Immediately after my System Support was updated to perfect, there was a big change. I had basically unlimited access to all of the System’s knowledge, without the need to ask Laura. I could just search up anything and read most of the information on it. There were some things that we locked away from me, needing an ultimate System Support or the approval of the System Gods, but I had access to most information. One thing that was usually locked behind ultimate SS, but that I had access to, was information on Divine Skills. Sadly the System didn’t have much information on them, as the beings that held those skills were beyond the System and generally abandoned it as it began to be a limiter instead of a protector. Oh yeah. You can apparently just abandon the System if you want to. Sure it comes with plenty of problems, but you can do it. Honestly speaking, all the information was kind of overwhelming, so I was tempted to just ignore it for now, but since the split Goddess was talking between themselves, I decided that I had a bit more time to search the System for information. And I found some stuff. Like the great war that happened around the year 1000. The one that caused the blood curse to really take over dhampirs since those who could perform True Blood Magic died in the war. That war was started by a person with a perfect System Support. He tried to use the war as a way of getting himself an ultimate System Support. But instead his System Support was eliminated and he was removed from the System. From there he was slowly corrupted by miasma, became a monster and was killed. I would feel bad for him, but he is quite literally a moron. Why would you start a war to try and gain favor with the System? The System doesn’t stop human wars. They stop natural disasters and monster disasters. Well, they ask a System Support holder to stop them. Well, I’m not here to question how people think. So while I still had the time, I tried to look up something that interested me. System Support holders. Sadly the list of active holders was locked behind the ultimate rank, but I could get access to past holders and the names of their System Agents. I didn’t find anything too interesting from there, but it's still good to know that I can check them. I also checked the full skill list the System had. Laura had always had limited access to it, but now we could read everything. That included all the info on Divine Skills, since we had been granted special access to it. There were some interesting skills, both unique and unique-racial. While checking it out, I found a fun one called Cookie Monster and quickly realized who had that unique skill. A skill that increases your strength by 100% each time you eat a cookie, and the effect stacks. Sure the cost is that the time it stays active goes down faster, but still. A stacking 100% increase is quite something. There were other skills I could potentially link to S-rank adventurers, but the trio that forms the Goddess seems to be done with their conversation, so I’ll look into the skill more later. Sadly, despite seeming ready to talk, they didn’t. So I did. “... so, what now?” I asked. “Did something change between us?” Tamaki asked. “You know why we kept us a secret from you, don’t you?” “... didn’t read that article yet, but I assume it is some law you have to follow.” I answered. For more chapters visit Nove1Fire.net “Yes. We quite literally couldn’t. Not until you reached the perfect level.” He told me. “We wanted to upgrade you. We suggested it multiple times. But …” Joan said. “The other Gods didn’t agree.” Sicily finished. “We were able to get you to advanced after your first summoning of Exodia as a sort of … protective measure. At the time, I actually wanted to have you eliminated.” She admitted. “I believed you would destroy the continent, or even the entire world with your cards. I know you hadn’t done anything bad yet, but I was afraid. We have failed this continent, multiple times in fact. I didn’t want to repeat that.” “Sicily is our saint. She always wants to think of the level 1 person first, then those who can survive for longer.” Joan explained. “You summoned what is basically a God. Not as powerful as we were for that short time, but close. We were afraid. And we knew you would keep growing stronger, so if we didn’t deal with you then, we’d never be able to.” “Well, luckily it never came to that.” I said. “Because I would have burned the world down if I’d needed to.” “I realized it at the time. That is why I suggested we upgrade you.” Joan said. “We wanted you to understand us better. And while you did continue to be reckless, you always cleaned up your messes. Like you making sure to protect everyone from the dragons that your summoning of Exodia brought." “That really all came together with the first fissure.” Tamaki took over. “We didn’t expect it. We knew the barrier we made was weakening, but we never expected it to fail like that. So we struggled with ideas on how to fix it. And in the end, all we could do was a bad patchjob that would cause more trouble in the long run. “But you simply dealt with it. And you stayed quite calm while at it. Sure your emotions were all over the place, but you stayed objective and