"Secret Realms have many names," Levy proudly declared. "Grotto-Heavens, Folded Spaces, Inheritance Grounds, Small Worlds, Inner Worlds, Blessed Lands, Mystic Realms, Pocket Dimensions, Ancient Tombs, and so on. Most, if not all, Secret Realms are controlled by the top factions, at least here in Pillomal! The methods used to access them vary greatly, but the 'keys' usually manifest as either physical artifacts, bloodlines, rune imprints, or certain environments."
Lira immediately looked lost, while Rose crossed her arms, clearly pretending not to be lost.
Poya stared directly at the chalkboard without blinking.
Petra's eyes, meanwhile, had already become huge and focused.
Levy grinned before continuing.
"Now then! First question!"
She wrote several large words across the chalkboard.
"A Secret Realm," Levy explained while slowly pacing back and forth, "is essentially a small piece of space that has been pinched off and twisted away from the normal world."
She drew a circle, then another circle inside that same circle.
"Each Secret Realm contains different laws, internal structures, special environments, and unique functions depending on how it was initially formed."
Tap!
"In simple terms, each Secret Realm is a 'reflection' of its 'creator!'"
The girls listened quietly.
"They can contain mountains, rivers, ruins, beasts, trials, guardians, isolated ecosystems, or even entirely separate civilizations when looking at the upper levels! They can become Divine Kingdoms, pockets of Nihility, or even their own small 'Universal Planes!'"
"This naturally also includes the classics, like treasures, inheritances, and fated opportunities."
Levy casually shrugged.
"Some reset after each opening, while some continue evolving over countless years..."
"Some shrink and contract, while others expand and grow..."
"Some become living disasters, while others become paradises on earth!"
"It all depends on the original 'seed' used to form the realm at the beginning."
Tap-tap-tap!
"So, what is this so-called seed? Any guesses?"
Petra tilted her head.
She was the first to answer, clearly forgetting to pretend to act like a child, "...Seed? Mm, then it should be related to the origin of each secret realm, right? You said, 'each Secret Realm is a 'reflection' of its 'creator!'', but now you're asking about a seed. So, does that mean that this seed is a part of the initial creator's body? No, it should be their corpse, right?"
Petra wasn't sure, but at the same time, she was pretty sure.
Levy nodded.
"The origin of most secret realms is an excess of power that can no longer 'be controlled!'"
She tapped her own chest.
"This is usually the remains of an expert!"
The atmosphere became slightly quieter.
Levy continued, "When extremely powerful beings die, their bodies don't always decompose normally. As you should already know, some become spirit veins like the one back home, while others disperse, returning their power to the world and its will."
"These are the two generally accepted outcomes, because when a powerful cultivator dies, it is usually when they are at their weakest, so nature simply takes over."
"But sometimes." Her smile slightly deepened. "The deaths of high-level cultivators are too abrupt, or they die in special places, so the energy is either too great, too chaotic, or affected by an outside power. In these cases, they collapse inward and compress into a separate space over a long period of time, because if left alone, they would cause devastation on a monumental scale."
"This is a natural law formed by the will of the world, a kind of rejection when danger is sensed."
"In other words, if the world senses that absorbing the body of a deceased high-level existence is too risky, then it can expel them from 'normal space' and force them into something like a bubble. After this is done, assuming that it is successful, the corpse will either form a Secret Realm or explode, and the bubble will dilute the damage, then be reabsorbed into the normal world over a long period of time."
"It is also important to remember that this is a process that takes 'tens of thousands of years!'"
"From what I know, the Royal Ring Secret Realm is one of these exceptions—likely a fusion or a kind of mutation between an already existing unformed Secret Realm, and something related to the events from one thousand years ago..."
Her pointer slowly dragged across the board.
"Anyways, the stronger the cultivator, the more terrifying the resulting Secret Realm will be when born."
"Especially if extreme emotions are involved during the death of the initial seed..."
"Resentment, regrets, obsessions, madness, hatred, love, all of these things, at least if taken to the extreme, can shape the environment that will eventually form."
She pointed dramatically upwards.
"A sufficiently resentful expert can create an absolutely horrifying Secret Realm after their death!"
