The Runic Artist Chapter 24: Chapter 342 - Familiar Reality

Read chapter 24 of The Runic Artist by Ellake on NovelPedia.

Nate floated in the darkness of space, clouds swirling far enough below him that they looked like small tufts of wool rather than kilometre spanning balls of vapour. The world below, beautiful though it were, was not what captivated Nate’s attention. Instead, he was focused on the starship sized, pale moon before him. Kali’Terra had sent a projection at his call, and even that was enough for its presence to weigh down on him like a wet blanket. “Is it true?” demanded Nate, ignoring the difference in their power. “You need to be more specific, Nathaniel. I can no longer read your mind and listen to your thoughts. Is what true?” Nate read deeper into The System’s words. While it could be lying, Nate doubted it. Kali’Terra truly didn’t know what specifically he was asking about, which meant it also wasn’t reading Ankh’aris’s thoughts. That was good information to have. “That you circulated the images for Arikanvil’s return portals from Dead Realms in the Spiritual Realm. That you are the reason I created that portal on Earth.” Nate tried and failed to keep the bite out of his words. His anger boiling over despite his attempts to keep it under control. He was not angry at coming to the universes filled with mana. He’d found a home here, one that he doubted he would ever have managed back on Earth. But that didn’t change the fact that he’d been manipulated, his strings pulled without his consent. It left him feeling almost hollow, like his achievements and progress were not entirely his own, and that made him angry, given all he had suffered to get to where he now stood. “The answer is not so simple. Am I the reason you created that portal? No, not really. I simply made the information available, what you did with it was entirely of your own design. But, I am not entirely blameless. I strengthened the memories so that those who found them in their dreams would be less likely to alter them. It also meant the memories would be easier to recall, increasing the likelihood that a sapient being of the Manaless Universes would recreate the Portal Keys with exacting precision.” Nate’s eyes narrowed, “Am I the only one?” “No, Nathaniel. You are not the first, nor is Arikanvil the only one with such a method. They differ slightly, from one to the next, but I have been attempting this particular method for hundreds of years.” “How many? How many have come?” “Thirteen. Most died, even with the increased rate of progression and access to better starting Classes they received due to the debt I owed them.” “Is that why I started with such a high-rarity Class back in that first Dungeon?” “It was a factor. The Achievement for crossing worlds is used as a pseudo-marker of the debt I owed for being a contributing factor in your transition from a Manaless Universe. It was not the only factor. The other Achievements were all your own.” “What happened to the others who you brought across?” “Again, I contributed. I cannot be held entirely accountable for what others choose to do with the knowledge I made available. To answer your question, most died. Two still live, though they never achieved my desired results and have long since settled into worlds outside of the Heartlands.” Nate chewed on that for a moment. “And what are your desired results?” “A permanent solution to the mana problem my Reality and yours both face. The Class Cores work well enough but the expansion is slow. This Reality is not a particularly large one, but even with the less than one hundred universes, I have only managed to move mana into a little over a tenth of them. Most of your universes contain life and the demand for Class Cores increases while the number of contributing Divinities that supply the Divine Energy I need to make them remains stagnant. A flaw in my initial plan since both the knowledge of Divine Vessels is restricted to a scant few in the grand scheme, and my own Truth prevents me from actively sharing the information. Even for those who are capable of achieving