In the tomb of Ashamar, sans wake up and get up suddenly, his body was near the gravestones. He looked at the grave and the dust on the ground. He looked deeply, then he started to fix the grave. The hole he created now was good as before. He cleaned the stone little, showed some respect then went away.
While walking, Sans couldn't help but feel burdened by his predicament. He glanced at his hand, realizing that most of his fingers were missing, but those were necessary sacrifices.
"My overlord-self mind should be processing Espresmory's memory, giving me a few more days to live, but it's not enough. What should I do now?" Sans began calculating ways to survive, but he couldn't find any viable solution. He needed to be at least an initial empowered monster, which was impossible to achieve in just a few days. In previous timeline he needed at least 100 years to reach a greater monster.
Soon, despair washed over Sans. He realized that surviving in his current state was impossible. But not long after, acceptance dawned upon him. This situation wasn't new to Sans. Before regression, he had faced countless similar situations where he couldn't see any way to survive. He had fallen into despair, but after half a century, he had learned that desperation was simply the inability to see solutions. There was no absolute desperate situation; there was only hardship to overcome.
With a deep gaze, Sans pondered, "I suppose the monkey is falling from the branches it was never meant to reach."
The root cause of this predicament lay in Sans's own negligence. His overlord-self's mind leaking was a consequence of his attempt to close the gate, which was the very source of this situation. Only Sans bore responsibility for this outcome, and this realization filled him with acceptance.
As Sans's deep contemplation transformed into a soft smile, he gazed upward at the source of light within the tomb of Ashamar.
"I suppose this is the place I'll be staying after few days," Sans chuckled to himself. Then, his smile turned into a somewhat surprised expression.
"Wait, why did my will of magic send me to the Tomb of Ashamar? I clearly directed it to the mountain where other monsters were supposed to be… even if I misdirected my will of magic, why is the Tomb of Ashamar the destination? If I hadn't arrived here, I would have died." This is the question Sans is currently asking himself. It's purely logical; his will of magic never misdirected by others. However, it's possible that Sans accidentally misdirected them, but that was unlikely.
Sans soon delved deeper into his thoughts, considering countless possibilities that are beyond comprehension at this moment.
"Don't you think you're searching too deeply than necessary?" A sudden voice interrupted Sans, causing him to turn to the source of the sound. Before him stood another Sans, fully healed. He looked at Sans while sitting on the tombstone.
"What the… are you?" Sans looked at the figure who looked exactly like him. Then, a sudden realization dawned on Sans.
"You are part of my overlord-self's mind, aren't you?" Sans looked at the figure who looked at him for moments before smiling. "Yes, I am."
Sans couldn't help but smile as well.
…
"So, that's what happened, huh?" Sans said with a realization in his tone. The figure sat beside him, still smiling.
"So, you're letting 70% of overlord-self mind focus on Espresmory memories while my soul is taking 25%, which means you're only 5% of my overlord-self mind" sans concluded his reasoning. Figure nodded at his statement confirming it was correct.
Overlord-self, the mind that almost killed Sans, was just a subconscious part of mind from his overlord-self. So, it's not the true mind of his overlord-self mind, which he already thought about before while trying to find a reason for his will of magic getting misdirected.
Even though it was subconscious, it held immeasurable mental power and intelligence that surpassed almost everyone, along with a processing speed that was beyond the rank 9 monster. But the figure beside me is an illusion made by 5% of this subconsciousness.
"That explains many things. The moment you awaken, you know you'll pressure me to death. So, you planned everything and gave me the thought of teleportation. You secretly got into my will of magic and overwrote everything. Haha. If I didn't know you were me, I would find you offensive for using me like a puppet." Sans joked, though he truly felt like a puppet.
"Isn't it worth being a puppet to survive? or did Espresmory memories hit you that hard that you became this… cringe" figure said with seriousness before the last word.
After a few moments of laughter they soon calmed down. After all, the figure is still sans in core.
"So, what's your plan? I know you had made multiple ways for me to survive," sans asked as he was certain that the figure had a plan. After all, he is him, and he will make a plan too.
