Chương 147: Brainjuice

Fractera finally appeared on the horizon as a pale scar against the Jagged Sea. Meno had expected ruined towers, mountains, maybe some dramatic skyline announcing that they had unlocked the next tier of progression. Instead, the first thing he noticed was how dead the ground looked. The surface resembled cracked skin stretched across the land, with fine white dust covering everything from the shoreline into the distance and thin fracture lines branching through it in every direction.

Most were narrow enough to step over, but some widened into openings large enough for a person to descend through, and faint orange light leaked from the deeper cracks as if Fractera's crust had split open and exposed something hotter underneath. The Blackwake continued toward shore while Karmabeast leaned against the railing and watched the continent grow larger.

"Do you think the world is flat like the real world?" Meno turned toward him, caught off guard enough that it took a second to decide whether Karmabeast was serious.

"If Veyrath was flat, we could see way farther. Can't you tell the horizon curves relative to the light in the sky?" Meno pointed toward the distant coast as if that settled everything.

"Also, the real world isn't flat." Karmabeast gave him a deeply suspicious look.

"Are you trying to quote your high-school science book? That reasoning is a bit sus."

"I was good with science stuff. I even signed the petition to restore Pluto as a planet."

"Wait." Karmabeast straightened.

"You also believe space is real? Next you're gonna tell me a chicken can become immortal if it goes fast enough."

"It doesn't become immortal. Time just passes slower for it relative to us." Meno frowned at him.

"And obviously space is real. There was a global petition about Pluto. They don't make global petitions about nothing." Meno was preparing to drag Karmabeast out of the dark crevices of his ignorance when the phone-link chimed inside his interface. He kept one hand on the ship controls and opened the message, finding a text from Rina with nothing except Yummy! and a picture of her holding one of the pizza slices above her head while taking a bite. Fortunately, the privacy filter kept it hidden from stream.

Meno studied the picture for a moment longer and nodded to himself. She had passed the test, because he did not think he could stand someone who refused to eat pizza.

"Are you listening?" Karmabeast asked.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to think of a good response to a text. Stop polluting my mind with your bait attempts."

"Bait? If it's a girl, just send her a fruit emoji and get your head right. We're about to conquer a new continent." Meno looked at him.

"Which fruit?"

"Duh. Eggplant."

"That's a vegetable, and why would I send that? Makes no sense."

"Thanks, ProfessorBeadGod. Then send a red pepper. Means spicy."

"That's not a fruit either." Karmabeast rubbed his forehead.

"Oookay. I'm pretty sure I'm the expert here, but whatever."

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"What? Not currently. I'm too busy." Karmabeast paused.

"Arayu keeps rejecting." That answered enough. Meno looked at Rina's message again, then remembered something much better than an emoji.

"I know what to send. Come grab the controls. I'm going to make a Quadrillionator and send her a screenshot." Karmabeast stared at him like the shape of the world had suddenly become the smaller problem.

"That might be the dumbest idea ever." He took the helm anyway, guiding the Blackwake between jagged rock shelves. Fractera was only a few minutes away now, and with Karmabeast keeping the ship steady, there was enough room to test a proper Quadrillionator without repeating the catastrophic Common I experiment. Meno selected [Legendary III | Marcel's Reacher], [Legendary III | Marcel's Vainglaive], and [Mythic I | Sinseeker].

Quadrillionator activated, and white light detonated between the three weapons before bleeding into crimson. The metal folded together cleanly: no defective-component warning. Huge upgrade already. The finished weapon was still completely unhinged. The spear and polearm had fused into an enormous reinforced shaft, while Sinseeker ran almost the full length of it, its crimson limbs forming a siege-bow frame around the weapon instead of a normal draw.

The spear point extended beyond everything at the front, making the whole thing look like a lance that had swallowed a bow and refused treatment. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Meno adjusted his grip and tried to figure out how firing it was supposed to work. The bowstring was nowhere near his hands. To shoot, he would probably have to brace the base, tilt the entire monstrosity backward, and launch the arrow into the sky like mobile artillery.

At that point, it was less a weapon than a raid mechanic with a handle. Karmabeast looked over from the helm.

"Are you planning to siege a castle? That thing is cooked. Giga poke-stick siege bow." Meno ignored him, entered screenshot mode, turned toward Fractera, and extended the Massive weapon over the sea with the ruined continent behind it. The angle looked appropriately stupid and impressive, so he took the picture, transferred it through the phone-link, and sent it to Rina. Case closed. Karmabeast watched him cancel Quadrillionator as the components separated back into the inventory.

"Did you actually send that?"

"Yes."

"Pure cringe." Meno looked at him.

"What rarity are your weapons? Epic III?"

"Ah, now we're comparing weapons?" Karmabeast immediately became defensive.

"Just so you know, both of mine are Legendary II from the same vendor. A million each. No way the third tier is worth the price, and the Reputation gate is a joke."

"My bow has Legendary IV Damage Tier."

"I know."

