883 Inner World

The Inner World of the Synthetic World was like a Dungeon.

It's divided into seven areas--six large areas surrounding one small but crucial area.

These six areas were divided based on the characteristics: Life & Death, Space & Time, and Order & Chaos.

The process of conquering a Synthetic World was fairly simple.

You had to pick an area, cross it and reach the central area. This central area would contain the 'command center' that would grant you ownership of this World.

For a makeup of teams that the Duchies had, this was an easy task. With the protection of Sovereigns, there was no danger either.

That's why the princes themselves came.

But the moment they entered the Inner World, they realized something was amiss.

The good news was that the resources, aura concentration, and treasures were higher than in any normal Synthetic World.

The bad news was that the beasts were far stronger. The environment was way more hostile.

The safe trip where their biggest challenge would be outcompeting other princes turned into a quest for survival. It's not nightmarishly dangerous though. But they needed utmost caution.

If they make a slight mistake, they'd be facing Sovereign beasts and not just one.

So, the teams of three Duchies and Prince Shak were moving very slowly in their selected zones.

The Order & Chaos Zones were different from other zones and were further subdivided into seven elemental zones.

Ruby Princess picked the Fire subzone, owing to her own divine path.

The soil was practically lava that never cooled. Volcanos fired off every hour. The air caught fire as inflammable substances were spewed into it by various plants.

In one such location where the ground is completely orange-red due to lava, footsteps sounded.

A young man whose body was practically on fire ran on the lava, followed by a silent old man whose feet elementalized into the fire so that they weren't affected by the lava.

"Prince! Hurry!" A hoarse voice sounded before the ground suddenly shook and a pillar of lava shot into the air.

From the lava, a three-faced humanoid horse emerged. Its hoofs were glowing red and it breathed blue fire.

Facing it was the Sovereign of the Ruby Province, the ultimate protection of the Ruby Princess.

"Princess! Get into the volcano!" He yelled and his whole body lit up with blue flames.

Roaring a war cry, he shot toward the fire horse.

The humanoid horse neighed and the surroundings shook. Three more humanoid horses raced towards the Sovereign from afar.

The Sovereign's face sank and he immediately started firing down the humanoid horse in front of him.

Even though he's strong than any 'normal' Sovereign, these creatures in the Inner Zone were no pushovers. What's worse, he'd have to fight several of them at once!

The sky shone with orange, red, and blue as fireworks blasted everything in a radius of a hundred miles.

Lavas were blown away. Volcanos were razed to the ground. The tough fire plants that casually dipped their roots in lava were torn to shreds.

Ruby Princess and the Hybrid jumped into a volcano that had blown off a few hours ago.

The inside was filled with orange crystals.

These crystals would help Fire Awakeners improve their powers. But they're mostly useful for mid awakeners and barely helpful for high awakeners.

So, even though the volcano was filled with crystals, the Prince ignored them and leaned against a wall. The hybrid stood guard. Like always, he didn't open his mouth.

A Volcano was a safe zone that no beasts approached. So, they're temporarily safe. The Prince finally got the time to ponder.

"Why is this place so different from other Synthetic Worlds?"

Every Synthetic World had its variations, but this one was a different beast altogether.

Earlier, Ruby Princess was confident in being the one to conquer this world. But now, not so much.

Even though safety wasn't a problem, winning was no longer a guarantee.

The Ruby Princess even wondered if this problem was Zone-specific. Perhaps others were having normal difficulty and only she had this problem?

Ruby Princess shook her head with a smile. "No, that's impossible."

According to the Myths, Synthetic Worlds or "Other Worlds" were actually made by Primordial Gods.

Moreover, these worlds were so old that even when the Six Tribes discovered them long ago, they were already thriving.

As the myth goes, the Creator left the Universe after creation. The Primordial Gods that succeeded him wanted to recreate the Universe.

So, they tried to make a Perfect World that could replicate the Universe.

These three Primordial Gods commanded the powers of three Avenues-- Space & Time, Life & Death, and Order & Chaos.

Using these fundamental powers, they created countless worlds in an attempt to create a Perfect World.

This Perfect World would be built on the perfect balance of the three avenues. It'd expand to become another Universe.

That's as far as the myth goes.

All the Synthetic Worlds found so far didn't have any such capabilities. Other than their rich resources, once conquered, they could be used as mobile worlds.

Their biggest application was to carry armies!

The next war of the Alliance against the Jai Empire was fast approaching. Every Kingdom wanted as many Synthetic Worlds as they could.

From all the tests so far, the most common feature of all Synthetic Worlds was the balance in all avenues.

Even though there are some ups and downs, overall, every zone would be roughly equal. So, that meant every zone would be in the same condition.

As Ruby Princess pondered her next move, an injured figure landed in the volcano and saluted. "Princess, I've repelled the beasts."

"Hm," Ruby Prince rubbed her chin.

Prince Emerald would go to the Space Zone. Prince Sapphire would go to the Life Zone.

If there's Princess Diamond, she'd go through the Water Zone.

Maybe if they work together...

"Bring the Diamond Princess to me." She ordered.

"Yes," The Sovereign bowed and jumped out of the volcano. This was a safe space and he had no problem leaving the princess there.

Thirty minutes later, he entered the Water Zone. It's an ocean filled with water beasts.

Avoiding fights, he picked a jewel from his storage ring and tried to contact the Diamond Princess.

But the treasure showed that the Diamond Princess wasn't present in this area. Confused, he checked a few more times before reporting to Ruby Princess.

"Check in the Outer World. Maybe she is messing around with the natives."

Following Ruby Princess' instructions, the Sovereign exited the Inner World and began searching the Outer World.

The treasure still indicated that the Princess wasn't here.

After three hours of hard searching, he realized the Princess wasn't in the Outer World at all!

"How can she not be here?" As he wandered into the outskirts of the forest, wondering about the Diamond Princess' whereabouts, he sensed three foreign auras.

Foreign because they didn't belong to the Duchies or Prince Shak and certainly not the natives.

These auras belonged to a man and two women who just killed off a bunch of natives as well as a few beasts.

The Sovereign stiffened on the spot and he suddenly understood what happened.

There are only 15 quotas! 12 were taken up by Duchies and Prince Shak. The last three were reserved for Diamond Duchy!

But if these three came in...

"Hey, you bastards! How dare you steal Diamond Duchy's quota?!" The Sovereign roared and locked his aura onto the three.