After finishing the talks with Cassie he looked back at Tracker. To Tracker's dismay, he had more things to talk about.
Upon reaching in close to Tracker, Caster calmly leaned in, intruding in on her personal space, making her uncomfortable.
"So Tracker, was that all? Were you only given orders to kill me? Or was there more to it?"
Tracker tried maintaining her composure, but it was hard to do that for her. After all, she'd be coddled all her life, and despite being a master, her struggles were mostly limited to her training. Now she was in a situation where she could die at any moment, depending on Caster's mood. So, she could not mess things up.
This caused her voice to come out stuttering, and weak.
"Y-Yes, there... there is nothing more. I to-told you... all I could..."
Caster raised an eyebrow in suspicion.
It irked Tracker, and made her flinch.
Caster stopped leaning in and stood straight again. It seemed like she was too scared now to be questioned properly.
But that's okay, Caster got most of what he needed to know.
"Tell me about things happening in the waking world."
It wasn't very important to know about that right now, but any and all information can be useful.
"Specifically related to the survivors of the Forgotten Shore, and important gate breaks."
Caster wanted to know if the "propoganda" by the goverment was under action or not. It is very important for Caster's safety and influence.
He had taken immense risks by changing the future so massively. Not only, could butterfly effect catch upto him soon, but also he had gotten under massive spotlight.
The butterfly effect still has a long time to catch upto him, according to his beliefs. Simply because of the fate restoration phenomena. The more Caster tries to go off course from the original novel, the more fate tries to realign it self.
Of course, when he started changing things he didn't know about this phenomena, as it had never been mentioned in the novel, because it doesn't exist in it.
The reason caster immediately went with changing the future was because he knew that just by his addition to this world would change things exponentially over time, no matter what he does. So he decided to might as well try to change everything in his favour. It would certainly be risky, but it was better to control the unknown than just pray that the unknown isn't bad.
It was just lucky that the fate restoration phenomena exists.
Caster suspects that it came to be because of the transmigration, or in short, the fate restoration phenomena was brought to this world by Caster.
This restoration, while really bad, was also really good.
Because while it made some things convinient, in the end it was trying to kill Caster. Since Caster should have died already.
If not for the fourth wall, he would really not have a method to go against this restoration phenomenon.
The fate restoration phenomenon made it hard for things to go too off track, despite the existence of fourth wall. That was due to the occasional times it was turned off by Caster.
It was a double edged sword, for as long as Caster used it in a controlled manner, it would be a powerful weapon.
As soon as he lost control...
It could very well be what ends him.
Getting back to the conversation, after giving Tracker some space, Caster asked her to tell him about the waking world.
"Well, regarding the survivors of forgotten shore we know that nearly all of them went to Ravenheart. Though, it seems they formed a battalion of sorts, under Kai, Effie and Gemma, three of the many people who were under you on the shore, no? Why're you asking though? You likely know about that."
Officially, Kai, Effie and Gemma were the ones running the Gold Reapers. And well... that's true unofficially as well. Caster was at the top, of course, but he didn't run it. Infact, he's never even visited the Gold Reaper's since the time it was formed. Caster left everything to his lieutenants... well except for Sunny, Nephis and Sheishan. Since, Sunny and Nephis went to Chained Isles on Caster's recommendation and Sheishan went back to the Jade Palace. Well, a big chunk of the Gold Reaper's had also been on the Chained Isles, but Sunny and Nephis were moving separately.
'Thinking back... the Song's earnt so much but the Sword's didn't get anything out of the survivors of the forgotten shore...'
Caster's gaze sharpened.
"You don't ask questions. You simply answer them. Continue."
"Yes sir! There's also that... uhh... your heroic deeds are being spread across the waking realm by the goverment it seems. A lot of it seems like it's true."
While saying that, Tracker was especially careful to not sound rude at all.
Caster nodded after hearing that.
'The propoganda is being spread!'
"What exactly is being told?"
Tracker thought for a moment before answering his question.
"The focus is you, stuff like Divine aspect of yours, becoming a titan, stalling the fallen terror and things. There's also talk about a few of your lieutenants, specifically Changing Star. But also a bit about Gemma, The undying, and Sheishan, The blood lord, as well."
'What? Not Sunny? I guess despite all, Sunny still managed to hide from the complete top, huh? It's a good thing he's not being too recognized, because of his thing as weaver's heir.'
"Should I go into detail?"
"No need. I get what's happening roughly. Rest up, we're leaving as soon as it gets bright again. I'm sure your essence will recover by then."
Tracker nodded and walked away. It looked like she did not wish to rest in Caster's vicinity.
'I guess I can't blame her for that.'
Soon, Caster was alone again.
He decided to mention some things to Sunny. He had been waiting for a while to tell him.
He activated the wall of impossible communications and connected to Sunny.
[Hey Sunny! You don't need to reply if you and Nephis are... you know, busy? But I have some information for you that Book of Books spilled—]
Caster's voice was interrupted by Sunny, the man himself.
[We. Are. Not. Doing. that!]
Without Hesitation, Caster continued.
[What are you not doing exactly?]
Compelled by his flaw, Sunny had no choice but to answer.
[I... I'm not eating.]
Lucky for Sunny, he managed to find out an answer that was not deterogatory.
'Ah you're so fun to tease Sunny. I'd like to tease you more,but unfortunately, I need to get back to the topic.'
[Mhm, Well, let me get back to the topic. I've news for youu Sunny. I want you, to not accept the second relic you get from your aspect legacy.]
Caster waited for Sunny to say something back, but it seems he was lost for words.
