Free Web NovelChapter 21: Anomalous Coordinates
By evening, Aurora Academy was no longer as noisy as it had been during the day.
Most students had been asked to leave the main hall after the coming-of-age ceremony ended. Those wounded in the Heaven’s Gate trial had been taken to the treatment ward. On the empty stands, the blue light from the energy crystals embedded in the domed ceiling still shone down quietly, making the entire vast main hall feel even colder.
But on the top floor, inside the control room, Headmaster Adrian Cole still sat motionless before the central screen.
Before him was only a very small dot of blue light.
That was the last life signal still held for Ethan Ashford.
From the moment the observation screen was blocked by the Abyss Tower, the control room had tried every possible method. Changing the connection frequency, reinforcing the positioning array, using backup crystals to forcibly stabilize the transmission line, even connecting to the Awakened Council’s monitoring system. But the result still didn’t change.
No image.
No sound.
No combat data.
All that was left was a dot of light proving Ethan still wasn’t dead.
The gray-haired woman standing beside the control panel looked at Headmaster Cole’s weary face and finally couldn’t help speaking up: "Headmaster, you’ve been sitting here for many hours now. Why don’t you rest a little? The moment the life signal changes, we’ll report to you right away."
The man in the military uniform nodded too. "That’s right. Right now we can’t intervene in the Abyss Tower. Waiting here won’t change anything either."
Headmaster Cole didn’t take his eyes off that dot of blue light.
It was a long while before he slowly said: "Only when I know Ethan’s outcome can I be at ease."
The two behind him fell silent.
They understood why Cole was so persistent.
A student who had opened a Mythic rank Partner, and had even been pulled into the Abyss difficulty. If Ethan died, it would be a loss the entire Safe Zone No. 7 would mourn. But if Ethan survived and came back, the meaning of this was entirely different.
Humanity would gain one more seed qualified to be placed on the highest cultivation list.
Time slowly passed.
In the control room, only the very faint sound of equipment running remained.
Suddenly, a technician standing before the control panel froze.
The screen before him flashed with a series of red symbols.
"Headmaster!"
His voice immediately snapped the entire control room back to alertness.
Cole leaned on his black wooden cane and stood up. "What’s wrong?"
The technician quickly worked the controls. His gaze was both astonished and disbelieving. "The system just detected Ethan Ashford’s location."
The air in the room immediately grew tense.
The gray-haired woman quickly stepped over beside him. "Can we pull him back?"
The technician opened his mouth, but didn’t answer right away.
That brief silence made Cole’s gaze sink.
He asked: "But what?"
The technician swallowed dryly, then said in a dry voice: "Ethan’s current coordinates are no longer inside the Abyss Tower. He’s been transferred to... Anomalous Coordinates."
The control room fell into a deathly silence.
Even the man in the military uniform changed expression slightly.
"Anomalous Coordinates?" ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
The gray-haired woman looked at the information flashing on the screen, her expression almost unable to believe it. "After escaping the Abyss Tower, he wasn’t brought back to the Academy, but thrown straight into Anomalous Coordinates?"
The technician nodded stiffly. "That’s right. But the signal is very weak. The space around his location is extremely unstable. We can only roughly determine the area he exists in, we can’t lock the exact coordinates."
Cole gripped the staff in his hand tightly.
A gravity like never before appeared in his eyes.
Anomalous Coordinates weren’t an ordinary Dungeon.
Nor were they an Alternate World Gate with a stable structure.
It was a place where many layers of space overlapped, the surrounding rules constantly shifting. One second it could be solid ground. The next second, the same spot could turn into a lake, a cave, a volcano, or a piece of architecture from another world.
Even experienced Awakened didn’t like entering a place like that.
Because at Anomalous Coordinates, danger didn’t only come from monsters.
It also came from the space itself.
Cole said in a grave voice: "Find a way to contact him. Immediately."
"Already attempting to connect."
The technician quickly worked the controls. Blue and red symbols kept overlapping, then reluctantly formed a very thin transmission line.
"The signal is unstable. It can only be maintained for a short time."
Cole stepped up before the sound-transmission array.
