Mornn
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Chapter 681 - The slayer of mysteries
🕑 Added 2025-05-22 16:00:16 +0000 UTC“After I myself disappeared, Anna trapped herself in a toybox before dispersing her essence… Not enough to kill her, but not far from it… I am working on a way to get her out right this moment, which is mostly what has kept me busy after my return, that and the horrendous state of the system currently… I hope you understand that me not coming to thank you was not out of ungratefulness, I am simply a bit overwhelmed.”
“I don’t mind,” Sofia told him, “Who is Anna to you?”
“I consider her my younger sister,” Nex honestly answered.
“Then it’s fine. I would likely be doing the same thing in your place… Can I help with anything? I have her key, that is one of her essences, right? Can that be useful?”
“I honestly have no idea,” Nex answered, “I will not hesitate to ask for yours or anyone else’ help if I believe it has a chance to help her. We already have a large group of people working on this. I am truly grateful for your generosity, but you should focus on your growth for now.”
“I see, still a weakling no matter how much I know… Say hi to Life and Clint for me when you have the chance, then.”
“You would call yourself a weakling? I doubt there has ever been a human with your level of power at your age, you are not even thirty… I am telling you to focus on your growth as genuine advice. You will be a valuable asset to our world in the future, without doubt.”
“A valuable asset… This is what the system is meant to produce? Valuable in what way?”
“That is what we created the system for, yes, in part. Valuable for everyone’s continued existence. Considering you have been on that moon, you should be aware. Something is coming that we need to be ready for. Something that comes every thirty thousand years to erase all civilisations.”
“The cataclysm that ended the lost epoch, right? Is it the Phageid?”
“I have just learned about them myself, and I do not believe that they are related, no. Previous cataclysms had nothing of the sort, or this planet would have collapsed already. And the Phageid seem to be a localized issue, the cataclysm is more than that… Do you ever look at the stars in the night?”
“Yes? I have spent weeks floating my way through space from the sun to here, so I had a lot of time to take in the view…”
“Did you notice anything?”
“Aside from the fact that its 99% empty space?”
“Ah, from the looks of it you do not understand the underlying issue, but that is exactly it,” Nex confirmed,”How old do you think the universe is?”
“I don’t know… A few million years?”
“By out best estimates, it’s not ‘a few millions’; it’s closer to fourteen billion years.”
The lords are THAT old?
“That’s… More than I expected, but how does that relate to… Oh nevermind, I do get it… That is quite a long time for it to stay so empty…”
“Percisely,” Nex said with a nod, “But if we were to assume that around every thirty thousand years, some cataclysm of unknown origins wipes out every advanced civilization in the entire universe, it suddenly all makes sense, does it not?”
“And we have no idea what that cataclysm is?”
“Well, you have spoken with Remia yourself, have you not? She is one of the few survivors…”
“Oh… Yes, I remember clearly… Things got ‘censored’…”
Nex continued to nod to Sofia’s realizations, “It is what inspired the system’s censor, getting more information on the subject from her or the others is simply impossible.”
“I could ask the Lords.”
Nex shook his head, “Anna was being secretive about it, but it was obvious to me an Jin both that she had some way to communicate with them, like you seem to have, but she was as lost on this subject as you are. I doubt they would answer you, even if you are one of the ‘marked ones’.”
“I see… Yvraveteth is always listening to whatever I say I am pretty sure, so if he wanted to say anything right now he probably would…”
“It is a bit chilling to hear you so casually say this name…”
Sofia shrugged, “I understand why everyone is so scared of the Lords but that really does not apply to me. Though I suppose there is one name I still don’t dare pronounce lightly. Anyway, thank you for the confirmation, even if I barely learned anything new, I appreciate knowing things for sure. And you said that was only part of it, the other goal of the system should have been getting mana for the ‘core’, right? Can you explain?”
“Do you want the short or the long explanation?”
“We still have some time ahead of us, no? I might as well get the full story.”
“Certainly… I should note that this is confidential information only the ascended are normally allowed to know. If you try to share it outside of this room you will get violently censored, and that counts for all of you, even the fairy. Is that fine with you?”
