'Ability, longevity, clarity...' Daz stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Can you elaborate on what each means, Door?"

A few seconds passed by in silence. Clearly, he'd not be getting an answer.

"It truly was a final message, huh? You won't give me any insight, will you, system?" As expected, the all-powerful entity didn't respond either.

Daz slowly paced around the pedestal as he pondered over which to choose. "I think it's safe to assume clarity is what Hiro chose. I don't need anything like that since I already have Survivor's Instinct, its Success Vision and Future Sight."

He stopped at the front of the column. "So it's between ability and longevity. Reika, Mofolo, thoughts?"

The two spirits had been infused with Hamson's blade for quite some time and only now did they split apart from it, revealing their true forms.

'Just use the dice. That's always fun,' Reika said as she shrugged her shoulders. She soon settled herself atop Daz's unique mining helmet, clearly not very interested in the subject.

'Ignore her, Daz,' Mofolo said. The merman joined him in inspecting the podium with the handprint on it before saying, 'I assume ability relates to offensive power and longevity to its counter, defensive power. If everything this door gives out has a Star of Eternity, a new defensive measure could be life-saving.'

"It may include escaping skills as well. Ability seems a bit more open-ended in my opinion. What if it gives obscure abilities like the ability to communicate with animals or to shapeshift?" Daz suggested.

Mofolo nodded. 'Valid. I did not consider that. Longevity then? It seems the wisest one. You will likely get something useful. Normally I would suggest choosing ability despite how unclear it is but the situation with the Truthian's demands more defensive means.'

Daz agreed. "Yeah, it looks like it."

He had a decent amount of offensive capabilities and now that he owned the Ashborne skill, he was likely going to be giving many of his skills with the capability to kill Stars of Eternity in the future.

Adding another safeguard to his life could be very useful while a random power with little to no use would hardly be ideal even if he was already quite durable.

Daz was essentially rolling dice here and hoping they didn't come out snake-eyes. 'What I wouldn't give for Rose's guessing power right about now.'

"I choose longevity," he said as he pressed his hand against the imprint on the pedestal.

Daz's eyes widened and his entire body stiffened. He could feel himself being connected to some sort of vast and unfathomable well of power.

This well was pushing something into him, changing every cell of his body as if overwriting them and it was, quite honestly, extremely intrusive and very painful.

'Hiro didn't go through this, that's for certain. A different tier of reward for a different scale of difficulty, perhaps? I thought the tests auto-scaled to the people though which should make all rewards equal. Maybe this is a result of my Luck stat? Whatever's happening, I'm getting something powerful,' Daz felt.

It took a good ten minutes for the procedure to end, unlike Hiro's relatively short time to receive his clarity boon.

Once it was finally done, Daz flopped down onto his knees and breathed heavily. A few words appeared in his vision though they were not words of the system.

[The Curse of Loneliness - You who has been plucked from the clutches of time, enjoy your life for it shall be unending should you wish it.]

He scowled deeply. "Curse, loneliness, time, unending but only if I want it to be... Complete immunity to ageing?"

Daz certainly hoped that wasn't his reward. It would useless for quite some time, after all, since as an Archreaper, he could already live for hundreds of thousands of years with little issue.

A door flickered to life in front of him, beckoning for him to step through it and leave this place.

He had so many questions. Were these doors beyond the reach of the system and actually working in tangent with it, nor for it, much like the creator of Embers?

Where was his Star of Eternity? Did the weird power just come with one despite not showing it? Was it actually immunity to ageing or just death in general?

How did he turn it off? Just commit suicide or was there a mental switch for it? He would have to think about this deeply while bouncing questions off of the system later.

For now though, he needed to get out of here and destroy the entrance to this door of death and doom.

----------------------------------------

'Souls on the beach. A lot of souls on the beach. Shit. Well, it's not hard to imagine why but I really didn't want to have to deal with this so soon. Telling the mayor it was okay to reveal me being here was a big mistake,' Daz sighed mentally.

He thought it would be good if the major ended up leaking his location since he was fully intent on saving everyone still trapped within the dungeon. Ideally, the woman in charge of the city would have said nothing, but a leak wouldn't have hurt him.

