Chapter 4381: The Civilization of Mana! II
Chapter 4381: The Civilization of Mana! II
They moved through wide blue halls that pulsed with concentrated Mana, the walls themselves alive with flowing power.
The architecture here was functional, every line and curve serving a purpose in the greater mechanism of Glyph generation.
As they walked, Riya talked, her words tumbling out with the enthusiasm.
"So the Old Things, Uncle Kael and the other Seed Members, they were stuck for ages trying to figure out how to make this work," she said, gesturing broadly at the surrounding structure.
"They understood the theory, could manipulate Mana Glyphs individually, but the systematic generation and storage part? That kept eluding them."
Her jewel-blue eyes blazed with satisfaction.
"Then I came along, and my sensitivity for Mana... fuck, it’s hard to explain. I can feel the building blocks of every single Glyph. Not just perceive them...I mean feel them, like touching fabric and understanding how every thread connects."
She stopped and breathed in the Mana in their surroundings before she turned to him with luminous eyes shining with a tinge of craziness to say...
"I. Fucking. Love. Mana."
...!
"..."
He stared with fascination at this odd anomaly and eventually smiled.
"Me too."
She shook her head as if he didn’t understand and led him around a corner, the hallway opening into something vaster.
"Because of my love for Mana, everything was easy for me. The Mana Glyph of the Primordial Fireball, the one everybody starts with, that was the first one I completely broke down into individual components. As long as you know and understand the smallest possible building blocks of the Glyph, even if an existence isn’t actively guiding the Mana, you can set up those building blocks to produce the same results."
Noah’s perception sharpened, following her logic.
"You made the process...automated?" he asked.
"Yes!" Riya’s expression lit up with the joy of being understood. "Automated Glyph formation through precise arrangement of fundamental Mana components. But then we hit another problem."
Her tone shifted, becoming more technical.
"After a Glyph is formed, it needs a host...an existence to occupy it. Otherwise, it dissipates after a period of time. The building blocks collapse in on themselves and disappear. The Glyph just... unmakes itself because it has no existential anchor."
She paused at a junction, then continued down a side passage.
"When we arrived at that point, the next step became obvious. We had to naturally form containers filled with Mana...but a unique type of Mana that could be distinguished as if it were an existence itself."
...!
Noah’s eyes flashed with understanding.
Riya continued.
"This turned out to be something fairly simple to do for those with extreme attunement to Mana like me. All you have to do is give Mana personality, basically trick the Glyphs into thinking the area they occupy is an Existence instead of empty space. Create pseudo-consciousness through precise mana manipulation."
She gestured ahead as the hallway opened into something magnificent.
"And these containers are... right here."
They emerged onto a bridge...vast, crystalline, and spanning across a chamber so large Noah’s perception had to expand significantly to encompass its full scope.
All around them, extending in every direction across multiple levels connected by additional bridges, glass-like circular containers floated in organized arrays.
Thousands of them, perhaps tens of thousands, each one pulsing with blue light.
Each container bore labels...elegant script formed from compressed Mana that identified the specific Glyph type stored within.
And inside each container...
Noah’s eyes widened slightly.
Thousands upon thousands of Mana Glyphs, floating in organized patterns within their glass-like prisons, each one active, stable, waiting to be claimed.
His gaze locked onto a massive container directly ahead...easily a hundred meters in diameter, its label reading "PRIMORDIAL FIREBALL" in letters that blazed with appropriate heat.
Inside that single container, thousands of the Mana Glyph of Primordial Fireball rotated in complex orbital patterns.
"These," Riya said, her voice carrying pride, "are what we call the Repositories of Formed Authority. Containers that hold countless Mana Glyphs within them, stable and ready for integration."
She leaned against the bridge’s railing, her posture casual but her eyes serious as she watched Noah process what he was seeing.
"With this achievement, any Citizen of our Civilization can be granted access to enter these chambers and begin fusing with as many Mana Glyphs as they can handle. They don’t have to spend years forging them individually, they just come here, connect with the Repository, and absorb pre-formed Glyphs that integrate immediately."
Her expression held weight beyond simple achievement.
"This is one of the main reasons why the average Complexity and Purity of many existences in our Civilization is approximately above 8 Quintillion. We’ve systematized the advancement process to a degree that makes individual genius almost unnecessary. Anyone with sufficient dedication can reach heights that would be considered impossible in external existence."
Noah stood there, his perception drinking in the scope of what they’d accomplished.
Automated Glyph generation. Stable storage without degradation. Mass distribution systems that allowed an entire Civilization to advance at rates that defied normal progression.
His other members of this Civilization in The Infiniverse...were going to love this!
"You all have done..." He paused, searching for words adequate to the accomplishment. "...a lot."
The understatement buzzed.
Riya shifted her position, putting her back against the railing with her hands laid coolly on the rail’s surface. She looked at Noah with an expression that had lost its characteristic excitement, her gaze turning serious as she studied him.
Noah continued staring at the many different containers...Repositories for Fireball, for Mana Barrage, Mana Shield, and other unique abilities. It felt like a huge library opening up its legs to him!
Off to the side, Riya continued to stare at him silently.
The silence stretched, comfortable but weighted.
Eventually, Noah spoke without turning to look at her.
"You seem to have something on your mind this whole time," he said quietly. "What is it?"
At such words, in the serious mood that had settled over them both, Riya’s expression hardened.
"You kept us locked in here for all these countless years," she said, her voice having none of its normal sarcasm.
"Told Uncle Kael to forge the Civilization to the highest possible heights he could because something catastrophic was coming in the future."
Her jewel-blue eyes remained fixed on him.
"You kept us locked in here with the promise that eventually we’d be called forth. But that same moment...the moment we’ll finally be able to move out freely...we may be met with catastrophe immediately. How should we feel about that, O Glorious Ancestor?"
HUUM!
Noah turned to look at her, his tyrannical gaze steady and unflinching.
"Catastrophe was always coming," he said, his voice holding the weight of absolute certainty, "before I came across your uncles and your father."
He held her gaze.
"There was an Early Creature who was the catastrophe. Maybe if I hadn’t intervened at that time, that Early Creature would have violated those who wanted to violate, then extinguished everyone in your village...everyone who are now the Seed Members of this Civilization."
His tone didn’t change, remaining calm and factual.
"Maybe they wouldn’t have killed everyone. Maybe you all would have continued to live in shame and fear as who knows what would have happened. But catastrophe has always been there. It may have been even closer without my intervention."
He paused.
"And the only thing I did was try to provide a chance...a capability to survive a distant catastrophe. Which gave your uncles, your aunts, your father, and you millions of years to enjoy in isolation. Meanwhile, me and other members of our Civilization of Mana who exist in a different time? We have not had that much time to spend."
...!
At such words, Riya blinked, her serious expression breaking as something like understanding crossed her features.
A smile tugged at her lips.
"How...old are you, Ancestor?" she asked, genuine curiosity in her voice.
...!