Chapter 49 (2 of 2) The Mother Dragon, The Primeval Sea of Life – The Primal Dragoness Tiamat. (Patreon)

The peaks of the last trial rose into the sky, and accompanying them were the roars of two battling beasts. One was a gargantuan tiger with fur the colour of solid metal, his face twisted into a ferocious scar. His hide was marked by numerous bleeding wounds, pieces of glass-like shards still sticking out of some.

The beast opposite him was an immense serpent with scales that gleamed a brilliant silver. One large pair of pale golden wings with razor-edged feathers spread out behind him, with a smaller pair just below those and a further smaller pair below those sprouting from his back as well. Silver horns that formed a crown shaped like a downward arrow sat on top of his head, a crest of white-gold feathers behind those as well. His entire body was covered in a glistening psychedelic sheen with all the colours of the rainbow.

Scytale thought he looked pretty dashing with his illusion aura.

But the only possible admirer he had around him was the old fart currently attempting to slash his marvellous scales, and he doubted the Iron-Fur Jungle Tiger King was willing to give him an unbiased opinion of his looks.

Still, you couldn’t succeed if you never tried in the first place, right?

“Hey, how do you think I look right now? Am I shiny? Do I look awesome?”

The Tiger King responded by roaring and charging forward to try to grip his body in his jaws. Well, that was a complete failure. Clearly, the Iron-Fur Jungle Tiger King didn’t have Scytale’s ability to appreciate cool scales. It seemed they would never be able to reconcile.

Not that Scytale wanted to reconcile when his entire purpose of attacking the beast was to kill him.

The earth continued rumbling and dislodged half of a mountain near them, causing a landslide to head towards the two of them. Scytale decided to use his racial advantage for the first time: his wings.

Spreading them wide he launched himself into the air. With each flap, he soared higher and let out a woot of excitement. Scytale swooped and dived, enjoying himself for a bit.

Then he sucked in a breath as a fifty-ton tiger jumped into the air and nearly grabbed him. The Tiger King landed on a smaller mountain on the other side and growled at him. Scytale decided it was probably time to forget about enjoying his ability to fly for now. It was a shame that he probably wouldn’t recall the experience well after the stage. At least it wouldn’t be long until he could fly with his real body.

With a cry, six orbs of brilliant golden mana formed around him and shot beams of light towards the Iron-Fur Jungle Tiger King. The tiger dodged most of them but hissed when one caught him, burning through his armour of metallic mana. Scytale flew higher to avoid the rain of metal bullet look-a-likes sent his way by the tiger.

The Tiger King pounced from mountain to mountain, crossing the deep chasms to try to grab Scytale out of the air. Metal blades manifested out of mid-air and shot past Scytale’s body, aptly twisting and dodging around the sharp projectiles. When there was a lull in the attacks as the Tiger King recovered his strength, Scytale bared his fangs and dived towards the tiger.

The Iron-Fur Jungle Tiger King leapt high into the air to avoid Scytale’s strike and roared as he angled his body to increase his speed and plummet back down. Scytale’s eyes widened and he rolled to the side as the Tiger King pulverised the rock where his head had just been, leaving a crater.

Scytale attempted to flap his wings to get some distance from the Tiger King, but the ferocious beast roared and bit down on his wings, ignoring the gashes formed within his mouth from the feathers. Scytale hissed and fresh blood from the Tiger King’s mouth dripped down his feathers, but the tiger refused to let go.

Scytale wrapped his body around the Tiger King’s waist, and the beast roared as Scytale’s coils squeezed him. The Tiger King let go of Scytale’s wings and the two of them rolled down the side of the mountain, biting and clawing at each other the entire way as the Tiger King tried to escape Scytale’s coils while Scytale squeezed tighter. The edges of his feathers raked across the Tiger King’s metallic fur, creating sparks.

It was when they were close to the bottom of the valley between two mountains that Scytale finally let the Tiger King go free, causing the beast to crash into the stone wall. He soared back into the sky and flew away, planning on saving his mana for a big attack.

The Tiger King shook his head to remove the stone dust from his fur and bounded after Scytale, his powerful limbs aiding his journey through the moving mountain range. Scytale tried to fly near him again at one stage, aiming to sink his fangs into the beast’s neck, but a swipe of the Tiger King’s claw shattered the top half of a mountain and sent boulders flying into the air. Scytale tucked his wings close to his body as he dived, letting his instincts as a winged beast descendant help him navigate the treacherous airspace.

