History of the Both Worlds
Neva had taken a short rest and had grabbed a bite to eat. Things went by normally as she got ready to dive back into the digital world. It was when she had taken off her clothes for a shower that she was extremely shocked.
Right above her crotch was a tattoo in the shape of an unknown symbol that she only had in the game. She was sure this tattoo was Estelle’s doing at the time and paid it no mind, but that was in the game. Now this was real, or realer than the already real realism of that world.
She then figured that maybe the world was actually a real world or an artificial one created through an esper’s powers. There were quite a few ridiculous abilities that actually do seem godlike so it’s completely possible that one or a group of espers can create worlds, albeit only game worlds. Even Neva’s ability has transcended human comprehension since her abilities in ice are unrivaled and there is no fire capable of stopping her ice.
In this world, 10% of the population has an ability and that number is going up with every passing day due to the establishment of VRMMO’s. Even among that 10%, they are further categorized into types and ranked based on how powerful or useful their ability is. Those with the greatest amount of power in the category are then measured against each other to establish a vague ranking system for espers so people will have a grasp on how strong each side may be in a fight. The top 5 espers, however, are in a league of their own and can even be considered inhuman.
Rank 1, “Death Glare the Reaper” Azazel Beelzebub, who can send people to their graves with but a glance. Rank 2, “Absolute Barrier King” Alastair Valladares, whose protective abilities can prevent a single casualty in a war. Rank 3, “Fateweaver of Schemes” Basir Fate, whose prophecies have efficiently cornered and driven countless people into fulfilling his machinations. Rank 4, “Reversal Witch” Pati Paradox, who can turn an enemy’s power into its opposite and thus run out of control to kill the esper. Rank 5, “Empress of Frozen Thunder” Neva Winters, who lashes out with cold energy in the form of lightning that freezes everything within a certain radius of the jolts of lightning.
The irony in ranking the top 5 is that it only accounts for large-scale battles. Neva is truly the least helpful in that situation, but she only outright loses to Basir Fate and that’s only because it’s impossible to predict when he can strike you down. Basir had even concocted a plan that led to the 4 others nearly killing each other before they had realized who they were actually attacking. It’s because of these prophets that everyone has to wear accessories capable of stopping bullets, laser rifles, and weak esper attacks. Against Azazel, it’s more of a contest of who gets the first attack and it’s a double suicide if they tie. Alastair is revered for his barrier that can even stop death glares effortlessly, but it will eventually fall to constant pressure from Neva’s frost lightning.
Pati’s reversal creates a double suicide scenario since a reversal of frost lightning is practically unleashing a heat comparable to a sun that will instantly turn an entire city to ashes. Although, there was this one time where Pati had reversed Neva’s ice and scorched her entire arm into looking like charred rock. While Pati was laughing her ass off, Neva had fired off the smallest of sparks to prevent detection and to do the same to her arm. It was hilarious for her to see the cocky bitch yelping out in pain from being burned by the sheer cold coming from her now dead arm. Fortunately, there are esper abilities capable of regenerating lost limbs so the entire ordeal was written off as a learning experience.
After pondering on what type of ability could have bolstered the creation of a virtual world, Neva gave up and took her shower. She would simply ask Estelle once she had logged back in as it’s not like she didn’t have many questions that needed answering. Top of the list are questions regarding why monsters are so powerful. It had always been bugging her that monsters always gained power at such an abnormal rate. She wasn’t doubtful of the advertisement stating that slimes will be lethal, but this degree of lethality was outside of everyone’s expectations.
Today will likely be spent in the library reading over various materials. Another bit of irony here as learning was one of the most painful things that children had to go through due to the development of technology. The government had funded a project that simulated photographic memory and allowed students to learn anything after seeing it once. The downside was an immense headache that came with the accelerated learning, but at least most children were able to finish all of their education at the age of 10 years old. Once they had finished is when they would start learning for their careers, but talented individuals would be forced into government jobs that mainly focused on protecting civilians from espers.
Upon finishing all of her early morning necessities, Neva logged back into DFO. Waking up in her inn, she gets up and heads out to the library where they will hopefully have books on what she is interested in. If not, then it was worth a shot. Either way, it was time for our beloved protagonist to don the inquisitor mask for interrogating her lover of her scandals.
