Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 4102: The Second Traversal! I

Khor shrugged with the casualness of someone discussing weather.

”Who knows? I’ve been gone for an unknown duration...could be eons, could be epochs. I can’t say what’s transpired between then and now.”

Her expression grew mockingly thoughtful. ”Though I can say that before THE Living Paradox collapsed my existence, the Folds were incredibly dangerous for every lifeform.”

She paused dramatically.

”Perhaps they all made up after killing enough? Maybe this is now an era of peace and prosperity?” She laughed at her own suggestion. ”Haha!”

The sarcasm dripped from every word, her laughter suggesting she had just told the most ridiculous joke in existence.

”But seriously,” she continued, her amusement fading, ”if things were that chaotic then, they’re likely worse now. Chaos tends to compound, not resolve. If I were a regular lifeform in this age I know nothing about, I might just end myself rather than wait for whatever’s coming.”

She shook her head as if dismissing heavy thoughts.

”But oh well. One must enjoy existence while it lasts, right? So, Outsider, do you have any other fun things here? Your Shore is abysmally tiny with very few attractions.”

...!

The tonal shift was so abrupt that both Noah and Sigrid stared at her.

She had pivoted from discussing existential threats to critiquing his Shore’s value with the ease of someone changing clothes.

In the distance, Moiraine continued forming her Glyphs and then sacrificing them, her expression heavy with the implications of what she was overhearing. The air around her crackled with paradoxical energy that warned others to maintain distance.

”My Shore is only a day or two old,” Noah replied calmly. ”I’m just getting started. But never mind that.”

He walked closer to Khor, looking at her tiny form while simultaneously feeling like he was gazing up at something immense. Her existence carried weight that transcended physical size.

”You said you’d help us since your existence puts us in peril. How exactly?”

Khor tilted her head, pointing at Ozymandias with one tiny finger.

”Isn’t that the first way? You want something else already? Digest the first boon before demanding seconds, Outsider.” She smiled with mischief. ”Though if you insist... grant me Administrator Privileges to this little Shore of yours. I can build some interesting things...you clearly lack creativity.”

...!

”Administrator Privileges?” Noah’s eyes widened as he looked around the Shore as if seeing it newly.

The Early Veiled Shore suddenly glowed with responsive light, and prompts materialized:

|The Early Veiled Shore states: Even I did not know this|

|The lifeform ’Khor’ seems a bit scary|

|She is requesting Administrator Privileges. After coursing through the weavings of the Shore, a slight possibility has been ascertained regarding Administrator Privileges|

|This grants secondary rights to alter constructs and features, and it can be given to a total of 3 Lifeforms apart from The Early Creature, Osmont.|

|Should this access be granted to Khor?|

|Note: This seems like it could go very right or very wrong|

...!

Noah studied the prompts, weighing risks against benefits. Khor would be a terrifying ally against enemies that now included THE Living Paradox. Ozymandias was the first boon, and if she could enhance the Shore itself...

”Okay,” he said decisively.

White-gold light erupted from the Shore, gathering around Khor’s tiny form.

Her expression brightened with childlike joy as she raised her small hands in victory, floating upward as the light integrated with her being.

”How shall I start?” she mused, looking around with new authority. ”Planting Inevitabilities? New constructs? Hmm... oh! You’re... right at the cusp of becoming a Radiant Shore. Interesting. How about we focus on that first so you aren’t so tiny? If we can get you a bit bigger, and then raise a little farm of Inevitabilities by the sea...ah”

...!

Light began gathering around her with purpose that suggested she knew exactly what she was doing.

Noah watched as possibilities he hadn’t imagined began manifesting.

Khor’s addition might have just catapulted his Shore’s development by weeks- and these were weeks in his timescale of advancement!

Sigrid moved beside him, her voice low but direct. ”Can we trust her?”

Noah smiled and nodded, though internally he acknowledged the gamble. Trust was perhaps too strong a word. But sometimes you had to work with dangerous tools to face dangerous enemies.

He turned to Ozymandias, feeling through their connection how various abilities were approaching reset. The Glyphs of Perpetual Harvest would soon be available again, urged toward readiness by the Seed itself.

Before the Kleos Concordat, he had possibilities to explore, power to accumulate, preparations to make.

When he and his forces made their entrance, his strength could be drastically different from what anyone expected and what it was now.

The game was accelerating, and Noah intended to be ready for whatever moves THE Living Paradox or others might make, regardless of how weak he currently was.

After all, weakness was temporary.

Was he not a mere Primarch days ago?

He now swam above a few Hundred Billion Complexity and Purity where Honored Living Existences were!

At this momemt.

Noah walked toward Moiraine, his steps creating small impressions in the golden sand as he approached where she sat surrounded by swirling energies of paradox.

Her face showed concentration mixed with wariness...the latter directed toward their newest addition to the Shore.

”How goes the progress?” he asked, studying the complex patterns she was weaving.

Moiraine smiled, though her gaze kept flickering toward where Khor was redesigning aspects of the Shore with casual impossibility.

”Just ten more Shards of the Seed of the Lost Forgotten Principle, Existential Duality, before it can form and be planted.”

She paused, her expression growing more serious. ”Is that truly The First Hunger? The figure barely mentioned in stories?”

Noah’s eyes sharpened at this. ”Barely mentioned? What have you heard?”

”Almost nothing,” Moiraine admitted, her voice dropping to barely above a whisper. ”Paradoxes mentioned her name perhaps twice in all our histories. But whenever she appeared in stories, her name alone carried fear comparable to THE Living Existences themselves.”