“As it has already been stated in the [Introduction], the [Nexus] is made up of salvaged land that has been saved together with a small group of lucky indigenous people. What the [Introduction] didn’t touch upon, though, was how most of those pieces of land tend to gravitate towards a kingdom they are aligned in [Affinity] with.
That tells you much and nothing at the same time, so let me go more in-depth: There are three main kingdoms, each one seemingly specialized towards some [Affinities], but overall none discriminate against those with ones not part of those they specialize in.
To go even further in detail, there is first the [Elemental Kingdom], my previous home, where most [Races] are one with their elements, and take physical [Traits] from them. I was part of the royal family that presided over the throne of [Fire], but in no way were we the strongest, nor the most influential; that title has belonged to the thrones of [Wind] and [Earth] since time immemorial, and the stability of so is often reinforced with matrimonies between the two houses. Overall, the governing body of my kingdom is a council made up of the representatives of the various royal houses. In the [Elemental Kingdom] you will often find that the geography is clearly demarked by which royal family governs a territory, since their authority bring a sort of ‘control’ over the surrounding [Affinity], essentially morphing the land to mirror it.
Then there’s the [Naturae Kingdom], where more bestial [Races] congregate under the might of their strongest, inside vividly rich biomes. The current king is [King] Kaezar, who has ruled for over a century and not by might alone, since his progressive thinking has brought their kingdom great prosperity across the years. This is also where most [Animals] naturally gravitate towards, given the suitability of the land for ‘normal’ life to prosper, without being overly influenced by an [Affinity] or another.
And last, but not least, there’s the [Alfeimr Kingdom], where Fae and Spirits live under a Queen that is elected by a majority vote by her people, and such role lasts only 6 years, unless it is prolonged by another majority vote, in which case it can last up to 42 years; on that note, [Queen] Felicitae, the one currently in charge, has ruled for 41 years and it won’t be long until the [Alfeimr Kingdom] will undergo some turmoil due to upcoming changes. This last kingdom is the most ethereal in nature, and by that, I mean that everything has a duplicitous feeling, like a tree that might use its aura to send you a mental image of it getting up and moving in to hug you, that sort of thing. Though this double nature is… a double-edged sword, since the contradiction in nature allows [Demons] easier access that doesn’t rely on raw [Aether], making attacks upon the land more frequent than elsewhere.”
Lessons with Sheeno weren’t a breeze, with all the knowledge she was trying to cram into my cranium, but she at least tried to make it easier on me by utilizing visual aids, such as maps, pictures, and props.
“Isn’t it completely counterproductive to have an entire land more prone to spawning [Demons]? Who the heck came up with such a terrible idea!? Also, going back to the [Elemental Kingdom], just how many elements are there, and how many are represented?” I asked, sensing a lull in the conversation.
“Well, nobody made anything, since everything just follows into the original order made by the [God of Creation]-“, she explained.
“Ah, then that explains why it sucks”, I interjected.
“I- uh, what?” Sheeno asked, utterly confused.
“That charlatan seems like the type of person that makes it up as he goes, without any underlining plan”, this time I explained.
“How could you say something like that about our creator!? Are you mad!?” She got up to her knees, towering even more over my sitting form.
“Damn, why do I find that so hot!?”
“Your creator, maybe, but definitely not mine”, I waved away her comment.
“Didn’t you read the [Introduction]!?” She asked, seemingly at her wit's end.
“Did you!? That thing is full of bullshit of the highest caliber: [Creation] is described as ‘coming into being’, meaning that he was somehow created, meaning that he can’t be the [God] of the whole concept of creation, and given his obsession of advancement he’s probably the [God of Progression], or something similar”, I concluded telling the idea that had been growing since I first experienced the [Introduction]. “Actually, that applies almost to every [God], with [Destruction] being the [Goddess of Stagnation], [Time] being the [God of Stability], [Luck] the [Goddess of Chaos], and for the rest, I’m not sure yet”.
Honestly, I was kind of worrying over [Luck] smithing me for something like this, but she was leaving me suspiciously alone.
“That… is possibly a blasphemy of the highest order. Then, since you think you’re so smart that you have figured out what even the [Gods] were hiding, what came before the [God of Creation]!?”
Sheeno seemed to be both peeved at my previous statement, and smug about the fact that the simple question could stump me.
“Whatever comes before sapience. ‘Sapience’, now that’s a word that is strangely absent in the [Introduction], almost as if [Creation] doesn’t consider anyone besides himself as so, but that’s a discussion for another time. A firm law in the multiverse must be that ‘nothing is destroyed, nothing is created, but everything changes’, and the existence of the high-powered [Aether] pretty much fills in the gaps that mundane science couldn’t explain back home. What I’m trying to say is that existence, as a whole, is constantly evolving, and saying that something, or someone, made it up from nothing is simply preposterous. I mean, they even have sexes! How does it make any sense for the [God of Creation] to define himself specifically as male!?” I explained at length, but ended up ranting a little at the end.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
“My goodness Darwin. You can’t be that hard-headed on such complex topics: Everything you said is based on notions gained from your previous world, which may be completely invalid here! I mean, I don’t think they are, and your point does seem to have sense, but overall I’m just surprised that a [Smite] hasn’t fallen on your head already”, She started looking worryingly above my head after having said that.
