became reality and what were the differences.

At the same time. This knowledge was undoubtedly an edge for him. Something that, while he could not entirely lean on, could help him understand those he was facing better.

However, I need to be careful about relying on that knowledge too much.

The best example stood in front of him. Dorothy was supposed to be some random American girl who got thrown into Oz and had a sort of psychedelic adventure with a cowardly lion, a heartless robot, and a stupid scarecrow.

Meanwhile, the Dorothy in front of him was someone who could teleport as well as stop time and was ruling some kind of empire while the Cowardly lion was the general of an entire space Legion and had some kind of flaming mane.

Sighing about the wild difference, he asked, “So, how do I meet the Shadow Queen?”

“You cannot meet her. At least not now. The Shadow Queen is elusive and she obtained her name from her ability to open a gate in a strange and complex dimension where time and space stop mattering. This is one of the primary reasons she is hard to reach. When the road is open, the majority of those who wish to meet her will die instantly when they enter that space.”

“Oh?” Noah raised an eyebrow, careful to control his reaction. This seemed very similar to what he could do and his ability to open a gate to the Sea of Quanta. If this so-called Queen had the same ability then, he could understand why Venus told him he had to meet that woman.

She would definitely be an important key for his mastery of the dimension. Furthermore, Noah himself was a spear user so it wouldn’t hurt to obtain her tutelage.

“Is it different from the space you guys enter in hyperdrive?”

Dorothy gave him a funny but soon she nodded. He had the feeling he asked a very dumb question and perhaps it was common knowledge for them. But Noah knew he could lean on his identity as a “barbarian” from a small planet to ask this kind of question.

“If you are interested I can put you in a learning pod. They are very handy machines used for children to give them relatively common knowledge. This helps eliminate years of useless studying.”

Noah hesitated. This seemed very tempting but this also seemed like the kind of stuff that would end in unwanted information being fed to his mind. He also did not relish the idea of being brainwashed.

Even back then on earth, such technology was not unheard of and the only reason it wasn’t directly used on the Constellations when they were children was because of the risk of brain damage this kind of thing posed. Didn’t stop them from doing slow and careful indoctrination but this was another matter.

Noah was pretty sure that Dorothy would not try to hurt him or at least not in such a way but it was better to be safe than sorry. The common knowledge of this world would be obtained once he deciphered the memories of all those he devoured. It would take some time but it would happen.

“I will pass for now. Though, I would be thankful if I could get some kind of…hum. Some kind of teaching material that I can read?”

Dorothy nodded. Even as Noah refused this proposal this helped her get a better insight into his personality and what she could find was someone who was clearly extremely distrustful of people that he could not call his own.

This kind of individual was always interesting to observe because of the way they behaved with those they considered as friends.

In a way because of how distrustful and wary they usually were, once they decided to trust someone they would give their all and even ignore logic.

Getting their trust may be hard but this trust would be extremely tough and difficult to break.

“You seem to have quite the scheming smile.” Dorothy's smile grew even larger as Noah called her out. “I am just thinking about how I can get you to trust me even more.”

She had to say, looking at his expression was truly delightful. He was so cute she had the urge to pinch his chubby cheeks. Though she had the distinct impression that he would bite her finger if she ever tried such a thing.

As a queen, Dorothy had been used to manipulating people in a way that brought her the greatest advantage. Truthfully it was a tiring life but only by doing so had she been able to fight against the wicked witches and get Ozma to put down the arms.

Compared to this, dealing with Noah was delightful. She did not need to put in any effort. She simply had to be honest and sooner or later she knew that he would start trusting her.

“Getting back to our main topic. Sometimes Shadow Queen will distribute tickets through the galaxy and only those who obtain a ticket can access the dimension on a specific date of her choosing. The tickets can be obtained in any way possible and as you can imagine, the distribution of those tickets is always followed by a bloodbath. Finding a ticket and keeping it until the promised date is in a way a form of test. Only those strong enough, smart enough, lucky enough, or with a powerful background can hope to get a ticket.”

“She seems like a pretty cruel woman.” Noah frowned. Sharing those tickets knowing what would happen was not something one with good intentions would do.

“I would not say so.” Dorothy shook her head, “Her mean are fair as unlike what you may think the ones with powerful backgrounds are not the most advantaged. When one enters her dimension, the background one may have is completely worthless. All that matters is whether or not you can survive that place.” Dorothy did think that the Shadow Queen was a very dangerous woman. But cruel she was not.

“Her ticket represents a fair chance for everyone to join in and those who succeeded her test all became renowned warriors and leaders of their own sectors. Owning planets or even entire solar systems.”

“I see.” Noah decided that arguing more was not worth it. He needed to ruminate on the information he had just obtained. He was hundred percent sure that he could survive the place where that woman resided.

This meant that he only had to worry about two things. One, finding and keeping tickets when they were out, and two —

“When will the next opening be?”

Dorothy gave a bitter smile as she spread her hands, “No one knows. The last session was 20 years ago and from history, the longest interval between two sessions was 300 years. So…”

“Oh…”

Noah fell silent. This was going to be quite complicated.