Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 3923: Aeternitas Concordia! VI

As Fold Dwellers stood frozen in shocked confusion, the Living Existences present began to display expressions of grim understanding.

They knew with the certainty that came from eons of experience that for one to possess the ability to veil themselves in this space, they had to be either an Honored Living Existence or a Royal one.

The implications hung in the air as they understood somwthing was afoot!

Yet even as every eye fixed upon the floating obsidian coin with expressions ranging from awe to shock, Noah regarded the offering with casual indifference. When he finally spoke, his words carried the weight of glorious tyranny.

”A single coin seems too little for us, isn’t it?”

...!

HUUM!

The silence that followed was so complete it seemed to have physical weight, pressing down upon the assembled multitude like a blanket woven from pure shock.

What manner of madness possessed this Fold Dweller that he would negotiate with a being powerful enough to maintain anonymity in the heart of Concordia itself and even sponsor them?!

Yet not long after Noah had spoken, the obsidian coin flared with its veiled Living Existential Authority as if responding with displeasure, and four more coins descended from the void to hover beside the first.

...!

Five coins. Very few even knew what the coins stood for, but it was now more coins than any had received of those that passed recently!

But Noah simply shook his head with the patient expression of someone who had not yet heard an acceptable offer.

”More.”

...!

Others watched in maddening fascination as the coins multiplied again, reaching ten in total!

Were...Fold Dwellers from Paradoxical Folds actually worth more than many knew?!

The surrounding atmosphere began to shake with an imposing presence that had barely contained fury, a terrifying aura pressing down in warning.

Noah opened his mouth to speak again, but Sigrid’s hand found his shoulder with a gentle touch, her brows raised.

He sighed with a nod, reaching up to claim the coins as if he were being forced to accept an inadequate but marginally tolerable settlement!

”Okay, okay.”

It was a maddening scene to observe, a complete inversion of every expectation and protocol that governed this place!

Nobody knew what to comment or how to process what they had just witnessed.

But Noah paid no attention to the sea of shocked faces that surrounded them, simply nodding with a tyrannical smile to the Living Existences who ringed the periphery of the square as he and Sigrid made their way toward the exit.

They passed through the shimmering gateway that led deeper into Concordia, leaving behind a crowd trapped in collective stupor!

—

Past the gateway, Aeternitas Concordia revealed its true nature in all its magnificent complexity.

Here, boundless waves of concentrated Living Existential Authority bloomed like flowers crafted from pure possibility, their radiance mingling with the presence of tens of thousands of Fold Dwellers and several hundred Living Existences who moved through what resembled a rising marketplace of glorious proportions.

Large golden crystalline towers stretched toward the skies on all sides, their surfaces reflecting and amplifying the ambient authority until the very air seemed to shimmer with liquid Living Existential Authority.

Through the center of this magnificent chaos ran a single golden pathway that led upward toward the ascending heights of Concordia, known as the Aureum Ascendant!

Along the sides of this golden road, peak Originus Venerant Fold Dwellers had established elaborate stalls beneath massive banners that proclaimed their wares in terms designed to capture the attention of the desperate and ambitious.

”Wonders from the Loom!” declared one such banner, while others advertised ”Treasures of the Loom” or ”Items from the Loom” in letters that pulsed with their own inner radiance.

It was, Noah realized with growing interest, an elaborate fiction.

Ridiculous lies!

None of these traders had actually reached the Loom itself.

Instead, they dealt in treasures recovered from the Doorways that led toward the Loom, artifacts torn from the grasp of Inevitabilities or discovered in the unique locations of thr Doorways.

The variety was staggering.

Scattered among these wonders, treasures that had been wrested from Inevitabilities themselves stood!

Most of these treasures could aid progression across the Originus Venerant stage, while others promised the potential to transcend that realm entirely for those who had already reached the theoretical maximum of 99,999,999 in both Complexity and Purity.

Within the pristine towers that rose above the marketplace, even more remarkable treasures could be found- even the rites that could grant the opportunity to undergo the fundamental transformation required to become a Living Existence.

It was this possibility and many more that drove many Fold Dwellers to brave the dangerous Doorways of the Loom, following the instructions of their sponsors while simultaneously seeking to accumulate enough contribution and funds to...trade for their own transcendence!

This was the culture of the Empyrean Bazaar, as this section of Concordia was called!

A place where desperation and ambition mingled, where the impossible became merely expensive and dreams could be purchased by those willing and rich enough to pay the ultimate price.

Deeper into the city’s heart, areas reserved primarily for Living Existences housed golden tower-like buildings that contained even more fantastical treasures like artifacts that could propel one’s complexity toward the exalted status of Prime Living Existence or even hint at the terrifying grandeur required to achieve Honored status.

Everything could be found here, for those with the means to acquire it.

Everything!

Noah gazed upon all these wonders with eyes that shone like stars.

In his mind, a single word echoed with the resonance of infinite possibility...Loot!!!

Glorious, profound loot spread out before him like a banquet prepared specifically for his consumption.

Yet as soon as they stepped into the Empyrean Bazaar, many nearby observers turned to regard them with expressions that ranged from dismissive scorn to open hostility.

The rune of Paradox that still blazed above their heads marked them.

To barter and trade in this location required wonders of one’s own to offer in exchange.

What possible treasures could Fold Dwellers from Paradoxical Folds possibly possess that would be worth the attention of Originus Venerant entities or Living Existences?

The question hung in the air around them, and Noah merely shook his head calmly as nothing he saw nearby had even made his heart pulse.

So he simply ignored the gazes and looked further in!

But as he did so...

BZZT!

He felt his eyes buzzing.

A unique influence buzzed within his existence as he found it tracing back to...his glorious Early Veiled Shore!