The ground below him drew closer with each second as he picked up speed, moving further away from the massive rocks falling above him, but closer to crashing into the ground. The distance between him and the group rapidly decreased, going from 200 metres, to 250 metres, 150 metres, 100 metres, 80 metres…

At the 70 metre mark he snapped his wings open and released his light mana in one powerful burst, shooting him forward like a rocket. The stones caught in the wake of the supersonic shockwave shattered into dust instantaneously.

Scytale once again let out a woot from the effects of the adrenaline rush, overjoyed at the strength he was feeling. Supersonic flight was something he had experienced as the World-Ender, but after being confined to his young body for so long… it was exhilarating, to be freed.

But he had a task to complete, and a beast to kill. With his mana-enhanced speed only being temporary, he shot directly skyward and then did a large loop to arrive behind the Iron-Fur Jungle Tiger King, whose reaction speed was much slower than Scytale’s. Increasing his speed, Scytale opened his jaws wide and slammed into the Tiger King, his speed carrying them both past multiple mountains before crashing them into the side of one. The Tiger King roared as blood welled from the wounds left by Scytale’s fangs, and thrashed and twisted below him, but Scytale refused to let go of the beast’s neck.

As their struggle continued, a malicious idea snuck into Scytale’s mind that he couldn’t ignore, like it was some irritating bug that wouldn’t leave until squished. A small part of him was screaming out that it was a bad, bad idea, but that small part of him seemed to be pulling on memories he didn’t have access to yet, so he ignored it in favour of the immature side of him that wanted to make the Tiger King suffer more.

Using his illusion mana to mimic the metal element, he manifested a large metal spike in the air. Wanting to see the reaction of the Tiger King when the beast died from an attack of his own element, Scytale let go of the tiger’s neck and launched the spike straight at the Tiger King’s chest, a lethal strike that was sure to slay him on the spot.

He watched gleefully as the metal spike approached its target… and then froze as it shattered into smithereens against the Tiger King’s fur. There was a second of tense silence between both parties before the Tiger King snarled and lunged at Scytale.

Scytale inwardly panicked as he dived to dodge the strike.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why did that memory have to return after I nearly died because of it?!

Scytale belatedly remembered Lucy’s firm warning that he had received when he met his bond for the second time, over 80 years after their first bond, to never, ever use the illusion copy of an element against its true version. The reason for that was… compared to the real version, the illusion version was pretty crappy.

He praised himself on his smooth execution of a barrel roll to avoid the Tiger King once more, then returned to his thoughts about his memories.

… if I have other memories like that, then it’s probably best if I take Lucy’s words about fixing my soul seriously. I don’t want something like that to happen in the real world.

His thoughts were interrupted when the mountain directly in front of him began rumbling loudly, with a sound much louder than the constant rolling of the peaks and mountains around them. Scytale hesitated for a moment, worried about what was going to happen.

Then the entire mountain burst into a downpour of bright red lava, shooting out plumes of toxic pitch-black ash. Instantly, Scytale turned away and flew towards the opposite direction, the Tiger King following close behind as he leapt from mountain to mountain to escape the wave of heat.

Then the mountains on either side of him shuddered with the same force, and Scytale’s eyes widened as they also exploded into a shower of molten rock. He shot through the valley, trying to keep up his speed as mountain after mountain exploded behind him. He twisted his body into many positions just to avoid letting the lava land on him, and he could feel the few drops that had landed on him burning through his scales. The Iron-Fur Jungle Tiger King was having far fewer issues, his metallic fur providing him some protection against the fiery forces.

The end of the valley curved around a corner, so he took a sharp right to avoid crashing into the mountain at the end, but the mountain next to him suddenly exploded with a force greater than what he had seen before. He hastily rolled out the way but winced as a large splatter of lava landed on his largest two right wings, burning some of his feathers.

He abruptly slowed down as his damaged wings couldn’t keep up with his flying speed, and his flying became unsteady. The Tiger King below him jumped straight through the lava, completely unharmed.

Defeating the Tiger King wasn’t the issue anymore. It was being able to escape the exploding mountains that was the problem. He quickly glanced about, looking for somewhere that wouldn’t be affected by whatever force was ruining the mountains around him. A flat plateau that rose far above the rest of the mountains drew his eye, and it appeared unaffected by the volcanic action. Flying high above the mountains, he made his way over, ignoring the narrowed gaze of the Tiger King below.

