Chapter 68: [The Sleepless Sword]
As Arthur reached her, she lifted her hand and pressed it gently on top of his head.
During this, the tiny, translucent tentacle jumped from Arthur’s hair, scurrying away to escape into the vast hall.
Arthur felt a powerful wave of divine sense scan his entire being.
Immediately, he felt refreshed, as if the heavy fog that had been dulling his mind had been mercilessly culled.
As she pulled her hand back, she spoke.
[The Sleepless Sword]:
["I have eliminated the Void God’s influence. I must admit, this is my first time encountering one with such terrifying competence."]
Arthur gasped, "I don’t understand... how can something so powerful exist in my world?"
[The Sleepless Sword]:
["I am not sure either. It doesn’t look like it is suppressed much by the laws. With an entity like this at play, you will need to be extra careful until the Merger."]
Arthur clenched his fists. "Five more years..."
[The Sleepless Sword]:
["Everything about your world is a chaotic mess because of that God’s corpse in that Ice Region on your planet. How it managed to land there, even before the System had reached your dimension, is a mystery. It ended up polluting your world with its leaking aura, forcibly making the planet and its people mature early."]
Arthur was shocked; this was the first time he was hearing this. "A God?"
[The Sleepless Sword]:
["Yes, a God, and an powerful one at that; perhaps even stronger than myself. What it is, and exactly where it came from, remains a mystery."]
Arthur frowned. "Why is it not suppressed like you are?"
[The Sleepless Sword]:
["Since it was residing in your world long before the System arrived, the laws consider it a native resident, allowing it to remain unsuppressed. If a world already has a native God, the System does not suppress them."]
Arthur asked, "Is it a Cultivator?"
[The Sleepless Sword]:
["Everyone is a Cultivator in some way. But yes, those beings follow a different path which is separate from the System. In a way, I am a Cultivator too. I became a God by following the Evolution Path. Everyone in the cosmos technically has access to both paths. When you finally become a Demigod, I shall impart my own cultivation techniques to you as well."]
Arthur nodded in excitement.
[The Sleepless Sword]:
["You need to be incredibly careful. Others in the wider cosmos have been paying attention to your universe and your planet is one of their main focuses solely because of that mysterious corpse. I believe this Void God is after it as well. Also, regarding that Nightmare World Seed... I would strongly suggest you just leave it be."]
Arthur looked at her, shocked. "Why? Now that we know the Antarctic Region houses a God’s corpse, this Seed... is it not important? It could probably even be the core of that being’s Divine Realm!"
[The Sleepless Sword]:
["It is not the core of a Divine Realm."]
Arthur looked at her and waited patiently for an explanation.
[The Sleepless Sword]:
["It is not nearly as dangerous as you think. From what I have personally divined alongside a fellow comrade, we discovered it is not as special as you assume. And it is certainly not a ’Nightmare World Seed’, despite what the System arbitrarily named it."]
Arthur was stunned. "You mean the System was actually wrong?"
[The Sleepless Sword] chuckled softly.
["The System is not as almighty and infallible as mortals think it is. You should know that better than anyone, after all, one of your own subordinates managed to successfully block it from reaching those children in the facility."]
Arthur looked at her in shock. "Which kids? Which subordinate are you talking about? No one in my organization conducts experiments on children! I explicitly banned it years ago! What are you talking about?"
He bowed his head in confusion and growing panic.
[The Sleepless Sword] looked at him doubtfully.
["You truly don’t remember?"]
Arthur, utterly puzzled, asked, "Remember what?"
[The Sleepless Sword] leaned back on her stone throne and looked up in deep thought.
Since when?
Looking back down at him, her silver eyes narrowed.
["I am afraid you are in far more trouble than either of us thought."]
Arthur felt cold goosebumps erupt across his skin.
[The Sleepless Sword]:
["This Void God is not simple. If anything, its active threat is far worse than the dead God in the ice region. It has been manipulating your mind, and I completely missed it; I do not even know for how long. If I am right, this is not the first time you have encountered it, either. This is happening much sooner than I had planned, but it is fine. The Cosmos doesn’t revolve around me anyway."]
As she stood up, a blinding silver light erupted from her. Expanding rapidly, it enveloped Arthur first, then the vast hall, and finally washed over the entirety of her Divine Realm.
[The Sleepless Sword] then snapped her gaze toward a particular stone platform, locking onto the transparent tentacle trying to hide behind it.
["Found you, worm."]
A silver sword, sharp enough to cut the cosmos itself, materialized in her hand. With a single slash, the tentacle was instantly turned to dust.
Just before it completely disappeared, they heard a distorted voice echo through the hall:
[Zethe-thoth]: "wE shAll mEet soOn, [The One Who Refuses to Dream]."
In that exact moment, Arthur suddenly remembered everything.
