Universe's End

Chapter 206: “Floating Upside Volcanic Mountain Ranges” doesn’t roll off the tongue.

Stepping through the Null Window, Rory found himself in a dark void with his group huddled together, their auras constantly being battered by the external forces crashing down upon them. He could instantly see the strain on all of their faces, even a few moments exposed without the protection of something like his void diamond would overwhelm the group; it simply wasn't an environment that those of even Rory's tier could withstand for any real dura

But, thankfully, they did have Rory with his void diamond bracer. The instant he joined them, the pressure they were under dissipated, no longer forced to hold back an overwhelmingly hostile environment with their auras alone.

"And off we go,"

With a snap of his fingers, the group turned into incorporeal 'comets' flying through the darkness filled with blinding streaks of white light. Surrounding their group of comets was a 'shell' that deflected the impact of the streaking white lights that otherwise would have struck them directly.

Their journey was brief, though 'brief' was exponentially longer than the 'instant' that those with him had experienced traveling only between Ehkorrus and the Maw.

Reappearing back into physical reality, several of the crafters were sprawled out, and even some of the adventurer group weren't looking their best.

Giving the group time to gather themselves, Rory took a deep breath, a smile on his face. The air was hot, scorching in comparison to Ehkorrus, the pneuma heavy enough to crush lower tiers.

It was home. Or it was home away from home.

"Wow," It was Flair who spoke up first, a pep in his step the rest of the group lacked. "This is amazing. I could throw down with a high-tier-seven like this!"

"I wouldn't recommend that," Rory said. "You're all used to the much squishier monsters found within the Maw and in the areas surrounding Ehkorrus. The monsters here, having been exposed to this pneuma from day one, are far more robust. Also, in your case, your fire is going to do very little to any of the monsters here until you wear them down."

"Oh, hmm." The younger man frowned before shrugging. "Guess it's a chance to learn how to overcome passive defenses."

"That's the attitude," Rory grinned at the younger man. "Now, how are the rest of us feeling?"

"Better," Gon Rong muttered, struggling to maintain his normal respectful tone. "This environment is… not friendly."

"Well, the Lord Founder did first arrive here as a tier seven," Kai Rong spoke up, informing her nephew.

"Question, if I may." The largest of the group, a mountain of a man named Harrison, spoke up. "Where exactly are we? Weren't we supposed to be arriving at some base? All I see is…. Are we on a hill?"

"Volcano," Rory corrected. They were on one of the lower rungs of the volcano, which had led some of their group to underestimate the scale of the titanic volcano that made Everest look like an anthill, several of them not even realizing they were on a mountain.

"Damn," Another of the adventurers, Jharrel, whistled, his eyes wide as saucers. "I didn't think anything could be bigger than the Grand Tree."

"There is a lot you haven't seen," Rory laughed. "Well, come along, we've got a bit of a hike. While I was able to lock onto the volcano, I couldn't get more precise than this due to the nature of my initial markers that I constructed, being a wide cast net. So, let's see some pep in those steps."

What followed was two days' worth of upward hiking. Had it just been the tier sevens and Rory, they could have cut the trip considerably shorter. Still, the growing intensity of the natural pneuma as they climbed higher became problematic, not just for the crafters, but for every one of the adventurers aside from Kai Rong and Flair, who had a natural tolerance to the volcanically-aligned conceptual nature of the pneuma. By the time they reached the pile of rocks that Rory could recognize like the back of his hand, the entire crew was sweating, even with Rory's aura acting as a thin buffer.

Emphasis on thin, as he wanted them to acclimate without his constant protection.

"Follow me."

Stepping through the illusion, still anchored in place from his inscriptions he'd placed decades ago, Rory found himself in the familiar tunnel leading into his and Zoey's base, tall coral 'trees' flanking either side of the tunnel that he had planted ages ago.

Passing through, when they finally exited into the 'main' forge, Rory crossed his arms as a smile tugged at his lips.

Zoey was sitting on a stool, munching on… something, as Eia was curled up next to his whirlpool forge, even Jinn was out, poking Eia occasionally as her scales would shimmer orange briefly.

"Yo," Zoey said, giving him a wave as if he'd been out for only a little bit, and not nearly a decade.

"Yo," Rory repeated back. "Tier eight? Eia too."

"Yeah, kicked my bane's ass then broke through shortly after. Eia ate a big ass crystal."

"Cool," Rory nodded along. "Jinn, tier seven? You really blossomed."

"Yes," Jinn nodded sagely. "Spent lots of time in the Heart."

Oh yeah, forgot about that place. Foreshadowing.

"Who's the crew?" Zoey asked?

"These would be people from my city."

Looking back at the assortment of folks he brought along, he half frowned as they were all crushed to their knees.

Oh, right.

