Epic Of Caterpillar

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Babel.

The Tower tall enough to reach the heavens.

Once built by the only group of humans, descendants of Noah, after the Great Flood.

They all spoke a single language and worked in unison, building this tower to be able to survive whenever another Great Flood was to come…

However, God did not like how humans wanted to reach the heavens, even less prepared for whatever judgment he might want to exert on them one day.

So to separate people and differentiate them from one another, so all of humanity could stop working together to defy God, he created multiple languages, and separated humanity once more…

The Tower of Babel was abandoned, and it never reached the high heavens.

Perhaps, in all of biblical history, this was one of the few times where God felt a slight… fear.

Fear for humans to reach his position, to defy his judgment, and to reign the heavens.

This is why he worked to negatively affect his own children, so they could discriminate against each other, not understand each other, and hate each other.

After hearing this story, do you still believe that God is a 'good' being?

He is as selfish as humanity.

And perhaps due to that, as humans were made by his image, we are so incredibly selfish as well.

Well, I am not a human anymore, so I do not care.

I might ask The One if all of this story is really true or not.

After all, it is just some biblical stuff.

Anyways, I decided to exert even more blasphemy as I named my new World Dungeon Babel Tower!

Yes.

This Dungeon was formed when I ate all those Dungeon Cores, it seems that their power fused into something greater, I mean, this thing is enormous!

Agatheina said that she had never seen such a strange Dungeon, it was even bigger than the one that connected the surface of Vida with the Lower Realm, which was now mine.

It was an enormous tower, it seems to have not formed in the actually Dungeon Continent, but in the deepest part of the Abyssal Hell, the deepest layer!

And it went all the way up to the skies, reaching the actual outer space of my own Divine Realm and crossing the Dream Realm!

Yes, it also exists inside the Dream Realm and the Divine Realm simultaneously, a physical and a dream world.

A dungeon that crosses and violates the barriers of reality and existence, both existing physically and also through dreams!

And when I got into the Dream Realm, I saw it extending all the way through the entire fucking space!

Yes, I am not… freaking kidding now!

It goes through all of the space… and all of the planet within the vast Dream Realm.

Bilili and Vulcan actually told me that the tower almost penetrated a planet with a lot of life inside, but they thankfully moved their orbit around a bit to evade the tower…

After some more investigation, we found out that the Tower of Babel went through the end of the Dream Realm and it finally reached a dark space where it went inside.

I do not know what was this dark space, but we couldn't get through it, so I assume that the end?

Maybe it goes a full loop back to the Abyssal Hell? 

Just how many floors does this have?!

It must have… I do not know, millions?!

How will we even complete this crap?!

However, Agatheina shared some info with me.

"Kireina-sama, I believe that Babel does not have conventional floors, after all, World Dungeons are… well, entire worlds with challenges, monsters, and treasures everywhere. They do not have a conventional floor to floor structure like Labyrinth-type Dungeons… I believe that instead of floors, Babel is filled with an immense new world inside… or perhaps many…" said Agatheina.

"M-Many worlds inside?! This is nuts!" said Oga.

"How will we even complete this thing?" wondered Nesiphae.

"I don't know…" said Brontes.

"Wait, can't we just teleport around with Kireina's help?" asked Gaby.

"Oh yeah, we can but…" I muttered.

Something was going on with this tower…

It was as if… well, it was as if it was both connected and not connected to me.

I mean I could feel it being part of my Divine Realm, but the interior was way too complex and compacted, like an immense pocket dimension.

I do not know if I can scan this entire place with my Divine Senses, it's so vast that I am having difficulties.

I do not think I can teleport inside directly…

"But?" asked everyone.

"I don't think I will be able to directly teleport inside. We need to get to that certain area by ourselves so I can register it in my mind and then freely teleport inside," I said.

"Huh. So it is like the Dream Realm, a gigantic place?" asked Rimuru.

"Yes, but this one is filled with physical beings and treasures, materials, and more things that are yet to be mine. After all, unless I actually grab them for myself, they are not mine yet," I said.

"So it is really like it exists in your Divine Realm but it's not part of it…?" asked Zehe.

"More or less… Well, we can go explore it later, I am sure that we will have some fun doing so," I said.

"Yeah, guu! We will grind tons of materials and become filthy rich, guu!" said Rimuru.

"But isn't this good? Just like Rimuru-chan has said, we can grind as many materials as possible from such a gigantic dungeon, and it's all for us!" said Oga.

"Though I wonder, can't you teleport to the outside of the tower can reach the top of it right away?" asked Zehe.

"Hmm… I did not think about that. Let me try," I said, as I used Teleport, entering my own Dream Realm with my physical body this time, and reaching the far end of Babel, crossing through this imaginary world and appear right at the side of the gigantic tower.

