Young Writers Society

Chapter 82- The System

After reforming my body, Kala began to explain everything. Amy confirmed her story.

After she was done, Dallel and Celios sat in thought.

Dallel spoke first.

“If not for both Amy’s reaction and her corroborating it, I wouldn’t believe you. I can’t argue with that… Though I have one question.”

“What is it?”

“Who was that guy?”

“I… don’t actually know. The only thing I could confirm is that he was human.”

Asura looked at the corpse.

“That thing was human?”

“That’s what the check said, but something odd happened after Rose killed him.”

“What?”

“A system, right out of an Isekai showed up.”

“What do you mean?”

“It was like Everyone else is a R*turnee. Higher beings, factions. It doesn’t make sense.”

Amy somewhat understood, as she was also a weeb.

“So, by killing him, you unlocked this system?”

“Pretty much.”

“Did it appear in your retinas?”

“No, it talked sorta like I was a S*ord when I Reincarnated.”

“I see, so you have an announ*er-san?”

“No, it felt different.”

“Words of the W*rld?”

“No no no. It’s like a broken alexa if you want a specific thing. It talks, but you can’t do anything to talk to it.”

“Man…”

Amy was almost disappointed that me and Kala didn’t have our own a*nouncer-san.

Everyone listening was entirely lost.

“Your world thing?”

“Yep.”

Celios didn’t get the system, but he did have a question.

“How is it that you are a 15, but can still crush us?”

“Because I checked the system, and you are a 10.”

Celios realized that it was a different scale after that.

“Wait… did it tell you about my skill?”

“Yes, and I don’t want you to use it unless it’s an emergency from now on.”

Celios sighed.

“Fair, I guess.”

Nala had to ask.

“What skill?”

“Self-destruction, it permanently removes abilities so he can be stronger for a bit.”

They looked at Celios in shock. A skill like that could kill him if he wasn’t careful.

“Yeah, I never used it often, but I designated it as necessary there.”

Dallel sighed then turned back to me.

“Well, that does explain why Amanda was so strong suddenly, you just stopped holding back.”

“Nope, here.”

I grabbed the restraint I wore and tossed it to Dallel.

“I wore that the whole training.”

Dallel’s eyes widened.

“Even the tournament?”

“Yep.”

They realized what it meant. Not only did I fight on an equal ground, but I even mastered fire magic in a state when my magic was all but gone.

“You certainly have a lot of talent.”

“It comes with reincarnating as a nigh omnipotent being… at least Kala thought we were.”

“Yeah, that guy was certainly stronger.”

“Yep, if I hadn’t merged with Kala in that instance, he would have won, and even then, I only managed to catch him off guard by removing my shift.”

“And the more terrifying part.”

All of us looked at Celios.

“At least, according to himself, he was just a grunt.”

_

We returned to the city and counted our losses, luckily, no one died in that assault as the guy focused me and Celios, but the arena and wall were pretty much rubble.

Most people looked at me with suspicion. That was expected, but still painful.

The gods all left for their own domains.

Ausar told us the plan.

“If this faction, God Slayers, declared war, we need to be prepared. We will all continue increasing our skills, but as of now, we need to mobilize our armies. I doubt that man was the last they’ll send.”

Dallel agreed with the plan. He needed to gather the adventurer’s guild and get Dalis to call for aid.

Mammon and the others didn’t trust me, so they had me wear the restraint, so Dallel or Celios would be able to beat me.

They even went the next step and gave me one that I couldn’t just disconnect. As I was a full 5 levels higher than Celios, it was a necessary precaution.

I was still S rank in strength, but that was a far cry from my Dominion skill.

Celios had a question.

“What does level 5 mean for a world?”

“I don’t know. I think it may mean that the average strength of both beasts and people increases greatly.”

“So, you think things like the Whilderbeast king will be more common?”

Mammon asked the question I had myself.

“As I’m new to this system, I can’t really say, but that is what I’d assume.”

“That is concerning.”

“Honestly, we are at the point where we have multiple fighters that way exceed its strength, but what I’m more worried about…”

“What?”

“Is that another one of those ‘higher beings’ could attack.”

Dallel had a question.

“What is the Supreme Faction though?”

Both me and Kala knew.

“Earth.”

“What?”

“They declared peace after I killed a grunt and had war declared on me by the God Slayers.”

“And?”

“Their final goal is to kill the ruler of Earth.”

“Do you think that they could?”

Kala snorted.

“Absolutely not. It’s a fool's errand to try, but I’m more concerned that they will kill the people of Earth… One in particular I want to defend.”

Amy nodded.

“Amanda.”