Instinctively, his own aura had flared to match Zoey's and Eia's unrestrained aura. With three tier eights all gathered and with no attempt at shielding their aura, the tier sevens, and even worse, the tier sixes, hadn't stood a chance. While the tier sevens were at least conscious, the tier sixes were fully out.

Lifting his aura, Rory saw Zoey sigh as she did the same. Flicking her tongue out, Eia was the last to pull back; neither of them had likely had to shield their aura once in a long time, at least not for the benefit of others.

As they slowly rose to their feet, unsteady but at least able to stand, it was Kai Rong who stepped forward first.

"My name is Kai Rong, of the Rong clan, a proud citizen of the Lord Founder's city. I greet the honored Founder."

Pressing her fists together, she gave Zoey a bow, who turned to look at Rory.

"You're messing with me, right?"

"No," Rory glared at the woman, a look that clearly conveyed his message to play nice.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Flair," Flair said as the next to step forward.

"No long introduction for you?" Zoey asked, amused.

"Not quite," The man said nervously.

The introductions continued for a bit longer as Zoey listened, arms crossed. Concluding with Everett, Zoey waited a moment longer to open her mouth.

"Right. Well, the name's Zoey, but for you all, you'd know me better as the Vanguard of a New Era, or just 'The Vanguard' for short. I would say call me Zoey, but if you're referring to that guy there as 'Lord Founder' I kind of want a fancy name too."

"Mistress Vanguard?" Kai Rong offered.

"Nah, sounds like I'm some sort of concubine."

"Lady Vanguard?" Flair tried.

"Nah, that just sounds like a weird, gendered version of Vanguard."

"Ascentress Vanguard?" Harrison finally put forward.

"Huh, you know what, that sounds good," Zoey said with a snap of her fingers. "You, durability?"

"Uhm, a decent amount," Harrison nodded.

"Good, speaks to the quality of your character. As for you," Zoey jabbed a finger at Kai Rong. "You feel like him." She then turned to point a finger toward Rory. "You're not like, his kid or something, right?"

"No, I merely share an affinity with the honored Lord Founder," Kai Rong shook her head. "His daughter would be the Lady Roxy."

"Daughter?" Zoey suddenly turned to look at Rory. "When the hell did that happen?"

"Uh, long story. Not biologically mine."

"Oh, you adopted another kid. Cool."

Rory merely shrugged; no point in really arguing the point, given she wasn't even wrong in this case.

"By the way, you all took ages to make your way here," Zoey suddenly said. "I felt the instant that Rory here appeared, a tier eight suddenly popping into existence isn't exactly subtle, especially not when I've got a lock on his signature."

"Tier sixes," Rory said, gesturing to the still unconscious folks.

"Well, I can see that," Zoey rolled her eyes. "So, what's the story?"

"A bit of a story, can it wait a bit?"

"Ehh, fine."

Turning around, Rory looked at the gathered group, hands on his hips.

"Well, I guess, make yourself at home."

When Rory had told the gathered crew to 'make themselves at home,' he'd meant it rather literally.

That's because there weren't exactly areas prepared for them in advance. Oh, sure, there were plenty of dug-out, random rooms that had been left to collect dust, more than available for others to claim. Yet, ultimately, it wasn't exactly a five-star hotel when it came to living conditions.

Then there was the matter of belongings. One thing Rory had done in the weeks leading up to the 'expedition' was prepare an inventory for each one of their members. Now that he had a Coordinate affinity, creating an inventory ring was a breeze.

Well, mostly. It still took a monster core that had been transformed into a pearlescent core, and then the regular inventory creation process. Given that they were being made from a 'neutral' foundation rather than something already aligned with spatial or void properties, the inventory space was also considerably smaller than what Rory or Zoey had, but it was better than nothing; each of them had a closet's worth of space adorning their hand.

Which was how they were making themselves at home, locating rooms for themselves and claiming them as they pulled out their sparse possessions.

As they were doing that, Rory was left with some alone time, or sort-of-alone time, given he was spending it with Zoey, Eia, and Jinn.

"So…. What's new?"

"Tier eight," Zoey said.

"Smart ass," Rory rolled his eyes.

"Not a whole lot," Zoey answered after a moment. "Actually, that's sort of a lie."

"Cryptic much?"

"Nah, just give me a moment," Zoey said with a sigh. "So, not much has changed around here. Oh, I do have goodies that I need to give you back from the Queen fight."

"It's waited several years; it can wait a few minutes longer," Rory chuckled.

"Right, well, back to what I was saying. After the battle with the Queen, I returned via explosive release-"

"Heh, explosive release."

"Shut up, sound like a twelve-year-old boy," Zoey said, punching him in the shoulder. "Anyway, basically, the volcano erupted and launched me back out. I returned to find Eia absorbing energies from a big ass crystal, and after the fact, she broke through tier eight. I broke through not long after kicking my bane's ass."

"Right, because you'd be dead if you hadn't."

