Lucien was silent for a long while.
Though brief, the fragnted mories he’d seen from the Magus Goblin carried weight beyond comprehension. It doesn’t look like re recollections. They were windows into another civilization.
The monsters... they had taken a different turn in evolution. Their world was alien and unrecognizable. It’s a place where the laws of nature bent under a foreign logic.
Where the Thousand Races clung to structure, the monsters had embraced chaos.
Their technologies were twisted reflections of creation. Organic machines that breathed. Living weapons. Towers grown rather than built. Everything reeked of creation untad.
And they were up to sothing.
The small worlds that the Primordial Sli had created.... The sanctuaries for the last remnants of humanity and vaults for the fragnts of the Origin Core. They were being destroyed one by one.
Each conquest granted the monsters unimaginable inheritance and a new piece of the Origin Core fragnt.
Lucien’s eyes narrowed.
If his suspicions were correct... the Origin fragnts from the monsters’ side and from the thousand races’ side were close in number.
And if the monsters ever gained more fragnts than the rest...
they could collapse the Black Mass entirely.
And when that happened... the world itself would tremble.
The cycle of war... would begin anew.
But what truly disturbed him was that final mont in the mory...
The thing that had noticed him watching through the Magus Goblin’s eyes.
It wasn’t supposed to be possible.
He had been a re observer... yet sothing unknown had looked back.
It was aware. And it had recognized him.
Lucien’s voice barely escaped his throat.
"Was it... a Primordial Being? Or... the Black Mass itself?"
He shut his eyes, unwilling to wander too deep into that abyss.
So questions were best left unanswered... for now.
Still, another realization dawned on him.
The monsters... were not as united as he thought.
They too had their own factions. Rivalries and alliances. Betrayals and feuds.
The Ancient Beings were the glue holding their stillness. But even they were at odds. Their interests clashed beneath their veil of eternity.
"Power blinds everyone," Lucien muttered. "If it’s that way among monsters... what more of the Thousand Races?"
A weary sigh escaped him. He feared the answer.
Lucien shook his head and forced himself back to the present. He looked down at the pile of drops before him.
"Too bad..." he whispered. "There wasn’t a single skill from the three Monster Lords."
His gaze then fell on a single glowing card.
Malrik’s Skill Card.
False Genesis.
Lucien’s lips curved slightly. Without hesitation, he pressed it to his forehead.
A burst of searing light consud him. The card dissolved, rging into him.
[Skill: False Genesis learned]
Imdiately, he felt it. The weight of creation and the hum of infinite possibility.
He could imitate existence.
He raised his hand and grabbed an object. A sli plushie.
Channeling divine energy, he whispered the skill’s na.
"False Genesis."
The world rippled.
Lines of light erupted from his palm, forming intricate characters that branched across the ground. They were not drawn but woven into reality itself.
They weren’t runes or magic circles. They were sothing deeper. The code of existence, the script that shaped matter and thought alike.
A hum filled the air.
It wasn’t sound. It was the vibration of reality responding to his will.
Divine energy surged and condensed before him.
Shapes twisted from nothing. The threads of light gathered, folded, rged... until at last, a second sli plushie stood beside the first.
Identical... and yet, not quite.
Lucien smiled faintly. "It worked."
He grabbed both the original and the copy, comparing them closely.
"Softness... check. But still, the original’s softer," he murmured.
But the smirk faded as he felt the drain on his energy. The skill consud too much divine power for sothing so small.
The principle behind False Genesis was almost identical to the creation process within his divine energy core. The difference was simple yet monuntal. Everything he made inside his core could not exist outside it. But now, with this skill, he could manifest them into the real world.
That realization lit a spark in him.
He could create anything within his divine realm out of his imagination... then reproduce it with False Genesis and bring it outside.
The thought alone made his heart race.
But he knew the real potential of such power.
"This is... perfect for scamming," he said with a mischievous grin.
Even the heavens would be fooled.
Soon after, Lucien returned his consciousness to his true body. He wanted to test sothing.
He grabbed the Orb of Entropy.
A swirling mass of shadow churned inside like a living storm of chaos. It pulsed in irregular patterns, defying rhythm or reason. Every ti he looked closer, the patterns changed.
Lucien whispered, "It’s ti to learn a new attribute."
Without hesitation, he crushed it in his hand.
The orb shattered and the world fell silent.
A vast chaotic cloud burst forth, spreading across the room. Its tendrils reached outward. It curled and spiraled as if embracing the world before turning sharply and piercing straight into Lucien’s chest.
Yet... there was no pain. Instead, he felt exhilaration. Wild and boundless freedom.
Then ca the system notification.
[Ting!]
[You have gained an affinity for Chaos Magic.]
Lucien exhaled sharply.
But the next ssage froze it in place.
[Ting!]
[Conditions NOT t.]
[Attribute for Chaos Magic temporarily sealed.]
"...What?" Lucien blinked. "How is that possible?"
He clenched his fists.
