Chapter 432: _Who Is Like the One?

Unknown Hellish Location

’W-What?’ Ambrose didn’t dare let that thought spill out of his mouth, his heart in his throat as he took a step back. ’What do you mean there’s aether coming from that thing? Isn’t it dead?’

Shit.

[I’m telling you what my scanners are picking up. Also, the aether coming out of it feels... rawer and older. It carries similar energy signatures to the First Spark.]

’... The what?’

[The big bang, dingus.]

’How the fuck was I supposed to know what you meant?!’

Suddenly Grave Keeper felt like worthless scrap metal in his grip.

His body trembled under the weight of the skeleton’s aether.

Gods have mercy.

It wasn’t just overwhelming but absolutely monstrous, unlike anything he’d ever felt since transmigration. Not from the Void Entity. Not from the Devourer.

Not even from the Pantheon themselves.

’Beyond SSS-Rank.’ He gulped. ’Aura, we’ve either struck a fucking jackpot or walked into my tomb.’

[’Tomb’ is more accurate of a word than you think.] Several screens shot up around him, each racing with the unknown figures carved around the underground structure. [This language might be absent from the multiversal archives, but I’m getting close to cracking it.]

Ambrose’s eyes lit up.

’Wait, you are?’

[Just enough to decode what those figures over there mean.]

He swung his head to a wall with a section plastered with glowing marble.

The system rearranged the figures into an English translation after the loading screen ran for another few seconds.

[Resting Place.]

Huh...

’And you’re sure resting place isn’t actually like a bedroom or...?’

[Look around you, Einstein. Does this look anything like a bedroom to you?]

’I mean, they existed before civilization itself. Who’s to say they don’t have different understandings of where to lay their heads?’

Eventually he found himself relaxing.

He’d stood there for minutes now, and none of the skeletons had moved like he’d half expected. Meaning the aether he and the system sensed was left behind in their corpses.

How come they hadn’t sensed it before? He’s been in this world for a week. That was more than enough to sense a well of aether underground.

Was there some kind of seal around the place that prevented scanning or detection? Like the way the system hid his aether from outside perception?

If that was the case, why the hell didn’t they sense the aether the moment they got here? Shit, why did this ’tomb’ open up to begin with?

So many damn questions, and he couldn’t even begin to find answers to any.

’Gosh, I just... I just need to think about leveling up and leaving this world.’ He wiped sweat off his forehead, deciding to move deeper into the tomb. ’I’ve clearly overstayed my welcome.’

Screens for the system’s shop splayed open before him.

12,590,000 coins.

’Aura, are there any buffs that can evolve my weapons? Maybe to SSS-Rank.’

He sighed as the system scrolled automatically for him, taking him to the page containing the buffs he was referring to.

’Weapon evolution capsule.’ His brows knitted. ’One million coins to buy one capable of jumping my weapon’s rank to SSS-Rank. Really? Why’s everything starting up at a million now?’

[Do you want to check out the prices of SSS-Rank weapons so you’ll understand how fair that price is?]

Rolling his eyes, he browsed through other options, taking notes of extra effects that might prove more valuable in the long run.

Around him, the tomb appeared to change the deeper he walked.

Some parts had machinery with molten surfaces long cooled down millennia—or perhaps even aeons—ago.

Some resembled enormous rings suspended between towering pillars, their inner edges engraved with symbols Aura still couldn’t decipher.

Others looked almost surgical in nature, enormous metallic arms frozen halfway through whatever task they’d once performed. Crystal conduits thicker than skyscrapers stretched through the walls, branching into the ceiling before disappearing into darkness.

"What exactly were you people building?" Ambrose murmured.

Only silence answered him.

The further he ventured into the tomb, the stranger everything became.

Massive braziers taller than apartment complexes lined either side of the passageway at regular intervals. As he drew closer to the first one, pale blue flames suddenly erupted within it without warning.

FWOOOSH!

Ambrose nearly swung Grave Keeper on instinct.

"What the hell?!"

The fire didn’t spread, remaining perfectly still despite the wind.

Cold yet almost... Welcoming.

One after another, every giant brazier deeper within the tomb awakened, their azure flames illuminating carvings hidden beneath layers of dust. Their light chased away the darkness ahead, revealing even more of the endless resting place.

’I don’t like this.’

[Neither do I.]

Still... Neither of them turned back.

As his footsteps echoed through the enormous hall, another realization slowly settled over him.

The skeletons were gone.

At first there had been dozens scattered throughout the entrance.

Now there was nothing ahead.

No more remains, shattered armour or ancient bones.

Only relics remained.

Weapons taller than buildings rested against stone walls as though their owners had merely stepped away for a moment. Entire suits of golden armour stood upon pedestals, each radiating an indescribable pressure that made even Grave Keeper seem laughably ordinary.

Then there were objects Ambrose couldn’t even begin to identify.

Floating cubes folded space around themselves.

Crystal spheres contained miniature galaxies revolving endlessly inside.

One enormous metallic structure continuously assembled and disassembled fragments of reality itself before reconstructing them exactly as they had been.

Aura’s voice grew quieter with every scan.

[Rose... I don’t think these were mere weapons.]

’They weren’t?’

[I believe these people were engineering reality.]

His breathing slowed.

At long last, the corridor opened into a chamber so vast its ceiling vanished into darkness.

At its centre stood a throne.

Upon it rested the most complete body he’d seen since entering the tomb. Unlike the others, time had scarcely touched it.

Four serene faces looked toward the four cardinal directions. Six magnificent wings remained folded behind its back, their once-radiant feathers now resembling weathered ivory.

Its hands rested peacefully atop the pommel of an impossibly large blade planted before the throne.

Golden inscriptions covered the seat beneath it.

Aura’s translation flickered several times before stabilising.

[Translation complete.]

"Who is like the One?" Ambrose frowned. "What kind of—"

The corpse’s chest slowly rose, drawing what might’ve been its first breath in billions of years as ancient aether erupted from its body, sweeping through the chamber like the birth of a new universe.

All four pairs of eyes snapped open simultaneously.

His entire body locked in place.

’A-Aura...?’

The System screens convulsed violently, every window filling with static before collapsing into incomprehensible symbols.

A voice older than stars rolled through the chamber, shaking reality itself.

"...The Creator’s... inheritance...?"