Chapter 1,353 – Furnace

“Who’s the chipper guy?” Zac asked in a low voice after they had put some distance between themselves and the hidden door.

“Halvar’s the Nameless Blade who got us out of trouble when we first arrived. Or former Nameless Blade, I suppose. Outside titles don’t count for much in the mousetrap. Now they’re just enforcers of the Rosemore Sect. The others at the table are descendants of his old teammates,” Ventus explained.

“The Rosemore Sect was once the Rosemore Clan, a family with ties to the Hollow Court that only recruits new arrivals with similar backgrounds. They eventually picked up enough outsiders that they had to restructure into a sect. The real Rosemores still make up the core. The Sect Leader, whose sword beams you saw at the surface, is also the Rosemore Patriarch.”

At that point, they reached a door marked with an 8. The elf opened it, revealing a cubic stone on the other side. It resembled its larger counterpart inside the temple, complete with four rows of alien script. The only significant difference was that this monument only reached Zac’s chest.

“It’s a replica.”

Ventus looked at Tavza in surprise. “Mistress An’Azol is correct. The Mousetrap is governed by special rules, an impenetrable seal on space being one of them. The locals have gradually unraveled parts of the Evi’Shi heritage, including these Gate Stones. They’re essentially teleporters that utilize the realm’s unique rules. It will take the stone a moment to charge.”

“Is this the point where you catch us up to speed?” Zac asked after closing the door behind them.

“Certainly,” Ventus said. “First of all, we’re trapped, as you’ve probably realized. That goes for both us and the natives.”

“Why is there no population control in effect?” Tavza asked, the squalor of the slums clearly still on her mind. “Having millions of mortals and low-grade cultivators will put a monumental strain on the shelter.”

“There were checks and balances until a few centuries ago,” Ventus confirmed.

“They’ve found a way out,” Zac said with certainty. “That’s what they were fighting about, wasn’t it?”

“You could say that. We have a few minutes, so I’ll start from the beginning. The Evi’Shi Shelter, colloquially known as the Mousetrap, has been populated by outsiders for at least ten million years. When the first settlers arrived, the Evi’Shi were long gone, leaving only some ruins behind. We still have no idea what happened to them.

“The temple we came from is one of four confirmed entrances. These entrances are designed to appear upon detecting signs of great turbulence—I don’t know the exact details. The settlers all originated from roughly the same region of the Left Imperial Expanse, and the frequency of appearances has increased with the Imperial Road Project.

“Throughout most of the Mousetrap’s history, things have been somewhat stable. Although a few man-made disasters nearly wiped out the population, the constant trickle of new arrivals has ensured that the heritage was never completely severed.

“The first batch of settlers named themselves New Dawn, one of the Mousetrap’s three major powers. Today, New Dawn is the weakest of the three factions, existing mostly in name. The other two factions are the Pathfinders and the Rosemore Sect, which I mentioned earlier. The Pathfinders are currently at the top—despite the sect’s heavy recruitment, courtesy of the Imperial Road.

“The Mousetrap is kept habitable through three energy rivers, with each faction controlling one of them. They’ve always fought over the limited resources and land, but the main conflict is now centered on the Mousetrap’s future.

“New Dawn officially wants to stay inside. The other factions are working hard to ‘return to the Empire’s embrace.’ The Rosemore Sect is doing so by researching Evi’Shi’s heritage and the Mousetrap’s rules. These cubes are the sect’s handiwork, but they’re still far from creating one that can take us out of the shelter.

“The Pathfinders haven’t limited themselves to one direction. They’re throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. Mister Azh’Rezak previously commented that they remind him of a certain Goblin Kingdom.”

“So mad scientists,” Zac surmised.

“Precisely, and it was these experiments that eventually broke the stalemate,” Ventus said. “A brilliant Array Master arrived fifty thousand years ago during a major surge of newcomers. He quickly became a core member of the Pathfinders and took charge of one of their oldest projects. Four thousand years ago, he discovered the coordinates of a Lower Plane.”

“The odds of randomly finding a Plane are infinitesimal,” Tavza commented.

“The Pathfinders had searched for over a million years without success. If not for Naruk coming along, the project would probably have remained theoretical,” Ventus agreed. “Finding the coordinates was just the first step. At the beginning, they could only open a pathway limited to transferring energy. That’s the origin of these so-called Hope Crystals.”

Ventus took out another of the mottled crystals he’d used as a bribe. “Their appearance created a cultivation boom, and they brought the Pathfinders into the limelight. Only the Rosemore Sect rejected the Hope Crystals, claiming their energy was problematic.”

“Were they?”

“Oh, yes. They can induce hallucinations and nightmares, even if you’re careful and use purification. Worse, those visions have a small chance of becoming real. That introduced monsters to the shelter for the first time. Even so, many consider that an acceptable price to break through and extend their lifespan,” Ventus nodded. “The next discovery came a few centuries later. It’s easier to show you. Remember—don’t absorb the energy.”

Seconds later, the stone lit up, and Zac found himself standing inside a hollowed-out tree. Judging by the many arrays covering the walls, it was a hidden base.

“That’s one of the refineries where they extract Hope Crystals. We’re not sure if there’s an active pathway there or if the energy pool is here for another reason,” Ventus said, nodding at the huge structure visible on a screen. “Let’s go. Keep your auras restrained.”

Zac grimaced the moment they emerged from the tree. He would have taken the slum’s energy deficit any day over the chaotic mix in the air. It was even worse than the Hope Crystals, and it gave Zac a definite sense of foreboding. Not only that, the slowly accumulating sense of danger from Mox actually trembled.

“Some hope,” Zac muttered.

Ventus sighed. “I hear you get used to it, though three weeks isn’t enough. Anyhow, the Pathfinders eventually stabilized their gate enough to flood the whole realm with energy. While impure, the quantities were dozens of times greater than what the Mousetrap naturally supplied. This was when the Pathfinders unilaterally lifted the measures for population control.”

“They claimed that it was only a matter of time before they would be able to send people home, and restricting freedom amounted to needless cruelty. New Dawn and the Rosemore Sect couldn’t fight public sentiment, and many of their elites defected to the Pathfinders. The sect had forbidden the use of Hope Crystals, but many within their ranks used them anyway.”

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It was at that point Zac noticed a flickering shadow. They followed it through the forest until they found Ogras perched in the shadows of a tree. The demon’s aura was slightly unstable, but his eyes remained bright as he jumped down to greet them.

“Buddy, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” the demon grinned, giving Tavza a curious look. “I see you found the princess.”

“Miss An’Azol found me just as I was about to head inside,” Zac said. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine in a week or two. Did the elf explain the situation?”

“He’s in the middle of it,” Zac said, turning back to Ventus. “You said the whole shelter was flooded, so why is there no tainted energy in the city?”

“It’s thanks to the sect. They could tell there was something wrong with the situation. Things were progressing too smoothly since Naruk appeared,” Ventus said. “We think they’re right. Naruk should be a champion of our ancient friend.”

“It’s really her,” Zac exhaled.

Ogras nodded. “The elf can only read imminent death on part of the population, but I doubt anyone in the Mousetrap had a happy ending. Maybe she’s saving the rest for a midnight snack.”

“No. They will be safely sent back to the surface.” The trio turned to Tavza, and even Zac was surprised at the certainty in her voice. “There’s been a significant rise in patriotism lately, has it not?”

“Every second word coming out of everyone’s mouths,” Ogras nodded.