"That’s enough."
At the same time, in an unfamiliar place, Ethan opened his eyes.
He had assumed he would return to the main hall of Aurora Academy.
After accepting to leave the Abyss Tower, he had prepared himself mentally to face the gazes, the questions, and the attention from outside factions. But the scene before him was completely different from his expectation.
No main hall.
No observation screen.
No Headmaster Cole.
Instead was a forest so dense it nearly blocked out the sky.
The tall tree canopies interwove with one another, leaving only slivers of pale gray light. The air was damp, heavy, and carried a very distinct smell of rot. Ethan frowned, his gaze quickly surveying his surroundings.
No.
This wasn’t just a forest.
Behind the tangled layers of vines and tree roots, he saw cracked asphalt road, snapped lampposts, rotted metal signs, and collapsed concrete buildings. The trees had nearly invaded this entire place, crawling through broken windows, piercing through cracked walls, and covering the roads vehicles had once driven on.
This was a city abandoned for many years.
Ethan said in a low voice: "This place is..."
Laira stood right beside him.
After leaving the Abyss Tower, her complexion had improved a little, but the faint, hazy black chains around her wrists and ankles still hadn’t vanished. Her amber-red eyes swept across the city-forest before them, her expression immediately turning colder.
"Doesn’t seem like a safe place."
At that very moment, a notification panel appeared before Ethan.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations on arriving at Anomalous Coordinates.]
Ethan paused. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
"Anomalous Coordinates?"
He immediately recalled the knowledge he had once studied at Aurora Academy.
Anomalous Coordinates were a place where layers of space overlapped one another. Everything was chaotic and extremely unstable. A person could be standing on solid ground in this moment, but if the surrounding space shifted, the same spot could become an ocean, an abyss, or a piece of architecture from another world in the next moment.
Not only that, the creatures that could exist at Anomalous Coordinates were usually very dangerous.
There were no small number of monsters.
Powerful creatures with intelligence weren’t rare either.
It could be said that this was a place that tested an Awakened’s true survival ability.
Ethan looked at the collapsed buildings swallowed by the trees, his gaze turning grave. "Why am I here?"
At that very moment, a piercing burst of interference rang out beside his ear.
Zzt... zzt...
A faint screen of light appeared before Ethan. The image inside was very unstable, constantly warping, but he still made out Headmaster Cole’s stern face.
Cole’s voice rang out through the weak transmission: "Ethan Ashford, can you hear me?"
Ethan immediately replied: "I hear you. Headmaster Cole, I wasn’t brought back to the Academy. The system says this place is Anomalous Coordinates."
Cole said in a grave voice: "We’ve detected it. Don’t panic. Right now, your first priority is to survive. Find a place where you can hide, and avoid unnecessary combat. We’ll try to find a way to bring you back."
Ethan looked at the screen that kept getting interference. "How long can the signal be maintained?"
The technical supervisor in the control room immediately cut in: "Not long. The space around you is too unstable. If you want to keep contact or receive supplies, you need to find an area with more stable space."
Laira frowned slightly.
Ethan asked directly: "Are places with stable space usually safer?"
The other end was silent for a brief moment.
Then, the man in the military uniform said: "No. On the contrary, stable areas within Anomalous Coordinates are usually occupied by stronger creatures. They regard those as their territory."
Ethan understood.
To contact and resupply, he had to reach a stable place.
But a stable place was potentially more dangerous.
This wasn’t a pleasant choice.
Cole continued: "There’s one lucky point. According to preliminary data, the Anomalous Coordinates where you’re standing only reach the Nightmare difficulty. The monsters inside mainly range from Black Iron to Platinum. For now, no stable Diamon fluctuation has been detected."
For now.
Ethan immediately noticed that word.
In a place of chaotic space, "for now" didn’t mean safe.
He thought very quickly, then asked: "Can you transfer support items here?"
Cole looked at him through the interference-filled screen. "What do you need?"
Ethan said clearly: "Energy crystals. Recovery items. Anything that can help me level up quickly. I’ve opened my Heaven’s Gate. Right now, the only thing that can help Laira and me survive is power."