"Well, there is one, but it will be incredibly hard," figure said with a deep voice. His gaze showed a calculating expression.
"First, me or your overlord-self mind can't do anything right now. Although we can think and act, we are for empowered monsters at least. It is impossible for us to use this body as we might overdrive our current body. But we made a plan. 70% of me is inactive, but still processing those memories to not pressure you. But it won't be long. At best, it is 7 days. However, there is a way to make it longer." figure said then look at sans
"That is?" Sans's eye socket took on a shape of anticipation and preparation.
"That is, it creates a wall between your soul and body, allowing your soul and ego of soul to take care of 95% of me. The 45% of me will taken by ego of soul, leaving 50% me for Espresmory memories, and with this you can endure it which would give us two months or two months and a week." The figure said with certainty, still looking at Sans.
Sans's expression didn't change much; only a slight frown.
"That means I'm severing myself from my source of magic energy, which would limit my magic energy. Worse, it won't recover at all. It's like a cup of water that will never be refilled and can only be used once." Sans frowned. But he accepted it nonetheless; after all, the reason he was forced to do it was himself alone.
However, no matter what, this plan will only stall time and not solve Sans's problems. This plan also has drawbacks. Creating the wall between his soul and body will slow down his ascension, as an ascendant requires a significant amount of magic energy. Monsters get their magic energy from their souls, making it almost impossible to ascend once the wall between the soul and body is created. But Sans has other methods and ways to ascend, so it's not a problem. However, it will take too much time, and Sans doesn't have time.
Sans soon got up and said, "Well, I don't have time to waste, do I?"
"I need to return to the other monsters as well. I think they're quite worried about me since I left without anyone seeing me." as sans start to use his magic or teleportation, he find himself in the ancient forest.
Ting ting!
Soon, Sans appeared at the rocky mountain, which was the place where the others were supposed to be.
"Sans, is that you?" A sudden, familiar voice belonging to the beast hunters made Sans turn back, only to see a figure smiling. He had been pranked by himself. Isn't that ironic?
Sans chuckled a little, and so did the figure. As Sans turned around and climbed, he caught a glimpse of the mountain's top and started to skillfully climb up.
"Guys, are you there?" Sans shouted when he left the group. It was midnight, but after taking the Espresmory memory, he had fallen asleep for five hours. So, it was understandable that it was morning.
Sans looked around, but there was no one. He then walked to the cave where they were supposed to be, only to find that there was no one there either.
"Could they have descended down to the mountain? If they did, it would be the right time to move. Since red pain ant beasts don't go during the day, but…" Sans couldn't help but feel uneasy.
"Well, as much as I want to ensure their safety, we have responsibilities to fulfill. If we neglect them, you can imagine the consequences," the figure declared with unwavering certainty, as if he was certain that these words would resonate deeply with Sans. After all, by sealing the gate, he had gained a precious 45 years of respite, but that was contingent upon the fact that he had only closed one gate. However, Sans remained skeptical. During his tenure as the overlord monster, he had witnessed multiple timelines and observed countless individuals who had the ability to travel back in time.
He is long ago realized that he was not exceptional or anything special by simply traveling back in time; but he possessed a unique advantage—a tramp card. The 10th region had its own distinct space-time continuum, rendering conventional time travel ineffective. It held dominion over all nine regions space-time, which is why the determination alternative system held such significance. This system essentially transcended the boundaries of time and space, allowing it to travel back into the past before any time travel could detect it. It bypassed the restrictions imposed by the will of heaven and deceived fate, achieving the ultimate form of time travel that would remain unaffected by other timelines influence. It represented the true beginning point.
Sans sight, he knows that the alternative system wasn't finished, so it's not perfect, and there's a possibility that he had leave traces of time travel, which would lead others to discover it and attempt to create another gate sooner or later. Sans is aware of countless possibilities, which makes him suffocating under the pressure right now. He needs to move more carefully. He recklessly tried to close the gate and paid the price by letting his overlord-self mind leak, which was the price of his recklessness.
