193. The Gate that Start's Everything (II)

The silence was heavy in the meeting until they all burst out into a racket. It wasn’t until Mr. Roger slammed his hands down that everyone went silent.

“I know we all wonder why this is happening, but I hope you all understand that we can’t all talk at once.” Mr. Rogers said with a bit of a threatening voice. “Now, with that being said, to answer the most obvious question of why it is above our city? Well, that answer is easy to explain.”

Mr. Rogers leaned forward, crossing his fingers. “Have you heard about the ancient ley lines that these planets have?”

Most people shook their heads as if it was a known fact for them, except only a few.

“To put it simply, Atlantis is a hotspot for a large mana pool of energy. Our’s is considered the highest in this country. With that being said, lately, we have been monitoring the energy density level with Jonet’s Red Flower Nation for the past years. If you don’t mind, Jonet.”

Jonet nodded, taking the lead. “At first, we didn’t know much of these changes as the mana level on the ley line had been staying consistent for the past ten years, but for the past two years, the magic level was slowly but surely increasing. At first, we didn’t think much of it as it wasn’t much of a problem and thought of it as a natural cycle that the planet goes through, but looking back, we believe that it was actually preparing for the appearance of dungeons.”

“Was this the only occurrence in Atlantis?” Rodney asked, cutting in.

“No, it has been happening all over the world all at the same time. We call it the resonance of connecting worlds.” Jonet said with excitement, her eyes were twinkling while she was explaining it.

“Still, what does this have to do with why the S-Class dungeon appears over Atlantis?” One of the government officials named Rob asked, folding his arm. He was getting tired of her dragging on.

Jonet eyed him with a frown, “I was getting to that.” She cleared her throat and continued with her explanation.

“Now, every time a new dungeon appears, there is a surge of magic around the area. When the dungeon gets defeated, it expels a large amount of energy back out into the world, enriching the environment with magic. So, the more dungeons being destroyed, the higher the mana concentration will be around the area. This is happening all over the world.” Jonet clapped her hands, “Don’t you see how great this is? Our planet was slowly losing magical energy as years went by, now that the dungeons appeared and being destroyed, more and more magical energy is being replenished into our world, stabilizing our planet’s core.”

The others were contemplating on what she said.

“When the first dungeon was destroyed over the natural ley line, it fed the planet's natural magic hotspot, allowing it to expand and replenish its lost pool of magic that it had lost over the century. With that being said, higher-level dungeons need a high level of mana to support its existence. The first dungeon burst allowed it to expel its large quantity of mana already in it, it paved the way for other dungeons to appear on top of it.”

“Lately, we theorize that these dungeons are from different worlds, bringing with them large amounts of mana their planets can not hold. By breaking the dungeons, our planet benefits from it and vice versa. So now the cause of the S-Class dungeon is simple. We are saturated with a high amount of magic in Atlantis to be able to open the doors for an S-Class dungeon to appear.”

Jonet’s words were a shocking explanation. Everybody realized now the more they destroyed dungeons, the stronger the dungeons were going to get.

Emily slammed down her hands, “If what you say is true, this is a problem. The moment we destroy the S-Class dungeon, it could herald a bigger disaster.”

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Jonet shook her head, understanding her worry. “Yes, this is a possibility, but we must destroy the S-Class dungeon. The overflow will destroy our city and ravage millions of lives. There is nothing but to attack it head-on.”

“But this could herald a SSS-Class dungeon!” Emily shouted in an outburst. That will decimate a country!”

Snow shivered. What Emily said was true. The thought of a triple SSS-Class dungeon appearing over their populated city was devastating. They heard snippets of such cases bringing a doom to a civilization.

“We don’t have anything to protect our people.” Emily hissed, “If such a case of destroying one S-Class dungeon now, what then? Do we have any solutions that could help us against a bigger threat?” Emily was staring down Jonet and then the others. Her energy around her was frightening.

Jonet broke Emily’s energy flare, “Yes.” Her words were a light in the darkness that she had put out with the picture she had painted.

“S-Class dungeons have legendary artifacts. People who have succeeded in diving and breaking into an S-Class dungeon come out stronger with powerful items at their disposal. With this in mind, we must push our Hunters to go in and retrieve these items.”

Such heavy words made many burst out in a cacophony of chatter. Everyone was trying to overcome each other’s words until Mr. Rogers slammed his hand on the table again, silencing everyone.