He finally landed on the plateau, catching his breath as he watched the scene of the destroyed region, a chaotic mess of disasters. The volcanic activity of the 5th stage, the flooding of the 7thstage, the storm of the 8th stage… all of it was occurring at the same time. He even spotted mountains covered in freezing ice near the edges of the region, facing more disasters of different kinds. Any remaining jungle had been turned to ashes by the lava, or destroyed by the landslides, floods, avalanches, and other forces ongoing. Not a soul was in sight.

He used the moment of peace to check his conditions and winced. The speed boost he had used wouldn’t be able to be repeated with his wings in the current state they were in, and his mana was under half of his total mana pool. The metal spike he had used against the Tiger King had consumed around 25% of his resources due to the high cost illusion had when mimicking another element, and had been all for nothing. Luckily his injuries were still minor, and the break between Stage 9 and Stage 10 had allowed all his resources to be refreshed and his injuries to be healed. But now, he either had to go out there and find the Iron-Fur Jungle Tiger King again, or wait until something happened that would force them to fight, which was typical of the System to do.

But apparently, neither the System nor Scytale had to do anything. Scytale flinched as he heard the heavy sounds of breathing behind him, and he saw the Tiger King pulling himself over the edge of the plateau, having climbed up the flat-topped mountain to get to Scytale.

Neither of them spoke, just staring at each other silently, their bodies tensed in preparation for a fight. It continued like that for at least a minute before Scytale decided to break the silence.

“So…I’m kinda new to the region, and I’ve been wondering…” he began. “Are things like exploding mountains and massive floods normal around this place? Because if so, I might need to pack up my things and move out pronto.”

The dull look he got from the Iron-Fur Jungle Tiger King revealed his attempt at livening up the atmosphere hadn’t been appreciated. And if there was one single mantra Scytale always kept in his heart, it was that someone who didn’t vibe with his humour was usually an enemy.

Unless of course, they appreciated his jokes but still wanted to kill him anyway. Then Scytale would promise to remember them once they kicked the bucket.

He didn’t waste any more words and bared his fangs at the Tiger King, striking forward. The Tiger King growled and charged forward, batting Scytale’s head aside as he slashed at his silver scales.

They traded blows, Scytale shielding himself from the worst of the attacks with his wings while trying to bite the Tiger King whenever possible. He conserved his mana as much as he could to heal the worst wounds on his body over time, keeping him at his best physical capability if not magical capability.

The battle escalated in danger when the plateau they were on began to rumble as well. Scytale increased the ferocity of his attacks, throwing in a few limited fire-illusion fireballs as well as several bolts of light to throw the Tiger King off guard. While the Tiger King’s ultimate goal may have been to survive the disaster, Scytale didn’t need to survive Stage 10. As long as he killed the Tiger King, he could put up with any wounds.

So with a practically suicidal intensity, Scytale threw everything he had at the Tiger King, hoping as the plateau they were on began to collapse that the Tiger King would make a fatal mistake. The Tiger King was taken aback by Scytale’s sudden change in attitude and retreated back a few steps to create distance between him and the silver serpent. Then he hesitated as his back claws felt the rough edges of stone dropping off into nothing.

The plateau was crumbling, slowly decreasing in size as the edges of the rock gained cracks and slid down the cliff faces of the flat-topped mountain. Behind the Tiger King, there was… nothing. Nothing but a several kilometre deep chasm that was so dark nothing could be seen of its end.

Scytale took advantage of the Tiger King’s hesitation to strike, lashing out with his fangs to gouge two deep lines across the beast’s chest. The Iron-Fur Jungle Tiger King roared and reflexively jumped back, momentarily forgetting about the endless drop behind him. The Tiger King’s eyes widened and he panicked as he felt his back claws slipping. He scrambled desperately and managed to cling onto the edge of the plateau with only his two front claws, Scytale looking over the edge down at him.

Scytale didn’t do anything for a second before a wicked grin formed on his serpentine face.

“Hey.”

The Tiger King looked up, only to see Scytale’s tail positioned above the edge of the cliff, ready to slam down on his claws.

“Long live the king.”

Scytale struck, and the cliff edge shattered. The Iron-Fur Jungle Tiger King howled as he fell, descending into the bottomless abyss below.

Scytale waited patiently for the notification.

