Chapter 16 Closing The Rift

Orion sat on the steps of the orphanage thinking quietly.

Natasha is a doctor in Rivet Town. She runs a clinic and orphanage there and has adopted many neglected children from miner families since the underworld was damaged by the Rift. This is where the children now live.

With communication with the overworld decreasing, life in the underworld has become increasingly difficult. Natasha has an older brother.

"There's a long way to go!" Orion sighed. His biggest challenge right now isn't defeating an enemy or a particular force.

Whether his guess is correct or not, his main goal is to reach the upper area. If he can't get there, all his plans will be for nothing.

Orion has been here for five days.

Aside from dealing with a group of troublesome children from time to time, his life has been quite relaxed. The people in Rivet Town are warm and welcoming, even to outsiders.

Natasha mostly works at her clinic in the city but often visits to see the children in the orphanage.

Orion has been busy, though. During the quiet nights, he returns to the eroded town to gather materials, broken miner equipment, daily supplies, and mechanical parts—items that are always in short supply.

But the deeper he goes, the more he realizes that the erosion here is not ordinary.

Even if he kills ordinary monsters, they reappear the next time he visits, like monsters from a game.

Killing these monsters isn't the hardest part. Orion explored the deepest part of the erosion and, on the fourth night, encountered the source of the city's decay.

"What is this?"

A dark crack, several stories high, appeared before him.

The crack stayed in his view like a shattered mirror. It wasn't on any visible object but remained suspended in the space before him.

It was like a child's imaginative brushstrokes on the fabric of space.

Orion tried various methods to interact with it—throwing stones, using attacks—but it was as if the crack existed on a different plane.

Not only was the crack unreachable by attacks, but it also corroded everything it touched.

Roads, skies, uncontrolled robots, living or dead, organic or inorganic, carbon-based or silicon-based.

The dark erosion would cover all forms and eventually turn space itself into a dead zone, making survival impossible.

Like a natural phenomenon, this rift is disintegrating the planet itself, like an unstoppable cancer.

"The cancer of all worlds. What a fitting metaphor," Orion frowned. If he can't solve the problem of the rift, he won't be able to restore the planet's vitality.

"I can't suppress it or stop it. To change everything, I need to solve that one thing."

"Stellaron."

The suppression of the stellaron was carried out by Welt and Himeko. Orion didn't stop the stellaron himself. Even the rift in front of him couldn't be resolved.

Orion thought stagnation wasn't his usual style. The rift was right in front of him. If the rift couldn't be stopped, even if the stellaron was right there, there was nothing he could do.

"It's worth a try." Orion thought repeatedly, closed his eyes, and slowly walked to the crack, reaching forward.

"Hiss—"

Just standing in front of the rift, the physical discomfort made Orion a bit intimidated. As soon as Orion's body touched the rift's erosion, the invisible force latched onto him, and the world-breaking energy began to move up his arm like a slippery parasite.

Orion calmed himself and focused deep within.

Himeko once said that when Orion steps on the Astral Express, his inner acceptance of the pioneering journey will connect with the power of pioneering. When Orion truly believes in his actions, this power will naturally emerge.

"Explore, understand, build, connect."

The universe is vast, but when the aspirations of all beings align with divine destiny, they follow the path of destiny.

The erosion of the split world continued up Orion's arm, turning half of it into ice blue crystals.

If the erosion kept going, saving the arm might become impossible.

"Trailblaze...Trailblaze..."

Orion didn't understand what pioneering was. The principles he learned from paper alone couldn't become his own will.

But human curiosity is a part of nature. Having never seen the sea of stars or the universe's appearance, Orion believed that while humans can endure the unknown, they won't stop once an answer is within reach.

"You can tolerate the unknown, but you can never accept it."

Humans have always explored the stars. The inherent desire for exploration drives humans to light the first fire, set the first lamp, and raise humanity's sky higher.

The sky is just a step, but it's not the limit of human exploration.

When an ape on the plain looks up at the stars, the seeds of curiosity are planted.

The rest is just a matter of time.

Orion believed his journey would cover the sea of stars and see all the sights he desired.

"No way, I won't be stopped here!"

The erosion stopped suddenly. Orion, whose face was half covered, opened his eyes! Starry, sky-colored energy erupted from his arm, pushing everything out of his body.

Awaken the power of [Trailblaze].

In his memory space among the memory fragments, a tiny but bright star appeared.

Orion breathed out. He hadn't expected to truly gain the powers of two paths.

[Trailblaze] and [Remembrance] 

Although the power of both paths is relatively low, it protected Orion from interference and erosion from various environments, disasters, and phenomena.

This allowed Orion to continue his [Trailblaze] without hindrance.

Orion hadn't planned to touch the erosion directly. Even if he couldn't awaken the [Trailblaze], his backup plan would ensure his safety.

With a thought, the power of the path of [Remembrance] activated. Black and red energy surged from Orion's body, causing him to float slightly.

In Orion's hands, the power of the Eden Star formed a pea-sized ball at his fingertips.

"Now, the real challenge begins." The trial was just an appetizer. Now, Orion wanted to test his abilities.

"Gravity wave."

A bit of energy from the small ball in Orion's hand expanded like a small black hole.

An invisible hand covered the crack and squeezed it.

The scar on space made a squeaking sound under the gravity's pressure, showing signs of healing.

Veins popped, and beads of sweat appeared on Orion's forehead. He pressed his other hand on his right wrist, clenching his fingers to completely seal the rift.

The more he suppressed it, the more the rift acted like a cornered beast, with energy surging violently. Despite having protective power, dark crystals appeared on Orion again.

"I can't let all my effort go to waste." Orion grated his teeth. He wasn't yet skilled with this power. If Welt were here, he would probably have sealed the rift already.

"Close!"

With a sudden movement, the cracks were wrapped by black-red energy and finally disappeared.

"Successful!" Orion was thrilled. Even if he only sealed a small rift, it gave him hope for solving the rifts on this planet.

Orion sat on his knees, gasping for air. Using the Eden Star's first-rated power for a long time was still challenging for him.

"You... you can seal the rifts?!"

A female voice filled with surprise and astonishment came from behind Orion.

"Who!?"