“Pesle fine!”
Pareth and Bookie silently nodded, waiting for the explanation.
Seeing Sofia’s insistent look, Nex continued.
“Veliadren is hollow,” he finally announced after a long silence, “A black hole rests at its center, which we call the core. Its immense gravitational pull is what allows our impossibly gigantic planet to stay whole.”
“A black hole… The thing that sent me to the Deep, right? I have to say I am not sure I understand all the implications of this…”
“You can research more about them in your own time, but here is what you need to know. Black holes are so heavy that they attract nearby matter and ‘absorb’ it, giving it more mass and thus making it grow. To put it plainly, if ours grows any more, this entire planet will get devoured. The only reason it is now stable are our towers, feeding it a constant flow of mana. So much mana that no other matter can be absorbed. Mana is weightless and not conventional energy, and thus, the black hole does not grow. We had to urgently put a stop to its growth, which is why we rushed the creation of the system, leading to many errors and questionable decisions…”
“Oh fuck… Why be so secretive about it though? Wouldn’t openly explaining this to everyone motivate more people to level up and generate more mana?”
“Do you really wish for more people to know that destroying a few of the towers is all it would take for this planet to meet an early end?”
“N-no, that’s fair… Oh, and that explains another thing! This is why we gain experience by killing monsters, right?!”
“Yes,” Nex confirmed, “Monsters do not produce mana, they only absorb and use it, meaning that they are a net negative for the mana balance of our world. But their complete eradication is impossible, and would make it extremely hard for anyone to ever ascend again. So this was a good middle ground. In the rare cases that ‘monsters’ gain the ability to produce mana, they are usually integrated within the system. Or they should be, at least. Hobgoblins are one such example.”
“What about the experience we gain for ‘murders’, though?”
“That was the best we could come up with in a short term to punish actual murderers and criminals. As we vowed not to alter people’s free will, and we had no resources like the angels to maintain order at the time, we just gave an incentive for people to get justice themselves. Those with a long murder list give a lot more experience, and eventually quests are issued to other nearby people to get rid of the troublemakers. It is a pretty clumsy system, admittedly, but that was the least of our concerns back then…”
“Oh… Am I in trouble? I wouldn’t call my murder list short…”
“You? Absolutely not, your karma score is far into the positives, you would have to do truly awful things for a kill quest to be issued against you right now. If you want to worry about something, you should worry about the Fairies. A fair number of them are quite vehemently against your ascension…”
“WHAT ONE?” Pestle cried out, “PESLE VERY KILL THEM!”
“You are a bit too weak for that currently,” Nex told Pestle with a thin smile, “It should be fine, though, you have Erredis’ endorsement and that alone should make them think twice before trying anything.”
“... Has grandma killed a lot of fairies?”
Nex laughed at the question. It was a nervous laugh. “There is not a race in this world she has not killed ‘a lot’ of,” he flatly stated after his laughter died out.
“She never killed a Lumian!” Bookie proudly said from his chair, proving him wrong.
“True... Hopefully it stays this way,” Nex said, “Well, sadly it seems this discussion has to come to an end soon, the Phageid are gathering around a tower as we speak… I have time for maybe one or two more short questions for now. Ah, and first, do you want me to reinstate your leveling privileges?”
“No thank you, my own leveling method is better at this point, I would just be losing stat points with system leveling,” Sofia refused.
“Indeed, but system leveling is faster… Hmm… I will still give you the option to turn it back on by yourself if you want, that should be ready by the time you leave the trial, hopefully.”
“Great, thank you. What about the people who had me kicked out in the first place, from what I understand it was dealt with?”
“Mostly. The inside rebellion has been dealt with even before my return. We are still tracking an ascended who fled the planet when the takeover failed, and the lost epoch deity who was directly involved in teleporting you out of the trial zone. You can rest easy, such outside interferences will not affect your trials again.”
“Good to hear. Thank you for taking care of it. Then quickly before you go, two short questions, first, which human racial skill would you say I should pick?”
