Chapter Sixty-Eight: The Mechanical Realm of Clockwork Nirvana!
Date: 2016-08-23
Author: Floating Tower
Pure black or white is not good for the entire world.
Just like Soren admires the noble faith of the Lord of Radiance, he absolutely does not agree with His philosophy. This is something even the Agricultural Goddess, who inherited the Divine Profession of Mother Earth, cannot identify with. If it were otherwise, the Agricultural Goddess would not have constituted her own pantheon.
Demons are always so cautious.
After their probing attacks began to be countered by the Church of the Deity, their small actions immediately decreased significantly.
Unlike the Ancient Gods, the churches of the other Gods are mostly located in the Material Plane, which is a crucial source of their believers. Therefore, regardless of good or evil, the Gods maintain a consistent approach: they must not allow the Material Plane to fall under the control of demons.
It is a calm night.
Soren does not know when he has become more accustomed to observing the starry sky at night since this can inform him about the current situation of the Gods.
The stars in the sky are dim and lackluster.
Although there have not been many conflicts during this time, there are still sporadic weak divine beings falling, such as Yulrag-Lian, the God of Death for halflings.
He has fallen.
Without any signs, his downfall seems to be related to the God of Death – Naraku.
The God of Death – Naraku is known as the enemy of goodness, the life hater, the dark messenger, the gloomy king, and the flesh harvester.
The beliefs in the Material Plane are mainly distributed in desert areas; he is not a God who takes the Material Plane as his primary source of faith, as Naraku has his own church in other planes. Just as most Drow believe in the Spider Queen Rose, if the Drow can be found in other planes, they will also carry the faith of Rose there.
Divine profession plundering is the main theme of the Saint’s Cataclysm.
As a deity of medium divine power, if given the chance, the God of Death – Naraku can kill other Gods who govern the Divine Profession of Death.
It is obvious.
He seized this opportunity but also angered the chief God of the halfling pantheon. Perhaps due to the primary faith not being in the Material Plane, Naraku probably does not fear it much.
As for the traces of other deities, they are still unclear, but it is said that the God of Crocodiles has appeared in the northwest.
………………
Modo has become a solid fortress.
The Bottomless Abyss is in a crucial buffer period. Soren still has enough time to do other things before the Werewolf God – Yenogu launches another attack.
His destination is the Mechanical Realm of Clockwork Nirvana.
A world he has long planned to visit and has only recently found time for, more importantly, he has learned from Gisz about the information regarding the bodies of Ancient Gods. This is a significant source of divinity for Soren; a well-preserved body of an Ancient God could bring him a large amount of Divinity Value.
——“Astral Portal!”
Accompanied by the radiance of divinity, Soren’s figure appeared in the Astral Realm.
The Gods have an innate understanding of planes, and he easily locked onto the Mechanical Realm of Clockwork Nirvana, then used divine power to teleport near this plane.
——[Mechanical Realm of Clockwork Nirvana]!
This is a plane with ultimate order.
It is the birthplace of order for all planes.
It is the working machine for adjusting the Multiverse.
It is said that its existence is related to the original law of [Time] of the Multiverse, representing the highest criterion of order. From above in the Astral Realm, the overall shape of the Mechanical Realm resembles a teardrop-shaped clock with a distinctly tree-like domain. [Note: The Mechanical Realm is sometimes referred to as the Time Tree.]
Within the Mechanical Realm, every law forms an independent gear kingdom, and all operations revolve according to their respective criteria. Each interlocking gear operates based on colossal computational data; even divine powers cannot understand the effects of this data apart from those incomprehensible laws. The Mechanical Realm is the straightest and flattest among all outer planes; it seems like a vast machine created by some unknowable entity, operating according to specific rules. This plane does not feel natural like others, as one can sense a very strong constructive aura at a glance.
It is said that there is a great divine power known as [Master of Time]; they may still exist or may have already perished.
At least the Gods have never seen them, and the Mechanical Realm of Clockwork Nirvana is said to be their masterpiece, and generation after generation of Archmages have attempted to uncover the most fundamental mysteries within it.
Soren entered the inner Mechanical Realm.
There isn’t much difference from other planes; the Mechanical Realm has unique gravitational characteristics, meaning the gravity throughout this plane differs; some places are close to the gravity of the Material Plane, while others reach over ten times that of the Material Plane. Without legendary strength, walking in some areas of the Mechanical Realm can be extremely difficult.
This is also why Soren only entered the inner Mechanical Realm now.
Though associated with time, the time flow in this entire plane is similar to other planes, showing no signs of time passing too fast or too slow.
Theoretically, the space of this plane is infinite.
Although the gears of the Mechanical Realm are finite, the characteristic of this plane allows it to expand infinitely; it is composed of countless gears, with even the smallest gear being the size of a standard island. No one knows what kind of astonishing power could create such a plane.
The various large and small gears and devices constitute the clock, and the entire clock’s volume is roughly equivalent to the Asian continental shelf.
Some useless gears drift around the Mechanical Realm, inhabited by some void creatures that are hostile to outsiders. This is a plane that completely distorts the concept of reality; for visitors from other Material Planes, everything would likely overturn their previous understanding.
The entire Mechanical Realm is stabilized by spells.
At least weak divine power is needed to change the Mechanical Realm; mortals would have to use spells and physical effects to painstakingly alter some things.