Kala nodded.

“But one thing doesn’t add up.”

We looked at Dallel.

“Why would they try to recruit you?”

I answered.

“Because I have the power to get to Earth.”

Their eyes widened.

“How?”

“Because it’s Kala’s homeworld, it didn’t require much mana, so upon Kala showing me her memories, I urged her to visit, and she did.”

“Is that when she got her change of heart?”

I nodded.

“Her original goal was to destroy Earth for their mistreatment of the neurodivergent, but because of the visit she stopped that.”

“Heather is very stubborn. What caused the change?”

“Amanda’s book, and the one that got her sent to the office in middle school lamenting that he never got the chance to apologize.”

Amy nodded.

“The book definitely made waves in terms of how people saw the neurodivergent.”

The medieval folk were once again confused.

“Neurodivergent?”

“One type, psychopathy, reduces the amount of empathy one has for others. Kala is a psychopath, and as a result faced discrimination.”

“I see. That’s stupid, if anything, add them to the forces.”

“They were scared that they would attack their allies.”

“… That… what?”

Dallel and Celios were both at a loss.

“I mean, it did occasionally happen, but it was still quite ludicrous.”

“All… right.”

Amy sighed as though we didn’t understand.

Chapter 83- A Time to Rest

I remained under watch, but still refined my skills with Amy. I could see why Kala stuck with her. She was a wonderful person.

“So, Heather evolved me?”

“Yes, she did it so you wouldn’t lose.”

“Heh, she always hated me losing.”

“Yes, it was very irritating.”

“Though, how did you grow that much when the other gods hadn’t.”

“Because, unlike them, I have a true body.”

“They have bodies too.”

“See it more like an *AO avatar. Their mind is in it, but they can’t fully interact with the world.”

“I guess that makes sense.”

“Yeah, it would take either absorption, or a will that exceeds mine and Kala’s combined to actually kill them.”

“I see.”

“That’s why I went into a rage when I saw Celios so injured, because I realized that his life was actually at threat.”

“What was the garbled speech though?”

“It was like the V*idfish from The A*venture Zone.”

“I know right?”

“Yeah, I don’t know how to do it either, but it seemed as though he tried to disable it for me and Celios, as he showed annoyance when we didn’t understand him.”

“I see, so it’s a selection on who can hear you.”

“That’s what I’m assuming.”

“But are you Rose or Heather?”

“Currently I’m Rose, but technically I am a piece of Kala.”

“I see, it’s hard to comprehend.”

“I agree but see it as Kala’s mind being split into 10, and because we were named, we became fully independent, but Kala still reformed. We are just additional minds.”

“That certainly helps… Think Aussie will be back soon?”

“Worried about your BF?”

“GAHK no!”

I smirked. Despite both of them despising each other at first, it was almost obvious that they liked each other now.

“Though I think I know how Granny works now.”

I changed the subject quickly and it worked.

“What do you mean?”

“A long time ago, when I thought I was just a dragon, I swore loyalty to her, and I think I now know why?”

“Why?”

“Something about her is familiar, as though Kala designed her as someone calming to members of your original trio.”

“That makes sense. Granny does seem very calming.”

Then Kala corrected.

‘Actually, you indirectly made her.’

“What?”

“What?”

“Oh, Kala just said I indirectly made her. What do you mean, Kala?”

‘Well, it’s quite simple, you wished for someone that could show compassion and would be calming. At that same time, Dalla was born with those traits. So, at that point, while bound even, you drew on my power and used creation to make someone with the proper traits.’

“What did she say?”

“I made Granny through my wish for a good person.”

“Nice.”

“Yeah.”

_

“Alright, Ogre that way, do you got it?”

“Yep.”

I lunged using fire and burnt the ogre from the inside out.

“Nice, you got him.”

“And he’s perfectly cooked.”

“…”

“What?”

“I don’t really wanna eat that.”

“More for me then.”

Amy looked at me in minor disgust as I ripped off an ogre leg and gnawed on it.

“What?”

“It just looks humanish.”

I swallowed.

“Eh, see it this way, it’s like a chicken. They look cute, but you’ll still eat chicken nuggets, no?”

“That makes sense; besides I’ve never tried it.”

“Want to?”

“I… could try.”

I handed her a small piece, and she nibbled. Then looked up.

“Why does it taste good?”

“Seasoning, and I burnt out the regular poison, so it turned to straight flavor.”

“I see."

“Yep, want some more?”

“… Sure.”

_

We were chatting when we got back to the guild. Since I was in my catkin form, I didn’t look intimidating, but my fire skill, despite the restraint, was obvious for those in the element.