Sans turned around, taking his dull sword from his waist. He rarely used it since he relied on magic, but he had no shortage of experience with swords. He had been forced to use them countless times, developing his sword art and skill.
However, with his right hand missing multiple fingers, he could only use his left hand, which wasn't ideal.
Sans decided it was better to make good use of his nearly limitless magic energy before he closed them. He teleported to an ancient forest, hunting specific beasts that could help him ascend easily.
Sans walked through the forest, searching for the specific beast he needed to hunt. To do this, he had to go to specific locations, as beasts lived in their own territories. This also helped him detect the type of beast. For example, beasts that lived in cold places like Frostland developed incredible dexterity and durability, so he could categorize them based on their environment.
…
In a swamp filled with dead trees and ranges like city, a fight was going on with Sans.
Isp isp isp.
The sound of multiple Gaster Blasters shooting was heard across the swamp, and soon everything went quiet.
Sans gasped, breathing heavily. He was tired. He had been hunting beasts for four hours without resting. He got up from the corpse of a lizard beast, which was enormous. It was seven times bigger than Sans and had pink scales.
A figure appeared beside him. "This is the last ingredient we needed. So, want to go home?"
"I've never been *heavily breathing* more agreeable than this," Sans said, breathing heavily. It was clear that he had pushed his body to its limits. His clothes were covered in blood, and on his back, there were multiple beast body parts all tied to him by spider webs. He had gotten them from a cave dominating spider beast along with its fang.
Sans walked to the head of the lizard beast, opened its mouth, and swung his sword to take its tooth. He spent five minutes taking teeth and skin from the beast as much as possible until his slots were full.
Sans's breath started to slow and steady as he used teleportation to his home.
"Oh, Archios! It was so tiring. I wish I could just sleep… but I can't *sight* well. Let's get into it," Sans took ingredients to the kitchen. His clothes were covered in blood and smelled that was hard to breathe… if Sans had a nose.
Sans removed all the ingredients from his slots, which were mostly heart bones, teeth, and parts of their meat. He then placed his items in cobwebs on his back. Inside them were eyes organs that were so alien compared to humans.
Sans began organizing them on a table and started cutting the organs into small pieces and putting them in a pot. Then, Sans started writing words on one of the teeth. Suddenly, a figure appeared beside him.
"Dude, why are you writing a cipher lock for Will of Magic?" the figure looked at Sans with a face that seemed genuinely curious. But Sans's eyes sockets only borrowed up, "What hell are you talking about? You know what I am doing. You are in my consciousness. You can read my mind. What kind of prank are you trying to pull off?"
Before Sans could say more, a crack echoed through the room. Sans looked at his hand bones, realizing that his hand had unknowingly released a force. He soon saw the figure smiling.
"I see. So, you can control my body without me noticing, don't you? It seems you are really getting more like a parasite," Sans frowned, then smiled.
"I guess I won't be lonely," Sans laughed. The figure frowned little, then said, "Dude, we talked about the moment when the wall between the soul and the body is created. 5% of me will stay with the body, since you know the ultimate cheat code that I can provide. I need to have sufficient control over the body until 5% of me can stay with the body after the wall between the body and the soul is planted."
Sans ignored the figure and started over again. This time, he finished writing words on his tooth and then began shaping the bone into a ring-like shape with precision. Before he got up, he had made five rings made of bone and had words inscribed on them.
Sans smiled as he placed the rings in a pot filled with meat. Sans take out bottles of glowing water and pour them into the pot, which would start to dissolve the meat. However, Sans put a blocker in the pot and began directing his magic energy into it endlessly for an hour.
As every piece of meat vanished, Sans collapsed to the ground. A figure stood beside him, smiling, and then conveyed verbal messages to him, instructing him to sleep. Sans accepted the message and fell asleep on the floor.
Sans woke up the next morning to find himself lying on the kitchen floor. He looked around and saw a smiling figure standing in front of him. Sans groaned a bit and got up from the floor. He went to the pot and noticed that the five bone rings were now covered in a mesmerizing blue and red pattern on a white background. This made Sans smile, and he picked up the rings and wore them on his left hand fingers.
