Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 3800: A Quintessential Place! III

The first of the Primarchs stepped forward.

A lithe woman with a crown of coiling hair touched one of the floating crimson-gold cubes- specifically, a cube with a rune marker that never remained still. It flickered like a snake on glass, its runic triangle constantly shifting.

And for a flicker of a moment, Noah’s eyes narrowed as he parsed the meaning.

Cold.

Something buried beneath the surface of frost. Of stillness. Of ancient glacial ruin.

Or so he believed from what he could decipher.

The moment the Primarch’s hand met the cube, it pulsed.

BOOM!

The crimson-gold light exploded into her chest like a heartbeat made of ice and radiance. She stumbled a step, then steadied herself with wide eyes.

Noah caught the expression. Euphoria. Surprise.

The other two Primarchs moved quickly.

Each chose a cube and touched it, their selections less chaotic, more instinctive.

Light streamed from the cubes, curling into their chests with sharp flashes.

One breathed in deeply. The other laughed under his breath while they shook their head.

From the side, Master Shen raised his gourd but didn’t drink. ”So,” he said lazily, ”what’s changed?”

The first to speak was a stocky, bronze-skinned Primarch whose voice carried the resonance of shattered mountains.

”I received the Basic Living Origin Garden Archetype: Warrior. The Garden’s weaving says it’s melee-focused, purely. Resistance Archetype Points will turn it into a juggernaut. Brute force. Massive defense. Close-range superiority. No Weavings of Existence would get past ny defenses once the Garden is cultivated enough.”

...!

Next came the lean, emerald-eyed man with sharp features. ”Mine’s Basic as well,” He said. ”Living Origin Garden Archetype: Archer. It’s built for range. With enough Archetype Points, I can shoot through anything. Even the millions of Existential Dimensional Lattices of an Originus Venerant can potentially be pierced through!”

WAA!

Then, the Primarch that Noah had been watching all along stepped forward.

The cube she’d chosen, bearing the frost-rune, had visibly altered her aura.

”I was given something different,” she said, breath still uneven. ”It’s not Basic. It’s a Rare Living Origin Garden Archetype...”

Her voice lowered, like she couldn’t believe her luck.

”Frost Mage.”

...!

Around her, cold began to swirl.

Master Shen’s eyes gleamed with interest. ”Distribute your points,” he said simply. ”Let’s see what these Gardens can do when our authorities are nullified.”

The Frost Mage Primarch nodded, and then something... shifted as she looked within.

”I feel it,” she said, eyes closing. ”Inside me... there’s now a garden. A small one. Illusory vines flowing in every direction waiting to be activated.”

She paused.

”There are pathways. Points I can place down one after another. Every ten... seems to unlock something significant.”

She lifted a hand, and cold gathered.

”Ten points unlocked the first ability. The initial nine increased my levels of Energy and Authority of Living Origin Authority, and the tenth point...a weapon from my Garden. The [Ice Staff Bud].”

A white-blue staff materialized in her hand, its shaft covered in swirling runes that screamed of freezing intent. The runes resembled complex Existential Dimensional Lattices, but none Noah had seen before.

Noah watched closely.

Not common Authority.

Something else entirely.

Living Origin Authority- complex and pure in its own right!

The Primarch continued, her voice hushed with wonder.

”I spent twenty more points. I opened new energy pathways. My Garden responded further. I gained boosts to regeneration, faster existential casting, and speed of attack. Then...”

She raised her hands.

WAA!

Nine spheres of crystallized frost flared into existence and began to orbit her like loyal stars.

”...I unlocked the Exclusive Frost Mage Garden Bud: Autonomous Frost Orbs.”

The air around her dropped in temperature as her body shimmered with condensed cold, woven by her Living Origin Garden.

The others watched in silence.

Master Shen scratched his chin thoughtfully. ”Interesting...”

The Warrior Primarch grunted, slamming a foot into the ground. Crimson runes flared across his arms, and a massive crimson-gold mace formed in his hand. His frame bulged as power coursed through him, his aura like that of a rampaging ancient beast.

Beside him, the Archer Primarch manifested a gleaming verdant bow, humming with verdant threads of light that seemed to lock on to distant targets not even present.

Both of them had unlocked basic Archetypes. Each had between 30 to 60 Resistance Archetype Points, giving them formidable starts, but far from the tier Noah suspected the Masters of Existence would reach.

Still... the power was real.

At such a time.

A cold voice rang out from the side, composed but brimming with subdued authority.

”Go,” Master Hannibal commanded. ”Test your might. Engage the golems ahead with this new Living Origin Authority. Let us see how the Gardens of those with your level of power perform under pressure.”

