Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 4196: Nurturing Hunger! V

A Shore that could raise Inevitabilities.

The words were a quiet earthquake in the foundation of one’s understanding!

Inevitabilities were known by many as their Way of Existence was a grand one!

But to raise them? To cultivate them like livestock in a ranch? It was a concept so audacious, so fundamentally defiant of all known existential principles, that it bordered on blasphemy.

And yet, here it was, presented to him with the casual air of a farmer showing off a new breed of chicken.

Khor beckoned with a single, delicate finger, a silent command to follow. Noah moved, his own existence still settling into its new, terrifying scale, and walked beside her across the now-Radiant Shore.

The transformation was profound. The golden sands of the Blooming Shore had been infused with a pure, brilliant white light, a gift from Sigrid’s awakening and Khor’s influence.

They now gleamed with the luster of polished pearl and spun gold, each grain a tiny beacon of ordered potential.

The very air felt different...cleaner, crisper, as if the ambient chaos of existence had been filtered out, leaving only a pure, potent vitality.

They walked toward a corner of the vast shoreline, a place where the vibrant, cerulean waters of the Sacred Sea met the iridescent sand. Here, the landscape underwent another stark transformation.

The golden-white sand bled into a hard, crystalline obsidian, the ground shifting from soft beach to a field of polished, black stone that seemed to drink the light.

From the center of this dark patch, a strange, murky structure rose. It was a cave, yet it was not. It was a dome, but it was not. It looked, impossibly, like the shell of a massive, cracked egg, its obsidian surface shimmering and boiling with a contained, internal heat.

This was the Inevitability Ranch Sanctuary!

Nine obsidian-crimson cocoons, each the size of a small hill, were already nestled within the fractured shell.

They pulsed with a slow, rhythmic light, expanding and contracting like sleeping lungs.

The power radiating from them was heavy, a palpable pressure on the air that was pure, undiluted hunger.

Khor laughed, a sound of brilliant, unrestrained joy!

”Due to the authority of the transformation from Blooming to Radiant,” she explained, her voice echoing with pride, ”I was able to accelerate the process of the budding of new Inevitabilities. Those nine there... they should be ready soon.”

As if her words were a cue for reality itself, prompts began to rise before Noah’s eyes, their text glowing with the same obsidian-crimson light as the cocoons.

|The Inevitability Ranch Sanctuary has been successfully forged as a new feature of the Radiant Shore.|

|Primary Function: From the conceptual soil of this sanctuary, the Seeds of Inevitability will naturally sprout and bloom.|

|Spawning Cycle: Every 24 hours, an unknown number of Inevitability Cocoons will manifest.|

|Nutrient Dependency: The quantity and quality of the Inevitabilities produced is directly proportional to the nutrients fed into the Ranch. Higher quality nutrients will yield more powerful and numerous progeny.|

|Current Status: Under the Blessing of The First Hunger, the growth of Inevitabilities is accelerated exponentially. All Inevitabilities born while this blessing is active will possess a minimum of 50 Trillion in Complexity or Purity.|

|Ranch Features Unlocked:|

|- The Nursery: Where new cocoons form and mature.|

|- Feeding Trough: A designated area where nutrients (Corpses, Ores, Treasures, Everythings) can be deposited to fuel the Ranch.|

|- Happiness Meter: Each Inevitability possesses a ’Mood.’ Happier Inevitabilities mature faster and have a chance to develop unique, beneficial traits. Mood can be improved through proper feeding and... petting.|

|- Specialized Diet: Feeding the Ranch specific types of Everythings (e.g., Everything of Destruction, Everything of Growth) will influence the type of Inevitabilities that are born.|

...!

Noah’s analysis of the prompts was a silent, incandescent flash of wonder.

He looked at Khor, and his appreciation for this ancient, terrifying being deepened. He was seeing a glimpse of her true power, not as a warrior, but as a cultivator of the very forces that others saw only as mindless destruction.

He was reminded of what he had seen of her in the Earliest Folds, in that nest of obsidian and hunger. This was her home element!

