Beyond the Bloodline-Chapter 378: Miranda’s Tower Investigation

Planet Leon RX95

Capella Galaxy Cluster

Luabos Universe

August 5th

Year 2019 of the 50th General Calendar

’It’s just a big spatial rift.’

Such were Miranda’s thoughts as she looked up at the enormous tear in space, through which millions of existences moved in and out with every passing moment.

Some distance in front of it was a row of twelve jet-black monoliths that stretched high into the clouds, each inscribed with numbers in gold in descending order.

The names constantly shifted with every passing second, reflecting the updated ranks of the existences climbing the Proelium Tower across the universes.

Miranda paid little attention to this as she walked toward the rift, her presence undetected by anyone thanks to her use of Selective Imperceptibility via the Nexus Fascinator in her hair.

For the record, the Fascinator’s four main abilities were Cosmic Spatial Manipulation, Space Traversal, Cosmic Warding, and Selective Imperceptibility.

With her power suppressed, it was far easier for the artifact to render her existence imperceptible to those around her.

Passing the ranking monoliths and entering the Proelium Tower’s entrance, she found herself in a vast open area dominated by a tall central pillar stretching skyward and a wide dome ceiling above, filled with just as many people crowding the space as there were outside.

The dome above was filled with countless shining dots of light, each representing one of the many stars comprising the Proelium Tower, and as Miranda looked up, she could see scenes of existences fighting within the floating orbs of light, almost as if she were right there in front of them, spectating their battles.

"So the battles are displayed for those who merely want to watch, huh?" she muttered.

Soon after, her gaze was drawn to a conspicuously dark spot at the centre of all the shining lights, and when she focused on it, looking past the winged existences flitting through the space, she caught sight of a familiar symbol.

’As I thought...!’

Miranda couldn’t help but feel incensed at the audacity of the Masters of Sonerth and Uetera for claiming that the Proelium Tower had been created using Zanerth Technology, not when she could see the symbol boldly inscribed in the ceiling, hidden behind a veil that obscured it from everyone else’s view.

An ’X’ with two horizontal crosses running through it.

The Xelvan Dollar, the main currency of the now-destroyed, profit-driven Xelvan Empire, the same empire responsible for creating the Destruction Supreme’s main weapon, as well as the numerous weapons Miranda and Richard had discovered aboard the ship Tasir had tried to bring into this cluster.

The Xelvans always inscribed this symbol on whatever they crafted, placing it in locations critical to the item so that any attempt to remove it carried the risk of damaging the piece.

That way, anyone who saw it would immediately know it was Xelvan-made.

Here, the mark was veiled by layers of Concealment Authorities, but Miranda’s own Authorities were stronger, allowing her to see through the concealment within just a second of looking.

Miranda tore her gaze away from the Xelvan symbol and focused on the pillar at the centre, then glanced at the ground below, her expression darkening.

"This place... it’s gathering cosmic energy through that pillar and storing it beneath this dome..."

She looked around and noticed people waving their hands to summon translucent system screens, tapping a few details into them before they disappeared, likely having entered ’floors’ of the tower.

Then, she gently lifted off the ground, floating sky-high to reach the top of the central pillar that was drawing in cosmic energy, studying the runes inscribed along its surface as she ascended.

When she reached the top, however, she discovered something unexpected. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"It’s hollow? No, just a small opening."

The pillar, hundreds of meters wide at the base, gradually tapered toward the top like an obelisk, and the opening at its peak was barely a meter wide.

"Wait a second... I’ve seen these runes before!"

Miranda quickly scanned her recent memories, and it did not take long for her to recall exactly where she had seen the runes at the top of the pillar before.

"That obelisk in the spaceship."

The obelisk in Tasir’s spaceship, which had been secured within a sealed container and guarded by even more layers of protective magic than the spaceship’s vault where it was kept. It was about four metres tall, and its surface was covered in countless magic circles and runes identical to those before her eyes.

She quickly projected a light-formed replica of the obelisk from Tasir’s spaceship based on her memory, perfectly matching its size and dimensions, before carefully inserting her projection into the hollow space at the top.

And sure enough, after sliding about a metre deep, it could go no further. She flew back to observe the entire structure, her eyes narrowing as she confirmed her suspicion.

"Whatever that thing was, it’s the final piece of this pillar... no, obelisk."

’But why was it still in Zanerth, and why didn’t Ikerth take it himself when he left?’

Miranda spent time considering several possibilities, but she could not reach a concrete answer without finding Ikerth and scanning his memories.

She descended to the ground, deactivating her Selective Imperceptibility, and waved her hand from left to right like the others, prompting a diaphanous screen to appear before her eyes.

She felt a wave of magical power phase through her body as the construct scanned her to determine her existence realm, before ultimately displaying the false realm and the limited details she allowed it to access.

Once her details appeared, the Proelium Tower also displayed its rules, beginning with the fact that this dome hall served as a waiting and viewing area, where any form of combat was strictly prohibited.

Battles could only take place after choosing to be teleported into one of the specially crafted dimensions that comprised the tower’s floors.

Upon entering a floor, one would be randomly matched with another existence of the same level, with only three possibilities existing after that.

