ALL NOVEL 41. Cosmic Pathway
Shiraori PoV:
As I walked through the hallways of Nazarick at a brisk pace, Aura and Mare followed me with a sad expression. We reached the familiar Gates of Lemegeton, with Sebas opening the gates to the throne room.
All the guardians except Shalltear, Victim and Gargangtua were already present. Albedo and Demiurge also had grim expressions on their faces. I could make out what was going on in their minds. It was pretty damn obvious.
They were likely disappointed in themselves for not doing their jobs as defence commander and guardian overseer properly by allowing an intruder to enter Nazarick. While I was also shocked to a certain degree it was not the same point as the guardians.
I did not know how the intruder entered Nazarick and for what purpose but I was mentally prepared for such an event happening. In fact, it was only a matter of time before the multiverse started throwing curveballs at me and trying to disrupt my plans.
My plans having gone so smoothly until now was very suspicious. By all means, Marvel and DC were like the Western versions of Chinese Xianxia universes. Something always had to go wrong in both of them and both were filled to the brim with bullshit scenarios, especially for villain characters.
Since my actions are also pretty villainous will some sort of magical plot armour make the goody two-shoes heroes to suddenly defeat me?
I did not like the sound of some random MC coming up and defeating me using the power of love and friendship. The MC's in this case would obviously be the heroes who's storyline the comic features.
So I had also been coming up with contingency plans and variations of contingency plans for each and every bullshit scenario. For the infinite multiverse, no amount of these plans would ever be enough.
Albedo had already notified me in the earlier message that the intruder was Amora the Enchantress. Of course, I knew who that was. If she was anything like her comic self then she would likely have been a strong challenge, but she had already been captured.
Obviously, the lack of access to an Asgardian source of magic and a physical fighter helping her got her defeated quickly. But the implications of her infiltration were worrying. What if Asgard already knew about Nazarick? My mind was filled with what ifs.
Hah, I should maybe gain some hobby for leisure? I could use it to cool down. I would have read web novels or manga in my last life but no point recreating what I have already read, just to read it again.
I am not some isekai protagonist who has to plagiarise work for personal reasons, after all. Well, the only exception might be if it is used in scamming.
Upon taking my place on the throne, the guardians bowed down and Albedo spoke:
"Welcome back, my lady. Shalltear has captured the sorceress Amora. Amora is currently being treated by Pestonya after which she will be brought to the throne room in a few minutes."
'Hmm, very well. It seems Shalltear did not have any issues defeating her. Excellent. Did you find out how she was able to infiltrate Nazarick?' I replied. I had tried blessing the NPCs with a silent casting ability, but the effect was slightly different from what I had intended.
It seems that a listener heard the spells cast to sound like nonsense. Maybe I should call it 'obscured casting' instead. But why did she not get silent casting directly? I will have to look into it. My thought process was cut off as I heard Albedo's voice
"I am deeply sorry for my negligence in allowing an intruder into Nazarick but I am afraid that I don't know how she was able to enter. All of Nazarick's defence systems on the 6th floor were shut down upon Amora's entry into Nazarick." Albedo bowed down and apologized.
" I am also sorry for this oversight in the defence systems." Demiurge apologized. No trace of his usual smile was visible.
"W-we are s-sorry for c-causing trouble."
"This is our fault for leaving the 6th floor defenceless without security in our absence." The twins apologized.
While it was concerning that the defence systems shut down automatically, I was certain it was definitely not the guardians' fault. Especially not Aura or Mare. So I replied:
'It's not your fault. Aura, Mare you were accompanying me on my command. If anything, I should be at fault for this intrusion as my plans led to the 6th floor being defenceless. Demiurge, I have seen your defence plans and they were impeccable.
Albedo, you have done all the missions assigned to you phenomenally. No one will be punished for this error.
I was also planning on giving you a reward for your work. Especially since I did not give you anything that belonged to your creator. Look, this is the Emerald Tablet that belonged to Tabula Smargadina and records knowledge of alchemy like the philosopher's stone.'
I spoke and then handed the stone tablet to her. Demiurge and the twin guardians were somewhat relieved after my statement but depressed nonetheless.
Albedo, on the other hand, became more grim, especially as she received the tablet. What I said about her not being responsible did not seem to have made much of a difference as she must think that she has the biggest role in this fiasco.