Khor turned to him, her ancient, abyssal eyes sparkling with a vibrant, youthful light. ”So, Outsider, it’s a glorious thing, isn’t it?” she asked, her voice filled with genuine warmth.

”I’ve missed seeing the young’uns, and many come out looking so cute...”

Her terrifying words were punctuated by a new set of prompts, blooming like dark flowers in his vision.

|Due to the boon of The First Hunger, the first round of Inevitabilities has been brought to maturity.|

|They are breaking out of their Nests.|

WU! WU! WU!

The nine obsidian-crimson cocoons began to pulse violently. Cracks, like veins of molten lava, spread across their crystalline surfaces.

Then, with a sound that was less a crack and more a tearing of reality, terrifying black tentacles shot out from the fissures, whipping through the air with a hungry hiss. The very atmosphere grew thick with the raw, untamed aura of appetite.

The shells shattered, exploding outward in a shower of obsidian shards. From the wreckage, nine wriggling, circular masses of pure Inevitability spilled forth.

They were glorious, horrifying things, each a vortex of countless, intertwined tentacles, their forms constantly shifting, their very existence a defiance of stable geometry.

And yet, from the center of each roiling mass, pairs of innocent, stellar obsidian eyes blinked open. They gazed out at the new world, at the Radiant Shore, at Noah and Khor, with a pure, unadulterated curiosity.

They looked at Khor with a fondness that transcended instinct; it was a deep, primal recognition. Eight of the massive, writhing beings floated towards her, nudging her tiny figure lovingly with bodies that could have crushed Dukes.

She laughed, a sound of pure delight, as she stroked their tentacled forms, cooing at them in a language that predated words.

One, however, went towards Noah. It was a perfect sphere of writhing, obsidian tentacles, its stellar eyes wide and inquisitive.

It sniffed at him, its senses not of smell but of conceptual resonance. Then, its pupils, which were miniature galaxies of want, curved into crescent smiles.

The massive body of the Inevitability brushed against Noah’s chest with a gesture of pure, uncomplicated affection.

Noah stood in the midst of this impossible scene, a faint smile on his lips. He reached out and patted the massive, writhing creature, feeling the shocking, immense power that pulsed just beneath its surface.

|Nine new Inevitabilities have been born in the Inevitability Ranch Sanctuary.|

|Each possesses a base Complexity or Purity exceeding 50 Trillion.|

|Rearing Note: The growth and maturation of Inevitabilities is intrinsically linked to the health and power of the Early Veiled Shore.|

|Dietary Requirement: To mature further and unlock their full potential, Inevitabilities are most fond of a single food source: Everythings.|

|Task Assignment: Mature Inevitabilities can be assigned tasks, such as guarding the Shore or... hunting.|

Noah observed the prompts, his eyes shining with a universe of possibilities. He looked at the creature still rubbing affectionately against his chest, and his mind, now free of fear and doubt, saw not a pet, but a weapon. A tool.

A new, terrifyingly efficient method of harvest!

He could now deploy these beings, these pure expressions of hunger, to devour the Everythings of his enemies and nurture them into terrifying, loyal weapons!

As he thought this, his eyes flashed with a bloody purple light. Before him, the status sheet of the newly born Inevitability rose, clear and stark against the radiant backdrop of the Shore.

|Nascent Inevitability of Voracious Joy|

|Purity: 57,982,471,004,831 (57 Trillion)|

|Complexity: 0|

|Distinctions:|

|- The Newborn: Possesses immense potential for growth and is highly impressionable. Its final nature will be determined by the Everythings it consumes and the guidance of its master.|

|- Voracious Joy: A unique trait. This Inevitability finds genuine, childlike happiness in the act of consumption. This makes it particularly effective at devouring positive concepts like Hope, Courage, and Love.|

|- Primordial Bond: Irreversibly bound to The Early Creature, Osmont. Its loyalty is absolute, its hunger an extension of its master’s will.|

...!

Oh!