Instantly, Sans felt a surge of magic energy coursing through his body, making him smile even wider. However, he soon start to pour magic energy into the rings. As he did so, the blue and red patterns on the rings began to spread and intensify, transforming into vibrant, swirling designs.
Sans walked to the other teeth and repeated the process. By the end of the process, he had accumulated over 32 rings, all adorned with fully spread blue and red patterns. Each ring bore words written on them, leaving no free space, despite their circular shape and the presence of small crow head-shaped bones on them. Sans was thoroughly satisfied with the results and couldn't help but sweat all over his forehead.
Those rings were essentially banks of magic energy. They stored the magic energy of Sans and gave it only to him. One ring could store enough magic energy for Sans's limit twice. With them, he could solve his problem of not having magic energy for a while.
Sans then went to the fridge, which had an assortment of sweets and snakes. However, he decided to take a pie because he enjoyed its taste. As he savored it, the delightful flavor triggered a rapid healing process within his body. This was how monsters healed—they lacked flesh and blood only made of magic, but magic was born from the experiences and feelings, emotions of their souls. His right hand, which had been missing multiple fingers, now appeared as if it had been replaced with a new one.
Sans moved his right hand fingers smoothly, as if they had never been lost. He smiled and took the body parts of beasts from the table, placing them in the lower fridge. Then, he went to his room to create a wall between his soul and body.
"Okay, are you ready?" the figure said with a smile as he stood on the window ledge. Sans looked at him with an indifferent expression and just snorted before going to bed to meditate.
"Let's get over with this," Sans thought. He closed his eyes and began to feel every part of his body, every bone, every part of his mind.
Monster bodies and monster souls are distinct entities that exist independently. However, the monster soul gives rise to the monster body through an undeveloped will within the soul. The monster's form is shaped by its emotions, and the monster body serves as the physical manifestation of the monster soul. This is the origin of monsters. But here's the twist: the monster body acquires an exact replica of the will of the monster soul, which they gradually fuse over time, merging with the monster itself and becoming the true will. Consequently, young monsters fail to ascend because their will of body and soul remain separate and not fully fused.
Due to this, monsters are unable to perceive their souls. It's like knowing your bloodstream but lacking the ability to control it. However, once a monster reaches rank 9, the disparity between its body and soul becomes too significant for the monster to ignore. Essentially, extraordinary monsters can sense their souls, but it's like knowing what's hot without comprehending its sensation. Nevertheless, once they experience the heat, they retain that feeling regardless of when it's referred as a hyper state. In a hyper state, the monster's true will gains awareness and control over its soul, just as it did with its body. This is because the soul experiences feelings and emotions through the body, but the body has no way of feeling the soul.
As you know, Sans had been a greater monster before regression, so he already felt 'the hot' and could enter a hyper state.
Soon, Sans enters the hyper state and sees himself standing on an endless blue sea and clear skies, even though there was no sun. It was still bright like summer. Sans soon looks down at his reflection on the sea, but his reflection is different. Instead of blue skies, there are thunderstorms. His reflection is kneeling while looking at Sans. Soon, both the reflection and Sans touch the water, and all of the water freezes, turning pure blue. That makes him unable to see his reflection. A wall between the soul and the body was created.
"That take very much time away but I won't complain since it won whole month of time"sans open his eyes socket and see figure standing on cell upside down
With sigh, he struggles to get up but ends up falling into the ground. This was a side effect of creating a wall between his soul and mind. In the case of a monster, it's like cutting off its source of magic energy, similar to cutting off its stamina.
With sight Sans, there was nothing to do but sleep. So, he closed his eye socket and drifted off to sleep.
Bing bing!
Suddenly, Sans opened his eyes to find himself in the living room, playing with bones.
"What on earth happened?" he thought, as a figure suddenly appeared in front of him. "Hello, sleepyhead. Did you get a good sleep?"
"How did you move this body? It doesn't have any magic energy source, so it would take at least an hour to get moving. How?" Sans couldn't help but wonder. He knew he hadn't slept for an hour, to be fair, it was barely half an hour.
