Visdre was still in isolation due to the potential of this 'virus' to spread. But he was secretly quite happy. Why was this? He soon had hundreds of souls!

The government had removed his video. But thanks to the beauty of the internet. Other fans had put it up again and again.

He had hundreds of souls now. Not everyone agreed to the system integration. But he would bug them every night when they went to sleep. It was quite intrusive and these methods made most people just go 'fuck it' and accept.

The government had sealed all information about this world from the news and media. But it still spread word by mouth. Friends would email or text the video to those they wanted to invite to the game.

There was also a huge change to the NPCs and the game world itself. Before, everything was working off the soul server of Visdre.

Now. The stress and processing power was shared across every soul. This meant the game became hundreds of times more realistic. The physics of the world and magic systems were more refined and realistic.

With hundreds of players and only a single continent and guildhall. The map soon became overpopulated.

The capacity and space was like a game map. It could hardly handle more then 800 people at the same time. So even with more processing power. Players had hard times finding uncrowded safe zones to log off.

Visdre also didn't forget about the whole reason for making such a system in the first place. He didn't consider himself a hidden existence. Perhaps he was one in the past. But now, he has become 'Visdre'.

He thought that perhaps... It was time to become 'Somnus' again!

He used the information he had attained from Path of Somnus: God's Death. It was time to stop being a pseudo-hidden existence and become the real thing.

In the past he had created a spiritual brain. He also had a spiritual body. He even had an artifact that could resurrect his spiritual body. But the times have changed. If he hadn't retained his ability to anchor souls. He would truly be just a normal human.

Visdre had developed a legendary technique. This allowed him to transform substance or energy around him into his own mental energy. Because of this. He had used such an ability on nonexistence itself.

This was probably his greatest mistake. But it led to his current situation, so he couldn't complain. Reality itself treated his hidden existence like a virus and even kicked him out of nonexistence itself. If it weren't for his ability to anchor souls. He would've truly been wiped out.

So... how does one become Somnus?

He first needed to reconstruct a few things. His spiritual body, his source castle, and his artifact. But he didn't plan to make it a book this time.

He hadn't yet decided what his artifact would look like.

He also needed to recreate a global existence.

A hidden existence has an energy field. While a normal person simply has an imagination.

Visdre couldn't trace back the mental energy generated by the souls in his domain. He needed to perform God's Death.

But building these things would take accumulation. The more mental energy he gathered. The stronger his hidden existence would become. It was like building a foundation.

So he still had a lot of time to kill.

So he decided to 'play' in the game world as he accumulated this energy. The players were complaining about lack of content. So he thought it was time for a major update.

With the processing power of hundreds of souls. As long as the stress was spread across them. The game world would become truly incomprehensible.

There were already secrets of the world even he didn't know.

[System]: You may respawn in 1 hour!

[System]: Disconnect? Y/N?

"What? I died? Fuck."

That was one of the mechanics in the game. If you didn't log off in a safe zone. Your character would become unconscious and remain where you disconnected. Anything, including players could come and kill you. Even if you were in a safe zone. People could direcly take items off your body. You needed a private room to be truly safe.

Visdre had recently reached level 19. He didn't have a class yet or a title. Even though he was the creator of this world. He purposefully didn't modify his character with special perks. Because, he felt that it would be boring.

He had briefly logged out in the wilderness because of questioning by his doctors. He figured he would be fine. The main reason he did this was because the inns/taverns in all the towns were packed. You had to be lucky to snag a room.

He could do things other players couldn't. Like removing the stamina system. But he didn't want to deviate too much from the experience of a normal player.

An expansion was deeply needed.

[System]: You may respawn!

[System]: Connect? Y/N?

"Yes."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

[System]: {

Name: Visdre,

Title: None,

Race: Human,

Class: None,

Level: 0,

HP: 100/100,

MP: 100/100,

Strength: 10,

Perception: 10,

Agility: 10,

Vitality: 10,

Intelligence: 10,

Attribute_Points: 0

}

"Back to level zero..."

Visdre needed to decide what sort of direction to take the update.

"The current housing system is fine. It is just too expensive."

"If players had their own houses. They wouldn't have to be afraid to log out when the rooms were booked."

Visdre touched the pocket and tried to feel his bag of holding.

"Damn. I dropped that as well..."

He looked at the priest as he had respawned in the temple.

"Can I have another guild charm?"

"Sure."

Visdre took the charm and walked outside of the town. He didn't have any supplies. So he would probably die again.

But being the creator had certain perks even if he didn't cheat. Some secret knowledge was in his mind that he didn't forget.

Initially, this knowledge was intrusive and caused him to hallucinate. It was quite annoying. But now that the processing was spread across souls. It was a refreshing feeling. Bits of information were uploaded directly to his mind.

