Chapter 1174: Intelligent Design

Immediately, Dana activated the transporter once again, finding the option for the seventy-fifth floor in order to leave before they were discovered. She didn’t know if the entrance to the ‘elevator’ was visible from the outside on all floors now, but was certain that it wouldn’t be long before she found out. Once outside, she pulled Lena’s wrist to drag her out.

“We need to go to the boss.” She said in an urgent tone. Aurivy, we need two travel tickets to wherever the boss is, immediately. Also, you and Bihena will want to be there, too.

There was a moment of pause before golden mist wrapped around them, and they were transported directly into the Keeper’s office. Dale looked back at them with a curious expression, seeming surprised by their sudden arrival. “I saw that you managed to reach the end of Fyor. Is everything alright there?” He asked, and Dana held up a hand.

“Hold on. Let’s wait for the other two to arrive.” She said, glancing at the door. A few seconds later, the door opened, and both Aurivy and Bihena walked in. Both of them had serious expressions on their faces, so the Keeper’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“What’s going on?” He asked, and Dana took a deep breath.

“Okay, so you know how the spires get bigger and bigger the higher up you go in Fyor? Well, turns out that on the top floor, it gets so big that it extends into space and wraps around the sun. Also, when Lena put her hand on the spire on the final floor, it turned into an elevator that could take us to any floor of Fyor, and hundreds or maybe thousands of other planets. It also has a system screen with language written in runic, and accepts third-tier runic writing for instructions.”

After saying that all of that, Dana let out her breath, Lena looking between her and the Keeper. Now that they were no longer exploring Fyor, she returned to her normal appearance. “I don’t know how it all came to this, and I am honestly confused.”

“No, it actually makes sense.” Bihena spoke up, shaking her head. “This fits rather well with how we designed the world originally. The spire was meant to be a way to interface with the system, registering new classes, races, and other system functions. And, you said that it wrapped around the sun?” She asked, and Dana nodded her head. Aurivy gave a soft chuckle at that.

“That explains how plants were able to grow so well in all of the different layers. When the spire was fully charged, it wasn’t just generating light to fill the floor, it was channeling the sunlight that it captured from the surface. Given the fact that we’ve never run into problems, it must have its own memetic filter to prevent it from transmitting any dangerous information together with the light. That, or we just got really lucky.” She said, shrugging her shoulders.

“So, what does this mean for interstellar travel? You said that there were other planets registered as travel locations, right?” The Keeper asked, and Dana quickly nodded her head. “If that’s the case, there should be other races that were born at the heart of each of those worlds. How many of them will have come close to conquering their respective dungeon layers?”

“I don’t think you have to worry about that too much.” Bihena spoke up with a small smile. “Fyor had a rather large advantage when it came to exploration, because they were in contact with us. Whether it was using Aurivy to locate the orbs or gates, the enchanted device that you helped Petra receive, or more recently Dana’s ascension to an Origin, all of it came from us, and greatly accelerated the speed at which people could climb the floors. Not to mention contact with other worlds like Deckan, and easier information about magic.”

“If I had to guess, the top contenders should only be around floors twenty or thirty, unless they were lucky and had access to a mana stone early on that helped them learn more advanced magic. Or a divine stone that helped them gain access to early godhood.”

“That last one won’t be a problem.” Aurivy said with a firm shake of her head. “The fact that the spire exists in the way that it does suggests an intelligent design by the system. In other words, we should treat the world’s history as if an intelligent entity or civilization established the spires in the earliest days of the universe. Part of this system was to have the power gradually increase over time. Natural godhood wouldn’t be earlier than the thirty-fifth floor at the earliest.”

“What about the black stone gates?” The Keeper asked curiously. “Your theory implies that this intelligent entity had a way to control the formation of these gates.”

Aurivy gave a small grin, nodding her head. “Yeah. I’m looking at the spire now from the Admin Room. The total amount of mana contained within it is utterly mind-boggling. Just the spire of Fyor alone has enough mana to create hundreds of universes with Chelsea’s world creation program. Most likely, part of its original function was the creation of those gates, layering void barriers overtop one another and fusing them with a natural mineral. That said, I doubt it has the ability to alter the gates after they were established, merely guide the process of forming them.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Also, although the barriers are solid, they do allow a degree of mana to pass through them. Perhaps that’s because it fused with the mana spire during its formation, which is why the sunlight can still be channeled downwards, but gets filtered as it passes through those layers.”

The Keeper sighed, bringing a hand up to massage his forehead. “Okay, what about other worlds, though? We’ve removed the level limit for our planet, right? But, will we be able to send a high level individual to another world, or will they be blocked by that world’s level limit.”

Aurivy blinked, looking over at the Keeper. “I… hadn’t thought of that. We’d need to test it out to be sure. After all, when you first created the World Spirit of Fyor, it was evicted until the proper orb was found. Dana, can I get you to take the World Spirit with you to one of the other planets to investigate?”