Thalia was quick to accept that I was still a good guy, but the others were more suspicious of me.

In fact, when I entered the guild…

“ROSE!!!”

A dragon tackle hugged me, so I crashed through the wall.

“Are you okay? Did you get hurt by anything?"

I was barely awake at that point, but she kept shaking me in worry.

“Rose?”

“Guuu…”

[Your skill, Pain Resistance, has leveled to 6]

Despite being life threatening, Thalia’s hugs were good sources of training.

Thalia was leaning over me in absolute concern for my health, like she wasn’t the one who put me in that situation.

Of course, Asura was looking at Thalia from a decent position.

Amy smirked at him, and he quickly averted his gaze with a light blush.

Thalia was confused.

I sat up, the damage retracted.

“I’m fine.”

“Thank goodness.”

“I agree, but Thalia.”

We both froze at the dwarven voice.

“STOP BREAKING MY WALL!!!”

“SORRY!!!”

Mammon, the only person that could make both a mature dragon and a god tremble.

_

I ate my food and talked with Silas, the other person who confirmed I was still good.

As he was directly connected with me, he was able to tell a bit about me.

Celios was still in Selethon because his cult abandoned him when the gods did. So, he had no reason to leave.

While a lot of people still despised him for what happened to Royce, a lot more understood that he had changed since then.

Jalad, for one, helped him learn more sword skills.

Jalad was the only person who had the Unique skill, Sword god.

As such, none of us could reach him in pure skill, but we certainly did try to.

In terms of magic, however, I still was the top. Even with the restraint, my fire skill outdid Thalia, and I started remastering the other elemental divinations.

My goal was to have arcane by the end of the month.

Celios often expressed concern at my growth.

“Aren’t you growing too fast?”

“With the enemies we’ll be facing in the future, I’ll need access to my strongest skill, even when weakened.”

Celios reluctantly agreed, and he also trained with a restraint.

But no matter how much I tried to teach him, he couldn’t use air magic with the restraint.

He attributed it to me being the creator of the world. I couldn’t disagree until Amy managed to use nature magic in a restraint. It was a lot weaker, but it was still magic.

We then realized that people born from Earth were just unique.

“I mean it makes sense.”

“What do you mean?”

“Think about it, the system gave a name for the faction that we are against, but the ruler of Earth was simply called the Supreme Faction. It makes sense that whoever rules it likely can make even more pure beings than I can.”

“What’s our faction called?”

“I don’t know, let me look to see what the system calls us.”

[No faction can be formed. REASON: No higher beings in capital world.]

“Huh…”

“What?”

“Apparently, because we don’t have a higher being, we aren’t a faction.”

“How do you become a higher being?”

“Lemme ask.”

[You must reach the level 200 and complete a list of objectives upon reaching 200.]

“200?!!”

“What?”

“To become a higher being, where I am a 15, I have to be a level 200.”

“Holy crap, so it was absolute luck we were able to beat that one guy.”

“Yes.”

“Hm… how do we level.”

“I dunno.”

[To gain experience, you need to kill beings in your league or higher.]

“Then how am I a 15?”

[Due to killing a higher being as your first in league kill, you ascended to 15 nearly immediately. Progress to 10 was also given to the second most contributor.]

“So, from what I understand, killing that joker was our first bout of XP.”

“Really?”

“Yep, we need to successfully kill things equal to us or stronger to increase level.”

[Note: beings outside of the system will not gain experience until entry.]

“And as the others aren’t in the system they can’t gain levels.”

“Great.”

“How do you get in the system in the first place?”

[Two way to enter the system are available. First is sponsorship by a higher being. Second is becoming a level 1000 in whatever system you are placed in.]

“Hm… so yeah they’re not far.”

“What do you mean?”

“To enter the system, one of us has to become a higher being and sponsor the others, or they need to reach 1000.”

Celios smiled.

“Both Jalad and Dallel are rather close to that.”

I smiled back.

“Yes, they could enter the system by the end of the month.”

Chapter 84- The Time to Train

“So, you want us to all fast-track to 1000?!”

Mammon’s shock was understandable.

Asura laughed.

“I’m actually close to that. 989 now. Even though I haven’t killed much, fighting you all increased my levels.”

“That’s because I made it so when you fight a transcendent, you gain XP so the weaker ones wouldn’t be wiped out instantly.”

“Smart, so what’s the plan?”

I smiled in a menacing way.

“I take off the restraint and fight all of you until you reach level 1 in the system.”

Celios laughed.

“Man, if only we could level in the system that way.”

“It would be helpful.”