The girls unconsciously glanced at Petra.
Petra immediately pointed at herself.
"Mm?"
They all felt that if Petra ever reached that level, the Secret Realm born from her emotions might redefine the upper levels of how terrifying a secret realm could be.
Levy ignored her and continued.
"Fortunately, this formation process usually takes an extremely long time! After thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of years, most of the seed's lingering emotions will gradually calm down and dissipate. Unless the expert in question died with a truly overwhelming obsession, most Secret Realms stabilize naturally over time, then return to a neutral state."
"This applies to positive emotions as well."
Clap!
Levy suddenly clapped her hands.
"Now then! Where 'are' Secret Realms actually located? And what is the bubble?"
The girls all focused.
Levy held out her pale hand.
Her pearl-like, flawless skin shone under the sunlight.
Her slender fingers twitched ever so slightly as she opened her palm and let it face the sky.
"Secret Realms do not exist within normal space, this is obvious, but where do they actually exist, and how can the world reabsorb them after they are already expelled?"
A faint violet light flickered between her fingers...
"The answer is obvious, and that is that they never left!"
As the violet light became deeper and deeper, it slowly spread to her palm. Then, the space above her palm suddenly distorted as if it were a blurry mirage. Many colors flickered, but none could overpower this deep violet color that seemed to dominate them all.
Petra's eyes widened.
She could feel an incredibly mysterious power suddenly calling out to her.
She had only ever felt this power once before, when she was idling around the evolution pool that the Tower Spider soaked in to evolve into the Castle Crawler.
Now she understood that the feeling from back then was the remnants of Levy doing something...
The surrounding girls only saw the air become blurry for a moment, but Petra saw something entirely different. The space itself was scrolling like a page being dragged vertically—no, not vertically! It was different, very different, but it was also impossible to describe!
For a brief instant, the contents of Levy's hand repeatedly shifted like the inventory of a game!
It was initially just air, but it blurred, then became strange white clouds, then blurred again, soon becoming a strange dagger. After blurring again and again, it switched between a palm-sized ocean, a set of clothes, and a black gas deeper than the darkest night! Petra watched with relish as this indescribable phenomenon continued! She understood that all of these items were overlapping in the same space!
Petra immediately realized what was happening—
Levy was shifting the 'V Axis' (Void) in her palm!
"…Interesting." Petra quietly muttered to herself.
She really wanted to learn how to do it, but for some reason, she felt as if she wouldn't be able to.
Her childish face flickered for a mere moment, flashing to frustration.
Levy proudly smiled after noticing Petra's reaction.
"For now, you can think of the Void as another directional axis layered over normal space, so it's also part of the world, just with fewer people."
Space: [X,Y,Z] + V.
She drew several overlapping lines on the chalkboard.
"Let's say a God suddenly appears!"
"The world instinctively rejects excessive power, even if this power surpasses itself..."
"This will either result in the world meeting an immovable object and instantly being destroyed, or the world will reject and expel the power, thus preventing a disaster for both parties."
"Of course, if this power is obedient, then it won't care."
"The power each world can contain differs based on the world type and its age, but in general, newborn planets are weak, ancient planets have the accumulation to support many powerhouses, and innate planets, those few that have existed from the beginning, can encompass everything."
Petra raised her hand.
"What kind of world is Pillomal?"
This was what Petra wanted to know, while the other girls were still silently coming to terms with the whole concept of, 'My world is not the center of everything.'
Levy paused, then hummed and hawed, before eventually answering: "…Pillomal is a newborn planet."
Petra instantly frowned, wanting to disagree, but she found that she had no reason to.
'How strange...'
After shaking away the thought, she looked back at Levy, waiting for her to continue.
"You can ignore the possibility of the world ever meeting an immovable object, so lets just look at the situation where the world will reject and expel excess power! It doesn't matter if this power comes from inside or out, but as long as an expert dies within its range, then when enough 'energy', 'authority', and [?] gather in one place, space will bend and create the so-called 'bubble' to contain it!"
"In simpler terms—"
Levy shrugged lazily.
