The System had gained consciousness when dungeons first began appearing on this this planet, and could only begin to act a step behind the enemies and play catch up as they began their invasion
Essence of our young world was used to awaken the first groups of hunters, paying an expensive price to grant them inherent skills that enabled them to stand against the onslaught of beasts
This wouldn't be enough to stand against the droves of enemies though, so the System performed its first drastic measure since it gained consciousness
When the beasts died, their essence was lost in the environment and could be re-absorbed by the surrounding world inefficiently
The System took the drastic action of using more than half of its essence to form a system of power that was compatible to the beings in its planet that knew nothing about the new fantastical and magical things they were experiencing
The awakened would now be able to quantify and observe their strength with the advent of an attribute panel, and most of all, the key factor of being able to get stronger by snatching the essence from the beasts they kill.
The System used more than half of its essence to implement this new system of power where the essence of dying beasts would be extracted, and the skills & abilities that were buried deep in the beast's essence would be turned to the source of strength for the hunters. Thus, came the advent of skill books, items, and cores
Some beasts that later came to be called TITANs and BOSSes had a denser collection of essence that allowed for skills and items to be extracted from them, while for other beasts, only cores that reinforced the strength, vitality, and focus of the awakened individuals could be drawn out
This new system of power allowed this world and its inhabitants a unique ability that most likely was not existent anywhere else in the universe that allowed for the extraction and absorbance of the power of your enemies.
The System had to regain the tremendous amount of essence it lost through this , so half of all extracted energy would go towards the planet's core.
The awakened were thus able to make their stand and slowly take back their lands, but much of the world was already decimated by beasts, only giving rise to a collection of countries that later became known as the United Federation and a connection of Cities protected under the banner of an Empire
The System went into a period of hibernation after this to recover its essence, its hunters slowly contributing by clearing the beasts and the dungeons that they came from
This brought us to the subject of dungeons.
The dungeons were lines of connections that our enemy sent down. These lines of connections carried with them the origin of many inhabitants from another world. They were sent down and settled on the planet as monoliths that required time to allow for the physical entry of the beings in the connection line.
Depending on how much essence was used on the dungeons, the rate of release could be accelerated.
But if people came in contact with the monolith and were able to defeat the origins of the beings in it, essence of the monolith would be used up and the release would be delayed.
The enemy that sent these dungeons down would then have to keep providing essence towards these dungeons to replenish the origin of the beings in it. This process repeated back and forth in the months that followed the advent of the apocalypse
Hunters would repeatedly enter dungeons and clear them, using up more and more essence and taking it for themselves. The other side would continue to send down essence to reinforce and maintain the origins of beings that slowly lost their minds and rationality from being broken and rebuilt so many times
Then came the reason that I was wondering about all this time. If a dungeon was cleared rapidly enough, the in flow of essence from the invading force couldn't keep up with how much essence was being absorbed, and the connection line would be broken, with the beings inside dying completely
This, was the destruction of the monolith that I had caused.
I looked up to the rotating prism when it got to this point and asked.
"Then, the [Plane Crystal] that I received once the monolith imploded is…"
[It is a direct line of connection that we can use to ascertain the coordinates of their world and send our own forces down.]
…
I was speechless for the first time in a while. I thought about what this implied and then asked something I couldn't bring myself to ask before
"How do I...fit in all of this"
The System took a pause when we go to this point
[When I regained enough essence to become active again, I saw that the situation was not heading in the right direction and that I had to act once more. I felt a level of frustration as I had enough essence and power to even bend some natural laws, but I couldn't make use of it to plainly erase the invaders because much stronger universal laws are in place to prevent such direct intervention]
I felt my mind start pounding as I listen very closely to the next words
[So I calculated countless possibilities, and came to the one with the highest chance of success, while it also posed the greatest danger. But, this path would allow for a truly strong person to rise and protect the planet, so I attempted it.]
I listened with rapt attention while waiting for the voice to continue
[I created a backdoor from the planet's core and connected it to a single human that had the least restrictions, someone who wasn't yet even awakened. This channel would allow the possibility of things that are normally impossible.]
My thoughts were moving rapidly as I heard this...this was why I felt that I had infinite mana to cast whatever skills I wanted without restriction.
This was why my [Focus] was blank. All of that energy...it wasn't just coming from nowhere. This made me recall something I had read about in school years back, that energy couldn't be created nor destroyed, only transformed from one form to another
It felt like lessons finally kicked in when I thought about my mana, and how the skill books and cores came to be. But, could the common laws I knew about even be applicable at this stage we were at now? As for just how much energy an entire planet contained...could the tremendous essence even be quantified?