[Sub-Objective Complete:

Remove all remaining contenders]

[Completion Rate: +10%]

[New! Completion Rate: 100%]

[Main Objective Complete. Transferring User…]

Scytale tensed, ready to see the white space of the System appear before his eyes again… but it didn’t come.

He stared, confused, as notifications cascaded down his sight.

[Transfer cancelled.]

[Alert: Stage 10 has been modified for the purposes of studying User Scytale’s qualities. Analysing User Scytale’s Stage 10 results…]

[Hidden Requirement: Achieve 100% Completion Rate on first attempt of Stage 10. Status: Complete]

[Hidden Requirements for the modification of User Scytale’s Stage 10 have been satisfied. Playing the simulation’s modified ending scene…]

Modified ending scene? But Stage 10 has no ending scene. What is it on abou- woah, woah, woah! What’s going on?!?

Scytale flapped his wings futilely as his body suddenly began to levitate without his control. Beginning slowly, the speed at which he rose slowly increased, taking him high above the region.

He kept flapping his wings, trying to do something, but all it did was make his body slowly rotate, giving him a dizzying view of the region below.

Hey! I didn’t come to the Beast Realm expecting zero gravity, you know! That’s the Cosmic Realm’s thing!

The System was deaf to cries. Eventually, he sighed wearily and stopped struggling as he gave up trying to escape whatever metaphysical hold the System had on him. He watched the region below as he slowly rotated in space, feeling bored as time went by.

I suppose I’ll keep looking at the region or whatever. It’s the only thing around here to look at, so I guess something is going to happen.

He was somewhat curious, however. No User had ever seen what lay outside the stage region, so he might be the first.

But nothing happened. He mentally counted to five minutes, with his estimate being that he had already been levitating for half an hour or longer, but gave up counting further due to it being too boring. He groaned as he kept spinning.

Hey, look, System, my buddy. This is the most mind-numbingly boring thing to look at. The Beast Realm is literally just a random patchwork of strangely colourful regions, so could you show me something more interesting?

He rolled his eyes as the silence continued.

Figures. So, all I’m left with here is looking at the existential horror-inducing view of an endless realm. Ugh… it hurts my brain to look at it. At least planets are nice, easy-to-understand, spherical objects.

Then something attracted his attention.

What’s that on the outer fringes of the realm? It’s almost forming a shape… wait a second…

He stared as he kept floating up. Tracing the strange way the horizon dipped and curved in places, it was beginning to look like Beast Realm of the stage wasn’t the endlessly flat piece of land he thought it was.

… hm? Now that I think about it… has Lucy ever told me what time period of the Beast Realm the first ten stages are supposed to be based on?

He always thought it was some time just before the System’s assimilation, but if it was even earlier… possibly way earlier…

His heart beat faster as a terrifying idea came to mind, and he tried to perceive as much of the Beast Realm as possible. As he rose higher into the air, more of the shape became recognisable, and he realised the Beast Realm from a distance looked like a sleeping creature or beast… or in fact, a sleeping dragon.

He stopped breathing for a second, then gulped.

Oh… that… that is terrifying. So that’s what it looked like before the… severing. This is the first time I’ve seen the main body of one of them. I’ve only ever fought incarnations.

But… why is the System showing me this? Is it because of this ‘studying’ thing the notifications mentioned? But it has my memories already. Shouldn’t it know what I know?

A notification sounded, making Scytale flinch.

[Main Objective Complete. Transferring User…]

So… it’s done. I don’t know what to think about this. I guess I’ll discuss this with Lucy. I’m sure she’ll be interested to know the era the System made the Beast Realm’s stages replicate.

And as his body was whisked away into white light, the scene of one of the most powerful primal beasts sleeping peacefully was seared into his mind.

______________________________________________________________________________

[Welcome to the S.T.A.G.E.S!]

Available S.T.A.G.E.S (Beast Realm):

Completion Rate: 90%

Stage 1: Entry into the Deep Greenwood Region (UNLOCKED)(COMPLETED)

Stage 2: The Search for Sustenance (UNLOCKED)(COMPLETED)

Stage 3: Tools of Survival (UNLOCKED)(COMPLETED)

Stage 4: Ascending from Prey to Predator (UNLOCKED)(COMPLETED)

Stage 5: The Trial of Fire (UNLOCKED)(COMPLETED)

Stage 6: The Trial of Darkness (UNLOCKED)(COMPLETED)

Stage 7: The Trial of Water (UNLOCKED)(COMPLETED)

Stage 8: The Trial of Wind (UNLOCKED)(COMPLETED)

Stage 9: The Trial of Light (UNLOCKED)(COMPLETED)

Stage 10: The Trial of Earth (UNLOCKED)(INCOMPLETE)

[Please complete Stage 10 to complete the quest]

Lucille held her breath as she waited to see if the notification would come up. She heard a sound.

