Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster’s Power

Chapter 744

I walk forward into the dark black tower, and the massive doors shut behind me with an echoing thud.

I can still see millions of ether, divine energy, and mana pathways flowing through the inside of the structure. I have the ability to manipulate them at will, just like the rest of the citadel, but when the doors close, I feel the presence of outside forces completely cut off.

Now that I think of it, before the doors opened, I didn't sense the hot vibrations coming off Seraphel from inside this tower.

Even from the center of the Citadel, linked to the surveillance system, nothing could phase through these strange black walls.

I feel the same sensation of losing direct access to telepathy with my links in the lower realm, but I know this is necessary.

Whatever training this Noble Wyvern, who has lived almost a quarter million years, has in store for me shouldn't be broadcast to the outside.

Seraphel speaks again.

"Deactivate all of your mana- and demonic-energy-based skills and buffs. To achieve stability and raise your vibrations; we'll need to start with the basics."

Without question, I let the dark black energy seep back into my demon core and slowly decrease the amount of stats I'm borrowing from the trillions of links of loyalty available to me.

I brace myself, ready for my body to begin tearing to shreds again while I put up my purple barrier.

However, this does not happen.

As my borrowed stats fall below 50%, I don't even feel a change at all...

Even when it drops below 40%, my mind is ready to cover my entire being in the hard crystal-like purple barrier again, but nothing happens.

The same sensation and mental battle with myself happens at 30%, then 20%, and even 10%.

I'm standing in the pressure of the Upper Realm with nothing but my Noble Human form activated as my borrowed stats fall into the single-digit percentages.

I only begin to feel the dense pressure of the air once it falls below 3%.

Even then, it feels like a heavy weighted blanket wrapping around me.

At below 2%, my skin just feels hot.

Once my borrowed stats fall below 1%, my ethereal Noble Form feels as though it's being stretched and tested like steel cables on a bridge. Waves of raw dense green threads flow into me, but a steady stream of vibrations continuously ripple through me from no traceable energy source. It's as if my will itself is holding the fibers of my being together.

They do not deteriorate my flesh like they did before, my body is much tougher now.

I take a deep breath in and out, dropping below 0.5%, then 0.25%, and eventually to 0%.

The tone of the vibrations becomes deeper, and they slow down to become more focused and not completely automatic. On instinct alone, the insurmountable pressure and deadly divine threads pushing down on me from every side are being held back with no external help.

I can't move my body at all, as it feels like I've been plunged to the bottom of an ocean.

My ears take in no sound as if I'm in a vacuum, and not even my eyes can move.

My breath stops, and even my blood stops pumping.

I'm certain I could summon my purple barrier right now and survive, just like I did when I fell beneath the clouds surrounding this citadel. However, out of pride, something deep within from the source of these Noble Vibrations keeping my being together tells me that backing down from this challenge now would do more harm than good.

It's impossible to tell if the silent and still Wyvern looking down on me is truly just watching and no longer sending vibrations my way, or if my mental capacities have sped up so much that I'm able to produce complex thoughts in between each individual Noble Vibration.

The only power I'm using right now is what's available to me in my real body alone.

Now that my body has taken the worst of the pressure head-on without imploding, I must adapt and endure. Then, Seraphel's real training can begin.

–

Meanwhile, a wave of system users all throughout the Lower Realm reclaim access to the stats and mana control I was borrowing.

A select grouping of individuals in the first Galactic Trade Commission meeting are the most surprised at this fact, as many assumed that this was a permanent debuff they had to bear in order to have access to the World Wide Connectivity system.

Many were content with this. So much so that it never came up at all through the first two parts of the meeting.

Bri has managed to create a proper new and private portal paired with a message board for the strongest 2nd- and 1st-Class worlds to sell their divine fragments at reasonable prices to lower-class worlds that she approves of.

Many other planets not present in this meeting that fit the requirements are given invites and access to this, as divine energy is not exactly a rare or unstable resource.

Most 3rd-Grade worlds have a few red cores and occasionally an orange. There are even 4th- and 5th-Class worlds that happen to have their solar systems drifting through the remnants of old divine thread deposits, which have more fragments than their population can even handle.

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Anomalies do occur, but on average, this new system will safely regulate the transfer of wealth from higher-class worlds to lower ones.

That is, as long as they have resources worth trading. The strong will tend to stay strong, but now there is a fair opportunity for lower-class worlds to have access to such resources.

–

The second half of the meeting, where Bri links the 26 leaders present to a new private channel where they can buy teleport platforms and crystals from her, is now available.

She has set up options for members of each race to be nominated and reviewed by the generals to approve access to travel between worlds. This will allow rich 3rd- and 2nd-Class worlds access to 1st-Class World Labyrinths with higher levels.

Of course, to meet other planets' leaders in person will strengthen the bond of allies, and regulated tourism is in the future once all the kinks are worked out in this first trial round.

Each world has monthly limits for buying luminite related items, and the timers set on all system-related matters are calculated by the human world's standard clock.

Certain star sectors and planets move at different speeds and orbit around varying massive energy deposits. The relative rate of time passing varies from world to world.

To some, this ticking-down clock looks faster, and to others, it looks slower. This is the set standard, and system communication is instantaneous. For some, hours go by every minute. At the same time, some races with higher brain processing speeds have an edge—these are just the unfair rules of nature.