My thoughts were interrupted as the System continued
[But...this came at a huge cost and introduced a vulnerability that was not there before. You are connected to the planetary core, and the planetary core is connected to you. If you ever faced destruction...the entire planet will follow.]
…!!!
Chapter 65 - Infinite Mana in the Apocalypse
At a certain point in many people's lives, they come to a moment where they ask themselves, why me?
Why did this tragedy happen to me? Why does everything always go wrong for me? Why do some people make millions a day while I barely make 50? Why me?
I wasn't even sure if there was a clear answer to this, but I still found myself asking the same question to the rotating hexagonal prism
After getting over the bombshell that my little life actually held much more importance than I initially imagined, I found this question swimming at the forefront of my mind
"Why me?"
This was one of the biggest things I wanted to know. There were many other things like how did the System know if I would awaken as a hunter if the channel was set up long before. How could it be sure I wouldn't be just another human casualty and cause everything to collapse. There were many questions I wanted to ask first, but the first and foremost that came out of my mouth was...why me.
A silence followed after as only the rapid rotations of the hexagonal prism could be felt
[You...were chosen randomly. It just so happened that among the many humans who had yet to awaken, you were chosen by chance.]
The reply came unexpectedly, and it might have not been the thing I wanted to hear, but I actually felt relief from it. I wasn't some chosen one who was born to do great things. I just recieved a monumental gift. A gift...that
I would use to the best of my abilities from now on
"Don't tell me that you also didn't know whether I would awaken or not, or even live another day in the case something like a dungeon break occurred and wiped out an entire city?"
[There was no certainty of that either. I mentioned that I undertook this plan because it provided the highest percent chance of survival for us all, but that percentage was still very low. I could only make a shot in the dark, because if I hadn't, we would have faced complete destruction in the future. Something like this is normally impossible, with a near zero percent chance of working out. It is a completely unique situation.]
There was a pause as it let these words sink in before it continued
[All that remains is that it worked, and because it worked, we now stand a chance to go against the enemies plotting against us. The next phase of our actions is for you to head to the world our enemies reside in and disrupt the structure there. If you are able to completely place the inhabitants of that world under your rule, it opens up even more wondrous possibilities that you cannot begin to imagine]
I listened as the System continued to dump a whole lot more information onto me.
From the many beasts that died and had their essence absorbed by the planet, memories of the world they came from and their aims were slowly collected and pieced together. Especially the rank S beasts, their essence held much more crucial information
The first thing to keep in mind was that this invasion of beasts was simply a use of pawns to achieve their aim of domination for young planets. The near infinite reserves of energy that the planet held is what they were after
Just like how countries made up wars to obtain oil, war was now being waged for the countless supplies of energy on a much grander scale.
If they achieved their aims and dominated the inhabitants of the world, they would be able to use them as disposable pawns to invade other worlds first and the mining of the planet's essence using specialized dungeons
Entire worlds that had their people dominated could only watch as their world was turned into a mine for the years to come as it cycled through absorbing essence from the outside world and having it stolen right after. At this stage, the world no longer grew.
Inhabitants in such a world could not dream of obtaining more power and getting stronger. An example is the race of beasts that became stronger with years of acc.u.mulating and growing their essence and learning how to cast complex skills and abilities. If the essence of their world was to be taken over by others and exploited for their own uses, their powers would become stagnant
[That, is where you come in. You are a weapon, and a very powerful one at that. If you descend onto their world and become its ruler, besides stopping any future forces from being sent here, we will have the option of annexing an entire world for our own uses]
The words of the System continued to be bombshells every time, but I could feel excitement from them. We first get back at the true culprits who caused so much pain for us, and then obtain an entire…
[From the collection of memories of those beasts, the world they reside in is a large world under the control of mythical races of beasts. It is a flourishing world that suddenly faced an invasion, and even with the tremendous strength of its inhabitants, parts of it have already fallen under the rule of invading enemies. It is those beings that are now continuing their conquest in that world while using its subjugated inhabitants as pawns to also invade smaller worlds.]
More and more information kept on coming. I committed everything to memory the moment the other world began being mentioned
[Our goal is the same thing. To disrupt their plans and take that world for ourselves. We will not be so weak as to be bullied after that. If we have to, we won't even stop just at that world, and extend our reach to the far corners of the universe. Only with sufficient power can we be confident. With you in the lead, the goal has a large chance of success. For you are someone who is able to tap into a power that is normally constrained by universal laws.]
