The Nebula's Civilization

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Aldin assessed the extent of the system's damage.

It's critical, but not irreparable. There's plenty of time even after dealing with Nebula.

A total of 22 Sky Castles were in danger, but the old gods' power wouldn't crumble just because three players were charging at them. 70,000 years was a substantial length of time, and Aldin trusted in that.

The problem at hand was Nebula. Nebula wore a Water Buffalo's skull and a black cloak like the night sky. On his shoulders, he carried a black lizard and a white crow, his two apostles. The two small creatures stared at Aldin.

Despite the lack of divine pressure, this mortal dared to rival the presence of a god.

I didn't know he learned magic.

Aldin hadn't considered that. Why would one seek more power when already possessing god-like abilities? Moreover, Nebula probably hadn't realized that the system's foundation was magic until after his victory and before talking to Aldin.

In reality, most players didn't even show much interest in learning magic. It likely wouldn't have been useful anyway.

That's why I chose Earth. A world without magic.

Yet, somehow, Sung-Woon had learned magic. Not just learned it, but to Aldin's view, he had reached Tuning.

Wizards had two consciousnesses, one in reality and one in dreams, which was quite dangerous. If the consciousness of reality consumed that of the dream, one lost their magic. Conversely, if the dream's consciousness consumed that of reality, it became difficult to stay grounded in reality, leading to madness.

The old gods created the spirits of Demonic Magic to prevent magic from falling into the hands of unforeseen beings, but also to stabilize the consciousness of dreams.

However, the best method was Tuning. Tuning was the process of integrating the consciousness of reality and dreams into one. At this stage, a Wizard experienced no problems in exerting their will in both reality and dreams. The Returner, who created the system, the old gods, and Aldin herself had all reached Tuning before becoming gods.

Currently, Aldin and Nebula were on the same level as a Wizard. For Aldin, it was puzzling that Nebula, coming from a world without magic, would have such abilities.

Did his Unique Domain have an influence?

That could be the case. Aldin knew magic was always troublesome. The variable of the evil god had impacted Nebula. At the moment the old gods believed they had won the war, the evil gods gained the power to interfere with magic and stole control of the second moon from the Demon World's depths. Undoubtedly, that Unique Domain, a product of the incident, had fallen into Nebula's hands.

It doesn't matter.

Though equals as Wizards, Nebula was now an entity outside the system. Even though the system was breaking apart, it still fulfilled its role. Aldin checked the damage through her mental world and confirmed that many functions were still operating normally.

Aldin said to Sung-Woon, "You must be disappointed."

"Why?"

"You almost destroyed it. If you had more time, you would have succeeded."

Sung-Woon tilted his head very slowly, indicating he didn't understand what Aldin was talking about. Aldin took this as a provocation, a strategy to induce a mistake from emotional agitation. Aldin decided not to fall for that strategy.

'Stay calm.'

Currently, the Demon World's depths reflected Sung-Woon's imagery world. Reorganizing the Demon World's depths with the power of the system was possible, but it would be a waste of energy.

Moreover, with a replica of the physical world, Aldin had no reason to be hesitant. As the one who had always done the dirty, difficult work among the old gods, Aldin was confident in such situations.

Aldin, holding her staff, charged toward Sung-Woon. Sung-Woon didnt move.

'Is he slow to react because he's not part of the system?'

That would be expected. The Divinity level provided by the system offered exponential ability stats in both the physical and the cognitive sense.

Aldin thought this would be easy. However, she was promptly proven wrong.

A force yanked her ankle, throwing her to the ground. It wasnt just a loss of balance. She was yanked and slammed to the floor with force. Though there was no great pain due to her well-refined body by the system, she couldn't understand how the world turned upside down.

'...What?'

Aldin reflexively looked at her ankle. A long, 50-centimeter-wide strip of red velvet was wrapped around it, and pulling the velvet from afar were the spirits of Demonic Magic.

"You mongrels...!"

Startled by Aldin's anger, the spirits scurried away in panic.

But Aldin raised her head to refocus on her opponent. No, she tried to, but all of a sudden, she couldnt see anything. The red velvet had wrapped around her head. The seemingly beautiful fabric was filled with impure, filthy magic, bringing disturbance to the system. A curse in itself.

Aldin fell backward without resistance, then hastily unwrapped the red velvet and tossed it off.

The spirits disappeared with mocking laughter.

"Did you think such tricks would work on me?"

In response to Aldin's words, Sung-Woon showed his hands and waved them dismissively. It was a gesture indicating he had done nothing. That was indeed the truth.

The spirits of Demonic Magic had transformed the red paint scattered by Sung-Woon into red velvet, anticipating such an event. It was the spirits of Demonic Magic who were now opposing Aldin.

Aldin looked around. All the spirits were holding strips of red velvet in their mouths, glaring at her. From above, below, diagonally, or spiraling mid-air, the soft red velvet strips danced. Aldin was trapped in a curtain of red.

'Shit.'

Aldin realized it wouldn't be easy to even approach Sung-Woon.

'But Nebula, if you really want to prove you're a Wizard, relying only on spirits wont be enough.'

Aldin extended her staff, which was as tall as herself, parallel to her body, and she focused her consciousness. For a Wizard, a staff was a kind of calculation assistance device. The shape of the staff was not important, but it usually took the form of a rod for the crafted gems that performed calculations to be embedded. The Returner's staff internalized Aldin's second imagery world.

'If I can't enter through the first, I'll just go deeper.'

The imagery world wasn't one singular layer. When the so-called external space, the real world, had to cling to a single consciousness trapped in one brain, the inner space of the imagery world could simultaneously exist in as many mental worlds as its ability allowed.