"These are things we will have to deal with and get used to. Being connected to civilizations across the stars won't be as simple as connecting countries across a world," Bri states once all members at the holographic table are content with the pricing of the first round of teleport platforms.

However, the towering figure of a High Orc speaks up for the first time during their meeting.

"This is a normal occurrence. The Solar Trade Commission I run here has seven planets under its control."

Bri raises an eyebrow as she rechecks the High Orc's file and requests advanced access from the generals. Yet, as much as she looks, there is only one planet linked to the Rising Emperors Domain anywhere near where this monster's home world is.

The floating Beholder with too many eyes to count adds to the confusion. It speaks while blinking with about ten of its front eyes.

"Yes, a central clock is quite normal in my Sector. I am the handler of 25 worlds."

Bri looks up this 1st-Class being's file as well, and strangely, only finds one world connected to it.

Others join the conversation. Only three other members here have large colonies of worlds they watch over. The majority believed they were the only world with life near them. Before today, they had no idea other races truly existed—they thought monsters in dungeons were just artificial manifestations.

Meanwhile, a massive yellow slug in a floating pool of its own viscous slime simply watches as lower races enlighten each other and make deals.

Once this conversation starts, Bri decides to check everyone's files, and the generals even grant her access to the anonymous members in today's meeting. Even though she is conversing with the round table as the open-question portion of the meeting naturally unfolds, part of her mind lingers on this strange slug that has six 1st-Class planets under its reign within the same solar system.

They're all connected to the Rising Emperors Domain. However, the fact it has said nothing makes it unclear if this is the entirety of what it oversees, or if this is just the tip of the iceberg.

It only applied for one of its worlds to be granted access to the teleport platform trade program and has offered to directly trade red, orange, and yellow fragments to any world that needs them, as they seem to be a very abundant resource.

–

As the meeting winds down, Bri compiles notes of everything that has happened today and sends them to those who partook, already scheduling another meeting for next week to move on to Phase 2.

However, one of the anonymous figures in the back that hasn't spoken a word the entire time finally speaks up, making all of the monsters with good moods in the virtual room turn their heads in confusion.

"What if this is all a trick? You're telling me a being from a 3rd-Class world managed to put this all together? I've never heard of a green core anyway. If that was real, don't you think one of the higher races here would have done this first?"

Bri slowly nods as if she expected this and looks up, and the gaze of all the monsters at the table follows. They expect one of the four generals silently watching to prove this shadowy figure wrong.

However, instead of speaking, they look up too.

The outline of a massive green monster holding a glowing white hammer appears high in the black void of the simulation everyone sits in.

A domineering pressure presses down on all their beings as the visualization of a green True Core comes to light. Although this is a virtual simulation, and no one can be hurt within this construct, it feels like Ava is truly there.

The room becomes suffocating, and her voice echoes through everyone's minds, bodies, and souls below.

"The Rising Emperor has granted you access to a system that can make you all rich and powerful beyond anything you ever imagined..."

The massive depiction of the Goblin Queen seems to grow as the densely packed green threads making up her being prove far too intricate for a Lower Realm manifestation to properly project.

She looks upward.

"With doubts like that, you will never see the pinnacle of power for yourself."

She looks back down, singling out the shadowy anonymous figure, then dispersing her link to the chat before her hologram can be fully comprehended.

The Goblin Queen smiles to herself as she continues zipping through the Exile Zones beneath the Ellipsia Citadel, far out into the mines of dead worlds to follow the Orders given to her.

–

This display leaves the room silent again. Bri speaks to the baffled crowd.

"Yes, indeed, we have access to far more than just what is available to you today. Let us finish our first deals, and I'll be happy to open your eyes wider to the truth in time. Thank you all for coming, and your future cooperation. We will stay in contact."

She ends the meeting, and all 26 members sever their connections, now floating in their own separate blacked-out artificial voids. Many wonder if this 3rd-Class world is just a ruse to seem more approachable to the lower-class worlds and underestimated by the higher ones. It's possible whoever made this system for them is even more powerful than a 1st Class World.

The few who make guesses about what ascension past the yellow core is, and the very few who know of the Upper Realm, are even more shocked by this display, as direct contact with beings like that should be—and has always been—impossible.

Some search for clues in the World Wide Connectivity System public message boards, but this only confuses them further and makes them believe there is something far larger at play.

The only comments found are rumors about a human killing a City Sized Demon on a 3rd Class world that supposedly created this system. Many retellings of this event are exaggerations and so over the top they seem absurdly far from what is possible for even 1st Class Monsters with fully saturated cores. There is no recorded evidence of this feat, and the recollection of the day's events keep changing as the story is twisted and passed through millions of users' hands.

–

Bri finally looks up from her system, back into reality, and begins pulling hundreds of divine fragments in all kinds of containment cases out from her storage.

She turns around in the room deep within the Apex Region's base and looks toward the four generals that helped her with this meeting.

"Well, I believe that went well... Getting you all enough divine fragments now should be easy."

She stops pulling the fragments out after a while and pauses while looking at one case full of red fragments.

"Maybe I should start too... I'll get to it right after I fulfill Jay's order."

She smirks, lets the containment case drop into the massive pile, and dives back into her system interface to continue brokering deals.