novelraw Chapter 84: [84]Collecting the Prime Seeds, Reaping the Harvest
Chapter 84: [84]Collecting the Prime Seeds, Reaping the Harvest
"They are the exact opposite Sia," Vahn explained.
His voice lacked the cold robotic sound from the past and settled into the calm and commanding tone of a true leader.
"The Prime Seeds are the foundational anchors of the Chronos Spire."
"When the Alien AI built this lifeboat it seeded the planet with localized root directories. They are physical manifestations of Earth’s original code."
"They are locked away in high density environmental anomalies. As long as those Seeds remain secure Pierce cannot fully transfer the planet’s ownership to the Galactic Overlords."
"He can siphon the ambient energy but he cannot sell the house if we hold the deed."
Aria stepped closer. Her red Crimson Lotus Vestments rustled softly against the marble floor.
She didn’t maintain a professional tactical distance. She closed the gap entirely and her shoulder lightly brushed against his arm.
"If they are that important the Spire’s engine must have hidden them behind extreme defense mechanisms."
"Vahn, you just survived a Tier 6 Abyssal Beacon and a localized server wipe. Your physical body is holding but your mana pathways are exhausted."
Vahn didn’t step away from her warmth. He looked down at the Priestess. His eyes were completely soft.
"Your concern is noted Aria. And deeply appreciated."
"But the timeline does not pause for our convenience. The Overlords are watching."
"The golden sky above us is a countdown timer. We need to secure the first Prime Seed before the Syndicate figures out how to bypass its encryption."
"Where is it?" Sia asked. Her hand rested on the hilt of her secondary blade.
Vahn raised his right hand and tapped into his Verdant Chronos Sight. The brilliant blue and emerald circuits flared across his irises and projected a massive three dimensional wireframe of Sovereign City into the center of the penthouse. He pointed to a sprawling and heavily corrupted sector three miles south of their current position.
"The Botanical Gardens," Vahn stated. "Or what used to be the Botanical Gardens. The Convergence has violently overwritten the area and turned it into a localized dense mana jungle. The first Prime Seed is buried at its absolute center."
"Sounds crunchy!" Kora announced via telepathy.
The tiny Kora with crimson hair dropped from the ceiling rafters and landed in a flawless crouch beside Vahn’s boots. She looked up at him with her gold slit pupils dilated with gluttonous anticipation.
"Are there giant bugs? I want to eat the giant bugs Master."
"There will be plenty of snacks Kora," Vahn promised as he gently patted her wild hair. He turned his attention back to his Vanguard and his Healer.
"Sia and Aria. We deploy immediately. Hana will maintain the White City’s logistical grid. Ensure the civilian refugees remain within the Hourglass boundary."
"Understood Brother," Hana smiled with her dark eyes shining with pride. "Bring me back a souvenir. Something shiny."
The transition out of the White City was stark. The moment Vahn, Aria, Sia, and Kora stepped past the shimmering hexagonal dome of the Chronos Hourglass, the clean marble streets vanished. They were replaced by the ash choked and ruined asphalt of the apocalypse. The air outside tasted of burning ozone and corrupted data.
They moved with absolute and terrifying efficiency. Vahn didn’t need to engage his high speed movement skills. With his 9,999 base Agility his standard walking pace was a blur of dark motion to any low level monsters lurking in the ruins.
Sia maintained a flawless vanguard formation and her heavy boots cracked the concrete as she effortlessly batted aside lunging Slag Hounds with her Mythic shield.
Aria stayed perfectly synchronized with Vahn and her pink gold restorative aura acted as a continuous and soothing buffer against the ambient abyssal radiation.
Within twenty minutes the ruined skyscrapers of the financial district gave way to a towering wall of twisted and glowing plants. The Sovereign Botanical Gardens had been entirely consumed by the Spire’s engine. Massive pulsating vines thick as tree trunks wove through the shattered concrete and glowed with a sickly blue light. The air here was heavy and suffocating and thick with toxic spores.
"The environmental rendering here is incredibly unstable," Aria observed as her emerald eyes scanned the dense alien jungle.
