Leveling up the World

Chapter 959: Approved Contender

Orange wings detached from Simon’s back, quickly transforming into Aquilequia. Given the sheer terror that she felt towards the archbishop, something extraordinary must have happened to have her agree to such a temporary alliance.

“Simon, you bastard.” Tendrils shot out of the void armor, piercing the archduke. Cascades of red rectangles appeared, leaving no doubt that his health was depleted. And still, he refused to let go of the weapon he was holding. “You foresaw this, didn’t you?”

“You always missed the finer details,” the archbishop noted.

“You used magic.”

“I didn’t have to. You never made sure I was dead.” Spark covered Simon’s entire body, burning through his clothes until even the human outline was gone. The void armor bubbled, as even the furthest void matter wasn’t able to withstand the intensity. Then, in one single moment, it all splattered into the air, desperately trying not to melt.

Only Jeremy was left. He didn’t seem threatening or majestic, just a normal person dressed in normal clothes. The blade of light that had pierced him had vanished, though the wound it had inflicted remained.

Now! Dallion reacted on instinct.

The struggle between him and the harpsisword quickly ended, as dozens of instances flew to the emperor and thrust the weapon into his chest.

TERMINAL STRIKE

Dealt damage is increased by 1000%

The definitive red rectangle emerged in each of the instances. Dallion wasn’t willing to risk it, though.

“Do it,” he ordered.

The harpsisword vibrated, causing tens more rectangles to appear. There was no point in it. Dallion could feel that the emperor had died. To avoid all suspicions, the body dissolved in a cloud of red and purple particles, which gently floated through the air.

JEREMY has left your party.

“Got you,” Dallion said.

The person described as the greatest threat in the world was gone. Sadly, the challenge was not over. Scattering his instances in all directions, Dallion briskly turned around, expecting an attack to follow. There was none. Not only that, but there was no world battlefield, either. Somehow, he found himself floating in an endlessness of air. There were no clouds, no ground, no entities other than himself and Astreza.

I told you I’d help you, Simon’s voice said. This was the only way…

“Simon?” Dallion looked about, yet there was no trace of the archbishop. Had he foreseen all this? Could it be that everything he’d done was for this exact outcome?

“Yes and no,” The Blue Moon said, once again proving that he could read Dallion’s thoughts even in the real world. “He took a chance on you. It was the outcome he thought most favorable, but he couldn’t guarantee you’d succeed.”

There was no joy in the Moon’s voice. There was no reproach, either. It was almost as if nothing that occurred so far concerned him.

“Was he really your follower?” Dallion asked.

His left hand tried to tighten his grip round the hilt of the harpsisword, when he suddenly realized that there was nothing there. All his weapons and armor had vanished, leaving him in a simple peasant outfit. He could feel the toughness of the fabric, smell the layers of sweat that had been soaked into it. At the same time, he was unable to feel any guardian.

“Yes, he was one of mine. The one who could have had what it takes, but chose not to use it. Instead, he decided to take the role of protecting the world in all the wrong ways.”

Dallion wouldn’t have described the archbishop as anything like that. He had to admit that he’d only known him for a sliver of the time the Moon had. There was no denying that despite believing the world to be a game, he had become more attached to it than anyone else. By the looks of it, that was the reason for his failure.

“So, what now?” Dallion asked. “I know I can’t defeat you.”

“You don’t have to. You’re the last member of your party. You already control the entire world. We’re just waiting for it to become official.”

PAN has left your party.

A new rectangle emerged.

“That’s why I don’t like magic.” Astreza crossed his arms. “Too many exceptions. Tiallia might take a bit longer. She was Galatea’s.”

No sooner had he said that than a second rectangle emerged.

TIALLIA has left your party.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Very funny,” the Blue Moon grumbled.

A massive Moon platinum gate appeared in the air, right next to Astreza. It was composed of two parts made entirely of solid bars that glowed with their own light.

APPROVED CONTENDER

The awakening gate has been unlocked. That’s all we can offer.

The blue rectangle of the achievement appeared. There were no points, no funny witticism, just a simple explanation of what Dallion already knew.

As Dallion kept on looking at the rectangle, the gates opened, revealing absolutely nothing new.

“Go on,” Astreza urged. “He doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

“He?” Even after everything, Dallion felt a shiver of excitement pass through his body. “I’m going to the Eight Moon?”

“No, just Galatea. And it won’t come as a surprise that he doesn’t like you much.”

“Galatea?” That was quite anticlimactic. “I guess you’re at the next gate?”

“No. You’ve already had your talk with me.”

The gate flew past Dallion, capturing him like a net would catch a butterfly. The strange thing was that nothing seemed to happen, or so it seemed. After a few moments, faint purple specks of dust became visible, floating through the endless blue. Looking closer, Dallion found that they weren’t dust, but minuscule spheres… spheres containing something within.

ETYBRA – Level 2

CASSANDRIA -Level 1

DINON -Level 1

Purple rectangles emerged above every speck containing only a name and a level. Concentrating, Dallion tried to use his aether vision to see more, but there was nothing.

