Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story)

594. Theatrum Orbis Terrarum

Non-humans in a Human-centric Region immediately raised red flags, especially in a place as lawless as the ruins of Puritas. Not only that, but they were hardly strong enough to fend for themselves.

Their stats were akin to that of low-level Adventurers, but their weapons significantly made up for their physical weaknesses. Not only that, but their RESIST stat was surprisingly high alongside their Mana capacity.

From this alone Frost could tell that they were a magical-based race, similar to something like the Elves, which brought them into further scrutiny. They were apparently Explorers; groups that specialized in the profession of exploration.

Limitless destinations and possibilities awaited such people, who were driven by the promise of riches or simply had a passion for uncovering lost secrets or to brave a new world.

Gnomes were one such race that specialized in the art of exploration, having two main branches of this profession – the Terra and the Mare; undoubtedly an abbreviated version of Terra Incognita (Unknown land) and Mare Incognitum (Unknown sea).

The Theatre of the World Association focused on the cartography of Elysia. Their ultimate goal was in the name – to create a ‘Theater of the World’; a Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, which would be the very first completed atlas of Elysia.

However, due to the nature of the seas it was impossible to chart distant lands beyond. They didn’t even know if such a place existed.

To them this believed unknown landmass was named Terra Astralis, which dates to an ancient belief of a geocentric model of the universe – a model that had the stars revolve around the world itself as though it sat in the center of the universe.

That same place was likely the Expanse, and the places beyond.

As an Otherworlder, Frost could hardly believe that such a small race was responsible for the cartography of Elysia considering that there were races that could fly and swim.

According to Nav, it was because of their tiny make that they developed an innate curiosity to the world around them. They were not the kind of race that took things for granted, and it was because of this that they had one of the strongest senses of freedom.

Frost briefly extracted some basic information out of them.

Then, she asked:

“What brings you six here then? Spiritas is on the other side of this continent. I get you’re explorers, but to me it looks like you’re here plundering it. Not that I mind. Hell, take everything you can. I’m just curious.”

The Gnomes sat with hands clutching their knees as they sat in a pitiful line. Their instincts commanded them to remain as passive as possible in the face of the absolute authority looming above them.

“We’re completely different Gnomes from those lot. Well, the same but different. It’s a geographical thingy-ma-jig that uh…”

The voice of one of the women trailed off. Tears dripped down the side of her cheeks like bullets as she avoided making eye contact with Frost at all costs. Her eyes instead bounced between her clammy hands and the weapon held in Frost’s arms.

Another then took over.

“B-Basically, we have nothing to do with Spiritas! If you have something against them, then please don’t take it out on us! Don’t eat us!” One pleaded, their voices echoing throughout the streets. “Y-You’ll get the Pale Web! You don’t want that!”

Frost had brought them out into the streets along with their possessions. Sacks of valuables including coins, jewelry and other stored mementoes were piled to the side. Each sack was easily twice as large as the Gnomes, and she had witnessed them carry them with ease despite their lackluster stats.

“Relax. I’m not going to eat you.” Frost sighed, her mind aching by their childish squabbles and the many ghostly voices of Paradise. “I don’t know where you got that idea from, but isn’t it rude to make assumptions on someone you just tried to kill?”

“T-That was a test shot!” The one who shot her exclaimed.

Frost’s hidden feathers did not rustle.

“Yeah! A test!” Another backed him up.

“Right Boss!?” One more said, turning to their boss who also sweated bullets.

Their hands curled further. Then, they raised their head and pointed to the shooter.

“… T-Take this one and let the rest of us live!”

“B-Boss!?”

“You can’t! Oi! Wasn’t it you who said to kill anything on sight!”

“If anything, the Boss should be eaten –!”

*Boom*

The deafening roar of Frost’s De Jure caused them to grovel further. It wasn’t her intention to dominate them like this, but Frost wasn’t in the mood for things to become chaotic. Not in a solemn place like this, and certainly not when she was on the cusp of manifesting the Second State.

“Like I said – No one is being eaten!” She commanded equally as loud as the smoking barrel of her gun. “Just answer the question and we can both be on our own way.”

“F-Funding.” The Boss, who was a man with the appearance of a young boy managed to utter.

“For what, your Association?”

“More like a… P-Personal retirement fund.” He finally answered, causing Frost to raise a brow.

“That’s not managed to taxable by the Association.” Another said.

“Or written in the books.”

“Or trackable.”

Frost scratched her hair again. The black and grey pigmentation captivated them strangely enough. After some thought, she decided to let them go their own way.

After all, her feather’s rustled to their response.

“Carry on then.”

