“Indeed, manipulated.” Erevan nodded. “The Lesser Orange Portal’s existence is a boon to the civilization, a means for the Universe to quickly increase the strength of the first wave of warriors, also called the Ancestors, born within the civilization, and to help them protect the rest. At least, that was its purpose.”
“Was?” Nova echoed.
Of everything Erevan had said, the only thing that caught Nova’s attention was the last line. The rest was expected.
He knew that the Universe sought to create the strongest being for some unknown reason. That was why It kept rewarding the good seedlings in every civilization, hoping to unearth the one It had always searched for, but apparently never found.
With that knowledge, discovering that the portal was a boon to a civilization’s Ancestors wasn’t too far-fetched.
What caught him off guard was this: in what way had the purpose changed? And how?
Jack stared at Erevan without blinking.
The time to enter the Lesser Orange portal wasn’t far off, making the matter hit close to home. He wanted to go in armed with as much knowledge as possible so as to both be safe and reap the most rewards.
“What do you think would happen when many civilizations passed the trial and discovered its abundant rewards and relatively small risks?” Erevan asked with a smile that was half-apologetic, half-expectant, but neither of them paid attention to his expression.
Their minds were occupied with his words.
Nova said casually, “I’d try to enter again and reap all the rewards once more.”
From the side, Jack added, “If someone who already entered can’t go in again, then as long as someone from the same civilization reaps the rewards, that’s still a win in my book.”
A civilization didn’t need just a few strong individuals.
What it needed was well-rounded strength in every category to survive the test of time and the inevitable attacks from other civilizations.
While a civilization’s apex strength could serve as a powerful deterrent, growing stronger when one was already unimaginably powerful was far harder than raising a handful of people from strong to apex.
The latter offered an instant surge in a civilization’s overall power, while the former was merely a drop in an ocean.
“That’s right. ‘As long as someone from my people can benefit from it, then it would be perfect.’ That was the first thought of those civilizations and it proved correct,” Erevan said calmly. “The civilizations that had already gone through the Lesser Orange portal began madly searching for others that had yet to complete theirs, hoping to enter them. But they soon discovered a hard truth that made them hesitate. They weren’t eligible to enter another planet’s portal.”
“Oh? They didn’t give up that easily, right?” Nova asked.
With such a great benefit in front of them, the word give up might as well have never existed in their civilizations.
Erevan sighed and nodded. “After some trial and error, they found that they needed to send young people with no training to a civilization that had yet to undergo advancement.”
Jack’s eyes narrowed. “If they didn’t know, were they gambling with civilizations, or…”
If it wasn’t the former, then it meant those civilizations were certain the ones they’d chosen would soon undergo their own advancement.
As for how to guarantee that…
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Earth was the perfect example.
Erevan didn’t beat around the bush. “Yes. They pushed various civilizations to advance using tools akin to the Universal Tower here on Earth, before sending their young geniuses to live in those civilizations years before the apocalypse began. This process allowed them to be recognized by the Universe as citizens of that civilization, granting them access to future portals, the Lesser Orange one included.”
Neither Jack nor Nova had ever heard of this.
While Vragor, the Troll King, had told Nova about higher civilizations enslaving lesser ones for profit, he hadn’t known anything like this was happening.
Now, two questions formed in both of their minds.
How did Erevan know all of this? And…
Why was he telling them?
They had come to understand why the Lesser Orange portal was dangerous, yet they were now learning things that, while important and likely an open secret among higher civilizations, seemed entirely unrelated to their original purpose.
“I can clearly tell what you two are thinking by the way your faces keep changing,” Erevan remarked wryly.
Nova stayed silent, while Jack shrugged. “Then why are you telling us all of this? Shouldn’t we be talking about the portal’s details?”
“I had to go through that first, or else you wouldn’t understand the dangers inside the Lesser Orange portal. In fact, the portal’s difficulty, though not as hard as a true Orange portal, was never supposed to be this high,” Erevan said, pausing briefly as he looked at Nova and Jack.
Then, he spoke slowly: “The Lesser Orange Portal’s trial is very different from any other trial you’ve experienced, and the portal itself works differently. First of all, it has a cooldown of one year after a person, or a group of people, enters. During that time, the portal’s color dulls further, and the ray of light shooting into the sky vanishes, indicating it’s on cooldown.”
“Is this why you’ve been staring at it every chance you get?” Jack exclaimed, pointing at Erevan in an accusatory fashion.
The latter’s lips twitched involuntarily. He shot Jack a glance but refused to comment.
“What would happen if someone went in and failed the portal?” Nova asked curiously.
“That?” Erevan shrugged. “It’s already happened, but whoever went in is long dead considering I’ve been here for years.”
Frowning, Nova asked, “How are you so sure?”
Based on the portals’ colors and their time differences, this being the most difficult one should also have the greatest time difference.
A few years outside would be nothing if spent inside.
“Because once you enter, the portal asks someone in the group to hit a dummy with at least Grade 1 strength to activate the trial. If the strength doesn’t reach Grade 1 after three attempts, it wipes out everyone in the group.” Erevan grinned at Nova who nodded quietly.
Then, he continued.
“Another reason this portal is different from any other is that it doesn’t just take you to some abandoned civilization. Clearing it means you’ve successfully passed the Universe’s trial, earning your civilization more time to train, assisted by the system. It can’t be too difficult or too easy. Do you know where to find that sweet spot?”
He looked at the two, wondering if they could guess the answer. A distant memory silently replayed in his mind, recalling a time when he had been asked the same question and had been unable to answer.
“Will we be paired against enemies of the same level?” Nova asked, still confused about why Erevan was taking so many detours in his explanation.
Jack stayed silent, waiting for the answer.
“Almost,” Erevan continued. “The Lesser Orange portal is an independent space that connects every civilization undergoing the trial in the same galaxy. A maximum of 1,000 people per civilization can enter the portal per trial. Meaning, if all 1,000 die, the civilization loses its right to advance.”
“Remember how I said this portal can be manipulated?” he asked rhetorically and immediately answered himself.
A trace of excitement seemed to leak from him.
“When we enter, the rewards shown are only a thousandth of the total. But if we lock the number of participants to us four, the rewards will be recalculated.”
His grin widened. “While it won’t be a full 250 times higher, the rewards will still be immense.”
Nova and Jack’s eyes went wide.
The Purple portal Nova had entered had given him 189,000 EXP.
Considering the Lesser Orange portal would obviously give more due to its greater difficulty, after the multiplier, he couldn’t even begin to fathom the final number.
Jack muttered, “No wonder you’ve been staring at the portal the whole time.”
Erevan’s eye twitched once more. He was about to respond when Nova spoke up.
“Where did you find out these details?”
Face returning to normal, Erevan waved his hand casually. “I’ve already told you, haven’t I? Higher civilizations send out their young ones to claim a civilization’s rewards. I’m one of them.”
Jack’s response was lukewarm at best. After interacting with Erevan’s group for so long, he had already formed a rough idea of who they were.
Beside him, though, Nova was silent.
Pieces of the puzzle slowly fell into place in Nova’s mind. He had always suspected Erevan knew more than usual before he entered the Purple portal, but everyone had their secrets, so he hadn’t questioned it.
Now, though, the answer wiped away all doubt.
He slowly rose from his seat and locked eyes with Erevan. Then, he coldly asked.
“Did your civilization try to enslave us?”
The atmosphere immediately grew heavy.
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