Celsius: [Estelle, you awake?]
Estelle: [If only I could sleep. The noise coming from my temples asking for anything and everything tends to keep you awake.]
Celsius: [Omniscience sounds like a bitch.]
Estelle: [Oh trust me, it is.]
Celsius: [Anyhow, I want to ask you a very important question.]
Estelle: [And that would be?]
Celsius: [The meaning to life! Just kidding! I always wanted to say that. What I really want to know is how that mark of yours located in a very embarrassing position just so happens to be on my real body as well.]
Estelle: [Hmmm, I could tell you the meaning to life but your body will disintegrate and your soul will be torn into billions of pieces just from listening to it. Divine knowledge was never meant for mortals to understand.] ‘Why do I get the feeling that anything related to divinity is bad news? Before it was the goddesses and now it’s their knowledge…’
Celsius: [Well, that sounds pleasant. And my other question?] ‘I say to get the conversation back on track.’
Estelle: [*giggle* Allow me to answer your question with another question. “Since when were you under the impression that this world was a game?”] ‘I blinked curiously as I heard the line that was said to me.’
Celsius: [You know you just stole one of the most badass quotes in all of history right?]
Estelle: [It’s not stealing when I telepathically sent in air quotes.]
Celsius: [Well, I can’t telepathically see your air quotes.] ‘I so enjoy teasing this goddess.’
Estelle: [Oh, hold on. *ahem* “Since when were you under the impression that this world was a game?”] ‘This time I was now seeing an image of Estelle making air quote gestures with her hands as she repeated that quote.’
Celsius: [Much better! As for your question, you say that but you divine beings are good at disguising this world as a game.]
Estelle: [It wouldn’t be any fun if we didn’t make things difficult for everyone.] ‘I can hear her laugh over the telepathic pms.’
Celsius: [That sounds like you enjoy the suffering of mortals!] ‘I pretend to be shocked over the revelation of gods toying with the lives of mortals.’
Estelle: [Don’t knock it until you try it! You might just like it!]
Celsius: [Hey goddess, this is called being a bad influence!]
Estelle: [You act like you don’t enjoy it.]
Celsius: [Oh, I do enjoy your bad girl ways. Maybe we can see just how much you can corrupt me the next time you drag me into your realm.]
Estelle: [Prepare yourself then. You are going to need it.] ‘Divine pranks can’t be that serious right?’ [And yes, we take our jokes seriously!]
Celsius: [I can’t wait to see for myself then.]
After ending our chat, I continued onwards to the library. Speaking to my former compatriots, they have stated that they wanted to learn some elemental magic for combat mages in order to be of greater use during fights. They felt a little powerless during the fight with the king slime since they couldn’t do much but protect me and Lily the entire time. I simply gave them advice to look for something like an elemental enchant or weapon conjuring in the books. Once I entered the library, I moved towards the glasses-girl librarian to order more books.
Celsius: “Excuse me. Can you help me with gathering books on T2-T4 water and ice magic, history on this tree city, and anything that explains why monsters are so ridiculously strong? ‘She was listening intently but then gives me a curious look when I mentioned my last request.
Librarian: “Normally, people don’t care much about history and just want more powerful magic. I can gather the books, but it might take you a while to read them all.”
Celsius: “Only downside to learning.” ‘I sighed in reply to the librarian.’
Librarian: “Perhaps I can help you with that. Wait over there while I get the books for you.” ‘She says before suddenly walking away into the bookshelves. Why do I get the ominous feeling that something bad is going to happen?’
I sat at the table as requested and waited 20 minutes until she came back with a stack of books in hand. There was also this white-haired snow elf with her that looked like he was really old but still had a youthful body. Do elves ever truly look old? The librarian placed the books down and went back to her counter. Yet, the old (?) white-haired man with blue eyes is just staring at me until he finally decided to speak.
???: “Child, why do you wish to learn of history when all you really need is power?”
Celsius: “I am simply curious about things that intrigue me. I also felt bad for not even knowing the name of this tree city.”
???: “If that is the case, then would you like a profession to help you read these books quicker?”
Celsius: “Sure I guess.” It wasn’t until after I said that when I realized the implications of the profession I just agreed to receive. It’s that stupid photographic memory isn’t it! My face instantly paled as I tried to quickly reject his offer. “No wait, I cha-“
???: “No take-backs!” ‘He waves his finger and my worst nightmares were confirmed.”
