Dancing on the golden ashes

The moment the battle ended, the world around me quieted. My soul finally felt whole—a strange sensation. I had grown so used to the fragmented feeling, but now, everything was back in place. I felt the soul energy around me swirl and dance, bending and bowing to me as if acknowledging my dominance. It was as if I had become one with the world, enveloped in its energy, and it was magnificent. It felt... right.

"Hahaha! Congratulations, Gaon." The eerie voice slithered into my thoughts once again, but now, after everything I had endured, its words didn't have the same weight. "You are now extremely close to the level where we can challenge the world itself!"

The voice's usual unsettling tone was there, but this time, I wasn't so sure I bought its excuses. It spoke of the heavens, how they would destroy us if they sensed our power. But after everything that had happened, it was hard to fully believe that now. Still, I didn't force it. Maybe it was better this way—better not to rely on others.

Yeah... I replied flatly, my emotions a mere whisper in the void. Whatever it said, it didn't matter. I was beyond its games now.

"Why? Are you not happy that you have grown so strong? Also, just so you know, your lifespan has increased to fifty thousand years. But I believe you won't need to use it all up just to advance to the next stage. Haha. Well, you need to rush and reach the level of the Immortal Emperor. Though it would take someone over a million years to reach that level, you can do it faster because you have the power of the system. It's like a cheat for you."

Are you kidding me? How in the world am I supposed to reach it in the next five hundred years? Reaching the Soul Fusion stage took me over one hundred years...

"There is not much left. You're now in the Soul Fusion stage. Next will be the Eternity stage, then Immortal, Immortal King, and finally Immortal Emperor stages. See? It's not that difficult. And just so you know, that dead friend of yours, the Goddess of Fire, was at the Immortal Emperor stage and still lost her world. So, not only will you need to reach that stage, but you'll also need to find a way to surpass her strength and escape the system. Otherwise, the one you hate the most will eat you alive. One mistake, and you'll fall under his control. I can't reveal all of the secrets just yet, but you'll slowly learn everything as you grow stronger."

Why? Why can't you tell me anything? And how the hell do you know all of this? I screamed inside my mind, frustration boiling over.

"Sorry, I can't tell you. You wouldn't be able to handle the truth with your current mental state. Just grow stronger. I need to rest. I will see you later."

And just like that, the eerie voice vanished, slipping somewhere deep inside my body. It had this annoying habit of appearing out of nowhere, dropping some bombshell of information on me, and then disappearing before I could process any of it. It was maddening. I wanted answers, but the more I demanded them, the more it kept its secrets.

I clenched my fists, trying to hold onto the fragment of control I had left. This was too much. It had been a constant stream of cryptic messages and half-truths, and I was starting to lose patience. But what could I do? The voice had made it clear: I had to grow stronger. And I had no choice but to do exactly that.

Now, I was alone once again. I looked around, and the entire place lay in ruins, plunged into destruction. Electricity still crackled in the air, an invisible energy lingering, buzzing like a warning. If someone were to step into this place right now, they would be zapped by the raw power still hanging in the atmosphere. It would be too much for any normal person to handle—most likely, they'd die on the spot. The power was beyond anything I had ever imagined, and I could barely believe it was mine.

To be honest, I had never expected anything like this to exist in this world. This power... I never thought I would reach it. Yet here I was, standing in the aftermath of a battle, a being of unimaginable strength. It was hard to even comprehend. I could feel the weight of it, the power thrumming beneath my skin, and it was... overwhelming. Enjoy new tales from My Virtual Library Empire

I couldn't help but laugh at the thought. To think that I could now be considered something like a superhero-level fighter, straight out of the movies. Maybe even stronger. The fantasy had become reality. I no longer needed video games or imagined worlds to see myself fighting in this fantasy realm. I was living it. And now, the lines between what was real and what was fantasy had blurred beyond recognition. Here, in this world, anything was possible. Everything was real.

The fantasy had lost its meaning, because I was no longer just dreaming of these battles, no, I was fighting them in real time.

I had no idea where I had to go now. Once again, it was time for me to blindly hunt the beasts, but it would most likely take a long time. So, I focused. I could feel that I was extremely close to the world right now, and I wanted to test something out. I landed on the ground in the middle of the destroyed city, which was now nothing more than dust and ashes. Sitting cross-legged, I tried to connect with the world, to see if I could feel what it feels.

It was a crazy idea, but somehow, I felt that it was possible. It was hard to explain, but I could sense it in the fused soul inside of me, this strange, undeniable connection.