Entree Keys

Entree Keys

Year 152

Lilies introduced me to an interesting new friend. It was a massive turtle, the size of a bus, that somehow managed to secretly swim through the rivers and lakes. I had eyes and ears, but in the water, it still managed to evade my detection.

It clearly had some skills, and the way it communicated was strange.The turtle stopped at the side of the lake, and touched one of Lilies floating platforms. It seemed to use Lilies way of communication.

> I am Vallasira, pleased to meet you, Aeon. <

It was a magical turtle or tortoise thing, resembling a Zaratan, but too small to be one. But I asked to be sure.

> Yes, I am a young Zaratan. It is a common question, and I have lived for as long as Lilies. We heard of your search for tales of the sea, and I am here to answer what I can. It is not often that one of the spirits of the land seeks out the spirits of the sea. <

Is there a catch? With Lilies, there wasnt any. Lilies was just willing to share, especially with someone like me whom they view as an equal.

> So long as we are never hunted on your lands and your rivers, that is good enough. <

I said.

> It is so. It seems you seek the origins of the gods? <

They lived so long, surely there are ways...

> We do what spirits of our kind do. We swim to other worlds where the demons cannot follow. <

I felt like that turtle just dropped a bombshell on me. So there clearly are other worlds, and not only that, the turtle is able to go there!

It paused momentarily > We can only carry what that can fit on our backs, and our void mana determines how often we can go and what we can take. For spirits of you power... we cannot do so. <

Void mana. Where have I heard that before... Ah. That princess from so many many years ago. So that princess was headed in the right direction...

> And we have time. < Vallasira spoke, he, or it, floated on the shores of Lilies lake. I made a large wall of trees so that he would not be seen, and then added a layer of [camouflage] and [mist]. Here was a creature who travelled to other worlds, and it would not be .

Fuck. So there are multiple worlds with similar problems. But also, there is a way to escape. Patreecks idea of hiding the world, or somehow moving the world away has merit.

> We believe they are creatures or beings that reached a certain yet unknown high level, and obtained the 2nd tier of the system. We also speculate there is either a system that existed above this one, or a tier to the current system. In any case, the gods have access to a higher set of powers and rights. We do not know how to get there, and those who have, could not reveal it to us. <

An admin system, or console access, isnt it? Mozart referred to himself as administrator. Maybe its just a set of administrator passwords which granted them access to that system.

> We suspect so, though their names are different across worlds. <

> Certainly. Zaratans meet each other to mate, to raise our eggs and our young, and discuss the matters of our safety, and of the multiverse. >

> As Zaratans of the sea, we know little of these otherworldly invaders. They have a homeworld, or a chain of worlds somewhere, but their world lacks seas, rivers or lakes, so we cannot create the interplanar mist and swim there. So... we dont know beyond that, and who controls them there. Our great elder once tried to stop the demons, but the Gods puppets turned on our elder. <

A waterless world. I see. Also, these interplanar turtles need large bodies of water to move around worlds? Thats a rather odd restriction to their power.

> Our abilities have adapted us to travelling to other worlds, and would not be useful to you. Large quantities of Void Mana is the first step to any interplanar travel. <

Void mana. How do I get that?

It seemed the turtle read my mind. > Void Mana requires one to dabble in higher magics, or, if you have it naturally. Like us. <

Wait, does this also imply that the Spirit Trees in those stories may actually have Void Mana instead of Star Mana? Perhaps, it is a path along the road of the domains, that I may have one of those choices in the future?

I would presume that there have to be further domain choices, that Level 150 isnt the only time one chooses their domain. Given that my first domain choice happened at Level 150, its possible that the next domain choice happens at either Level 200, Level 250 or Level 300. If Level 150 was the one and only domain choice, then I may be quite fucked.

The turtle was silent for a moment, then answered. > No. <

What is void mana?

I asked Lilies.

> Some say it is always around us, but just undetected. Some come across them purely by luck. <

I have an entire continent. Surely if it is luck, the statistics would point to me having seen it already.

> Perhaps it is invisible to you, as you rely on Spirit Vision. <

...fuck.

-

Year 153

There was not much time to rest, as I saw, we saw rifts opening throughout the central continent. It was a magically fascinating thing to see, to see space and reality crumble and break apart to reveal these gashes in space.

We redirected all the magical sensors and labs to the rifts, and wondered whether the demons use void mana too, or perhaps they have some substitute for it.

Are the rifts void mana?

Aeon. Demons spotted on our continent. Your command? Kavio and Valthorns came to meet.

Ringfence all the rifts, and let our forces fight them. Naturally, what else is there to do against demons? We should aim to take this opportunity to level up the forces. Alert me to all demon champions.

As you command.

Some of the smaller rifts spawned only ordinary demons. The demons resembled large skeletal structures, a bit more like animated skeleton animals with some dried flesh. From this alone Im predicted an undead-type demon king.

Since it wasnt a problem to suppress the rifts, Ive started setting up labs closer to the rifts, hoping that my sensors will figure out what they are.

Has anyone ever touched a rift? I asked the entire council and the Valthorns.

Uh... not that we know of.

What if we touched the rift?

There was silence. I decided to try, and on one of the smallest rifts, a bunch of vines and roots reached out and attempted to hold the rifts. It was weird. The rifts seemed to be both a physical and magical thing, and alternated between the two. It felt like touching a floating snowflake that promptly turned into a puddle of water.

There was a... frequency. I could feel it, the way the energy of the rift ebbed back and forth. I instinctively attempted to match its resonance.

Master, the vines went through. Patreeck noted.

What. The vines got to the other side of the rift, I could still feel them, and it could go through if the magical pulse was at the right regularity. There was a sensation of incredible dryness, my vines had to draw more water from the network. Sand. Rocks. But very, very dry.

About an hour into it, the demons seemed to realise, the small rift quickly closed and cut off my vines, now left on the other side.

Did you see or feel anything? I asked Patreeck. Patreeck had used my [eye] ability on the vines, to see whats on the other side. Patreeck gave me a series of images, it felt like I was looking through the eyes of the mars rovers, an alien world filled with massive spires and large, red crystals. An army waited at the other side.

The vines eye turned and looked back at the rift. We saw a large ring-shaped gate structure, and the rift in it. Around the platform of the gate were six massive arrays of reddish-black stone. It glowed in both red and a black-ish color, at intervals. There were also more of those red crystals, further out, connected by some strange chains.

The demons then spotted the vine, and the portal promptly closed. That was the end of it.

But I saw enough. Demons. Alien worlds. Gates that open the rifts itself. Could I tamper with the rift next time?

Spaizzer

Due to my present overwhelming workload and life generally, I've decided to take one week off. There will be no chapters on 2 March 2021. I will resume posting on 9 March 2021 (or 10 March 2021 depending on where you are in the world.)