The figure smiled. "Oh, while you were asleep, I took control of this body and decided to use traces of magic energy as magnets to attract other magic energy and overwrite will of magic. And not long ago, I gathered enough magic energy to make this body move."
After hearing the figure's words sans's usual composed and smiling face turn into a surprised expression, "Wait, you can do that? How?" The figure laughed. "Oh, it only took me 10 minutes to make this body move. It's fortunate that we're in the city because every monster releases magic energy, and I attract them. And to be fair, it required me quite a bit of concentration."
Sans was dumbfounded. He didn't think that was possible, let alone consider it, but soon the element of surprise disappeared.
"Hehe, right. He's me, with 5% of the Overlord's mind. It's no surprise that he managed to pull it off during my time as an empowered monster. I did many things that were considered impossible."
Sans chuckled a little and then got up, although he felt a hollow strength in his movements. He knew that wasn't the case; his body had simply separated from something it had always been attached to, which made him feel weak and hollow. Other than that, his body was the same as before.
The figure's hand wrapped around Sans's neck, and they both said, "Shall we get to planning our way to rank 9?"
Sans smiled and nodded, then walked to his room, changing his dirty clothes for clean ones.
After changing his clothes, Sans walked to Ashamar Church, which was the biggest thing in the city. Normal houses were like grass on the ground compared to Ashamar Church, which was black.
The history of this church is quite intriguing. The entire city was built around it because this first building of the city is as old as the city itself and is currently 1400 years old.
The tomb of Ashamar is directly beneath the church. This church is almost the home of giants, while monsters are like ants in comparison. However, since heroic monsters and glorious monsters, when nearing the end of their lives, wanted to leave an inheritance for future monsters, they set up a maze and puzzle that required special characters from monsters to solve them. The architecture monsters designed these puzzles with monsters who were leaving their inheritance. Each floor of the church is a whole maze for one inheritance. There are over 700 floors, but the thing is, only one generation of architecture monsters achieved this. There are over 15 generations of architecture monsters, each crafting 500 to 800 floors. Right now, there are 8400 floors that go beyond the clouds. Each architecture monster makes a vow that they cannot tell anyone the way to solve the puzzles, except for the next architecture monster.
Sans looked at the church. His eyes couldn't see the top of the church, and it was wide and big enough to make Sans feel like an ant. Sans laughed softly. The day was ending, and two moons on the sky started to become visible as Sans could reach the church. Day turned into night.
Sans got to the gate of the church. It was gigantic, and he couldn't even move the gate an inch. But there was a small door on the gate, and Sans used it to enter.
As soon as Sans entered the church, he was struck by the vastness of the hall, which seemed to stretch endlessly. However, his gaze soon shifted upward to the ceiling, where he was greeted by a breathtaking sight—a canopy of clouds. This revelation revealed the church's immense height, and the ceiling itself seemed adorned with stars. But upon closer inspection, Sans realized that these weren't actual stars; they were merely decorative stones, each meticulously crafted to honor the church's storied past. Every design within the church held a profound symbolism, serving as a testament to its rich history and spiritual significance.
After a half-hour of navigating the intricate corridors, Sans finally arrived at a magnificent, circular stairway that ascended to the ceiling. It was as if the stairway itself was a staircase to heaven, exuding the very essence of a church.
Sans began ascending the stairway, each step taken with a steady pace. His footsteps were swift, yet not hurried. He had been climbing for another half hour.
Despite feeling exhausted, Sans didn't stop at the end of the day. Securing one specific inheritance was the most crucial part of his plan to reach rank 9. If he dared to slack off even more, it would mean committing suicide.
"*gasp* This is *gasp*… how do architecture monsters and *gasp* builders climb to the top? Oh my Archios this is tiring. Was it always like this?" Sans couldn't help but complain before regression in the previous timeline. He had reached a greater monster level gradually and steadily, which was the only option since his special nature within his soul wasn't exceptional, and his soulland wasn't large. Therefore, he could build it slowly. Because of that, he never pushed his body to its limits after reaching a greater monster level. He became unable to feel tired.
