Chapter 331: The Core
Beside the Unnamed River, the Water Wraith remained buried with only its head
protruding from the dirt. Its eyes were hollow voids, radiating a look of
terminal "Resigned Despair."
Kaito stood nearby, his interest in angling having statisticalized to zero. He
had arrived for a cycle of "Respite," but instead of catching high-tier carp, he
had spent the afternoon in a suboptimal dialogue with a local pest.
Kaito nudged the pile of dirt with his boot. The Wraith's head wobbled like a
peculiar, Lead-Ranked turnip growing from the earth.
"Tedious."
Kaito gave a slow shake of his skull, his mind shifting from recreation back to
"Grand Strategy."
Though he had delegated the administration of the Eldritch Realm to Greed and
the Myriad-Captains, that didn't mean the Sovereign would remain a passive
observer. The most high-value—and most irritating—component of this new
territory was the "Anomaly System."
Based on Bochi's field-data and Chief Frost's supplementary reports, the
Rule-Based Scenarios were the "Core Logic" of this Plane.
Random. Mandatory. High-fatality.
To the human subjects, these were execution-notices from the Void. But to Kaito,
the logic suggested potential.
"Mandatory Real-World Escape Rooms?"
Kaito's soulfire flickered with a spark of amusement. Once the thought formed,
it became a strategic anchor.
If I alter the lethal parameters... reduce the 'Liquidation Probability' to
zero... and inject a set of fun-oriented variables and 'Challenge Rewards'...
does this not become an ideal entertainment sector?
A Global Live-Action Role-Playing Simulation.
The subjects of the Evernight Empire lived in a state of abundance, yet their
recreational options remained unoptimized. Aside from board games, arena bouts,
and Audio Novels, most undead spent their cycles in a loop of labor and
training. To convert a planetary Anomaly System into a massive amusement park
would be a paradigm shift for the Empire's cultural metrics.
It could also serve as a training ground for new recruits and a test-bed for
experimental gear. A multi-vector win-condition.
The plan was "Robust." But the primary bottleneck remained a technical one.
The Scenarios appeared to possess an "Auto-Reject" protocol for inter-planar
entities—specifically those from the Evernight, whose Od-signatures were too
dense. The Myriad-Captains on the surface were currently experiencing a
system-crash trying to bypass the entry-gate.
To Kaito, this was merely a minor administrative error.
The Anomaly System was a law of the Plane. As the new owner of the coordinate,
rewriting a few paragraphs of the local code was a trivial task.
"Hey, Turnip-Head." Kaito nudged the Wraith's skull with the toe of his boot.
"G-Great Master... identify your directive..." the Wraith whimpered.
"The management of this river's fish-inventory is now your responsibility,"
Kaito stated casually. "If I return for a future excursion and record another
'Air Force' result, I shall transplant you into a sector with maximum solar
exposure. Am I clear?"
The Wraith's head shivered. "C-Crystal! I guarantee the carp will be queued and
waiting for your hook upon your next manifest!"
"Mmh."
Kaito offered a satisfied nod and ignored the pest. He closed his eyes,
expanding his sensory range across the Planar fabric.
Ever since his [Authority: Breath of Death] had fused with the Necrotic Realm,
Kaito's understanding of Planar Law had achieved Tier 7 clarity. Though the
Eldritch Realm was not yet fully "Synchronized," he perceived it as a lump of
unformed clay. The architecture of the world, the flow of its energy, and the
roots of its Laws were laid bare before his consciousness.
He localized the target instantly.
The Plane Core.
It was tucked into the deepest recesses of a spatial fold, acting as the
pulsating heart that powered the Scourge. Kaito stepped forward and vanished
from the riverbank.
In the next micro-second, he manifested in a void of pure space. There was zero
matter here, save for a massive, grey sphere of light hovering in the center.
The surface of the Core was a map of hairline fractures. Wisps of black
"Logic-Mist" leaked from the rifts, radiating an aura of structural instability.
The heart of the Eldritch Realm was a ruin. It looked ready to undergo total
system-failure at any interval. Kaito walked to the sphere and pressed a hand of
bare bone against the surface.
The "Source Code" of the world was read into his core instantly.
"I see the logic," Kaito murmured.
The Anomaly System was a "Self-Repair Patch." The Core had sustained a ancient,
catastrophic trauma. Its Laws were fragmented. To prevent a total collapse, the
Core had autonomously developed the Scenarios. It forcibly drew biological units
into the "Lullaby" or "Abandoned Plant" Instances, utilizing their emotional Od,
life-force, and the kinetic energy of their deaths to plug the holes in its own
structure.
