Chapter 251: The Tale of Multiversal Eras (III)

"And how am I to know of the happenings outside the Tower? You are the ones living in the current era. you should know, not me," the Heavenly Demon snorted.

"The same goes for what the ’grand purpose’ of the Tower is... How am I to know? I’m just the memory of a Heavenly Demon trapped here in one of the many scenarios on Floor 2. I don’t know what the System expects of you with this knowledge. All I want is to find a way to the ninth Floor and be free of this place!"

"...But what do you think?" Zara pressed this time, her urgency mirrored by the others. They could all see the flawless logic in Uhtred’s line of questioning.

The fact that they had unlocked this sub-scenario and were now being privy to these multiversal secrets meant it was vital to the overarching purpose of the Tower.

If this were a game, this would be the equivalent of a hidden, vital quest.

The Heavenly Demon had said it himself — the other six who hadn’t made it to this sub-scenario would almost certainly fail to reach even Floor 5 of the Tower.

Being here and hearing this information was critical to whatever lay ahead on the higher floors. And seeing as they were also bound by the System-imposed "Oath of Secrecy" to never reveal anything from this sub-scenario outside of it — except among the four of them present here — Uhtred’s deduction was all the more logical.

The four of them stared at the Heavenly Demon, silently demanding his thoughts on the matter.

He growled, clearly displeased at being forced into a corner. But the fact that he reacted with frustration only served to validate Uhtred’s words further.

"You would have seen the signs by now!" the Heavenly Demon said seethingly. "The changes to the System don’t just appear out of the blue! It is a slow, eventual process, and you will see all the signs clearly if you look. Those signs will tell you what is about to change next with the era."

"The signs?" Uhtred asked. "Well, how are we supposed to recognize the signs? We were integrated by the System just a year ago... We haven’t even reached the five-year buffer period to be fully integrated into the Grand Multiverse yet. We’re the last people who should be able to ’spot the signs.’"

The expression on the Heavenly Demon’s face soured even further. He looked on the verge of an outburst, but he reined himself in and let out a low breath before answering, his tone curt and clipped.

"Think of inconsistencies. Little things the System does that seem fragmented or weird. One time it does this, the next time that... Think of mechanics that it enforces once, and other times completely ignores."

His words made Uhtred, Zara, White Raven, and Perfection all sink into deep thought. They tried to recall any instance of such a thing happening — any subtle inconsistencies they had noticed in the System’s actions at one point or another.

Uhtred frowned.

It felt like something he should naturally know — he was sure he might have noticed something like that at some point and brushed it off in passing — but now that he was actively trying to recall a specific instance of it, he really couldn’t pull anything concrete to the surface.

Fuck! Why is it that whenever information is actually needed, it becomes impossible to recall...

It was on the tip of his tongue, yet completely out of reach. Perhaps he had never even noticed any such thing and was simply falsely certain that he had.

"What about skills?" Zara asked suddenly, causing everyone at the table to perk up immediately.

Uhtred pondered her words as she looked around the table and continued speaking.

"I’ve always thought the way they’re handled is... kind of weird."

"The way they are handled? How so?" the Heavenly Demon asked, a light frown forming on his face.

"I mean, I get that when you learn a new skill, it likely isn’t actually new elsewhere in the multiverse," Zara said. "The standardized names the System assigns to skills make that obvious enough. But what’s the actual point of the Levels attached to them?"

Her question made the frown on the Heavenly Demon’s face deepen abruptly.

Uhtred also frowned in thought, though for a completely different reason than the Heavenly Demon.

"It’s to show our proficiency with a skill... isn’t that the obvious reason?" White Raven offered slowly while Uhtred remained lost in thought.

"...Yeah," Uhtred’s eyes narrowed as the realization clicked. "But the actual skill Levels are kinda... weird."

Zara nodded in agreement, looking from Uhtred back to White Raven, who still hadn’t fully caught on.

"Look at your status panel and check the Level of the skill you’re most proficient with," Zara said. "Compare that to your current overall Level as an Ascender..."

White Raven, along with Uhtred and Perfection, all immediately summoned their individual status panels.

"...I bet you those numbers don’t correlate to your current Level at all."

"...Yet the skill is able to keep up with our current Level regardless," Uhtred completed her deduction, seeing the exact same pattern on his own screen.

Right there on his Status Panel, his previous [Basic Earth Magic (Level 5)], [Basic Metal Magic (Level 5)], [Basic Air Magic (Level 5)], [Basic Water Magic (Level 4)], and [Basic Thermal Magic (Level 7)] — all of which had fused and evolved into [Multi-Elemental Magic (Level 2)] back when he first reached the Nascent Realm at Level 25 — was now sitting at [Multi-Elemental Magic (Level 9)].

It had increased, yes. But it had leveled up without any discernible rhyme or pattern. It didn’t correlate to his overall Ascender Level, it didn’t even correlate to half of his current Level, or a third, or any specific ratio at all.

It was as though it followed an entirely different leveling progression — one completely separate from anything else on his status panel.

And it wasn’t just that single skill either.

The Unified Elemental Strike that he had witnessed and learned directly from the memory of the Sovereign of Chaos, Drakgon, was also on his status panel, sitting at Level 6.

Inferno Violence, the complex elemental manifestation spell he had created himself, sat at a surprising Level 21.

Several other spells — or rather, skills — showed the exact same discrepancy: Fire Arrow at Level 6, Ice Spear at Level 13, Wind Blade at Level 8...

Their Levels were completely all over the place.