GLOBAL AWAKENING: My 10,000x Exp Multiplier-Chapter 61: []The Origin Crystals, Defying the Algorithm
The Slime Fields were a sprawling expanse of bubbling blue muck and rotting vegetation that smelled completely awful.
It was a zone designed by the Spire rendering engine to be utterly miserable. It was just a low-level grinding area meant to test the patience of novice players.
But right now, it was a graveyard of elite pride!
Vahn Ryker stood at the edge of the newly formed marsh with his hands casually tucked into the pockets of his dark combat jacket.
The surface tension of the mud had been entirely deleted by his administrative override.
Where the heavily armored Vanguard of the Silver Fang Guild had once stood, there were now only slowly dissipating ripples and the faint digital glow of forced logouts.
"Well, that was certainly one way to handle a territorial dispute." Hana noted while stepping carefully onto a flat stone near the edge of the swamp.
Her Sun-Silk Aegis shimmered brightly. It projected a localized kinetic barrier that flawlessly repelled the foul-smelling mud from her boots.
She leaned forward, her dark glossy hair falling over her shoulder as she peered into the muck. "But seriously, Vahn, it smells like oxidized copper and rotting fish out here. Why are we still standing in the garbage disposal of Sovereign City?"
"Because the economy is rarely what it appears to be on the surface, Hana." Vahn replied with his voice carrying a smooth and even cadence.
He didn’t even look at her. His deep purple eyes were locked entirely onto the center of the swamp.
Aria stepped up beside him. Her pristine Crimson-Lotus Vestments radiated a warm pink-gold light that actively pushed back the damp chill of the fields.
She didn’t stop at a polite distance at all. She moved directly into his personal space and her delicate fingers immediately reached up to press against the center of his chest.
The sweet scent of cherry blossoms washed over him, completely overriding the stench of the swamp.
She looked at him carefully for a moment then turned her gaze to the center of the swamp.
"So what exactly are we looking for?" she asked.
Sia Vance was standing rigidly a few feet away. She aggressively thumped her armored fist against her massive obsidian kite shield.
"Commander. The perimeter is secure. There are no remaining hostile vectors. Shall I clear the mud so we may extract?"
"That will not be necessary, Sia." Vahn chuckled softly, the sound vibrating warmly in his chest.
"The Silver Fangs did not lock down this sector because of the Slime Jellies. The jellies were a cover."
"They were a superficial resource meant to hide what the engine was actually rendering beneath the bedrock."
Vahn’s eyes flared brightly. The faint brilliant green and azure circuit lines of his Verdant Chronos-Sight snapped online.
The physical illusion of the muddy swamp instantly broke down. The bubbling blue water, the rotting logs, and the dark soil faded into transparent geometric wireframes.
He looked deep beneath the surface of the game architecture.
Buried exactly forty meters below the mud and hidden behind layers of encrypted environmental data, there were pulsing and jagged clusters of deep crimson light.
"System." Vahn commanded, his voice dropping into the terrifying and absolute resonance of the System Administrator.
"Target: Encrypted subterranean data nodes. Override geological density parameters. Initiate forced vertical extraction."
[Administrator Permission Granted]
↳ Modifying terrain geometry.
The ground violently trembled!
The thick watery mud of the Slime Fields suddenly parted like the Red Sea. A massive localized vacuum formed in the center of the swamp and violently pulled the earth aside.
With a heavy grating screech of tearing digital code, dozens of jagged blood-red crystals floated up from the depths and hovered in the air before Vahn.
They were not smooth or polished at all. They looked like raw bleeding wounds cut directly from the fabric of reality.
The ambient mana in the clearing spiked to a suffocating level, making the air taste like static electricity!
"What are those?" Sia asked while taking a step forward.
Her Vanguard instincts flared up. Her shield automatically raised to absorb the intense chaotic pressure radiating from the stones.
"The energy density is unstable. It feels like the abyssal radiation from the twelfth floor."
"They are Origin Crystals." Vahn explained.
