<~-(+)-~>
Destination acknowledged.
Setting destination coordinates…
Coordinates set.
Initializing modified teleportation matrix…
Matrix initialized.
Beginning teleportation sequence…
<~-(+)-~>
As the matrix thrummed to life around me and the coordinates locked in this time without any issue from the System, I began wondering about how Earth looked a month after System Integration. Even though I never personally witnessed an Integration by the System before in previous Cycles, it did make me curious about how a technologically developed world like Earth could handle something like this. From what I could recall in Cel’s memories, my expectations were not very high.
“Time to get to work,” I thought to myself as the world around me turned black.
~(+)~
<~(American Continent, Earth 2018)~>
I fell through the lower atmosphere of Earth as the Cataclysm raged on the ground. All I knew of this iteration was only about how certain factions from aborted futures messed around with time-utilizing foreknowledge in the past for personal gain-and could prevent those three from rising to power which is something I couldn’t allow. What proved to be in my favor through the System-acknowledged time loops was those who travelled back in time retained their memories and gained a measure of buffs based on the previous iterations and quality of stats which could explain why those three were already Monarch tier cultivators. That will provide them a very significant head start for the first five hundred levels or so since monsters give experience and reagents used in various methods like spellcrafting, cultivation tier upgrades, soulcrafting, spell/ability upgrades, and experience boosts, but those kinds of drops shouldn’t happen for a few decades at the very least.
Despite the “New Game Plus” scenario that people found themselves in, none of them have the ability to respawn after dying unless they were like Sarah as an Archlich who will have a soulbound phylactery or have a powerful respawn ability granted to them through rare instances. Those who happen to get one during initialization would be really lucky though they always come with restrictions enforced by the System. If you enter specific zones designated to permanently kill someone like high tier dungeons or die to enemies that can consume your soul, it will be game over since souls tend to act as the “blueprint” of a person. At least I will not attempt to find anyone else save for Matthew, Derek, and Sarah once I finally get on the ground.
Once I fell to around ten thousand feet above the surface, I turned over to face the rapidly approaching ground and started to slow my momentum-decelerating my fall speed. It was not too difficult to conjure enough air that could cushion my fall like an inflatable bag, but that could only work at around five thousand feet or lower which made it infeasible to accomplish within reasonable time while inhabiting a vessel. I could shift my vessel’s form to take up my black dragon variant far quicker than required to conjure a thick layer of cushioned air, but it takes about ten seconds to solidify and terminal velocity was coming up quickly. Time was running out for me to make a decision that would save my physical vessel, so I made one as I reached terminal velocity around seven thousand feet above surface level.
Every cell in my vessel burned white hot as the structure rewrote itself-lighting up the sky above like a falling beacon of pure Elder Energy-into a more draconic nature. Leathery wings curled up around me as I grew taller and more muscular than previously-my scaly skin turning blacker than onyx itself while my eyes retained their emerald green color. A solid barrier of Elder Energy sealed itself around my still changing form-impenetrable to any form of attack or damage-as I grew to be about ten feet tall and retaining a humanoid body structure. My clothes changed too to better fit my changed form and I could tell that with this changed appearance, the identity of Zac Ghost will not show up on anyone’s examination of me which that form will not serve my purposes here. As I passed the ten second mark for the transformation to solidify completely, I fell past the three thousand foot mark. With the changes fully solidified, I unfurled my wings and flew away to the last known location of the trio I came looking for.
