Death… And Me

"So..." Roan continued after everyone digested the previous explanation, "do you know what we could do to move under the Godly Pressure ourselves?"

Coyui didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he lowered his head and thought about it for a while. It was obvious no outsider had ever asked him such a question before. Eventually, he rubbed his chin and looked back at the group.

"Do you remember when I said even babies can move around under the Godly Pressure?"

Everyone nodded. "We do."

"Well," Coyui continued, "they can move, but it isn’t as though they’re completely unaffected. The pressure still influences them when they’re born. However, as they grow up, they slowly become accustomed to it. Year after year, their bodies adapt until the Godly Pressure no longer hinders them. It simply becomes part of everyday life."

He shrugged before adding, "I’m not certain it would work for outsiders, but if I had to guess, I’d say you should try forcing your bodies to adapt. If newborn children can gradually become accustomed to it, I don’t see why adults couldn’t do the same."

Roan lowered his head in thought. "So... brute-force adaptation."

The words had barely left his mouth before Flugel sighed. "I already know what you’re thinking."

Roan raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"There is no need to ask," Flugel said. "Yes, we’ve tried exactly that before. Not only us, but countless experts throughout history."

Everyone’s attention shifted toward him.

"Ever since the Sacred Relics were discovered, many cultivators have attempted to overcome the Godly Pressure by leaving the Relics’ area of influence. They remained outside for as long as their bodies could endure before returning briefly to acquire supplies and such, only to head back out again. Some repeated that process for years, hoping their bodies would eventually grow accustomed to the pressure."

He shook his head. "It never worked."

"The Godly Pressure weakened them just as much on the first day as it did years later. They always struggled to move more outside than inside. Their cultivation was always suppressed. No matter how long they remained outside the Sacred Relics’ protection, the result never changed."

Silence settled over the vault once more.

That single statement eliminated what had seemed like the most obvious solution. Simply exposing oneself to Godly Pressure over a long period clearly wasn’t enough.

Everyone began pondering the problem from a different angle.

Rean gently scratched the fox’s head while thinking over everything Coyui and Flugel had said. His eyes wandered toward the vault’s entrance, remembering the overwhelming pressure that had nearly crushed them the moment they stepped outside.

Then...

"Oh!" The idea appeared so suddenly that he almost voiced it aloud.

Every pair of eyes immediately turned toward him.

Yet, at that exact moment, the familiar pink faeries inside his body began to stir restlessly.

Rean immediately swallowed the rest of his sentence.

"It’s fine... it’s fine," he quickly said with an awkward smile while waving his hand. "It was nothing."

As soon as he abandoned the idea, the faeries slowly calmed down once again.

Thery frowned. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Rean answered while shaking his head. "I just thought of something for a second, but it wasn’t important."

No one pressed the matter further.

Through their Soul Connection, however, Roan immediately asked, ’What did you think of?’

Rean answered without hesitation.

’I think Flugel’s experiments failed because the Godly Pressure outside the Sacred Relics wasn’t nearly strong enough.’

Roan remained silent, allowing Rean to continue.

’Think about it. Outside this vault, even the two of us couldn’t move at all. We needed one of your Anti-Godly Pressure Pills just to stand, and even then the pills only lasted around ten seconds before becoming useless. The concentration here is several times greater than anything we’ve experienced before.’

Roan’s eyes narrowed.

Rean continued.

’Perhaps adaptation only happens once the pressure reaches a certain threshold. Below that point, your body simply resists it forever without changing. Once that threshold is exceeded, however, the body is forced to evolve or perish. In other words, the Godly Pressure surrounding the Sacred Relics isn’t sufficient to trigger real adaptation.’

Roan immediately understood the logic. ’Meaning the pressure inside Woster broke through the limit required for adaptation.’

’Exactly,’ Rean confirmed. ’Of course, it’s only a theory. We have no proof whatsoever. More importantly...’

He glanced toward the others. ’...I can’t be the one to suggest it. The moment I almost did, the faeries reacted immediately. Duze’s restriction is still active. But that also means that I’m probably right. If I was wrong, the faeries wouldn’t have reason to react.’

Roan nodded. ’Then someone else will have to reach that conclusion on their own.’

Rean smiled in response. ’Don’t worry. They will. It isn’t really that hard to reach this conclusion; just wait.’

At that very moment, Coyui looked between the silent twins with a confused expression. "So... what are you planning to do now?"

He gestured toward Flugel. "Friend Flugel already explained that countless people tried adapting before and failed. Doesn’t that settle the matter? Why not just give up on this place? We can all leave together."

Before anyone else could respond, Haniala suddenly stood up. "No!"

Everyone turned toward her.

"What?" Thery asked.

"I’ll try it anyway." Her eyes were filled with determination. "The adaptation."

She clenched her fists. "Have any of us ever experienced Godly Pressure anywhere close to what exists outside this vault? No. Then how can we say we’ve truly repeated what the people of Woster experienced while growing up?"

She looked around at everyone before continuing. "Maybe that’s exactly what’s missing. The pressure itself."

"If every single living being born in Woster adapted to it, then there must be a reason. Perhaps the Godly Pressure outside the Sacred Relics simply isn’t strong enough. Perhaps we’ve been trying to adapt under the wrong conditions from the very beginning."

Inside the Soul Connection, Rean couldn’t help smiling. ’Good. It really wasn’t that difficult to reach the conclusion once someone started thinking about it.’

The pink faeries remained perfectly quiet.

Since Haniala had reached the idea herself, the restriction wasn’t violated in the slightest.

Coyui simply shrugged. "Well..."

He spread his hands helplessly. "Better that than no idea at all."

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