Transcendent Gene
Chapter 188: Hidden Legacy [2]

Chapter 188: Hidden Legacy [2]

The area around the abyss was sectioned off by something called an Illusion Frame.

Illusion Frames were usually used to deal with crime scenes left by Sequencers. As part of the ploy to keep the regular human population placated, the governments of the world had to find ways to hide the gruesome sights that would sometimes appear in the middle of their cities.

A great deal of funding and research led to the creation of Illusion Frames. Put in the least words possible, they hid large areas inside of illusory barriers and made them impossible to touch from the outside.

Anyone who crossed the border of the frame would find themselves turned around and sent in a different direction. Their mind wouldn’t notice anything strange, nor would the people around them. It was a mixture of suggestion abilities and illusion abilities coalesced into a piece of technology rather than a person.

The Illusion Frame kept students from approaching the abyss. In the meantime, three or four faculty members stood inside, staring into the blackness below.

"There’s no way?" A man with dark crimson hair asked his colleagues.

They couldn’t tell him anything he didn’t already know.

"There’s no obvious way, at least," the woman next to him said.

"We tried everything we could try without turning this into a big deal. We can’t enter the abyss."

It was more than just that. The two of them stood on its edge, but they actively watched as their colleague walked over the abyss like it was solid ground.

There was some sort of invisible barrier an inch or two beneath the ground that they couldn’t penetrate.

"It isn’t a natural occurrence. The most we can tell is that something in the vicinity triggered its opening, but we can’t trace its energy yet."

"Everything that we could do to learn more than this would cause a scene."

The woman nodded.

"We’ve had issues during the entrance ceremony before, but never anything like this. It’ll be bad if this gets out..."

It wasn’t just about the school’s reputation. There was a lot more on the line behind the scenes than most people were aware of.

The man sighed to himself with a frown.

"If we’re allowed to guesstimate..."

"Riftworld?" The woman asked.

"No. If it were a Riftworld, we wouldn’t be denied entry. If it has similar characteristics but also a mechanism like this, I can only assume it’s manmade."

"The Headmaster had the same thought."

Another man approached, interrupting their conversation.

"The Headmaster responded?" The man asked.

"Yeah. His thoughts are the same as yours. If it exists below Celestelle and it isn’t a Riftworld that just appeared, it had to have been created before the city itself."

"Hmm..."

It wasn’t impossible. After all, a lot of the "activities" they used as part of the entrance ceremony were puzzles present in the forest before the city of Celestelle or the First Institute’s existence.

There was always a theory that they were related to something, but over the decades that passed as the First Institute used this space for the entrance exam, nothing happened. They figured it was enough to maintain supervision and watch for any strange occurrences.

Clearly, they weren’t prepared enough.

"Haa..."

The crimson-haired man sighed again.

’Those two are promising students as well. I witnessed their battle...they are already prepared to fight on the front lines. We can’t lose talents like that.’

They had to be recovered as soon as possible.

"So, what’s the Headmaster’s order?"

The other man hesitated for a second.

That hesitation was enough. There wasn’t a need for him to say anything more.

"He said let it be?"

"Yeah. He’s doing that thing again."

"Crazy bastard."

The crimson-haired man gnashed his teeth.

Their Headmaster was a great Sequencer and the perfect person for raising soldiers. However, like every absurdly talented person, he had his quirks.

And among those quirks was his tendency to leave his most talented students in precarious situations just to see if they were good enough to make it out on their own.

’It means he doesn’t think death is a possibility for them...’

He wasn’t so extreme as to let them die for nothing.

’...but even if they return crippled, he won’t care.’

He would just tell them to heal up and get back to work.

"Haa..."

Three sighs leaked at the same time.

If there was nothing else they could do, there was nothing else they could do.

They had to remain hopeful that those students would return unharmed on their own.

***

In other words, it was a good thing that Gio and Neriah decided to move forward on their own.

The amount of danger they encountered during the first several hours was minimal. They found that the corridor was instead connected to a labyrinth under the ground.

"The exit must be at the end."

"Yes, and any risks and rewards meant for the successor will present themselves on the path ahead."

It was an awkward adventure. Neriah was a silent person. She preferred the silence, and she herself didn’t particularly enjoy talking. She was collaborating with Gio only because there was no other choice. It was as if she wanted to make her attitude clear through her actions alone.

If he had nothing better to do, Gio would have minded. Fortunately, the silence didn’t breed boredom. His mind was filled with thoughts about their surroundings, after all.

They traveled the labyrinth for more than two hours while only talking to determine which path to take.

It was an incredibly uniform environment. The silence seemed intentional. The walls dampened even their own footsteps, leaving them with a subtle ringing in their ears as their minds tried to fill the space with something.

The darkness made it impossible to see more than a few feet ahead. Even when they created light themselves, it only helped marginally.

’This feels like a mind game.’

It felt like the owner of the labyrinth was intentionally trying to break their minds and drive them insane. If someone got lost in a place like this for more than a few days, especially alone, it was almost a guaranteed outcome.

’In the first place, a labyrinth doesn’t make sense. If the goal is to give your successor all of the possible rewards, they can’t be inside a labyrinth where paths diverge so often.’

He wondered if what Neriah said was true. Risks and rewards were sure to present themselves. That was the case for every labyrinth. However, were those really the risks and rewards meant for a successor candidate...

’...or is this labyrinth present in case people like us show up?’

The past generations weren’t stupid. What if they considered the possibility of foreigners appearing at the inheritance site first?

He sent energy into his eyes occasionally, watching the world around him for any "changes" that could be clues.

The darkness around him was colored only by his and Neriah’s energy and steps for a long time.

Yet, he didn’t give up.

And because he didn’t give up, after another hour or two by the clock on his holowatch’s estimates, something interesting inevitably appeared in his vision.

"Hey, come over here," he said, calling to Neriah.

If he was even somewhat correct in his assumptions, their mind-numbing trek through the labyrinth would end here.