Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster’s Power

Instead of a simple [Mythic Grade] interface where I can input mana-based materials and a finite number of options for their uses and applications pop up, the new [Divine Grade] interface growing before my mind is completely different.

It's as though all of the standard limits of crafting have been lifted, and the items I can create have far wider use cases than just killing monsters within dungeons or being equipped to one's status.

The thought of inputting items doesn't automatically give me prompts of what output the system can craft.

Instead, it opens up new pathways of thought, unveiling millions of new hints for more materials that I could add to the craft. It's as if my intuition has taken over, and whatever end result I crave in my mind, unlimited options for how I can get there are processed as fast as my brain can handle it.

I feel these interfaces shifting with the slightest alterations in my thoughts.

It connects directly to the very core of my system and perfectly integrates into my True Core. This flawless output and capability of crafting with divine threads themselves as units within the interface must be a result of my absorption perk making all new divine grade skills a unique divine ability.

Though, there is another strange aspect that fluidly connects everything. It is the Noble Vibrations coming off my being. Without this enhanced crystal-clear view of the world around me, the processing speed would never be this quick and concise.

Without deactivating my Noble Form, it's hard to tell if this is a byproduct of having this form activated, or if upgrading this skill and bonding it with my divine core while in this form has altered the ability...

Whatever the case may be, as I look up from my system and around the massive room, my eyes widen as if I've been walking around with a blindfold this entire time I've been in the Upper Realm.

The faint wisps of ether and divine energy I managed to glance at while walking through the lesser districts now look as bright as day.

Even the prison full of servants below me looks completely different...

I can see the seams of their avatars and the hundreds of pre-written commands in their beings that are connected to their minds, waiting for the signals to activate.

The floor and walls of this building all look completely different to me now too.

While before I was producing ether commands from instinct, replicating the memories of Andras Vermillion to send the right amount of energy to trigger the Citadel's commands, now I can see these billions of pathways all over every single structure in the city.

The servants below me begin to whisper to themselves and plot ideas of escape as I'm taking multiple seconds to spin around and take in the beauty of this masterclass work of art that someone... or something... built.

Every single tower in the city is made up of hundreds of thousands, some even millions, of ether and divine energy-imbued pathways each, creating a perfectly symmetrical circuit that continuously lets the city function as one massive machine.

There are incredibly thin invisible arrays that can be walked through, layering the Citadel as well, and they expand outward for over 70,000 kilometers from every side of the middle of the Central Tower, creating layered surveillance and automated protection systems.

All of the fast travel routes from anywhere and everywhere are pre-calculated and laid out within this enormous, beautiful system.

A few hundred invisible white streams of ether, so thin I couldn't detect them before, leave this Citadel and go off into the dense green divine fog farther than my senses can see. My guess is they're off to other citadels or complex machines like this one, though my final attention lies beneath my feet.

Down below me, covered in an enormous amount of ether, there is a machine that Ava and Seraphel called the powerplant; however, its core is wrapped in an impenetrable veil of silver threads.

It is clear that a being not from this zone of the Upper Realm created it. Unlike everything else in my senses, my divine craftsmanship skill cannot select or manipulate anything close to or connected to the powerplant. It is somehow too intricate and strange for me to understand.

Even looking at it for more than a hundredth of a second makes my head start to hurt, so I look away and let out a laugh that shakes the central tower.

All of the servants that thought about leaving or conspiring immediately stop, as they believe this is another brutal performance of my power.

But, in reality, I'm just amused by the truth.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Everything that seems fantastical and the work of beings beyond logic on the surface always has a simple answer underneath.

Whatever this Realm is, something built it, and it has a purpose. That purpose is being masked extremely well. While Seraphel's words of destiny, patterns, and strings of fate may have kept his mind intact beneath the clouds, I can see there is a master manipulator making things seem as though this is the case. Maybe, even the common base rules of the system itself are an illusion too.

–

When I look down at the shaking and frightened prisoner servants, I let out a sigh and lift up the few dozen more that have sworn loyalty to me out of fear, then close the temporary prison and throw it back to the floor.

"Get back to your usual posts. I'm glad you've come to your senses."

Some fly upward to help with the dismantling of the inside of the central tower while others leave out the front door that I open with my mind using less than 1% of the resources and effort I had to before. Doing so is a simple task now that I can directly comprehend and manipulate my environment, rather than blindly mimicking inefficient ancient ether commands.