It felt as if I was getting the biggest pep talk of my life as I listened to the dominating words coming out of the System
[You are someone able to access the unquantifiable reserves of an entire planet. Something sacred that is used to set the order of life, you have it under your fingertips. You can call it endless. You can call it infinite. Never in your lifetime will you feel like you do not have enough energy no matter how high you continue climbing. When you suceed in your conquest and bring the apocalypse that you faced unto other worlds, obtaining their sources of power too, you can factually state...that you have Infinite Mana in this era of apocalypse.]
Chapter 66 - Preparation
Silence.
Utter and complete silence.
I could feel the beating of my heart and the blood rushing through my body as I finished listening and said
"When do we start?"
---
A horned being was reading complex data in an unknown location with a furious expression. Something unexplainable had occurred on the same planet that had shown abnormalities some time back
The signals placed on the pathetic beasts that held a level of power had all but disappeared.
This gesticulated a message of failure. They wouldn't be able to start any operations on this planet for the time being. Having diverted many pieces into this one planet so frequently caused them to be restricted towards it. They could not forcefully send more pieces for at least a few months as these restrictions loosened
The being's anger quickly reduced as he changed his mindset. His role was only to pioneer and establish connections to otherworlds in preparation for takeovers in the future. Many of his peers still had their focus on finishing the conquest of the major world they were in now
The only pockets of resistance remaining were the kingdoms where lineages of mythical beasts were ruling, as well as the Frozen Kingdom where the last of the human race on this planet was thriving
A devilish smile appeared on the horned being's face as he thought about his contribution that led to the downfall of the most powerful kingdom in this world and allowed for them to take root fully
The remaining places would all fall in due time, no matter how long it took. He could already see it happening in front of his eyes. For he is the personification of lies and evil, the Prince of Darkness. Ranked 68, he was commonly known as Demon King Belial...
---
Places all over the world were becoming stabilized as hunters performed their roles and quelled the onslaught of beasts.
Cities in the Blessed Empire and the various countries of the United Federation were discussing the regulation of dungeons across the world.
New knowledge was coming out everyday that ascertained how frequently dungeons had to be cleared in a day in order to completely destroy them.
The number of times differed depending on the ranks, with lower level dungeons requiring to be cleared many more times until their monoliths were destroyed.
The conclusion wasn't fully ascertained by the hunters, but the actual cause was that lower ranked dungeons required less supply of essence to be kept active, and thus could more easily be replenished as they were cleared. High ranking dungeons required significantly more essence in order to replenish the origins of the beasts inside it, thus required a less number of times to be cleared before the outflowing of essence surpassed the inflow and cause the destruction of the dungeon
The discussion taking place was which number of dungeons should safely be left for hunters to regularly clear and become stronger, while putting the effort in cl.u.s.ters where many dungeons appeared and it would be better to destroy them before a dungeon break occurred
The discussion and regulation of this was ongoing, with the different countries and cities deciding for themselves what was best
I had spent a significant amount of time talking to the System in that blank room and learned many more things.
I was currently flyin
g back to the Star City of the Blessed Empire to receive awards and recognition. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't that important to me right now as my mind was fully filled with dangerous information and I was only thinking about the expansive world I would be descending in soon enough
I left King's Harbor after sharing a few words with Kazuhiko and apologizing for not being able to stay any longer.
The System had mentioned that we wouldn't be getting any mass descents of dungeons like what just occurred any time soon, as it could feel tight restrictions against beings descending down that were covering the planet after the most recent attack. But we didn't know exactly how long this would be
Maybe a few months, or half a year, or the same time span that passed from the first invasion we faced to this second one, we were not completely sure.
So I was moving with the goal of wrapping everything up, before heading to a location specified by the System to start my next journey
The mystery of Kazuhiko and the other figure I saw in the smaller rooms attached to the blank room was not too explosive. The other figure that shone with a golden light was most likely the strongest hunter of the Empire, Steel Mikhail
Both him and Kazuhiko had received more attention and essence from the System when they first awakened, granting them powerful Inherent Skills that allowed them to lead the hunters forward and save many more lives when the apocalypse first began
With the advent of [Skill Combination], their lead from other hunters will continue to get wider as they start combining many of their skills to produce higher ranked ones. The reality of them combining several rank A skills to become A+, and then spend a few weeks to raise those skills up to the required proficiency in order to produce a rank S skill wasn't too far off. I wasn't sure whether hunters holding multiple rank A+ skill could fully match someone with 1 or two rank S skills, but time would tell as things progress
This was something I confirmed with the system, the combination of two "+" skills would almost always give you a powerful skill of the next rank
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