[You have received the Bookworm profession]
[You have obtained the profession exclusive skill: Photographic Memory]
[Photographic Memory – Passively allows you to remember everything you read or see.]
[All previously obtained knowledge will now be forcefully ingrained into your mind.]
Within a moment, immeasurable pain accumulated in my head as I was reabsorbing all the information from books I had read previously in this world but in a way that I will never forget now. The pain forced me to scream out and curse that old man for tricking me. He, however, didn’t mind and just put up a sound barrier to prevent the other people in the library from being distracted by my constant yells.
Celsius: “Old man, I…will have…my…revenge for…this!” ‘I utter out in an exhausted manner after enduring that trial for over 10 minutes.’
???: “Hoh, you can say that again when you get strong enough to hurt me. Have fun with your ‘enhanced’ reading ability.” ‘He walks off while laughing at my miserable sight. The nearby people who witnessed the scene could only shiver as they could have easily have suffered the same fate.’
Grumpily, I started going through the magic books to get them out of the way. Hopefully, I will get a spell that will allow me to have my revenge on that old man but I doubt it. If I only had my ability in this game, then I would have easily been able to defeat him but such a ridiculous ability will probably cost thousands of mana.
[You have learned Mana Barrier]
[You have learned Mana Arrow Rain]
[You have learned Aqua Barrier]
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
[You have learned Healing Rain]
[You have learned Water Arrow Rain]
[You have learned Water Slicer]
[You have learned Water Prison]
[You have learned Water Cannon]
[You have learned Whirlpool]
[You have learned Rain Cloud]
[You have learned Water Enchant]
[You have learned Chilling Currents]
[You have learned Ice Barrier]
[You have learned Icy Gale]
[You have learned Ice Arrow Rain]
[You have learned Ice Meteor]
[You have learned Frost Nova]
[You have learned Snow Cloud]
[You have learned Hail Cloud]
[You have learned Ice Enchant]
[You have learned Ice Weapon Conjuring]
[You have learned Ice Armor Conjuring]
The sheer amount of spells gained was visually pleasing. It gives you the feeling of actually being a mage when you have access to so many nice spells. Now if only she had the mana to cast all of them since the efficiency drops a lot with the increase in spell tiers.
Instead of worrying about her own mana issues, our beloved protagonist began to delve into the “Advent of Monsters” book to figure out the mystery behind their immense power.
Once upon a time, monsters were extremely weak and were seen more as annoyances than actual threats by the civilians. Still, they had to enlist adventurers in order to dispatch of these monsters as the civilians spend their lives working on their ordinary career jobs. These days would normally be seen as peaceful, but the truth is that countless people died due to racial conflicts, politics, civil wars, and various other reasons.
Most races hated humans because of their persistence in enslaving the other races and raping their women. Demi-Humans were at the front of the list for being the most antagonized and attempting to reclaim their people. Wars between humans and demi-humans had left countless battlefields soaked in blood and never to fertile again for centuries to come.
Elves had lost countless forests in addition to losing a good chunk of their population to the humans. Still, some elven forests were completely impenetrable as they were protected by the strongest among the elven race. This made many elves migrate to these forests for increased protection from the humans.
Demons were a violent race, but they actually tend to be more into pulling pranks rather than senseless violence. They had a great sense of humor and even got along with angels who loved to promote world peace. Unfortunately, they were branded as “evil” by the churches and were persecuted. This made the demons fight back to avenge their families and unleashed immense casualties on humans until the angels stepped in to protect them. With the blessings of the angels, humans were able to drive back the demons and slay the demon lord.
Mermaids and mermen were a peaceful and fun-loving race. They enjoyed conversing with sailors and assisting them when they ran into trouble. Unfortunately, this lead to many mermaids being captured to be used as pets. Outraged, the mermen used their immense control over the seas to raise a tidal wave and completely submerge the human cities built along the coast.
Dwarves were among the luckier races but still had their fair share of difficulties. They were a race with the greatest skill when it came to crafting. This was noticed by the dragons whom then threatened the dwarves to offer them gold or be burnt to ashes. The dwarves had quickly cooperated and received protection from the dragons in exchange for frequent offerings of gold or valuable items.