...!

A beat passed.

The three Primarchs, now brimming with Living Origin Authority and Archetype resonance, shared a look.

Then they stepped forward, moving past the central ring of cubes, crossing into the zone where fifty white-masked crimson gold golems stood tall and silent.

Their crimson-gold armor glinted like molten brass, and none had moved since the beginning.

But now?

Now they stirred.

Noah exhaled softly, his hand tightening slightly on the rope still connected to Sigrid.

This... was about to get interesting.

The three Primarchs stepped beyond the ring of cubes, their new Archetypes pulsing through their bodies like second heartbeats.

The moment their feet crossed the midpoint...

CLANG!

Soundless before, the golems responded.

Fifty crimson-gold titans of seamless armor and porcelain-white masks lit up with eerie sigils, Eyes etched into their chests flaring with Living Origin Authority.

Five of them moved.

Two surged forward with gleaming spears that pulsed with jagged, looping runes.

One slammed down a step, both arms rising as twin tower shields clicked into place with a seismic echo.

Another walked forward with slow, bone-steady weight, hands gripping a massive crossbow that shimmered like it had been forged in the collapse of a dying star.

And the last- a slender, almost serpentine golem, held no weapon. It simply moved, a blur among the stillness, as if made from compressed wind and silence. An assassin.

The Warrior Primarch let out a booming cry as his mace swung forward to meet the twin-shield golem head-on.

”Come, then!”

He crashed into it with titanic force, his crimson runes flaring, but the golem didn’t budge. Its shields held like the side of a mountain as a pulse of Living Origin Authority blasted the Primarch backward, his armor shearing open at the chest.

To the left, the Archer Primarch loosed arrow after arrow, green verdant light streaking forward, only to be shredded mid-air by the spear-wielding golems’ counter-slashes, their weapons humming with runes of disruption.

The Frost Mage surged her frost orbs outward, the nine swirling with blizzards of freezing air that layered around the approaching golems- slowing them, coating them in sheets of glacial breath.

For a moment, it looked like they’d created distance.

For a moment, it seemed like the Gardens might work.

HUUM!

Then...

The crossbow fired.

A single, blazing bolt of condensed crimson gold laced with layered Lattices of Living Origin Authority shattered the still air and...BOOM!

It tore through the Archer Primarch’s shoulder, severing it cleanly and sending her spinning backward with a cry of pain.

Before anyone could react...

Another bolt flew.

This time, it struck the Warrior Primarch in the chest with a terrifying penetrative light amd went straight through.

The defense of his Garden Archetype were not enough!

His expression didn’t even register pain. Just surprise.

Then... nothing.

His body spasmed once before collapsing into the ground.

”NO—!”

The Frost Mage turned to retreat, her staff spinning in hand, her frost orbs forming a shield behind her.

But...

Too slow.

The spear-wielding golem vanished from sight and appeared again mid-air.

WOOSH!

The spear whistled through the labyrinth air and landed squarely in her chest, pinning her to the ground like a kebab with a flash of Living Origin Authority so brutal it shattered her Garden!

The ice-blue runes dimmed.

The frost orbs winked out.

She tried to raise her hand one last time...

And then her body fell still.

Silence.

Not a single being moved.

The remaining two golems pulled back.

Their spears and crossbow returning to their neutral positions as they joined the ranks of the still 45, standing like statues, as if nothing had happened.

Three bodies lay in ruin.

Or... they should have.

But before their remains could even settle...

The crimson-gold floor absorbed them.

Where each had fallen, delicate, glowing flowers bloomed in silence- fractal petals of frost, stone, and green life.

Their Gardens.

The only remnants.

Their names, their identities, swallowed by the Labyrinth in mere moments.

Even the air felt changed.

Like something ancient had blinked once and then turned its gaze away again.

Noah didn’t move.

His eyes shone with dangerous calm as he took everything in, the expressions of Primarchs now pale with cold sweat, the stilled posture of Masters of Existence who had finally registered the Labyrinth’s lethality.

Sigrid slowly placed her hand to her mouth, her eyes wide.

She didn’t speak.

Didn’t sign.

Just stared at the flowers, then at the ground, then at the five golems that had casually returned to stillness.

Master Shen lowered his gourd, for once... not smiling.

Master Hannibal’s golden gaze didn’t waver, but his jaw was clenched tight.

Noah, for his part, remained unmoved.

But inside?

Calculations bloomed.

Those golems fought with terrifying power.

Living Origin Authority.

Something with its own Complexity and Purity.

Something deeper!