As Kaden walked through the now very quiet corridors of the Shelter 03, he found the feeling rather strange. At that time the shelter was not yet a remnant. As far as Kaden could tell, the great remnant was enormous in size with its spatial distortions and all that. Yet, it should have originated from the Shelter 03 which size was much smaller without the distortions.

Yet, structurally Kaden could simply follow the paths he had taken back in its future form. Whatever happened to the place once it started to transform into a remnant and eventually what would be called a great remnant, did somehow not change its shape even if it seemed to be larger and seemed to have more places in it.

Kaden stopped wondering about the matter. It was a great remnant, logic wouldn't work.

Some familiar things did exist, though. Now that Kaden wandered past the now abandoned residences of people who had lived on the higher levels, but had apparently disapeared, he ran into a familiar ... thing.

In the dark corridors Kaden started to feel creeping terror. He was able to push it aside and before he could even start looking for its source, he noticed a skeletal shadow float towards him quietly.

"They did say this creature already existed", Kaden though to himself.

It was clearly weaker and could not cause any problems to Kaden. He recalled the ancients saying it didn't even attack anyone, but one would feel terror near it. If it had been any other situation, Kaden might have chosen to destroy the offending creature as it stopped next to him and quietly stared. It then continued forward leaving Kaden behind. Still, he didn't wish to alter time any more than he had to.

"Perhaps it is some concept of deaths of all the people that disapeared", Kaden continued his thoughts. "Over time it will collect more of this death concept and become immensely powerful. Now it is just a wandering shade that radiates terror of death."

Kaden continued towards the emergency path as he had planned. As he was doing so, he pondered the matter of the creature a bit more. How did the shelter become a remnant? It wasn't stale yet, but the creature already existed? Such things usually were only found in remnants or areas with unusual amount of mana.

Why did the shelter eventually become a great remnant? Was there something special about it that it was already showing remnant like effects that allowed such things as the skeletal creature to exist? Or was it perhaps the time distortion? Still, even a time distortion like that could likely only be found inside remnants, a great remnant that is.

"I'm betting the cataclysm supports their existence", Kaden determined eventually. "By the time it ends, this place can already be called a remnant. The time distortion likely will be collecting enormous amount of mana, since it doesn't seem to have closed even by my time. That theory could explain things."

Around this time Kaden was at the doorway to the emergency path. The doorway was easy to open. The emergency codes still worked. Kaden wondered about that too. The system that was used was already in place, it seemed and it didn't care where or, in this case, when the codes came from.

"Perhaps I should ask, if these people surviving in the shelter have a connection to other shelters", Kaden muttered.

Kaden was also curious about how the cataclysm had started and proceeded. Either these shelters existed just in case for a long time or the ancients had a lot of time to build them even with the cataclysm going on. He had always felt the cataclysm had come upon the ancients quickly, but there was a reason now to believe it wasn't very fast. It wasn't some single cataclysmic mistake that the ancients had done somehow. Was it even their fault at all? That they had done it was just something the churches were telling people. Kaden would not be surprised, if it was a convenient lie.

Kaden stopped ascending the stairs. Mana was getting extremely dense and he wasn't yet even out. He had noticed it before already, but mana felt different. Now that it was present in such dense manner, Kaden could clearly and easily notice the difference that was even much larger than he had originally felt.

He frowned a bit, but continued upwards. Even if the mana levels increased, he would still be able to survive. It wasn't even stale mana like remnants. It was the complete opposite! It was fresh. No impurities. Completely pure!

Even if the effects that such situation caused were similar to remnants, the cause was near opposite.

Closer to surface, Kaden could basically feel the mana almost boil. It bubbled up from wherever mana came from. It came in its all myriad variaties. All kinds of mana was freely present, yet chaotically, as it came and then other replaced it as more appeared.

Kaden stopped to experiment a bit and cultivate.

"My mana system can take in this pure mana, but it feels like it leaves some part of it out", Kaden mumbled to himself.

Something was different. Very different. The mana system worked. He even felt that it wasn't any less efficient. It just left something out this time. Something he had not noticed in the future. Was there something in this mana that no longer existed in the future?

Having completed his preliminary experiment, Kaden continued upwards once more and eventually reached the top. It was a room with some thick looking walls with a metal door that seemed like it could be opened manually. At least from the inside. The Shelter 03 was, as its name sugested, a shelter. Not a military bunker or anything. That it had such entrances and exits didn't surprise Kaden.

