As Rune and Astryde made their way towards the place she had chosen to execute a deep dive in an attempt to know where their group of 3 should go next, a few bone golems tried to stop them and even chase them in vain.

Rune found the situation a bit perplexing as he couldn’t at the same time allow Astryde to be invisible and lead the way, so they just had to put up with sometimes being fired at until they reached their destination.

“We arrived,” pointing her finger at a big building that seemed out of the ordinary, Astryde implicitly gave the authorization for Rune to use his cosmic mist.

With more than 10 stubborn bone golems of various sizes chasing them and 3 of them firing actively, it didn't take more than those words for him to hide himself and Astryde in a cosmic mist bubble, getting back their peace.

After losing her perception of her immediate surroundings and not knowing where she was precisely, she told Rune where she wanted to be, “I’ll start my dive inside the building.”

Grabbing one of her bony arms, he led her to one of the openings of the out-of-the-ordinary building then momentarily scattered his mist to allow her to place herself correctly.

“Sit yourself anywhere.”

Quickly finding the place that felt right, her energy was already starting to rotate around her, signs that she was ready to start a time rewind.

“See you later,” she bid goodbye before lapsing into silence and starting to focus on the reason she was here.

The energy all around her started to rotate rapidly around her as she kept adding more and more to the cycle, making for a very artistic sight for Rune who already covered her back up in cosmic mist after he observed a few bone golems showing interest in where they appeared for a short time.

‘Knowing what those energy cycles represent gives it just that much more meaning, that’s probably why I find it so fascinating.’

With the next few weeks being fully scheduled on the “Protect Astryde” item, he didn't feel like he needed to quickly start anything so he just sat down and observed Astryde working her magic for half an hour before finally breaking away from the hypnotizing scene and turning on his connected screen.

‘Can someone become addicted to fighting without thinking about anything? I really don’t feel like departing Tolevia and its marvelous high-intensity battlefield…’

Wanting to find a new short-term purpose that didn’t involve fighting bone golems as a full-time activity, Rune started with accessing the official IGS news site, it had been 2 months since he had last gone there and he had some expectations concerning what happened in a few categories.

‘First, did they find the gravity anomaly core?’

Directly writing “gravity anomaly” in the search engine, he hoped the matter was already over and archived.

However, it didn’t take more than a second of reading the resulting articles for him to open his skeletal jaw and ask himself a very simple question.

[The Unending Mountain Dimension: Core of the gravity anomaly.]

‘What-’

[Remains of high-gravity humanoid species, possible presence of a native civilization in the Unending Mountain Dimension.]

‘The penguin-’

[“Hourly deadly gravitational waves makes the material upkeep a nightmare”, interview with anti-gravity tech supplier]

‘Happened?!’

[Major expedition has diverted power to help secure the tier 5 gravity corridor.]

Scrolling down, he found that hundreds of articles tagged “gravity anomaly” had been published over the last…

Hour.

‘What.’

His skeletal jaw just wouldn’t close, what was he reading? He questioned his sanity and asked himself whether he was or wasn’t under a spiritual power’s influence.

‘Is one of the tier 5 bone golem pulling a joke on me?! How come no one was talking about… This! Did it happen a mere hour ago or what?!’

Overtaken by his adventuring passion, he furiously scrolled down until the rhythm of article update changed to a more traditional one of a few per hour.

It was the rhythm a few days ago.

[The gravity has stabilized at 10 000 SU (Standard Unit), a sign of the imminent arrival at the gravity anomaly core? Current supposition and theories.]

[A scout report: “Gravity a few hundred thousands of kilometers away doesn't seem stable”. Growing worries as the sub-major expedition reach for the anomaly core.]

‘Oh my Ether Law, did I hit the jackpot timing-wise?’

Knowing that only relying on the article titles to understand the situation was either a lost cause or too approximate and prone to big misunderstandings, Rune calmed down and scrolled further down to 2 months ago.

‘Oh my! This is so exciting! I know the conclusion but it only makes it even better!’

Having completely forgotten why he was here to begin with, he started to read all the articles tagged “gravity anomaly” like he was reading the biography of a legendary entity, and he did it like he would an entertainment: Slowly and enthusiastically.

As he kept reading through the “relatively uninteresting” parts of the sub-expedition penetrating into a tier 5 ether density zone and the eccentric or straightforward ways they fought and successfully killed tier 5 monsters, he couldn’t help but remember his own experience with the gravity anomaly.

‘I stopped at… 500? I’m sure it was just a bit more than that number. And now they’re saying the center of the anomaly is at 10 000?’

Interrupting his article reading, he went through his own travel diary and by memory found the maximum gravity he stopped at when he was tier 3.

512.8.

‘500 versus 10 000, I think the odds are in my favor. Anyway.’

Quickly going back to reading, he spent the next 4 hours or so comprehending how the situation ended in the discovery of a potentially inhabited dimension.

He read how as the expedition neared the core, the main challenge changed from dealing with tier 5 monsters to dealing with gravitational waves that increased gravity.