On most of the worlds integrated into the Eternal System-or brought back online in some cases-there would be extremely difficult dungeons formed on each significant continental landmass that vary in difficulty. Dungeons tend to follow a System-enforced guideline where the lowest rank is the easiest to beat and the higher ranked ones get more difficult in both Level and Tier. The ranking system for dungeons are as follows from lowest to highest:
* E
* D
* C
* B
* A
* S
* [Scaleable Dungeons]
There also exists the most difficult type of dungeons called “Primordial Dungeons” that are extremely difficult to find in various worlds since they require a specific set of circumstances in order to spawn and grow. This specific type of dungeon is higher in difficulty than the S-ranked ones by far and gives out unique rewards based on each person which includes titles that provide permanent stat boosts to those who complete a floor. There can be a number of floors to complete within a Primordial Dungeon, but no one save for Administrators or the Dungeon Core itself knows how many floors can be inside one at all times until they cross the threshold. Unfortunately for people who delve into them, they cannot exit the dungeon until either a floor or the whole dungeon is cleared.
My destination-the last known location of the three people I need-is one such dungeon.
As I flew off towards the Dungeon-marked onto my map through the Eternal System located in the former state of Texas-I noticed more than one attempt to identify me by multiple sources. Some were human and the others seemed more humanoid in nature, but I blocked each attempt due to my Administrator permissions. Three times during my flight through the airspace I have felt a few curious eyes look at me though they turned out to only be children awestruck at a wondrous sight which brought them immense joy when they got a simple wave in their direction from me. No matter what world, universe, or alternate timeline one can visit, apocalyptic environments are not benevolent to all people-including the young and old-and it breaks my heart to see those who cannot protect themselves having to scrape together what little strength they could for the bare minimum to survive.
It is not even beneath my station to inspire hope where I can and people in these conditions need a lot of hope along with a powerful will to fight that encourages their survival.
Just as I passed over the northwestern border of the former state of Nevada heading towards Texas, a sharp shrill cry erupted below me. I stopped-going from flying to a hover over a thousand feet above the ground-and looked down towards the source where a medium sized drakeling was being attacked by some kind of dragon hunter group judging from their gear. A few of them wielded long reach weapons like a nagata or spear while the others used firearms with dragonsbane ammunition and they are far too low-levelled to warrant a credible threat even while armed as they are. Without losing altitude, I started to eavesdrop on their conversation and watch it play out.
“A drakeling like this isn’t worth shit, boss,” one of the spearmen commented in a degrading tone while gesturing with his spear towards the drake hatchling. “Experience is mediocre and reagents are garbage compared to the other monster drops those fuckers in DC have. What kind of fucking joke is this?”
“Shut it Kenny,” their boss replied as he pointed an old western style colt revolver at the drakeling’s head-making his eyes go wide in fear. “We already have enough trouble on our plate without stiff pricks like those in DC or the Guilds adding in their two fucking cents. Three of us are dead from the brat’s parents and two more are in dire need of medical attention that we severely lack because none of us have money to pay those damn healers!”
The spearman-whose name was Kenny-backed off as if submitting to his boss’ rant. It became rather clear they intended to shoot him for money and none of them were protected by any Guild on Earth due to a lack of talismans depicting affiliation.
New adventurers in any world within System-controlled space are given a tutorial where they learn about the basics and are informed about topics which play important parts within their daily lives. Everyone quickly begins to understand that while magic is feasible in any world they visit or live on, it isn’t always actively researched in all of them. Some worlds-like Earth-focused more on technological development than arcanism and the opposite is true in other worlds. All worlds in the Multiverse are within System-controlled space, but not all of them have an Interface which prevents anyone below Tier 1 Divinity to fully utilize System commands. Those who go through the tutorial learn that much-despite obvious confusion about how it works-and are given a full rundown about chargen and the Death System.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Obviously, the tutorial talks about various Guilds and their power dynamics. Most of them use a hierarchy structure like proper medieval society while others take up a democratic dynamic where members vote on their leaders based on merit and skill, but all of them have specific classifications. There are three main types of classifications Guilds can attain based on their general purpose awarded to them by the System: Healer, Heroic, and Wicked.
Healer-type classified guilds are given out to System-verified Guilds that utilize a heavy doctrine towards healing the sick, reviving the deceased, mending the injured, and providing non-combative support for the populace. This kind of classification can only be gained if a majority of Guild members are healing-types and forsake using weapons like swords or firearms with magic being the only exception. These Guilds could be compared to the American Red Cross in nature if they had magic.
