Of the five special locales hidden from public knowledge that exist within the outer between space, the Back Continents is the special locale known for its Hybrid Systems using the Tower System in its composition and as an alternative to the modes of transportation provided by the Babels, Breakwaters, World Bridges, and Hidden Cities. The components for the Hybrid Systems of the Back Continents will always include the Tower System along with the systems of the universe group it is attached to until potentially also the Restrictive, Grand, and World Systems. For the three earth universe groups, their systems are: Game, Psyche, Obscurus, and Planar for Earth I, Asset, Adventurer, Planar, and Grimoire for Earth II, and Halo, Reaper, Corruption, and Obscurus for Earth III. Due to the nature of the Back Continents, its Hybrid Systems usually follow the trend of connecting multiple places and possessing facsimile and or integrated in their typing.
Back Continent hubs are often peaceful places, serving as secretive economic and transport hubs for those in the know: this is because rather than having an abundance or niche of certain types of beings, it possesses an abundance of spatially-centric mana irreguralities. Those who frequent or are native to Back Continents often learn how to find and harness these mana irregularities to allow for between not only the worlds within the hub to worlds that the hub itself is connected to. Naturally the frequency, nature, and preferational locations of these spatially-centric mana irregularities differs from hub to hub.
The types of blackzones that originate from the Digital Realms are the danger zone, Dark Doors, that specializes in creating portals via the spatially-centric mana irregularity and the invasion zone, Trapdoors, that act as potential alternative entrances to their Back Continent hub. Both mono-climbers and delvers spread their time not only across Dark Doors and Traps but all other dungeon-like distortions that originate from the Back Continents, including hills of fantasy and divergent distortions on top of system lairs: this is because they all serve not only as sources of interesting materials and magical supplies but valuable routes to move across the metaverse with.
Those who specialize in interacting with the Back Continents and using it’s Hybrid Systems are called mono-climbers, the same designation for those who specialize in the Tower System itself and the special locales of Babels and Breakwaters. As for the proxy devices used to interact with the Back Continents are called SOP, service opening pylons, and using them is called tower boarding. Although the SOPs needed for the Back Continents need to be specially modified to work compared to the basic counterparts needed for the Babels and Breakwaters.
Amongst the Back Continent hubs of the cyber universe group is Mercury-Gardenia, a series of ten secluded worlds of high schools, colleges, and graduate schools where people can relive their glory days and expect the negativity of everyday life. While each of the ten worlds know of each other and the rest of the metaverse and the Aligning, the amount of knowledge and magic is irregular across them with some fields of knowledge and magic being on par with pre-Aligning Earth worlds while others are excelled beyond what is experienced and known by the metaverse’s public populace. And while not apparent on first glance, the ten worlds of Mercury-Gardenia are simulated worlds, meaning they are completely overlapped by another layer of reality beyond the prime physical layer of reality.
This overlapping is what creates the two distinct halves of Mercury-Gardenia: the blissful ignorant stimulated world where a vast majority of the populace lives and the real world that exists of as a largely barren waste dotted by giant towers that host to protect the majority of real bodies, both natives and visitors alike. All dungeon-like distortions are influenced by this, having their areas if not a Phase or sublayer be split between the two layers of reality that make up the Back Continent. Naturally there are portals between the two layers of reality, but they are obscured from public knowledge by the hub’s Hybrid System of Flowers. While the simulated side is where a majority of everyday life takes place, the real world side is important for those in the know cause it is where a majority of spatially-centric mana irregularities are located along with the Babels, Breakwaters, and Hidden Cities are primarily located, serving as locations for clusters of portals between the two layers of reality.
Due to the interference of the Hybrid System of Flowers, the nations of Mercury-Gardenia are largely peaceful ones with wars being uncommon to the point that even small time skirmishes are considered irregular. This influence also expands to the monsters, magical beasts, spirits, and entities, having them to be more benign and less frequent than in most other places in the metaverse. For the matters of heralds, ends of days, avatars of monster gods, and other incredibly high tier threats that scour the metaverse, they are often dealt by the mages of the Babels, Breakwaters, World Bridges, and Hidden Cities: this is due to the fact the influence of the Hybrid System of Flowers is weaker within the modes of transportation provided by the outer between space, especially the secret ones, causing for a larger percent of population to be considered awakens and not just lifers. There are four type of people with Mercury-Gardenia: lifers, the people born there; visitors, the people who occasionally come there; ignorants, people the Hybrid System of Flowers fully dragged into the Back Continent hub and who are brainwashed to not realize the fact; and awakens, people who are either born there or trapped there but aware of the Hybrid System of Flower’s influence and above it.
The Hybrid System that is tied to Mercury-Gardenia is the Hybrid System of Flowers, a facsimile-account-regional-integrated-and-bound-type system that is made from the Game, Tower, and World Systems. The Hybrid System of Flowers revolves around the use of flowers that protrude from the stimulated bodies provided by the system and the conjuration and magics they provide. Due to its nature of inducing ‘blissful ignorance,’ information about skills along with their levels and skill trees are hidden and need to be discovered by trial and error with a large portion of the system being locked behind the need of having to empower the connection of system slots in use for the system multiple times to expand access to a person’s account. Another large portion of the system is tied to the use of specialized facsimiles that can be made due to its facsimile typing along with the use of derivative hybrid systems that will link up to Hybrid System of Flowers itself due to its integrated typing.
The primary danger of the Hybrid System of Flowers, and by extension Mercury-Gardenia, is its ability to brainwash both the mind and soul of those who are not prepared to deal with the system’s influence. Those who are fully brainwashed may end up completely trapped by the system, with their real body being dragged into the Back Continent hub and placed within one of the many towers that dot its real word side. Breaking away from the influence of the Hybrid System of Flowers is not an easy task, as the best way to do so is through the system itself: something that the brainwashing dissuades lifers, visitors, ignorants from doing to live peaceful lives.
Those who do make use of the system for the purpose of magic will find that the amount of flowers a person can have at a time is limited to two flowers, three adnorments, and four boutonnieres and corsages, each requiring a connection or empowerment to gain instead gaining through experience and leveling up skills. Access to account is not provided until the first empowerment to a connection, with each further empowerment granting further access to an account as the maximum weight is increased. As for access to the derivative hybrid system, they are not provided until the second empowerment with each empowerment after potentially allowing access to a single new derivative hybrid system.
Despite it’s dangerous nature, the Hybrid System of Flowers is still considered a valuable system to learn to make use of. With conjurations being based off of the symbolism of flowers they come from and skills being derived from that along with the whims and wants of the user, the system boasts a surprising amount of flexibility and potential for unique styles of spellcraft. The inclusion of many derivative hybrid systems serves to bolster this fact, turning Mercury-Gardenia into a useful location for developing oneself as a delver, mono-climber, and or mage.
But in the end, Mercury-Gardenia is not a place born out of a desire for action, growth, and the acquisition of power, with the options only existing because that is the underlying nature of the metaverse and its wills and their magics. This Back Continent is a place for the broken and self-loathing, allowing them to experience a peaceful happy fulfilling life away from their actual lives and its woes, insecurities, and other faults. It is because of this that its respective connectivity material, Idios-Koinos Blossoms, is abundant and possesses a great variety to match the surplus of derivative hybrid systems but also not as needed due to the fact the hub produces its own connectivity to a degree. For those wishing to escape and live a double life, regardless of whether or not they want to become stronger or higher tier, Mercury-Gardenia is often considered paradise for those who find it or drawn to it due to the influence of the Hybrid System of Flowers.