The entrance Aldin mirrored was a narrow vent that required bending over to enter.

'The imagery of intrusion must always be dark and narrow.'

Aldin, recalling the secrets of the imagery world, crawled toward the vent. However, something felt off. Scenes not created by Aldin's consciousness were visible through the grilles below the vent.

'...Someone's mental world has become entangled.'

Aldin tried to ignore the world beneath the vent, but the vent was far longer than Aldin had anticipated. Unless she had prevented such an anomaly from the start, she couldn't ignore the other imagery world she was encountering.

She broke through one of the grilles and came down. The floors and walls were finished with low-grade cement, and each of the four walls had a rusted iron door. With so many doors, it couldn't be a prison, nor a lobby because it lacked beautiful decorations. If anything, it could be called a passage, but without any signposts, it was easy to get lost in it.

This is?

Aldin realized what the space was: a maze.

'No hints?'

Even in the mental world, causality couldnt be completely ignored. If there was a path, it had to be passable.

Aldin noticed small numbers written in blue chalk above each door.

'Coordinates? There must be a pattern.'

Aldin opened all four doors to check the next rooms, but found identical sights on the other side. The only difference was the numbers written above the doors. Aldin had no concerns about time. Deeper into the imagery world, the speed of consciousness significantly accelerated.

At the moment, in the first mental world, Aldin was just dodging the first attempt of the spirits to wrap her in the velvet cloth by quickly dropping to the floor. freew(e)bnove(l)

'...This is difficult.'

She understood the hint. It was a code related to prime numbers. Aldin estimated that there were approximately 17,000 rooms, and Sung-Woon was in one of them. If she could find a more precise rule, she could appear behind Sung-Woon and attack before Sung-Woon had a chance to turn around.

'It might take time, but I could definitely get close.'

It was a challenging task, but fortunately, the high intelligence provided by the system was useful in such a place.

Aldin was about to start the calculation and write numbers down on the floor with chalk when she heard a voice.

-Thats wrong.

Aldin had never heard the voice before, but she knew who it was. It was Kyle Lak Orazen, Nebula's second apostle.

Kyle, existing only as a voice, said,

-You've missed an aspect of this.

"A mere apostle dares to lecture me?"

-...A mere apostle.

Kyle humbly accepted Aldin's remark,

-True. But I am not just any apostle, I am one of Night Sky.

"Quite a pride."

-I'll show you the basis of that pride. You should run.

Aldin heard the sound of a rusted iron door opening somewhere, indicating that she wasn't alone in this maze. Aldin sensed danger. This mental world wasn't just a maze to get lost in. It was a labyrinth designed to eliminate intruders.

'There was a variable.'

As Aldin solved the coordinates and calculated the equation to approach Sung-Woon, a door in another place was opening faster than her movement. Aldin realized this mental world wasn't a reflection of memory, but a highly engineered world.

'Has a game been created with an imaginary world?'

Aldin had never heard of such a possibility.

'I can't reach him this way. I have no other choice.'

Aldin bit her lower lip and looked for another approach. She held her staff and again focused her consciousness. Then, she submerged into the third mental world.

Blood gushed from Aldins nose in the first world. Aldin of the second world staggered, using the Returner's staff in its most primitive form. And Aldin in the third world crawled out from a bush.

The surrounding world was a dense jungle impenetrable even on tiptoes. The only possible path to set foot on was a trail leading to a mountain cave, the entrance high up.

'To get there by the shortest route, I must bypass the distractor.'

Aldin, to simplify the task, borrowed a mental world long used by Wizards. First, she created a cave. Then, she placed a target inside it and faced the distractor created by that target. With wisdom and strength, one could defeat the distractor and reach the target.

Aldin wanted to make things simpler, so she constructed this mental world.

'Well, then...'

Aldin, cautious of the distractor Nebula could create, walked into the cave.

'Even though hes achieved Tuning, his essence is still that of a frail mortal. The reflection of the mental world stems from the foundation of his psyche.'

Aldin knew Nebula. Nebula's play was elegant, but it was rooted in perfectionism. Many were perfectionists, but since they werent actually perfect, their tendency usually became a source of psychological anxiety. It was just that Nebula had the ability to fulfill his aspirations.

'...I'll acknowledge his abilities.'

But the desire to be perfect was Nebula's weakness. No being could be perfect, not even Nebula.

Knowing the opponent made creating such a mental world quite advantageous.

'The distractor will also have such weaknesses.'

Aldin had pushed herself hard to descend to the third world, thinking that this time, she would catch the distractor and reach Sung-Woon. But nothing ever resolved easily.

-I've been waiting for you.

Aldin realized the cave was much larger than she imagined. Before her was a darkness so deep that not even sunlight could reach.

-I've always been curious about what the old gods are capable of. Now I'll find out.

Aldin watched a creature emerge from the darkness. She recognized the voice as Nebula's third apostle, Mazdari. But what emerged from the darkness was unmistakably a Dragon.

A beak-like mouth and white feathers covering its body hinted at its origin as a Garuda, but the sheer size said otherwise. Slightly hunched, its long neck, arms, and legs created the perfect curves. The dragon, adorned with silver and silk, held its favored staff in one hand and a softly glowing white sword in the other.

Aldin looked up at the worst possible being to appear as a distractor.

Hiding her impatience, Aldin said,

-You'll regret this.

-Hmm, contemplating a fourth world, are you? I wouldn't recommend it, old god.

Dragon Mazdari laughed heartily,

-You won't have the luxury to do so while facing me.