1326  Six-Hundred-Seventeen Years

"Returned to the Uncharted Lands? For what?" asked Arthur, confused. His father had always been a mystery to him. Most people had awesome dads who always had their backs, but his father was just… pathetic, in his opinion.

"I have no idea, but I knew he was unstable. It happened a few months ago when I was patrolling the mountain. I found him roaming the place, looking for me. I never thought he could look this broken."

"What did he want?"

"He asked me for a way out," said Benjamin with a frown. "I didn"t understand what he was saying, but Seref believed he needed to be a horrible father—a father who wouldn"t choose his son, but the world, every time."

"Well, he succeeded."

"I understand how much that affected you, Arthur," said Benjamin as he placed his cup down and looked at his grandson. "I"m really sorry for what happened to you. Every last bit of it—it was too much. To awaken wrath, one must be struck by calamities time after time."

"Are you telling me he did that so I could awaken wrath?" asked Arthur with a little chuckle. "Regardless of the reason, it doesn"t justify his actions—attacking Kera and sending my mother into a coma. Countless people died because of him."

"And he understands that, hence why he came to me, the man he loathes the most," said Benjamin with a sad smile. "I think he was looking for an escape from the madness he found himself in. Seref is not the same man you think he is."

"And how do I understand him?"

"Seek him," said Benjamin with a smile. "Force him to tell you the truth. That"s all I can suggest. He seems troubled, and you are the only person who can save him."

Arthur did not answer, but he didn"t like this one bit. In his opinion, Seref was a villain. Even if his reasons were right, his actions were objectively wrong. But he couldn"t say that in front of his grandfather, who seemed to blame himself for Seref losing control.

In the end, Arthur excused himself. He wandered around until he found Alaric and Oren, who had returned from their meeting with Rhys. Alaric had inspired the tech giant to start a dozen new projects.

"Can we talk for a bit?" Arthur asked the hacker, who seemed to already know what this was about. Oren understood the cue and left to find Benjamin, while the two men strolled around the Netherborne Clan.

"It seems you"ve made up your mind," said Alaric with his hands in his pockets, a thin smile playing on his lips. "What"s it going to be, Arthur?"

"I want to know more about what happens if I beat the game."

"The game is simple. It calculates how much of an impact you"ve had on your own world, then a.s.signs you to a higher world accordingly. To ascend worlds faster, you need to have an impact on each world."

"And I have to start over every time?"

"Your stats get reset, but in truth, it"s just that higher worlds have higher stats. If a child descends from Devaheim, he would have higher stats than most astra-rankers in this world."

"…We"re already falling behind, then," said Arthur with a grim face. "That doesn"t sound fair."

"How so?"

"A person can grow faster in higher worlds, obviously," said Arthur matter-of-factly. "Higher worlds have a head start on lower worlds."

"You"re forgetting one thing," said Alaric with a smile. "As I said before, I"ve spent thousands of years living in this world, but in my original world, not even a month has pa.s.sed. You can train for a thousand years to obtain a certain number of stats, but only a few days would pa.s.s in higher worlds. You have the time; we have the potential. It still sucks to be in a lower world, of course."

"Are you saying that if I ascend to a higher world, a single day could pa.s.s while thousands of years pa.s.s on Earth?"

"Not a thousand—a lot fewer. It depends on the world. If you live in my world for a day, Earth would experience a time flow of six hundred and seventeen years."

Arthur stopped walking, staring at Alaric but not looking at him. His mind was thrown into a hurricane of emotions and fears. If that amount of time pa.s.sed, what would happen to his family? What would happen to Diana? What would happen to everyone here on Earth?

"Ascending is not a privilege, but a sacrifice," said Alaric, knowing exactly what Arthur was thinking. "No one ascends anymore because higher worlds are dangerous, and you have to start from scratch. You abandon everything you know and love for a chance to beat a game no one knows who created."

"And for what purpose?" asked Arthur, his brows furrowed as he stared at the ground. His heart was beating in his chest. It was one thing to leave this world, but another for thousands of years to pa.s.s without him. Everything he knew about this world would change—if it even existed anymore.

"For a chance to change everything," said Alaric, raising his hand. His green eyes seemed to glow in the shadows. "Those who beat the game are said to obtain the power to recreate the universe."

"Recreate the universe?" muttered Arthur as he looked at the pirate. "Is that what Ragnar wished to do?"

"Ragnar reached the highest world, Devaheim, and waged war against the G.o.ds to beat the game. Their realm guards the final ascension point, stopping anyone from beating the game."

"Why don"t they do it themselves?"

"No one knows for sure, but I heard that the person who last beat the game built Devaheim to prevent anyone from reaching the end. Ever since then, it"s remained untouched, and the Game of Worlds became an impossible quest."

Arthur couldn"t answer him. His resolve wavered, even after hearing what Rhys had to tell him. The secret that Devaheim was hiding was that they send Nameless to devour lower worlds and use them to grow stronger. However, even knowing that, would he give up this life for a chance to ascend?

"Tell me there"s a silver lining to this, or a method to counter the pa.s.sage of time," said Arthur, gritting his teeth. This might be the hardest decision he"s faced, and he could never imagine himself taking that step. "Tell me, Alaric."

"I don"t want to lie," said Alaric. "If you beat the game, you can recreate the universe at the exact moment you left this world, and live here. But… it would be just that—a recreation, not this world itself."

"No better than a hallucination," said Arthur with a laugh. "Is there a way to stop time in this world while I"m gone?"

"There are all sorts of things in the universe," said Alaric with a shrug. "If you look hard enough, you might find a method to achieve that. But I don"t know how long it would take."

Arthur understood that Alaric didn"t want to promise him anything. He made sure to tell Arthur that this was a risk that could cost him everything. And even before he ascends to a higher world, he needs to conquer this one and save it.

"Go on your vacation, Arthur," said Alaric with a smile as he tilted his head. His long brown hair, tied into a ponytail, fluttered in the wind. "It might be what you need."

Arthur looked at him and nodded. He then spotted two figures appearing behind the pirate. Selena and Diana had returned from outside the clan. It seemed they used the fighter jets to go shopping, as Diana had a lot of bags in her hands. And for the first time, he saw Diana smiling and laughing with someone other than him.

"What is all this?" asked Arthur in surprise as the two women looked at each other and smiled. Then, they walked past him, giggling and talking about how a man wouldn"t understand the joy of shopping.

Arthur still had his old habits from long ago, so he indeed thought of shopping as something mythical. With his current strength, he could create diamonds and gold out of thin air using his runes, but never considered purchasing anything. Furthermore, he understood the horrible impact his actions would have on the economy.

"What was that about?" muttered Arthur with raised brows as he turned to Alaric. "Diana has never acted like that around me."

"Women need women friends, Arthur," said Alaric with a chuckle. "Even though she"s half-spirit and half-phoenix, she still likes to look pretty and have fun with other girls."

Arthur looked at the departing Diana while listening to those words. He imagined a world where she could live a normal life and enjoy these things instead of living in the aftermath of a nightmarish childhood. A certain desire to give her a normal life suddenly appeared in her heart. Arthur knew that his mere existence has resulted in her traumatic childhood and most of her adult life. She even waited for him for a century and a half. He wondered whether she would laugh like that everyday in a world without mana.