When Chelsea and the others learned that there was a sentient creature living within the ki core of the world, they were understandably worried. Such a creature would be able to seriously delay their research progress if it realized what they were doing and had any intentions of interfering.
Unfortunately, getting rid of it wasn’t an option. Thus, they could only agree to Scarlet’s warning that they were forbidden from entering such a zone without her in the future. After all, these things would be living in the ki core of every world, not just this one.
Just as before, they began to set up their equipment within the dome that Scarlet had provided for them, while Scarlet herself kept her focus on the martial spirit lurking within the world’s ki. Unlike when Ryone was monitoring the situation, Scarlet was unable to warn them about slight changes, because the presence of the martial spirit itself was causing constant, subtle changes. Instead, she simply monitored to prevent any attacks from breaking through her barrier.
Once their equipment was set up, she guided the others to leave the lab, thinking that she would need to return once a week to maintain the barrier. Outside the core, Scarlet’s eyes twitched, seeing that the entire floor had become blood red. With a snap of her fingers, the liquid ki rose up and condensed into a ball, which she absorbed into herself.
“You should place a barrier over that portal.” Scarlet informed them, noticing that there was a small leakage of ki from the other side. She hadn’t noticed such a thing with the mana portal, so that was likely the doing of the martial spirit.
Chelsea furrowed her brows, but ultimately nodded her head. “Thankfully, the other energies don’t have any vicious wills like that to worry about.” She said with a small sigh.
“That would depend on whether anything has inhabited the spiritual core. Given that there haven’t been any notable instabilities, I don’t think that you have to worry about it too much.” As Scarlet said that, she swept her senses over the area, making sure that there wasn’t any lingering ki.
Only when she was sure that the place was safe did she choose to leave, letting Irena replace her. This time, the research team found another surprise, though it wasn’t in the form of any malevolent entity. Rather, the spiritual core of the world was none other than the Underworld itself rather than a simple passage to it, which Chelsea speculated was the spiritual core of every world that used the same afterlife system.
In Chelsea’s mind, this was both good and bad, as it meant that they had less work to do when researching the ‘spiritual core’ of various worlds. However, it also meant that anything that influenced the Underworld as a whole would feed back to all of the inhabited worlds.
If there was one relief, it was that there were no major surprises when it came to the natural energy core. While it didn’t appear the same as Fyor’s, it was a sprawling flat plane filled with marvelous sights. From what Chelsea could tell, this flat plane carried on forever in every direction.
Once they had set up their monitoring equipment in each of the four cores, all that was left was to wait and review the data as it came in. They had already determined that the gravity within the miniverses was even stronger than a ‘size zero’ world, meaning that suitably large builders could have substantial gravitational pull. Thankfully, the unique characteristics of each core offered ways to get around such things.
----------------------------------------
After Scarlet left the research lab, she sat on her throne, seemingly lost in thought. She couldn’t help but think back to the ‘child’ that was living in the ki core. This was no simple martial spirit with a consciousness and personal desires. Rather, it was a beast that acted solely on instinct. She didn’t know if this was a natural fact of its birth, or because it had integrated with such a massive source of ki that it broke its spiritual consciousness.
Regardless of which was the answer, the same would be true for the ones remaining in the other cores. Scarlet closed her eyes, considering whether or not it was possible to ‘tame’ these spirits, which seemed to have evolved their powers but not their minds. If she could, would that result in a conscious control over the world’s ki, at a level that even surpassed what she herself was able to do?
Or… would shackling the world’s ki under a conscious mind cause widespread ruin, due to it no longer behaving as it should? These were all possibilities, but Scarlet simply crossed her arms in front of her, pondering the implications.
----------------------------------------
While everyone was going over the details of the new ‘miniverse’ discovery, there was a stir within a long-distance observatory. By utilizing signals transmitted over hyperspace and recording the feedback, they were able to get a real-time scan far beyond the limits of conventional devices.
“Looks like there’s some white noise on the long-distance scans.” A felyn officer said with a sigh, holding up the printed scan, the outer perimeter of which appeared to be filled with static. “Take a look on the detailed scope in a bit, will you?”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
She handed the report over to the lycan boy that sat opposite of her, a small smile on his face. He seemed almost shy in front of his coworker, nodding his head in acceptance. “Sure thing. I’ll go ahead and take care of that, then.” He said while grabbing the paper.
The woman smirked, knowing clearly that he was infatuated with her. She didn’t have any problems pushing off bothersome work like this, since he was ‘more than happy’ to help her out. “Thanks. Let me know if you find the problem.” She stood up, preparing to leave work early now that her last task had been ‘delegated’ to someone else.