[Sub-Objective Complete:

Remove all remaining contenders]

[Completion Rate: +10%]

[New! Completion Rate: 100%]

[Main Objective Complete]

She smiled, breathing a sigh of relief. Her plan was successful. All she needed to do was make sure there was one single Supreme Ruler of the Region by the end of the stages.

And that Supreme Ruler didn’t necessarily need to be her.

With the Black Vine Serpent King becoming the Supreme Ruler after the final contender, Lucy, was removed, she had completed all the stages.

[Calculating…]

[Calculating…]

[User has completed all Sub-Objectives and gained a MAX Completion Rate]

[User has gained new rewards! Please check your notifications]

[Main Quest (Rank 1: Beast Realm): COMPLETED]

Complete Stages 1-10 In the Beast Realm to reach Rank-1.

[Rewards: Rank-1 Status, Lvl cap increased to 199, Main skill slot +1, Class Tier cap +3, Aspect cap +3, Class Tier +1, 1000xp, Main Quest (Rank-2: Demon Realm) Unlocked]

[User has gained Rank-1 Status]

[User has unlocked levels 11-199]

[User has gained Main Skill Slot +1]

[User has gained Class Tier Cap +3]

[User has gained Aspect Cap +3]

[User has gained Class Tier +3]

[Alert: No Class detected for User Lucille Goldcroft]

[Withholding Reward: Class Tier +3 until Class is detected in User Lucille Goldcroft]

[+1000 xp]

[Level Up!]

[+1 level]

[+5 Free stat points]

[Level Up!]

[+1 level]

[+5 Free stat points]

[Level Up!]

[+1 level]

[+5 Free stat points]

[Level Up!]

[+1 level]

[+5 Free stat points]

[Level Up!]

[+1 level]

[+5 Free stat points]

[Level Up!]

[+1 level]

[+5 Free stat points]

[Level Up!]

[+1 level]

[+5 Free stat points]

[User has reached Level 17]

[Xp: 96/140]

[Main Quest (Rank-2: Demon Realm) Unlocked]

She sighed as she saw the influx of free stat points she’d never be able to use, but didn’t let it ruin her mood. She stretched and prepared to finally see how the System was going to fix her Origin Skill. She opened her rewards list.

[User has new rewards (6) available: ]

Tutorial (Completion Rate: MAX):

- Unattributed Stat Potions (+5) x10

- Unattributed Stat Potions (+10) x7

- Resurrection x1

- Blank Skill book (Epic) x1

- Blank Skill Book (Rare) x3

- 1 Crystalline Token

Bonus:

- Pseudo-Realm Core x1

[ ]

… there were many things she had to take in. She glanced at the single bonus reward she had received instead of Origin Skill primers but decided to deal with the others first so she could give all her attention to the last reward once she was done.

She received 17 stat point potions. The same number as her Level. It seemed the System was willing to give her enough stat points to be on an even playing field with anyone else of her own Level, and possibly even slightly better, as she would have the stats of a Level 17 User with an Ancient class, although that could be explained by the stat potion rewards normal Users obtained at the end of the Stages. She didn’t expect to be given the same treatment every time she completed the main quests, but it was helpful, so she wasn’t complaining about it in the slightest.

Six months had gone by since the Tutorial and she hadn’t died yet, so neither her infinite nor limited resurrections were particularly useful right now, but her not dying was a good thing. As she participated in combat more frequently over the next few years her chances of dying would increase, and even one single resurrection was one chance more than most people on Earth would receive. If she died, she’s drop a Rank and lose a hundred levels. Even if she wasn’t high levelled now, she didn’t want to go through needless effort.

Skill books would be particularly helpful to her right now. She planned to go with Scytale to the Obelisk and finally get their new main skills after he had received his human form, so with her new main skill slot, she was anticipating how powerful she’d be able to make her next main skill.

The crystalline token… she ignored it completely to focus on the final reward.

Selecting ‘Pseudo-Realm Core’ on the screen, the space around her vibrated in some way, before she felt an object form in her presence. She drew her attention to the melon-sized orb floating in front of her.