She raised her wooden staff and expanded her localized healing barrier to encompass the team. The toxic spores hissed as they struck her magic and instantly dissolved into harmless white pixels.
"The Spire is actively fighting Earth’s baseline physics. It feels like the entire zone is trying to reject us."
"It is," Vahn agreed as his Verdant Chronos Sight mapped the underlying geometry of the forest. "The Prime Seed is a massive concentration of administrative data. The engine naturally generates these high tier anomalies to protect it from unauthorized access."
As they stepped deeper into the glowing jungle the ground beneath them began to violently tremble. The thick and overarching canopy of vines shifted and groaned with the heavy grating sound of twisting metal and snapping timber.
"Hostile convergence!" Sia barked as she dropped her center of gravity and angled her obsidian shield upward.
From the dense undergrowth a massive and horrifying monster of corrupted data and predatory flora erupted. It was a Level 65 Verdant Behemoth. A towering four legged monstrosity composed of jagged black iron and pulsing blue vines and razor sharp obsidian petals. It possessed no face and only a gaping and glowing maw that radiated a highly concentrated beam of pure kinetic energy.
The Behemoth didn’t roar. It simply locked its unfeeling optical sensors onto the intruders and fired a devastating and continuous laser of raw mana directly at the Vanguard.
"I have the line!" Sia shouted and braced her boots against the earth.
The laser struck her Mythic tier shield. The kinetic redirection matrix Vahn had forged into the metal activated instantly and absorbed the massive force of the Level 65 strike. The obsidian flared white hot and violently compressed the energy before firing it back in a concentrated wave of thermal plasma. The reflected blast sheared through the Behemoth’s front legs and sent the massive creature crashing into the glowing mud.
"Kora," Vahn commanded softly and did not even bother to draw his dagger.
The feral dragon girl launched herself into the air in a blur of crimson and gold. She didn’t use a weapon. She landed directly on the Behemoth’s exposed and glowing blue core.
Kora unhinged her jaw and revealed rows of razor sharp obsidian teeth and violently inhaled. A localized gravitational vacuum formed instantly and aggressively stripped the raw and foundational code from the monster. The Behemoth shrieked in absolute and systemic terror as its massive health pool was literally swallowed whole by the tiny girl.
Kora let out a highly satisfied and echoing burp and released a puff of blue pixels into the air.
"Spicy," she announced telepathically and patted her stomach.
"Flawless execution," Vahn smiled and stepped past the dissolving remains of the boss.
At the very center of the Botanical Gardens resting atop a pedestal of perfectly clean white gold runic stone was the anomaly they had come for. The Prime Seed.
It was a small teardrop shaped crystal that radiated a pure and bright emerald light. It didn’t pulse with chaotic and abyssal energy. It hummed with a deep and resonant frequency that felt completely organic like the heartbeat of the planet itself.
Vahn approached the pedestal and the Verdant Chronos Sight in his eyes perfectly synchronized with the data signature of the Seed. He didn’t hesitate. He reached out and his bare hand closed around the glowing crystal.
[System Notification]
↳ Prime Seed (1/3) Secured.
↳ Administrator Privileges Expanded.
↳ Planetary Firewall Integrity increased by 15 percent.
A rush of warm grounding energy flooded up Vahn’s arm and washed away the lingering fatigue of his battle in the Tower of Combat. The chaotic and overgrown vines surrounding the clearing instantly stopped their aggressive writhing and settled into a calm dormant state as his localized authority washed over the sector.
"One down," Vahn murmured and turned back to his team. He slipped the Prime Seed into his infinite storage ring and his deep purple eyes burned with absolute resolve. "Two left. The Alpha is running out of time."
Miles away from the newly cleared Botanical Gardens and buried deep beneath the pulverized ruins of Sovereign City’s industrial sector the absolute panic of a failing empire echoed through the halls of the Syndicate’s primary command bunker.
Pierce Valerius the self proclaimed Alpha of the new world stood before his massive holographic war table. His clean Platinum Tier armor was severely dented and the golden aura of his Favored One class entirely suppressed. He stared at the glowing red tactical map and his sapphire eyes were wide with desperate rage.