Soon, he reached the heights of the clouds and continued moving upward. He could see the ceiling, and stairways crisscrossed it, leading to the top. As he ascended, he would encounter countless inheritance floors.
Sans reached the ceiling and discovered a hall with a gate. The staircase continued upward, and Sans paused for a moment to examine the gate before turning around and ascending the stairs. Sans was certain of the nature of the first inheritance floor. He was most likely to find weapons belonging to monster heroes, but Sans didn't need a magic sword at the moment. Even if he had one, he couldn't unleash its full power because he wasn't an extraordinary monster.
The inheritance floor Sans was seeking was the 12th floor. The monster who left it was a grand trader during the city's first century. This trader amassed a fortune by acquiring assets and providing resources and tools from other cities, significantly contributing to the city's growth. He was incredibly wealthy, leaving an inheritance of over billions of Tana, the currency of monsterkind. Sans regarded him as a true historical figure in the city's history. If Sans inherited this monster's wealth, he would have greater freedom to do as he pleased without any restrictions. It would be crucial for Sans, enabling him to buy things, use others, and search for things, as they say: "As long as you have enough money, nothing becomes an obstacle for you."
Not long after Sans reached the 12th floor, he found himself in a hall with a gate, just like all the other floors. However, this particular hall had symbols that were different from the others. These symbols were the seals of honor for monsters. Each monster had its own unique symbol that represented its name. In Sans's previous life, his seal of honor was the moon and the sun, with his clown mask positioned between them. This symbolized his empire and his status as an emperor by the clown lord mask the symbol of clown supremacy . The clown lords held titles that included the word "clown," such as Clownchaos.
Among monsterkind, his seal of honor holds the most significant influence, just below the seal of honor held by Archios. Monster's seal of honor also symbolizes authority, and monsters have various ways to increase their seals. These increases can be achieved through feats, strength, or other means.
However, the monster who left this inheritance also left his seal of honor, which holds its authority. By inheriting this, he would gain immense wealth, allowing him to do anything he desired. He would also gain authority to ascend to higher up and gain control over the city, and prepare for the impending attack of humanity.
Sans managed to open the heavy gate and walked through it to find a corridor that was pitch black.
Sans pulled the lever on the wall, which illuminated all the torches lining on wall of the corridor.
Sans, with a suspicious glint in his eye, touched the wall and examined it closely, searching for any unusual features. Even if everything seemed normal, it was better to be cautious and avoid any potential danger.
"It seemed like a trap, but right now, I don't detect any suspicious or problematic elements. Hmm…" Sans cautiously advanced towards the end of the corridor.
A figure appeared beside Sans, their eyes bored and unimpressed. "Dude, just give me temporary control of your body."
Sans regarded the figure with an annoyed expression. Since regaining control of his body, he had firmly established his absolute authority over it, leaving the figure powerless to exert any influence over him.
However, Sans wanted to see what the figure wanted to do, so he accepted the figure's request to take control for a moment.
The figure smiled and vanished shortly thereafter. Sans lost his balance and almost fell to the ground, but he managed to catch himself midair. His usual dark blue eyes transformed into light blue eyes, and Sans, with his dark blue eyes, appeared beside him, floating. At this moment, the figure was controlling Sans's body, and the floating Sans was Sans's will.
"So, what did you want to do?" Sans asked, still floating around. "Oh, you'll see," figure replied, his face showing a confident smile.
The figure turned to the end of the corridor and, without a moment's hesitation, sprinted toward it. This unexpected move caught Sans off guard. "Hey, what are you doing?" Sans exclaimed.
The figure smirked as he observed Sans. Suddenly, torches on the wall flared up with increased intensity, forming fire snakes that aimed directly at the figure. However, the figure was quick on his feet. He deftly evaded the fire snakes without even a glance. Despite the attacks coming from blind spots that Sans couldn't see, the figure managed to dodge them effortlessly. He danced around those attacks and advanced forward. Some torches created fire snakes, while others didn't. Sans could only observe as figures let the fire snakes collide with each other, causing them to destroy each other. This process continued for five minutes. Soon, the figure had reached the end of the corridor.