"Is it because I can’t use miasma?"
His voice carried a trace of bitterness. Even when victory was within reach, fate seed intent on teasing him with what he could not yet grasp.
He sighed deeply. "Fine... another lock to break later."
Straightening, Lucien spoke to the system.
"System... show the notifications I missed earlier."
Just then, a series of notifications and panels filled his vision.
***
[Ting!]
[You killed a Goblin Monster Lord. You gained 10 Mid-Grade Spirit Crystals.] x3
...
...
....
***
"Spirit Crystals! Isn’t that the universal currency of the Big World? And purer than mana cores?"
Lucien’s eyes glead with excitent. Even the monsters he’d slain that are beyond Level 100 had dropped a handful of them.
His grin widened as he flipped one of them between his fingers. It shimred faintly, humming with compressed essence.
"If I ever step into that world, I won’t be broke," he muttered with a grin. "But still... how do I even get there? The Primordial Sli should’ve at least left a clue."
He sighed then turned his attention to the endless stream of notifications filling his vision.
***
[Ting!]
You have slain beings far beyond your level through sheer wit, precision, and defiance of fate itself.
Reward: Aura of Defiance
[Ting!]
[Aura of Defiance has rged with Aura of the Sovereign.]
[Aura of the Unyielding Sovereign gained.]
[Effect: Suppression from overwhelmingly stronger beings (below Primordial-class entities) will be neutralized.]
...
[Ting!]
You have transcended this world’s mortal limits.
Reward: Title – Transcendent One (You can now understand this world’s natural laws.)
...
[Ting!]
Through your actions, the cycle of destruction was halted. The end that once awaited this world has been rewritten.
Reward: Title — The Unwritten One (Fate cannot foresee your steps. Prophecies falter, divinations fail and ons blur in your presence. Once per cycle, you may command the world’s law to "Forget" an event.)
***
Lucien let out a low whistle. "Huh. The system’s really going all out this ti... Guess saving the world has its perks."
The titles... the rewards... they were beyond formidable.
Aura of Defiance. That alone was sothing he truly needed. The Monster Lords had once crushed him beneath their overwhelming presence. But now, with this rged aura, anyone below the level of Primordials would no longer be able to suppress him.
And the titles... they were unbelievable.
The Transcendent One. With it, his understanding of this world’s laws would deepen. He was hoping that he could strengthen this world to prevent another invasion.
Then there was The Unwritten One.
He didn’t even want to start thinking about it. Just the description alone was terrifying. He thinks that even Primordial entities would now find his existence hidden. His fate would be unreadable.
And that second effect... "Forget an event."
That was downright overpowered.
It was the perfect cover for when he needed to erase his traces. To vanish completely from the mory of fate itself.
He exhaled slowly as his thoughts whirled.
He just didn’t know one thing.
"How long was a cycle...?"
He sighed, deciding to study about it later.
Then the notifications continued...
***
[Ting!]
[CONDITIONS T.]
[You have fulfilled Ellen’s lifelong wish.]
[Ellen’s Loyalty has reached 100.]
[You may now Copy one of Ellen’s available skills.]
[Ting!]
[CONDITIONS T.]
[You have fulfilled Maxim’s lifelong wish.]
[Maxim’s Loyalty has reached 100.]
[You may now Copy one of Maxim’s available skills.]
...
...
...
***
A lot of people had reached maximum loyalty during that battle.
Edric, Maxim and Ellen were among them.
They had fought with him to the very end. Their lifelong wish to destroy Golddust and avenge their families had finally been fulfilled.
Because of that, Lucien gained access to their skills.
From Maxim, he copied Perfect Calculation. From Ellen, Perfect Loop.
They were a pair that complented each other flawlessly.
Edric, on the other hand, didn’t have any unique skill to offer... unless you counted one strangely nad skill he learned called Flex.
When Lucien chose to copy the skills, his vision montarily shifted.
When he clicked on Perfect Calculation, equations flowed before his eyes. Reality itself was reduced to lines, variables, and patterns. The world unfolded before him as if made of pure logic. Lucien smiled. He finally got the full version.
And Perfect Loop interlaced with it flawlessly. It allowed endless simulation, repetition and refinent. It can perfect the calculations until they reached their ideal form.
He could now plan with surgical accuracy, control his energy expenditure better, and predict battle outcos.
And the best part... he could activate or deactivate them at will just like Divine Sense.
He grinned. "Yeah... these two were worth it."
Lucien let out a long sigh.
Even after the war, he had grown stronger. Unreasonably so.
Then after a mont of silence, he rose from the bed and walked toward the mirror.
He took off his clothes, examining himself out of idle curiosity.
He clenched his fists.
Flex.
His muscles tightened. His veins stood out like sculpted cords. His well-defined body glead faintly under the light.
Lucien tilted his head, smirking at his reflection.
"What a handso guy."
Then realization hit him.
"...Oh crap. This is addicting."
He frowned and muttered toward the empty air,
"System, can I delete a skill?"
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