If ‘Genesis Island’ floats in the unreachable heights of the firmament, a place no one can reach by flight alone…
Then the ‘Eternal Mineshaft’ lies deep, deep beneath the earth, in a place no one can reach by burrowing… a world called the Earth’s Core.
“Eternal Divine Crystal… open the door.”
Upon a pale, snowy mountain range, Weilin pressed a hand to her chest. A mysterious, brilliant five-colored light pulsed beneath her skin. The young girl faced the flying snow, her expression solemn as she murmured the words.
She said “open the door” instead of “activate the teleportation array” because the Eternal Mineshaft was, in the truest sense, Weilin’s home.
It was her only sanctuary within the game, back when both the Empire and The Federation detested “him” to the bone, when “he” was practically at odds with the entire world.
Ah, speaking of which, the other twenty-nine people in the ‘Eternal Mineshaft’ were there too. Though they weren’t quite sworn siblings, they were definitely partners (friends) she could trust at her back without a second thought.
As the Guild Master, Weilin could still clearly recall everyone’s name and class, even the personality quirks and hobbies of most.
But just like the plot of a certain anime, only Weilin had transmigrated to this other world. The other twenty-nine hadn’t descended at all.
Strictly speaking, the ‘Eternal Mineshaft’ was originally the guild’s collective property. Now, however, Weilin was forced to inherit these countless mineral deposits alone. At this thought, Weilin couldn’t help but feel utterly heartbr- (overjoyed) -oken.
Swoosh…!
Six 7th-Tier, highest-grade Magic Stones flew out from the Eternal Space, pulsing with a strange, magnificent violet light. They arranged themselves in six positions, and a blazing golden thread swiftly connected them, forming a six-pointed star array…
Boom!
The six Magic Stones simultaneously ignited with dark-violet flames, beginning to burn fiercely. The fire peeled away their outer shells bit by bit. The exposed parts shimmered with flowing violet light, leaking mana so condensed it turned into a liquid state, pouring into the six-pointed array…
The terrifying mana fluctuations overflowing from the array dimmed the sky and stilled the wind and snow for a moment.
Even though Weilin could freely teleport between all ‘Domain’ mining points, she still had to pay a price based on the distance. Teleporting from the Earth’s Core to the surface… was absurdly expensive.
Not that Weilin couldn’t afford it.
But following the principle of saving whenever possible, she wouldn’t frequently shuttle between the surface and the Earth’s Core if there wasn’t a pressing matter.
Only when the six highest-grade Magic Stones had burned to ashes did the slowly sinking six-pointed star array shoot a beam of violet light skyward. From within, an ancient, mysterious portal with a dark-gold frame appeared.
Weilin steadied her breathing slightly.
Then, she stepped inside.
The World of the Earth’s Core (Core World).
A world with a round sky and flat earth, though technically still a hemisphere, the Earth’s Core was also a hemisphere.
The Earth’s Core was divided into the ‘Inner Core’ and the ‘Outer Core’.
The entire landmass of the Divine Crystal Continent’s ‘Inner Core’ was what was known as the ‘Eternal Mineshaft’ – “the mineshaft that digs into the continent’s heart.”
The Eternal Mineshaft was divided into four layers.
The teleportation point where Weilin arrived was the ‘Guild House’ area on the first layer. This was the area where guild members operated and rested within the Eternal Mineshaft.
“A familiar ceiling…”
The girl murmured as she opened her eyes, then rose from the soft, large bed, glancing around at the simple room furnishings…
She had been standing when she teleported, yet she arrived lying down back home?
Well, never mind the details. What mattered was that she had indeed returned. How could she be so certain…?
Weilin’s gaze fell upon the massive wicker cabinet filled with over a thousand anime character figurines. Kanade Tachibana, Yuriko, Origami, that baka from summer, Asuna… Among them were many ultra-rare limited editions you couldn’t even buy with enough money…
And on the top shelf of the cabinet, as if to signify a status surpassing all her 2D wives combined, right in the center of the uppermost level, there rested only a single figurine…
【Huan Xuezhi】
So, it wasn’t without reason that Weilin had lost her cool and blurted those words upon first meeting the Illusory Snow Queen.
“Hmph…”
The corners of her lips curved up imperceptibly. Weilin withdrew her gaze and pushed the door open.
In truth, the entire ‘Guild House’ was designed with a very modern (Earth) aesthetic. Everyone lived in their own separate villa.
Besides Weilin’s residence, twenty-nine other exquisite villas stood here.
“Ah… if I hadn’t set that flag back then, if we had all just waited together for the servers to shut down… would it have been possible for everyone to transmigrate here together?”
That line at the start of the prologue, ‘Attack the Empire on the 7th?’, wasn’t just empty talk.
With twenty-nine other people as powerful as Weilin, the Eternal Mine Guild truly possessed that kind of strength… But now, with only Weilin left, she was a lone palm unable to clap.
However, Weilin looked down at her chest, her skirt, and her black stockings, then remembered the ugly, wretched faces of those campy guild members…
“Forget it, who cares what happens to them!”
She’d just keep her former companions in her memories and cherish them there. The urgent matter now was to go and meet, one by one, the several NPCs within the Eternal Mineshaft who were no weaker than anyone in the guild.
Of course, ‘NPC’ was just an old way of describing them. Now, they must have all developed intelligence appropriate to their identities… perhaps even souls.
Leaving the ‘Guild House’…
She entered a dark, underground world tinged with a Cthulhu-esque Lovecraftian style.
Unlike the cramped and narrow confines of ordinary mines, the first layer of the Eternal Mineshaft where Weilin stood was infinitely vast, countless kilometers high, its empty expanse stretching endlessly. The ghostly lights shimmering in the darkness were pieces of ‘Extreme Black Obsidian,’ which fetched thousands of Gold Coins each on the outside world. Yet here, they were strewn everywhere underfoot…
The dark, core world wasn’t silent; it was inhabited by many peculiar creatures.
For instance, right now, a creature as large as a human, carrying a giant conch shell on its back, scurried past Weilin’s eyes with a strange “Ka, kaka—” cry, its two twig-like, slender little legs propelling it forward…
【Shelled Parasitic Beast, Lv.45】
A parasitic beast capable of matching a Platinum Warrior…
If this creature were released into the outside world, it would probably be treated as a Demonic Monster invading the continent.
It wasn’t just the Shelled Parasitic Beast. There were also groups of Fungus Beasts scampering past Weilin, Black Slimes so hard to see without looking closely, flocks of Crows cawing “kaka” overhead, and all sorts of other indescribable creatures…
There was even a supermassive rock head.
Just lying on its side, it was over a dozen meters tall. It had clear, yet eternally petrified, human facial features. The strangest thing was, you simply had no idea how it moved…
Because as long as Weilin blinked, its position would change. Otherwise, you could stare at it until the end of time, and it wouldn’t budge an inch.
【Big Head, Lv.80】
A Saint Realm being!
Mm, this was a creature of the Eternal Mineshaft created by a Foundation fan in the guild, drawing inspiration from SCP-173…
Lv.80 only qualified as the mineshaft’s “creature.” It was nowhere near being a Guardian.
Because the Lv.100 Guardian wasn’t something created. It was a world-class Demonic Beast that the Eternal Mine Guild had worked together to tame…!
First Layer: Dreaming Wetland, Time Temple, Guild House
Second Layer: Aether Research Institute
Third Layer: Clay City, Eternal Interval
Bottom Layer: Crow God’s Temple