“Please, let's talk with a bit more dignity.” Mr. Rogers said calmly. He then turned towards Jonet and asked, “Why do you suggest we destroy the dungeon? Is it essential?”

Jonet shook her head up and down. “Yes, the longer the dungeon stays open, the stronger the overflow will become. Eventually, that dungeon will jump up another rank, and then another, becoming a triple S Dungeon even if we like it or not.”

“That’s preposterous.” Emily waved her hand, huffing in disbelief.

“It’s true.” Snow replied, bringing everyone’s attention. “We all know this since the appearance of the other dungeons conceptions and growth. Jonet had led such findings for the past year.”

“How are you so sure an S-Class dungeon will grow? These are low-level dungeons that we are talking about, not an S-Class?” Emily asked, taking a good look at her.

“Because I have been diving into these dungeons since the appearance of it. I have felt the mana density inside the dungeons….growing. I thought about it. First, I was just feeling things, but that wasn’t the case at all. We all know the longer the dungeon is left alone, the stronger the dungeon becomes. We all saw this happening with the last three dungeons, becoming stronger and stronger, why not an S-Class dungeon? If an S-Class dungeon is not the pinnacle of all dungeons, then an SSS-Class dungeon's appearance is a possibility from it. Where do you think legends come from?”

The others started to nod, agreeing with her.

“I’m not saying the dungeon will grow so quickly and change, but we have been destroying smaller dungeons these past three to four months since our last major dungeon. That is a lot of magic being spilled out into the area.”

Snow’s words were like a lightning bolt. “These smaller dungeons have become our lifeblood. It provides for our hunters materials that we need to get stronger and stronger. We aren’t easily pushed back and thrown aside because of this. I’m not saying this out of pride. I’m saying this because of what I have seen personally. Yes, there have been deaths; this is something that we can not avoid. A world without sacrifices is impossible, but at the same time, countless numbers of Hunters have come out and have become Heroes. These Heroes have kept our city safe.”

The world Heroes brought a different ring to people in the meeting. Many of the high-level Hunters listening to the meeting saw Snow in a much better light. A sense of pride blossomed in their hearts.

“We must trust our Heroes and prepare for the worst to come. Right now, our priority should be how do we stop the S-Class dungeon from evolving into an SS-Class Dungeon, not a triple S Dungeon. Following behind, that is how do we reinforce our city from an overflow?” Snow had voiced the question that everyone wanted to know the answer too. “We have a large number of people in this room with intellectual minds, our solutions are present if we come together to figure this out instead of bickering over each other.”

“Then, do you have a possible solution?” Emily asked if she wasn’t as heated as before. Instead, she curiously waited for what Snow would have to say.

“Just a small piece.” Snow replied, drumming her fingers silently on the table. “The Black Box series, we have a few that are better for the use of city-wide protection.”

“Wait, Dragon Express has the Black Box series?” Jonet asked in surprise. “Since when?”

Snow just silently smiled, not really answering her question.

“Holland, you haven’t told me about this.” Jonet turned towards him, waiting for an answer, but Holland shook his head.

“This is my first time hearing about this as well.” Holland was curiously looking at Snow, wondering what she had up her sleeves.

“A Black Box series is a dangerous artifact, how is it you would have them?” Holland asked, quietly observing her.

Snow was wondering how many secrets Mr. Jay had. Still, the city needed this. “I assume Mr. Jay has told you about the Black Boxes.”

“No...he has not. Instead, he disappeared that night.”

“I see.”

“Well, Mr. Jay had left me with a few surprises of his own and left a few artifacts from the Black Box series. There Are not many, but it is enough for what I have in mind.” Snow didn’t tell them that she had over half the collection of Black Box series information and the location of each Black Boxes. She had found such information one day on her desk, which she wondered where it even came from.

“The box No. 66 Hellhound and No. 12 Fortification.”

Holland gaped, he furrowed at what he had learned from her, becoming even more serious than before. “No. 66 and No. 12….those two artifacts can barely work together in the same location.”

Snow shook her head, “Not when you got a sapling Yggdrasil tree growing up on the roof.” She pointed above towards the ceiling. The others looked up, following the trail of her finger.

“Yggdrassil’s sapling…” Mr. Holland was even more surprised by what he had learned. Many of the others were wondering even more about what she had in mind.”