He reached out and plucked one of the hovering red stones from the air. The crystal hummed violently against his palm.
"They are the most heavily guarded secret of the Spire. The engine classifies them as Illegal System Access."[Warning! Unauthorized item detected in inventory.]
↳ Origin Crystal (Mythic) possesses unbound administrative code.
↳ Usage will bypass standard leveling constraints.
"The elite lords of the Syndicate have been quietly excavating these from low-level zones." Vahn continued.
His eyes narrowed as he analyzed the foundational code of the crystal.
"They realized early on that leveling up through standard combat is a linear progression. It is too slow. The Origin Crystals act as a localized backdoor."
"If consumed, they forcefully inject pure unallocated admin data into the neural link of a user. This allows them to shatter their level caps and manipulate the game engine."
"They are cheating." Aria breathed heavily, her emerald eyes wide with realization.
She stepped closer, and the lingering embarrassment was entirely replaced by tactical focus.
"That is exactly how Pierce Valerius acquired his thousand-times multiplier. He did not earn it. He hacked his own class using these crystals."
"Precisely." Vahn nodded slowly, his thumb tracing the jagged edge of the stone.
"The Syndicate is not just hoarding wealth. They are hoarding the keys to the universe. As long as they control the Origin Crystals, they dictate the baseline power of the server. They remain gods, and everyone else remains fodder."
"Can I eat them?" Kora’s telepathic voice suddenly chimed in.
The tiny crimson-haired dragon-girl dropped from the branch of a nearby dead tree and landed perfectly in a crouch.
She stared at the hovering red crystals. Her gold slit-pupils completely dilated with gluttonous hunger.
She licked her lips, and a small spark of golden flame escaped her mouth. "They look like spicy candy, Master. I require the spicy candy."
"No, Kora. These possess too much raw code. They would destabilize your hoarding parameters." Vahn said gently while placing a hand on the head of the dragon-girl to halt her advance.
He turned to his interface. "But they are exactly what I need to reinforce my own infrastructure."
He did not hesitate at all. He commanded the system to initiate EXP Siphoning while gripping the Origin Crystal tightly.
The red stone violently shattered in his hand!
A torrential surge of chaotic and burning data flooded up his arm. It was not like the clean golden experience points he had absorbed from the Drake or the Golem.
This was raw and unformatted reality. It felt like swallowing a handful of shattered glass!
Vahn gritted his teeth as a sharp hiss escaped his lips. The green circuits in his eyes flickered erratically for exactly three seconds.
Then they stabilized.
He let out a slow breath and stood up straight. "That was unpleasant," Vahn said calmly. "But manageable.
[Origin Crystal Consumed]
↳ Administrator Privileges Expanded.
↳ New System Override Unlocked: Spatial Manipulation.
He stood up straight and offered Aria a tired but victorious smile. "I am perfectly stable, Priestess. And we just leveled the playing field."
Before Aria could scold him further, the blue holographic interface of Vahn’s communicator chimed loudly.
It was a secure and encrypted ping from Lunara, the chief auctioneer of the Golden Scale.
Vahn tapped the prompt and projected the message for the team.
’Administrator Ryker. The Syndicate is desperate. Following the Slime Jelly market crash, they are liquidating their hidden assets to secure a specific item in tonight’s underground auction. The item is the Twin Coin. If they acquire it, they will stabilize their financial losses. I assumed you would want a seat at the table.’
"The Twin Coin." Vahn murmured, his predatory smile returning in full force.
"What is that?" Hana asked while tilting her head.
"It is a Mythic artifact that manipulates probability." Vahn stated as he closed the interface.
"It forces the random-number generator of the engine to yield a one hundred percent success rate on any system interaction. If the Syndicate gets it, they can use the rest of these Origin Crystals without any risk of physical backlash."
Vahn turned away from the swamp. The remaining red crystals floated securely into his Void-Weaver Vault.
He looked at his team, his deep purple eyes burning with absolute authority.
"Sia. Aria. We are returning to the White City. It is time we attend an auction."