“Oh, don’t worry about that last point, I’m pretty sure by now that the [Gods] can’t actually intervene in worldly matters, having to resort to sending a [Protégé] to do their dirty work. And that confidence stems from the fact that I have on good authority that until you interact with either the [Divine Affinity], or [Aether] directly, they mostly won’t bother with you. Also, they are filled with weird restrictions that make it obvious that they aren’t Omniscient and Omnipotent even in the mortal plane, further proving that maybe they even aren’t [Gods] in the literal sense… at least not [True Gods]”, I instead unapologetically continued.
“Ok, no, I was wrong: That is the blasphemy of the highest order”, Sheeno dryly remarked, “I really don’t like where this discussion is going, and I believe you’re just overstating your understanding of the universe. Let’s shelve this discussion for when we’re strong enough to not be erased from existence at a moment’s notice, ok?” She tried to stop my rant in its track.
“I already told you that they’re not really ca-oof!” I started reiterating my previous point, but she jabbed me in the solar plexus.
“OK!?” She asked more forcefully, this time clearly pissed off.
“Yes, yes, ok. Sorry!” I hurriedly affirmed and apologized, throwing my hands up in actual surrender.
She wasn’t entirely wrong: I didn’t know how much leeway the [Gods] were leaving me with in particular, how many of the restrictions were self-imposed to impede interference into the ‘free will’ of people from any of them, nor did I live years in a place like the [Nexus], were miracles could very well be a daily occurrence.
Actually, I don’t know why I was so adamant about proving my point; I had no reason to push Sheeno so much, and thinking back about it I was now starting to feel bad about it, but I had already apologized, so everything I could do was awkwardly scratching the back of my gloved left hand.
“To go back on topic: What’s the difference between [Nobility] and [Royalty], and how does the [Wild Area] fit into all this?” I tried to get the conversation going.
“…Ok, let’s keep going. But that first question kinda came out of nowhere”, Sheeno relented after staring me down for an uncomfortable amount of time.
“I actually don’t know, but kind of felt that it was relevant… somehow”, I explained, making it painfully obvious that even I didn’t know why I had asked that.
“Wait, is something actually messing with my mind!?”
After that worrying thought, I quickly blasted [Unyelding Soverign] at the strongest setting I could output it at, instead of the passive mode it normally sat at. But I didn’t feel that different from before, besides stopping scratching my hand any further.
Exactly where my [Blank Demonic Contract] resided.
“Weird… [Buddy]?”
In your Inner World everything is fine and dandy.
Does not look like the “Black Hole” had anything to do with it.
“Ok, thank you.”
Honestly, that was what I thought was the most likely culprit, but [Buddy] seemed to think that everything was alright, so there it went that thought.
Maybe it was just the old antagonistic me raising his ugly head?
Probably.
“[Nobility] is the same as [Royalty] in terms of benefits, but the biggest difference is that [Nobles] don’t have any governing power, and hold a mostly honorary position, and are often left to indirectly manage smaller territories”, She finally explained, after ruminating on something for a bit.
“So, all the benefits, with none of the responsibilities, but compensated with less jurisdictional power?” I asked for clarification.
“Well… yes, pretty much; just don’t let any [Noble] ear you say that, please”, Sheeno actually cringed at the thought that I could so easily anger someone powerful.
Honestly, after that messy discussion about [Gods], it was more than fair.
“Got it”, I gave her a thumbs up.
“Sure…”, She said, totally unconvinced, “well, moving on, the [Wild Area] is where pieces of unclaimed land end up drifting to. ‘Unclaimed’ because either the indigenous people were unable to free it of the presence of [Demons], or because there were no people left to claim it”.
“Wait, what does it mean that ‘there were no people left?” I immediately asked.
“Sometimes, only due to unforeseen and terrible events, mind you, it happens that the people of an integrated universe don’t survive the [Transfer]. I know that sounds bad, but as you have just pointed out, our [Gods] aren’t omnipotent, and sometimes there are things that even they can’t fix. But that is only the edge cases that I wanted to get out of the way, more often it just happens that a piece of land gets integrated without having any original sentient natives on it, which makes it by default ‘unclaimable’, and just gets directly assimilated into the [Wild Area]”, Sheeno, again, explained.
That was majorly fucked up. Not the pieces of land getting randomly integrated into the greater mess that was the [Wilds], but the fact that I knew for certain that the [Gods] had a certain degree of control over who made the final cut during the [Transfer]. After all, what would happen if a planet filled with being that made it their motive of life to eliminate everything different from themselves got integrated? Utter pandemonium, and at least one genocide. No, they couldn’t allow themselves to save such people, even though it made them callous, and almost evil, in their decision.
Unless the [System] was more autonomous than I gave it credit for, capable of enacting such task with cold indifference, like the proud machine it is.
But, for how much I disliked them, I actually agreed with such decisions: Who the fuck wanted an entire [Race] of ‘multiversal Nazis’ to go around? Fucking nobody!
We had [Purity] though, so what the hell did I know?
Does that mean that I was going to tell the same to Sheeno?
Obviously not: I had no proof to corroborate anything of what I just thought.
Just the memory of the [System] choosing who would get [Transferred], and it freaking out over me being there at all.
Trying to get my mind away from such depressing thoughts I assailed Sheeno with a barrage of questions, but to my dismay, the answer ended up being the same for most of them:
I had to hit [Lvl 10] first, to avoid hampering my growth.