NOVEL NEXT Lorebook ch.0 Theon
It's been some time in this new world... Aaand pause here. I was unable to tell how long. Days? Weeks? Months? I simply didn't know. According to Amber, it had been a few days. A few days... It's hard to believe her since so much has happened already. I lost track of time and I can't trust myself anymore. I have only her and I would like to trust her, but itssss... complicated. Let's try one more time.
A few days ago, I was sent here with the vaguely described mission of saving this world. A mission I consented to. It was more like a deal I accepted with an angel and a local deity or whatever he wanted to be called. I agreed to be sent to this world in exchange for allowing my former family to go to heaven. I wasn't sure what the catch was since the angel hadn't mentioned anything like: 'You will never go to heaven' or anything. So... I died in my previous life. I have a few but not all of the memories of my previous self. Everything I remembered was related to my previous life but little to nothing about my family. I had a broad knowledge of various topics, especially things connected with warfare and technology, especially military and double-use technology. I don't know how to feel about it, to be honest. It was strange since neither mentioned anything about losing my memories but, to give them the benefit of my doubts, I didn't ask either. However, I still remembered that my wife was alive, living with the family of... With... Our son? Or daughter? I... God, damn it...
Why can't I remember?!
My thoughts were racing and it was hard for me to focus on one damn thing. Even now, I had to focus on slowing down the flow of time. Otherwise, it was just slipping between my fingers... Maybe even those strange memory losses were nothing more than me growing accustomed to my new body. After all, I was not a Human anymore but a Dungeon Core. That thought, along with the simple fact that I died, allowed me to, somehow, move forward without clinging to a, hopefully temporarily, lost past. The issue was that everything changed instantly without giving me the time I didn't realise I needed. The thing was... I was now something that wasn't exactly associated with living beings. At least in the world of my memories. A dungeon. I had no idea how to feel about it but, so far, not counting the lost memories and that strange flow of time, it wasn't that bad...
No. No... Stop.
I would have been lost in this new world if not for Amber. She saved me and it was not an exaggeration. Her presence calmed the avalanche of my thoughts and only while near her did I feel that time slowed down. Again, it was not the figurative speech of a kid in love but something more literal. She was my anchor and she helped me understand my new world but, also, near her, I perceived the time differently. She... She was important and special to me. No matter whether I was ready for that kind of relationship, yet. But, I must give her justice and admit that it was she who inspired many of my decisions while building my castle. She was my only reliable source of knowledge of this world and, sometimes, I wondered if she was some kind of a guide that isekai'ed protagonists usually met at the beginning of their journey. I deeply respected her and liked her. I hadn't cared much about the system and, supposedly, the fact she was my wife. Together, we decided to give ourselves more time to come to terms with our new reality. I also promised her that if she ever changed her mind I would try to undo the system thing.
In the meantime, she was my queen and my only friend. Have I fallen for her? No, at least not yet. She drastically changed during the last few days. She was healthier, better fed, and much happier. Her appearance changed as well and, sometimes, it was hard for me to take my eyes off her. The worst part was that she enjoyed it. She respected the decision to give us time but she wasn't going to make it easy for me. She had already, a few times actually, blatantly admitted that she teased me. God... Give me strength.
There were other people in my domain as well.
Yes... There had been other people coming and going but I didn't exactly have any feelings for them. The slaves I saved were the people I felt sorry for. But... They were just faces that happened to have names. The former slaves needed food and shelter, things I could give them without any problem and without any harm to me. So I did just that. But... These people wanted to stay. They called me their King and... And that complicated things. Somewhere along the way I started to recognize them. But the others that entered my domain? Dungeon? Whatever. They were just faces. I really hope no one expects me to care about everyone. As far as I was concerned and from what Amber told me, it was already a benefit that I wasn't actively trying to kill them. Well, while I might be selfish, I am not an unhinged murderer. So killing the people just because I could was something I deeply detested. But... I wasn't so naive to say that I wasn't going to kill anyone. However, for that, it was already too late. Slavers and mercenaries died, killed by my single order.
And I wasn't sorry for that.
Anyway... A dungeon. I experimented with the entire setup and let the new people in the lower castle do their thing. I wanted them to... Hmmm. What exactly? I guess the best way to describe what I wanted was for them to just do their thing. The very concept of professional monster hunting was so surreal that I had a hard time accepting it. On the logical level, it wasn't that strange since demand creates supply. If the world was full of monsters, it was only natural for paid service to remove them. But, on an emotional level, it was like watching a fantasy film or playing a RPG game. I accepted it but it will still take time to get used to everything. As long as people are not interfering with me, I won't make their lives harder. I would like to tell everyone to 'live and let others live' but... I'm not sure if that's even possible. This fantasy world is nothing like the world I left. The evidence of a daily struggle is visible in the scars of everyone I have met. Even children have scars...