The glowing orb was white with a centre of sky-blue, slowly pulsating as it hovered in mid-air. Lucy studied it curiously. It seemed… that this ‘Pseudo-Realm Core’ was a System item.

Not an authentic dimension core or… whatever a ‘realm core’ was, considering Lucy knew for certain that realms didn’t have cores. Neither did natural dimensions. It was only dimensions made from plane sources that had cores. And the colour of the orb was completely off for a dimension core anyway. Those didn’t have white or sky-blue in their colour spectrum.

Did that mean that this ‘Pseudo-Realm Core’ was something that could make an artificial realm? There was only one way to find out.

Taking a deep breath, Lucy reached forward to touch the glowing sphere. Her hand slipped past the immaterial white light to brush the sky-blue centre, feeling as if she was touching a cloud. The light was sucked into her hand, and at first, nothing happened.

Then she fell to her knees and clasped her hands to her knees as her head began to ring non-stop, pounding like it was filled with a million drums. Her vision seemed to turn completely white as the sound of static filled her ears, crackling and sending shivers down her spine.

Her cold, unreactive empty Origin Skill, sitting between her lungs, began to be filled with faint white light that slowly grew brighter, sitting amongst three other small motes of light – one large one that contained a miniature look-a-like of her Alter-Ego’s Origin Skill, the second largest one, appearing like a blood-red flashing light filled with coiling black demonic script, and the smallest, a tiny speck that flickered between different colours at random intervals. The three motes of light slowly gravitated around the largest sphere.

The white light in her Origin Skill gained a brilliant intensity and completely filled her Origin Skill as Lucille felt something within her body had fundamentally changed, making her feel… whole, in a way she had only felt when she had first received her old Origin Skill. But she still somehow felt… restricted and inexplicably chained to something beyond her understanding.

The white System space around her seemed to be unusually bright on this day, and a strange atmosphere filled the place.

She weakly stood up as her Origin Skill sheet suddenly opened up by itself without her will. But what was written on it was not her skill description.

[Origin Skill: ------- | Type: System/----

Desc:

There’s a lot I’d like to discuss with you, but I have my Authorizer for that, so I’ll just keep it relevant here. If you formed your Origin Skill without any of my interference, it would kill you. You’d die from the amount of information you’d have to compute to retain access to this layer of the spiritual realm. Therefore, my solution is this: The System will give you this advanced version of your Origin Skill for you to use until you’re capable of using your original one. Then it will take it away.

Your Origin Skill is useful to the System, so it wants to record all of the skill data. The impact of taking this skill away from you will be hardly noticeable. You can’t possibly utilise this current skill to even its lowest possible potential in the first place, so it won’t cause you any problems.

But depending on what you use this System skill for, you may end up retaining full authority over this layer of the realm. I’ll be watching you carefully, Lucille Goldcroft. Don’t make any mistakes.

- P. S. C.

Subskills:

- Null

- Null

- Null

Awakening: Null ]

… what?

She stared at the skill description but before she could attempt anything, it flickered once more. Her Status suddenly appeared.

[Status: ]

Name: Lucille Goldcroft (Lvl. 1̴̛̟͛͗͆̒́̈̾͑̉͐̚͝͝7̵̡͖̲̰͓͓͇͗͂̏̆͜)

Age: 18y

Race: Human

HP: 1350/1350 {+1/5m}

MP: 100/100 {+1/5m}

Stats:

Free Stat Points: 115

STR: &̸̧̨̖̦̩̖̥̪̅͑7̵̛͍̂̅̽̐̽́̄͠2̸̧̱̲͓̭̎̎̀̀̔̔ SPRT: 7000

CON: _̷͕̫̦̟̖͓̳͈͊̌̋̏͋̍̀͋̃2̸̣̼͗͒̕&̵̢̛͚̘̖͎̣̰̗͊̀̓̎̈́̊́̉̏̅7̴̡̢̻͇͎̼̦̈́ (25) MENT:65

AGI: *̴̦̺̫̳̼̳́̍̈́̆̃̈́̀̔̈́͋̚͝2̶̢̼̬͖̰̭͕̬̥́̄̊̓̓̃̚)̸̛̩̩̃͂̑̀̀̒̓͗̈9̶̪͎̬̤̦̹̟̒͛͊͋͊́́̋͌̏̓͑̕̚ CHAR: 5̶̡̛̼͇̪̩͈̝͉͍̮̠̏͜^̷̨̢̣̰̖̟̮̘͇̀̎̎̎͐̀̀̆͗̇̋͝͠7̶̨̼͍́̈́̽̈́̄̎͆̈́͊̂̽̒̊͝ͅ