“Not the ablation, but the other two are equally good. The skill’s fusions will be better than our fusion tickets, resulting in better skills and more free space; while the modification one would likely result in more voluminous but much stronger skills. Your blueprint is about 60 to 70% filled already, so personally I would say fusion, but the choice is yours.”
“Understood, and lastly, I got this ‘message from Jin’ for killing the ‘god’ in the previous event, any comments?” Sofia asked, pulling out and unfolding the tiny piece of paper to show Nex.
“When the bell tolls, salute with a hand on your heart,” Nex read out loud, “Well, the instructions are pretty clear, are they not? It’s just another one of Jin’s many secrets he hid within the trials… I should not ruin the surprise here, so I will just say this: greet a greater difficulty for a greater reward. And that is all the time I have for now, regretably. We shall talk again another time, please enjoy your time on the Ark,” Nex finished, standing up from his chair.
He nodded and disappeared before Sofia could say anything, a slice of an eighth of the cake disappearing with him.
“Ah crap I forgot to ask about the heroes!” Sofia cried out, before slouching back in her chair. “I am going to need some time to digest all of this…”
Pestle jumped on the table, “Digest cake!”
Comments
Peter Smith
In that case its not removing free will, its preventing damage from their choices. Censoring isn't the deletion or removal of a person's choice to say or speak of such things, it's the limiting of the spread of the censored data. For instance the blueprints for nuclear bombs are censored, that doesn't prevent people of learning how they are made, or figuring out what the blueprints look like or are, all it does is prevent people from sharing it directly in a way that makes it closer to common knowledge. Its like sof's name. Knowing the name aphenoreth is the name of one of the deep lords doesn't get you killed or deleted, using it, or sharing it however does. The reason why people can say the name without getting deleted right now is entirely because its sof's name as well now, and having the intent of speaking her name and not the Lord's is why it's safe.
Matt Grayson
"As we vowed not to alter people’s free will..." - Nex Except for censoring their speech and, if necessary, their thoughts. But aside from that, totally free will! Honestly, Nex, I get it, the Admins had an impossible job and a world to save. It's just a funny assertion he makes.
Jonathan Wint
Ok so they will need to Evacuate the planet to some wear else at some point? Like Earth? Integration to the system coming? Is that what Earth is a Life Boat , a Shelter a new home? Not to be accessed unless a Emergency Break Glass and to be kept unreachable unless there a problem and the System made Earth?
Matt Grayson
Fun fact: If you want a planet to have constant gravity at *any* depth below its surface, then its density must vary as 1/(distance to center). Don't stand in the center!
E
Grow up big and strong and become the infinite mana engine for this world.
Taylor
@Mornn - any chance you could put the posts into collections so we can tell which book we're reading? If not, something like a table of contents - like x-x chapter is x book would be much appreciated.
Emily Gurnavage
Yay, lore! Forget the cake~
Amythyst
Also, the fae being against Sofia's ascension will definitely cause issues for her convincing the fairy king that she's more worthy of the Wheel of Progress than his own son.
Amythyst
Rereading the chapter a bit, I think Sofia will be the key to freeing Anna. If she's trapped in a toybox, Sofia should be able to break her out once she has the Orator's essence and fully unlocks Paradise Toybox.
Silver Dawn
This she really should have asked for but it does sound like she was added back in the system
Kirvin
I doubt it's anything like a natural disaster considering the censor.
Phsteven
She should 100% take the system leveling back. It would turn her mana debt into a level debt again, and she has the perfect place and skill to do it. I'm sure she could continue using her method of leveling to enhance the system levels. Using the stars to clear the ebb seems to me to be an absolute no brainer.
Lazy Monster
I’m imagining something unlikely like a large asteroid belt or maybe planet belt in this case slamming together around a really tiny black hole semi encasing it. A more sci fi version would be that the planet was originally something like one of the forge worlds in halo and it was left alone and grew by smashing into planets over time and something went wrong which is how the black hole got there.
posiden
Yay a lore dump
Mornn
I suggest a fresh reread of chapter 152 :p
Matt Grayson
That was a very quick character rehabilitation. I’m glad Nex isn’t permanently in the dog house.