"Good." The Blackwake reached Fractera shortly afterward. Meno brought it as close to shore as he was willing to risk, then both players jumped off and he recalled the ship before anyone could discover a new way to destroy it. White dust shifted beneath his boots, and up close, Fractera looked even less stable. Hairline fractures ran beneath the powder in every direction, occasionally joining larger breaks where faint orange light pulsed from somewhere below. There was no city in sight.

Meno turned slowly, searching the horizon.

"I don't see it. Where's the city?" Karmabeast summoned his Gravecycle.

"Middle of the continent. I checked BrineSaint's stream. Can't miss it. This place is huuuge." Meno barely heard the second half because he had already turned back toward the water. The shoreline here was almost perfectly flat, sloping into the sea without cliffs or obvious caves, and something about that bothered him enough to send him walking back into the water. Karmabeast remained beside his mount.

"What are you doing?"

"Exploring. I think there might be an entrance underwater. Just need to find it. You can leave." Karmabeast stared after him.

"Do you have secret information, or is this your usual brainjuice that blows up the world state every day?"

"Common sense." Meno kept walking until the water reached his waist.

"The shore is flat and all these fractures go underground. If the seabed slopes down beside the continent, there could be a crack below the water leading underneath. People searched the surface for days and found nothing useful, so whatever official descent opened near the city is probably packed right now." That was the real problem. Meno had no interest in arriving at the same monster route as every top group and fighting over tags.

"I'm not PvPing people just to get mobs. Terrible XP." Karmabeast looked toward the continent, then back at Meno already entering deeper water.

"I can already taste the regret, but fine. Let's do it."

"You're a bit low level for this."

"Hey! No need to be elitist. You're not going to find anything, then we'll go to town together." Meno ignored him and submerged. Without Bloodwake, swimming had become annoying again. He had also sold the Sunker with its swim speed bonus, but the gold had mattered more at the time, so complaining now would accomplish nothing. The seabed dropped gradually as Meno swam deeper, then he turned parallel to the shoreline once visibility started getting worse.

Karmabeast followed behind, and every so often both of them surfaced for air before diving again and continuing along the coast. There was almost nothing to see. Small fish drifted through the water and the bottom kept switching between sand, dark stone, and more sand, with none of Fractera's surface fractures continuing into anything that looked like a usable entrance. Five minutes turned into ten, then kept going.

Meno refused to give up immediately, but after another long stretch of empty seabed, he finally surfaced beside a broad rocky section with Karmabeast right behind him.

"See?" Karmabeast wiped water from his face.

"Told you. Waste of time." Meno floated for a moment and looked back toward the coastline.

"Still want to try one more thing." Karmabeast's expression changed immediately.

"What thing?"

"Maybe if there isn't a path, we can make one."

"You aren't about to flush the sea, right?"

"What? No." Meno looked down through the water beneath them.

"No idea if this works. Give me some space." That warning was enough to get Karmabeast moving. Meno kicked upward and broke through the surface, then used Airwalk before gravity could pull him back down. One kick launched him higher, and the second carried him far enough above the sea that Karmabeast looked small below. Chat finally realized where this was going.

STOP RIGHT NOW DO NOT PUNCH A HOLE IN THE OCEAN HE IS MAKING THE SIEGE STICK AGAIN BRAINJUICE ACTIVATED THIS IS HOW CONTINENTS SINK AI SWEATING ALL LIGHTS RED Meno activated Quadrillionator, and the long lance-like Massive weapon formed in his hands, Sinseeker's gigantic frame running along the shaft while the polearm and spear locked together into a reinforced point. He rotated until his body hung almost vertical over the water and aimed the weapon straight down.

When the Airwalk stop expired, Meno let gravity take him long enough to build speed, then used the final kick while upside down with 162% increased Movement Speed from Arrival, his new boots and the 8% leather Action Speed bonus combined. The burst launched him at the ocean like a dropped siege bolt. He hit the surface hard enough to punch a temporary channel through the water.

Quadrillionator cut ahead of him, keeping his body aligned as bubbles and displaced water exploded around the shaft and momentum carried him straight toward the seabed. Meno held on until the spear point struck rock. The impact half-buried the huge weapon in the seabed, driving the point deep enough that the entire upper assembly shuddered in his grip. For a moment, Meno expected the attack to stop there or bounce him away. Instead, the seabed cracked.

Thin fractures spread from the embedded point, branching through the rock and widening until orange light bled through from below. Meno stayed where he was as the pattern expanded and the stone around him began to give way. The Quadrillionator attack completed and the Massive weapon separated into its three components, but the damage had already moved beyond it. Karmabeast had swum closer by then, and both of them watched the fractures connect beneath a huge section of the seabed.

A deep thump rolled through the water. The entire rocky shelf collapsed inward, exposing darkness beneath Fractera as seawater rushed into the new opening. The drop became a violent vortex before Meno could use Airwalk again, dragging him downward with sand, broken stone, and a roaring column of bubbles. Karmabeast got caught a moment later and tumbled after him. Whatever he tried to shout disappeared into the current.

The orange glow vanished above as both players were pulled through the collapsed seabed and swallowed by darkness before either of them could see where the new hole led.