"…Oh, hehe, how foolish of me! Even though you are only 5% of my overlord-self with my will, you are still a part of me. Therefore, you have the ability to think and calculate at speeds that surpass rank 5." Sans was amused by the results shown in the figures. If he hadn't created a barrier between his soul and body, he could truly compete with monsters of rank 5 to rank 6. To other monsters, this cheat ability. No monster could compete with a higher rank, even if they might beat a higher-ranked monster within their own rank, but ranks are entirely different.
Figure chuckles a bit, and Sans swiftly regains control. They continue their journey, and Sans enters the maze room. Although he's not familiar with mazes, he knows that the maze room changes every hour.
The maze room is vast, filled with countless shifts and turns that can easily confuse anyone. After hours, the maze changes itself, becoming far more different than before. Each wall of the maze becomes unrecognizable to Sans, making it even more challenging for him to navigate and find his way out.
However, Sans has a genuine idea of where to go. Since the previous trap was activated, figure moves through the middle of the maze, but it doesn't activate when he goes to the left at some point. It was random places but once Sans collects places where the trap didn't activate, he gets a map.
Map, where should he go? He doubts his judgment, but even if he's not right or accurate, he can approach them. The reason is simple: the monster who left the inheritance doesn't create impossible mazes. Instead, they design mazes within mazes that aid those who attempt to claim the inheritance. Even though Sans knows countless inheritance stories and has never taken one before, this was his first time, so he's a bit nervous but not scared.
He's taken multiple turns, but with a clear direction in mind, his spatial awareness comes into play. Despite countless turns, he can still navigate the corridors and ensure he doesn't get lost anytime soon.
Soon, he heard the violent burning of something. This made Sans smile as those sounds came from the direction he was heading. It meant the gate to the next trail was near, so Sans ran toward the source of the sound. However, his legs started to give up due to running constantly through the maze.
As Sans approached the source of the sound, he found himself in a vast room. The ceiling was adorned with unfamiliar language symbols, and a gate stood before him, covered in magic energy. This indicated that the monster responsible for constructing the gate held a rank of 9. Since the magic energy of monsters below rank 9 is fleeting, even Espresmory's magic energy can only be sustained in physical objects for a mere 8 hours and she was rank 6. However, this gate has been there for an astonishing 1290 years. This alone demonstrated the immense power of rank 9.
Sans knew he could solve the cipher or use figures to hack the gate, but he refrained from resorting to cheating. He intended to use inheritance to maximize his potential, but attempting to cheat would mean he was not respecting the power he would acquire. Everything has pride and price even power it demands time and strength from anyone who desires it, but if you refuse to pay, they will never come to you. If you manage to acquire power effortlessly, it means you are not worthy of it. That power will never truly be yours. Others can easily exploit it before you can even begin to use it. Sans knows them and engraves them to his spirit
"Hmm… those words are from the Skyland civilization, if I recall correctly. However, it's peculiar that those origin languages exist. Those words were etched on the ceiling over 1000 years ago, suggesting that the origin language has been around for more than 1000 years. Nevertheless, it's official that the origin language is only 800 years old." Although he's knowledgeable about almost every origin language, he's not particularly adept at them, but he does have a deep understanding of their history. The origin language is the language of one of the oldest greater monsters, who was 4000 years old and perished 500 years ago. Eight hundred years ago, he created the origin language, a language that holds authority over the entire world.
"Let my no let our… okay, what the hell is this?" Sans glanced at the ceiling. Although the origin language is easy to confuse with words that means similar, this was an entirely different level of wordplay. Each word before the next has three meanings, and the next word also has multiple meanings. However, when combined, they nullify all the meanings of the words before them and create a new meaning. But that's not all; even the previous word starts to change when the next word is spoken, and even words at the beginning and end of the sentence are affected. It was like a crazy and mentally unstable person decided to write his feelings; it was so chaotic and nonsensical. Sans looked at them for two hours, trying to figure out how to solve.
