1066 Mana and Nether?



Liam froze for a second as his figure trembled in shock. Just how big was this array and what was the purpose of such a powerful array formation. His mind raced as he thought about the possibilities.

The next instant, the image he saw disappeared and only a few of the nether lines were in place. "So it has not yet happened?"

He tried to perceive the nodes and lines of the array again but a searing pain interrupted him. Groaning, he stopped trying to get the full picture of the array.

The array formation was a massive network, spanning the whole world. So instead of trying to forcefully sense everything, he simply sensed the nodes in place in the territory he was currently standing.

This was easier and he was immediately able to discern about twenty nodes. 

Each nether line connecting these nodes glowed with a distinct shade of black, indicating different intensities and characteristics of the nether energy they carried. 

Some lines were vibrant and robust, while others appeared dimmer and weaker. It was a mesmerizing display of raw power and complexity. When connected some strange rune materialized.

Liam did not recognize the rune. Was this rune even completed yet or not? He sighed in frustration. How was he supposed to figure out anything with this weird pattern?

Even if he did, he still hadn't figured out how to destroy it. 

The energy from the formation was directly seeping into the world, contaminating the air, water and soil. If he did not stop it, perhaps sooner or later, their whole world could be irreparably damaged?

As he was pondering about the situation, he suddenly remembered something else, something that the draconic princess had told him about.

She had said that out there in the multiverse, there were myriad worlds, some among them being made of pure nether.

Liam's face turned grave as he had a stinking feeling about what was really happening here. From the looks of things, this rune or rather this array was unmistakably trying to add nether to the world. This was probably what caused everything in the area to reek of death.

Their world had mana and was attuned with mana. Now nether was being injected into their world. That too, a very significant amount, something that couldn't even be absorbed by the stone tablet.

Wouldn't it contaminate and disrupt their world? 

Liam clenched his fists. He knew that he needed more information to make a decision and he couldn't fully trust the draconic princess or what she said. He immediately turned to leave to return to the magic shop in the guild base. 

"Is your store manager available?" Liam asked, not having the patience for pleasantries. In this situation, this was the only other person he could go to. 

Even if he did not trust both of these women at least he knew that they were not colluding with each other. If one of them was lying or both of them were lying, then their stories wouldn't match up. Either way he needed more information.

However, it looked like Liam's worry was for naught. As soon as Tilia arrived, she looked at his face filled with concern and urgency. In fact, she had never seen him like this before even when the isons had invaded the world.

After listening intently to his explanation of the situation and what was happening, Tilia nodded. Without wasting any time, she straightaway responded. "I see. This is indeed a grave matter."

But she then shook her head with a sigh. "I cannot really help you. All I can do is confirm what you already told me. Your world is a mana attuned world. Infusing nether is not possible." 

"Nether and mana cannot coexist in a world that easily. Perhaps in a higher grade world this is possible. But definitely not yours." 

"If someone is indeed forcing nether in your world, then their goal would be to completely decimate and eradicate everything and that includes living beings. With enough nether the living would rot and become the dead."

Liam then suddenly thought of something. "Could a world be converted from mana to nether?"

Hearing him, Tilia looked frozen for a second. "That is… that is difficult." She answered, swallowing but Liam could already see that she definitely thought otherwise.

If someone was going through all of this trouble, then… this was the most possible explanation.

Liam's gaze became cold. After mulling over it again and again, he now had a better inkling as to what was happening. No, he was definitely sure that this was the case.

This was because he had already stopped this same thing twice before. Once in the tutorial game and once in the real world.

That's why he was sure and that's why he knew that all of this was about the souls!

Back when the tutorial had stopped way too early, people did not lose as much of their souls as they had done back in his previous lifetime.

Even in the guild battle in the real world, Liam had harvested the vampire souls instead of handing them over to Tilia. This in itself showed how important souls were. 

Just like mana core, perhaps they were also a currency and the divine temple's end goal was probably to harvest souls from the trash-grade worlds that no one would pay attention to.

Liam was sure of it. The divine temple high priestess was not only trying to destroy him but she was also plotting to reclaim all the souls lost from ending the tutorial too soon!

She hasn't given up on that yet. She wanted everything, not just him.

Liam stared at the floor with a cold glint flashing in his eyes. "Is there anything I can do to stop this?" Though he already knew the answer he was going to get.

Tilia shook her head, the fairy's eyes full of sympathy and pity. "I am afraid I cannot answer that."

Liam did not care. "Can I stop it if I stabilize the world using the world tree?"

The fairy paused briefly for a moment before shaking her head once again. "I am afraid I cannot answer that."