DEX: 1̶̛̹͕̬͇̰͖͍́͋̿̋̇̉̄́̉̏͒͛̒̉̈́́́̀́̈́̄̚͘͝ͅ5̷̨̟͕̫̙̖̼̣̯͙̯͇͖̻̦̣̙̼͔̟̩̝̻̘̇͗͆̽͒̀́̿̈́͜!̵̛͍̥̯̙̲̀̒̾̀̌̋̐͑̕͘̚͝͠͠͠3̶̧̢̣͉͙͚̣̝̪̮͍͇̣̮̪̮͈̭̖̳̈́̏͂̉̓͋̌̆̆ (5) CHP: -̴̨͓͔̗̥̤̞̗̠̜͇̦͈̖́̀̂́͐̈́̇́̑̀̎́̉͌̈́̓̉̕͘͠

INT: 3̶̹͇̏̈́̄̄̒͛@̵̳͚̣̀̌̓͋͌̏͒̚2̴̧̬̜̦̤̞͔͊͒̃̌̅̕ͅ9̶̛̣̗̬̱̜̿̀̀̐ HRP: -̴̨͓͔̗̥̤̞̗́̀̂́͐̈́̇́̑̀̎́̉͌̈́̓̉̕͘͠

WIS: N̵̛̙͖̄̉̓̋́̋̅̌̄̔̓͊͋̀͐̿̌̂̐̋͘̚3̴̡̡̡̛͎̠̹̖̰̥̳̘͇̯̾̄̇͊̾̍͛͗͊͑̈́̀̀̚̚͘͠͠$̷̨͚̰̖̜̥̝͈̲̥̆̀̀̐͊̑̎̎̈́̀̅͗̕͘̕͜ͅͅ8̸͕̗̯̫͕͕̪̠̓̾

[Origin Skill: Simulacrum Realm | Type: System/Spiritual/Realm

Desc: [Collapsed]

Subskills: [Collapsed]

Awakening: 100%. ]

Skills:

Primary Skills:

[Alter-Ego]

Secondary Skills:

[Mark of the Primordial Demon ]

[Energy Anomaly Automated Indication ]

I… don’t…

She stared at her Status, but ultimately decided that the message she had seen earlier could be thought about further at a later date. Because her new Origin Skill had an incredibly fascinating name.

[Origin Skill: Simulacrum Realm | Type: System/Spiritual/Realm

Desc: The spiritual realm is omnipresent, invisible, and intangible. It exists in all realms but is a realm in itself. Those versed in the art of soul manipulation have their consciousnesses reside on the first layer of this realm. Those who manipulate concepts can see and mould the second layer of the realm. You are the first to see the third layer of the realm. And you are the first to influence the third layer of the realm. This skill grants you private access to your own zone of the Spiritual Realm, completely subject to your whims.

Subskills:

- Omnipresent Soul Framework

- Artificial Realm Control

- Simulation

Awakening: 100% ]

Lucy skimmed the skill description but remained expressionless as she tapped her fingers against her arm. She shook her head and opened the individual subskill descriptions to see what her new abilities actually were.

[Sub-skill: Omnipresent Soul Framework | Type: Soul/Realm ]

Desc: All souls interact with the spiritual realm. All souls receive from and send information into the spiritual realm through their thoughts. This skill allows the User to register souls with the Simulacrum Realm’s Soul Framework, so they can enter the Simulacrum Realm as well.

Abilities:

Spiritual Reality – Consciousness immersion.

- Gives the members of the Soul Framework the ability to immerse their consciousnesses partially or fully into the Simulacrum Realm. Doing so will allow them to experience the artificial sensations and visuals of the Simulacrum Realm, seeing the Layer of Imagination and its imaginary structures.

Spiritual Network – Overlapping webs of thought.

- Gives the User the ability to register souls with the Soul Framework through contact with the User’s spiritual energy.

- Allows members of the Soul Framework to register other souls with the Soul Framework, with permission from the User. This is completed by artificially recreating the User’s spiritual signature and transferring it to the new soul through contact with the Soul Framework member’s spiritual energy.