Kaden worked the manual mechanism on the door and pulled it open. Beyond it there was a long tunnel, where air was a bit fresher. At the end of the tunnel Kaden found another such doorway and opened it in a similar manner. Was this what ancients called sealing entrances? It wouldn't stop anything even slightly stronger.

Then he stepped outside, but stayed just in front of the doorway. The sight was unusual at the very least.

Sky was shifting with colors. Sometimes these colors coalesced together and a similarly colored lightning burst out from it. Enormous mana storm. Kaden didn't want to be hit by those lightnings since they were no lightning at all, but extremely concentrate chaotic mana.

As Kaden looked at the distance, the space seemed to bend and vibrate. Colors shifted in similar manner. Bubbles of mana floated about. Some of them likely mana creatures. Strange sounds came from all directions.

If one didn't count the potential mana creatures, Kaden observed no living things.

"Considering everything else, I'm willing to believe this is indeed the cataclysm", Kaden determined as he sat down just inside the door where there was slightly bit greater shelter, but he still could see outside from the open door. "This seems far greater than the mana storms described to usually exist around the great remnant so I doubt I'm mistaking this. Not to mention the mana..."

Kaden attempted to cultivate again, this time he planned to do so for longer and determine the difference he had noted.

"Yet, all that would only be extra benefit!" Kaden thought to himself and even had a slight grin. "This mana is so pure! I can easily advance here regardless of some missing part. In fact, I want to try using my current mana and replace it with this mana and have myself a completely pure mana resevoir. I wonder if it will affect my core somehow?"

Kaden could only imagine what kind of benefit there would be to having completely pure mana! At the very least he expected extremely high efficiency. The mana seemed very easy to control.

"This is completely unused mana, untainted by anything", Kaden continued. "Some concept will be left behind when mana is used, an echo. The fact, the idea, the concept, that someone did something with it must exist. Not that someone like me could find and look at it, but perhaps an Archmagus or even a True Magus could follow these and attempt to gather together some fate or other obscure mana. This mana has no such things. It has never mixed with other mana. It has never been used to cast a spell. It is pure... perhaps one could even say primordial."

Then it hit Kaden.

"Neither have the gods touched it", he suddenly realized. "There is no godly influence in it! They haven't appeared yet and extended their areas of influence across the world!"

Kaden's heart was beating hard.

"Is this the mana that existed before they laid their hands on it?" he continued. "Perhaps that is the difference. I already was able to circumvent that effect with my special body and my personal mana system, but perhaps there is extra layer behind their effect that is hidden behind gods influence?"

A moment of silence.

"True mana!" Kaden said outloud. "I must determine, if its simply gone or is it merely hidden! I want to adjust my mana system to count that part of the mana in too!"

After a while Kaden noticed some problems, though. Not exactly related to the difference had had noticed, but in the cultivation.

"While I can cultivate in this mana, it seems there is some problem in doing so", Kaden thought as he carefully inspected himself. He was well experienced in the matters of mana system and how mana should be used and he could see something. "It seems its too pure. My body and internal formation has been built for the future type mana. Its like adding a catalyst into some reaction. I might lose control of it."

Kaden pondered on the matter for a while.

"I believe I can still advance", he decided. "I'll purify myself and remove any taint and impurities that have accumulated over time. I'll then advance to the peak of Formation and High Beast stages. There is so much free mana here that I can easily fill my core too. Then there is a problem. I dare not advance to Condensation stage or Lower Cari. It might cause problems to have myself be molded for mana like this, if I'm to return back to my time. I cannot even say how this situation affects going from Formation stage to Condensation not to mention undergoing an evolution."

He was still sure that going to the limits of what he dared to do would still carry great benefits far into the future.

He was going to complete that and observe the mana while doing so. Hopefully by then he would have enough understanding to determine what exactly was the difference. It source was most likely the godly influence, but he wanted to see what it was.

This was mana theory that no one in the future would be able to study! At least on his level. There was no telling what, say, a True Magus would be able to sense from mana.

Hopefully, if returning was possible, by that time he would have been able to discover some benefits or at least incorporate that into his understanding of mana and its true nature. Even that, by itself, was enormous benefit. The better you understood mana, the better you could use it.