Chapter 617: Where the Ley Lines Converge
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 617: Where the Ley Lines Converge
Inside the basement.
I ran my hands along the walls, feeling for the last remnants of technology—the bioluminescent plants providing light and the flowing ley energy.
"Don't get so worked up, or I won't hesitate to erase you, understood?" I used a gentle tone to deliver the deadliest of threats, perfectly conveying my intent through a consciousness communication spell to the dream creature that had suddenly started acting up again.
According to what Dean Mei had explained to me, the birth of any dream creature was a bizarre affair, especially those born within the Primitive Dream Realm.
A mere "tide" within the dream could give rise to an entirely new form of dream creature. They might exist for only a fleeting moment before their form dissipated—or rather, before their lives reached an end. Even if dream creatures couldn't quite be classified under the concept of "life," death was an equalizer that came for them all the same.
The dream creatures born here seemed to share a uniform appearance. I suspected this was a specific form dictated by this unique environment.
However, this creature's sudden agitation definitely had a cause. I just didn't know what it signified, and it couldn't explain itself clearly to me; I could only vaguely make out thoughts related to "eating" or something similar.
After threatening the creature in the simplest way possible, I began to familiarize myself with the surroundings.
According to the information gathered by my Ley Line Identification Art, this was indeed the Underground Cold Storage Seed Vault—the very area I had been looking for.
"Talk about a stroke of luck; I found it after only a bit of searching." I hummed a light melody as I ventured deeper, feeling the temperature steadily drop.
The ley energy supply room here seemed to be functioning normally. Otherwise, after all this time, the refrigeration would have failed long ago.
"Over here..."
The walkways were marked with text. Following the signs, I quickly found the right spot.
Upon arrival, however, I was blocked by a set of massive, heavy doors... though naturally, they couldn't truly stop me.
Boom!
With a single violent strike, I forced open the heavy vault door. Immediately afterward, a chorus of alarms triggered by the breach began to blare.
The piercing sound echoed through the cramped underground area, making me wince in discomfort.
I hadn't expected the security system to still be active and functioning. I wasn't sure whether to praise the sheer quality of the facilities or the tenacious vitality of this plant-based technology.
Shaking my head slightly, I snapped my fingers. Several spells shot out, destroying the devices emitting the noise.
Then, I stepped inside and began my harvest.
Regardless of what seeds were in those storage canisters, I swept them all into my storage equipment, along with the storage devices themselves.
If these seeds were deemed worthy of being kept here, they clearly had value. Even if they lacked immediate practical use, they were superior specimens that had already undergone screening, making them perfect candidates for transcendent induction.
Or, I could just give them to Sofiri; she would likely love them.
As I collected them, I did a cursory check of the categories to avoid the headache of sorting them later... and that was when I spotted a very peculiar storage cabinet.
"Hmm? This... the Omni-Link Main Network Tree... what?"
I stared at the label, then looked closer to confirm I wasn't mistaken. These really were the cultivation seeds for the Omni-Link Main Network Tree!
"This seed bank certainly has some reach, doesn't it? To even get their hands on Omni-Link Main Network Tree seeds?"
Despite my commentary, I wasted no time in stowing them away.
They weren't useless. After all, the Omni-Link Main Network Tree techniques I had integrated into my Tree of Great Knowledge system relied on a physical medium in reality. Unlike the Tree of Great Knowledge, which functioned as a spell, a new Omni-Link Main Network Tree was an actual, physical tree.
I either had to use an existing Omni-Link Main Network Tree as a prototype and cultivate it using my techniques, or grow a new one from scratch and then repeat the process.
The Omni-Link Main Network Tree technique was essentially a "modification art" designed to bring a tree into the Tree of Great Knowledge system; naturally, it required a physical entity to work upon.
While I possessed the technology to induce the growth of an Omni-Link Main Network Tree and didn't fear its extinction, it would still be a massive headache if they all died out.
After all, who doesn't love convenience? Who doesn't love a shortcut?