The "Anti-Outsider" mechanism was merely a localized firewall. If it detected an
alien signature of excessive density, it flagged the unit as a "Virus" and
initiated an immediate purge.
"An unoptimized, bug-riddled script," Kaito evaluated.
Cracking a Tier 5 firewall was a statistical zero for him. Kaito began to slowly
inject his own Breath of Death into the Core.
The grey sphere vibrated violently. The fragmented Laws within the core were
caught in the tide of Kaito's Authority, undergoing a total structural
reorganization. They weren't just repaired; they were rewritten.
The chaotic black mist met the Sovereigns's energy and was instantly
assimilated. The fissures in the light-sphere began to knit shut at a visible
speed.
The process lasted less than sixty seconds.
When Kaito withdrew his hand, the fractured grey orb had become a perfect,
luminous sphere of soft, silver radiance. The aura of chaos was replaced by the
cold, absolute "Sense of Order" that defined the Evernight Empire.
"Task finalized."
Kaito clapped his hands. He now held the "System Administrator" privileges for
the entire Plane. If he wished to convert every "Rule-Based Nightmare" into a
"Children's Playground," it was a mere matter of intent.
Federal Headquarters. Temporary Command Hub.
The seven Myriad-Captains were huddled around a tactical holomap, their
logic-circuits in a deadlock.
"The entry-protocol remains a failure," the Arcane Legion Myriad-Captain stated,
his skull rattling with frustration. "We initiated a tenth test-cycle. The
Skeleton Recruits are ejected the micro-second they cross the event horizon. The
Anomaly System has locked our specific Od-signature."
"DAMN!" the Fearless Vanguard Myriad-Captain slammed a gauntlet onto the table.
"Must we witness our new subjects being processed by these pests? We issued a
Public Proclamation! If we fail the primary defense, the Empire's reputation
hits a zero-value!"
"Lower your output," Myriad-Captain 749 of the State Army commanded.
"Complaining is a wasted variable. We must localize a bypass for the 'Outsider
Filter'."
"Perhaps we coordinate a 'Forced-Breach'?" the Aegis Legion Giant suggested in a
deep, vibrating drone. "We could attempt to tear the gate open through raw
pressure."
"High-risk error," the Shadow Guard Myriad-Captain interjected from the gloom.
"The Instances are woven into the Planar fabric. Kinetic trauma could trigger a
total structural collapse of the sector."
"Then what remains?!" the Punishment Legion King rasped.
They were the Empire's elite—commanders who had harvested worlds. Yet, they were
being stumped by a Tier 5 "Rule-Set." The most pressing factor was that no one
wanted to report the bottleneck to the Generals. The Sovereign had entrusted the
coordinate to them; to petition for aid against a "Newbie Zone" was a mark of
terminal administrative failure.
As the deadlock deepened, the Command Center—and the entire Plane—shuddered.
It was a subtle shift. A faint, harmonic ring.
A wave of invisible Authority rippled outward from the world's origin. The seven
Myriad-Captains went rigid, their soulfire flaring in unison.
"That resonance..." "That signature... there is zero statistical doubt." "THE
MASTER'S AUTHORITY!"
It was the unmistakable, Sovereign-tier "Od" that defined the Evernight.
Absolute order. Absolute weight.
"The Master has intervened?" "Could it be... the Sovereign anticipated our
struggle?" "Of course! This was a secondary test! A query into our sensory
capabilities!"
The seven officers instantly formulated a shared narrative for the event.
"FASTER! INITIATE TEST-CYCLE ELEVEN!" the Lich shouted through the Soul Link.
Moments later, the feedback arrived from the vanguard.
"REPORT TO MYRIAD-CAPTAIN! TEST UNIT HAS ACHIEVED STABLE ENTRY! ZERO REJECTION
RECORDED! INTERNAL DATA-LINK REMAINS OPTIMAL!"
The Command Center hit a state of absolute silence. The seven powerhouses stared
at each other, their soulfire burning with a mixture of awe and shame.
The problem that had stalled their logic for hours... had been deleted in a
single second. The Master had solved the "Planar Glitch" before they had even
finished their meeting.
Truly, they thought, the Sovereign's depth is infinite.
"We have failed the Master's trust," 749 stated, dropping to one knee. He bowed
his high-collared head.
The other six followed suit in a synchronized clatter of armor. They were filled
with a raw, religious reverence for the God who watched over them from the
silence.
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