He noted down the mind-blowing numbers involved in those waves that occurred daily that only became more and more violent as they approached the source.

It came to a point that even the gravity-measuring tools, made to resist extremely high gravity in their conception, broke and became scrap metal every time a weave happened.

Even the tier 4 elite patrollers that changed their whole build to become specialized in gravity nullification to continue building the corridor couldn’t step outside of it, where techs using miniature blackholes canceled high gravity, when those gravitational waves happened.

And this stage where progress became extremely slow due to the high frequency of those deadly gravitational waves, with one taking place every few hours at best if it wasn’t for one every hour, and in consequence having to make the security of the workers the priority or they would immediately die… Took 1 whole month.

The articles also didn't even talk about a permanent solution having been found, and Rune concluded that, in fact, even now there shouldn’t be a solution.

The numbers were clear, the highest wave made the gravity go from 10 000 SU up to more than 1 000 000 SU, and it was only theoretical as when such a wave was registered, all the measuring instruments broke.

Fortunately, all the gravitational waves weren’t like that. Though for the workers, they didn't really care whether gravity reached 100 000 or 1 000 000 when a wave occurred.

Even those elite tier 4 patrollers who leveled their anti-gravity build weren’t suicidal enough to think they could survive it.

Once this 1 month of very slow progress passed, the sub-major expedition finally reached the anomaly core: A massive hill.

The pictures Rune saw couldn’t encompass the size of the thing and he could understand it, there was a reason it was called a hill and not a mountain, it was just a massive flat plateau of rock that led approximately up.

At this stage, they didn't know the anomaly core was a dimension. Even the media and the scientific community thought this massive hill was the origin, so lots of articles were released at that time before slowing down once more as the ascension and progress were similarly very slow.

‘And now, an article released 3 days ago…’

With rising excitement, Rune immersed himself in what he was reading.

(Finish the Fight - Halo 3 - https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=QAeeYohFL1Y&feature=share - A very inspirational song <3)

He visualized the peak of the gigantic rocky hill.

He visualized the hourly extreme gravitational waves that strained even the perfected miniature black hole anti-gravity tech.

He visualized the swarming workers that only exited the corridor for half an hour every time a wave passed.

Then he saw how things started to change as they neared this peak. It was visible. They could detour it with their hands.

Then humanoid remains appeared.

All the monsters had long disappeared.

There seemed to be nothing at the top. It seemed to be an empty peak.

And finally, the scouts reached it first after the safe corridor neared it sufficiently for their massive movement speed to allow them to make a round-trip safely.

Ultimately, there was the subsequent discovery of a tier 5 dimension that appeared in their Dimensions window, as well as more remains.

Then the initial explosion of articles that occurred 2 days ago took place.

Hundreds of different and discordant opinions about what was taking place and what would happen were sent his way.

Acclamations and worries about the possible first contact of the IGS with an unknown civilization were present in every article, even the most neutral ones.

A day after the discovery, detailed articles were published from everywhere, retracing the most probable evolution of this dimension and the associated birth of the gravity anomaly everyone now at least heard of, ultimately leading to its inhabitants becoming unable to exit due to the hourly deadly gravitational waves.

And then, having caught up to the latest articles, the latest interesting and notable ones at least, Rune now understood the matter as much as someone who was working there and knew only less than the actual scouts who entered the Unending Mountain Dimension.

In short, he became an average netizen interested in the matter waiting for the release of new info without having any influence on it.

‘I’m so freaking hyped! That’s my next destination! No one can change my mind!’

The situation was thrilling, and not only for him but for everyone, it could even be said that the IGS itself was going to be thrilled by the matter once it was known to everyone, if it wasn’t already the case.

‘My endless adaptation will finally find a good use, and it’ll even be for something that I know will have enormous returns!’

Motivated by his decision of making this “Unending Mountain Dimension” he didn't know anything about yet his next destination once he properly wrapped his bone region one, his mind went into overdrive as thoughts and ideas on what he had learned about adventuring in a tier 4 ether density zone started to organize themselves.

Bringing up his note app, he created a new note document, named it “UMD Preparation”, and started writing everything that passed through his mind.

Be it training-related issues…

‘Fighting ultra-high gravity implies using momentum and body control in a near-permanent manner…’

Knowledge-related issues…

‘If I’m going to start working on my endless adaptation, then I need to get a few courses on what others have done before…’

Teleportation-related issues…

‘I’ll be unable to bring any of my equipment and tools, let’s just hope the IGS will have the time to prepare a few basic ones or the natives have some tech…’

Dream-related Issues…

‘Floating islands? For another time! I could use millions of EP to get people to find a region or anomaly with floating islands, but where would be the fun? Not like I hoped to find one quickly…’

Constraint-related issues…

‘What if the access is restricted for whatever reason? It happened for the bone region so why not for this one? The best way is to preemptively ask…’

Undecided-related issues…

‘This time I’m sure no one will want to go with me, the dimension is probably too environmentally aggressive for them…’

With his years-deep pool of adventuring experience, he instinctively came up with a few issues. More than that though, he had started working on a few of those issues prior to deciding to make the “Unending Mountain Dimension” his next destination.

