ShangriLa Frontier Chapter 488 Part 1
ShangriLa Frontier Chapter 488: People, and the Things That Talk to People Part 1
「Magnificent! Congratulations on beating the first layer, the “Gateway”! Absolutely amazing!!!」
「Yes, yes, thank you very much and all that other jazz. Now, I want to go home, so hurry up and do the deed.」
「First of all, allow me to grant you the “AmberJack Pass: Level One”. It’s a reward for defeating the boss monster on the first layer. This also means that you have successfully completed the first general trial!」
「Amber Jack? No, but more importantly, I want to go home! So hurry up and do it!」
Amber Jack can be great if you pair it up with pickled radish, you know? But I am personally more of a grilled sickle fan myself, but…… You know what? No! That’s not important here at all!
But that being said, if the fish is successful with its life, can it level up as well? I wonder. Also, is it possible that it can receive level up benefits as well?
「Also, even more prizes can now be exchanged for the Score points…… Oh, and while we are at it, here: another reward! “Replica of the Manned Protection Armor” meant for all sorts of extravehicular activity.」
「Oh, thanks a lot. Will check it out later. So, about that going home of mine…… are we doing this or what?」
So, judging by the looks of this item and its flavor text as I glanced over it, this should be something of a space suit from the Era of the Gods? I can even see a few interesting passages here, such as that this item was originally discontinued, but then all of a sudden its production was picked up again……
「Well then, without any further ado, let me teleport you to the second layer, “Kyodou”!」
「Oi, wait just a moment here! Time out! Time out!」
I have been saying over and over again that I want to go home now! Weren’t you listening to me!? And don’t you dare to say to me that you can’t possibly comply with my request because there is currently an ongoing event, you absolute asshole!
「This is, umm…… Hey, you know? There is even more wisdom from the Era of the Gods waiting up ahead? Aren’t you curious what it is? Don’t you want to go there right now and find out!?」
「I did not say that I’m not interested in that. Quite the opposite, actually. I want to learn about the Era of the Gods as much as possible. But right now I do not wish to be stuck here! So just let me out for the time being! I still have to go to school and other stuff like that!」
「Mumumumumumu……!! No, that’s right! Isana is the Brave Fish that offers guidance to the people by being close to them at all times! Yes, I understand that. I should not use my authority to limit the visitors in any sort of way! So, the way I understand it is that you would wish to postpone the transfer into the second layer for some other time, when you visit here again? Is that a yes, or is that a no?」
「Yeah, I would like to do just that, if that’s not a problem.」
「Alright, then! Directional Gravity Acceleration Teleportation! Start!」
「HUH???」
Wait a second, what the hell was that just now!? Accelerated teleportation? Directional Gravity? Wait, shouldn’t that be just a normal teleportation? I don’t know why, but those words just now sounded extremely powerful and extremely menacing for some reason!
「Uwoh!?」
「What the……!?」
「This is the float of Intelligence, isn’t it!?」
What the hell is going on!?
「Then off we go towards the second layer! Now, if you’d please…… Ascension!」
「What the hell is going on in heeeeeerrrrrreeeeee……!?!?!?!?!?」
For a moment out there we are all simply floating in mid-air, and then we are just ejected upwards with a powerful pressure. As if we were being thrown by some sort of invisible hand.
At this moment we can get the bird’s eye view of the entire first layer, and we can even see what lies beyond the horizon. And then, we can see that part of the ceiling that was rapidly approaching, the same ceiling that was imitating the sky and the clouds, started to open up.
After a brief moment of panic I eventually managed to stabilize myself enough to be able to look around and assess our current situation. Then I went on to calm down Araba, who had no idea what was going on and was trying to swim through the air as if his life depended on it here.
And just like that my entire party managed to traverse through the ceiling of the first layer of the labyrinth…… And then we were already on the second layer. At least that method of travel seemed to be much faster than travelling on foot.
「A meadow?」
「What the hell is the meaning of this?」
「We need more Intelligence to provide a suitable analysis.」
「Intelligence this, Intelligence that, learn some new vocabulary, Saina! Seriously!」
「Hmph, intelligence takes priority. Vocabulary is a secondary feature at best……」
You stupid Piece of Junk……!!
We were hanging in the air for a couple more seconds, waiting for the floor to shut itself under our feet. And when it was finally done, we were lowered onto the grassy floor with no holes and crevices, looking as natural and solid as if there was no hole in it only a second ago in the first place. With our feet firmly on the ground, we started to look around curiously……
「Are those open terraces or what? Although I get the feeling that that’s not it, really.」
「I-It’s called landscape consideration! B-Besides, that kind of décor was pretty popular back in the days of the Era of the Gods! Y-Yeah! It’s just supreme fashion sense, that is all!」
I can also see some strange writing on the walls here and there? Was that the language that the Gods used to speak and write? But no matter what, at the current moment it must be nothing more but a dead language.
Even though there are things in the middle of the meadow that certainly ruin the rustic and idyllic immersion of nature, such as the rest area, drink bars, vending machines and all other things just like that, we still take our seats and use this opportunity to relax in the meantime.
「Listen, I can promise you that I will be back. But at the same time I also have a lot of purely systematic questions. Are you fine with that?」
「Of course not. Please, don’t hesitate to ask me anything you want.」
And so, I did not hesitate.
…
………
……………
…………………
「–––– So, that about more or less wraps it up.」
The bottom line of the conversation is that Amber Jack stays one and the same, but you can raise its “clearance level”.
And it seems that some of the levels have rather sweet prizes to them as well. For example, at level three you unlock the ability to fast travel around the already discovered places around the ship. Which is a nice incentive to come back in here.
「O yeah, and last but not least……」
I’m not really expecting anything from that question, but it’s better to ask then not, and beat yourself over it later. I go to my inventory and take out a certain item out of it, one that has been sitting in there for quite a while now. It was going to be the last question I would have for the Brave Fish for now, since Alva and Sigma were starting to go bonkers around the drink bar, meaning that it was high time for me to step in and put them back in line.
「–––––– Is there a way to restore the Corrupted Data on this thing? Asking purely out of curiosity.」
Of course it was the data drive left behind by that Edward scientist or whatever his name actually was. This damaged beacon must have contained some sort of pivotal information, one that would be enough to get the poor sap on someone’s shit list and cause him to get disposed of in a rather grizzly manner.
If the data on this thing turned out to be unsalvageable, then that’s alright, I would give that matter a rest. However, if only parts of it are destroyed, then surely there should be a way to restore it, right? Or rather, this place should have means to do just that, since it seems to be the pinnacle of the Era of the Gods’ technology.
Or it may be that such functions are still locked away behind the appropriate level of the pass that I was given, but it never hurts to actually ask and get to know what’s what.
「…… Fufu, so, is that how it is? So, that person was still considering him his best friend all until the very end, huh?」
As expected, the Brave Fish responded confidently with a smile.
It was a weird smile, looking somewhat like mockery, but with a visible trace of bitterness to it. It was a combination of emotion that you would never think a mere AI would have, because it was so complex and fast—changing. Just like that of a human.
「The restoration of the data on this drive has already been completed, but…… I’m afraid to say that this data is a top-secret one that had to be put away under the highest level of security clearance.」
And then the fish woman says something like that.
「For you see, this data drive contains the ultimate truth about this world. But it is the level of wisdom that is useless for someone who is unable to cross the void of space.」
「So in other words, it’s something that we don’t need to know about quite yet?」
「No, no, that’s not it, Next Generation Human Being. For you see, sometimes the shortest path is not the correct one. Sometimes detours are needed for us to achieve true understanding.」
「And that means?」
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