Chapter 509 - Ancient Ruins 1
Chapter 509 - Ancient Ruins 1
Draco put down his Holotab with an amused smile. After watching the proceedings and seeing the great changes from the previous timeline, he had to admit that the butterfly effect didn't disappoint.
For one, his casual demand that Supernatural should help out GloryGore turned out to be the crucial element that created an upset. Anyone with a functioning brain - and knowledge of the truth of the world - could easily see that Jamilee was definitely part of Supernatural.
Her sudden betrayal wouldn't have made sense otherwise. Funnily enough, Amber had remained clueless about this to this day, until Draco sent her a message informing her about it. Learning that there were two secret factions out there, Superhuman and Supernatural, she became speechless.
Why was the real world more fantastic than movies? Also, those Superhuman fellows sounded like they might become a problem for the game at some point. In fact, they had likely been the very ones who had pushed the World Council to make such a big fuss of the hearing.
If they could get their hands on customized FIVR tech, they could train up their elites in mere months or less. Boundless World achieved the same purpose but made it fun and diverse to attract the entire human population.
Superhuman wouldn't need to give a shit about that because they would be training a chosen few with the right traits, loyalty, and talent.
Eva had listened in with interest by the side and at the end, she chuckled. "Well, that certainly was interesting, but what do you plan to do for the other 46 odd hours until the update is done?"
Draco pondered. Lazing about with Eva would be his go-to option, as going out when she was this pregnant was not advisable. However, after seeing that Supernatural had met his demand in regards to the hearing, he felt he should show them some gratitude in return.
Understanding his thoughts, Eva called up the secret portal for Supernatural and began browsing missions posted for those of their level. There were a lot of them, since the Superior Lords of the group hardly went out to do things.
It wasn't that they were lazy or scared per se, but they were supposed to be tactical weapons that needed to be preserved. The less they acted, the more mysterious and menacing they would seem.
If they ran up and down playing with different things, others might still recognize them as threats, but the general wariness would die down. Not to mention it would allow them to collect information about their rival's fighters and start to develop countermeasures against their powers.
Eva stopped at a particular mission as she displayed a look of interest. "This one sounds promising, what do you think about this?"
Draco took a look and seemed surprised. "A mission to explore an ancient mayan ruin that is rumored to possess a knowledge bank of the previous civilization? Interesting!"
Draco researched the details and found out why it was a Superior Lord posting. It wasn't like Indiana Jones movies where there were only snakes, man-eating beetles, and clever puzzles to worry about.
No, this one was basically a deathtrap where strange automatons patrolled and another Superior Lord who had scouted the place reported that they had sensed something so powerful that they feared for their life from just feeling that thing's aura.
Draco's eyes flashed after he read this. This could either be an Avatar that had been left behind by the 9 High Humans, a special existence from beyond the world that was resting there, or got captured there by the mayans…
Or in the worst-case scenario, it could be one of those primordial species who the vision of Lucifer and Amaterasu had warned them about, who had inhabited the planet long before the arrival of Lucifer and co.
Admittedly Draco would like to meet one of them, as he speculated that they might have something to do with the disappearance of what should be Earth's Worldly Energy.
Eva gazed at Draco with a smile. "So, what's the verdict?"
Draco smiled at her playfully. "Of course, I'm gonna take part in something like this. Not only does it sound fun, but it could lead to some interesting gains. Sign me up babe."
Eva nodded and accepted the mission on the portal using Draco's account. In less than a minute, they received a call from the Head of Mission Control who was sweating bullets.
"Err, Your Superior Lordsh.i.p.s did you perchance accept this mission by mistake?" He asked carefully.
Draco shook his head. "No, I have every intention of making the journey. Log it down in your system, prepare everything for my departure and wait for my glorious return."
This left the fellow tongue-tied, as his intention to dissuade Draco from taking the risk was caught in his throat. As such, he could only smile wryly and do as he was told, hoping to all deities that they wouldn't lose a talented Superior Lord.
Draco then downloaded all the details he had to take note of before calling Jada over. The adorable pettanko kicked the door open arrogantly and walked in with her head held so high that one could only see her chin.
She then pointed at Draco dramatically. "What do you want? Can't you see I'm busy being a blessing to humanity?!"
Draco grinned with amus.e.m.e.nt. "Yes, yes, Big Madam Jada. Your beauty and majesty are beyond the understanding of all mortals, your every step filled with glamor, grace, and exquisiteness."
Jada's head whipped down as she blushed deeply, waving her hand magnanimously. "H-Haha, as long as you understand. No need to say so much…"
"Right, I called you here because I'll be going on a mission soon and I want you to check the balance of probabilities for me." Draco informed her seriously.