Soon, he had ideas. His eyes lit up with joy as he finally found a way to solve the cipher. He began solving it at an incredible speed. Once someone understands how the cipher works, they can use it to solve entire ciphers, depending on their individual capabilities.
"Congratulations! If you solved this, it appears that you're genuinely dedicated to deciphering ciphers. That means you're in need of my inheritance. If this can help, then let it be, as you've also proven your intellect. The pattern to unlock the gate is to pull the levels on the wall in this order: first level, third level, fifth level, then second level, and lastly, fourth level. Well done! Good luck. Also, look for a compass from your surroundings in the next maze."
Sans concluded his results, which were simply words written on the ceiling. Despite solving the cipher, many questions remained unanswered. Firstly, why was there an origin language? It was created 800 years ago, not before that. Even if it could be considered a prototype of the origin language, its perfection made it difficult to believe.
Sans looked at them as he decided to give them attention later and pull the levels on the wall according to the pattern he had learned from the cipher. Soon, the gate opened, and the stairway up with door at end was seen.
As Sans stepped through the door, he found himself in a small hall lined with doors. The wooden floors and hotel-like design hinted at this being the final maze before the inheritance. He decided to approach the nearest door and open it, only to be met with an endless abyss of darkness. Although a stairway led down, he could barely discern a single step further, and the darkness seemed to swallow everything in its path. Even the light that once illuminated the area had vanished. If one ventured into this void without a second thought, they would be lost and unable to find their way back. It was far better to proceed with caution and avoid rushing into the unknown.
Sans close the door look at other doors those were all same stairway to darkness. Sans sight little then look at drawers for clues, but nothing was there. There was a note with two names written on it, showing only two monster tried this inheritance and reached here. Although monsters don't be violent and kill each other, inheritance is different. Anyone can try to take inheritance, but the church monsters and the architecture monster warn others that inheritance has life-threatening things. But the monster tries them and dies. to be fair there has been only 100 monsters who tried it and died.
But in the future, humans attempted to seize treasure and coerce monsters into inheriting it. However, none of them returned to the point where they had sent half of their army to claim the inheritance. This resulted in a devastating loss, as the entire army was annihilated by traps, trails, and puzzles, leaving them with only five inheritances yet those were enough wealth to recover instantly. Despite this, they were compelled to continue the war. So, they burned down the city, even the church, although it escaped destruction due to the immense difficulty of even burning it down.
Sans, determined to find the compass, embarked on a search. He examined other drawers and the floor even celling, even the previous room where the cipher was hidden. He checked the staircase leading to the hall, but his efforts were unsuccessful. Just as he get negative little, figure appeared with a grinning face as he stay beside him, mocking his search.
"What, if you want to say it, then say it," Sans said, his anger tempered by reason. The figure replied with a smile, "Did you forget what Cipher said?"
"Dude, I searched the entire hall, even the room where Cipher was, but the compass was nowhere to be found." He said, but the figure chuckled a little. "What did you find?" The figure laughed, as if they had stumbled upon a joke. Soon, Sans smiled, knowing the figure had found the clue about the compass's location. So, he waited until the figure had finished laughing and then asked, "You know the word 'surrounding,' right?" Sans nodded. "Did you forget that 'surrounding' is also known as 'door' in its origin language?" Sans's eyes widened in shock, and his face now showed surprise. This revelation hit Sans harder than he had anticipated. He realized he needed to search for the compass in the door. Sans started to laugh, mocking his own foolishness just because he didn't know that 'surrounding' meant 'door.' He wasted an hour, and it was ironic.
Sans instantly walked to the door and found it made of wood. There was nothing inside or outside, except for one drawing of a star and other doors. He recognized those stars—the ones that rise from the west and align with each other. Monsters that sail through the great sea call those stars compass, and now the compass was giving direction. Finding the direction made Sans smile.
Sans followed the direction and reached one door. He pushed the door and inspected it. He found a small feather on the blind side of the door, which Sans knew what it meant.
Sans took the feather and whispered to it, "Lead the way to light." Soon, the golden feather glowed, floating in the air, and started to slowly fly towards darkness. Sans followed it, and it wasn't fast, so he could calmly walk.
…