Chapter 155: 155
A name?
Draco pondered over this silently for a few seconds before choosing a name for this unique entity.
"Vitae."
As an Energy lifeform, this was an apt name, which also fit the theme of the Capital City. Vitae seemed to agree to this, as he nodded and retreated from Draco slowly.
"Thank you. Now, I shall take you through the functions of your Aether Hall."
Aetheric Energy coalesced in the room to form a sort of board that one would usually see in schools. It was semi-tangible, meaning that it wasn't permanent. After all, if it had such an ability, this Aether Hall would be too heaven-defying.
"Firstly, the Aether Hall is self-sufficient and can self-repair. It can automatically keep itself in tiptop shape both aesthetically and functionally, as long as there is Aetheric Energy around."
The display on the board showed the Aether Hall being messy at one point, and then a large arrow showed the 'after' of the situation, where the Aether Hall was sparkling.
Clearly, this avatar, or even this Aether Hall in general, had a sense of humor.
"Secondly, the Aether Hall can defend itself and attack intruders. This is limited to only the Hall itself, so in case of an attack, you will still have to manually defend the rest of the City on your own. The strength of the Aether Hall is directly proportionate to the Aetheric Energy concentration of the City."
"If the concentration is low, the attack and defense power becomes low, however on the opposite end, the attack and defense will be terrifying. At the current level of concentration, the power will be equivalent to a Rank 4 individual."
The board displayed the Aether Hall sprouting buff arms as it flexed them. Then underneath this illustration, there were two arrows pointing to two different scenarios.
The first was one in which the Aether Hall held a shield with its buff arms and defended an energy attack that was like a beam. The second one was the Aether Hall performing a suplex on a suffocating Dragon.
"Thirdly, the Aether Hall controls the entirety of the area which the Aetheric Energy reaches. In other words, this is what decides your city limit as well as what notifies you about whatever manages to sneak inside."
"You can expand your territory officially and forcefully if you increase the quantity of Aetheric Energy in the Capital City. Any place inside the reach of the Aetheric Energy produced by the Capital City qualifies as your territory."
The board now displayed the Aether Hall spreading out tentacles that covered the land. These tentacles seemed to grab anything and drag them into the mouth of the Aether Hall.
There were trees, rocks, and earth, and they were screaming for help while the Aether Hall laughed evilly.
"And finally, the most important function the Aether Hall has, is to slowly transform external Worldly Energy into Aetheric Energy."
"However, there is a caveat. The Aether Hall can only use this function to maintain Aether levels, but cannot increase them or produce it for non-maintenance."
Draco nodded as he understood. In essence, the Aether Hall would keep the Aether percentage in the overview tab, which was 25%, stable. It would not increase unless Draco manually increased the concentration of Aetheric Energy in the Capital City.
The board disappeared as Vitae had finished his presentation. He now hovered low to the ground and approached Draco.
"If you'll follow me, Hall Master, I shall lead you to the anomaly I mentioned earlier."
Draco shared a look with Riveting Night and Hikari before agreeing. "Please lead the way."
Vitae acknowledged his assent and began to move through the halls of the building at a moderate speed, while Draco and the two women followed along just as quickly.
Although the Aether Hall had changed greatly from the Mayor's Hall, Draco was still able to vaguely tell where they were going. Well, anyone could tell as long as they knew the old Mayor's Hall since they kept going lower and lower.
Eventually, they reached what was formerly the basement, but the door was vastly different now. Instead of a plain and unassuming piece of wood, it had transformed into a greenish-blue portal.
Vitae stopped before the portal and spoke to them slowly. "The small world Lady Hikari left in the former mine has fused into the Aether Hall, creating a strange function that defies understanding."
"Please enter with me and take a look for yourselves."
Vitae flew into the portal and Draco followed him without hesitation. Riveting Night and Hikari followed after wondering just what this was all about.
When they all saw the world, they were flabbergasted.