Having ready-made seeds served as an extra layer of insurance. Perhaps I should cultivate a "mother tree" specifically dedicated to producing seeds.
Once everything was packed, I looked back at the slightly ransacked room. I had truly stripped the place bare.
"Little guy, what exactly were you so restless about earlier?"
I shook the dream creature in my hand. Previously, I thought it had sensed a large cache of soul crystals, but I had looked carefully while looting and found nothing of the sort.
"There... over... there..."
Soon, the dream creature began to transmit broken sounds like these.
"Finally starting to communicate effectively with me?" I asked with a smile.
It seemed to struggle with complex questions. Dream creatures were simple beings; their cognition was fundamentally different from a human's. If I asked questions based on human logic, it naturally wouldn't understand, and if it didn't understand, it couldn't answer.
It was just like how I didn't understand the jumbled mess the creature had said before. Perhaps that was simply its way of expressing itself, but my brain lacked the cognitive framework to interpret it.
But now, when it came to simply pointing out a direction, it could understand and express itself. I had to admit, this was significant progress.
It seemed that building a rapport with a dream creature had been the right choice after all.
The direction it pointed toward was just a wall, but I didn't doubt it. I stepped forward to investigate.
When my hand touched the surface, a ripple of shattered light spread across the wall.
"Oh? This wall too?"
Surprised, I took a step forward and crossed through.
The wall was a spatial cross-section, leading to another space entirely.
Once I was through, I realized I was no longer in that dark underground area. I was in another walkway-like space, but as soon as my feet hit the ground, I couldn't help but frown.
Because... the gravity here had weakened!
Something was interfering with the relationship between the physical space and the Expansion Realm; otherwise, the gravity wouldn't have shifted so noticeably.
But now wasn't the time to study that, as the layout here was different from before.
Namely... it was far too fragmented.
Unlike the previous spaces I had traversed, which were dilapidated or damaged for obvious reasons—mutated plants, energy crystallization, or intentional destruction—this place looked as if space itself had been shattered, affecting the matter within.
This was wrong. I had passed through many distorted and fractured spaces, but the internal material structures had remained intact. Here... that wasn't the case.
I looked at the jagged debris on the ground and leaned down to pick up a piece.
"This is... a Ley Line Memory Crystal? Wait..." Seeing the fragment, the realization suddenly hit me.
When the Expansion Realm is repaired, what exactly is being fixed?
The Expansion Realm's ley lines!
The matter, energy, and soul essence of a world are all secondary attachments. So... I might have been wrong about one thing from the very beginning.
Was this spatial distortion and fracturing really driven by World Origin Soil?
Could it be the ley lines?
After all, I had learned about the concept of "Ley Line Stagnation" after enrolling. Once cleared, one could obtain transcendent materials and ley line memories carried within them.
World Origin Soil wouldn't cause such complex spatial distortions for no reason. It only had two states: a stable state where nothing happened, or an eruptive state where it formed transcendent materials and spread outward into exposed mineral zones—or, in special cases, generated overlapping material spaces. It wouldn't form a spatial labyrinth this complex and constantly shifting.
The only thing I could think of that could shift constantly and reach this level of influence was the ley line cycle.
Just then, the dream creature started jumping around again, pulling my thoughts back from these idle speculations.
Now I finally understood what the creature wanted.
The "debris" scattered here consisted entirely of ley line memories, transcendent materials, and... soul crystal fragments.
This place seemed to be a convergence point for many things; everything formed from the World Three Source Elements was present.
This wasn't surprising, though. The composite transcendent mineral zones I'd seen outside had already suggested that this region wasn't just a simple eruption of a single source element.
To test my theory, I used the Ley Line Identification Art again. This time, I didn't just get the macro-spatial coordinates of my location, but information about the ley line itself.
Soon, an unexpected piece of information came through.
The area I was in seemed to belong to a space that hadn't been recorded in the previous, more superficial ley line data.
Now that I had entered and gained the right to access the local ley line information, more "hidden spaces" similar to this one appeared on a macro level.