Jada was surprised by this but nodded. Draco then told her the key details about his mission, and Jada closed her eyes as she began focusing on using her abilities.
Draco waited patiently as she knew that it took time for Jada to make things work. In the meantime, he observed the map of his destination which was a small island off the Atlantic Coast that was unnamed, but was extremely close to the legendary Nassau.
Since Nassau was the capital of the Bahamas, it could be played out that Draco was going on a vacation. Draco didn't want to spend too much time on this mission, so Eva immediately booked a flight using a personal jet belonging to the Superior Lords.
Draco and Eva had yet to own their own private jets because their group, Purgatory, was still in its infancy. The one provided by Supernatural was located in their city and could be ready in an hour's time.
The flight time was estimated to be three hours, so overall, the going and coming shouldn't be too much of a problem for Draco. Naturally, the exploration of the ruins would be what might pose endless danger, but Draco had confidence in himself.
Jada soon opened her eyes and had a weird expression on her face. She didn't look as tired as she before, meaning that her Clairvoyance had definitely become stronger.
"Your survival rate for the mission is 95%. Your success rate for the mission is 75%. Your failure rate for the mission is 3%."
These were goods numbers, though Jada found it hard to believe that something out there was so strong that it had a 5% chance of killing Draco. Whatever it was must be very scary.
Eva also displayed slight surprise, while Draco nodded. He honestly thought his survival rate would be far lower, but it was likely the case that whatever was waiting inside was either weakened, sealed or not exactly hostile.
Not to mention with his control over his bloodline now, the things he could do were far greater than any time he had taken a walk in society previously.
He was driven to the small airport in their city where the private jet was parked and waiting for him. Some quick procedures later, Draco boarded the plane and sat in one of the comfortable cushions within.
After the plane taxied and began rising into the air, the hostess for the jet came to inform Draco as to what he should do during the flight. Draco complied, wore his seatbelt, and idly started watching the movie.
Once the plane stabilized itself in the air, the sharp air hostess approached Draco with her attire slightly less formal and more casual, offering him some champagne and companionship.
Draco took the champagne but didn't allow the companionship to go anywhere as he made it clear that not only was he happily married, but also an expecting father. The hostess was slightly disappointed by this, yet stopped pushing for intimacy.
After all, she knew that people who could use private jets like this were Supernatural's topmost echelon. Obviously, neither she nor the pilot were normal human beings, but Thralls who were at the bottom of the hierarchy.
Gaining the favor of a big shot would guarantee her a good life. She was also very selective, yet a handsome fellow like Draco would definitely not make her regret her choice because if she was being honest, he was hot enough that she'd probably do it for free anyway.
The plane eventually began lowering altitude as the expert pilot brought it down in the airport of Lynden Pindling which was the only one in Nassau.
After coordinating with the flight crew, they parked the plane in one of the private hangers reserved for such activities. Draco dismounted calmly and walked into the airport with the guidance of the vice-chairman of the board.
Knowing that Draco was a bigshot, he was enthusiastic and warm to him. Draco himself responded naturally, but deep down he marveled at the power of Supernatural.
They were exactly that kind of secret society that had control over everything, like a beast with endless tentacles controlling various aspects of society. Being at the peak of such a group had so many benefits that Draco was glad he joined.
Draco already had a hotel booked for him at a resort-like establishment for the rich who came here for vacations. The price was beyond even what an upper-middle-class family could pay, and it was not put on Draco's tab.
He also had a driver assigned to him by the local headquarters of Supernatural and he told the fellow to take him near the beach. Since it was about evening time, Draco was prepared to head over to his destination right away.
The driver was surprised, but dutifully dropped Draco off at a nondescript beach. After the car left, Draco checked his map and saw that there was a long stretch of ocean in a straight line that led to his target.
Draco smiled and manifested his Dark Angel Wings. He noticed that doing so, in reality, drained far less bloodline energy and much slower than in-game, which surprised him.
Then again, he kind of understood why. In reality, it was his real body so it only had one layer to cross. However, Boundless was a virtual world, so his abilities from real life had to be ported in real-time into the game, which increased costs significantly.
No wonder Eva could use her light-based abilities so easily in the real world compared to Boundless. Even when she had infiltrated the Merchant Guild, she had mostly used Control instead of her bloodline, but when they both had massacred The Boyz and the Superhuman Base, Eva had made herself invisible by using just her and had kept it up for a long while.
Draco flapped his wings and took to the sky, blasting forward like a rocket. He was shocked at the sheer speed of his flight in reality compared to Boundless, but that wasn't the case.