It is really quite big.

I glanced at my surroundings and found the endless starry sky of the Dream Realm.

It is really quite beautiful, but it is all made of Dream Attribute Mana, ant well… all of this splendor is not real… yet.

I am going to find a way to make all of this giant galaxy real, so my Divine Realm becomes an entire freaking galaxy.

But not for now.

I glanced at the dungeon, and use my Dungeon Authority Skills to create a large hole and enter.

However, when I create the whole, it is as if a rift in space opened, showing me an enormous hall… way bigger than the tower itself.

Is this the actual top of the Tower?

I enter it hurriedly, as I fly around aimlessly.

I find the enormous hall to be almost mystical, filled with brilliance but also darkness.

It is a constant combination of many things.

I walk and then sense the presence of something big.

I glare behind me and find a giant door.

If this is the end of the tower, the door most likely leads to the final boss.

The presence of it is… very strong.

Wow, it is as strong as a God.

Are the monsters that roam this tower that strong?

Mortals would not stand a chance.

But this is the final boss, so maybe the rest are not so strong?

Still, this creature is like Rank 9 God in power…

I wonder if it can spawn every time I kill it?

Damn if that were possible I could get an unlimited amount of these Rank 9 God Divine Beasts?

No, maybe they just disappear, I mean, from where would this Dungeon even get the power to generate all of that anyway?

Form my 100 billion Primordial Essence?

Oh well, maybe?

Anyways, I ignore it for now, as I want it to be a challenge for later and walk straight up to the end.

Damn, I feel like I just used a cheat code to get to the ending of the game.

But who cares? This thing was just born a few minutes ago, it is not like I have some emotional attachment to the great quest of exploring it or whatever.

I walk through the large hall while seeing the beautiful decorations, the walls, ceilings, and more seem to be all made of something resembling a very hard material.

I wonder if this is a Divine Material?

I often do not care about Dungeon Materials as they lost their power when taken out.

But I try to slice a chunk of it to inspect its components.

It is a very hard rock, and it's named 'Babel's Stone'.

It was incredible endurance, and it seems to be more of metal than a rock.

Wait, can't I use it to craft my equipment?

Or maybe Babel will give me good enough equipment?

Hm, what a dilemma, honestly.

I remember when I had so little to use and was always struggling to find what to do with it, and now that I have so many possibilities and items to use and get, I am still struggling to find what to do with it, what to pick, and how to choose them.

I guess it all comes down to using whatever is more convenient for the situation.

I walk through the hall for some minutes until I finally find something that is not just pillars and torches.

There is a long staircase going upwards, and a large altar at the top of the floor that connects with this beautiful staircase.

I fly up in no time and get in front of the altar.

There is… a giant orb resting above it.

Is this it? This is the end of a World Dungeon?

Wait, is this the Dungeon Core?

No, wait if I ate a Dungeon Core how could a dungeon have it?

More importantly, how could a dungeon form without the dungeon core?

It is weird.

Oh yeah, maybe I am considered the Dungeon Core of Babel… I never thought about it.

As I glance at this orb, I notice that it is exuding more and more power, and embracing me with it.

I can feel a connection with it, it is deeply related to me.

Is this Orb a part of me?

Like… something born from my own Primordial Essence when I ate those World Dungeons.

So that feeling I had when I ate them, like something forming… was this it?

Before touching it, I try to use Appraisal on it.

[Cannot be Appraised]

What?

I am pretty sure that I can now Appraise everything as a Goddess, yet this thing I can't.

Why?

What is this thing even?

How is it related to me?

Why was it born from me and formed at the top of the World Dungeon inside of my Divine Realm?

I try to seek clues in the best possible way, by touching it and analyzing it with my eyes a bit more, using all of my Divine Senses combined with everything I had, I touch the orb.

Flash!

I sense as an enormous amount of energy infuses into me flowing through me, but this energy is not new, this is just my Primordial Essence.

Then I see it…

I kind of get it now.

This is what they call…

An Origin Core.

Why did it appear in my Dungeon from all things?

Well, when I ate the Dungeon Cores, a quantitative change happened to me.

My Primordial Essence broke through the 100 billion number and it… I do not know how to say it… evolved?

Its pure power crystallized into this Origin Core, something deep within my soul, the very fabric and existence of it.

It emerged inside of Babel, at the top of it, seemingly because it was thanks to this Dungeon that it came to existence.

But what is an Origin Core even?

An Origin Core is the crystallization of Primordial Essence, different from a Divine Core which is the crystallization of Divinity and contains the Divine Realm.

It could be said that this Origin Core is inside the Divine Core.

And yeah, what can it even do?

Well… a lot of stuff.

It is the literal core of my existence.

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