"If a powerful energy source dies and can not be absorbed over time, the world will take that energy source, whatever it may be, then create a hole-like pocket to stuff it in, then forget about it."
"This is what is called a Secret Realm." She grinned. "...or rather, a tumor!"
Wind immediately frowned.
"Do you mean that when a Secret Realm is formed, the world can no longer reabsorb its power? No, it should also need a source of energy, so does that mean the Secret Realm will leech off the world instead, becoming a parasite?"
"Good!"
Levy nodded at this good student!
"…That somehow makes it worse." Wind frowned, her ears drooping in thought.
Levy didn't care! She spun playfully and moved on!
"Next question, why do Secret Realms need to be 'opened?'"
"This is because most Secret Realms are naturally sealed systems, so when combined with the innate rejection of the world, they will either anger the will of the world for being too gluttonous or lose a portion of their own energy when opened. It's like opening a terrarium filled with bees!"
"Despite overlapping with the base world, they actually exist independently."
"Opening a secret realm requires temporarily reconnecting it to the main world, and this can create any number of unforeseen consequences."
"The worst-case scenario, and I mean the absolute worst-case scenario, is that the entire Secret Realm will collapse, and the world's Will will take this opportunity to devour the Secret Realm."
Tap!!
"—This, of course, requires an absurd amount of energy, so the bees, in this case—us! Oh, and of course, the Secret Realms inhabitants will all be washed away in the process!"
"To prevent this, the concept of 'Opening a Secret Realm' was established!"
Her expression became slightly more serious.
"Even for small realms like the Royal Ring Secret Realm, opening its entrance is an enormous undertaking in and of itself! Just the energy required to set up the Opening Ceremony, or at least, to 'call upon the concept', can bankrupt smaller factions here in Pillomal!"
Mell looked deeply at Levy.
Why did it feel as if those words, so simple in their own right, held a lot more meaning than initially understood? Just what did 'calling upon the concept' actually mean? Why did it feel as if this was what really mattered, and not the Opening Ceremony itself?
Also, 'here in Pillomal!' Seemed to have a hidden meaning.
Her eyes turned to Wind, who seemed to have the same question, then to Petra, who was usually very attentive, who completely took those words for granted.
The little master must know something.
…Could it really be?
Levy didn't stop speaking, "The 'Opening Ceremony' can require spirit stones, special arrays, blood sacrifices, certain rituals or actions, and even the combined help of multiple high-level cultivators, all just to open the entrance!"
"Oh, and the cost for maintaining the open gate is even worse!"
"Some Secret Realms will only open their doors for a few hours, and after they close, it could be dozens, if not hundreds of years until they naturally open again to spew out those it considers to be outsiders. To avoid this, keeping the gate open is a must!"
"…Nobody wants to get trapped inside for decades because the entrance collapsed, Hehe!"
Lira slowly raised her hand.
"...T-that actually happens?"
Levy looked at her, her face full of extreme seriousness!
"...Frequently!"
Lira immediately lowered her hand.
"Tsk! Don't scare the child," Petra snorted.
Levy rolled her eyes.
She continued—
"That's also why so many factions gather people together during the opening of a secret realm…"
"No single faction wants to bear the cost alone..."
"Once the entrance opens." Her smile became strange. "...everyone naturally wants a share, because the feeling one gets from the residual aura leaking out is unlike anything you have ever felt before!"
The table gradually became quieter.
Even the noise of the festival below suddenly felt more distant.
Why did her face look so perverted…?
Levy: '!'
Levy, seemingly realizing this, leaned back casually against the chalkboard.
"Oh, and one final thing."
The girls looked up to see Levy adjusting her glasses.
"Never, and I mean never! Trust a Secret Realm!"
Silence seemed to follow her words…
"…Mm?" Petra blinked.
Levy smiled ominously.
"Because after a secret realm becomes old enough." Levy's pointer slowly tapped the board one final time, coincidentally tapping on the bright red word 'seed'… "There's always the possibility that 'something' will look back! Hehehehehe!"
-
All the girls looked at Levy, who seemed to be laughing mysteriously in her own little world. Why did they all feel as if they understood, but at the same time, they didn't seem to understand at all…
* * *