Merchant Of Yliaster

Herman opened his eyes on his platform, looking around him in a daze. The world flickered around him, and he could see that his threads were reforming in real time around him. It was as if his being was reformed from scratch, yet he knew that he was not just a mere copy.

He furrowed his eyebrows as he felt a deep sense of wrongness. He tried to remember what happened. The process of resurrection didn't feel instant to him, but he couldn't remember what was in between. As he tried, all he could summon was a penetrating green light and a strange sense of welcoming.

He shook his head, trying to get his bearings. He glanced at his rival thoughtfully. The man was standing as he always did, looking completely unperturbed after the fight. Herman was naive enough to think that his attack reached the man, as he could feel in the clash that he had lost.

He looked down at his system panel and found a new notification, letting him know that he got a new title. Whenever he got one of these, he could feel a slight change in the threads, making his whole being go up, and his eyes widened to feel that this title had the greatest effect so far.

Title Acquired "Delver Of Green Depths"

Delver of Green Depths:

Your being cannot comprehend what it was subjected to, but it is forever changed by the green depths of a plane so close, yet so far away.

May the light of curiosity shine in your mind till eternity.

Herman couldn't understand what the title was about, but he could at least see the connection between the "green" in the title and the dominant color of the skills belonging to the man he had fought just now.

Maybe exposure to his skills did something to me? He found the idea a bit unlikely, but it was possible. Still, he also couldn't ignore his memories of the strange period between his death and resurrection. Well, calling them memories would be an overstatement, but there was still something in his mind, and it was definitely green.

So, it was something after my death? Herman touched his chin in thought. In a mere hour, this encounter gave him more to think about than his whole life. Before this, while it was beautiful, life had been pretty simple. He could do everything without putting much effort, and after the initiation, his skills made everything trivial. He found this new reality much more interesting.

Voice of the Federation President pulled him out of his thoughts, and he focused on the still professional-looking man. He smiled to see his expression much more controlled now.

After appearing on the platform, Maxwell first checked Herman to see if the man was okay after the strange trade. He was pretty sure that the system wouldn't fuck anything up, but there was nothing wrong with being sure.

To his relief, the man seemed okay, but he couldn't help but feel that there was something wrong with the man. There was a change, but he couldn't pinpoint it. He summoned the previous image of the man in his mind, his soul making the task trivial, and he examined the two images carefully to see if there was anything different.

Soon, he could see the problem. Why does his soul look so bright? Seeing it through all the energy was quite difficult, but Maxwell was pretty sure that the soul of the man was considerably brighter compared to before. Energy-wise, his body was absolutely the same, but he looked like he was much stronger in the aspect of the soul. He still felt that there was something more to this, but Polaris' voice interrupted his thoughts.

The man was in the arena now, and the platforms slowly closed in on him. There was a trace of caution in the man's demeanor that wasn't there before, and Maxwell found it expectable. Seeing was believing after all, and the man would obviously change after seeing the power of the anomalies. This is only the start, he thought.

He could clearly see that the power gap would only widen as they leveled up. Soon, he wouldn't be surprised to see unquestionable hegemonies spawn under powerful individuals. Of course, that was only true until someone powerful enough appeared to challenge them. The world would change, but Maxwell found the change a bit meaningless.

The medium changes, yet power remains the same. This certainly leaves much less space for risks, though, he thought. No dictator would be taken down by his weak level ten citizens, but a couple of strong enough citizens would be enough. Still, as long as they were careful, it would be much harder to take down people like gang leaders from now on. It was understandable that Polaris would be much more careful after seeing their powers.

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"For all the nobles of our federation, I'm truly astonished by your power. Especially the strongest four had been a sight to behold, and this only makes me happier about the path we have chosen. The ranking will be decided by the system, as there won't be any further matches to decide the middle rank," the man spoke, and gave them some time to digest his words.

Maxwell could see that some people were quite unhappy about there being no matches to adjust the rankings, but he didn't think that the system would be unfair. Ella and the martial artist, for example, both were in third place, but the system would place one of them in fourth place automatically. Maxwell expected that there was a way to change the rankings in the future, so he doubted that this would be a big problem. Soon enough, his theory was proven by the words he heard.

"Ehem, yes, I can see that you are not happy about that, but that's how the system works. You will be relieved to hear what I will say now, though. From now on, everyone here will have an extra window in their system interface, and you will be able to see nobility rankings from there. With this interface, anyone can challenge the ranks above them, and the winner will be decided in a space similar to this." Polaris spoke, his tone sounding like he was advertising a product.

