Chapter 104: Coincidence?

Keon stood over the pot, his internal HUD overlaying the seed’s parameters in crisp, cold design. He raised the red crystal. As he brought it within proximity of the elemental seed, he didn't even need to make physical contact; the magic energy began to arc, a visible tether of ruby luminescence bridging the gap between the Tier 5 crystal and the seed.

At this moment,

Ding!

A sudden familiar, sharp notification sound shattered the silence. A bright, flickering icon appeared in his vision, pulsing with an insistent rhythm: Universe 339.

Keon’s pupil froze on the communication channel, a rare expression of genuine doubt crossing his face. ‘Why is this universe candidate contacting me now? A while ago, I just concluded a trade with it.’

He thought to himself, momentarily retracting the red crystal, severing the energy tether before it could fully integrate with the seed. He tapped the interface, opening the communication channel with a sense of silent, robotic reluctance.

Instantly, a message expanded in front of him. His processors stalled as he read the content.

[Universe 339]: "Hi, I have gained a new type of crystal. Are you interested? It's a wood elemental crystal that can store wood energy. If you have trees in your world, then I am sure it will be extremely useful."

Keon stood frozen for a while as he read the message. He looked from the flickering message to the elemental seed in the pot, then back to the red magic crystal in his hand. He tilted his head, his gaze sweeping the laboratory walls, finally looking upward at the reinforced ceiling with a gaze that bordered on profound skepticism.

‘Is this coincidence?’ he wondered, his logic gates churning through probability vectors. ‘Or is someone secretly pulling the strings?’

A chill, alien and sharp, rushed through his existence. It wasn't just his hardware; his entire neural nexus shuddered, a sensation akin to his very consciousness being pricked by a needle from outside reality. He maintained a long, heavy silence, his expression hardening into a mask of extreme solemnity as he stared at the status panel.

‘I do not know why this is occurring,’ he reasoned, his thoughts turning inward. ‘Every resource I require... every missing piece of the puzzle... is either encountered by chance or appears before me precisely when the need becomes critical. I can attribute it to simple luck, or perhaps the blessing of some higher entity. Or... it is the calculated intervention of that high-dimensional being that forced us into this scenario.’

A flicker of cold, hard light flashed through his pupil. ‘If that is the case, then avoidance is a futile struggle. I cannot outsmart an observer. I should ignore the causality and focus on the utility. If something exists that I cannot analyze or comprehend, brooding over it is merely a waste of processing cycles that disturbs my resolve.’

With a finality that quieted the static in his mind, Keon dismissed the existential dread. He clicked on the message, generating a reply with calm and composed expression.

…

Far across the expanse, in Universe 339,

The landscape of the crystal continent had undergone a cataclysmic shift. The region where Gemma resided... previously a cluster of colorful crystal mountains that appeared as a mere dot against the vastness of the continent... was now radically different.

If one were to zoom in from the skies, the transformation would appear to be startling. The ice region was now perfectly, unnervingly round, a sphere of influence expanding in every direction like a drop of water creating ripples in a still ocean. This domain of ice was spreading at an alarming, geological speed.

In the center of this geometric expansion sat Gemma, her form shifted into a humanoid crystal silhouette. Her build appeared more imposing, her stature radiating an authority that hadn't been present before. Surrounding her, the existing mountains of purple, red, cyan, and white were now encircled by new, towering ranges of yellow, light green, dark green and blue... all composed of hyper-condensed magic crystals. But it was the dark green range, rising jagged and ominous in the near distance, that signaled the true nature of her awakening after reaching level forty: the wood element crystals.

Gemma stared at the communication channel, her expression unreadable beneath the shifting facets of her crystalline skin. She had just dispatched the message to Keon, her digital signature lingering in the void.

‘My only goal is the orange crystal,’ she mused, her internal processing locking onto that singular objective. ‘I won't exchange it for anything less.’

She raised her head, her gaze drifting toward the dark green mountain range in the distance... the source of her newfound power. It pulsed with a heavy, ancient life energy that felt alien to this place. A flash of regret, sharp and genuine, flickered through her pupils.

‘It’s a pity, this entire continent is barren. No life, no trees, the land itself is wrong... there is no mud, no soil. Everything is hard, unforgiving; the rocks are like diamonds. Even grass cannot take root here. The wood elemental energy is useless, I can only use it to accelerate the crystal domain expansion.’

She was the singularity... the only species born in this expanse, an elemental crystal beast, forced to forge her own ecosystem out of stone and mana. She turned her attention to the mountains of yellow, green, and blue magic crystals that surrounded her. They were her lifeline. The yellow magic crystals had doubled her expansion speed. The green crystals had pushed it to four times the norm, and the blue crystals had reached an efficiency of eight.

‘If I can secure the orange crystal,’ She calculated, the numbers cascading through her mind,

‘My transformation speed will hit sixteen times the normal rate. My level will upgrade at an alarming pace. No more wastage of time. It will be like gaining sixteen times the experience than before.’

She hoped, with a quiet intensity, that the wood crystals would prove valuable to Keon. If they really were valuable, the orange magic crystal would be within her grasp.

Just as her thoughts spiraled into the implications of her growth, a notification chime resonated in the silence. She tapped the panel instantly.

[Universe 8888888888] "Send me a sample, I will analyze it and tell you the worth. If it's really useful, I don't mind exchanging a Tier 4 crystal."

Upon reading the reply from Keon, a flicker of triumph flashed through Gemma crystal pupils. ‘I knew it, he must have trees in his world.’

She didn't hesitate, consigning a batch of wood crystals to the system and requesting a blue magic crystal in return. The transaction completed within a minute. She tossed the blue crystal aside... It was merely a stepping stone that she already has utilized. Now she is waiting for a bigger stepping stone, her entire consciousness focused on the connection to Universe 8888888888 in the communication channel.

…

On the other side of the multiverse, universe 8888888888,

Keon stared at the five wood crystals that had materialized in his storage bay. They were significantly smaller than the standard magic crystals he had processed, yet they flickered with a distinct, vibrant life energy.

‘Let me test if my guess is correct,’ Keon thought to himself and then he didn't delay. He walked to the experiment chamber and placed the five wood crystals into the pot containing the elemental seed.

As soon as these wooden elemental crystals touched the soil, the reaction was instantaneous. The seed, which had been dormant and lethargic, seemed to shiver as if it encountered a precious treasure. It began to draw energy from the wood crystals with a ravenous intensity, the pale green glow of the seed brightening rapidly.

‘My guess is correct. The wood elemental crystal is fundamentally beneficial for the development of the elemental tree.’ Koen thought to himself as he observed the visible phenomena of elemental seed devouring the life and wood energy from the elemental crystal.

He had previously experimented with the light from luminous crystals, as sunlight also affects plant growth, but these wood elemental crystals were different. They were more efficient, more targeted. He watched as the seed trembled, an almost audible vibration coming from the pot, as if the organism were cheering in response to the influx of nutrients.

In just a few moments, the reaction reached its crescendo. The wood crystals dimmed, their vibrancy fading into gray transparency as the energy inside was sucked dry. Then, a change occurred. A sharp, almost inaudible crack echoed through the chamber.

,,,