Now though, Daz had only managed to save a single person. No matter how he framed it, the media would tear into him for this and label it a failure without some heavy-handed control - something he didn't want to engage in since it was a tactic his father would love to make use of.

He'd handle the gaggle of what was undoubtedly reporters and press representative shortly, for certain. Right now though he needed to get rid of this door.

He couldn't see any clear damage on it anywhere meaning Hiro either hadn't tried to destroy it yet or had simply failed to do any damage to it. The former was unlikely given his state of mind, Daz felt.

'Well, according to that Qunjara, Hamson could have hurt it so it should be able to rip this door to pieces too, I reckon,' Daz thought as he summoned the shovel.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

It floated by his side under the water, ready to be used as he saw fit. He flicked his wrist and made the crimson tool soar towards the door's centre.

A loud boom resounded through the water and Daz almost lost his footing on the reef. He watched as his weapon made a slight chip in the door's structure. Not a second later the door winked out of existence.

'Did it flee? Well, whatever. This is a good thing. Go muder people elsewhere in the spectroverse, just not on Earth. I hope no more of these doors have set up shop on my planet,' Daz thought with a frown.

He recalled Hamson to his side and he then stood atop it, allowing it to carry him up to the surface. Once there, as expected, he was met by numerous camera flashes.

He could see Hiro was surrounded by a group of reporters and he wasn't saying a single word. He just soundless ignoring them instead.

Daz nodded. 'Good. What happened in there was a PR nightmare no matter how you slice it. It's best if I'm the one who explains since I'm the one with all of the social skills.'

He took off his helmet and stored it before running a hand through his soaking wet hair. "Well, here goes the rest of my day."

----------------------------------------

"So he's finally heading north, huh? A shame my champion isn't accompanying him," Bastone, the God of Quarterstaffs said.

Informazione still didn't trust the former Servant of Caos, the God of Chaos. Not only was he one of their enemies, a higher god, but that particular god was also incredibly unpredictable and dangerous.

Still, he nodded as his eyes flickered resulting in a projection appearing in the middle of the room.

it showed Pala's champion along with two human children, his betrothed, and surprisingly, Fortuna's champion too.

"What's even up there?" Pala asked.

It warmed Informazione's oily core to hear his friend speaking full sentences once again. He was far from completely recovered and the blow from the Aren worshippers to New Earth had slowed the worship being directed his way, but still, he wasn't on death's doorstep any longer.

"I. Don't. Know. Much. Of. Earth. Is. Clouded. To. My. Eyes," he confessed.

Bastone's monkey tail swished about in a carefree manner as he replied, "They calls us gods but we really are just the system's strongest slaves, huh? Can't see what it doesn't control. I doubt what's up there will be a real challenge for that guy though. I'm more curious about why he keeps getting Stars of Eternity handed to him." He yawned as he scratched his ears. "I've never seen anything like it. Something's up."

"You. Suspect. Foul. Play?" Informazione inquisited.

Truthfully, he too was suspicious. Even for gods, Stars of Eternity were incredibly hard to obtain. Informazione himself only had seven and they had taken him billions of years to slowly find.

The fact that Earth had what was essentially a production plant for them in the hidden mythical city of El Dorado was beyond miraculous.

Odd and impossible as it was though, there could be no denying its uses as an essential tool to help Pala's champion fight evenly against the worshippers of Aren.

Having access to Embers would have likely been sufficient to prevail with enough sacrifices but each Star of Eternity Pala's champion gained lowered the number of consequential yet necessary deaths.

That alone was believable despite it having never happened before in any of Informazione's records.

Exceptional unique things, events, or even people did come about every era or so. Many strange things existing both inside and outside of the system's control, after all.

The gift of five Stars of Eternity from Altros, however? And additionally a free ability of such tremendous power from one of the Doors of 10,000?

Informazione would call himself a fool if he didn't think something was wrong.

Bastone nodded. "I think someone knows something that we don't. Something big. Something that needs power without the system's handholding. I can think of a few possibilities."

Pala frowned. "Harvesters. I would bet anything on Harvesters."

If that was true, nigh all hope was lost.

"Aren. Distraction?" Informazione asked. He cursed mentally at how blind they were to everything of importance despite being at the pinnacle of the system.

If a player like Altros knew more than them then they had truly fallen from grace. Though perhaps that had been a truth for far longer than Informazione could ever hope to imagine.