As he spoke, a window popped into Maxwell's vision, and a list was unfolded before him. He couldn't really care about the extended list, but he still checked the top spots. Logically, he and Herman occupied the first and second spots respectively, but he was surprised to see the Martial artist in the third spot.

When he thought about it, though, he could see the reasoning behind it. The man definitely put up a fight against Herman, while Ella couldn't even begin to harm Maxwell. He figured the list would change a lot in the following days.

"As you see, all of you have your respective ranks from now on. Your nobility title will be given by the system, and it will change with time according to your reputation in the Federation. Officially, though, we call the title "Primach". You are free to use it as you fit, as this will be common knowledge soon enough. As you might have guessed, there will be ways to challenge your positions. Through the system, citizens of the federation will be able to issue challenges to the lowest-ranking Primarch, and their challenge will be accepted if the system deems them worthy," Polaris said, dropping an important piece of information.

So the last spot is just a miserable existence. Maxwell thought. He could also see that placing a particularly powerful person in the last spot would greatly limit this function, but it would be quite a petty move to do something like that. He was pretty sure that the system would come up with a different way to remove them from their spot.

He still couldn't see his title, so he figured he would get it when he was back in the real world. The title "Primarch" was a bit too flashy for his tastes, but everything about the system seemed to be a bit like that. He just hoped that people wouldn't call him a ridiculous name in the following days, changing his nickname. He could also see a great opportunity here. If he could make his nobility title include the word "Merchant" he would be able to advertise himself without effort.

People seemed to be satisfied with the system's arrangement, apart from the particularly uninteresting fighter who was now the last one on the nobility rankings. Maxwell was sure that the guy would be removed in a day or two at most.

"With this, phase one will come to an end. Now that I'm done with the part I'm given by the system, I can speak about a few things involving our future," Polaris said, his voice getting more serious, losing its formal edge. The change wasn't missed by anyone, and it made everyone focus on the man.

"The nobility system doesn't have a reliable messaging function, and this will be the last time for a while that I can address you this easily. I will be brief, but there are things to address. Firstly, there is the most important subject, which is initiation itself. I'm sorry to say that we know nothing about the nature of this event. We know nothing about the system, its intentions, or the path it is planning to set for us. Our knowledge is extremely limited, and we know only a handful of truths about the greater multiverse," the man said.

Maxwell found himself quite curious as he listened to the man. It was interesting to hear that the federation was not warned before the initiation. He could tell from his mental waves that Polaris was not lying. It was also apparent from the fractured state of the federation that they were not warned beforehand. He focused back on the president as he continued his speech.

"These truths say a few things, and none of them are quite encouraging. Firstly, we are not as special as we believed, as we now know that countless universes are being initiated every millennium, making our universe similar to a particle of sand in a desert. According to our information, power levels change from universe to universe, and the rifts in our universe are the only way to access different universes. This makes them useless when it comes to travelling in the same universe, but they could be immensely useful in the future if we ever plan to expand. I implore you to mark any rifts with considerable power levels so that we can use them in the future." Polaris said, but even he didn't seem to believe that the federation would be able to get much out of the rifts they found.

Hoarding was in the nature of the human race, and it would be no different when it came to these nobles. People would make the rifts exclusive to their people without considering any alternative, and the federation couldn't really do much about this without creating a big conflict.

"Lastly, I will say something concerning religion. Federation is a multicultural civilization, and we have many religions scattered throughout our sectors. While the biggest ones are numbered in single digits, there are an incredible number when we account for them all. Normally, this wouldn't be a big problem, but we know something that makes things much more complicated. Through our intelligence network, it didn't take long for us to realize that Gods, at least to some capacity, are real. While this can create a lot of problems, though, a more immediate problem is present, too. While some gods are real to a degree we are not yet sure of, the others are simply myths. They don't exist, and their priests are powerless. This will mean that there will be a great cultural shift in the following years, and you all should be careful in your worlds to not be caught unawares," Polaris said.

Maxwell scrunched his face hearing this subject. He couldn't begin to imagine how much of a problem this would cause. Collectively losing your purpose in life wouldn't impact civilizations well, and Maxwell doubted that they would take it very well. There would be wars over this.

"Presently, that's all. Now, you will return to your original positions. I wish all of you Primarchs good luck in your endavours."