Chapter 601: [ Romeia Luminous Eltrade (2) ]
“What do you mean, husband?”
Mireya tilted his head in bewilderment after seeing Allen and Romeia having some strange understanding.
“You see… if she absorbs all the monster essences here within the dungeon all at once, not only the essence she would get but also—the monster’s ferocity and savageness. She would suffer the risk of turning into a mindless beast by then—” Allen explained indifferently. “Such influence was something that any normal people would not accept even if they would obtain a training speed that far exceeded their usual speed. Death is far better than being turn into a mindless monster…”
Romeia smiled bitterly.
Allen shrugs his shoulder as he continued, “That is why she lured all the people here because absorbing from people is one of the easiest and safest ways to do it. In addition, just like what I had said before, when monsters here are killed by the players, a bit of their essence would be absorbed by those who kill them, and become experience points to level. And that part of the essence that would be absorbed by players can be considered an end product--a very pure energy without any negative effects. Hence, it was safer to absorb that than absorbing it directly from monsters.”
Mireya’s eyes widened in surprise. She finally understands a bit as to what was really happening in this strange world.
“…Of course, she would only be able to take a small part of it as most energy would be absorbed by those who kill them—that are the players. However, that is already enough for her,”
“Then this Game System within the Dungeon is fake?”
Allen shook his head as he answered patiently, “No, it’s not fake. The Players status is created from analyzing the player’s ability the moment they entered the Dungeon—that is also why the ones who intruded illegally like the cultivators in the Divine Martial Continent couldn’t see their status just like the proper players. Because when you detected that they are from Celestial Realm, you ignored them completely and didn’t even bother caring about them—though since they are good meal givers, you let them come and go for a while—” he grinned.
“Yeah…” Romeia nodded her head as she elegantly took a sip of her tea. She smiled at Allen and continued, “However, when I was watching them, I felt my world shaken by an arrival of something unknown. That was how I noticed you and immediately made an inspection. That’s when I noticed, the mortal essence from you.”
“You are the first player from the Celestial World after a long time, so I was thrilled. Someone like you who had reached the heavens should surely be strong—though I was actually the one who was in for the surprise. Never expected a monster like you to actually exist…”
“Could I take that as a compliment…?” Allen asked, amused.
“But master...if she really is that Romeia from long ago, why is she still alive now…? From what I know she also had comrades…are they also alive?” Laura asked what was bothering her.
Hearing the words comrades Romeia’s expression turned sorrowful. “They are dead…long passed on, leaving me in this world alone.”
“How come you are still alive then?” Mireya asked as she grabbed a cookie from the table, and stuffed it into her mouth.
Seeing her action, Laura was surprised and immediately tried to stop Mireya.
“It’s fine. Husband said it as well, she wouldn’t do something like that. And even if she was, I doubt Husband would let me be harmed,”
Mireya winked at Allen causing the latter to smile wryly.
“But even still, taking an unknown from a suspicious person is…” Laura frowned. She was still suspicious about Romeia’s existence as well as her goal.
“Laura was just too strict about this… chill up,” Mireya smiled playfully. Then she turned towards Romeia and repeated her question, “If what you said before wasn’t wrong, that you and your comrades were chased by the God and Demon Clans, and been annihilated, why you are still alive…? And what really happened to your comrades then?”
Romeia hesitated. However, when she was about to answer, Allen beat her to it. “She’s not alive… or should I say, she has already passed on—the Romeia that was a human, that is…”
“Eh?!”
Disregarding the shock reaction of the two girls, Allen turned towards the large translucent python that seemed like a spirit or a soul that was standing behind the three other girls at the very corner of the room and continued, “She had stopped being human, like a snake, she had cast off her humanity to stay alive…”
“… …”
“Husband…? Wait… is that even possible…?!” Mireya asked, shocked.
