Death… And Me

Chapter 4163: Golden Fruit Structure

[Aurethra was one of the first Primordial Beasts to be captured. Just like the others, her abilities were necessary and part of the reason the Werdlem Empire’s Bubble can keep working. Now, she is imprisoned in the Werdlem Universe’s Reincarnation Path, forced to prevent all dead souls of the Empire from reincarnating.]

[Quest Update: Free Aurethra from the Energizing Burden that has fallen upon her.]

[Reward: 250000 Celestial Points.]

Rean and Roan looked at each other. ”Energizing Burden?”

At first, it seemed a weird request. However, as they got close to those rings, things began to get clearer.

The countless Dead Souls hanging above could now be seen moving in the structure’s direction. Once they reached the range of those golden veins, they were collected and flowed straight into the core of the rings.

”What is happening here? Sister Orb, is this a formation?” Roan asked.

[Yes, and a very high-level one. No, it’s not just one, but many of them, layared, working together for a single purpose. I’m not sure what this purpose is, though. They seem to be feeding the structure. Above all, the formation at the very center is incredible. It is definitely above the Legendary Level.]

”Above the Legendary Level?!” Rean’s eyes opened wide, looking straight at the core of that monumental structure. ”What is the level above Legendary? Does it have a name?”

[If it does, I don’t know what it is,] Sister Orb explained. [In any case, forget about me helping you. There is no way I can hack into this thing.]

Kentucky stopped for a moment. ”Well, Aurethra is worth 250000 Points, after all. It would be weird if everything we needed was Sister Orb to hack into a formation.”

”Why did you stop?” Roan asked.

Then, Kentucky pointed ahead. ”It is hard to see if you don’t have eyes as good as mine. Those Golden Veins aren’t just the ones you can see. There are very tiny ones ahead, too. There is no way I can move forward without colliding into someone.”

”Hum...” Rean’s attention turned to the Primordial Beasts in the Dimensional Realm. ”Can you guys feel anything? Where is Aurethra? At the core of those rings? Could it be that the entire Structure is Aurethra? That would make her somewhat similar to Hick’s real form.”

Hick, Nyxara, and Soltrex focused on the outside environment. After a while, they shook their heads. ”No, it is not there. In fact, it seems like her power has no use in that structure up ahead. Instead, it is being used to keep all those souls from finishing their reincarnation cycle. The structure is being used for something else.”

Rean looked around. ”If she is not there, then where is she? The system has just released the quest update, so she must be somewhere around here, right?”

Roan pondered a bit, also looking everywhere. ”Kentucky, try to fly around this place. That structure is bigger than entire continents, so it might be hard to find Aurethra from here. We need to take a look from all sides.”

”It might take a few hours if I fly very fast. A few days if I take things slowly,” Kentucky said. ”Which one would you prefer?”

”Just fly fast. If we don’t find anything, we can try again with you flying slowly. We can even spread to cover more areas if things don’t work,” Roan explained.

And so, Kentucky shot into the distance. As he kept flying, Rean began to build a projection of the structure as they saw more and more of it. Nonetheless, they couldn’t get close. Kentucky could see the tine and big Golden Veins everywhere around the structure. Unless he wanted to touch or break them, he couldn’t fly closer.

A few hours later, Kentucky finished flying the entire distance, covering all sides. As for Rean, he also finished his little project. ”Aurethra was nowhere to be seen. However, take a look.”

They all looked at Rean as he used his energy to create a big projection nearby. Only then did they see. ”It looks like a giant fruit hanging down from the ceiling.”

Rean nodded. ”A golden fruit that keeps absorbing the dead souls on the ceiling. They are kind of the fruit’s nutrients. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is this.”

Then, Rean approached the image and turned it upside down. It was as if they could see the entire structure from above. Then, at the central area above the golden fruit structure...

”What is that white source of energy?” Kentucky asked.

”I just used the white color as an example, but I believe that’s Aurethra,” Rean explained. ”When Kentucky flew around the upper part of the golden fruit structure, I kept focusing on the dead souls, and just like the other times, they reacted to my presence. I built this model based on the Soul Energy waves they created every time they reacted.”

Rean pointed at that concentrated white light. ”It seems like the dead souls are being controlled from that point. If it is Aurethra who is preventing the cycle of reincarnation from continuing, that is likely her over there. Of course, there is no guarantee. It’s just an idea. The place does exist, though.”

Kentucky looked upwards, seeing the dead souls hanging down. ”But every time we try to approach those souls, they seem to get away from us. We tried that already.”

Rean shook his head in response. ”That’s because we were far from the structure. If we do that now and they try to move away, they would need the entire structure to follow their movements. I highly doubt something that big can move and react at the same speed as us.”

Roan nodded slightly. ”It is worth a try. Fly there, Kentucky.”

”Alright!” Kentucky immediately flew back to the dead souls in the ceiling. This time, he was very close to the Golden Veins, flying upwards.

The souls didn’t simply try to stay away this time. Instead, they began to distort and fold, not being able to keep their distance from the twins’ group. Then, a gap appeared in the ceiling of dead souls above, kind of a hole. ”Just go through it.”

*Zush!*

Kentucky shot past the gap, and for the first time, they were now seeing the dead souls from above. They couldn’t see the concentration of white light that Rean mentioned, though. It wasn’t that it wasn’t there, but that it wasn’t that big to start with. They were still far away, so Kentucky had to fly to the center first.

Kentucky did so with care, and the twins paid closer attention to the dead souls below. They could see the structure through the tiny gaps between the souls and could dive down if they felt like it.

Finally, they saw the central area of the upper section. The concentration of soul energy wasn’t a while light, but more of a fluctuation that warped the light created by the reactions of the dead souls below. ”Alright, let’s see if she is there.”

However...

”Stop!” Roan suddenly warned.

*Vup...*

*Vup, vup, vup, vup, vup...*

Out of nowhere, tens of Spatial Distortions took place at the same time. In the next second, a voice echoed in the twins’ group’s ears. ”Hahaha! See?! I told you they would find a way!”

Roan narrowed his eyes, looking at the owner of that voice. ”Cloe...”