Heroic-type Guilds are obviously organizations that have-and follow-strict guidelines that embody justice, law, and Order. Most Guilds who receive this classification by the System are recognized in a majority of worlds for producing professional heroes and guardians that provide defense against threats both big and small. People who favor strict militaristic structures or studying various kinds of law tend to join these guilds.
Wicked-type Guilds are a different story than those who favor healing or Order. Those who enjoy being in the shadows or fervently oppose the nature of Order tend to belong with like-minded groups who gained this specific classification. They can be compared to various kinds of organizations like gangs, slavers, assassins, and thieves.
Another thing they learn in the tutorial-aside from guilds and basic knowledge about the System-is level capacity. Each overall type of race has a set limit-enforced by the System itself-of experience and cultivation tiers that can be acquired per person. All races can acquire tiers up to Demigod level, but the amount of experience is hard-limited based on their racial type. Mortal Races-being the most common type of races in the Multiverse-have an experience capacity of two hundred million which nets them a level capacity of 300. Ancient Races-the second most common type-have 400 million experience capacity and a level cap of 600. An additional 200 million experience capacity-totalling 600 million experience and a level cap of 900-is given to the Mythical Races, but this trend breaks with Elder Races who have the highest experience capacity in the Multiverse. With an experience capacity of two trillion experience and a level cap of 100 thousand, they are the most dangerous races in existence though one particular upside to their level scale is the inability to cultivate.
The Elder Races are also considered to be children of the Elder Gods and have inherent abilities that have proven deadly against deities and mortals alike which also prevents them from gaining any measure of godhood-making any of them effective godslayers.
While looking over the scene below me and thinking about how these unaffiliated adventurers appeared to be only vaguely interested in potential rewards from this obvious nesting grounds for dragons, I reexamined the hatchling. They were barely past their first stages of life-considering the System had to relocate some elements from other worlds or dimensions for populating an integrated world like Earth-and there weren’t any signs of older dragons anywhere in the region that had any blood ties to them. I also noticed the hatchling’s distressed state of mind since their cries attracted my attention rather abruptly during my flight towards the Primordial Dungeon which gave away their potential age group to be within the early two hundred years-reinforcing their “hatchling” status in my eyes. Before I could try to examine their status through the Eternal System, I saw the gunslinger leader prepare to load their revolver with what I assume to be a dragonsbane bullet and a finger on the trigger-ready to fire.
That gunslinger will never get the chance to shoot.
Prideful resentment surged through my blood like lightning as I slowly recognized these unaffiliated bastards as threats to be eliminated. Their actions against a poor defenseless hatchling for no other reason than pure extermination meant they were forfeiting the basic right to live in my eyes, but before giving into justifiable murder, I looked at their aura sigils and found them all to be emitting a complete void color.
These people were not protected by the Accords and constituted as threats.
<~-(+)-~>
Quest Received!
[Forging Legends: Part 1]
Whether they are from humble origins or fell from grace, all Legends begin somewhere. In this quest chain, the first Legend to be forged by the power of Primordial Deities has been found!
Vindicto-a drakeling born in the world of Altaron and relocated by the Eternal System to Earth-has been ambushed by dragon hunters tainted through violating the Accords and unknowingly attracted the attention of the Dragon King!
-{Objectives}-
* Save Vindicto from the Dragon Hunters
* Eliminate the Hunters: 0/5
* Raise and train Vindicto until he reaches the age of majority
<~-(+)-~>
I did not pay the prompt any mind and quickly set it off to the side so I could fully read it later. With my attention returned to the scene below me, I started silently casting a subtle yet lethal spell on all of the hunters. This spell-which is called [Pariah’s Curse]-is similar to a virulent plague that affects the victim’s vitality, energy, and relevant regeneration rates by actively mutating healthy cells into a nasty cancer that cannot be cured through mortal methods which makes the spell a literal death curse. I did not have the time to make it truly burrow into their cells and cause irreparable damage, so I made their hearts my spell’s target.