Allen nodded in response. “Ah, using the technique of rebirth to avoid Death. However, it is indeed, kinda hard for the God Clan’s abilities but when it comes to cultivation, there was a technique that made the user reborn into something after death. Preserving the soul and then implant it to something, giving the vessel power to cultivate and when the time the vessel cultivated enough, they would be able to achieve a human form.
…If I’m not mistaken, the Lotus flower was a commonly used item using this technique—though, some used beasts or monsters as the vessel because these vessels are commonly able to achieve impressive combat abilities when matured…” Allen lounged in his couch and smiled leisurely.
“… …” Romeia didn’t speak, just stared blankly at this smiling extremely magnificent youngster, and her heartstrings clearly shook slightly.
“What? Why are you staring at me like this? You don’t need to adore me, or else I'll be embarrassed.” Allen smiled broadly. His expression proud and his crimson eyes piercing and exude a strange sharp ambiance as if there’s no secret in this world he cannot see.
Romeia smiled bitterly, “Nah, I was just thinking—you are really intelligent, aren’t you? I was always watching you, everywhere you go, but I never noticed that you had found out the entire truth about me… you didn’t even act differently towards me up until now.”
Alle grinned impishly. “Why would I? In any case, we are still stuck in here and you are the only one capable to send us out—ah, that should be, other than you, those people from the outside are also capable of that. However, they have a fixed time as to when to pull us out so why not enjoy the peace while it lasted? I’m pretty sure, the moment we left this place, I would be extremely busy I won’t have time to play and rest anymore like this time~”
“…but master isn’t this a Domain as well…? Then, Master could—”
Allen shook his head, “Nah, although you can still call it a Domain, it’s best to call it a Dungeon from now on. It has been fixed in the world’s law—an independent space. So using the normal means such as destroying it using my own domain and overwriting it would be an impossible task. You can even regard this dungeon as an independent world already.”
Allen’s words immediately shocked the two girls, Laura and Mireya. “How is that possible, husband? If I’m not wrong, the only ones capable to create a world are High Gods themselves…! But she—”
“She is not a High God…” Allen replied without any hesitation. “Although she had indeed this kind of powerful Domain before, showing her identity as a very strong Mid God character in the past—judging from her current power, she didn’t advanced and instead, reverted back means that her rebirth caused her to lose her power. And if that happens, retaining this Domain is impossible…! However, she did it so it means that she had used something to preserve it—”
“But is that even possible…? Creating a world just by using something…” Mireya looks at Romeia who was drinking her cup while looking at Allen with a faint smile as if she was enjoying listening to him deduce things.
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“Well, I don’t know about it, even the Dragon King didn’t know such things existed. Other paths to create a world that is… However, it should exist because this world here is one of the examples—well, I can assume some things how she did it though…” Allen looks at Romeia with a playful grin.
“Oh really…? I surely want to hear it~” Romeia’s heart skipped a beat at the brilliance of his smile that was thrown at her, but she still couldn't believe the nerve of this youth, to be smiling like that to a stranger like her, as if they had been friends running in to each other.
More so, if she was a wicked succubus who had stolen many things such as living up until now for her own convenience. She should be a very wicked and shameless creature but being regarded like this, was really—Romeia can’t help but feel apprehensive.
There was just something about him that bothered her yet at the same time, piqued her interest, and she couldn't even tear her gaze away from him—and could only focused on that handsome-looking youthful face full of haughtiness.
Really incomprehensible that such a person could exist in this world…
Allen picked up his cup and slowly drank the tea without impatience. He paused for a bit before speaking, “…I don’t how you did it precisely, nor was I interested in knowing it. However, from what I know, to be able to keep this world existing, there must be a core that keeps it alive…”
“…?!”
“…the Dungeon Core—and if my assumption was right, then the core should be your current body, isn’t it? To form a core, I heard that there are many requirements that must be met in order to successfully form a Dungeon’s Core but all of it would be met easily if the Core was your body or soul since you are the one who had created this world in the first place.”