In Boundless, everything was far larger than in the real world. Islands, cities, land, population, etc. were magnified by almost ten to twenty times within the game, so even though Draco moved fast, it had looked like he covered less distance.
However, since there was more sensible distances, in reality, it felt like he was moving quicker. It was just a matter of subjective perception of relative distance, nothing fancy or complex.
Draco appeared above the island he targeted in around a minute, slowly observing it from the sky. It was naturally unpopulated and was frankly utterly untamed with a large jungle covering more than 90% of its area.
There was only a bit left for the beaches, which was quite clean surprisingly. Draco moved to the center of the island and saw a huge clearing in the middle of the jungle where a small Mayan city had been established in the past.
It was naturally in ruins now, covered by moss and plant life that were encroaching on the territory. Draco lowered his altitude slowly until; he landed before the gates, looking up at the walls with a solemn expression.
Now that he was close, he too could sense it. There was something in the central Mayan temple here that gave off a palpable feeling of danger and fear.
Draco didn't underestimate it because Lucifer and Amaterasu had hinted that they couldn't beat the primordial species on the planet, but neither could the primordial species do anything about them.
So they had some bizarre truce, which was why humankind could still live on the planet even after the 9 High Humans left. Otherwise, why would such a powerful species allow humanity to frolic about on their land, even daring to cause harm and damage to it?
Draco walked through the gates slowly, looking left and right as he observed the famous Mayan architecture. It was truly an eye-opening experience to see it in person rather than in various media.
Rather than mere awe, it invoked a strange feeling of curiosity and suppression. It made one almost see an illusion of the place being occupied by ancient Mayans who still went about their day-to-day life, unaware that they would soon become part of history.
While Draco was taking a look, he noticed that there was a strange building to his left that looked like an administrative office. Curious, he entered it and saw that apart from being dark and gloomy, there was not much else.
He walked through the halls and checked the various offices and rooms, seeing no surviving doc.u.ments or the like, but there were a lot of strange mechanisms and furnishings.
Eventually, Draco reached what he assumed to be the - mayors? - office due to how large it was and its location. Unfortunately, the door did not budge for him as it seemed to require some form of passcode to open.
From Draco's perspective, it seemed like a strange combination lock. One would have to turn the dials around in certain ways to form the right combination to grant passage.
Draco did not have his Eyes of Caelo to let him see through the lock, and his Control certainly let him see the inner mechanisms, but he was utterly clueless as to how it worked.
As such, Draco made his work easier and apported himself into the office directly. Using psychic teleportation was strenuous in reality, but as long as he knew where he was going and it was only a distance of a few meters, it wasn't a big deal.
Draco inspected the office he found himself in and saw that it had living quarters, a side office, and a large planning room in the center. Draco walked to the table that seemed to be some sort of pedestal.
When he scanned it with Control, he realized his Void of Perfection fell into a void. In other words, he could not see inside this thing, which surprised him greatly.
He gently touched the stone-like table and flinched when it lit up with dark blue lights. Immediately, the entire room seemed to come to life as various gears and machinery working in the background.
Draco stood alert, waiting to see if anything improper would happen so he could either defend himself or apport out, but apart from the room lighting up, nothing else occurred.
Eventually, his attention was stolen away by a holographic projection that came from the table he had touched. There were strange symbols on this screen, as well as various images and links.
Draco was surprised. Could this be some sort of… ancient computer? It definitely seemed like it since it was patiently waiting for some form of input, displaying the same detail perpetually.
The question now was whether it was touch or voice-activated. Regardless of which, the issue of the language barrier cropped up. Draco combed through his arsenal of abilities, but could not detect anything that could let him learn a language so easily.
The only way he could do so was to be interfacing with a living being, where he could bypass the need for language by understanding the intention behind their words right from the thoughts they had.
Unfortunately, Draco could not sense any thoughts from this table, or anything else in the room for that matter. That left him with one option, which was to use his intuition to guess the various choices he could make.
Draco reached his hand out and pressed one of the links he could see on the screen. Thankfully, he felt some tactile feedback, confirming that it did indeed support touch.
The link led to another page, where a video automatically started playing. The volume was not too loud, but Draco could only wryly smile because both the audio and the subtitles were not something he could understand.
Still, Draco focused on the contents of the video, planning to glean what he could from it when his expression greatly changed. In the video, he saw a person holding what should be the camera in the center of the street he just passed.
However, Draco had no time to admire and actually look at Mayans and their city while it was still in operation. Rather, just like every Mayan on that street, his heart trembled as he watched a giant colossus smash its palm down towards the city, pushing the very atmosphere aside as it did so.