Reborn as a Mechanist with a God-Tier System-Chapter 295: The Abyssal Scar
"What is the Abyssal Scar?" Leon asked.
In the entirety of the long tale that Ren Nora just told, this was the one element that stood out to Leon as a clear anomaly.
Before today, he had only heard about the Abyssal Scar once. Maybe this was because he didn’t deliberately look for anything connected to it, but he also realized that the ChronoSystem had never mentioned it.
The only other time he saw something about the Abyssal Scar was when Davis projected the world map of Neo-Tokara for him.
It stood out in the map like a sore thumb.
He saw the Abyssal Scar as a violet black line that cut through the map of Neo-Tokara, cutting across the Central Belt and dividing the unified continent of Neo-Tokara into 2 parts.
The moment Leon asked the question, Ren Nora didn’t act surprised like he had been expecting it.
He leaned back on his chair and rocked it slightly before answering. "The Abyssal Scar is the most dangerous place in the entire world beside the Endless Ocean".
"It is an equatorial crater belt that cuts across Neo-Tokara and is filled with radiation storms that are even lethal to C Rank Ascended".
"Apart from the fringe of most Wastes, it is the singular Death Zone in Neo-Tokara and the most dangerous of them all".
"A C Rank Ascended can’t survive an hour inside it".
His face turned serious as he looked at his old friend. "I’ll advise you not to go near there, and if you must, only explore its fringe".
"I tried exploring it once and despite being a Shadow Node, I almost died". He said seriously. "Even if you can survive for a few minutes, it’s not advisable to spend time near it at all because it leaves lasting adverse effects".
Leon became even more curious. "What’s so different about it?"
"No one knows," Ren Nora shrugged. "If anyone was to know something about it though and if I was to guess, it has to be the Director-Prime".
"He knows the most in the world, and he is the only one that can actively resist my Primordial Hacking in the entire world".
"Sometimes, I almost feel like he’s not a C Rank anymore and has taken a step further through the Ascension Ranks". His face turned solemn. "But if this was so, we’ll all be dead already". He shrugged.
Leon rubbed his chin in thought. "What secrets can the Abyssal Scar possibly hold? Secrets of the era before Genesis?"
Ren Nora smiled. "That’s what I thought too".
"Even if most of the old era have been swallowed by the Endless Ocean, some parts should have been preserved at the very least. I believe the greatest relics of the era of humans are in the Abyssal Scar".
Hearing that from Ren Nora, Leon’s eyes gleamed. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞
That was a clue!
Seeing the burning look in his eyes, Ren Nora recognized it for what it was immediately and chuckled. "If you love your life, I’d advise you to tone down your ambition and steer clear of that place".
"That’s not a place for the living".
"That’s because I’ve not tried yet". Leon retorted.
Ren Nora looked him up and down. "You really love doing impossible things, huh? First, it was trapping a C Rank Ascended, and now you want to enter an area that even C Rank Ascended fear?"
"What do you think you are? A god?"
"Maybe," Leon smirked shamelessly, then he asked. "Just what type of radiation storms are in the Abyssal Scar that makes it so dangerous?"
Ren Nora’s face changed a bit as he seemed to reminisce. "The worst kind," he finally answered. "ADE corruption, the type of radiation that with time can corrupt and turn you into a mindless Neon Beast".
Ren Nora looked at Leon. "You should know how Neon Beasts are born right?"
He explained. "They are born either artificially or from spontaneous ADE crystallization in corrupted datastreams or ADE reactors".
"They also replicate through environmental contagion by infecting surrounding ADE fields with their presence, seeding new digital-organic embryos. This is why in areas of high corrupted ADE like the Wastes, Neon Beasts reproduce rapidly through data mitosis".
His face turned solemn. "It’s worse in the Abyssal Scar".
"At the very least, millions of Neon Beasts are born every year in that hellhole. The strongest Neon Beasts which resulted in Neon Beast Disasters in history, the Category 4 Neon Beast Tides were all tied to the Abyssal Scar".
Thinking of Category 4 Beast Tides, Leon could not help but remember Daren’s retelling of his E Rank Trial.
Ren Nora continued. "At the very least, dozens of C Rank Neon Beasts take the Abyssal Scar as home".
"And if a B Rank Neon Beast is going to emerge someday, which I hope not, there’s a 99.9% chance that it’s going to be born inside the Abyssal Scar".
Ren Nora looked at Leon again and shrugged. "You understand what I mean now? That’s what a Death Zone is".
Leon didn’t pay attention to the General’s last question though, this was because something else was already ringing in his head.
’Temporal Anomaly!’
~----~
[Passive Trait: Temporal Anomaly]
>Temporal Anomaly: Immune to ADE corruption; System growth uncapped.
~----~
’Temporal Anomaly... Abyssal Scar...’
’Do both of these things have a connection?’ Leon blinked. ’I’m literally tailor-maid to survive the Abyssal Scar!’
He was stunned.
Seeing the look on his face, Ren Nora asked curiously. "What are you thinking about now?"
Leon finally snapped out of his reverie, then he flashed a nervous smile at the General. "I’m just thinking about how dreadful the Abyssal Scar must be".
"Very dreadful!" Ren Nora immediately emphasized. "That is why I want you to avoid it until you at the very least become a C Rank Ascended yourself".
Talking of becoming a C Rank Ascended, Leon realized that he had a lot of questions in his mind that he was yet to ask the General.
He quietly filtered through his thoughts for a few seconds before asking. "I’ve been thinking for some time now," he looked at Ren Nora. "Can Ascended change Class Specializations?"
"No".
...
[Special Appreciation to ImperialJadeDragon, r03n, Otaku_Daoist, and Shadesworn for the Golden Tickets, thanks for the support guys! It’s truly appreciated.]