Dana thought about it, but hesitated. “I could try, but I’m not incredibly fluent with third-tier runes. I know enough to prepare some basic spells, but if we’re talking about using the interface skillfully, I’m not sure that I’d be able to cut it.”

Aurivy bit her lip at that, but nodded her head in understanding. “And we can’t send Dale. Not until we know exactly what method the spire uses for teleportation. If it is any method that even briefly counts as a death, that would be universal suicide.” After saying that, she blinked, looking at Lena.

“Lena, when you transform into people, you obtain their skills and knowledge, correct? Would that include their language proficiency?” She asked, to which Lena nodded.

“Yeah, I guess? I’ve said before that I can’t turn into the Keeper, though. The number of domains he has at his disposable could theoretically annihilate me if I tried to copy him.”

Aurivy quickly shook her head. “No, but you can turn into Lifre! Dale gave her full mastery of the runic language, up to the fourth tier. If you can copy that, you should be able to understand the runes as well. If you can’t copy the blessing Dale gave her through the system, you can copy Ryone instead. She might still be finalizing her understanding of fourth tier runes, but I’m sure that she has completely mastered the third tier.”

Lena blinked, but ultimately nodded her head. “So, you want me to take the World Spirit on this field trip, then?” She asked, to which Aurivy quickly agreed. “Alright, but I’ll be counting on you to keep an eye on me. You can use that to make sure I don’t get obliterated along the way, and also see if it’s safe for the boss.”

Aurivy quickly nodded her head again. “Got it! Also, I want you to take someone else with you. She’ll be the ultimate test of whether or not the level limit has been unlocked.” She said, before snapping her fingers. Golden mist spread out near the door, revealing Tsubaki, who was standing there with a serious expression. “You heard everything, right? I caught you listening with an avatar from down the hall.”

Tsubaki cleared her throat, but confirmed Aurivy’s words. “I’ve heard enough to understand the situation. The units being dispatched this time are Lena, myself, and the World Spirit of Fyor, correct?”

“Right. You’re the senior officer, so you’ll be in charge on this deployment. Make sure that all three of you come back safely.” Aurivy said in a more serious tone, and Tsubaki’s back straightened slightly.

“Of course.” She said, before immediately turning to leave.

Aurivy grinned at Lena, gesturing for her to follow. “Tsubaki is by far the highest level individual in any universe. If the system doesn’t reject her during the travel, you’ll know the level limit is completely removed.”

Lena gave a somewhat weak smile at that, agreeing with Aurivy’s assessment as she turned to follow Tsubaki. Of course she is. She’s trained all those avatars to bring almost every class to level five hundred… Her total level should be well over twenty thousand at this point.

Still, she kept silent, following along with Tsubaki. “Do you have a way to call the World Spirit of Fyor?” She asked the senior ninja, who thought it over for a moment.

“It should not be too difficult.” She said simply, looking at Lena. “Can you take us to the elevator you mentioned?”

Lena nodded her head, waiting until they were out of Olympus before opening up a void gate. When they emerged, they were once again on the seventy-fifth floor of Fyor, standing  before the massive mana spire. Lena walked up and placed her hand on the surface, which once again parted to allow her entry. “That’s good to know. The gates aren’t just constantly open. Hey, senior, can you check to see if you can open the gate from another part of the spire? We need to know if only those that have been to the top floor can open the elevator.”

Tsubaki arched a brow, walking ten meters to the right and placing a hand on the crystal wall. Sure enough, another door opened up. However, Tsubaki could not see Lena inside this opening, despite it being rather close to where she had originally opened the path. “I see… so each passage is treated as an independent space?” She muttered to herself, before walking back to the passage where Lena was waiting. “I am able to open it fine on my own.”

“I see… that makes sense. I was in disguise when I opened it before, and it even mistook me as an Ursa. I should have figured that when I could open it this time.” She chuckled. “Anyways, can you summon the World Spirit now?”

Tsubaki nodded her head, taking a step back. With a deep breath, she held her hand up, a green brand glowing on the back of her hand. “Come.” She called, and green energy rushed towards her from all directions, as if a storm had suddenly arisen out of nowhere. “My Keeper asks that you aid us in this task.”

“I get it, I get it! Calm down with the natural energy suction!” A voice shouted from the space around them, a young-looking girl materializing on the ground in front of Tsubaki. “I was already preparing to show up as soon as Lena said you needed me. How could I not notice when you entered here?” She asked with a huff, her cheeks puffing out.

Tsubaki blinked, but nodded her head, loosening her grip on the nearby natural energy. “My apologies. This seemed like the most effective method to get your attention. As I said, my Keeper asks you to accompany us to another planet within this universe. There is the chance that doing so will temporarily banish you to the natural energy core of this universe, so I advise you prepare yourself in case that happens.”

The World Spirit’s eyes went wide, before suddenly turning serious. “Got it. Sure, I can help out. I saw you lot opening up the ‘outside’ earlier, so I figured I’d be called for something like this sooner or later. When are we leaving?”

“Now.” Tsubaki answered, walking calmly towards the passage where an exasperated Lena was waiting for the two of them.