185. The Site Core

Frost’s mind immediately went to Jury. She couldn’t help but wonder if her ticking was anything similar to the Aberrations. Nothing suggested this was the case, and she was shooting blanks for all she knew. But she still entertained the idea.

She had heard the ticking before, and it sounded nothing like Jury’s. Nothing did. Not even the analogue clocks of the Site. Just the mere thought of Jury made her want to return, but no matter the direction she took she would always end up in the same exact place.

This was where Frost finally found a use case for [Non-Euclidian Interpretation]. The 100,000 MP cost was staggering, and this was the amount required per minute. Since all she needed to do was devour the living to regain MP, she didn’t mind using such a costly skill.

Nav. Do I need to expect anything? She asked, a little warily.

“No harm in trying.” Nav said. “Don’t reply to us, Overseer. I’m just talking to myself.” It followed up, keeping the Overseer unsuspicious of the voice in Frost’s head.

Frost glanced around her and took in her surroundings. Everything looked perfectly fine, and with a deep breath, she activated [Non-Euclidian Interpretation].

Suddenly, the world condensed into itself, whilst it simultaneously expanded. It appeared relatively normal, but she could also partially see through the walls and a fraction of all the extra spaces that would have otherwise been impossible to exist without the influence of Spatial Distortions.

“W-Woah. Shit… Nav, wait, how the hell am I going to describe this to you?” Frost uttered in total disbelief, her hands drooping by her side as she marveled at the bizarre world.

Words could not begin to describe what she saw as she looked up, down, left and right and saw passageways leading to other rooms. Doorways even ran along the top, and a few acted as hatch doors along the floor. Frost could very vaguely see the direction she needed to go, clearly seeing the Administrative level through a mental map.

Its range was severely limited to around 25 meters in all directions, and luckily she was close enough to see where the Spatial Distortions no longer occurred. She dropped through one of the hatches beneath, suddenly surprising the Overseer who shouted at the top of his lungs.

“DID YOU JUST FALL THROUGH THE FLOOR!? A METER THICK FLOOR OF STEEL!?”

“Huh!? Yeah! Hold on a second! Your voice is grainy!”

“Black… DOVE…! Are… YOU!?”

Frost could not tell what exactly this space was. 4-dimensional space? Hyperbolic? Spherical? She legitimately could not tell. Her senses were overloaded, and it felt like she could see everything at once. Distant object appeared closer than usual, and at the right angle, it felt as though she was within an inside out machine… if that made any sense at all.

“Overseer… Hello? Overseer!? Can you hear me!?”

“TRANSMITION… DOVE…!? DISAP…!?”

Was it all 3 at once? Was this because of the Site Core? Frost was at a loss for words and marched forward, trying to return to the Administrative level as something felt awry.

But she never found the exit.

Tick…

The sound of a clock played from somewhere deep in this incomprehensible world. In the last 20 seconds Frost only just realized that she wasn’t in control. The Site shifted and bended, changing the layout as she progressed.

Tock…

No. Perhaps this was the effect of [Non-Euclidian Interpretation]. After all, it stated that it mapped non-Euclidian spaces imperfectly.

She had inadvertnenly descended deeper towards the Site Core, whether through accident, or by its ticking call.

Then, as she suddenly entered a dark world with her senses honed to the maximum, her skill ran out and she was greeted with a steady, methodical heartbeat.

Badump.

Tick…

Badump.

Tock…

She stepped into a different world. A world where no stars could be seen. A ceiling so incomprehensible vast ran across the skies. An artificial structure hovered above them as a pale desert ran further than the eye could see. So far in fact that it felt as though she could see hundreds of kilometers in each direction.

This place… was like the Derma layer. It was cavernous. But not so natural. It was artificial, carved by perhaps the Site Core itself.

Her mind went blank numerous times. The contrast with the black world and the white ground nearly hypnotized her as she found herself being lost in the huming trance of the ticking and the heartbeat.

It felt familiar. Not quite like Jury’s. But familiar nonetheless.

“Frost. This contraption… A part of me also…” Nav failed to hide its surprise through its monotone voice.

You too?

Frost’s gaze followed various chains that anchored themselves to the ground and the sprawling ceiling. If she didn’t know any better then she would have believed she was at the base of some kind of megastructure.

Lights flashed along the ceiling like mock stars. This only occurred twice as her eyes followed the colossal chains, which were easily kilometers in size. Not length. Size. Each loop was so enormous that she could barely comprehend the scale.

It caused her stomach to sink. Her heart to droop, and her blood to run like ice.

She gulped. For the first time in a long while she felt intimidated.

But ticking soothed her, and her footing grounded itself into the sand.

“Nav… You won’t believe what… What’s right in front of us.” Her breath was robbed by the behemoth of a machine that stared back at her with its singular, pitch black eye.

It appeared like a black hole encased within a jet engine. A monolithic shell made from metal surrounded the black hole. A subtle, superheated ring encased it as it distorted space, making it appear like a golden eye.

A moon. A planet. A star… The size was incomprehensible.

Exactly 5 chains encased it and tethered it to the world. How such a thing was even created in the first place caused her to slowly shake her head.

How was it not a Corrupted? How was it not an Advent? Just… Just…

Just what… the fuck… how… Nav. Shit…

“I sense it too. That is undoubtably the Site Core.”

Site Core
Aberrations of Elysia

< Elysian Singularity >

< “Will you allow us to offer our hand at the expense of yours? A hand for a hand. An eye for an eye. An existence for an existence.” >

ORIGIN : ???     HP : ???     ATT DEF : ???     MAG DEF : ???