Hello? He used his empathy trait, yet got no response.

“They’re worlds,” Galatea’s familiar voice said.

The Moon seemed less angry than Dallion thought he would be, taking on his nymph appearance. All his clothes were made out of liquid aether, making a set of robes that probably had gone out of fashion several eras ago. On his shoulder, Aether—the divine aetherbird familiar—stretched its wings.

“I didn’t expect you’d make it,” the Moon said in a dismissive tone. “Not Tiallia, either. She went overboard too many times.”

With a Moon like you, how wouldn’t she? Dallion thought, causing the aetherbird to chirp in laughter.

Galatea didn’t find it remotely amusing, yet continued, pretending as if nothing had happened.

“Anyway, you made it through the final gate, so you get to—”

“The final gate?” Dallion interrupted. “This is the sixth gate. There are seven Moons.” The moment he said it, he knew that he was wrong. “Eight. He quickly corrected himself. There are eight Moons.”

“Wrong,” the Purple Moon said flatly. “On so many counts. There were eight Moons, but never at once. When Devana summoned us, she ceased being a Moon. That moment, she became the world.”

“I saw the carvings in the dryad temples,” Dallion countered. “There were eight.”

“Seven Moons and one world.” Galatea reached in front of him.

A purple sphere—larger than the others—floated up, stopping between the Moon and Dallion. As large as a bowling ball, it glistened, covered by a layer of aether. It took less than a second for Dallion to recognize what it was—he himself had used maps to create a version of it during the war of conquest.

AWAKENING WORLD – LEVEL 3

“This world,” Galatea continued. “The shape, the rectangles, the rules that even we are bound by—that’s all that's left of the eight Moon.”

“The dryads were worshiping nature as a deity?” Dallion could barely believe it.

“On and off. For the most part, they just picked up a few things from the colossi—the initial rulers of the world. Felygn was overly generous with his trait back then, letting dryads talk to guardians more than they should. Between that and the titans’ remnants in the world, some of them managed to weave a new thread into their beliefs. Naturally, Simon took it upon himself to erase any such memory he could find.”

“But he couldn’t erase what was in the world items,” Dallion added.

Seven Moons orbiting the eight. It sounded too simple to be true, though at the same time it also felt right. Unlike the Seven worlds the races had been brought from, this was the place in which everything was possible. Only here could the current Moons manifest their powers, granting people with awakening powers, traits, and skills.

“And as for the awakening gates—” the Purple Moon cast a quick spell “—you went through it in order to get here.”

A small square box emerged in front of Dallion. Looking closely inside, he saw that it wasn’t a box, but a room—one without doors or windows in which the only thing was a blue rectangle with “YOU ARE LEVEL 1” written on it.

Dallion thought back to that moment, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t remember what happened moments before he had found himself in the room. He remembered most of his life on Earth, although the faces of people had faded away. It was only that sliver of time that he couldn’t account for.

“The first awakening gate is the toughest and the simplest. All you have to do is answer a single question. Do you want to enter this world?” The Moon flicked a finger, causing the sealed off room to disappear. “You said yes.”

“Just like Alice in Wonderland,” Dallion thought. He didn’t remember much of the book. Other than a few cartoon and movie adaptations, he couldn’t be bothered to read the thing, especially since it had been required for school.

In his mind, he recalculated the awakening gates. The first was at level one, the second at level five, then at ten, twenty, forty, eighty, and now this. It sounded a lot more logical, now that it had been explained. No doubt, the Moons had seen to it that everyone forgot that little detail. No. That sounded like something Simon would do. If every noble knew that world conquest was all that was needed to pass through the final gate, the wars would never end.

“Didn’t you see it strange that nearly no otherworlder had a desire to return to their world? You didn’t only agree to come here, you wanted to do so.”

“Jiroh wanted to go back.”

“Yeah, Dararr made a bit of a mess with her. Make your chosen follow the path of the traveler and she’d want to go to a place no one else could. She was the favorite to get here. If she hadn’t become obsessed with returning home, she’d have obtained the empathy trait from the world items your guild was exploring. She’d also have found that Aether was locked up in her sister.”

The aetherbird on the Moon’s shoulder chirped again. There was no doubt in Dallion’s mind that it would have offered to grant magic to anyone who’d free it.

“You arranged everything so she’d be the one, and she still found a way to tell you to fuck off.” Dallion cracked a bitter smile.

“We don’t arrange. We guide to what’s there. While there’s a slight difference depending on the person that makes it, it’s not that significant that we’d start fighting each other over it. Call it aesthetic differences. We might have various tastes, but we all want the best awakened there is. Everyone’s story starts differently, but as long as you fight your way through your inner demons, then prove through your actions and abilities that you’re the best person in the world, you get to take on the job.”

“I’m to become the new Blue Moon?” Silence followed, only broken by the aetherbird flying to Galatea’s other shoulder.

“No,” the Moon said after a brief pause. “You get to become the new Architect. It’s your job to level up the world.”