The night sky felt cooler up here.
Been two hours since I told the System to drop the barrier.
Two hours since I sent Nom-Nom into that dungeon with one order:
Eat everything.
And she did.
Of course she did.
Which was why the dozens of Dings! were still ringing in my skull like a broken slot machine stuck in jackpot mode.
While I hovered above the treeline with an ice pebble floating in front of me.
While each new burst of EXP made it wobble.
A Tier-1 Early Stage monster gives 100 EXP.
I get 25% of that, so 25 EXP per weakest mob.
And according to the System, each Tier has four stages: Early, Mid, Late, Perfected, each worth another +100 EXP
There are nine Tiers total, each Tier multiplying EXP by 1.5 per leap.
And Nom-Nom was well… nomming her way through an entire ecosystem of monsters, making EXP pour in like someone opened a fire hydrant of progress, all the while increasing her own power.
And me?
I was training.
Because before a certain black wyvern ate me, I'd only barely mastered Ice Pebble and its armor-piercing variant.
And I needed to know what the hell I was capable of.
So far?
It's been beautifully violent.
The pebble in front of me wasn't the crystalline bullet of AP Ice Pebble.
It was rounder, almost like a glittering snowball.
Took 3 MP to construct, and I added another two more to crank up its speed… investing a grand total of Five MP.
And the result?
-Crack!
It shot off with a clean sonic snap and smashed into a tree trunk before -
-BOOM!
- exploding in a shimmering burst of white frost, revealing a tree frozen solid.
"Oh hell yes."
I conjured another. Then another. Then another.
And after a flurry of glittering white orbs later that tree was entombed beneath at least five inches of ice.
"Yeah… perfect crowd control spell. Or a non-lethal option." I whispered as a grin pulled across my face.
–Ding!
{Non-lethal… ever heard of hypothermia? Frostbite? Loss of limbs? Death by temperature shock? The list is-}
"When used in moderation," I cut in. "... Man, magic feels easy."
–Ding!
{You find it easy because you're casting through Chronos Protocol.
Spells learned from the System are synchronized to your brain's rhythm and your mana's natural frequency.
Think of it as a spell that is perfectly optimized for your personal circuitry.
Chronos Protocol has also forcibly improved your mana control. The module was designed to mimic the First Hero's mastery of mana control.
Current mimickery authenticity: 60%.
Without that, if you had learned this from some random spell tome?
I'd be impressed if you produced a snowflake.}
I groaned. "Dude… you can't let me have one tiny victory, huh? Also, what do you mean 'mimickery is 60%'?"
–Ding!
{The first Hero's control over magic even surpassed most gods.
To give an analogy even you can grasp: He could manipulate mana at a molecular level… each individual mana particle.}
My pebble fizzled midair as the implication sank in.
"Damn, that's busted…" I muttered, still imagining what it even meant to control each individual mana particle.
–Ding!
{You are the last person in the entire cosmos who has the right to say that. And host… we need to talk.}
I gasped. "Are you breaking up with me?!"
–Ding!
{Take this seriously!}
The System's tone hit a rare register: actual urgency.
That alone sobered me up.
{I know what Pantheon is. I indirectly helped create it.}
I blinked. "You what?"
-Ding!
{Pantheon was founded by the previous Hero, and my previous host, Arlen Hale.
He created it to combat the consequences of his own selfishness.
To fight entities and forces he allowed into this world.
At its core, Pantheon exists to protect the world from threats spawned by… him.}
"That's… and you're telling me this now?"
–Ding!
{Host, Pantheon was the single most powerful organization in the world three thousand years ago.
I do not know the current state of affairs in the world, but I have no reason to assume they've fallen.
If anything, they are likely still near the top.}
The sky suddenly felt a little heavier around me.
{Host… my point is simple. Pantheon knows Cronos Protocol. They know what it is. What it means.
And what it represents.
If they ever get their hands on you… }
A cold pause settled before the System continued.
{I am saying… perhaps we should discuss the option of surrendering Nom-N- }
"Fuck no." The words left my mouth before I even thought them up.
"I'm not giving up, Nom-Nom. And why do you keep calling him the previous hero if he was such a bad dude and doomed the world?"
–Ding!
{Because that is what he was. He was indeed vengeful, selfish, and consumed by a single-minded obsessiveness that has now doomed the world.
But for all his flaws, he was, by far, the strongest Hero this world has ever seen.
And host… now you are the current Hero. Just like every host I have ever had.}
My mind had gone numb by the time the System finished.
And before I knew it, I was asking, "What does that even mean?"
–Ding!
{It means your fate is bound to the Demon God.
