Interstellar Age

Chapter 256 Locating the Fugitive

There were a handful of worlds for Erich to choose from when it came to searching for the sage. But Erich did not immediately choose, and instead decided he would make use of his essence of fate to pinpoint the exact location of the sage. Thus, when Tia asked the second time, he shook his head before informing her of these matters.

"I can't choose carelessly. If we go searching for our target in the wrong world, they might learn of our attempts and go deeper underground. No, this will take some careful maneuvering, and because of that, I plan to make use of the essence of fate to determine the exact location of our fugitive..."

Tia nodded her head in approval of her Master's decision, and thus did not interfere any further. Instead, she grabbed hold of his robust chin with her dainty hand before whispering something tempting into his ears.

"Now Master, how about the two of us head back to your personal quarters and test out this new body? After all, it was modeled exactly to the specifications of your deepest desires..."

Erich did not immediately respond to this. He was about to ask how she knew such things, when he realized the AI had access to his browsing history, and thus he sighed heavily, before agreeing to Tia's request. After all, now that she was no longer a loli, he had no qualms about sleepign with her, even if she was an artificial intelligence embedded in a robotic body.

"Alright Tia, that sounds like a plan...."

With that said, Tia grabbed hold of Erich's hand and dragged him off to the captain's quarters of the Vigilance where the two of them made love. After which Erich took the capsule which contained the Essence of Fate and passed out.

---

Once more, Erich found himself in the same void where he always found himself whenever he consumed the Essence of Fate. He stared intently at the screens, while the Sage whose consciousness was trapped greeted him.

"You are back again... I'm beginning to wonder if you found a way to control the essence of fate...."

Erich did not immediately respond to these words as he focused his gaze on the myriad of screens that kept appearing, all of which display different potential futures. It was only after a minute passed did he respond to these words.

"You could say that I had help when creating a drug that uses a proper dose of the compound so that I won't end up stuck here in the void for eternity like you..."

The Sage sighed and nodded her head, before expressing her lament in regards to her situation.

"A wise move.... In truth, we did not fully understand what we ere doing when we first created the essence of fate. Perhaps if we took a more scientific approach in its creation, I would not be stuck here... But then again, the Sages are not chemists, and the creation of the drug was a top secret affair. So tell me, what are you looking for now?"

Erich sighed heavily after staring at the screens for what appeared to be a lifetime before expressing what he was looking for.

"I am searching for another sage. My last two prisoners expired prematurely, and because of that, I need to get a third. I have narrowed down the worlds which he or she might be hiding on, but I need a precise answer, or else they may flee further into hiding!"

The Sage did not even need to examine the screens, instead she pointed to one of them which displayed an unsettled world within Asuran space. On the screen only megafauna, and primitive lifeforms seemed to roam the land. Yet there was an air of certainty in the sage's voice as she gave Erich the location he was looking for.

"You are looking in the wrong places... If the sages have truly gone into hiding like you claim, then it is likely that they have left the Milky Way. Even I don't know what dwarf galaxy they have fled to, or the world they now seek refuge in.

But that was the plan we had devised eons ago when we first learned of the Dark Sage's existence... Unfortunately for you, I entered the void before those plans came to fruition. But what I do know is that the Sages you seek are those left behind to combat your influence, and report your activities back to the rest.

Since you have already gotten rid of the Sage stationed on Vitala-loka, his replacement will have gone into hiding where you would least expect it. A world that is not yet a part of the galactic community. No doubt he is relaying communications with his brothers and sisters throughout the galaxy, waiting for the time to renter civilized society..."

This was a lot of information to unfold, but the first thing that came to mind was the idea that the Sages had fled the galaxy. As far as Erich knew, no explorer had ventured beyond the borders of the Milky Way, even to one of the many sattelite dwarf galaxies. And thus he was quick to ask about this.

"Hold on... Did you seriously just say the Sages fled the Milky Way Galaxy? How is this possible? The technology to do so does not exist yet!"

However the Sage shook her head before correcting Erich's mistakes.

"That is not entirely true. The Sage's long ago commissioned vessels that could take them beyond the borders of the Milky Way. It was a valuable asset that we hid, even from the Alfheim Empress. If you do not find the sage who knows their location, you will spend the rest of eternity searching for them.

Oh? I am afraid our time is nearly up, so I won't be able to answer any more of your questions. You should spend what little time you have, looking at the screen I showed you, so that you might find where in this world your target is hiding. Good bye for now... And good luck!"

After saying this, the Sage's consciousness faded into nothing, while Erich focused on the uncivilized world that the Sage had pointed to. If he had something to compare it to, it would be like the Mesolithic era from Earth's history.

The "intelligent" lifeform on this planet was living in small tribes and villages, making use of stone tools. They were on the brink of discovering agriculture and animal husbandry. If not for the Sage's advice, Erich would never even pay attention to such a primitive world.

And then, right as Erich came out of his dream and re-entered reality, he saw on the screen something which pointed in the direction of the Sage. A small rock carving in the center of a village clearly displayed a being with humanoid features and pointy ears.

Unfortunately, Erich did not have time to fully examine this rock carving, and immediately woke up, to see Tia's glowing blue eyes staring at him with a curious expression on her beautiful robotic face.

"Did you have good dreams, Master?"

It took Erich a moment to put his thoughts together, but when he did, he sighed heavily before revealing what he had learned.

"We are looking for the sage in the wrong places... He or she has sought refuge in a primitive world... In fact, if my visions are correct, then the majority of the Sages may have already fled the milky way entirely..."

Tia sighed and nodded her head, almost as if she had considered the possibility. Before revealing her thoughts on the matter.

"Though the odds were against such a thing, I always thought it was at the very least probable that they had done so. After all, the Sages number in the thousands, if not tens of thousands. And yet after searching galactic records from every interstellar civilization, I can't seem to find any trace of the majority of them.

As for this, the matter of our target hiding in a primitive world. How sure are you? I must admit, I did not exactly search for such planets when calculating where they were most likely hiding."

Erich thought about Tia's question for several minutes before answering her with his honest thoughts on the matter.

"Honestly? I saw some evidence to support the idea that, at the very least, an Elf is hiding in the world. But whether or not it is our target, I can't say for certain. If I had to put a number on it, I'd say I'm 90% certain we will find our fugitive in this unnamed world..."

Erich then gave Tia the coordinates, which she effortlessly commanded the Vigilance to change its course. All while lying in Erich's arms, and hugging the man as if she never wanted to let go. After all, her consciousness was embedded in the ship, and could operate its entire controls remotely. Once she had accomplished this, she sighed heavily before speaking her thoughts aloud.

"I hope this doesn't turn out to be a wild goose chase..."

Erich smiled as he petted the woman's hair before speaking his own thoughts.

"I hope so too...."