"Alright, so, I went to the Divide and found some things," Sebastian's message read. "It's actually not as bad as we had thought. In a way, it's probably not even that hard to repair the Elemental Dimension. It's just that fixing the issue will definitely alert the Overseer, which means we will die if we do so."
"Turns out, there's a big barrier on the eastern side of the Divide. That's why no Elementals from the eastern side of the Elemental Dimension go to the western side. They literally can't. The barrier is blocking them."
Kyle paused for a moment as he thought about Sebastian's message.
"It's as simple as it is smart," Kyle thought. "Everybody would notice such a huge barrier, and they would try to break it. Yet, since it is in the Elemental Dimension, Humanity doesn't even know that it exists, and even if they did, how would they break it? They can't get there."
"However, this also worries me a little. After all, I don't think the Overseer constantly uses their Energy to keep such a huge Barrier active. Most likely..."
"I looked around the walls for a bit," Sebastian's message continued, "and I found something interesting. I attached a couple of pictures. Look at it yourself."
Kyle looked at the pictures, and he saw several humongous pillars of metal. Tens of metallic wires came out of the pillars, stretching into the distance. Not a single wire passed through the barrier. Almost all of them followed the barrier, while some of them stretched away from the barrier.
Kyle took a deep breath.
"It's a Formation Array. That's really bad."
"Our primary suspicion is that the Overseer is some kind of evolved Divine Beast that can imitate humans, and if this proves to be true, things are even worse than expected."
"Formation Arrays are extremely complex. Divine Beasts might be smarter than normal beasts, but they're not smart enough to learn something as abstract and complicated as Formation Arrays. Additionally, you need to know the required Laws of a Formation Array to set it up!"
"This means that the Overseer is intelligent enough to learn Formation Arrays, and they can even comprehend Laws, which is wild. The only Laws beasts learn are the ones their instincts grant them. They do not sit down and study an Element like humans."
"If this Overseer can actually learn Laws and learn how to create Formation Arrays, they are not just imitating a human. They have actually attained the powers of a human Seeker. At this point, you could even have a discussion about them actually being a human!"
"If that's the case, repairing this world will be harder than anticipated. Our enemy is more intelligent than expected. If we want to become powerful enough to fight them, we need access to Laws, but gaining access to these Laws means alarming them. There's no way that they have not placed alarms around the components of their Formation Array."
Kyle looked at the pictures for a while longer.
"Even more, I can't make sense of this Formation Array without seeing it for myself. I can see the material this Node and its Connections are made of, but I can't sense the Energy movements just by looking at a picture. I also can't tell just how advanced the Formation Array is since the Runes are inside the Node. Building a huge Formation Array isn't necessarily harder than building a small one. You just need more materials and Energy."
"This Formation Array could be even simpler than what I can set up, but it could also be insanely advanced."
Kyle continued reading the message.
"This is probably a Formation Array," Sebastian wrote. "I don't know a lot about Formation Arrays, but it looks like one. Anyway, after finding this barrier, I did a small test."
Kyle became a bit nervous when he read that sentence.
"I hope he didn't do anything reckless."
"I made a tiny Mortal Elemental and made it touch the barrier. When it touched the barrier, it turned into Neutral Energy and was absorbed by the barrier. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing."
"That's a good thing," Kyle thought.
"The way it has easily converted the Lightning Elemental into Energy means that it's designed to gain Energy by absorbing Elementals. This is not primarily a defensive function but a supplying one. Most likely, the barrier's Energy Source are Elementals that touch it."
"Keeping a Barrier Formation Array active doesn't cost a lot of Energy, but if it's one that's literally trillions of kilometers wide, it would still cost a massive amount of Energy. This Energy has to come from somewhere, and Elementals are a great source of Energy."
"Elementals made of mixed or complex Elements are supremely rare. They rarely appear anywhere, and they very often die since it's so hard for them to find the right mix of Energy. This means that almost all Elementals are Pure Elementals. Their Energies simply follow the Pure Laws. I can already make Formation Arrays that turn Gravity Wind into an Energy Source. That's not very hard."
"It's possible that the Barrier Formation Array has an Elemental Conversion Formation Array for every Element. Because of that, every single Elemental that touches the barrier will turn into Energy that keeps the Barrier Formation Array running."
"This might also be the reason why the Overseer hasn't destroyed the Elemental Dimension of the Abyss. Beasts don't need to comprehend Laws. Technically, there's no reason to keep Law Wells operational in the Abyss since the beasts don't need them."
"Yet, if the Overseer destroys the Elemental Dimension in the Abyss, the barrier loses its Energy Source. They need their Elemental Dimension to keep producing Elementals for the barrier. That also explains why they keep Law Wells around instead of just destroying them. Law Wells in the Main Dimension are important for Elementals."
"Every powerful Law Well has a dense gathering of Elemental Energies that transform in a cycle. Like a massive planet, they pull in more Energy from the surroundings before spreading it again. They act as gathering points for Elemental Energies."
"In the Supreme World, when a Law Well is formed in another Dimension, the related Elemental Energy on that spot in the Elemental Dimension becomes far denser. This attracts Elementals of that Element, which flock to that spot. They consume the Elemental Energies while also killing each other, spreading even more Elemental Energy."
"This acts as a scarce and valuable source of power for them, incentivizing conflict and refinement. Weak Elementals die, and strong Elementals become stronger. A Law Well can improve the health of the Elemental Dimension, which is why they're keeping them around."
"Although I still don't know why there are still Elementals here to begin with. Yes, you need the Elementals to power the barrier, but the barrier's entire purpose is to keep the Elementals from going to the west. If there are no Elementals, you don't need a barrier, which wouldn't need Elementals."
"Beasts learn shit by themselves. They don't need a healthy Elemental Dimension. So, why keep it healthy to begin with?"
"Well, I can think of only one reason, but I could also be wrong."
"They need the Elementals to power something else as well. I just don't know what."
tg://resolv?domain=StrongestHammerGod
The author's patreon. If he gets more than 1000€ per month, he will increase the number of words in the chapter.