Unsurprisingly, the boy did not offer any complaints, his face slightly red as he stood as well. He wanted to quickly check the instruments to complete the task given to him. Leaving the break room, he rushed towards an observation station, where everyone else had already left for the day. Precision scanners were only rarely used when determining if an incoming object was a potential threat, such as a meteor.
Ever since V-Day, the use for such things had become increasingly less, and they were now typically reserved for investigating interference in the general scanners. The boy set the paper down beside the device, using it to get the coordinates for the densest cluster of interference that he could see. Without these coordinates, he could look through the machine a million times, and never see the same sight twice.
Up above the observatory, there was a hum as the precision scanner was readjusted. Once he was sure that the coordinates were locked, he looked down and into the periscope-like device on the counter. Immediately, his body went stiff. In the distant sky, far beyond the solar system, he saw writhing masses with crying faces, twisting beasts, and beings of seemingly endless darkness.
These images were reconstructed in real-time by measuring the response of hyperspace signals, so there was hardly any delay. However, this precision scan was more noticeable when used, so a ship being spied on would immediately be notified. The boy, frozen in his terror, was certain that the creatures he saw wouldn’t have the ability to sense his gaze.
That is, until one of them seemed to adjust slightly, its red eyes piercing straight towards the projection. He staggered back from the device, a red glow in his eyes that vanished after a brief moment. Blinking, he wiped the sweat from his face, walking over to his terminal and making a call.
“Anne?” He called out, the girl that had spoken to him before answering.
“Yes? What is it? I’ve barely left. Don’t tell me that you already made a mess of things?” She asked, seemingly in annoyance.
“I just got done checking the disturbance you asked me to look at.” He explained, wiping his hands on his shirt to remove the sweat.
“Oh? That was fast! I knew I could count on you. So, was it a stellar storm or something?” She asked, her tone switching from amusement to indifference.
The boy looked over at the device for a moment before he answered. “Just some space rocks. They probably have a highly radioactive makeup, and that’s why they disrupted the scanners.”
“Heh, I knew it. Well, keep an eye on the place for me. Patty should be there in a few hours to relieve you.” She said, before hanging up. The boy stood there, frozen for several moments, before his back straightened.
His eyes became lifeless, and he looked around at the nearby cameras. Turning, he left the room, returning to the break area he had been before. Taking another look, he confirmed the lack of cameras in the room, and approached a nearby wall.
Clenching his fist, he punched the wall as hard as he could, though the wall was left undamaged. He could feel his bones cracking, and see one poking through his skin. However, he ignored this and punched again, causing some blood to erupt from his hand.
Staring at the wall, he paused, using his remaining hand to begin drawing a pattern in his own blood. The pattern seemed to resemble a giant, red eye, which covered the majority of the wall. Whenever he ran out of blood to use, he slammed his head against the wall, cracking it open and adding yet more blood.
Throughout the entire process, his health bar was plummeting. However, even when it bottomed out, his actions didn’t stop. Even when his skull caved in, his hand kept drawing the red eye. Only when he had added the final stroke of red ‘paint’ did his body collapse, like a puppet that had its strings cut.
A little over half an hour later, the door of the break room opened, a man in a security uniform stepping in. “Alright, Shiro, I know it’s a dull job, but you can’t hang out in the break room all day. Let’s grab a drink, and I’ll…” He paused, seeing the dead body on the floor.
The officer’s body froze, and he quickly began to examine the scene. The first thing that he saw was Shiro’s caved-in skull and broken hand, looking like he had been in a fight with a powerful warrior. However, when he turned, he saw the ‘painting’ of the eye on the wall. He staggered back, reaching for his radio, when the pupil of the eye turned, looking at him.
“Hey, Jakob.” A voice called out to him over the radio. “Did you find him?”
Jakob reached up to grab at his radio. “Negative. Looks like he went home without clocking out.” He said in a calm voice.
“Tch. Figures. Nobody wants this job, anyways. Can you at least order us a bite to eat while you’re out there? Like hell I’m sitting around waiting for nothing to happen on an empty stomach.”
“Will do.” Jakob said, his eyes dull. “I found something strange in the break room. Maybe one of them left their papers here when they went home? Come check it out, you might be able to make more sense of it than I can.”
“Heh, really? You think I’ll understand any of that nonsense?” The man asked jokingly, though Jakob only repeated himself.
“Come check it out. You might find it interesting.”
“Fine, fine. But the food’s on you.” The man on the other end said, cutting off the conversation.