Chapter 180 Spirit Temple
The clock rewound to several minutes ago.
――Noah Kirke, also known as 'Magus', infiltrated the central control room of the [Seal Temple] and shut down its functions, teleporting himself to the interior of the [God's Remains Labyrinth].
The teleportation point was the 51st floor.
The genuine, final guardian awaited beyond the 50th floor, which was normally inaccessible.
That place was a secret area that even those who cleared the labyrinth couldn't enter, because the 51st floor was sealed off by the [Seal Temple] with a spatial barrier, making it impossible for anyone to intrude.
However, the barrier was currently down, which was why Noah could teleport there.
[God's Remains Labyrinth] 51st floor――the 'Hlidskjalf (Administrator's Throne)'
It was a strange space.
The floor and walls were made of transparent materials, like a vast expanse of glass. Looking down through the floor, one could see a massive, blue-glowing planet far below.
If one looked beyond the wall, a vast, dark space stretched out indefinitely.
The contrast between the blue light emanating from the planet and the dark, empty space was breathtaking.
It was a terrifying yet beautiful sight that would captivate anyone who saw it for the first time. However, Noah didn't even spare a glance, advancing to the center of the circular 'Administrator's Throne' and looking up.
There, a massive, glowing sphere floated in the air.
The sphere itself emitted a soft, gentle light, not intense enough to cause any discomfort when viewed directly.
That sphere is a management device that controls everything related to [God's Remains Labyrinth]. There are no external input devices, and to operate it, one needs to possess a specific device capable of wireless communication.
(Brain Support Interface starting... connecting to Hlidskjalf...)
Noah gazed up at the sphere in silence, and soon, a soft, gentle female voice came from somewhere in the room.
'Welcome to Hlidskjalf. Currently, Terraformer 007 is operating normally. To operate this device, you need to provide a management authority code issued by the Pangaea government.'
(Providing the management authority code...)
'...verifying the temporary authority code issued by Archetype Intelligence ≪Chronosphere≫. This code is equivalent to a third-level management authority code. Hlidskjalf will accept some function changes to Terraformer 007.'
Here, for the first time, Noah spoke out loud.
"Stop function changes. I request teleport to the artificial subspace, temporarily named [Spirit Temple]."
"...request accepted. Generating teleportation gate."
Before long,
A "Whoosh" sound was heard, and a teleportation gate appeared before Noah's eyes.
On the other side of the gate, a different scenery unfolded, separate from the "Administrator's Throne".
Noah didn't hesitate at all and stepped through the generated teleportation gate.
"Well... from here on, I need to hurry."
As Noah passed through the teleportation gate, he looked around the Space and muttered.
It was a vast Space with "4" pillars standing at equal intervals.
Last time, it was only Jilva=Chronosphere God who visited this [Spirit Temple]. For Noah, this is the first time coming here. Even so, he get a sense of déjà vu, probably because this place resembles the [Temple].
No, to be more accurate, it's the [Temple] that resembles this place.
The [Temple] built 1500 meters underground, directly below the [Seal Temple], was constructed by modeling this [Spirit Temple].
However, the level of completion is incomparable.
This [Spirit Temple] is a collection of advanced technologies from the late God's era, with gigantic pillars that stand tall, transparent and filled with countless circuits that emit a mysterious glow. He has no idea what material these pillars are made of. The floor, walls, and ceiling inside the [Spirit Temple] are just like those in the [Seal Temple], smooth like a mirror and impossible to destroy even with Space magic.
"If we could replicate this material... we wouldn't have had to go through all that trouble, huh?"
He can't help but let out a wry smile as he mutter to himself.
That's because the biggest struggle in building the [Temple] was finding a substitute for this incredible building material. As a result, Noah and the others had to find a material that could contain [God's Remains], and even after that, they still had to struggle.
The materials used to build the [Temple] ultimately fell into 2 main categories.
One type is magic metals like Damascus steel and Mithril. They were used in the circuits that flowed magical energy from the [God's Remains] to the floor, walls, and ceiling. The amount needed was enormous, and they had to purchase them from all over the world through various merchant guilds. The total cost of the purchases was an astronomical figure that even the [Four Great Families of the Seals] would find staggering.
It's absolutely impossible, but if the [Temple] were to be destroyed, Noah might just go crazy. The cost of the building materials alone is that enormous. Well, that's absolutely impossible, anyway.
In any case, there's another thing――the dragon's corpse.
However, dragons are almost extinct on the surface. So, Noah and the others had to repeatedly defeat the Ignitor on the 45th floor of the [God's Remains Labyrinth], collecting materials from the dropped items.
What was needed was the "Dragon Eye" from 5 dragons, the "Dragon Scale" and "Dragon Bone" from 10 dragons, and the "Dragon Blood" from 25 dragons.
These dragon materials were mainly used in the coffin that sealed the [God's Remains]――the 5 pillars.
The "Dragon Eye" has the ability to control natural magical energy (magical energy that doesn't rely on living beings' will). As for "Dragon Scale", it's a given that it has the property of forcibly spreading magical energy and aura. "Dragon Bone" becomes incredibly hard when infused with magical energy, and "Dragon Blood" possesses the "attribute synchronization" ability, which allows it to convert magical energy and natural energy mutually.
By processing and combining these, Noah and the others in Chronosphere were able to constantly extract magical energy from [God's Remains] and use the extracted magical energy to activate the seal-type Space magic mechanism, allowing them to recreate the "coffin" that can seal [God's Remains].
Needless to say, this is an incredible achievement.
The underlying theory itself is simple, but the "coffin" utilizes numerous innovative technologies. Even if only the technologies used here were to be publicly disclosed, magical tool-related technology would likely advance by several generations.