He knew the perfect places to get equipment. He did feel some regret at losing his bag of holding. That was among the rarer items he knew the location of. He couldn't just go to that same spot and find another one.

This 'world' was more realistic. Certain items were limited and once they were picked up. They would be gone forever.

The bag of holding was one such item. Only a few players had one.

Visdre thought of Mark. The only player with an actual inventory.

"Maybe I should give myself some perks..."

Visdre dismissed this idea. Cheating would only make him bored eventually.

"But don't think you can get away with killing me!"

Visdre felt through the sources of the players and looked at the kill log. Soon he located the player that had killed him.

"I won't kill you! But have fun with horrendous luck from now on."

Luck was a hidden attribute. The same as stamina, hunger, etc.

Everyone had 10 luck.

The person that stole his bag of holding now had negative luck. This wasn't even possible to get without directly modifying the attribute! Or doing some weird rituals.

Visdre went to his favorite crypt and started farming ghouls.

He then remembered some lore.

"There is a world event that can greatly expand the world."

Visdre wasn't talking about gaining more continents. There was a special quest. It didn't have a name. But it involved helping a dead archmage resurrect.

How did this expand the world?

It unlocked different dimensions! During the quest. You would have to visit the Fairly Lands and The Five Elemental Dimensions. Those were fire, water, wood, metal, and earth.

Visdre only knew some superficial information about this quest and didn't know if he would even be able to complete it. But he figured it was worth a shot.

He knew the location of most NPCs. This included the hidden NPC for this quest.

Visdre spent a few days leveling up. He would make sure to always rent a room in a safe zone to log out at.

He grinded until he had enough gold to buy supplies for the journey.

[System]: {

Name: Visdre,

Title: None,

Race: Human,

Class: None,

Level: 21,

HP: 200/200,

MP: 200/200,

Strength: 10,

Perception: 10,

Agility: 10,

Vitality: 20,

Intelligence: 20,

Attribute_Points: 1

}

"Let's go!"

He made sure nobody was following him. He then took out a stealth ring and put it on his finger. He walked outside of the town and went to a random cave that had already been explored. There was seemingly nothing special here.

He took out a bell he had bought in town.

He rang it and a whirlpool opened up in the water of the cave. He held his breath and jumped into it.

Soon he was transported to another cave and swam out of the water.

Thanks to the random information. He knew that this NPC would only talk to those that were higher then level 20 initially.

You also needed to act a certain way and trigger the proper keywords.

Not to mention it being so hidden. Nobody should've found out about this place yet!

He crammed himself between the walls of the cave as he forced through the gaps. Soon he came to an empty space.

There was a puzzle on the ground. It was a broken pentagram.

He reached into his bag and took out some chalk. It was wet and nearly useless from his swim. This was one of the effects of the game becoming more realistic.

It didn't matter. In the center of the pentagram was a lever.

Visdre had brought four different herbs and used the chalk to fully draw out the missing parts of the pentagram.

Moonlet flower.

Blood grass.

Soulful basil.

Essence mint.

He then took out a contract he had bought from a mysterious NPC in town. It was a soul contract that was fake and only costed him 50 gold. You could buy multiple. He only bought one.

He waited in the cave for a few minutes to dry off. He took all his belongings out of his bag to air out. He then placed the contract on the first point of the pentagram.

He took out some flint and steel and ignited the soul contract.

It turned to ash. That was the ingredient needed for this point.

He took some mint and placed it on the next point.

He took some soulful basil and placed it on the next point.

He put the moonlet flower on the next point.

He then put blood grass on the final point.

He pinched his fingers and let blood flow on these items.

He stood over the lever in the center of the pentagram. He then pulled it and watched his surroundings blur as he entered an entirely new area.

"Who disturbs my rest!?"

A single glowing skull appeared.

"It is your faithful servant. Visdre!"

"Visdre eh? Why don't I remember you? Well... you cracked my puzzle and found the hidden mechanism."

"Your aura... you aren't a blessed. But you seem strong enough..."

Visdre inwardly chuckled.

"Master! The plan failed!"

"Impossible! Wait... you are right. The great one..."

"Tell me. Are you interested in helping me? I will reward you with 1,000- No! 10,000 gold coins."

"Master! How could I accept a reward? The great tribulation must happen!"

"Hehehe! Good! I don't remember you. But it seems you know the purpose of our existence."

"I need you to collect ten flask of vampire blood. Come back after you have done so!"

Visdre frowned. The mysterious NPC saw this and asked:

"What is the problem?"

"Master... It is just the mechanism for getting here is rather complicated. Is there no better way?"

"Take this ring. It'll allow you to teleport to and from the temple to this location."

"Thank you master!"