Joshua R. Lee
A 30K cycle is extremely fast on a cosmic scale. Localized (Galaxy) it could be gamma rays from a SMBH. Who knows once mana is tossed into the mix.
FarFromLogic
Pestle is the best
OmniGlitcher
Nah, the Eye of Creation isn't a black hole, it's just a point from which space expands. It's the in-universe reason for the expansion of the universe. https://saintess-summons-skeletons.fandom.com/wiki/Eye_of_Creation
Songy
Well, black holes and time are related in the sense that time doesn't really exist within the singularity (neither does space). I don't know yet how that will be useful for the setting through :D
Cyclone001
Finally some answers. So.. in those early chapters when Sof got her first specialization, one of the requirements was she saw the core. So is it the vision of Ormoncleth when she got that essence when that happened? The Deep live inside a universe inside a black hole? As for the catacysm, it sure sounds more and more like a toybox reset loop. Damn the phaegid for cutting this short, but at least we might finally get the event results this week after all.
Songy
Thanks for the chapter! Much more info to mull over in the future :D
Amythyst
Thanks for the chapter! Is that black hole the Eye of Creation Hugo ElderPlain was banished to? Or perhaps it's the corpse of Space...
Clara
It's an interesting moment, where she's about to have access to several more fusions, so she doesn't need the racial skill for the sake of just quantity of fusions. But grabbing the fusion racial might be the right play at this moment specifically so that her fusion quality is better...
Lazy Monster
That might be a thing for when Nex has more time to talk. The note does seem like a bit more of a priority and a distraction. Lol
Vettu
The black hole in the core is quite interesting. When Sofia was in the deep, shortly before being shown Time's corpse, she asked Yvraveteth "why settle here in particular?". We also know black holes might have some connection to the deep, as Sofia traveled there through one So what if the black hole in the planet's core and Time's corpse are connected? Though I'm not sure if that theory tracks considering how long it's been since Time's death. Surely the black hole would've consumed the planet by now, unless it's already been suppressed for a while
Ceasar Salas
Thanks for the chapter! I’m somewhat surprised Sofia is not more apprehensive about re-awakening Anna. She did get that story from Orator after all. I get that she probably can’t elaborate on it, but still…
Tom Asciola
The logistics of how this planet formed are making my head hurt, lol.
OmniGlitcher
Hollow Veliadren theory was real? Bahaha. Black hole in the center makes sense, thanks for the lore dump. Given a black hole's connections with the Deep though, it's also slightly concerning. Also considering a certain comment you've said on Discord in the past about the Orator's involvement. >“PESLE VERY KILL THEM!” Good. >Ah crap I forgot to ask about the heroes!” Sofia cried out, before slouching back in her chair. “I am going to need some time to digest all of this…” How convenient for you to forget Sofia :tableflip:. I suppose we can't have *too* much lore in one sitting.
Lazy Monster
TFTC. The lore dump was great. My original thought of this planet was earth in the far future is wrong I guess. The clarification on the racial perks is interesting. I think the fusion one might be better if it saves more space, but depending on what counts as “understanding” a spell the other one could be better.
Matt Grayson
So THAT's why she was heavier underground. Not true of uniform density planets. AND the folded paper. Great chapter!
ArtTheGreat
She didn’t pass on the laughter for the bet about who would be the first to beat Victory! 😠
Quentin Cozzi
Thanks for the chapter!
Spencer
Oh good we actually got to read the answers lol
Whyer
Thanks for the chapter!
Daemion
Excellent info dump... and for everything else, she can ask him more the next time they meet up. She's certainly going to be part of the team that will attempt to free Anna.
Clara
Hmm, I kinda wanted her to ask for partial system privileges, so she could access her original skill method. Considering she was annoyed last time that she didn't get anything bone related, a handful of system keywords would do her good
Wensber
Thanks for the chapter!