“What the hell?!” one of the hunters shouted-obviously keeping track of their health. “What is this debuff? [Pariah’s Curse]?”
That made their leader hesitate from pulling the trigger long enough for me to place Vindicto into a living apiary and suspend them so he could heal while I dealt with these murderous pricks. None of the hunters noticed Vindicto’s disappearance thankfully as they started to experience the effects of my spellwork firsthand.
“Great! More fucking problems that we cannot afford to fix!” their leader shouted with disgust-unaware of small bits of infectious blood coming out of his orifices.
[Curse Debuff: Deals 400 damage to all enemies.]
[Curse Debuff: Deals 800 Energy damage to all enemies.]
[Curse Debuff: Permanently disables Health and Energy Regeneration to all enemies.]
Three of the hunters fall to the ground dead from the curse’s effects in pools of their own blood and the resulting experience from their deaths automatically funnelled into the “Zac Ghost” persona file. The only ones left of their group were Kenny and their leader-whose sigil is depicted as a rune that translates to “Jack.” Neither of them looked too well and I noted how well their vitality was to remain alive even if just barely without an active regeneration. I decided to make my entrance at this point and landed just out of their reach-though well within their line of sight.
“Wow, you both are not looking so good. Late night drinking?” I asked them both-giving them a low whistle.
Jack and Kenny both looked up at me in response. Kenny looked a little hesitant to speak or engage with me while Jack was fuming.
“Who the fu-” Jack started before a coughing fit interrupted him.
“Tsk, you really don’t look good. Such a shame there isn’t a healer for miles that could heal you,” I said to them both in a sarcastic tone as Jack continued to cough up blood in his fit. “Not that they could at any point since you don’t have a single copper coin to your names.”
“What do you want?” Kenny asked-his face both pleading and sickly at the same time. “Money? Power? Men? Women?”
I side eyed Kenny and shook my head at this rather pathetic attempt to solicit aid from me despite being yet unaware that they are like this because of my direct intervention.
“What do I want?” I repeated in a slightly mocking tone before I audibly scoffed at them both and let my aura out in a small radius of twelve feet all around me-making these idiots and the souls of their dead compatriots sense just how fucked they were. In their eyes, they could tell-at an instinctual level-that a dominant yet absolute force of all existence stood before them and held no mercy. To them, these hunters knew they were not ever safe and death would not protect them from my wrath as their companions’ spirits were forever bound to a dark oblivion.
As for their still-living peers, I had other ideas than to grant them death.
[Curse Debuff: Deals a fatal injury to both enemies!]
Both Kenny and Jack’s hearts were destroyed by the spell-effectively killing them both stone dead-but neither of them keeled over just yet as I spent some energy to prolong their lives for a few more moments. Without wasting a single second, I started to inscribe various curses and alter their genetic code-turning them both from humans into something different altogether.
From what I recall of the multitude of races in the Codex, there does exist a type of Mortal Race that these hunters would fit perfectly into. Unlike Matthew or anyone else of his particular race, daemons have variant bloodlines which are usually relevant to the sinful element they represent. These bloodlines also give specific abilities which prove very costly to use, but considering how these assholes loved to murder and were immensely angry, I decided to make them into the Wrath bloodline of daemons though with a twist. They will forever be unable to calm their bloodlust for long periods of time-no matter how powerful they are in their new forms.
I took my sweet time to change their races from [Human] to [Berserker Daemon] while also eliciting the most excruciating pain either of them ever experienced in their lives and keeping them conscious throughout the whole sordid affair. Despite having the ability to make it as painless as possible through [Regeneration] or some other restorative spellwork, I wanted to let myself enjoy their suffering for the time being. It is extremely likely I will end up punishing more violators and rulebreakers in the future, but as they screamed, I smiled a dark cheshire grin.
“What I want is to make you suffer your transgressions.”