It was an obvious reaction of course. How did Caster know about his aspect legacy, how did he know it had multiple steps, how did he know that he shouldn't accept the second relic, and why?
The answer was Book of Books. And Caster made it clear where he got the information, even if it was a lie. But so what?
Sunny was a paranoid person.
After a bit of silence Sunny responded.
[You always know more than you're supposed to. Tell me now, why should I listen to you?]
[Because I know more than you. Will you trust my decision? Let me tell you more about it before you say anything. First, there is no immediate problem if you accept it. Rather, it will only make you stronger. But in the long run, there is a chance that it will become a lifeline to you. The choice is yours.]
Before Sunny could say anything again, Caster cut off the connection with him by turning the wall off.
'Ah shit... I needed to tell him to not get stronger than a demon as well or he'll get something apart from the shadowspawn's body in the second nightmare... I'll just tell him next time.'
Caster had a lot of the things planned for the future. As long as some massive change from the original novel doesn't happen, he can make do with things.
Killing Mordret would be real bad if he wants to maintain things, but he'll be playing his role as much as he could, so it wouldn't be the worst.
The problem would be something completely unexpected.
Caster has already planned as much as he could for the second nightmare, he has already planned what he must do before entering the second nightmare, he has already planned for antarctica, to an extent, he'll finalise them soon enough. But most importantly, he's already been working on something.
Something just before the Tomb of Ariel.
One of, if not the most important plan he has for the future.
Just the thought of what he would do in the future scared him.
'No! I mustn't falter. I have to do this. I-I have to.'
***
Fate was already pretty messed up. Not broken, like it was after the Tomb of Ariel in the original novel, but it was hard to get a read on it for Cassie. Which made Cassie's aspect, not useless, but slightly unreliable.
It was all due to Caster's existence... or to be exact, the fourth wall's existence.
It hid any fate related to Caster.
It was unfortunate that most of the fates she wished to see properly, or decipher were related to Caster.
But, it was the case with any and all diviners in the world, so Cassie still have a good amount of power, due to her aspect being less unreliable than the others.
Despite all this, it wasn't that she was incompetent, quite the opposite actually.
She was doing amazingly in leading the Gold Reapers, and all the different work Caster had been giving her in preparationg for the future.
Cassie was basically the person who was handling things for Caster in the shadows. Her work was mostly only known by Caster, very rarely the other lieutenants.
Because of this, they had been talking a lot using the Wall of Impossible communications.
Caster needed Cassie's help, simply because he couldn't handle everything on his own. His plans stretched far and wide, and for a lot of them to be finished in time, he'd need to present at multiple places at once if he wished to do it alone.
Most of the work Cassie was putting in was for the plan related to the Tomb of Ariel, just, indirectly. He had a lot to prepare after all.
Caster was dealing with the physical aspects of it, like Mordret, while Cassie was dealing with the nuanced aspects of it, like fixing up the Chain Breaker or Creating deeper relations with the Song Domain's higher ups, But most importantly strengthening of the overall strength of Gold Reapers so that many of them can enter the second nightmare as soon as possible.
Caster needs as many masters as possible under him when he goes to antarctica.
There's just no other option.
There was another thing Cassie was handling, it was hiding as many traces of Sunny as possible. On Caster's orders and Sunny's consent, Cassie had started working on it.
It couldn't be completely erased, but Cassie was doing all she could.
"Any thing to keep his renown relatively low is necessary, else the damned forgotten god... whatever, let's not think about this."
There was another thing, revealing that Sunny is the heir of death is going to alert Asterion. Luckily he's currently sealed, so Sunny is safe.
Caster was worried about something else though...
He was worried that due to the fate restoration phenomenon, Sunny would somehow end up as a slave again. Perhaps to Nephis again.
If that happens, all the work he had been putting in to avoid that would be all for naught.
And he doesn't want that to happen...
"This is all so stressful!"
Even apart from this, Caster was accumulating stress every single day. In the forgotten shore, he was driven by the sense of survival, then the notion of saving others, of being a miracle... but now, it was slowly catching upto him.
He had been too busy moving forward with all his plans to relieve stress, or even care about the stress, but some things still made him momentarily feel fatigued, mentally. Perhaps without the fourth wall, he would never have been able to do all of this... being so... so competent.
But that doesn't matter. What matters is what he is.
And he's someone who's able to avoid too much stress, regardless of the adversity he faces.
Well... he also just avoided things that gave him stress. Like Effie.
He was not ready to face her yet.
Really not ready for that.
People would think that Caster, someone who is now a renowned person for his strength, would enjoy fighting.
But he does not.
"The essence of fighting is murder."
Caster didn't fully agree on that, but he had always kept that in mind. And overtime he came to realise that there was no correct answer for what the essence of fighting is... but one thing was certain... fighting can kill people.
And thus, Caster didn't like it.
Not at all.
Him killing the four masters just earlier, made him feel like he had commited the gravest of sins, despite it only being self defense.
It was because it reminded him of his mother.
The same person who murdered his biological father and brother... the same person who made Kieron become an orphan.
His hatred ran deep for his "mother".
Which was why, he wanted to be different from her.
Killing was not satisfying for him at all. It didn't lessen his stress or make him feel better. Killing was just a means to the end for him. It was a path he never wanted to take.
But in the forgotten shore... he completely forgot about all of it. He was so focused on survival, that he didn't even bat an eye while killing Gunlaug, or the other cruel and messed up people.
It was all justified and not erratic like his mother, but when it hit him that he killed people, he felt no different from his mother.
Nonetheless, he swore to not hesitate in fights. It would only spell his doom.
"Hesitation is defeat."
'I should rest as well... we'll leave immediately in the morning.'