However, this required the use of a massive amount of the extremely rare material "Dragon Material" worldwide.
As for the number of times Noah and the others hunted Ignitor, it's already become ridiculous to even count. After all, the dropped item is not equivalent to the material from a single dragon's body. The amount of material that appears from a single drop varies greatly by type, and it doesn't even amount to one percent of a single dragon's material.
Because of this, the number of Ignitors that needed to be secured was a despairingly large number. Many adepts had died, and even Noah, who was always busy with research and designing the Temple, had to be driven to his limits to hunt Ignitors whenever he had a spare moment.
In terms of finances, their workload wasn't too heavy, but in terms of labor, it was an enormous burden. Probably every member of Chronosphere thought they never wanted to do it again.
So, in the absolute worst-case scenario, if the [Temple] were to be destroyed, Noah would likely go insane. No, no, that's absolutely impossible.
Anyway, let's set aside pointless worries.
"First, let's start with the seal on the limbs..."
Noah said, approaching one of the pillars.
The [God's Remains] are divided into 5 parts and sealed. Each part is labeled as "right arm", "left arm", "right leg", "left leg", and "head and torso".
Among these, the seal on the "right arm" has already been released.
It was released by the Chronosphere God during the previous Stampede.
This time, he needs to take out all the remaining [God's Remains] from the "coffin" and place them in the 5 pillars――the mock coffins――inside the Temple.
And even for just this task, he needs 2 types of tools.
One is the [Seal Key]――a key to take the [God's Remains] out of the Spirit Temple's coffin.
Another one is the [Space Freeze] magical tool――this is used to temporarily seal the [[God's Remains]] until it's transported to the [Temple]. Although it can't be sealed for half a day, if it can be sealed for even just an hour, their goal will be accomplished.
"First, the left arm..."
Inside the massive pillar standing before Noah――a transparent, crystal-like structure――a slender, elegant woman's arm was stored.
"The seal key for the left arm was from the Aron family..."
From here on, there's no room for mistakes in the work. If he slips up or make a mistake, there's a possibility that the [Evil God] will be revived.
Haaa... taking a deep breath, Noah took out the magical tool from the storage ring at his feet and placed it down.
The magical tool was a rectangular box that could fit a slightly large musical instrument.
With a click, he opened the lid by releasing the side latch, revealing an interior lined with velvet. However, when the lid was closed, it would activate the [Space Freeze] against the internal space, making it an extremely advanced magical tool.
Having prepared it for whenever he needed it, Noah turned back to face the pillar.
Next, he activated the magic.
Space magic――[Space Transfer].
Instead of transferring himself, he drew an object from a distant location to his hand.
Suddenly, a key materialized in his hand, crafted from deep crimson and golden materials.
――[Seal Key]
This was an item he had constructed within a subspace, applying [Space Freeze] to preserve it. The reason was that the [Seal Key] would disappear within a sufficient amount of time after its creation.
The materials used were 2. In reality, it was just one.
The blood of the 4 families' heads and the nanomachines contained within that blood.
The bloodlines of the 4 families are――the descendants of those who had their genetic information edited artificially during the Age of Gods. The edited parts of their genes had various purposes, but among them, a cryptic password was encoded.
Even after generations, this protected code, which would not disappear, was stored in the X chromosome, written in the junk DNA region. Normally, it's a meaningless code, broken down and encrypted, stored away.
However, only the head of the 4 families could edit this broken junk DNA information using nanomachines, rewriting it into meaningful information――in other words, the password to unlock [Seal]――and execute it through the interface of the brain's internal device.
That's the generation of [Seal Key].
Chronosphere God discovered a method to operate nanomachines from the outside, allowing the creation of an irregular [Seal Key] without the head's blood.
In reality, he knew from the start, and since he knew he had a limited lifespan, he decided to use this method――that's what Noah thought.
――Anyway.
So, Noah learned the method to replicate [Seal Key] and actually replicated it using practical means and techniques.
Chronosphere God had the knowledge, but he wasn't a skilled mage, so he couldn't replicate [Seal Key] himself.
Without a doubt, Noah Kirke was a genius of the ages. However, the problem starts here.
"Come on, work properly...!!"
Whether the replicated [Seal Key] would actually function correctly was still unknown.
As Noah's heart raced with excitement, he pressed the tip of the key he was holding against the surface of the pillar――the [Seal Coffin]――where the left arm was sealed.
The surface was smooth, without any keyhole.
But then, a red and golden geometric pattern suddenly appeared on the surface.
The broken [Seal Key] disintegrated into tiny particles and began moving across the pillar's surface.
Before long, the pattern covered the entire pillar and flashed brightly.
"――――!!"
The next instant, as Noah looked up with a gulp, the transparent pillar vanished without a sound.
The left arm was now floating in mid-air.
As soon as the pillar disappeared, Noah quickly covered his arm with his hand.
Using the magical energy he released, he activated the magic and teleported the arm to the box containing the magical tools on the floor.
The moment the arm was safely inside the box, Noah closed the lid and swiftly locked it with a "click".
"Phew...!!"
He let out a deep breath and wiped the cold sweat from his entire body.
Although it looked like a woman's arm, this was a part of [[God's Remains]]. Even a slight mistake in the process could lead to disaster. That's why opening just one coffin was mentally exhausting.
But,
"...the replicated [Seal Key] worked normally...I can do it."
Noah placed the magical tool containing [God's Remains] in the sub-space he had constructed himself, rather than in a storage ring, and immediately moved on to the next pillar.
He didn't have any time to waste.
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