"Exactly," Zoey said with a snap of her fingers. "How'd your bane fight go, by the way?"

"Lost. I was sort of winning, but I was on the verge of gassing out, so I made a play at trying to force a domain activation."

"Oof. Didn't go well?"

"Not at all. There is a reason that any domain type ability we've seen has been gradual or limited," Rory snorted. "But I've found a workaround. I'll show it to you at some point."

"Nifty," Zoey said, borrowing from Rory's lexicon. "Anyway, after breaking through, I picked my new ascension skill, dumped attributes toward durability, and then spent the last few years thoroughly investigating this region now that I'm tier eight and can pretty much manhandle even the strongest monsters without much issue."

"Finding anything interesting?"

"Yes," Zoey answered excitedly. "Very interesting. So, you know that Terawa staff?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, I used it so much that I've gotten a pretty good sense for the stuff, but I'm getting ahead of myself once more. After exploring pretty much the entirety of the region, I made a major discovery. There are eight major peaks."

"Like, volcanoes?"

"Yeah, dumbass, hence the word peaks."

"I mean, shield volcanoes don't really have a tip so-"

"Nerd," Zoey rolled her eyes. "My point is that our home happens to be one of those eight, and they all happen to be opposite of each other, North, North-east, East, South-East, South, South-west, etc."

"That doesn't seem to be random," Rory noted.

"Not at all," Zoey confirmed. "Naturally, I have a strong exploration sense, so as I was doing some digging, some of that being literal digging, and I concluded that each one of these eight major mountains contains traces of tier eight monsters at the peak, and if they're like our own, probably at the base as well."

"So, a puzzle or something?"

"Not sure I'd call it a puzzle, but more like guardians. Clear a mountain, and well… something."

"You think it has to do with the Heart place the Jinn likes to foreshadow?"

"Probably," Zoey said, before smiling smugly.

"What?" Rory asked, well aware that her current expression meant she'd done something she was proud of.

"But I cheated. You see, even at tier eight, I don't think I can handle our friend at the top of the mountain on my own. If Aelia enhanced the Queen, I get the feeling it will have been buffed as well."

"Aelia did that?" Rory frowned, crossing his arms.

"Oh yeah, you weren't there for that by that point. E.O.N. forced her to show up in person to hand out rewards for taking too much direct intervention. Hilarious, you should have seen her face."

"Noted," Rory said with a sigh. "But as you were saying?"

"Oh, right, I cheated. Knowing that these eight mountain regions were all at the cardinal points of a compass, I figured that there was probably something in the middle that was being hidden from view."

Rory found that idea intriguing. Being that the volcanic region was a collection of floating mountain ranges and accompanying mountain flats surrounding them, plus just how massive they were, if you were near the peak, you could spot other landmasses floating upside down in the sky just as they were.

The one thing he hadn't seen was anything in the middle of the region, which was something like a haphazard collection of landmasses ordered into a loosely organized ring. Even with his eye skill fully released and looking toward the center, Rory had never seen anything.

But then, if Aelia or Eon really wanted to hide something, I'm sure they could have blocked the vision of a mere tier seven who wasn't even all that aware that something was hiding to begin with.

"With that hypothesis, I poked around for a while until I found it. A trace of terawa flows from this mountain range to the region's core."

"How'd you even find that?" Rory asked.

"Explorer's Instinct," Zoey said, tapping her head. "As in, a literal skill I have called Explorer's Instinct. Since I already had a hunch of what I might be searching for, and with the aid of that terawa scepter, I eventually locked in on it. Anyway, the 'trace' was so faint it may as well not exist, which leads me to believe that conquering one of the eight main peaks is necessary to anchor and stabilize it through magic and stuff."

"But you cheated," Rory reminded.

"But I cheated," Zoey nodded with her satisfied grin. "Using the staff and having locked onto the faint stream, I was able to anchor it, at least temporarily, forcibly. Then, I rode it to the center of the region."

"And?"

"Hoh boy, did I make a discovery!" Zoey's face widened into an even larger grin. "Mirage Island, or so I decided to call it. I passed through a 'barrier' of sorts and found myself on this massive island, with no mountains, nothing. I think I wasn't meant to be there, so without the proper 'unlock' conditions met, the island itself was dormant, the areas of interest hadn't yet been formed, or some other explanation that I don't properly understand. What I did learn was that the pneuma there is fucking off the charts. With my tier eight durability and durability enhancement given out as part of the rewards for killing the Queen, I should be able to take some serious punishment, right?"

"Yes, which means I have an idea of where this is going."

"Every second spent there, it was like the energy level of the pneuma there was so high it was outpacing my durability and my natural healing rate. I was forced to leave within only two or three minutes."

"So, this Mirage Island-"

"Yeah," Zoey said with a nod, already knowing what Rory was thinking. "I think it might be the home of a tier ten."