Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 4024: Farmers of Existence! VI

As Noah marveled at this wonder, feeling power coursing through him that would have taken normal beings multiple lifetimes to achieve...

BOOM!

A terrifying aura erupted behind him with force that made reality step back in acknowledgment. Noah spun to face the source, his enhanced perception immediately observing what stood before him.

The being was titanic in scale, humanoid in general shape but wrong in every specific. Its skin was bark-like but moved like flesh, inscribed with patterns that predated written Runes. Its eyes held depths of immensity!

Massive hands ended in fingers that could have carved mountains or cradled newborn thoughts with equal ease.

Most shocking was what it wasn’t...this was not a Living Existence. Noah’s enhanced perception confirmed it carried only the aura of a Fold Dweller with no Living Existential Authority, yet its power dwarfed any Duke he had encountered!

The being’s expression was grave as stones that had witnessed the death of Folds.

”Fool! What are you doing here alone when the mad Early Creature is still hunting around these parts?! Come on!”

Before Noah could respond, before he could process the implications of ’mad Early Creature’ or formulate questions, the titanic being’s hand closed around him with force that transcended physical or conceptual resistance!

The being’s grip contained authority that Noah couldn’t begin to counter because it was far too old! Authority accumulated not through advancement but through sheer survival in an era when survival itself was an achievement.

”I said COME ON!” the being roared, already moving with speed that compressed space around them. ”The last fool who lingered near the Reeds got turned into a meal crushed between the teeth of an Early Creature!”

...!

Noah found himself being carried like a child through a landscape that shifted and changed with each massive stride the being took. His timer showed [58:43] remaining.

The titanic being’s pace increased, its fear palpable despite its overwhelming power. Whatever Esrly Creature were running from, it was something that even natives of the Earliest Folds didn’t want to encounter!

Noah gripped the Goad tighter, feeling its weight shift in his hand as he thought of all thr possibilities- one of the major goals being...not to die here!

The Fold Dweller crossed through existence with strides that compressed reality around them, each step covering distances that had no proper measurement.

The sensation was like being dragged through water that was also fire that was also thought itself.

Seconds stretched and compressed simultaneously, and then...

They crossed a threshold.

The transition was immediate and absolute, like stepping from chaos into order, from possibility into definition. Noah felt barriers close behind them....barriers that were conceptual boundaries that declared this space separate from the madness beyond!

The titanic being released him with visible relief, its bark-flesh form sagging slightly as tension drained away. It breathed out...a sound like wind through forests that had never existed, and looked Noah up and down with eyes that held eons of assessment.

”You look a bit weaker than most,” it observed, not unkindly but with the matter-of-fact tone of someone stating that water was wet. ”Though I suppose that’s better than the last one I found...”

The being straightened, gesturing to the space around them with one massive hand. ”I’ve brought you to the Folds of the Esteemed First Farmer, the One Who Gazed Upon THE Living Spirit.”

The title rang through the space with weight that made reality pulse.

Prompts flashed before Noah right after!

|Location Identified: The Primordial Agricultural Sanctum. Owner- Viltharion the Principle Cultivator, The One Who Gazed Upon THE Living Spirit|

|Era: The Earliest Folds - Period of Initial Cultivation. Population: 731 Fold Dwellers. Warning: You are the weakest entity present by a factor of 1,000.|

|Time Remaining: 57:50|

...!

Noah’s astonishment was complete as he took in his surroundings.

The reeds were still present, those light-year-long plants floating vertically through space, but here they had been organized. They grew in neat rows that suggested someone had imposed agricultural order on cosmic chaos.

Between them floated farming plots that defied comprehension...each one the size of an omniverse, perfect squares of cultivated existence that hummed with careful attention.

Stellar trees rose from these plots, their trunks composed of compressed starlight, their branches reaching into dimensions that hadn’t been named yet. Their leaves were concepts given form...each one containing a different aspect of what growth meant, what cultivation could become.

Hundreds of Fold Dwellers moved through this impossible farm with serious purpose. None possessed Living Existential Authority in the traditional sense, yet each one radiated power that would make current-era beings weep with inadequacy.

The weakest among them carried might equivalent to Honored Living Existences, their power accumulated by existing so long that existence itself had to acknowledge their significance as they were drenched in...Early Existential Authority!

Dozens more carried power that matched or exceeded Dukes.

The atmosphere was one of focused industry mixed with profound respect.

The Fold Dweller who had saved him shifted, its massive form creating small earthquakes with the movement. ”I am Threnvar, Keeper of the Eighth Perimeter. You will stay in the secure areas until the threat of the mad Early Creature is taken care of.”

Threnvar’s expression grew grimmer, if such a thing was possible on features carved from living bark. ”The creature has been hunting for a while now. It seems to have developed a taste for complexity itself...not beings who possess it, but the abstract concept. Every time it feeds, something becomes simpler. Last week, it ate the concept of ’maybe’ from an entire region. Now everything there either is or isn’t, with no space between.”

Threnvar looked at him again, its ancient eyes showing something that might have been pity. ”With how weak you are, you should reinforce yourself immediately. Why don’t you have some Existential Dew Fruits?”

The being pointed with one massive finger toward a distant plot that blazed with white brilliance. ”Go to the Seventh Contemplation Grove. Harvest as needed...but only what you can consume. The Farmer does not approve of waste.”

Noah nodded seriously, offering a nod to the being who had saved him. ”Thank you for your assistance.”

”Don’t thank me yet,” Threnvar rumbled. ”If the mad one finds us here, we’re all equally doomed. Gratitude can wait for survival.”

...!