“Though, why can’t I access the system too?”

“Because, technically you haven’t met the requirements yet, you just gained level because you did the second most damage.”

“I see.”

“Well, let me take this off.”

I detached the restraint. They looked at me in shock.

“How long could you do that?”

“The whole time.”

Mammon sighed and drew his hammer.

“Alright… let’s train.”

_

Over the next month we all took shots, trying to beat Rose.

Even those of us who made it to the required level couldn’t land a blow on her.

It was obvious that 15 was high as heck in the system, and we wondered once again, how we managed to beat that guy with no casualties.

“He was overconfident.”

“Yep.”

“But Rose is flat out incredible.”

“Well, add in the training that she had with the rest of the gods, and factor in her strength before, then the fact that she’s a 15 in the system. I’m not surprised.”

“Yeah, but still.”

When we weren’t fighting her to gain levels, she was training the other elements under restraint, so she could develop arcane even under restraint.

As a result, she could decimate us with relative ease.

Surprisingly, despite training as much as possible, the only gods in the system were Celios and Silith, but Rose was quick to explain.

“They barely trained before the restrained training. Silith and Celios on the other hand, had to train to get stronger, so they were already a high level when it began.”

Another surprise was that Amy and Ausar became a duo. They fought with maximum efficiency, and Ausar took it upon himself to teach her the divine attribute.

Both of them leveled at the same rate.

In fact, they claimed that they would gain access to the system at the end of the next battle.

So, we all watched their battle with Rose.

“Are you two ready?”

“Yes.”

They spoke of a special move they made. I was interested to see it.

Nala, as usual, was the referee.

“FIGHT!”

Ausar and Amy charged in at Rose, but she managed to avoid their first attack and retaliated with a high-level nature attack.

Amy tried holding it back, but she only managed to mitigate it before being launched.

Ausar morphed into a bear and launched at Rose, but she became the horse sized dragon and grappled with him, tossing him around.

Amy launched herself onto Rose’s back and attempted to stab her spine, but Rose did a roll that not only knocked Amy off, but also twisted Ausar’s head.

The duo stood up and dusted themselves off. But Rose made the offense this time.

She struck quickly, and Amy barely dodged as Ausar barely blocked.

They struck back and forth quite impressively. The duo had more coordination than most.

Despite not even being a level 1, they managed to remain in stable battle for a while, but even still, they couldn’t land a proper blow.

Amy decided to use a massive amount of life magic, while Ausar turned into a large salamander.

Rose seemed to catch on before we did and launched back right as Ausar, who now mimicked a dragon, bit down where she just was.

“Was that their special move? That’s incredible. Using both life magic and Ausar’s affinity for beasts to morph him into a dragon is a powerful move.”

But I had a feeling that there was something else they had planned.

While Rose was preoccupied with Ausar, Amy was doing something odd. She was using advanced magic on herself. And her aura kept growing.

Rose clearly realized that something was happening, but she was busy with Ausar.

He countered her arcane with life magic. It was certainly a spectacle.

“What’s their game? Sure, Ausar can obtain the same bodily strength now, but Rose still beats him in terms of skill. Amy is too smart to put everything into a plan that flimsy.”

Silith nailed it.

“Notice that she is buffing herself. I think that that’s just a distraction while Amy builds up the strength for the real special move.”

“Smart distraction, even Rose can’t just ignore a dragon, especially when that dragon is another god.”

Rose managed to push down Ausar and he shifted back to his birdkin form and launched a kick that Rose dodged before returning to catkin.

The two clashed as Rose tried to advance on Amy.

Amy continued buffing herself, and she began removing some armor. The play was odd. None of us could figure out what she was doing.

Rose, still clearly expecting something, finally pushed Ausar out of the way and attempted to interrupt Amy, but Ausar, as a tiger, bit her side, resulting in the first damage she received since the start of the training.

That seemed to give Amy just enough time as she yelled.

“NOW, AUSAR!!!”

Ausar leapt at Amy and reached out his hand.

Celios gasped.

“It can’t be. That’s the move?!”

As soon as their hands connected. Ausar began to crumble to dust. He was possessing Amy.

They merged and one of her eyes looked like Ausar’s while the other resembled Amy’s still.

“A dual mind?”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s like what Kala and Rose do, where there are two minds in one body. That’s why she was buffing herself, so not only her body, but her mind would also be able to withstand his will and power.”

“That’s… ingenious.”

“It is.”

Then the duo, now in one body, spoke with both voices. Wings sprouted where the discarded armor originated.

“So Rose, are you ready?”

Rose smiled at the new challenge.

“Let’s fight.”