[ ]

[Sub-skill: Artificial Realm Control | Type: Authority/Realm ]

Desc: Mana may affect natural laws with more ease than spiritual energy, but it is spiritual energy that forms the soul and controls the energy of the material realms. With a deeper understanding of this phenomenon, the borders between imaginary and real are blurred. This skill allows the User to use this principle and extend their control over the imaginary and reality from just the Simulacrum Realm to the members of the Soul Framework.

Abilities:

Total Realm Mastery – Operator Permissions for the Realm.

- Grants the User Complete Authority over all structures, materials, laws, and phenomena within the Simulacrum Realm. User can mentally control the Realm to form their mental images and commands. The quantity of spiritual power of the User amplifies this ability.

Physical Realm Projection –  Seeing is believing.

- Gives the User the ability to project their imaginary creations into the physical realms, allowing the viewers to perceive both imaginary structures and the physical realm they are located in. Imaginary creations currently cannot influence the physical realms.

[ ]

[Sub-skill: Simulation | Type: Spiritual/Realm ]

Desc: The souls of all are connected to the spiritual realm, and the spiritual realm retains all information. Through the use of this skill, the User can recreate the operations and mechanics of reality based on the collective perspectives of all connected to the spiritual realm. But if you want to create your own logic for the Simulacrum Realm… the choice is up to you.

Ability:

Macrocosmic Emulator – Simulation of reality.

- Gives the User the ability to create imaginary renditions of structures, materials, physical laws, magical principles, and natural phenomena in the Layer of Imagination. Creations will stay unchanged in the layer until the User uses this skill to erase or manipulate them. The User’s imagination is their only limitation.

[ ]

It was clear that her new Origin Skill had taken inspiration from the Manifestor’s Cuboid Energy Matrix. That last subskill was without a doubt a direct upgrade to her existing ‘Simulator’ subskill. But the implications of the System strengthening the skill for her to use made her… apprehensive. And she was struggling to work out what exactly this new skill meant for her. The System suggested that this skill was highly important somehow, but she didn’t quite…

One single line of a subskill attracted her attention and all her thoughts froze. She closed the other two subskills and brought the first subskill in front of her.

[Sub-skill: Omnipresent Soul Framework | Type: Soul/Realm ]

Desc: All souls interact with the spiritual realm. All souls receive from and send information into the spiritual realm through their thoughts. This skill allows the User to register souls with the Simulacrum Realm’s Soul Framework, so they can enter the Simulacrum Realm as well.

Abilities:

Spiritual Reality – Consciousness immersion.

- Gives the members of the Soul Framework the ability to immerse their consciousnesses partially or fully into the Simulacrum Realm. Doing so will allow them to experience the artificial sensations and visuals of the Simulacrum Realm, seeing the Layer of Imagination and its imaginary structures.

Spiritual Network – Overlapping webs of thought.

- Gives the User the ability to register souls with the Soul Framework through contact with the User’s spiritual energy.

- Allows members of the Soul Framework to register other souls with the Soul Framework, with permission from the User. This is completed by artificially recreating the User’s spiritual signature and transferring it to the new soul through contact with the Soul Framework member’s spiritual energy.

[ ]

Contact… with my spiritual energy? And this skill works using the spiritual realm?

She read it. And reread it. Then hesitantly, she rifled through her soul to locate all the people, items and objects that had come in contact with her spiritual energy.

Then Lucille laughed. She laughed and laughed.

The Hero of Light hadn’t ruined Earth just because he had made the mistake of trusting the Supreme Institutions. He had willingly gone to the Supreme Institutions, lured by their promises of fame, fortune and strength, and sacrificed Earth’s freedom for it. That sickening man had always pretended to be regretful for the destruction of Earth, acting like he had been unaware that his actions would lead to it becoming the wasteland that it had and manipulating himself into believing he was innocent, but Lucy knew every single reason why Earth was ruined that day.

And she knew how many billions of people died because of the Hero’s greed.

The Hero of Light desired fame and favour from people. He wanted to be Earth’s Hero. It was one of the single desires that the Hero would sacrifice nearly anything to achieve. Just so he would stop being the pathetic, poor, invisible young man in a random apartment in the United States to the man who was the saviour of Earth in the new age of the System, the most prosperous era of scientific and magical advancement.

Lucy now had a way of taking that very thing from him. No, she wouldn’t steal his position. She was no hero.

But she could let Earth save itself and prove to Conlan Griffin that he was as useless to Earth… as he had been before he received his status of ‘Hero of Light’.