Chapter 1026: One Ring To Doom Them All

Chapter 1026: One Ring To Doom Them All

“Is that what I think it is?” I asked hesitantly, looking at the ring within the glass display. Chelsea let out a long sigh, nodding her head.

“If you think that it’s a ring designed to automatically convert the energy of the void into the four basic types, then undergo the complex fusion process to create raw divinity. In which case, yes. Yes, that is exactly what you think it is.” feeling that there’s a twist here.” I shook my head, looking back at the small kitsune. “If you made something like this and it worked properly, there is no way that you wouldn’t be using it yourself, equip one to Treisha, and send more to Olympus. You had me come here as soon as I descended. So... what’s wrong with it?”

Chelsea’s brow twitched faintly, but she nodded her head. “When I created that ring, I wanted to make an item that would essentially make a god immortal. As you know, divinity is basically a god’s life pool. With a steady stream of it from an item like this, they’d be invincible. No need for any worshippers, no need to worry about taking damage in battle.”

“Still waiting for the twist.”

“Getting to that.” She spoke up, glancing up at me. “There was... an incident. Are you familiar with the divine planet that tried to devour Sanctum?”

“...Vaguely.” I nodded, before hesitating. “Did the ring try to eat you?”

“The ring did indeed attempt to devour my divinity.” She sighed. “See... this is something that I only discovered after making the item. The process of converting the void into divinity essentially created a divine spark within the ring, giving it the semblance of a soul. However, without any form of consciousness, it attempts to devour all divine energy that it comes into contact with.”

“Is there any way to subdue that instinct?” I asked, to which Chelsea shook her head.

“If there was, I wouldn’t have had this sitting in storage for the last three months.”

“Three... if you had this for three months, and it was such a problem, why not simply destroy it?” When I asked that, the response that I received was a long groan.

“That was the first thing I tried. However... My plan worked. Not the destroying it part, the part involved with creating it. Because it is limitlessly generating its own divinity, it can instantly recover from any form of damage that I inflict on it. I put it in a system null zone, shattered it, dispelled its divinity, and was on my way to dispose of the remains when it fused back together. Good as new, as if I hadn’t done a single thing.”

“Have you tried throwing it into a giant volcano?” When I asked that, Chelsea’s brow twitched and she looked at me with an accusatory gaze.

“Udona asked me that, too. She then spent the next eight hours showing me what that was referring to. To answer the question, though. No. I am not throwing it into a volcano on the off chance that the divine instinct spreads to the volcano, awakening a volcanic divine monster.”

“True, that would be very bad... we’re just recovering from the last round of danger. Likewise, throwing it into space would be just as bad... have you tried getting Ashley to cut off its access to the Digital Conversion system? Permanently, I mean.”

“Thing is... it’s not actually using the DC system anymore. I incorporated the core mechanics of the system into the ring’s design instead, to prevent having an additional admin account floating about. Theoretically, the null zone and dispersing its divinity should have done the trick. The fact that it didn’t means that it has gone beyond what I can control.”

I gave a small nod, turning my attention back towards the ring. “Those weren’t the rules to convert energy based on our magic system, but from the void itself. Is it possible that creating the ring like that engraved its existence in the void, or something like that?”

Chelsea shook her head rapidly. “Not important right now. What item?”

I rolled my eyes, glancing towards the sealed vault door that we came from. “Bone wand. Looked fairly necromantic? It registered as a level three thousand entity according to the system.”

“Did it now?” Chelsea’s eyes narrowed, turning to walk to the other room in the vault. She walked over to the display case showing the necromantic wand in question, crossing her arms and standing in front of it. “Did you think you were clever, hiding like this?”

There was no response from the wand, Chelsea’s eyes narrowing further before she called out. “Deliver energy shock to case 8-32. Intensity level five.”

Immediately after she said that, there was a surge of energy within the case, and I could feel the energy of the wand trembling. However, it still remained silent. “Intensity eight.” Chelsea ordered, and the energy began surging stronger and stronger. Still... “Intensity-”

“Fine!” The wand suddenly shouted, surprisingly speaking in a normal language. “Stop, jeez! What is wrong with you, girl!? Can’t a wand take a nap in peace?”

“You don’t nap.” Chelsea said in a cold tone. “So what’s with the silent treatment? You have been in this vault for two months, three weeks, and five days. You could have spoken at any time before this, right?”

“With how you keep treating that ring? You think I’d want to just volunteer that I can talk? I’m made of death, kid, I don’t have a death wish.” The wand retorted, sounding like an angry old man.

“And where did you learn that kind of language?” She perked her brow as she asked. I was more curious about where it learned language, period.

“I’m made of souls. Some stuff just sort of leaked in. What, is it a crime to be alive? Or you going to experiment on me like the ring?”

“The ring was innately dangerous with its very existence. Are you?” Chelsea asked, and I could feel the wand shudder.

“No, no, I’m perfectly normal. Feel free to pretend that I don’t exist.”

Chelsea’s lips tugged upwards, unable to keep her serious demeanor. “So, what can you do, then? I’m guessing the tests weren’t the full extent of your abilities?”

“...You’re not going to leave me alone, are you?”

“No. No, I am not.” Chelsea answered the wand, which seemed to let out a trembling groan.

“Fine... I can control ghosts like I showed you, or I can create spirits, or draw them out of the Underworld. I can also identify spirits around me. I’m really not all that useful for your research.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.” Chelsea said, her expression looking like a dark grin.