Transcendent Gene-Chapter 294: Final Truth [2]

The scenario provided a large space that no single person could traverse in a short period of time. The entire span of the Godspark Mountain Range was usually traveled by car if it had to be crossed. Doing so on foot was possible, especially when the beasts and monsters were suppressed, but it wasn’t easy at all.

There was quite a lot going on in all four corners of the terraformed space. There were groups chasing the scenario, groups chasing treasure, and groups stuck in feuds that they couldn’t escape.

It was hard to find a spot in the mountain range that wasn’t filled with conflict. Only small pockets like the one Gio’s team inhabited could provide solace from the madness.

The six clues that the scenario provided were most people’s goals. The allied forces and djinn groups weren’t the only ones trying to find them.

The Old Duke and the Council merely controlled the two greatest forces that were participating in the race.

Because their forces were so large, they gained an early lead on everyone else.

The Old Duke had two clues, as did the Council. Both sides were also inching closer to their third clue.

However, they moved very slowly once their starting momentum died down. They needed to slowly spread out and search for things without any team following a specific path that led them from clue to clue.

They were essentially made up of many ragtag teams working together, which could only form a decent structure with enough time and tweaking.

If one had the ability and wits to compete, it was actually much better to work with a small group or even individually.

In many corners of the scenario, there were people doing exactly that. They slowly gathered clues for themselves and worked through spaces that hadn’t even been found by the two largest groups.

Not many of those spaces were important, though. A lot of them presented themselves as unimportant, even if they did serve a greater purpose.

In the North, the same underground maze that led Gio’s party into confrontation with Raven and the VNGRD party was still being explored.

New rooms were still being opened, and new treasures were still being discovered.

The Bloodless Crypt was merely one of several end goals.

In that very maze, a lone soldier marched onward. He made it through so much pain to reach this point. The people he’d entered the maze with were all dead, and he alone was stuck trying to find a way out.

He was not a djinn, but it didn’t matter even if he was. The maze still guided him to the same space.

The massive chambers narrowed and shrank into a corridor that barely fit one person.

The damp and dark corridors of the wall went on for so long that the man almost couldn’t believe it when the walls around him turned white.

The tiles that were clearly made with intention and placed on purpose confused his eyes, as they bore no resemblance to the architecture of monsters that he’d seen thus far.

He carefully walked into the space where he encountered an airlock door and its control panel.

With shaky breaths, he looked at the writing on the walls and pressed a single green button, urging the pressurized door open.

That event took place over a week ago.

But it wasn’t the only one of its kind.

Boom!

Boom!

Booooooooom!

Explosive echoes reverberated in the distance. The damp, dark tunnel under the sewers provided a decent amount of separation from the chaos, but the man inside could not ignore its presence.

It was still behind him, and he was not anywhere near safety yet.

"Haa...haa...haa..."

The man crawled desperately through the tunnel until he was finally able to drag himself out.

He knew this path. He’d set it up a long time ago in case Lyverne broke into an all-out war.

Only, he never expected to be using it like this.

"Khhhh...!"

He pulled himself up against one of the white walls around him and clutched his side, stopping more blood from falling out of the gaping wound on his ribcage.

His face was covered in cuts and burns. He was missing several fingers on his left hand, while his right foot was dangling and only connected to his body by threads of tendons and ligaments.

He gritted his teeth and chuckled to himself.

"It’s a good thing I trusted my stuff to Gio..."

At that time, he still thought he’d be able to escape relatively unharmed. He didn’t think so anymore.

"I can heal myself in there..."

He dragged himself to the airlock. He’d opened it before, but he kept it closed and put a new lock on it in case others found the place.

Luckily, it remained untouched.

Psssssh!

The airlock was pressed open, allowing Fabian to crawl into the space beyond.

He would be able to fix himself inside...

’...but I won’t be able to leave this place as a human.’

The touch of a single green button gave him access to secrets that he didn’t even know existed beforehand.

And they were all tied to a single piece of writing present on those white walls.

***

Whooooosh!

A virtual blue arc flew through the jungle, cutting apart several trees as it rose into the sky and took shape.

Caaaaw!

The sound was subtle and mostly the product of Gio’s direct intervention.

His energy morphed into a projection vaguely resembling a massive falcon that swept through the air, dove into the ground, and erupted.

’Tch.’

Creating "living" manifestations or manifestations that had the same weight as their true forms was difficult.

He was trying to find shortcuts to get to that point without having to fully replicate the internal systems of the living creatures he wanted to summon.

’If it’s just a matter of shape, there’s no point making it a falcon over a regular arc. I’m not a ten-year-old who wants all of my attacks to look cool.’

He cared about purpose. If he was going to summon a virtual phoenix, it had to live and breathe as a phoenix.

’But the attack power isn’t bad even like this. The difference between 1-2 and 1-3 is definitely noticeable.’

Gio entertained his thoughts as he walked over to where the falcon struck and observed the impact crater.

’I’m sure I can make it stronger. This is mostly just dirt, as well. I don’t think metal would...hm?’

Was the world trying to affirm his thoughts?

A glare caught the corner of his eye; the reflection of sunlight off a metal surface.

It didn’t come from within the crater he created. Rather, the results of the impact pushed aside and broke down a lot of the surrounding brush, revealing the small metal piece.

’Is this...a manhole?’

Undoubtedly, the circular metal piece looked like a manhole cover that one would find in a city. The only difference was that it was unmarked and almost completely dull.

’This side must’ve been eroded by something and made to shine.’ Gio thought as he brushed his thumb against one of the few glossy bits of the metal.

’But why is it here?’

He lifted it out of curiosity, expecting to find nothing beneath it.

’At this point, I’m the stupid one for expecting nothing.’

It was a manhole. When he moved the cover, he found a dark shaft leading straight down into the ground.

It didn’t seem connected to any of the small town’s infrastructure.

’Hmm...’

Gio looked off at where the small town was situated in the distance. He didn’t know if he wanted to investigate or return.

Then again, it had been two days since he finished ranking up, and the rest of his party members hadn’t even left their rooms yet.

’I have nothing better to do with my time. It probably won’t be anything too important, anyway.’

He only thought for a few moments before squeezing himself into the shaft. His energy protected him in case of any unknown variables, but nothing appeared even when he reached the bottom.

There was only one path, a small corridor that barely fit a single person. He traversed through the cramped space for over a minute before it finally opened up into white walls.

’What the hell?’

He frowned as he looked around.

’Why is something like this in the middle of nowhere?’

White tile that looked sterile, an airlock door that looked like it should’ve been attached to a spaceship, and a piece of writing on the wall that he immediately recognized.

’Vita?’

It was the logo and name of Verita’s Nest. That much alone was enough to guarantee the space’s identity as one of their labs or research facilities.

’But why is it here?’

He walked up to the airlock and glanced over the panel next to it before finally deciding to press the green button.

Pssssh!

With a burst of air, the door pushed open and revealed the space within. Gio stepped inside, ready to witness a mystery, but what he found was an ordinary office and lab space.

On the surface, there was nothing of note in the facility.

However...

’...the surface level is usually a lie.’

Gio walked around, taking a deeper look at the hidden space he’d discovered.

Unbeknownst to him, he’d contributed to something much greater than the mere discovery of a lab.

The entire scenario would soon undergo a massive change.

All it took was three more buttons.