'We should have rebelled when the middle gods were hunted down by the higher gods... This weak resistance we have now which relies on the future deeds of a mortal who does not even know of nor has agreed to our plans... It's nothing but a massive risk...' he sighed internally.

"If Harvesters are involved then we're in some big shit. It would also explain Aren's presence there for sure. When was the last time the Harvesters stepped foot in the system's domain?" Pala asked in an unusually serious tone.

Informazione's eyes flickered a bit before he answered, "17,543,234,214. Years. Ago."

"So before any of us were even gods," Pala mumbled.

Bastone frowned. "We need to make a move then. Get a message out somehow. Call for aid. I don't know but we can't just let them all be Harvested, our champions. I don't care all that much about your plans but my champion is important to me and my own designs."

Pala nodded. "I agree with the first part of what you said at least but what can we do that won't arouse suspicion from the higher gods? There are already whispers spreading that they know about us and are preparing to repeat what happened with the middle gods."

Informazione spoke, "I. Have. An. Idea. There. Is. A. Being. On. Earth. That. May. Offer. Help. When. The. Time. Comes."

"Who?" Pala asked, confusion spreading on his brow.

Informazione zoomed in his projection onto the head of the one betrothed to Pala's champion. There, a fuzzy blue blob was perched.

Bastone laughed. "I mean, yeah, that could work. it's powerful enough, that thing."

Pala slumped into his seat. "Relying on a system partner to deal with- no, escape from a system enemy? Yeah, I guess it could work. It's better than nothing. What about Altros? He's got a few eggs in the basket called Earth. Even my champion hasn't escaped his eyes."

Informazione shook his robotic head. "Too. Uncaring. His. Investment. Is. Limited. He won't. Endanger. Himself. That. Being. Just. Might. Though. I. suspect. It. Will. Only. Help. A. Handful."

"So that's it then? We're giving up on the planet as a whole?" Pala asked more to himself than anyone else Informazione felt.

He nodded in response. "If. Your. Hunch. Is. Correct. We. Must. The. Only. Remaining. Question. is. Who. Knows. Of. Their. Coming. And. Why. Are. They. Helping. Your. Champion?"

"That's a damn-good question," Pala answered. "If you're shit out of luck for an answer though then so are we. Maybe only he'd know, that slime."

Informazione agreed. If anyone knew what was happening on Earth it was the higher god, the God of Knowledge. Sadly, however, he was an enemy.

Nothing was ever easy, Informazione thought. 'Just how long must we wait for the equality we so deeply desire?'

Pala sighed deeply. "At least Altros seems to know something. There's no way he just had five Stars of Eternity laying around and was willing to give them to someone he had some interest in just to deal with Aren worshippers. Ask him for more info. If he won't talk, ask for help at least. It can't do us any harm."

"I. Would. Normally. Disagree. But. At. This. Point. I. Suspect. Your. Champion. Will. Never. Be. Able. To. Help. Us. Only. Avenge. Us," Informazione answered.

Pala shrugged. "The system gave us immortality. I've had a long life. We all have. I don't really mind dying if it means that eventually, one day, someone will break the shackles that once bound me."

Informazione smiled slightly. 'This is why I follow you, friend.'

----------------------------------------

Cold Resistance has reached Level 2.

'Well, that's good. I'm glad I'm not enduring this for no reason at all,' Daz thought.

He was walked through the snow in North Dakota while holding the Frost Phoenix's egg all alone.

Of course, Madison, Katy, Kathy, and Ellie along with her robots, were by his side but all of them were inside of Mr Barrier's protection.

The little blob of surprises was able to make his barrier not only mobile but it was also able to negate the weather.

Daz was damn-near freezing to death and it was only thanks to his many abilities geared towards survival that he wasn't just an ice sculpture already. Regeneration, in particular, was doing a lot of the heavy lifting.

Still, they had a long way to go so he stopped complaining internally and focused on the journey. Whatever was causing this eternal blizzard was bound to be interesting, Daz felt.

Interesting enough to keep him busy while he waited for more moonlight to be collected in El Dorado before he properly started waring against the Truthians but hopefully not quite as interesting as the door by San Diego was.

Daz didn't want to jinx anything though so he kept those thoughts very private as he trudged along.