That was what he had heard from the Dragon King though…
Allen was curious at first and asked the Dragon King some things such as; the strange absorption of energy of the world, the Dimension itself, about the creation of a Dungeon and their circumstances as to why a Monster King was able to appear in this Dungeon. And if this Dungeon was once a Domain of God, then to make it exist continuously, Romeia turned it into a Dungeon, her as the core!
In that case, she would also be able to exist and continue to survive…!
Although it was a very rare case, it wasn’t unprecedented. Some people, especially those who wanted to leave a legacy before death would choose this kind of way to find a very good successor.
Though, only Dungeon Type Domains can do something like this. In fact, most of the Dungeons in the thousand Worlds are created using this phenomenon. They can be said to be relics of powerful experts that wanted to pass their legacies to their descendants.
However, doing something like this requires a very valuable sacrifice.
“…However, if you do that… you wouldn’t be able to leave in this small world of yours—Romeia…” Allen’s smile vanished and was then replaced by a sorrowful expression. “Always alone… forever imprison within your own world…”
Too sad…
Romeia didn't seem to mind Allen’s words. She stared at Allen and for some reason, understands what he was currently feeling. Her lips curling upward, smiling shyly—it may have looked silly to outsiders like Mireya and Laura, or even Allen to that, but they felt oddly comfortable with it, and he soon was grinning at her too—though somewhat full of sympathy, "…You may look mature, but you're still acting like a child."
He gestured his right hand up to her, "…'you sacrifice your existence, for what? Revenge? Hatred? That’s only what a kid would do…don’t play in your own life like an idiot just for measly revenge—' is what I would like to say but I am not someone who could tell you such a thing. After all, even if I did, I would just appear as a pretentious man who opens his mouth even though I know nothing about you. A piece of advice from such a person would only fall deaf ears..."
“… …”
“However, even if that is the case, I still want to give you a bit of advice, at least from someone who had come from the same place as you. The best revenge in this world is not to sacrifice oneself just to commit it but the best revenge is to live on and prove yourself…” Allen said with great gravity. He stared at Romeia, eyes full of blame: “I know that you wanted to create this world, in order to nurture or find someone that will take your place and exact revenge to the heavens that had forsaken you—but do you know, when you died as a Dungeon Core, even your soul wouldn’t be left unscathed. You will be treated as a power of nature, and if you died, the Dungeon disappeared, the world will treat you not a being that undergoes samsara but become one with an energy similar to magic. Your existence will disappear, returned the origin of life—The Origin or the so-called World’s Life Energy…”
“I know…” Romeia smiled bitterly. “I had already known that as well.”
“There is nothing worse than this, you know. Not even Death…” Allen muttered with great gravity.
Romeia smiled faintly as she stared at Allen’s somewhat grieving face and responded, “If you had appeared before me a thousand years ago, I might have trashed this idea. But too bad, fate really doesn’t show us the right way directly. I had no other options… I can’t let all the efforts my comrades did to go to waste—this is not just measly for revenge, that thing had already died down slowly within me as time passed by—alone in this world. I know that I can still go back that time, by consuming all the monster essence that I had gathered in my world to create a Dungeon—there might be a risk but that risk is still better as I can offset it by sheer willpower. It’s better than dying in vain.”
“…At that time, my body was already destroyed and still just like what you said, I had transplanted my soul to another body. It is a Monster called [ Mist Dragon Python ]. I was fortunate that my comrade left a still good condition egg of that mystical monster, so I was able to stay alive…though, I wasted several hundred years due to it, losing my memories when I was still a snakelet. Even now I still can’t remember what I was doing during that time…” Romeia chuckled in amusement as she thought about what had happened when she was just a mindless beast. However, Allen, Laura, and Mireya couldn’t do the same.
Allen sigh as he stared at Romeia, his eyes flashed with complicated emotions; “So you sacrifice yourself…?”
“I don’t have a choice. I might not be wishing for revenge anymore…however, the thing that we were fighting for cannot go to waste. I preserved the Dungeon for the Mortal World to defend itself when the Heaven’s gone crazy. So that, it had the means to fight against the giants that would trample the lives of the ants without any mercy…” Romeia muttered with a calm demeanor.
