"It's time to get the symbol that proves you are a Crusader. To officially welcome you as one of us," Satoshi says. Footsteps come from the basement. Iori opens the door and walks out of the basement. "I wanted to make sure nobody weak or subversive would join us. The way I decided to do this is by having a short period of time after they joined where it seemed like they had all the benefits of joining us, but that's a lie, follow me into the basement," Satoshi says. He, Dai'chi, Krytheos, Jesse, and Iori all head to the basement.
"The final step is that after this short period of time, you go through a ritual. It requires the founder of the Crusaders, the leader, and a third member, usually the person who invited them, to be present," Iori says. They walk over to a door that is completely locked down. Iori and Satoshi walk to both sides of the door. It first starts with a fingerprint scan, and it then leads with an eye scan. After that, it has a blood test, and finally, it checks their mana signature. The giant gate begins to open. As it does, a large glowing light floods out of it. They continue walking past the gate, and it closes behind them.
Jesse begins to speak. "I'm surprised that you didn't question one of the biggest mysteries of this place: how does the base continue to regenerate. Also, where the special currency comes from and how the nearly indestructible barrier stays up," he says. He turns around and walks down the stairs backward.
Dai'chi starts to think for a moment. "I guess I just never questioned it. Everything was just so unusual after I joined; it just seemed normal," Dai'chi says. Krytheos nods in agreement. "I did notice one thing, though, about the currency. It's made out of Mirion, the ore formed from the ancient Mysterio enzyme. The barrier also seems to be technology made by Mysterios," He says. Krytheos looks at Dai'chi, surprised. Not knowing how he knew all that information.
Jesse grins, "You are correct, the barrier, the currency, the regeneration of the base, it all originates from one thing," He says. They get to the bottom of the stairs. Satoshi once again does a specific process to open a gate. They walk inside to see a giant spherical metal room. The walls are covered with circuits that have mana and plasma flowing through them. The floor is a metal platform that circles around the entire room with a hole in the center. In front of them is a large control panel. In the center of the room, a giant ball floats. The ball has metallic frames with the rest being made entirely of mana. On the outside of it, four wooden rings rotate around it. Each ring has green circuits etched into it, the same circuits as the walls. The air is thick with mana, making it hard with Krytheos to breathe.
"Welcome to the core of the entire Crusaders' base. This is what holds up the Crusaders' island, the barrier, and everything else here you could find. It's what makes this the incredible hideout it is," Satoshi says. Iori walks up to the control panel.
"Give me some of your blood so I can put it into the core's system," She says. She gives them both vials. Krytheos and Dai'chi both put their blood into their individual vials and gave them back to her. She puts one of the vials into the control panel. "Dai'chi, put your hand on the control panel right here," she points at a spot that has a handprint on it. Dai'chi walks up and puts his hand on the panel. He suddenly feels an immense pressure; mana rapidly gathers into his hand as the mana in his body begins to increase. A rigid C forms on his hand, symbolizing that he has officially joined the Crusaders. He steps back, feeling that all his stats have increased.
"I feel way more powerful than I was before, I think I also gained a few new skills than I had before," Dai'chi says. Iori nods, confirming that it has happened. Krytheos eagerly goes up next to join after learning that he could become more powerful. When he goes up to do it, he gets much more powerful before passing out. "He couldn't handle actually being powerful, it seems," Dai'chi says. Satoshi denies it.
"The only people who have actually gone through the process without passing out are Jesse and I, and that now includes you. Jesse said it's probably due to us being Mysterios and this being a Mysterio artifact, whatever that means," Satoshi says. They start heading up the stairs. As they do, Satoshi drags Krytheos behind them.
"The core is capable of doing many different things. It uses an old form of magic to constantly power itself. I have no idea how it was built; the knowledge of how to do that was lost way before the Mysterios came into existence. It's from back before the 5th Universe being was even alive, which is way too long ago, considering the 6th Universe being has existed the longest out of any of the previous ones," Jesse says.
"It's been that long?!? The current Reality has only been in existence for half of the 6th Universe beings' reign, and we can't even prove if anything existed before that. It has yet to be proven if multiple realities even exist," Dai'chi says, the only time he has been knowledgeable about anything.
"That's correct, most of the information we have was given to us by the 6th Universe being. The other three races on his level either don't speak about that information, or they are dead. The higher lifeforms also refuse to give any information, either," Jesse says. They get out of the basement. "That's enough about that now, it's time for you to collect that flower I asked you to, at the Scorched Kingdom."
*End Of Arc 1, Welcome to the Crusader*