She is becoming more depressed as she gets her revered creator's belongings. She does not think she is worthy of such a reward, huh? Maybe I should have given it later to her when she was happier. I might have rubbed salt on her wounds but no point caring about it now.
On another note, I began using the wisdom skill as I waited for Shalltear. I had also been testing the wisdom skill for quite a bit of time. Especially during my rest sessions during the trip to the sanctuaries.
If the wisdom skill had given me answers directly, I could have avoided so many issues. It would be akin to false omniscience. Too bad it did not match my expectations.
What disappointed me deeply was that the skill gave me random garbled nonsense and gibberish as responses to most of the questions. For instance, I just used the skill to check if Odin and Asgard knew about Nazarick yet and this was the response I got:
[$#i% !@$ *&% !@@$$$....]
I was pissed off when I saw this rubbish for a few seconds but cooled down rather quickly. This response was nothing different from all the other attempts I made earlier.
Regardless, it is common mentality to get your hopes up while wishing for positive results even if you know that you won't get them.
Earlier, I said this was true for 'most' results. One of the somewhat successful attempts was when I jokingly used the wisdom skill to find out 'How do I become a true cosmic entity?'. It was a laughable attempt as I did not think I could ever become a being like Eternity or Infinity.
Surprisingly, I got somewhat legible results. They are listed in this list
[M!ni#um Condit%on$ For Pos$!ble Opti%&m Evo*&%$on In^o A Cos#ic En!i!y:
<Co$mic Pathway-1>
1. Administr@tor Skil! (Requirement Satisfied)
2. S0ul at the l#vel of a Hi*h Level God (Currently In progress)
3. Acces$ & Under$tanding of Cosm!c Energ!es
4. Or%gin of Univer$es
5. Ou^lier of The Multi^erse (Requirement Satisfied)
6. Racia! Evo%ution into {???Unknown}(Requirements for Information Access Not Satisfied)
7. R&ality Manip&lation
8. Karm!c Change of Fate$ on a Multiver$al $cales (Currently In progress)
9. Embody a $ymbol or Conc#pt (Process Initiated; Currently In progress)
10. Creat% a $ystem (Requirement: Should span the entire multiverse)
Note: These are minimum requirements for a possible path of evolution into a multiversal cosmic entity. While easier paths might exist, those are not accessible due to not fulfilling the required criteria.]
The results were baffling, to say the least. Why did this particular inquiry give more legible results? The sentence that I had not fulfilled those unknown criteria might be the answer to why the skill does not show most results properly.
If I tried to view the requirements to satisfy to access this information, it again gave me the rubbish text.
For now, I will move with the assumption that I need to be more powerful to view certain types of information using this skill. But I am far from certain about this. It just does not seem right. To be fair, wisdom skill should technically allow me to get all sorts of information.
Maybe just like I was using the administrator skill to block others from viewing us, there was someone, possibly a cosmic entity, blocking my access to 'Marvel's database' if you will.
This will be another entry to my long list of pending investigations.
Other than that, I had already met some of the conditions for becoming a cosmic entity with some more in progress. For instance, conditions 2 and 9.
I could understand why it would say that obtaining a high-level god soul was 'in progress'. This was due to the fact that her soul would keep becoming stronger as lived. It was a constantly ongoing process.
I could also understand why condition 8 was in progress. My very existence in this multiverse had caused a massive butterfly effect not to mention the plan of constructing time sanctuaries throwing all of reality into chaos.
What I could not understand was condition 9. When did I initiate the process of embodying a symbol or concept? Also, what is {???Unknown}? Was the origin of universes stuff like infinity stones?
Aren't a few of these requirements too difficult to meet? There are definitely easier ways to become a cosmic entity as is also confirmed in the note. But why did the skill specifically choose this particular pathway to show to me?
That aside, I could easily make out that this was a path tailor-made only for me. No one else would have the administrator skill. The Beyonders might be considered outliers though. Was I considered a Beyonder as well now?
It was certain that there were still many mysteries that needed to be uncovered that were held within the administrator skill and wisdom skill. The gates to the throne room opened once more and disturbed my thoughts. I could see Shalltear bringing Amora to kneel in front of me.
What does the future have in store for me exactly? Haa, I lampooned just thinking about it.
***
Took some inspiration from LoTM with all the requirements and conditions for becoming a god or in this case a cosmic entity. Especially the whole become a symbol or concept stuffy, I can totally see that happening in LoTM.
I was gonna publish 6 chapters but I have some important work, so here's 3 that are ready.