Then, I follow them out the door and use stealth and shadowstep through the city, to find myself at the opposite side of the Citadel from where I raided the human district before.

On my quick flight over, I send new orders to a large number of the servants out collecting taxes, as well as a new task for Bri down in the Lower Realm. There are many resources I can collect on my own here, but to build the contraption I want to welcome my generals here safely, I'm going to need to build a masterpiece of my own.

Once all the messages are sent, there is nothing more I can do but wait and train for now, so I find myself in front of the High Orc Tower.

It stands about five times the width and height of the average lower-class towers in this district, mostly made of 4th and 5th class lords.

Its walls, a dark black material, stand out from many of the other buildings in the district.

I see intricate patterns and command prompts all over them as well, but they're an entirely different style than the rest of the Citadel. Clearly, a different craftsman built this tower than the one who made Ellipsia itself.

As the front doors open, I see a familiar pair of blue eyes staring forward at me from the middle of the lobby of the dark building.

Strong hot noble vibrations resonate with mine as a wave of telepathy hits me.

"We have a lot of work to do."

I nod and float forward, still dissecting reality before my eyes to try and make out what is real and what is an illusion.

"Yes. Yes we do."

–

Meanwhile, a very important meeting within the World Wide Connectivity interface is taking place.

Bri, the spokesperson for a new trade commission on a 3rd Class human world, sits in a holographic dark room manifested by the linked system interface with 26 other strong trading partners from 2nd and 1st Class Worlds all throughout the galaxy.

While over a hundred thousand worlds connected to the interface may seem like a lot of planets, compared to the hundreds of billions of solar systems floating between them, this is merely a drop in the ocean of potential.

Those on civilized worlds that have already predicted the pattern taking place know that this is the beginning of how massive this strange trading system can and will be.

A Berserker King from a 1st Class world does not hide his identity and stands proud before the others. Another white-scaled serpent race from a 1st Class world allows their hologram through too.

A Blue Ogre, a floating Beholder with dozens of eyes, an enormous Slug with clear viscous liquid surrounding the lower half of its body, a High Orc, a Metal Golem, and a few other monsters from 1st and 2nd Class Worlds share images of their true bodies.

Many others only appear as dark shadows, as they do not wish to reveal their identities yet, listening as Bri begins their meeting.

"I'm glad you've all made it. Today will be the beginning of history in the making. The entire Lower Realm will soon be connected as one, and I wish to offer those of you that have already established great power in your star sectors to think even bigger..."

As Bri smiles, she doesn't hold back the fact that she doesn't have a divine core, nor is her level significant compared to any of the strong monsters she talks to.

Every single one of them has at the very least a True Core and has ranked up three times.

Many of these planets do not know the existence of an Upper Realm, as their Lords left thousands of years ago and the opportunity to claim their worlds has been lost in history. However, those that have reached this peak of power know that a being powerful enough to effortlessly connect planets in star sectors this far apart in the galaxy so easily and efficiently must be a power impossible to compete with.

Those that know of the Upper Realm are certain a green cored being or above is responsible for this incredible feat.

Bri looks upward, and many of the monsters in the meeting follow her gaze to see four generals watching them.

Arie, Abby, Maria, and Raven don't wish to interject, but Bri invited them to make sure the guests she's brought together know she's serious.

While the four humans that stand above them in this floating room don't seem abnormally strong on the surface to these 1st Class Monsters, they are Administrators within the World Wide Connectivity System.

Within this virtual meeting, anyone that interacts with them or lays eyes on their beings instinctively knows that they are all-powerful here. Just a glance within this holographic construct sends an artificial energy wave into their real bodies, with the aura of the Rising Emperor that is the ruler of their worlds.

The 4 human figures above them immediately register as entities far above their plane of existence, and their human forms are merely visuals for their inferior races to easily comprehend.

While it isn't the full truth, it isn't far from it.

All doubts of loyalty in any of the World Trade Leaders' minds wash away without having to say another word, and a few more of the shadowy anonymous figures show themselves to the rest as Bri speaks up again.

"Today's first topic will be the safe transfer of divine fragments to lower-class worlds. Then, second, I will offer you the opportunity to purchase transport platforms to connect planets from myself, the only dealer in the system permitted to sell such highly regulated goods. Lastly, you will be able to ask me anything you wish about the new World Wide Connectivity System you've been granted access to. We shall be working together, so no questions are off limits, but you will soon know that some answers are."

Bri smiles and sweeps her gaze across the room, and the first Galactic Trade Commission meeting begins.