Chapter 114: Part．12—6 [New Cycle Begins]

Part．12—6 【New Cycle Begins】

The second-to-last layer, a shelter.

This is a very strange name, because as an outsider, one would never refer to a building complex as a shelter.

And the notes also explain that the name 'shelter' comes from the few texts that can be found in this area.

"Has this world ever had development? But why did it end up in an endless reset cycle?"

Going past the underground steel forest far larger than Xixi Base, contemplating the various architectural traces of this layer and the large amount of mechanical debris in the shelter, Wuming's mind kept brainstorming.

"Information is still not enough."

While organizing the contents of this layer's notes, Mina anxiously grabbed her hair.

This layer's notes have become much messier, but the information is more important. If the previous layers taught how to survive and explore the most strange and important areas, then this layer's notes focus on other important terrains of this world.

The pyramid in the Eastern Desert, with its internal green spider-like monsters; the ice-snow shelter beneath the Western Ice-Snow Fissure; the thriving cavern deeper in the Eastern Underground; and the strange structure in the sky, completely made of clouds, whose layered structure is almost identical to that of the Holy Mountain.

At the end of the notes, Mina's father mentioned several mysteries among them.

One of them is the celestial body hanging in the heavens that never changes; the two of them, being far away, had thought it was the sun of this world, but through a wand mainly composed of 'Leap Transfer' magic bullets, Mina's father finally discovered that it is actually something resembling a celestial body made of cheese.

Literally, the edible kind of cheese.

"ajoke...."

Looking at the words in the notes, Wuming also unconsciously looked up in that direction underground. If this truly was the work of a so-called god, that would be too... tasteless.

【In the Western Ice-Snow Fissure, at the location between the ice-snow shelter and the ancient laboratory, there is an area filled with 'soul bodies' that is hard to pass through; fortunately, I found the landmark 'eye' there to see those monsters.

(A crimson eyeball, with dotted lines drawing a blurry ray to indicate its function.)

At the lowest layer of the Ice-Snow Fissure, I discovered something different from other explorations in this world.

It's a pity I ultimately couldn't solve His mystery....

"Sun..... giving energy to all things, ending everything, as above so below, below enters above."

"Emmmmm, is it a regret or a hint?" Wuming pondered.

"Well.... both, I guess~." Mina, also confused, blurted out without thinking.

"Blindly trusting books is worse than having none; these notes can be used as reference, but it's better not to fully believe them. To complete the world, you must surpass your father, not make useless efforts within his framework."

Wuming's eyebrows twitched as she closed the notebook and casually waved it while speaking.

Upon reaching this layer, both calmed down, for they knew that the next, final layer would be the last step to restart the world and take over Mina's father's work.

Wuming called out to Mina, who was about to rush down nonstop, and took out a can of borscht soup and a doctor's sausage from her bag.

"Although there's no feeling of hunger here, drinking a sip of hot soup before starting should boost morale, right?"

She said this, inserting a wand embedded with a circular fire spell into a brick crack to use as a fire source, then picking up a few stones to make a stand, opening the can and pouring it into a temporary pot made from kneaded crystal.

At the same time, she chopped the sausage with a handheld-free temporary knife and cutting board, then dumped it all in.

Then she added compressed biscuits and water scooped from the Holy Mountain's mountain pool, and soon a pot of fragrant mixed stew was cooked.

Before taking it out of the pot, Wuming also squeezed in the yogurt used to touch the biscuits and tore open a small packet of packaged pepper to sprinkle on top.

An atmosphere of a food show came over them. (Not really)

"It's fragrant, so fragrant!" (Truly)

Mina lifted her lunch box and gave a heartfelt praise.

After resting for a while, the two entered the final layer with high spirits, the Temple of Art.

The overall style completely changed. The technological atmosphere that had been rendered before vanished entirely in this layer; the architectural style of an ancient stone-brick temple became the theme here.

Everywhere, and the monster corpses here are even more 'fresh'. Some of them wear what looks like luxurious robes, but judging by the bodily features that still somewhat resemble the original, aside from some similarity in shape, they have nothing in common with humans.

There are also many battle traces here, with walls and ground wiped clean by some invisible hand, and dust speckled with light points piled up here and there.

There are also shattered fluorescent crystal shards that give the impression that getting close is dangerous; some places have also undergone abnormal changes. Regional collapses, full of scorch-black explosion marks, or the entire area turned into something like a radiation zone where just stepping in causes a stinging sensation on the skin.

"Various confused mages that release abnormal conditions, as well as magic wraiths and all kinds of magic constructs... the danger level here is truly not to be underestimated..."

Reading the notes, Wuming keenly noticed that the text identifies the confused mages in this area that can interfere with wands and affect individuals as the truly troublesome ones. After all, for someone who can only walk this world relying on a wand, losing the wand makes movement almost impossible.