What had once been a small world with lush plains, endless trees and beautiful meadows with lakes and rivers had become a blank slate.
No, not a blank slate. It had become a bizarre realm where the ground was covered in something like water, which seemed to be semi-solid since they didn't sink into it.
In the center of this realm was a giant water drop that hung a few meters off the ground, with a column of water beneath it that formed a buffer.
(Author's Note: Basically this https://i.imgur.com/LZacOtg.jpg)
Draco stared at this with incomprehension. Riveting Night and Hikari looked just as confused as he did.
What… exactly was this? What was this realm supposed to be? More importantly, what was it supposed to do exactly?
The way Vitae had spoken earlier, they had expected that they would find some unparalleled wonder in this place, immediately understand what was going on and fall in awe from it.
However…
They were utterly clueless!
Vitae seemed to notice their confusion and lowered himself to their level as his eyes remained fixed on that water drop that hung in mid-air.
"That strange mass that resembles water is entirely comprised out of the Divine Energy that had formed this realm, but condensed. It cannot be damaged or removed, and it possesses a strange function."
Vitae turned to Draco and Hikari. "As long as a Dragon manipulates it, it can produce Aetheric Energy manually. The rate of conversion is awfully poor, but it should be important to note that the resulting Aetheric Energy can be added to the City's quantity."
The three became shocked now for an entirely different reason. Didn't this mean that they could manually expand their territory without having to sacrifice Aether Crystals?
Originally, Draco had planned to do just that, but this saved him all kinds of trouble.
Right now, he needed Aether Crystals so badly it wasn't even funny. He needed them for crafting equipment, for his Magical Engineering and to test other Tradeskills.
Having to spend some on the Capital City had been painful, but he had no other choice, so he was prepared to grit his teeth and tough it out. However, he was provided with an optimal solution thanks to this anomaly.
It seemed like the outrageous price in building the settlement as well as upgrading it had been worth it after all.
It wasn't too surprising that someone had built over an Aether Mine before, as Aether Halls had existed in the old era. However, no one had had the privilege to build over an Aether Mine which contained a small world constructed with Divine Energy, which should be extremely scarce.
This might explain why it showed up as an error.
Draco shook his head though. While tempting, it was unthinkable to leave Hikari here to manually manipulate it as he needed her by his side. He himself couldn't do so either because he had a plethora of tasks to accomplish.
"I noticed you talk about Aetheric Energy in the form of quantity and quality. Is there a difference?" Draco asked thoughtfully.
Vitae nodded. "When concerning the quantity, this provides no benefit to the land or the people, but allows the territory to expand. Quality, on the other hand, is what allows the people to benefit from the energy, granting the current boons."
Draco understood this. What the Aether Hall produced naturally was the 'quality' Aetheric Energy that kept what he saw in the overview tab stable and provided the current situation.
The 'quantity' Aetheric Energy was manually produced after he threw in Aether Crystals or used this anomaly realm to make it, which would allow the territory to expand rampantly.
Draco had one last question, which was: "How do I increase the quality?"
Vitae shook his head. "You cannot do so manually. It will only increase automatically when you upgrade the city into a Kingdom. The Aether Hall will then become an Aether Palace and be able to naturally produce higher quality energy, which will provide even better boons."
Draco nodded. "That's all then?"
"Yes, Hall Master. That is everything for now." Vitae answered.
"Good. I shall soon situate my family and loved ones exclusively, as well as my various breeding partners in this Aether Hall. Anyone else who doesn't fit this category is not allowed to enter the Aether Hall without prior notice and my explicit agreement."
"The only exceptions to this rule shall be the Core members of Umbra."
Draco gave that command before leaving the anomaly realm with Hikari and Riveting Night. He then turned to the two women and said: "We have to make some preparations. I originally planned to upgrade 5 buildings to Rank 7, but doing so now would be inciting desire where lust already exists."
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