Chronos Protocol manifests only when-}
-BOOOM!
The sky turned white the very next moment as a sun-bright flash swallowed the forest below, followed by a rolling mushroom cloud of dust and violet fire punching upward like someone just air-dropped a small nuke.
Even from miles away, I felt heat slapping my face.
Then -
-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding….
A waterfall of EXP notifications flooded my skull.
And somewhere in the noise, I heard: You have leveled up.
And then leveled up again.
I didn't even get to process it, because:
"Master."
Her voice slid directly into my mind, completely unbothered by the miniature sun she just detonated, through the System's Familiar link.
"Those monsters tasted disgusting… and there were too many of them. So I blew the whole dungeon thingy up."
"…ooo-kay," I said, staring blankly into the atomic sunrise. "Cool. Uh. Now, please get back?"
[Man… being called master is really uncomfortable… especially by a walking-talking nuke.]
And after the sharp CRACK of a sonic boom, she was floating in front of me.
Nom-Nom, in human form with pizza crumbs still on her lip.
Four jet-black wings unfurled behind her. And her slit pupils glowing violet like miniature supernovas.
Nom-Nom flashed a toothy grin before asking, "I kept hearing those dings after each kill. Did you get the EXP you wanted?"
While I… didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Let… let me check."
The System groaned like it needed a vacation.
[Well, at least I know now Nom-Nom doesn't like eating monsters…]
And the next moment, the status window flickered into existence.
[Protocol: Chronos]
Name: Nico
Race: Human
Circuits: 9
Affinity: Infinity, Time, Ice
Level: 9
EXP: 1,125 / 38,437
Status: Normal
Stat Points: 6
Stats:
STR: 1
AGI: 1
END: 1
DEX: 1
MP: 25 / 25
MP Regen: ∞
LCK: ERROR
Magic:
Ice Pebble (Common) [2 MP] (Optimal at 2 Circuits)
Skills:
Precognition (Legendary) [2 MP/sec] (Optimal at 2 Circuits)
Gear:
Cloak of Flight (Epic)
Credits: 130
Tabs: [Shop] [Inventory] [Map] [Crafting] [Familiars]
"Cool…" I said with a small smile. "It worked. I leveled up a lot. Thanks, Nom."
Her grin widened, proud as a dragon who just found something really shiny.
Before the System could even breathe a suggestion, I dumped all six stat points into MP.
And my mana pool instantly ballooned from 25 to 55.
I staggered slightly through the sudden surge of raw mana detonating inside me.
"Damn… that's more mana than I know what to do with," I muttered.
Nom-Nom's wings flared.
"Master. Let's get out of here," she said, fists tightening with a bright, trembling excitement. She was this close to her freedom after all.
And before I could even nod in agreement -
–Ding!
A new window snapped into existence.
{
Quest: Rescue Chimera X-97 from Team Laps
ETA of Team Laps Vessel: 3 Hours
Objective:
Rescue Chimera X-97 onboard the containment cell of Team Laps' Vessel.
Reward:
Temporal Step - Aevum Trace (Rare Skill)
Allows the user to traverse through the outer flow of time and reappear anywhere within a 10-meter radius.
Creates a visible temporal ripple.
MP Cost: 60 MP
}
"A quest!?" I blurted.
Nom-Nom froze mid-flap, eyes wide. She could also see the interface.
"System…?" I asked carefully.
–Ding!
{Quests are handled by a separate module I do not control. Host… I recommend we skip this one.}
I looked at Nom-Nom.
At how her expression twisted.
She had her freedom in one direction.
And someone just like her, imprisoned, in the other.
Rescuing that Chimera also meant risking her own recapture.
"Nom…" I said softly. "I'll let you decide."
The wind rustled the charred treetops around us.
And for the first time, Nom-Nom looked genuinely uncertain.
"…Master," she said quietly after a long moment of silence as she looked toward the horizon.
"I don't know how they made us. I don't know why. But I know this… No one deserves to stay trapped the way I was."
She turned to me with eyes shimmering with something more than just magic.
"Master…" she said with that fierce gentleness only she could pull off, "... if there is even one being suffering like I did, even one person trapped inside hunger and pain and experiments… then we must save them. You and I."
I let out the breath I didn't even realise I was holding, and felt a grin tugging at my lips despite the seriousness of it all.
"Then that's what we'll do."
"Good," she said. "Because freedom and fun should be shared… and food too!"
And as she hovered there, wings spread wide and eyes blazing… I realized something.
She wasn't just choosing to rescue another Chimera.
She was choosing the kind of person she wanted to be.
And hell… that hit harder than any EXP notification ding.