【Eating the flesh of a teleport mage can resist chaotic teleport magic; eating the flesh of a transformation mage can resist sheep-transforming magic bullets; eating the flesh of a harmonizing mage can resist wand sealing. Although it's disgusting, if there's really a crisis, one still has to force it down....

A somewhat bloody passage made both of them frown, they fell silent for a moment, and Wuming silently gathered crystal dust to wrap a few pieces of flesh matching the description and put them into her backpack.

Mina didn't say anything this time, just constantly compared the notes to memorize this knowledge.

【Finally, you have ultimately still come here. If what you've seen along the way hasn't shaken your resolve, and if you know that all my efforts have failed yet still chose the same path as me.

No matter who you are, I sincerely wish that you can truly accomplish this great work.

Finally, please allow me to write here who I am, where I come from, and who among my remaining relatives still lives.

If you make it out at the end, please tell all this to my daughter.

If in the end it is you who reaches here, I will send you blessings mixed with heartache and relief.

"You must remember, alchemists on the path to truth have no kinship or memories to speak of; if you choose this road, then pick up my \"torch\" and walk forward resolutely, even ruthlessly."

"..... Father.."

The final layer's Holy Mountain is not reached by stairs; rather, at the lowest layer there is a seven-pointed star magic circle, and through teleportation one is directed to the sealed underground masterpiece called the 'Palace'.

After arriving here, this place is no longer left and right piles of wand spells; instead, a few wands described in the notes as having excellent attributes float silently in midair, waiting for their user to arrive.

And in the middle of the stone platform, only a single sheet of paper simply floats, bearing only these words.

"Hold on, let us continue forward. I am by your side, always."

Wuming's arm wrapped around Mina, and with her other hand she lifted Mina's head so her gaze could look toward the stone bridge emphasized by the opposing stone statues.

Outside the hall, a dim orange-red light shines in from outside, giving this place a more frightening feeling.

Mina pursed her lips tightly, carefully put away the page full of hope, and together with Wuming carrying those wands, they stepped out of the hall.

A three-person-wide unguarded stone bridge extends straight from the hall's exit to a platform several hundred meters away; beneath the bridge is this world's unique tranquil 'lava' that feels nothing unless touched; on either side of the road, paired stone statues similar to those seen earlier in the Magic Temple appear, hands clasped, bodies slightly stooped, as if guarding the central path—or the people walking on it.

After carefully stepping forward a few steps, the two could see in the distance a red vortex-shaped portal on the platform emitting faint light effects.

And the 'Three-Eye' lying over to one side.

Truly seeing such a huge monster made their breathing much lighter. Although it had long been dead, approaching a monster whose single eye was half a person's size and whose head diameter was as high as several people stacked still required great courage.

They went around a few small magma depressions on the platform and looked around.

Besides the platform and the path they came on having a trace of civilization, the whole space seemed to be a cavity dug underground.

Below the platform lay an endless magma region, and the several openings in the cavern ceiling continuously poured down magma waterfalls.

"Good thing the temperature here is almost constant; without material contact there's no sense of heat. Otherwise, to move freely here we'd probably need a cooling magic wand." The girl joked.

"This is also the problem with this world; its operating laws are just too crude." Mi Na thought a moment and said softly.

They approached the Three-Eye. The monster's main body is a huge spherical body with a long spine-like tail hanging below; three purplish-red eyelidless eyes are distributed on the upper half of the sphere, and in the middle there is a split large mouth dividing the three eyes into two above and one below.

On the lower half of its body grow several thick jointed limbs; the sharp tips of the limbs make it obvious that it can easily pierce a human body like skewering meat.

After examining it for a while and trying to dissect the huge monster before them, the two came to the teleportation magic circle with some updated information.

Although the teleportation potion there had been used up, the two had made full preparations on the way here.

They came to the left and right sides of the magic circle, then poured different potions into the bases of the seven-pointed star magic circle in order.

Teleportation potion, swift potion, furious/gathering potion, divine blessing potion, transformation potion.

Finally, at the seventh corner, they placed the substance favored by the world's god—gold.

Hum—

A teleportation gate was opened by the action of these seven substances.

"This is the last step; let's go."

Saying that, the two held hands and entered it.

With a swish, feeling nothing else unpleasant, they arrived here—the 'Great Work Room'.

The device, once built to pursue wealth, was a response to the god of Technology; yet the greedy alchemists, in satisfying their desires, forgot that when everything turned to gold, gold itself became meaningless.

Considering the words on the notes, Wu Miao stared solemnly at the huge device before her.

She had thought this would be a place similar to the altar on Holy Mountain, but this underground space was surrounded on all sides by a large number of mechanical devices, except for the platform they were to ascend and the few steps around it.

Exposed gears, unknown fluid tanks and cylinders, and mixed cables or steam pipes intertwined; everything exposed showed the feeling of 'Technology'.

Besides.... there were no other operational devices; the only thing that could be interacted with was the slot for placing source substance on the platform, which stood like an altar above the ground.

