Chapter 1633 (1/2)

For second, Randidly was thrown. Had this been the piece of dramatic theater that Seeker Thunder Wing wanted it to be, an uneasy violin would have begun to play.

The Hierarchy… of Burden? It is a historical object?

Not that Randidly believed he was somehow a unique or special individual, and therefore it was unthinkable that his Fatepiece wasn’t somehow singular in its existence, but the fact that his Fatepiece existed before… was a complicated reveal in its own right. He had originally assumed that Fatepieces and Fates more generally were created by the process of reaching Level 50, but this made it seem that versions of those tools had existed previously. Perhaps some Fates were inherited wholesale from an unknowing, deceased predecessor.

And Seeker Thunder Wing knowing about the Hierarchy of Burden begs the broader question, where exactly do Fates come from…? You are mortgaging the potential you’ve displayed to reach Level 50, but a mortgage requires two parties; what organization is the one that is willing to bet on your potential and provide a Fate to you in exchange…?

While Randidly’s mind was racing through the possibilities, Seeker Thunder Wing continued to speak. “Obviously, most of the functions of the Hierarchies are no longer applicable; the Nexus Reformation completely changed the Aether structure of our environment. Most of the problems were… streamlined so we no longer have to deal with the consequences. But if I had to guess, the Hierarchies still have one intact function… with one, you can access the original Nexus Ways. And Those original Ways probably lead to outside of the Nexus.”

That grabbed Randidly’s attention, both due to Seeker Thunder Wing’s tone and because of the implications of the words themselves. “Is it… difficult to leave the Nexus?”

Seeker Thunder Wing looked at Randidly with something close to pity. He shook his head sorrowfully. “Truly, you are recently come into your strength, yes? To the current population within the Nexus… leaving is impossible. That is why so many struggle to reach the Pinnacle. That same Pinnacle that allows you to create something from nothing also hosts a door to return to the true universe.”

Seeing Randidly’s confused expression, Seeker Thunder Wing scratched his head. “Hah… explaining will take a bit of time. The current Nexus is a closed system filled with tightly layered spaces that are only possible to access with the proper ‘authority’ in the form of Nexus Citizenship. That is the ‘innovation’ given to us by the Reformation. It is possible to absorb portions of the real universe and incorporate them into the Nexus, which is why Cohorts continue to appear. But once you are within the Nexus, it is impossible to leave.

“The first reason is that Elhume locked the door. But even setting aside him, the real danger is the concept of ‘drag’ that I mentioned earlier: the five problems addressed by the Hierarchies. Even if you could step outside the Nexus, without possessing the supreme abilities of having reached the Pinnacle, the drag would annihilate you instantly. It functions in the same way that spending too long inside a Dungeon can make you dependant on its Aether. Except it isn’t just a different density of Aether that you’ve adjusted to inside the Nexus.”

“So this could take me outside of the Nexus…” Randidly said quietly to himself. He flexed his hand and brought the Hierarchy of Burden out of his interspatial ring. He had never really thought about it deeply, but it did make some sense that the Nexus was relatively isolated. But considering that just made him more curious about the presence of the Nether within the Nexus. Did that mean there was a secret Cohort dedicated to just the Nether forces? Was the Great Rift previously part of a Cohort that was ceded to the Nether for the sake of convincing the populace that there was a great foe?

If everything here is purposefully constructed… Randidly thought with a frown. Why is it all so messy?

The more Randidly thought about it, the more confused he became. If there was this great change after the Second Cohort, then the fight against Nether might very well have originally been legitimate. Once the Nexus became isolated, Elhume probably had much more opportunity to capture and enslave the Nether Kings. Perhaps the Nether areas of the Nexus had been reclaimed?

Seeker Thunder Wing chuckled as he watched Randidly sort through his thoughts. “...seems like you have a lot on your mind. But… I must ask, which of the Hierarchies do you possess?”

Randidly considered withholding that information, but ultimately he wanted as many details as possible from Seeker Thunder Wing. And this man just needed an excuse to wax poetic. So, as a show of good faith, Randidly nodded slowly and answered. “Hierarchy of Burden.”

“Truly? That is… perhaps unfortunate,” Seeker Thunder Wing grimaced. “As far as I know, that is the most difficult of the Hierarchies to activate and utilize. Even I wouldn’t be confident in handling its drag…”

“You keep referring to drag,” Randidly said suddenly. He crossed his arms. “But I’m not sure I understand what you mean…”

“Yes, some background would be helpful for you.” Seeker Thunder Wing nodded. “As I said previously, this relates to the state of the Nexus before the Reformation. The layering of space and the Citizenship Tiers didn’t exist; in fact they couldn’t exist because the requisite framework hadn’t yet been engineered. The Nexus at the time was sprawling and complex, with most of the secrecy at the core of the endeavor relying on other individuals simply not being able to locate the important secrets.

“There is some scholarly disagreement over the true goal of the Nexus, but most agree that Elhume found a key of some sort that led to the homeland of the Shallah,” Seeker Thunder Wing said. “Whether the goal is to recreate that location or find a way back to the original homeland of the Shallah people… it is sufficient to say that Elhume began seeking power. But the accumulation of such power, especially during the First Cohort, was extremely slow. There simply are limits to how quickly one can improve without infrastructure. To get around these limits, Elhume used his significant capabilities to modify the environment to suit the changes he wanted, but these methods were haphazard at best. Yet even with haphazard methods, there was some success.

“Hence he was able to manipulate the environment more easily, but the Pinnacle was still far from his grasp. And in the meantime, the drag-”

“Wait,” Randidly interrupted with a frown. “Hasn’t Elhume already reached the Pinnacle?”

“True, but most agree that Elhume was able to reach that height due to the remnant of the Shallah that he found.” Seeker Thunder Wing smirked knowingly. “He relied on an external source and could create the System through that inspiration, but due to that same catalyst, Elhume might very well be considered the furthest individual from reaching the Pinnacle; his first experience made a natural passage to the Pinnacle much more difficult. Of course, that was thousands of years ago. He has clearly neared that precipice once more. But anyway, the five large issues of the early Nexus-”