Late Afternoon - Early Summer : Sirathan Deep Sea Containment Center

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*tsss-blub* A small steam bubble rose past my face as I carefully cut through the antimatter cable.

*clink-blub* But the steam wasn't from me cutting it. It was actually from me patching the cut with two independent pieces of woven carbon (the material the cables were made of) to guarantee no unwanted particulates could leak into the antimatter channels' perfect vacuum. -Just in case I ever need to power this thing again, I should be careful with it...-

Finally finishing the cable, I watched it swing out into the darkness, while the containment center sagged slightly. *creeaaak*

That was to be expected though. While the cables from the ceiling looked somewhat slack, the structure was fully hanging from them. -The slack is probably just from their weight...- And that meant I could confidently get down to the last cable or two without needing to worry about the tension straining them. -If I didn't almost get incinerated by the antimatter battery in the Laboratory, I might've thought the Acardi had good safety regulations...-

Quickly moving to the cable opposite the one I just cut, I got to work again.

One by one, the cables started to disconnect and swing out into the water, lowering the structure closer and closer to the bottom.

*creeaaaak-thump* Cutting the second to last cable, the massive structure tipped and slammed into the bottom, kicking up a huge plume of dirt and gunk, but I paid it no mind and promptly cut the last cable as well. *fwoosh-thumpp*

Slowly sinking down and standing on the structure, I looked over it, and only then did I finally begin to question if I could even bring it through the void. -How am I going to move this thing... Can I even protect it from the void's space mana?-

But thankfully, it didn't take long for me to come up with a decent idea. -Right.. couldn't I do something like that?-

*vwoop* Quickly jumping into the void, I made a small marker where the top of the structure was and got to work.

Essentially what I was going to do was create a large, hollow cylinder that encompassed where the initial and final gates would be, similarly to the other space runes. The difference was that, in the void, the structure would take up an absolutely insane amount of space, so I couldn't simply bring it here on its own, but I had a solution for this.

Although I was still learning the specifics of how it worked, recently, I discovered something I had begun calling 'vector compression'.

In short, it was the phenomenon where the space inside the gate would be 'compressed' in reality as it pushed everything inside it into the void to create two, inversely proportional gates that existed simultaneously (one in each realm). In this compressed state, if timed perfectly, you could shrink a mountain-sized gate down into the size of a baseball with no loss of 'information' (atoms, their positions, their energy states, etc.); the only downsides being the insane mana control and timing required to pull it off, the fact that the gate would exist in both the void and reality simultaneously, and most of all, the fact that I would need to time it inside the gate, then leave the gate, catch it before its contents were released into the void or the gate expanded too much, and then move it.

And it was every bit as sketchy as it sounded.

I continued to think about it while I made the hollow cylinder itself, and surprisingly everything went nearly perfectly.

It only ended up taking about an hour to finish the tube, but thankfully that was enough time to finalize a decent plan. "Haah... Alright..." But I couldn't say I wasn't still nervous.

This was the first time I would be moving something using vector compression the correct way, and instead of being a clump of disposable matter, it was a massive structure with cargo I couldn't afford to lose just yet. -Theoretically, the gate won't affect anything it passes through in reality, so I shouldn't have to worry about losing anything.. but if the gate ruptures anyway, the core itself should still emit enough mana for me to move it through the void unprotected if I'm fast...-

It was high risk, but I didn't exactly have a choice. -Well.. here goes nothing...- *vwoop-blub* Appearing over the structure again, I sank down on top of it and let out a quick breath before creating the massive gate. "Hooh..." *blub-VWOOOOP*

The instant the gate finished, I released my influence on it before immediately catching it again. I could immediately tell my timing was off, but I could only hope it was enough. -Well that's not a good start...-

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Moving to the very edge of the gate, I took a single point in its shell and created another gate. *vwoooop*

Instantaneously appearing in the void, I released a massive amount of space mana out, shredding the secondary gate I was in and grabbing hold of the one with the containment center in it.

It was currently around 20 meters across since I was a bit too slow, but it was small enough to do the job. "Phew..."

With a quick breath of relief, I tightened my hold on the gate and started pulling it through the empty cylinder very slowly and carefully.

Thankfully, things went pretty smoothly. Once I got to the marker I left at the top of the mountain, I pushed the gate inward to send it out of the void ahead of me. *vwoo-*

But the sound was different from normal. -Huh? Did I do something wr...- *WHAAAM* A huge sphere of water and a massive black wall slammed into me before I could even react. -OH SH*T!- I felt my whole body tense up instantly.