As if he had already planned everything and wasn’t actually writing as he thought of it all, Rune continued filling up his new note document with issues he currently had and how he planned to resolve them.

Organizing everything on the fly as he kept thinking of new issues, he created a shortlist of the things that possibly needed weeks or months before being resolved once he started on them.

‘Ok, so first is obviously making sure I can enter, so that’s Olivia. Second is getting general knowledge on my growth mastery from my predecessors, this one is for miss cold beauty growth mastery research faculty leader. Third is…’

Passing through every issue he thought of, more and more thoughts gathered in his empty skull as he conceptualized how much impact losing access to the internet would bring, in turn making him try to minimize them by preparing adequately.

Eventually, hours of planning later as his inspiration decreased, he decided that it was time to transition from a purely theoric plan to an applied one.

‘I’m still in range, so nothing is holding me back. I just need to reduce sound waves absorption and… Maybe I could just do everything by writing though? I think that’s better.’

Preferring to write a detailed message than believing in his horrendous oral skills, he started to redact a simple message to Olivia.

This message entailed the fact that he had decided his next destination to be the Unending Mountain Dimension once he wrapped up his current one, so she should check if its access was going to be restricted in the future. And if it was to really be restricted, ask for permission.

Once he sent this message after checking it for mistakes, he moved on to an issue he had been planning to resolve for some time already but… Wasn’t that urgent all things considered.

‘I remember adding her to my contact list when we last saw… Ah, that’s right, I sent her my restaurant list!

Accessing his contact list, he quickly found her name.

‘Zophia Holden it is.’

Repeating the same thing he did for Olivia, he started writing a message explaining that he was soon going to put his growth mastery to the test in the newly discovered dimension at the core of the gravity anomaly, and so if possible, needed information packages about people who once created a growth mastery similar to his.

Sending it after revising it a few times due to his relative unfamiliarity with the intended receiver, Rune moved on to his next item, having long since completely put out of his mind the reason why he was even here standing guard next to Astryde, not even thinking about going and fighting some bone golems for relaxation sake.

…

Weeks passed, 3 weeks to be exact.

Over this relatively short or long stretch of time, Rune learned that taking care of someone who couldn’t defend himself was much more stressful than he wanted.

He also learned a week in that as long as there was a will, there was a way. And that’s why he stopped remaining idle playing with his screen next to her and started to go out to fight bone golems when he felt like it.

However, while he had completely become used to doing everything while keeping in mind that a weak young skeletal girl needed to be hidden and protected, it seemed that his new comfortable cycle would be broken yet again very soon.

‘It’s slowing down… Is she terminating her dive?’

Uninformed about how a deep dive or a simple time watching ended, he could only observe and suppose that this change in the energy flow meant Astryde would soon wake up. It had never changed over 3 weeks, so why would it change otherwise?

His supposition was proven true 5 minutes later as the skeleton who had remained immobile for 3 weeks started showing faint signs of moving again.

Those faint signs swiftly transformed to clearly voluntary movement, eventually concluding on a momentum push that made Astryde go from a sitting position to a standing one.

Dispersing his cosmic mist as there was no use for it anymore, he was the first to speak to the recently awakened princess, “I have too many jokes to say about the situation, so I’ll just not say anything.”

Contemplating for 5 seconds the way she had been greeted, she, at last, shook her head as she replied normally, “No one made professional jokes to me as of yet. You can decide whether to break this streak or not.”

“It’s too much responsibility,” Rune didn’t even think about it before shutting the whole thing down and changing the subject, “You might be interested in knowing that the IGS has successfully established contact with another civilization while you were under.”

“But I was only under for 3 weeks?” Close to accusing him of actually making a joke, she thought better and started to use her connected screen to find a definitive answer.

“Let’s go back to safety first, a few bone golems are already ready to pounce,” he interrupted her before she got to know he wasn’t lying and that this news was all over the web.

Moving first, Astryde followed behind him as they made their way over the outer city of Tolevia that seemed to be less populated than they remembered.

Rune didn’t even need to activate an app to find his way back as he only needed to condense a pair of spiritual eyes to know where they needed to go.

Arriving back at what was before called the backline but now seemed to be a camp, the two landed.

“Do you have our next destination?” He interrupted her again before she became too absorbed as she already seemed to be intensely reading news articles on her screen.

“Yeah, I’ll send a message after I sleep and catch up on the news,” she replied as if the matter had been a foregone conclusion from the start.

Knowing she would enter the same state he had been in when he learned such a situation was happening, he finished by a small joke, “Ok, and no need to thank me in case your guilt over forcing me to remain next to you for 3 weeks overcome you, I’m just a happy nobody after all… Sigh…”

“Yeah, yeah,” however, Astryde was already too far gone and didn’t even seem to react to his fake pity-attracting act.

“...” Jaded by this over-neutral answer, Rune didn’t even attempt a follow-up and started to look around.

The place had changed.