All the horrifying memories that had been suppressed flooded his mind and he fell heavily to his knees.
He remembered what that underground facility and many others just like it; were actually being used for. He realized with dawning horror what his own organization had truly been doing all these years right under his nose.
He realized that he wasn’t the heroic savior protecting the world; he had been the one unknowingly dooming it all along.
[The Sleepless Sword] also realized the depth of the Void God’s influence.
["I see... it subtly tampered with my perception as well, making me selectively ignore all the atrocities it committed using you as a proxy. Child, do not despair. Use this revelation as a stepping stone. Go back and right your wrongs."]
Seeing him slowly calm his trembling breathing, she created a smooth stone chair behind him, silently urging him to sit.
[The Sleepless Sword]:
["Child, most other Gods choose their ’Chosen Ones’ extremely carefully and strictly for a purpose. But I chose you not because I wanted you to accomplish some grand goal for me. Simply put, I felt your genuine desire to protect your world; despite that very world taking away almost everything precious from you, leaving you with only your sister and your son."]
Hearing this, Arthur remembered his purpose and exactly why he had begun this grueling journey in the first place.
This time, he slowly raised his head and looked directly at her with resolve without flinching.
[The Sleepless Sword], pleased that he had recovered himself so quickly, nodded.
["I will now impart my personal cultivation manual to you. Not because I pity you, but because I believe you are finally ready to bear its immense burden. And I will also grant you a special safeguard, just in case something similar attempts to invade your mind in the future."]
But before she could begin the transmission, she added one final point so they wouldn’t get off track:
["You do not need to blindly pursue the Seed anymore. Despite its apparent hatred for humanity, it is not a true enemy. In time, it might probably even become a valuable ally."]
Arthur didn’t fully understand her cryptic words regarding the Seed, but he still nodded obediently.
...
Inside the Inheritance Ground
As Night walked across the vast plains, he stood in front of a lightning bolt symbol, recalling his earlier conversation with Stan, the student from the Champion City.
Stan had explained, "What you need to do is just get close to the symbol."
"Symbol?" Night had asked.
"This Alchemist Pot floating here is a symbol," Stan clarified.
He then leaned in and spoke in a hushed voice, as if whispering a grand secret. "It’s a physical representation of the Records of the original owner of the legacy."
"Really?" Night had said, intrigued.
Records can actually become physical? Night had thought in wonder. I thought they were just an elusive, metaphysical concept!
Stan had nodded heavily, looking as if he were relieved of a great hidden burden. "Yes."
"Night," Stan had continued seriously, "some people say you should only choose a legacy that perfectly matches the Aspect you already have. Others argue you should choose an element you don’t have to expand your overall capacity. Let me tell you... both of those theories are completely stupid."
Night had been amused watching this kid practically berating the accepted logic of probably every single student who had come here today.
"This place is a golden opportunity to actually choose your own path," Stan emphasized. "A path that you genuinely want, unlike the rigid ones forcibly pushed onto you by the System."
"Just look at what I have. My Class, my Aspect and literally everything I currently have are purely ’Berserker’ type abilities."
Stan had then grabbed Night tightly by the shoulders, as tears threatening to fall from his eyes.
"Do I look like someone who can become a raging Berserker to you?!"
Night had looked at his scrawny, thin frame and his polite, nervous personality...
"No...?" Night had answered, entirely unsure.
Didn’t Sara explicitly say you naturally get the type of Class and Aspect that matches who you are?
A person and their Records shouldn’t be fundamentally different... If we go by that logic, then Stan is currently in conflict with his own very nature!
Wait... where have I seen someone like that before???
Oh right. Me. Wasn’t I supposed to become some sort of Natural Calamity?
Stan smiled, seeing Night fall into deep contemplation.
Stepping back, Stan had looked at the Alchemist Pot with burning intensity.
A second later, he completely disappeared; probably transported into some sort of internal legacy test.
...
Back to the present:
Staring up at the lightning bolt symbol hovering in the air, Night simply could not decide whether he should actually try it or not.
He rubbed his chin, pondering deeply. Hmmm... to go, or not to go?
Technically, this Inheritance Ground wasn’t fatal and the rules stated he could try as many unique legacies as he wanted, once each.
Just as he finally made up his mind and took a confident step closer to it, another student was thrown out of the lightning symbol!
Night watched in horror as the charred kid hit the grass, twitching uncontrollably as blue sparks violently flashed all over his body.
When the agonizing twitching finally stopped, the boy’s body grossly melted directly into the ground and the lightning bolt symbol disappeared from the air above as well.
Staring blankly at the empty spot where the symbol had just been hovering and then at the scorch mark where the kid had just painfully melted into the earth,
Night thought of a very profound question:
Did he actually get the inheritance... or did he just die?
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