"That's right; everything here represents Technology, one of the three Eggs. If we could really find some levers and buttons, wouldn't that mean life had mastered the god?"

She thought silently, exhaling as she faced the gear-shaped slot.

The two glanced at each other; Wu Miao took out the source substance, then she and Mi Na each extended a hand and jointly pressed it into the slot.

Hum—crack!

At the moment the 'source substance' was placed into the huge machine, an invisible wave swept across the entire space.

Then, the source substance, like a gear, truly became a gear in their sight, embedding into the machine's interior and meshing with the other gears to run.

A golden halo appeared, centered on the source substance, emitting faint light-effect particles; then a second, a third,... until, at roughly exponential intervals, they covered this space and everything outside it.

Wu Miao guessed that some of the halos appearing due to the space's irregularity were partly inside and partly outside.

Then these halos all began to rotate; besides rotating around the central source substance, each halo turned at a different angle, making the two inside feel as if they were within an armillary sphere, watching the halos intertwine dazzlingly in the air into beautiful patterns.

Clang——!!!!!!

Just as the two were lost in fascination, the machine's operation reached its most intense moment; with everything seemingly ready, the core source substance suddenly burst forth a shockwave that swept over the two.

Then it turned gold in the astonished eyes of Wu Miao and Mi Na, but this was not the end; the adjacent gears, the steps below the gears, the more distant cables and pipes, all the way to the walls and everything in this underground space successively turned gold in that shockwave.

"Hiss—cough cough cough!!!!"

The sound of drawing in cold air echoed in the empty underground, but before the inhalation finished, suddenly inhaling the gold particles made them choke and cough.

"Little Wu Miao, wouldn't this turn everything into gold??" Mi Na's worried voice reached her ears.

Wu Miao turned her head and saw that her clothes had been dyed a non-reflective gold; lowering her gaze, she also noticed that her clothes and the equipment she wore showed partial goldening.

"!!! Mi Na!!!!" She was still thinking about how the situation would develop when she suddenly saw, in the corner of her eye, Mi Na's expression gradually solidify, turning into a true gold statue.

"How is this possible!" Wu Miao startled, stepping back; raising her hand, she again saw that her fingernails also showed goldening.

"Trap?!!!??" Instinctively, with a hint of fear, this thought arose in her mind.

"Calm down and wait." The words of the Time Worm sounded just in time, pulling the mentally agitated Wu Miao back to calm.

"What happened?" she asked, as if she already knew.

"As you see, the world's balance has been broken, so the world's own self-repair has been activated." Its words simply and clearly pointed out the reason for world reset in Mi Na's father's notes.

"So that's how it is..." Wu Miao suddenly understood everything.

If we temporarily set aside the world's native intelligent beings and the alchemists who use this world as a test field, and merely analyze the world's own operation, it is obvious that 'Technology' using the source substance that drives the world's motion to turn the world into gold would kill the world outright; thus the world undergoes a reset through the joint action of the other two gods, allowing the world to develop anew.

In other words, no matter what, this underground device here is wrong.

Thinking this, Wu Miao gained a kind of enlightenment in her heart.

Thought process clear. jpg

"What is this?" After thinking, Wu Miao came to, and a film-like oval egg-shaped passport had already wrapped itself around her.

"Your existence would make it hard for the world to carry out its natural behavior, so I need to use this method to temporarily separate you."

Accompanied by the words of the 'Butterfly', Wu Miao saw everything around begin to undergo a second change; the world became illusory, endless gold began to disappear, until everything in sight turned to nothingness, and finally even light vanished completely.

Immediately after, she felt herself rising to a higher position; a clear cracking sound came to her ear, and a world suddenly appeared before her eyes—familiar snow-capped mountains, familiar altar, familiar wooden house; shifting her gaze there, the world's appearance appeared.

Next, creatures began to appear; Wu Miao heard monsters roaring from the mine entrance, and heard far away the splashing of fish kicking up water....

Finally, the film ruptured; her feet stepped onto solid ground, and before her, a familiar person stood facing her.

"Mi Na..... you're okay, that's really great!" After a brief hesitation, Wu Miao joyfully rushed forward and embraced her.

Just a short time ago, she really thought Mi Na had died then.

"Mi Na, you, you really are alright?" Looking at Mi Na slowly opening her eyes, Wu Miao's eyes showed some hesitation.

"Just like after a sudden nap, I feel great!" The red-haired girl laughed and gave Wu Ming's shoulder a hard pinch to show she was fine.

Wu Ming didn't believe it, and repeatedly scanned with her own spiritual power before finally smiling.

"So, are you ready?"

The girl extended her fist.

"Anytime!" Mina also reached out, and they bumped fists.

Although the magic wands collected earlier disappeared with the world's reset, the various notes remain; they just need to proceed step by step to find what they need to complete the initial exploration.

A new cycle has begun!