21
1088 Words
Nothing they had done had gotten around the cat’s restrictions, but it didn’t mean that they couldn’t do their own research on the other Great Powers’ competitors.
The Sects, as always, tried to hype up each and every one of their Young Masters, but there were a few who were notable enough to reach the Empire’s ears, and the information brokers had gathered that information and sold it.
They spent a lot of their break times looking at their greatest competitors and trying to plan out fights with them based on their reported skills.
They had done it for all the other Great Powers when they realized their oversight.
The four of them had effectively jumped generations, and all the other Pathers who were going into Minkalla this time were from the Tier 10 tournament before theirs.
It left them with a massive blind spot where their own side was considered, and they were taking this break to go over the past records of the Tier 10 tournament.
Or rather, Liz was.
She hadn’t been happy with how the three of them compiled their parts of the information and had taken over. Most of the information was bought from the various information brokers, but they all had different ways of rating everyone, and different criteria for said ratings.
Liz was trying to aggregate it all and unify the formatting before organizing it herself, then briefing the rest of them on her findings.
They had tried to help her, only to be turned down at first politely, then sternly.
Once Liz set her mind on something, it was better to let her have the reins, so the others were left at odds.
Liz raised her head and said, “Okay, done. First, let’s grab—”
Luna appeared next to them and interrupted her. “You can do that at my place. It’s time to learn just what you’re trying to find.”
All of them hopped to their feet as Luna brought them to her living room.
Carol and Kurt were there, and a screen was illuminated on the far wall with a title card reading, “Bounty of the Forge: A Comprehensive List of Minkalla’s Rewards.”
4
Luna, Carol, and Kurt awaited them, the latter two with more serious expressions than Matt was used to seeing them with.
Luna was the first to speak. “First, a bit of recap, but with a bit more context. The first new thing you need to know is where Minkalla comes from. There are a few different theories, but one in particular tends to hold more weight among the higher Tiers. Specifically, we have reason to believe that it may be a reward from a Tier 100 rift that was then assembled and sent into lower Realms.”
Matt jerked along with everyone else at the first bit of information, being a knowledge bomb.
Liz asked the question they were all thinking. “How do you know that?”
Luna shrugged a single shoulder. “We can’t verify it to any real degree, but a Descender left us some clues in their dying AI data dump. They weren’t trying to teach us that in particular, but among the recoverable data were some details that are generally thought to be relevant. One document on high Tier rifts spoke of Tier 100 rewards, including some passages describing a ‘divine puzzle box’ which offered a reward beyond understanding if, and only if, it could be completed. The only other major clue to be pieced together was that it involves ‘ten thousand ruins, gathered and assembled as keys.’ Descending from a higher realm bursts the spirit as a matter of course, so the AI dump was spotty at best, and that’s all we were able to get as far as that particular lead goes. Those particular quotes are simply the most promising clues we’ve ever had. We don’t strictly know that Minkalla, or anything like it, was what they were talking about, and it could have been referring to something completely unrelated for all we know. The idea that it’s from a higher realm is controversial at best, but it does provide an excellent explanation for some of the planet’s power. If it is true, there are two things in particular which this does pertain to.”
Luna pointed at the screen, and a cross section of Minkalla appeared with seven layers in descending colors highlighted, with the first layer blown up.
“The first is something you already know, namely that Minkalla is seemingly made up of interlaced ruins, not rifts. They butt up against each other and are randomly redistributed during each reset. When you enter, they will be packed full of monsters. More importantly though, things inside don’t work like they do in the rest of our realm. The rules are different. That’s why I said we believe it’s a reward from a Tier 100 rift. A rift drop ‘beyond understanding’ is pretty much the only thing that can explain everything that goes on inside.”
Matt nodded as he looked over the picture. The expanded first layer seemed to have three smaller layers inside of it, while the second layer had the same number of ruins stacked like interlocking bricks. Luna let them study the image for a few minutes before resuming. “Now, you already know how the floors work, and all the proper strategies for bypassing or defeating the sublevel bosses, but the rewards also work differently and are why it’s so important to defeat as many challenges and monsters as possible. Fundamentally, there’s four types of rewards that you can earn on Minkalla: challenge room rewards, monster drops, theme rewards, and exit rewards. All four of them are loosely tied together by…” The screen changed and said: ‘Genesis Energy.’
“Genesis Energy. Instead of getting essence from killing monsters, you get Genesis Energy. It acts a lot like essence but is better in almost every way that we can measure. It only exists in Minkalla and can’t be taken out of it. And before you ask, no, from what we know of the higher Realms, it does not exist there. But while you can’t normally allocate it like essence, there’s also no limit to how much you can store inside your spirit. Think of it like Minkalla’s way of keeping track of how much you kill inside its depths.”
Matt raised an eyebrow at that, but otherwise said nothing.
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