Days 272–275

Sometimes, even the laws carved deep into the flesh of reality fail to behave as logic predicts. RUINSURGE, which I envisioned as the great awakening of artifact hunting, did not trigger the expected wave. The pulse of the world of IN seemed to shift into a different frequency band. The artifact stream, once a river of consciousness, had slowed to a mere drip.

This... troubles me. Not just because I’m running low on materials for experiments — though I am. But because the world is behaving differently. As if it’s slipping out of observation. As if it is now the one... observing.

But I refuse to yield to the whims of probabilistic matter. I make my decision: the tournament will be extended for another lunar cycle. I need artifacts. Many. Constantly. My research has reached a critical point, and any delay could collapse the wavefront of discovery I already feel brushing against my fingertips.

While the heroes search for hidden relics of the past, I once again turn my mind toward the frozen code — the crystallized essences left behind by fallen monsters. These are fragments of DNA, matrices of frozen memories, compressing within them the spirit and form of what once was. And perhaps... of what could be.

Work with them continues. But today, my hands touched something else — synapses.

By evening, I made a breakthrough: If two synapses of the same type vibrate within the same frequency range — they can be merged.

Not merely combined, but synchronized, woven into a single wave that resonates. The result exceeded expectations: the new synapse significantly enhanced the hero’s stats, as if it awakened hidden parameters previously inaccessible to analysis.

It was as if the hero’s body didn’t just grow stronger — their perception deepened, piercing through the fabric of the world, through the boundaries of the self.

And in that moment, I understood: Synapses are keys. But not just to power. They are keys to a deeper layer — to the frameworks upon which IN itself is built. Blueprints of existence.

And amidst this alchemy and realization, news reached me from the vanguard. The heroes are advancing. New lands reclaimed from the monsters — and on the horizon, a structure. Fundamental. Massive. Silent. Like an architectural scar woven into the fabric of the world, left by someone... or something.

I’ve sent the heroes toward it. I must know. We must know.

But... Just as I was wrapping up for the night, something strange happened in the lab. A set of gems and resources, resting on a stone pedestal, suddenly flared.

Not with the usual light of truth. But with a darkness that warped the space around it. It... made a sound.

Not a signal. Not energy. A word.

Spoken not with voice, but as a wave inside my mind. Thin, icy, hissing.

And the word was...

“Vereth'Zal.”

I froze. This didn’t come from my world. Not from this lab. Not from our equations. And in that instant...

I understood…

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