“It is something else. It is terrain and it is stable. At least I think so. It is hard to make out any details since the energy is packed so tightly. As for consumption. You eat that, you would explode or transform instantly. I wouldn’t even touch it,” the Astrologer said and then continued speaking.

“What I was thinking about, was using it as a weapon. If I had a container, I could throw it at the Divine Empress. She would dodge of course. That stuff would set off every Perception alert possible.” Every alert was already going off for me. We floated away on the Astrologer’s platform and came across a person floating above the inky void below us. I wasn’t going to look down.

Their eyes were white, but they were still breathing. I didn’t touch them or reach out. “Thousand thousand. Thousand thousand.” They kept mumbling the same thing over and over.

“What do you think? You know that reference, a thousand-“

“Don’t repeat it.” I shut my mouth. That had been stupid. “Whatever is releasing the energy has overwritten the energy inside of them. They have experienced total spirit corrosion, but the energy is occupying them. Don’t touch them. Intent matters here. We will push towards the epicenter,” the Astrologer said. We went passed the few floating people muttering the same things. Apparently, this was as far as they got on their journey for the center of whatever this was.

Okay, I really got how this guy got some meta-points. Floating people who are braindead and taken over by some eldritch abomination, just a normal Tuesday. I felt my heart speed up and my breathing increase. Sweat was rolling down my forehead despite the temperature being chilly.

“Also, I can’t say what will happen if either of us uses a skill. Skills are supported by the System, and I doubt it is out here,” the Astrologer replied. Thank you for sharing that now.

“Great, just great,” I muttered. We continued to float through the void following the Astrologer’s energy sense toward whatever was at the center of all this. “What can we do then?” I asked.

“Get a sense proportion and threat level and possibly correct the situation.” That wasn’t helpful. I knew he didn’t have an answer, but I wanted to talk to avoid looking at the inky blackness. I spotted something.

“Ahead to the right a bit. There are floating rocks. Not jelly blobs,” I said.

“The appearance is bedrock, and there is a lot.” I noted that there was a faint trail of dust leading upwards from the edge of our platform.

“Is our platform melting?” I asked as fear gripped me.

“The rate is manageable. I am using diver rules, a third in, a third out, and a third for emergencies.” I looked at the platform. We lose a third, it would be tight. We lose two thirds, and I would be barely able to stay on. We approached the floating chunks of super rock. They didn’t look special, just dark gray chunks.

We floated between them. That was when we came to a halt. Ahead of us there was an empty space beyond the bedrock and then in the very center of all of this was a floating and glowing white shard. It was blindly bright. Its light shown through everything. Power beyond imagination was just floating there. All I had to do was take it.

The Astrologer quickly pulled us back behind a chunk of bedrock and out of sight of whatever that was. I frowned. Why were we leaving? That was power just waiting there for the taking!

“We are leaving,” the Astrologer said, and we began to leave. I resisted grabbing him and telling him to turn back.

“What was that?” I asked, looking back at where that glowing thing was. I couldn’t see it since the Astrologer carefully kept a chunk of bedrock between us and whatever that was.

“Energy is thought, and thought is energy. That was a chunk of solid energy. Not like a crystal. A crystal is mostly physical matter, with a small amount of energy trapped inside. That was pure solid energy.”

“And we are leaving because? Don’t get me wrong, let’s go back. We could use it?” That sounded stupid. I shook my head.

“You might not notice with how high your Spirit is, but I could feel the mental pressure. I am very sensitive to external influence. Nothing should be able to influence me, and that thing was getting past my defenses.” I frowned, and realized the Astrologer was right.

“Now what? We saw the solid chunk of energy and we are leaving?” I asked as I focused on ignoring the chunk of raw energy just floating out there.

“Yes. And this should be resolved or contained at the very least, if everything I suspect is true,” the Astrologer said.

“And that is?” I asked, not understanding why we had to make this trip just to look at that thing and turn around.

“Whatever that thing is back there, it isn’t part of the System. How do you think the System perceives things?” the Astrologer asked me. I thought on that for a moment.

“Energy, it is everywhere and you mentioned that the Systemic Lands are the System giving form to thought,” I answered. This was why I had come. Knowledge, and the power that came with it. I was going to milk the Astrologer for everything he was worth to make this nightmare trip worthwhile.

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“Exactly. Whatever that is, is hiding from the System. Like a virus corrupting the immune system. Its changing the energy of the environment to its own. Perhaps another system, and at the very least an outside context problem or outside from the System itself.”

“When we return, the System will know what we know to some extent. It has to read people’s energy. But it only reads humans. As much as I like to claim that I am human, this body is a thing and how my thoughts work, protects them at a fundamental level that should be immune to all effects. Which is why that thing back there is very concerning.”

“But you, you witnessed whatever that was. And the System will probably react in some way once we get back to stable ground or a city. I am guessing the next zone over.”

“You seem awfully confident with your guesses,” I replied.