Victory, Defeat, or Death!

After reviewing all the rules from the top and entering a random name as her display name, Miranda opted to be teleported into the main tower so she could examine it from the inside.

The moment the spatial light enveloped her, she sensed something attempting to latch onto her soul, strands of cosmic energy phasing through her body and probing to pierce into her soul.

However, Miranda’s soul was layered with more than ten shields of law-infused magic power, a safeguard born from her true existence realm, which she had only suppressed.

Because of this, the tendrils could barely pierce the first barrier before stopping at the second, likely mistaking it for her actual soul.

It had taken considerable effort on Miranda’s part to weaken her soul’s protection just enough so the tendrils would not be instantly incinerated by her flames.

As the teleportation completed, she found herself in a desolate world with mountains stretching for miles, but not a single hint of life within its expanse.

After a while, a notification board materialised before her, displaying the name of her selected opponent, and shortly afterwards, a massive lion wreathed in golden flames, whose heat seemed to melt the skies above, appeared.

’I see...it matched me with someone possessing a similar attribute.’

Miranda silently noted this as she looked up at her opponent, who towered over her by several dozen metres.

The colossal lion roared and, without hesitation, lunged toward her, while Miranda calmly formed a small fireball in her palm and launched it at the charging beast.

Snorting with disdain, the lion swallowed the yellow fireball whole, continuing its rush toward her with contempt flashing in its eyes.

’Foolish woman! I can grow stronger by consuming other flames! Using a ranged attack is nothing but an invitation for me to devour your fire!’

Closing in, the lion swung its massive claws, imbued with cosmic energy, down toward Miranda’s unmoving figure.

But just before the lion’s claws could strike Miranda, its body froze, and the expression in its eyes changed from contempt to shock, then to sheer fear and despair.

|You...!|

It staggered backwards, coughing and spewing golden blood as the flames from the fireball Miranda had thrown ignited its heart rather than being absorbed, and before it could react further, its body exploded into a shower of bloody flames.

"..."

Miranda observed in silence, more focused on the phenomenon that followed the lion’s death than on the creature itself.

This universe had a Devour Class System just like Zanerth, meaning that killing an existence granted the killer a portion of their existential records, soul power, and residual energy in the form of EXP by default.

’So what does this tower add to that?’

Miranda silently watched as, instead of a portion of the golden lion’s soul power flowing to her, 99% was immediately extracted by tendrils resembling the one that had earlier attempted to latch onto her soul.

What’s more, the Origin Cores of the Authorities within the soul were broken down into pure energy and incorporated into the EXP she received.

’I see. That certainly explains why it increases soul power so dramatically. It forcibly extracts more soul power than the Devour Class System normally would, leaving 1% behind so the Universe’s Reincarnation Path doesn’t flag the souls as lacking power or generate record errors that the Concept of Death would eventually detect.

Even so, extracting 99% of soul power for every death over an extended period is bound to have consequences.’

Even if the Cosmic System managed by the Concepts had an immense error deviation margin, millions of souls losing nearly all their soul power would inevitably raise flags in this sector of the system, and in that case, the Enforcers of Death who serve the Eternal of Death and Darkness would descend upon this cluster.

’Let’s go through a few more levels before I make any conclusions.’

And so, Miranda moved on to the next opponent, and the next, and the next, completing ten battles before pausing to piece together everything she had observed.

’First of all, it doesn’t always absorb 99% of soul power. Sometimes it takes 50%, sometimes it doesn’t take anything at all and allows the Devour Class System to function as normal.

But it always extracts the Origin Cores within the souls before they can dissipate, breaking them down into pure law energy and integrating them into the EXP.

I suspect that’s likely how it accelerates comprehension speed and similar abilities, especially since it pairs one with existences that comprehend the same laws.’

Deeper observation revealed even more disturbing facts, such as the reality that every existence within this Proelium Tower lost control of their soul, such a crucial Aspect of their existence being tied to the Tower in such a way that whatever outcomes occurred within, their souls would either suffer or benefit.

Those tendrils of cosmic energy she had sensed were meant to seize control of her soul, while being disguised as the channels through which one would receive the EXP and Law Comprehension benefits of the tower.

’Well, that’s what they do. It’s just that they carry the additional hidden effect of soul control.’

This was also what explained the ’addiction’ Mei had mentioned, compelling those who entered even once to always return, seeking more.

’The remaining residual energy within the intact corpses of defeated existences is absorbed by the Tower itself, and even when an opponent surrenders before being killed, the Tower still claims 50% of their soul power and internal energy as a fine.’

With her analysis complete, Miranda summoned the menu screen and selected the exit button, after which she was teleported back to the dome area she had first entered.

She glanced up at the Xelvan Empire symbol in the sky, eyes narrowing as she contemplated.

’This tower is a cover for something else, for whatever purpose that obelisk in the centre is gathering energy.

I need to visit other universes and examine their towers, then investigate the links connecting each universe’s tower...perhaps that will reveal what they are planning here.’

With that decision made, Miranda left the Proelium Tower and set course for Luabos’ Seat of the Pantheon to meet the Universe’s Master, Ulfur.