Suddenly, he was in "Paths"

A long time later-Bai Yu had no idea how much time had passed, absorbed as he was in a sea of knowledge-the sound of a book closing broke the silence of the room, making him lift his head slightly to look.

Commander Pixis had closed the book in his hands and was about to return it to Erwin, but Erwin handed it to Bai Yu instead, leaving Pixis looking at Bai Yu with some confusion.

Erwin spoke up.

"If we fail, these three books will be our last hope. In my judgment, they'll be safest with Bai Yu."

Pixis stroked his chin and nodded thoughtfully. But this wasn't the time to dwell on that, so he asked Erwin directly.

"What do you intend to do?"

"Overthrow the Royal Government."

Pixis's eyes narrowed slightly, his gaze taking on a dangerous edge. Yet Erwin showed not the slightest fear and simply met his eyes calmly.

After a long while, Pixis sighed softly.

"If things really are as these books describe, then the Royal Government must be overthrown. Otherwise, neither we nor the people will have any hope of survival."

"Then what is your decision, Commander Pixis?"

"I'm in. But with just us, overthrowing the Royal Government will probably mean a bloodbath. In that situation, wouldn't that Founding Titan erase our memories?"

"Yes. Our first priority now is to identify the true king, then decide our next move. Perhaps we can start with the nobles."

Although Erwin said that, Bai Yu knew he probably already had a rough plan. Bai Yu wasn't concerned with any of it, though, and couldn't be bothered to think about it. His head was already filled with propulsion, trajectories, gunpowder strength, ratios, triggers, and so on.

What a pain...

As he thought, he kept simulating scenarios in his head without entering the System Training Ground. But mental simulations alone weren't much use, so he was about ready to go make a batch and see how they worked.

While Bai Yu was off to the side thinking about Thunder Spears and the like, Pixis asked another question.

"Then how do we identify him? And as for us..."

Before he could finish, Bai Yu spoke up as though something had suddenly occurred to him.

"Didn't Eren say he didn't know when he got the key? That means he lost a short stretch of his memory-the part where he met Doctor Jaeger."

Pixis didn't seem annoyed at being interrupted. Instead, he asked curiously.

"Eren?"

"Oh, the Eren mentioned in this book. He's currently a Cadet in the 104th Cadet Corps."

"What about him?"

"Didn't the book say that getting injected with that Titan spinal fluid also causes you to lose a short stretch of memory? You'd probably need some sort of prompt to remember it. Of course, that's not the main point. The question is, could Eren have been injected with that Titan bone marrow fluid? Could he have turned into a Pure Titan before?"

Erwin had caught on as well.

"You mean there's a good chance Eren currently possesses his father's Attack on Titan power?"

"That should be it. But he doesn't know it himself, since he has no memory of it. Keep a close eye on him."

At that point, Bai Yu paused briefly.

"And as for identifying the true king, just kidnap a couple of nobles and question them. If they won't talk, kill one and ask the other. From the look of them, they don't seem fearless about dying. Do it in secret, and no one will know it was us. Besides, that's what you were planning to do anyway, wasn't it, Erwin?"

Erwin smiled.

"I never said that."

"You can handle the investigation yourselves. Let me know if anything comes up. Right now, I need to research that weapon capable of blasting through the Armored Titan's armor. I saw him back then. Even his nape was armored, and I don't think our blades can cut through it."

After saying goodbye to Erwin, he yawned and headed out with Ming and Xiate.

"Bai Yu's deductions surprised me this time, too. I didn't expect him to have thought that far ahead."

Erwin spoke softly.

Pixis replied with a teasing note.

"Perhaps he could become the next commander of your Survey Corps."

Erwin didn't deny it.

"He has what it takes."

That genuinely caught Pixis off guard. He had thought Erwin might hold Bai Yu in high regard, but hadn't expected him to actually want Bai Yu as the next commander.

Erwin, however, didn't linger on the subject.

"Then, Commander Pixis, let's do as Bai Yu suggested. As for the targets..."

Whatever happened after that had nothing to do with Bai Yu. Eren was the key to everything anyway. As long as Eren was all right, everything else could be worked out. With his power to unleash the Rumbling, they could always destroy the world if it came to that. It wasn't Bai Yu's concern anyway.

With those thoughts in mind, Bai Yu headed toward the factory-the weapons factory not far from the Survey Corps headquarters. He had no idea how Erwin had persuaded them.

Probably something about fighting Titans.

Ding...

An inexplicable sound rang out in Bai Yu's mind. The next instant, everything began to change. The woods around him, Ming, and Xiate all vanished.

But as Bai Yu took in the scene before him, his pupils contracted slightly.

This place...

It was a desert, an endless expanse of sand. Not far away, an enormous pillar of light rose into the sky, then split into smaller branches that spread out and connected to the starry heavens. There was no telling how many "branches" there were. They were densely packed everywhere, as though they led to all the stars in the sky.

Bai Yu naturally knew where he was.

Paths! The source of the mental connection between all Eldians!

But why am I here? Isn't this a place only the Founding Titan with Royal Family blood can enter?

Bai Yu quickly calmed down again. In the distance, he could see Titans made of sand standing upon the desert. Beneath that "great tree," a girl who looked barely in her teens struggled along with a bucket in her hand.

Yet Bai Yu could see no light at all in her eyes.

"The Founding Titan, Ymir..."

Bai Yu murmured softly.

But Bai Yu's first reaction was this.

"So, how many generations back would she be from me? Two thousand years-that's probably two hundred generations. Forget it. I'll just call her Ancestor."

Bai Yu's train of thought seemed entirely out of sync with his situation. Still, he wasn't in any hurry. He naturally knew that time here moved at least several hundred times slower than in the outside world, though he didn't know the exact figure.