It was the containment center.

But thankfully I was quick to react. -COME ON!- *VWOOP* With a hastily and crudely made gate, I managed to jump back out of the void with the structure before the ambient space mana could eat its way through the insanely dense water and mana surrounding it. -Holy sh*t...-

*Vwowowoop* *RUMBLE* Instantly creating hydrogen thrusters beneath the structure as the gate dissipated, I carefully lowered it to the ground and set it down within a massive cloud of dust.

Silence filled the air the instant the thrusters stopped.

But while I was tense looking over the wet structure with water boiling off of it, my body slowly started to ease. -It looks.. mostly undamaged...- The only place with even minor cosmetic damage was the corner I dropped into the bottom when cutting the cables. "Hooh..." -That could've been.. really bad...-

"~W..what in the world...~" Hera's awe-filled voice met my ears as Ilios hopped up onto the structure and trotted over to me.

"Hey, buddy." He was quick to hop back on my back and lay down. -He looks grumpy.. is he upset that I didn't bring him with me?- But seeing that he was already about to fall asleep, I decided not to pay it much mind. *vwowowoom* Filling the air between Hera and me with hydrogen once again, I walked toward her and sat down on the edge of the structure. "So, do you think this is enough mana?"

The cloud-like figure stood frozen in front of the wall beneath me. "~H..how did you even bring this here... You just.. appeared with it...~"

"I brought it through the void. It was way too deep underwater and too far away for me to fly it here."

"~T..the void? Underwater?~" The confusion in her voice was palpable.

-Space runes existed in the Golden Era, right?- I continued assuming that was the case. "This containment center was off the coast of Siratha around.. 25 thousand-ish kilometers south-southwest of here, and the void is just the name I gave the realm the space runes send people through."

There was a long silence before she backed away slightly. "~Y..you.. can freely move through that realm?~"

"Mhm. Couldn't Bahamut do the same?" I tilted my head slightly.

"~N..no, even he had to be extremely careful... He could only go into that realm for moments at a time, and had to use runes...~"

-Huh? Is she misinterpreting what was happening when Bahamut would just disappear and reappear instantly?- But after a bit of extra thought, I decided to just set it aside for now. "In any case, do I need to cut a hole in the structure for you to form a tether?"

She paused for a moment before responding with some reluctance. "~Technically no, but with a hole, I can make a bigger tether.~"

-Hm.. so that means tethers do take up physical space...- "Alright, in that case..." *tap* *silence* *CRRRUNCHHH* The ground shattered beneath my feet as I landed after jumping off the structure. -The thinnest wall should be that one...-

Walking over to the corner, I pressed the tip of my wing into it and started pushing. *crackle* The ground beneath the structure crunched like gravel as I turned it until the correct side faced Hera, and pushed it toward her. -That should be enough...-

Walking back around to where she was, I pushed my aura into the wall and started looking through it.

The first few moments passed in silence, but it didn't take long for Hera to get curious. "~What are you looking for, exactly?~"

"A place to cut through without damaging anything." The wall was completely full of cables and other intricate technologies I dared not touch, but eventually, I found a decent spot. -I can push the cable down and cut through there...- Standing up on my hind legs, I got my face close to the area I wanted to cut and used the same strategy I used when cutting the large antimatter cables. *tink*

But the instant I opened the whole, a genuinely insane amount of mana shot out like a jet engine. *vwowowowowowowowoooom*

Hera just stood behind me in awe.

-Good lord, that's a lot of mana...- I slowly turned back to her as I lowered myself to the ground. "So uh, you think this guy has enough mana?"

There was a short moment of silence before she finally moved toward the mana jet. "~I have never even heard of a dungeon core getting this big... I don't think I'll use much more than half...~"

-HALF?!- My jaw fell open immediately. -HOW MUCH MANA EVEN IS THAT?!- But while I was absolutely stunned, I couldn't help but be thankful it wasn't all of it. -Once she's done, I guess I'll need to bring it back down to the lab to let it refill...-

While it's true that the core would not be a bad cost to 'revive' and form a strong connection with Hera, it's also true that with the use of tethers, I could essentially use it as a colossal mana battery; a tool that could prove very helpful in the future.

-But for now...- I looked toward Hera as she pushed an almost invisible thread through the mana jet. -Maybe I should ask how to actually make a tether...-