“That’s quite a self-sacrifice you have there...well, telling you that now would make no difference. If I’m not wrong, you have already integrated your core into this world so it cannot be undone anymore. This world had become an independent world—” Allen shrugged. He started at Romeia who was still wearing a smile, yet for some reason, in his eyes, it was nothing but an empty smile.
“…anyway, you devise this Gathering of the Players…what kind of scheme are you planning to do now…?” thus, he changed the topic. It should be awkward to continue such a thing. No matter how much they mulled about it, they couldn’t change anything.
Romeia’s fate is already fixed… at the very least, Allen didn’t know how to reverse it or help her.
Romeia smiled, gratified. Then, her smile turns into a wry smile as she answered; “Schemes… not really. I’m not planning anything this time, it’s really an event. You can even say it’s a Game Event,”
“Game Event?”
“Yeah… this is the Castle of the Ninth Mountain, the [ Mountain of Lamentation ] and this is also where the last battlefield—our last battlefield occured. Though I don’t know how it appeared, at the very peak of this Mountain, another Dungeon could be seen…”
“Dungeon?” Allen frowned. “By your words, it seems like you don’t know about it…”
“I really don’t know. I only found it a few hundred years ago, a few years after I regained my memories after rebirth. That Dungeon was a part of this world, but the monsters in it are much stronger than the ones you can see outside. And of course, they are not the monsters I had managed to capture…in short, I don’t have anything to do with it,” Romeia shrugged helplessly.
“What?! What do you mean by that?! This is your—” Allen was startled. He frowned and stared at Romeia in confusion.
Romeia shook her head, “I created this world, indeed. But that Dungeon, I don’t know who put it there or do I know how they managed to enter here without my knowing…but one thing for sure, although my Game System works within it just like this world of mine, still there’s a limit. I can’t control anything in that Dungeon—that is an Independent Dungeon so to speak. It was borrowing my Dungeon, incorporating itself in here like a shameless freeloader,”
“… …”
“So you gather every player…”
“That’s right. I want them to try the Dungeon. Because within that Dungeon, were also the legacies that had left behind by my dear comrades.” Romeia muttered with a faint but warm smile.
“You said that this Dungeon was dangerous. Then, why are you letting them go in that Dungeon?” Mireya frowned and asked. “…and how do you know that the legacies they left behind are within that Dungeon when you say you didn’t know it?”
But Romeia was still left unfazed. She remained smiling and answered, “Because didn’t I say it before? That this place was the last battlefield?”
“… …”
“I don’t know how this Mountain turned into a large mysterious Dungeon without my knowledge but the Legacies of my friends is surely within it—I had verified it. A few hundred years ago, there were several players who had reached the 15th level and among them, two people had found two of the legacies of my past friends.”
“…15th level? How many levels are there?”
“I don’t know…even I can’t truly look the interior of the Dungeon. I only managed to see till 15th level through the eyes of the players who ventured within. I wanted the players to try their luck, after all ‘No Pain No Gain’ if they wanted to become stronger, then this little danger should not stop their path. The treasures and rewards that can be found within that Dungeon are much more incredible than found within this world.” Romeia shrugged indifferently. Then, she suddenly said, “Warriors don’t shed tears…only blood. If they are real warriors, then they wouldn’t cower just because of danger. Instead, they would rush long head without caring for the consequences—I like those people, hot-blooded yet full of charm and manliness…” She grinned.
Allen sitting across from Romeia and had his gazed fixed on her, making her feel rather embarrassed. Mainly because his gaze still remained indifferent. Her face blushed as she spoke, “What are you staring at me for?”
“Well, not interested in that. What I want to know is that, why did you summon me here?” Allen inquired. “You didn’t call me here just for a test, right?”
“About that… the thing is…” Romeia dusted her hand from cookie fragment and then started her explanation…
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