The characteristic of the Mechanical Realm is time.
Yet no one knows how to trigger it, leading this plane to possess no elemental and energy characteristics.
In the Mechanical Realm, there is a strong tendency towards order; any non-lawful faction suffers a -2 penalty to all Charisma, Perception, and Intelligence checks. This implies that this plane is extremely extreme and very unfriendly to neutral and chaotic factions!
The magical properties of the Mechanical Realm are normal, and most spells can be cast normally.
The place Soren arrived at is a large gear.
The area is almost equivalent to a kingdom, and within his sight, there is a portal. These ancient portals are scattered throughout the Mechanical Realm; some are damaged while others still function, and certain ancient Construct Life forms maintain the normal operation of the Mechanical Realm, regularly repairing these portals, while natives can only reach other gears through connecting gears.
These portals link the outer planes and the Astral space; in most cases, there are rings emitting green light nearby that resemble gears, slowly rotating, indicating the portal’s purpose, direction, and location. Only those with over 350 knowledge points and who have studied Astral knowledge and Mechanical Realm knowledge can decipher these markings to understand where this portal leads. Furthermore, many portals open at scheduled times according to the laws of time; the entire Mechanical Realm resembles a gigantic clock, only activating certain portals when reaching a specific time. Once visible, the portal’s opening usually remains for at least an hour and may last up to twenty-four hours.
Random teleportation within the Mechanical Realm is extremely dangerous!
The inhabitants of the Mechanical Realm construct their homes on the interlocking teeth that spin in the void. Usually, there is no wildlife on the surfaces of the gears, but colonizers from various planes—including the Material Plane, the Nine Hells, Mount Heaven, and others—have transformed the surfaces of their respective gears into various mazes, gardens, or nature reserves.
In other words.
The entire Mechanical Realm is a massive mechanical clock, with the vast majority of plants and animals, even the surface soil, having been brought here by residents over long periods of time.
The natives living in the Mechanical Realm are almost all not complete, real creatures—they are Construct Life!
Of course.
There is also another extremely dangerous creature—Fermi Ant Tribe!
Their ant nests penetrate the entire Mechanical Realm; these ant-like beings seek out all the colonies they can see, then, like worker bees, they devour everything that lives above them into the nest, making these things submit to their queen’s laws.
This branch of Astral Swarm is the number one killer while adventuring in the Mechanical Realm!
Soon.
Soren encountered one of them; along with the overturned soil, a creature resembling a giant ant appeared before him. Upon seeing Soren, it became somewhat panicked, seemingly wanting to burrow back underground.
But Soren would not give it that opportunity.
With a fire arrow, Soren directly pinned it to the ground. The Fermi Ant Tribe is a troublesome creature; often, letting one escape could attract a whole swarm.
The Mechanical Realm has a small number of Prayer Weavers.
The probability of encountering them is low, just as there are very few deities that have their divine kingdoms attached to this plane.
In the Mechanical Realm, vision is normalized; the daylight in this plane is illuminated for 12 hours by light that suddenly appears from the void and then becomes completely dark for another 12 hours. Hearing is the same here; although sometimes a rumbling low bass can be heard at the edges of the ground caused by the rotation between interlocking teeth. [Note: Some planes’ hearing and vision may be distorted.]
There is a structure known as [Nest Teeth].
They are the bases of the Fermi Ant Tribe, and ant-city nests made of excellent architecture exist on the surfaces of the interlocking teeth and above their colonies. Each colony of Nest Teeth houses thousands of workers, warriors, and foremen, along with a dozen or more Fermi Ant guards. Under any circumstances, each interlocking tooth will only have one queen, whose commands are the absolute law of the Nest Teeth.
A very special existence must be mentioned here.
That is—[Mother of All Ants]!
In the Mechanical Realm, there is an empire ruled by the Fermi Ant Tribe, which continuously builds colonies on the gears of the Mechanical Realm, all inhabited by vast numbers of Fermi Ants.
At the heart of the Fermi Ant Empire, surrounded by all important colonized teeth, lives the [Mother of All Ants]. All Fermi Ants believe that the diameter of the teeth where the Mother of All Ants resides is at least three thousand miles, and this tooth is the core of all the Mechanical Realm’s teeth and allows other teeth to move accordingly. Whether fact or mere belief, both sides of the core tooth are covered with solemn ant-city nests and are enveloped in divine-like radiance. The [Mother of All Ants] claims to be a medium deity, although this assertion is difficult to verify, the thirty-three highest Fermi Ant Queens always follow the Mother of All Ants, protecting the safety of this ant ruler.
The Mother of All Ants is the greatest threat to Soren in the Mechanical Realm!
This being, claiming to have medium divine power, possesses unimaginable strength, and disturbing it could spell a lot of trouble for Soren.
The Mechanical Realm of Clockwork Nirvana is one of the ancient battlefields of the Order Gods, so many ancient God bodies have appeared here throughout history, and it has also given rise to another special species—[Faceless Ones]!
Faceless Ones mostly wander in the Astral Realm.
However, the probability of encountering them in the Mechanical Realm is also high, and these terrifying divine beings are birthed from the flesh and blood of ancient God bodies; no one knows their birth principles, but if a Faceless One is born, the ancient God body drifting in the Astral Realm will gradually perish.
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