Transcendent Gene
Chapter 217: Simulated Riftworld [3]

Chapter 217: Simulated Riftworld [3]

The "Sacred Pine" could really be anything. There was nothing saying it had to be sacred outside the perception of the monsters living in this ecosystem.

Gio did take the time to look for any strange signs of energy, however, there were none. The "Sacred Pine" that he ended up finding was not special or spiritual in any way.

Merely, it was the tallest tree in this small pine forest that existed in a place where not much else could grow.

There wasn’t much Gio could see from it by looking. He even questioned if it was really the tree he was looking for.

But after staying and observing it for a while, the answer found him.

Monsters gathered at that tree. Where no monsters were, monsters appeared. They hung off of its trunk and stood on its branches. They created circles around its base, looking up at it with faces that almost seemed expressive.

There were several types of monsters present. Some were big and some were small. Some were predators and some were prey, yet they did not fight.

Perhaps that was what made the tree sacred.

’It’s certainly something to note, but is it enough to be called a clue? It said I’d find signs of "tradition" here.’

The seeming ceasefire amongst monsters could not be called tradition even if it was something interesting.

Gio decided to stay and watch, perched in the leaves of a nearby pine. He hid himself as best as he could, masking his scent in the cold with his eyes peeled.

With the passing of minutes, more and more monsters arrived. All species existing in this ecosystem were represented several times over before Gio understood what was happening.

The scene he thought was just a gathering became much more than that rather suddenly.

Ten turned into tens. Tens turned into hundreds.

And when hundreds were gathered around the Sacred Pine, the hum of an ancient bell filled the air.

HONG!

Gio looked into the sky. All of a sudden, a second sun appeared. It was crimson red rather than yellow and cast an ominous hue across the world.

The monsters gathered around the tree roared and howled at the second sun. They beat their chests, flapped their wings, and did anything else they could to show their excitement.

’This...’

Gio’s brows furrowed at the growing aura around the group of monsters.

None of them were weak. From the smallest to the biggest, all of them were strong enough to be considered some of the most difficult to face in this realm.

’And all of them are gathered here under the pretense of some sort of tradition.’

HONG!

The ancient bell went off again, sending vibrations through his body.

The roars of monsters became wilder, rattling in his ear drums.

’I need to move.’

It wasn’t a thought, but an instinct. Gio didn’t waste another second before jumping between the treetops to move away from the gathering.

"Psst!"

His path soon led him to a sound that caught his attention. He looked into a nearby tree, where he spotted a familiar shade of grey.

Jumping into the branches, he came face to face with Shiro.

"Weren’t you supposed to be circling the mountain?"

"Yeah, but then I heard something fun. What’s happening?"

Gio shook his head.

"I don’t know. I found a clue that led me here, and then this happened."

He explained the words on the clue he found to Shiro, who’s eyes widened slightly.

"Hey, that sounds a little bit like what I found," he said.

"I had to go pretty high up, but I ended up running into this shard of blue glass. When I touched it, it put a bunch of words in my head like that stele."

Shiro’s clue went as such:

[When they gather together, it is a sign of change. There is no such thing as peace on the mountain. The number of reasons to accept a ceasefire is one. When the King of the Mountain turns old and grey, a new King must rise from beneath the shade of the Sacred Pine.]

"A new King, huh..." Gio echoed.

"Then the reason why there’s over a hundred monsters of all kinds over there starts to make more sense."

Shiro nodded.

"They must be competing. That must be the tradition your clue was talking about," he said.

One of the first traditions to arise when such an animalistic ecosystem gained a King was obvious.

So the King couldn’t be constantly challenged; so the position of authority could retain its meaning, there had to be a way for a successor to rise from the monsters existing on the mountain.

’If we had more time, would we have been able to learn more?’

Truthfully, there was a lot of strangeness surrounding the concept of a Riftworld.

Specifically, the sometimes game-like mechanics they operated on.

Though it seemed improbable to think the gathering of monsters could be postponed, it was not unheard of. Sometimes, there were indeed certain conditions that set off other events once achieved.

’I messed up.’

Gio accepted that he made a mistake by rushing to declare the clear condition of the world. Regardless, he and Shiro were present and had to act.

"We have to participate in that ceremony," he said.

"I don’t know what it is or what it entails, but if it tells us to take the position of the King of the Mountain without using force and then shows us this, we’re practically being begged to take part in what’s going on."

Shiro could see the validity of Gio’s words, but that didn’t mean he didn’t react with an odd expression.

"You know that we’ll die if we have to fight all of them together. You know how monsters respond to humans."

"I do," Gio responded.

"But this is a Riftworld. Things work differently in these places sometimes."

Before Shiro could open his mouth to retaliate, Gio had already made his decision to move. He jumped down from the tree and rushed towards the roars in the distance until the Sacred Pine was once again visible.

The sight of those monsters was even more terrifying from the ground. It was especially so when some of them were two or three times his own size, but Gio pushed forward until he was standing right in front of them.

Yet, the roars didn’t stop.

Shiro’s eyes widened. He was watching from a distance, but after seeing such a lack of reaction from the monsters that were supposed to be tearing Gio apart, he started to slowly approach.

Even the increase of humans from one to two meant nothing.

The monsters kept their eyes on the red sun, and soon enough, Gio was looking up at it as well.

HONG!

The ancient bell rang one more time.

The vibrations it sent through Gio’s body sunk into the ground, spread through the Sacred Pine, and then returned to his body. He shook as something fell into his eyes. He blinked several times to bring his vision back, but it did not return.

His eyes instead saw only red, and then, within that red, something else started to appear.

As Gio stood one with the monsters, an image appeared in his mind.

It was almost like the mountain itself was welcoming their challenge with open arms.