And these spaces... didn't seem to be randomized. They were arranged in a progressing spiral.
As for the destination... it was unknown, a total blur!
The ley energy there was incredibly "violent," and the information carried within was being interfered with by an unknown force. Consequently, the Ley Line Identification Art couldn't extract any decipherable data, leaving it as a blurred void.
Then, the information regarding the ley line itself completely confirmed my suspicions!
This was a place where ley lines converged!
Suddenly, I realized what a ley line convergence point represented: it was the manifestation of a civilization's regional "weight."
This was a place where the sparks of a civilization's technology were preserved; the burden it carried was far heavier than any other part of that civilization.
With a wave of my hand, I swept up all the debris on the ground and headed down the only path forward.
As I entered yet another new space, I felt the surroundings become even more fragmented and the gravity even lighter. I felt as though a single Tailwind Technique could keep me floating in the air indefinitely.
I seemed to be drifting further and further away from the Expansion Realm.
At that moment, the dream creature in my hand began to make strange movements.
Through Spirit Vision, I could see it was emitting some kind of information, though I heard no sound and saw no physical action. It wasn't energy, either; perhaps it was a unique instinctual behavior of dream creatures.
Before long, I understood what it was doing.
It was... calling its kin.
As the information spread, the first dream creature soon appeared, followed by many more crawling out from the dream boundaries of this space.
They wandered aimlessly. Some even tried to kick my consciousness clone in the dream back into reality, but the moment I expanded my Heart State Domain, every single dream creature instantly behaved.
After all, they were just dream creatures. Their existence was fragile—even more so than the dream demons I had encountered before.
The only reason they could cause so much trouble for the senior sisters and teaching assistants was that they held the home-field advantage within the dream.
"Don't even think about touching my things," I warned the creature in my hand as I collected all the larger pieces of material in the area.
Only then did I retract the domain. After the display of power, the dream creatures seemed terrified of me.
However, seeing that some debris still remained, they couldn't resist their gluttonous nature and began to eat cautiously.
I didn't care about the smaller fragments anymore. I had taken the lion's share; I had no interest in the tiny, sand-like mixed dust that remained.
I did notice, however, that these dream creatures didn't just eat soul crystals—they ate ley line memories as well. That was certainly a new discovery.
Ignoring the creatures, I continued forward. I wanted to see what lay at the end; perhaps there was some great opportunity hidden there.
After some effort and passing through several more spatial pockets, I plunged into a new area.
Upon entering, I suddenly stumbled, though I didn't fall.
Because... gravity had vanished entirely!
I was left drifting in the middle of the space.
I steadied my body and turned to look ahead. The moment I did, I was stunned by the sight!
Everything here gave me one singular impression: massive.
I drifted silently in a straight line through the vast expanse, staring at the colossal, root-like illusory shadow looming in the distance.
The ley energy was so thick it was palpable. Every phenomenon seemed to prove that what I was seeing was the ley line itself!
This space wasn't empty, either. A massive crystalline body had formed upon the ley line, and countless shattered crystals drifted in the surging ley energy, moving in complex, cyclical patterns.
On their surfaces, I could see countless reflections—images of various spatial pockets.
"Where on earth have I ended up..."
After the initial shock passed, I regained my composure. Looking at the fantastical scene before me, I instinctively used the Ley Line Identification Art to gather objective data, as everything here far exceeded my current understanding.
This place... seemed to be a material space formed by the ley lines and World Origin Soil. It was the core area controlling the distortions and shifts of this entire spatial labyrinth!
The sheer awe of it all suppressed my greed for the transcendent objects. Their very existence was a miracle that made me overlook their inherent value.
A deep-seated desire to explore the unknown rose within me. If I could understand all of this, my grasp of the transcendent—of ley lines, World Origin Soil, material space, and transcendent energy—would reach a whole new level.
These insights, born from my own direct exploration and discovery, were far more vivid and real than the dry, recorded knowledge within the Tree of Great Knowledge!