Chapter 85: The 'Elaborate' Ploy

"Tricking naive souls into that sea dimension with some fancy book, only to lead them right to your clutches. And then, they end up as your meal..." Azmond's stomach churned as he uttered the last part.

He couldn't believe he'd fallen for such a scheme, feeling utterly foolish...

He was filled with disappointment in himself.

.......

"....."

Both Thor and Loki were stunned speechless.

'What sort of hogposh has been going through this human's head this entire time?!?' The two of them truly couldn't believe that one mortal could think up so much drivel within such a short period of time.

And he did so without even having a proper talk with them.

"This human is a complete lunatic, Loki," Thor said with a baffled expression.

An expression that didn't match his huge, rough stature.

"Yes..." Loki responded with a wry smile.

He couldn't believe the absurdities that came out of the mortal's mouth either, but he knew this was all happening. So, he just accepted it and decided that he would attempt to change the topic.

"That is not even close to being the catalyst that led you here, mortal." Loki began speaking with an exasperated tone. "You got here due to a number of coincidences.

Random occurrences that shouldn't have even been possible for them to line up as well as they did." Loki's voice became a little cracked when he reached this part of his piece.

"You were in some sort of mortal realm prior to arriving in the 'sea dimension', correct?" He asked with an inquisitive tone. His question was aimed at the bound-up man.

Azmond really didn't feel like answering the questions of these scumbags, but it looked like he had no other choice if he wanted even the slightest chance of being able to escape from here.

'Does this mortal not know anything??' Loki was really starting to believe that this human had grown up living beneath a rock.

"Forget it. If you don't know, then it doesn't have a sense of relevance for the current you. You will naturally learn what lies beyond your understanding when you reach a sufficient enough level." Loki spoke in a dry tone, as his view of the mortal had reached an all-time low.

He thought the mortal came from a very high ranking world on the basis of his acquiring the recognition of Boundless Restoration.

But that was apparently not the case...

He seemed to come from one of the mortal worlds, part of the absolute lowest rungs

Confusion once again took over Loki's mind, as he couldn't understand how someone from such a pitiful background could form a bond with Boundless Restoration.

'Is this Asterion some special ranked world where the inhabitants have no clue about the ranking system? Or is this human just oblivious to all that goes on around him...?' A few different theories began floating around inside Loki's head. But none of them seemed to stick...

The only plausible scenario he could imagine being the case was that this mortal came from a world that was low enough on the ranking scale that it didn't even know there was such a scale.

"Let us discard that topic for now." Loki said in a flat tone.

He no longer felt like contemplating something that he wouldn't be able to figure out the cause of.

However, the same thing could not be said if he wasn't in this damned pocket dimension. He would be able to understand the situation of this mortal as easily as breathing if not for this impermeable dimension he and Thor found themselves in. Alas, it is what it is.

Just when Azmond was beginning to become extremely curious over the mention of a world tier system, his anticipatory thoughts were cut short as the voice of Loki resounded out.

"You must have found a tree of life or some other form of variation of one in your world, correct?"

Azmond recalled the elusive sign he saw sitting dead center in the garden of giant spiritual stones. 'So that 'Tree of Life' was something quite special after all...' A few thoughts swirled around inside his head before he responded to Loki.

"Yes, there was such a tree."

He didn't know why he was divulging such information to his 'enemy'. But he figured that it couldn't possibly make his situation any worse than it was. So, he answered truthfully.