“It comes with years of experience surviving this hell and poking at it in various ways. The lack of monsters is a big indication that the System can’t see what is happening. But it will eventually respond. That is why those people were taken. Low Spirit is pure foolishness. I would say that is the most important stat or a serious contender,” the Astrologer said.

“The bleeding flesh, the floating bubbles of darkness? What is up with all of that?” I asked.

“An immune response. My guess, and only a guess mind you, is that they are examples of high level terrain. The System initially responded to that shard of solid energy and the terrain began to change. I even suspect that it could be the calamity itself, or an artifact from it.”

“The calamity was a wave of energy. Like a tsunami. Like hitting a sandcastle with a firehose. It blasted nearly everything away. The calamity is another outside context problem, outside the System, just like that back there. Or I could be wrong, and that shard just floated up from the void and the calamity is something else.”

“Regardless, that thing had to have appeared right after the calamity. The terrain for the zone is off, which means the System didn’t notice it and correct things. Whatever processes the System has in place tried to adapt, hence the terrain changes around the edges. But that failed or came to a halt. Since that shard is disrupting the ability of the System to watch over the area,” the Astrologer explained.

“Or that thing, shard thing, is changing the terrain?” I countered.

“Maybe. But I like my explanation more. And if I am right, then once we return, the System should act and hopefully we don’t get caught in whatever it does. Oh, how my main body would have loved to observe this,” the Astrologer said. That confirmed his main body was completely insane to want to poke things like this.

We finally came back to the mushy land, and quickly set out back East. I was so grateful that was over. Floating above the void scared me endlessly. But the knowledge was incredibly useful. And the Astrologer had not led me into a trap. That was the problem with people being bluntly honest who were also insightful. The truth really did cut like a sword.

That was the real danger with the Astrologer. When he acted against me, it would be without hesitation or remorse. It would just happen. But until that point, he was too useful. I hated this, constant edge of my seat, waiting for betrayal from the Astrologer.

The light source fully disappeared as it went behind the horizon. Our pace was fairly slow, due to the mental exhaustion and the jelly terrain. At least I knew the Astrologer had no sense of risk management, or perhaps too good a sense. We had survived and that was proof he had been right.

It was annoying to admit that he had taken a risk and had been proven correct. I still wasn’t sure one hundred percent why I went along, but it had been worthwhile. I had learned about one of his meta-points, what was happening, and about energy, or at least the Astrologer’s experienced interpretation of it. I also learned how someone like him earned meta-points.

“How much risk were we really in?” I asked the Astrologer.

“Not that much. I am not an idiot. Things were stable to a degree, floating about, slowing transforming. The nuclear bomb already dropped, and we were merely observing the aftereffects. With my precautions and your Spirit we would be fine unless we poked something. Which is why we left and did not poke anything,” the Astrologer replied.

“How do you know how much Spirit I needed?” I asked.

“The thousand point benchmark is a threshold and you have crossed it by a wide margin. You can stand near a void zone and not be affected when you have 1,000 Spirit. All of this is not as bad as a full void zone, even if it is troublesome,” the Astrologer answered.

“And the trick with the floating platform?” I asked determined to get every shred of knowledge I could to make this trip more worthwhile.

“I cut off its energy and imposed my own. It wasn’t cheap mind you. This body isn’t like a human’s body. Let me ask you, what do you think of that shard?” I considered the question.

“Well, the first thing that comes to mind is a piece of uranium. With the white glow and how everything is breaking apart. What I don’t get is why the people were affected? I know you said it didn’t want the System noticing, but that seems…odd, since the System is always watching.”

“Watching to what degree? Your body watches for bacteria and viruses, but you don’t think that. There are many autonomous tasks the System does, but that wasn’t it paying attention. People have a higher chance of triggering an alert, I would argue, or an immune response to continue the analogy.”

We traveled in silence for a bit before I spoke up again. “The shard has intelligence then.”

“Good deduction, but also flawed. While energy is thought and vice versa, it doesn’t mean human thought or intelligence, or even a complete thought. What we saw is best described as a shard. But what you might have missed from the glow was that there were three pieces slightly separated and possibly many smaller portions, but it was hard to tell with just the glance I had. It was damaged. An incomplete thought if you will.”

I pondered over that and made the determination not to mess with powers that melted the landscape zones away. It was like an ancient human stumbling on the remains of a nuclear power plant. I might work out that it has a purpose, but don’t understand the purpose, and poking it is very dangerous.

“So, nothing like this before has come up?” I asked.

“Only the calamity. I have not seen anything like this before. But our portion and the Divine Empress’ portion only constitute a half to a third of the entire Systemic Lands.” Astrologer, stop dropping knowledge bombs like this, you make it impossible to get rid of you. Which was exactly why he was doing it, teasing me, drawing me in.

“Any idea where the other parts are?” I asked.

“Beyond void zones or level 5 zones. Neither of which I have crossed or desire to cross any time soon. If only this place could be used as a trap, unfortunately it wouldn’t work,” the Astrologer said, and I didn’t need to guess who he wanted to trap or kill.