Inertia: Beneath The Starlit Veil Chapter 23: Chapter 23

Read chapter 23 of Inertia: Beneath The Starlit Veil by Ken Kaizen on NovelPedia.

Chapter 23 A note from KenKaizen I am planning a fan art contest in my discord. Winner gets to create a character that will be put into the series. You can make art of the characters, astral behemoths, or even draw how you think the astral realm, or the Nexus looks like to you. Discord Link https://discord.gg/NhzJrJAW52 (Cyrus POV) When I reached the entrance of the astral gate, I noticed that many miners were exiting the astral realm. That's odd; it's a little early for the miners to be finishing their day already, I thought to myself. The miners appeared to be in bad shape. Their very essence seemed off. They no longer looked like the cheerful people who greeted me with warm smiles. Instead, they wore defeated expressions, as if they had lost everything that mattered to them. I didn't cause a scene and stayed back, waiting to see if my father and Adam would come out of the gate next so I could ask for one of the cosmic batteries. As I waited, everyone except my father and Adam emerged from the gate. Didn't he say he'd be at the mines? I questioned myself, wondering if I had misheard him while eating. Tired of waiting, I entered the astral realm through the gate. Since I had increased my cosmic energy capacity, I could remain in the realm using this method for a bit longer. However, I still had to monitor the drain it caused to my core, in addition to the side effects of my black hole core. I sprinted across the soft, cloud-like surface toward the mines. Upon reaching the crystalline mountain structures, I realized I had used about a quarter of my reserves. The mine entrance felt like a desolate, abandoned town. The absence of people in the area was unsettling. All I could sense was a chaotic flow of cosmic energy emanating from the cave where people usually worked. Part of me knew I shouldn't venture deeper into the cave, but I felt drawn to the flow. Remembering my father's earlier warning, I suspected this erratic energy came from an astral behemoth. But the miners didn't look like they'd been in a battle—there were no injuries that suggested an encounter with an astral behemoth. Yet they still seemed in bad shape, I muttered, my words echoing through the cave. As I ventured deeper, two things became apparent: my father and Adam were nowhere to be found, and my cosmic energy reserves were nearly half depleted. My mind and intuition were at odds. I knew I should turn back to avoid compromising my core, but the pull of the erratic cosmic energy was stronger. After walking another 100 meters through the winding cavern, I reached the source. Mining equipment lay scattered as if the miners had abandoned it without a second thought. Oddly, all the tools still contained their cosmic batteries, which was uncharacteristic of the diligent miners. Why would everyone leave so hastily, abandoning their most important resource? I wondered. I guess this means I get a free chance to absorb one, I said, pulling a cosmic battery from a drill. As soon as I removed the core, a surge of energy erupted from the battery, wild and chaotic, as though it were a trapped animal fighting for freedom. The sensation overloaded my senses. Is this the erratic flow I was sensing? No, it couldn't be, I said, tossing the battery to the ground. That cube radiates as much energy as twenty embryonic-stage astral behemoths, I muttered, my voice echoing off the cave walls. I now understood why Dox said the success rate would be low. The energy was too immense to control or absorb at once. My core couldn't properly assimilate it. But could I absorb just a portion? Would that work? I asked myself, knowing it was a greedy thought. I need to get stronger. I can't keep dragging my dad down with worries about my safety. Determined, I lifted the glowing cosmic battery, bracing myself for the chaotic energy. It made sense why astral behemoths craved these things—it was like them: powerful, volatile, and dominating. As I began the absorption process, I treated it as a bat