“Really!? I mean – O-Ok. Let’s go our separate ways –!

“But first, tell me about the Pale Web.”

* * *

A disease that affects the living indiscriminately but calcifying their bodies from the inside out until they were wrapped in a brittle cocoon. This was the Pale Web – a Tier 5 disease that likely required a Skill Mastery in [Cure Disease], which Frost was unfortunately far from achieving.

(S) Cure Disease III [6/10]

EFFECT: Instantly cure all tier 2 diseases and tier 2 negative statuses/condition of self or target in contact.

COST: 100 MP

The onset of effects occurred within the first twelve hours. After exactly twenty-four hours the affected individual’s body would begin the calcification process. It did not result in the Markers surprisingly, as after a week of exposure a person would become fine, hair-like crystals that would spread the disease further.

Luckily it was contained within Paradise. Simply leaving through the walls instantly reversed its effects. The disease could not exist outside of Paradise, which led many to believe that it was cursed and largely why no one dared to tread here.

Interestingly enough, if there were exactly twelve people that were infected, then only one person would survive. The Pale Web therefore technically had a one in twelve chance of survival despite its 100% mortality rate.

This surprised Frost since she hadn’t experienced any symptoms herself. Then again, the only other illness that had affected her was a Corrupted Skill that caused her heart to leap from her chest.

Other than that, she had been mostly immune.

This was why the Gnomes were surprised to see her still fine. The greying of her black hair was unnatural, and they thought it was the initial symptoms of the Pale Web.

* * *

The white snow that fell in Paradise was a silent killer, and the Gnomes retold of how countless more perished following the fall of Paradise because of this spontaneous disease.

The Gnomes came from the Zervi Region; from the Demon continent just south of Grandis. That place was where one of the main Branches of the Theatre of the World Association was established – the Western Hemisphere Branch.

There was truly a lot to unpack, and in time the Gnomes came to understand that they were spared Frost. They were allowed to rummage through their loot and belongings more freely and could hold a stare now that her Scrutiny was disabled.

“Lucky us. You must be really strong to come all the way here on your own!” A girl complimented, wagging her head side by side as she stared at Frost’s gun. “Justica Arm? You a believer of the Goddess of Color?”

“No, this is just my weapon. Ever heard of the Black Dove?” Frost casually namedropped her identity as a Color.

“Nope…?” The girl tilted her head.

“Well, you have now.”

“Black Dove… Are you a Color or something? Wait, black… Are you a believer of Umbra too then!?”

Beholder Umbra? So she’s considered a Deity in the Demon continent. And Galia’s a Deity of Spiritas. The mighty hero that struck Caldera Industries down.

“No, I am a Color. Whether you believe me or is none of my concern. We won’t be seeing each other again.” Frost said as the other Gnomes began hoisting their baggage over their backs, looking like child-sized hermit crabs.

“You don’t smell human, so it’s hard to tell if you’re lying or not.” The girl’s eyes lingered on Frost’s hair as she stood on her toes as if to inspect it further. “… You’re not part Demon, are you?”

“Not at all.”

The girl, whose hair was a royal, wavy gold lightly hopped in place. Had she worn more extravagant clothing, then Frost would have truly mistaken her for being a princess of a distant land.

It was unfortunate that she could not pry any deeper through her status. All it showed was that she was an Explorer like the others.

“You have some gold in your eyes and… no, just your eyes! It’s not your pupils so you’re maybe right. But I think you’re really special!”

“How so?”

Finally, as the others began to leave and call out her name, the girl answered with:

“There’s a famous story from our continent. It’s called the ‘Girl Far Away From Home’. A Demon once came to Grandis and lost her arm and her only friend. You’ll never hear the real story. We even have the spun-up version of the story. No one likes a tragedy after all.

That story followed the Demon’s life in these newfound lands. It’s more of cautionary tale for explorers like us than a story about them. But you know, you might have their eyes, but you definitely have that person’s weapon!”

She turned her back to Frost. However, her body instantly froze when Frost used scrutiny.

Her feet sunk into the broken gravel. The voices of her companions called out to her but were effectively silenced by Frost’s deafening presence.

“Who are you talking about?” Frost asked one final question.

The answer defied all expectations.

“The Goddess of Color!”

Frost’s concentration immediately broke, allowing the girl to join her distant friends. A hand was brought to Frost’s forehead where she brushed away oddly bright strands of hair as she came to an epiphany.

“Galia… is she the Black-Haired shooter…?”

There was no proof of her involvement aside from the story implying Galia helped Carpalis in the distant past.

However, she couldn’t shake off the feeling that Galia was far more involved in this conspiracy than she could have ever imagined.