“Are you… a researcher of some sort?” Tony asked Ning.

“No,” Ning answered. “I just have the answers is all.”

Tony stepped closer, no longer thinking of going back to the cabin to rest. “Tell me, what is going on? What is the real answer that you know?”

Ning thought for a minute and answered, “Do you believe in the existence of souls and reincarnations?” he asked.

“Soul? Do you mean like an afterlife? Some cultures have that I hear,” Tony said. “Why do you ask?”

“No, this is completely different. I’m asking if you know about this because it is much easier to explain everything once you understand souls exist.”

Ning started explaining how Zurin’s treasures existed. While he didn’t exactly tell them anything about Zurinus and what he had done to make the entire world believe in him, he mentioned everything about planetary wills and the presence of some different energy that humans could not exist.

He told the man that such energy converged into a single point where the Will of the planet, which had not manifested yet, formed items based on what existed in the world already.

Hearing such a wild and yet simple explanation, Tony didn’t know if he wanted to believe it at all or not. It all just seemed so… easy. Surely the answers were not that easy.

Tony thought for a bit and Tim sat down as well, trying to make sense of what he had just been told.

Jasmine thought while she stood, but unlike the two scholars, she didn’t trust it much. She had been brought up in childhood with Zurinus’ teachings, and as a result, she believed in him a lot more than she did Ning.

Even though a logical part of her mind did tell her that Ning knew a lot more than she could imagine, it was still hard for her to believe whatever Ning said wholeheartedly.

“And the world just has a soul, is it?” Tony asked slowly. “Like it can tell what is going on?”

“No, not exactly,” Ning explained. “To be consciously understanding what is going on in the world, the Will would have to have manifested in a human or whatever other form it could take.”

“However, most likely due to the energy threshold of this world being quite low, there is not yet a chance for the world to manifest its Will. That Will will have to wait a lot of years before its Origin produces enough energy to make an Origin.”

“If that ever does happen, these treasures would be so much easier to find.”

Tony rubbed his chin, nodding to Ning’s every word. “That is a very interesting theory,” he said. “But there is also little to no proof. In the first place, we have to reach for hypothetical situations such as the existence of souls and the planet being a conscious being and all. It’s not a very compelling answer as to why the treasures exist.”

Ning shrugged. “You asked me a question and I answered,” he said.

“You did,” Tony said. “I won’t deny that you haven’t given it much thought. In fact, you at least have an answer. I’m still searching for an answer myself.”

“Well,” Ning said. “That is the answer. Whether you want to believe it or not is up to you, I suppose.”

“That it is,” Tony said and stood up. “That was a good bit of conversation. If you want to talk more, I would love to grab some drink once we land in Cogonia.”

“I’m afraid that is not possible,” Ning said. “We’re heading straight for Airan.”

“That sucks,” Tony said. “I’m heading north too, toward Horace. I have some things to talk about in their newly opened amusement park.”

“Are you going to be there for the famous inventor Zarius?” Ning asked. “We discussed among ourselves and it didn’t feel like we could make it there in time.”

“Zarius… his announcement is on the 22nd, right? Yeah, you won’t make it there in time. My discussion is on the 30th, so I have a lot of time to make it there.”

“I see,” Ning said. “I won’t hold you back anymore then. You can go back to your room.”

Tony nodded and thanked Ning and the rest again. He looked in the distance where people were staring at him somewhat weirdly, and noticed that his fake body had gone missing at some point.

Seeing the beaten and bloodied man walk around as though nothing had happened made the people not only confused but slightly worried as well.

Some thought of approaching the man but before they could, Tony walked away from them to his cabin. Even as he did, he looked at his watch once more.

The dial had turned to White at some point during the past few minutes, meaning nothing of importance was going to happen for the foreseeable future.

However, he could have sworn his watch had glowed blue at some point. Had he somehow been mistaken?

Back in the lounge, Jasmine looked at Ning. “Were you telling him that stuff about planets and souls just to make stuff up or do you actually believe that is true?” she asked.

“I don’t believe that is true,” Ning said. “I know that is true.”

“Sounds stupid though,” Jasmine said.

“More stupid than Zurinus?” he asked.

Jasmine nodded. “Of course,” she said. “Zurinus came out and said he did it. It is written in the history books.”

“That’s true,” Tim added. “Zurinus had in fact said that quite frequently in all the history books I’ve scoured.”

“Well, I can’t argue there,” Ning said with a sigh. “Forget about it. You guys wanna go get something to eat? I’m going over to the dining area.”

“Sure, I can do with some tea,” Jasmine said and walked up front with the two men following behind her.

They remained in the Zeppelin for the next few hours before they could see the spread-out large islands in the distance, all clustered together as though haphazardly.

They had arrived in the Cogonian Archipelago.

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