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
It was depressing to hear their stories, to watch them show me grisly proof carved into their flesh. Hunger, cruelty, malice, and simple mundane indifference ruled the world. The little people couldn't afford to help others because it could mean their own death in the long run. Nobles cared more about their status and coffers, treating everyone below themselves as slaves. That last part was even more shocking to me than anything else. Slavery. The common people of this kingdom had it hard but slaves had it even worse. Once the slave shackles closed around someone's neck they had to follow the will of their masters. They lived horrible and often short lives while everyone else closed their eyes, powerless to change anything. But the indifference and suffocating despair pushed people into a stupor and helpless obedience.
Sigh... This world was so strange and, I had to finally admit, I was woefully unprepared. Without Amber, I would be like a child in the darkness. There were so many things that I didn't understand. The World System, the world itself, the people that inhabited it, magic, and this world's common sense... I knew I should learn about these things but the time just slipped away. With each day, more people learnt about my existence and I had to prepare myself to not be another victim, mellowed or controlled by some cruel master. But... Time and time again, as I opened my eyes in the morning, I suddenly found myself at the evening, and I could only do so much... Especially during these early days, I felt it even more, since I was mostly tinkering with my Dungeon in my build mode. I created places where people could delve and find items, fight and rest, and, before I noticed, time flew by. But, each time I almost drowned in the stream of passing events, it was Amber who called me back. Sometimes I fear that, without her, something bad would happen. I started to suspect that the World System was something more than just an interface. But since I couldn't put my finger on what exactly was wrong with it, I gave up and focused on other things.
Since I was sent to save this world, logic dictated it needed to be saved from something. Yes, this was the point where I should have been angry at myself for not asking this very important question. Like, "Hey, Eriar, is there some particular bad guy that needs to be 'un-alived' to save this world?" or an even simpler question: "How am I supposed to save this world?" yeah... I'm not angry at myself anymore, however, I'm disappointed with myself... What bothered me was the fact that I felt observed. I fear there were other forces at play that worked against everyone or, possibly, just me. I couldn't tell what they were doing or if they were doing anything at all but that unease remained. What was worse, I didn't know what to do about them. I could only wait. Whether they were hostile or not, I couldn't track them and I slowly tried to get used to that presence.
But I wasn't going to wait idly. If I was going to be a king, I needed an army to protect my kingdom. The monsters under my command... Calling them monsters was unfair... They were my denizens, creatures in my service. So, my denizens were going to be my army. I still had no idea of what course of action would be the best and I hesitated to just declare war on everyone. I know too little about this world, its political dependencies and, most importantly, the majority of people. But I knew I couldn't risk being overwhelmed by the enemies I had no idea existed. Fortunately, my denizens would gladly follow my orders. Even if said orders meant their death, they would respawn. Similar to the people of this world, my denizens could level up as well. They could even evolve. For them, death was just an inconvenient part of their existence. So I slowly started gathering an army to protect myself so I could hope to protect others.
The people who trusted me needed to get stronger, as well. They have to, even the kids, because, one day, they would face dangers I couldn't protect them from. So, as I ignored common sense that called for steady progress, I took inspiration from the previously mentioned RPG games. The concept of power leveling was unknown to them and, while they were hesitant at first, it was Amber who, once again, helped me. I gathered them in the training chamber and introduced them to much more powerful monsters than they had any right to defeat. Of course, they reacted with panic and were afraid that I wanted to kill them, but Amber fearlessly stepped forward, wielding a simple wooden wand, and attacked a large wolf. It very slowly turned toward her and started running at her. However, everyone in shock observed its sluggish movements as if it were under some time-slowing spell. It opened its maw to bite Amber but she simply jumped aside and ran away, sending a few more firebolts. The people looked in stunned silence at the spectacle until my queen finally slayed the large beast. She was wet from sweat and was heavily panting but she was smiling victoriously.
One by one, using the best weapons they could use, they started attacking my denizens. However, the gap between them and my training denizens was no less than twenty levels so they gained a few levels with each killed wolf. Once they got more confident it wasn't a trap, they threw themselves into a spiral of constant duels. Amber was fighting alongside them and she put more effort than anyone to become stronger. Fortunately, they all understood the chance they were given. No one anywhere else could level so fast but I did not allow for any conceeds or a lax atmosphere. While the monsters were sluggish because of their dexterity, which was set to 1, they packed a painful punch with each hit. Their vitality was also increased, requiring far more hits for them to be killed. But it worked. It was effective and fast. It had to be. I had no idea when I was going to be attacked.
Day after day, these random people stopped being just faces I passed on the street. They gained names and I learnt about them. Soon, it became clear I couldn't pretend anymore that I didn't care.
Still...
Time slipped between my fingers in my build mode and I was afraid to use it...