Not all dragons were holed up in caves or guarding dwarves. Some were annoyed by the noise made by the other races and flew out to annihilate the annoyances from existence. Angels fought them to the death and countless parts of Zenaida were left inhospitable to live on.
The goddess of life, Jivanta, was saddened by the world’s suffering and sought out gods and goddesses to commit a grave crime in hopes of it deterring further strife. Athena, goddess of wisdom, was asked to grant the monsters the ability to use god’s status. Nyx, goddess of the night, was asked to bless the monsters with additional power during the night and inside their dungeons. Ragnarok, god of creation and destruction, was asked to make the monsters strong enough to force the mortals to focus on them rather than their inter-racial conflicts.
These new and more powerful monsters soon razed the armies and forced them back into their own lands. Wars were forced to end as cities needed to be reinforced in order to prevent the extinction of their race. Dragons soon got bored now that their targets had hid themselves behind their walls and went back to their caves to sleep. After being relieved of their post, angels could now return to protecting the various races although the demons never trusted them again.
Over time, people who had gained enough power moved out of their homes to explore the lands. They were met with monsters capable of fighting on par with adventurers twice their level. This had baffled most until a divine revelation had dropped on the laps of librarians, scholars, researchers, and historians. It was a book written by the gods detailing all the events and why the gods had intervened. Some were angry for making their lives more difficult, some were shocked that the gods would actually intervene in their lives, and some were happy that they would no longer lose loved ones to war.
The gods were pleased with the outcome as wars had permanently ended as no army was capable of venturing out without severe casualties. Their actions, however, had caused monsters to gain sentience which significantly increased their tactics in fights. Upon witnessing this, the gods decided to treat monsters like any other race and would grant special individuals with their blessings. However, monsters generally never got along with the other races so things stayed relatively the same.
These events have been named as the “Advent of Monsters” by the gods and goddesses who dwell in the divine realm. The mortals, however, have given their own names for it. Judgment Day, Dark Ages, Doomsday, and various other names were given as they could only see it as a punishment.
Celsius was astonished after finishing the book. Monsters were given so much power in order to be a deterrence to war? It was a brilliant strategy as she is not sure when she will be able to fight on her own against a single monster due to how powerful they can be. Although, she was not surprised at how cliché it was for humans to be the cause of almost every conflict. Maybe it’s a genetic thing?
Anyways, she had now pulled out “History of Lumi.” So that’s what this city is called! Looking through it, it seems to be a record of how snow elves came into existence and built this city.
Snow elves were originally just a normal type of elf that had gone through a genetic mutation for living in a cold climate over a long period of time. Unlike the forest elves, they had no tree to live in and provide shelter from the harsh cold of the north. As such, they spent years growing their own world tree to a decent size for fitting a city inside. It took many decades, but elven magic over nature was astounding.
After carving inside and building their city out of blocks of ice and snow, the snow elves began to live peacefully. The surrounding trees became healthier and bore greater amounts of food. The Yggdrassil tree even gave a nature’s blessing to its inhabitants that bolstered the growth of ice magic. Every New Year’s Eve, the elves would sing and dance in praise of their world tree which would rejuvenate any and all corruption that may have been absorbed by the roots.
Monsters, too, enjoyed the blessing of a world tree and lived more convenient lives. Many began evolving into creatures capable of casting ice magic and were also highly resistance to their element. In exchange, monsters began nurturing the environment and assisting in the future growth of the forest. Some monsters would even allow themselves to be tamed by the snow elves. Most, however, kept their distance as they don’t like humanoid races much.
In the beginning, there were minor conflicts with sun elves but nothing violent. It was only to the point of arguing the differences of their beliefs. Even so, all of the elven races got along well and made treaties between each of their cities. If ever there was an emergency in one city, the others will do their best to assist them.
As she finished reading the last book, Celsius breathed a sigh of relief. Reading and learning spells was a lot quicker and all of today’s efforts were finished in a record breaking 5 hours. She was amazed by the history of this world and wanted to know more about the other races but that would require going to their own cities.
For now, she needs to be more focused on getting stronger. It is about time she checked up on the others to see if they finished learning their own elemental enchants. If not, then she can simply train her cold resist mastery for a bit.