Chapter 87: Unimaginable Secrets

‘Well, fight it.’ The internal resolution rang through Keon's neural nexus with the finality of a command line execution. After a moment of calculation, he realized that lingering on the 'curse' was a waste of cycles.

The atmosphere of UHS1 had already been fundamentally altered by the merger with the Kai universe; oxygen levels were now optimal, and the plant life of this new ecosystem could easily survive. Furthermore, given the magic tree’s inherent adaptive properties, the gravity of UHS1 would not be a hindrance ... it would be a baseline. If there was a risk, it was a variable he could control.

He turned his focus to the staff. It was shifting rapidly. While the wood retained its stark, black hue, the murky orb at the top had undergone a total metamorphosis. It had transitioned from a clouded, necrotic mess back to a perfectly transparent state. Now, multiple magic layers flickered rhythmically across its surface, a visual representation of its internal complexity. Keon observed the data streams: 100% compatibility with other magic attributes. It was, without question, a Tier 4 grade magic item ... another lottery win to pair with the Tier 4 crystal he had already secured.

Then, his gaze flicked to the seed. It had transitioned as well, shedding its charcoal-like exterior to reveal a dark brown surface with a vibrant, greenish luster. Suddenly, the air around it began to swirl in a localized vortex. At the same moment, the orange Tier 4 crystal resting on the table began to emit a steady stream of ether, which flowed invisibly toward the seed.

Keon’s processors whirred, struggling to keep pace with the influx of data flickering before him. ‘Hydrogen. Oxygen. Methane. Noble gases. It is absorbing everything in the air. Is this the secret of ether creation? Or does this seed require these specific atmospheric elements to sprout?’

He did not hesitate. The section of the floor beneath the table receded, and a small, square container rose up, filled with nutrient-rich wet soil and a scattering of Tier 3 blue magic crystals. A square-shaped drone immediately hovered above, activating a localized gravity field. The seed defied the ambient gravity, floating upward before settling precisely into the center of the soil container. As it landed, the soil shifted, filling the gap to seal the seed away.

Then, the anomaly occurred. It was as if the seed had found its most vital catalyst. It began absorbing energy from its surroundings at an alarming, exponential rate, draining the light energy from the luminous crystal shards embedded in the soil. Keon, who is observing it, visibly startled.

‘Wait!’

The realization hit him suddenly. The sunlight trapped within the crystals, combined with the hydrogen and the noble gases the seed was harvesting from the atmosphere ... it was creating a reaction. This magic tree was designed to release ether, or magic particles, by fusing these components.

Keon acted instantly. He began irrigating the soil with more of the luminous crystal dust he had synthesized. Even the tiniest shard of this material contained special crystal pockets and veins capable of trapping, compressing, and storing sunlight and plasma. This was the same fuel he had utilized for nuclear fission, and now, it was serving as the primary reactor core for this biological entity.

After observing the seed for a significant interval, Keon noted the rhythm of its activity: it was constantly absorbing ether, sunlight, plasma and surrounding atmospheric gases, though the intake remained in low, measured quantities. It would clearly take time for it to sprout, but the compatibility between the seed and the atmosphere of UHS1 was undeniable. It was not rejecting the environment; it was integrating with it.

A sudden, jarring thought pierced his concentration. He immediately commanded his interface to pull up the previous magic plant seed data provided by Trosso.

‘I didn’t notice this data before,’ he thought, his internal processors flagging a persistent error in his previous assumptions. ‘There is something fundamentally wrong with it.’

He didn’t hesitate to initiate a query. He opened the system panel, navigated to the communication tab, and selected the Universe 5757 interface. He keyed in a direct message: “Trosso, can you tell me something about the magic plants in your world? Specifically, what is their ether production efficiency?”

He sent the message and engaged in a micro-simulation of the next five years of growth while he waited. It did not take long for the reply to manifest across his optical array.

[Universe 5757]

“Magic plant producing ether? They don’t produce ether or magic. They are just ordinary plants in my world... They just release the ether they consumed through the atmosphere during their seeding phase. Only special plants, like the Life Tree and the World Tree are capable of producing ether. I have already provided the encyclopedia of magic; you can review that book.”

Keon glanced at the reply, his internal logic processing the data thoughtfully. He pulled up the encyclopedia Trosso had referenced, cross-referencing it with his own decade of cultivation logs in UHS1. The discrepancy was glaring.

‘It seems my universe is fully compatible with magic... no, that’s not accurate,’ he mused, his mind stripping away the surface-level observation to reach the core truth. ‘It’s more than compatibility. It has the properties to boost magic. Is this some kind of fundamental rule in my universe?’

He compared the divergence. In Trosso’s world, the magic plants were passive conduits ... they were essentially filters. But in his own UHS1, the plants had produced massive, tangible amounts of ether as they matured. That output had been consistent enough to allow him to condense blue Tier 3 crystals and a Tier 4 orange magic crystal over the last ten years. Such massive ether production was, according to the hard data provided by Trosso, a physical impossibility for standard magic flora.

The realization hit him with the weight of a sudden revelation. His universe wasn't just a container for the experiment; it was the catalyst.

After seeing the massive difference in the data, a strange, intense flicker of luster flashed through Keon’s green pupils. The static data of his world had been hiding a volatile, hidden potential he had taken for granted as 'normal' conditions.

‘Looks like my universe carries an unimaginable secret,’ he thought, the implications cascading through his neural nexus, ‘One that has only just started revealing itself to me.’

With the potential of the magic seed acknowledged, Keon refocused his internal processing. Speculation without empirical data was inefficient. The magic path was a long-term investment, but the immediate crisis remained the survival of UHS1, and for that, the linear reliability of his technological evolution was paramount. He turned his attention to the three pillars of his current industrial research: nuclear fission, nuclear fusion, and the theoretical integration of magic runes.

Stepping toward the reinforced viewport, he triggered a manual override for the testing gallery. With a resonant hydraulic hiss, three distinct sections of the floor recessed and then raised upward on central pistons, presenting his work-in-progress hardware to his analytical gaze.

The first section unveiled a two-meter-long cylindrical reactor, humming with the steady, controlled vibration of an ongoing nuclear fission reaction. Keon observed the core stability, his sensors picking up the decay signatures of Uranium-238. He had synthesized these isotopes with relative ease, utilizing his material assimilation talent to extract the dense elements directly from the planet’s crust. It was his most stable energy source, a reliable baseline that had powered his current expansion, yet it lacked the sheer output potential he required for the next phase.

Next to it rose the second unit: a round, two-meter fusion reactor. Its design was aggressive, studded with protruding spikes that served as heat-dissipation fins, while a dense network of nozzles and inlets crisscrossed its exterior. With its bristling surface and compact, spherical form, it resembled an archaic undersea mine. This was his attempt to harness the power of stars, a volatile, high-pressure environment that tested the limits of his Thermo-Regulating Fluid.

Finally, the third section revealed the culmination of his research: the Hybrid Reactor. It was a masterpiece of nested physics. In the center sat a one-meter diameter fusion core, providing a high-energy primary ignition, while a two-meter outer ring of fission material, with a width of 0.5 meters, was attached around it like a protective and augmenting mantle. It was designed to use the fusion cycle to bootstrap and stabilize the fission reaction, a symbiotic energetic relationship he had been simulating for months.

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