dealt with the issues. It proved to us that you could be relied on, even in situations like that.” “So we gave you the Chaos God Core. We knew this continent needed a fourth and 27_001 was in a good location and had the appropriate size to house the core. It was a final test of sorts from us to you.” Tamaki kept explaining. “Had you misused the core, we would have declared you an enemy of the world and we could have used the power of the entire System against you, even bringing in options like the Hero summoning.” “Not the supreme dragon?” I asked. “We can’t control dragons.” Joan answered. “We can ask them, but usually they don’t care. Even if the System completely fails, the dragons will survive. Maybe if you really would destroy the world, they might step in. But you would know more about that than us.” “... yeah. I don’t think Janina would have. Admittedly this is just a theory, but I think she would have died with the world instead of trying to save it. She feels like she lacked a reason to live, other than waiting for that one in a billion chance that someone would be strong enough to be with her.” I said. I hope that isn’t true, but it honestly might be. “Besides, Exodia can take on Janina. So can some of my other Gods, but at the time I only had Exodia. Yes it costs me the cards since without the divine sleeves they burn up on use, but it could have been done.” “Yes. Do you understand why I didn’t trust you?” Sicily asked. “Yeah, and I don’t really blame you for it. Just would have been nice to know some of this.” “Despite not knowing, you were never hostile towards us.” Joan said. “Suspicious, yes. But not hostile or even angry.” “... so what now?” I asked again. “Nothing has changed, has it?” Tamaki asked again. “I suppose not. No.” I said. “So we will keep going. Until the dimensional barrier is completely repaired by your Exodia, we will keep sending you to the fissures and you will be dealing with them. As you said to Aulis, you will ‘deal with it. Like you always do’.” “Yeah. I will. Anything else I need to know?” I asked. “... It isn’t really important, but I feel like I need to say something.” Sicily spoke up. “... you seem to have a misunderstanding that three ultimate System Supports are needed for a System God, but that isn’t true.” She told me. “Just one is enough. In fact, the All-Mighty was just one. Three are just more powerful than one, thus allowing for an easier takeover and management of duties.” “... okay, but why tell me that?” “Because while only one is needed for the position of a God, even three aren’t really enough for a physical manifestation. We were able to do it because of our Hero’s skill and the situation the world was in. We fed on the excess energy seeping from the Chaos God Dimension. But you can’t do the same. Not only do you lack the energy, but without the Hero’s skill, three won’t be enough.” Sicily said. “... but you and five of your fiancées have a System Support. That is six in total. If all of you can reach the ultimate rank, you could summon a God more powerful than we ever were. That God could likely fix the barrier in one go. And so well that it will never fissure again.” “Okay. So just give them to us.” I told them. “It will never be accepted.” Joan cut in. “As we said, we’ve been trying to get you perfect for a long time. Since the fourth fissure that Exodia closed. At that time, we had decided that you wouldn’t misuse the Chaos God Dungeon and you were dealing with a continent wide issue. But the other Gods were legitimately afraid of you.” “You had our backing.” Tamaki said. “And at the time, both Alice and Lua had their System Supports. Had all three of you reached the ultimate rank, you could have overthrown one of the other Gods. Or even us, but we would have accepted it. The others didn’t want to take that chance. Then three more System Supports were given to people you love and it made things worse.” “Out of the other Gods, one is made of four ultimates, the other two are just made of two. Those two especially were against it, and as the people around you kept doing things that gained them a System Support, even the third got afraid. With the potential six ultimates from you, and the three of us, we number a total of nine, while they are only eight.” Sicily explained. “By the rules of the System, even united, they couldn’t stop us. It would come down to the other Agents. And most of them have been on your side even before we were.” “... okay. Understandable but stupid.” I said after processing all of that. “I never wanted to become a god. Or make a God. I was perfectly fine controlling my small island.” “For now.” Tamaki said. “The demon king was also happy. He secured the core and waited. For a long time, he just kept an eye on the core and protected the dungeon, almost like he was waiting for something. Until he didn’t and began to use it as he wished. He wanted more. He was tired of waiting.” “So it isn’t so simple, Brian. Power can corrupt. What happens when you want to control the next thing? And then the one after that?” Tamaki asked. “... yeah, okay. I get your point. Just … It frustrates me that no matter what I do, someone is always suspicious that I want to take over something.” “That sadly is life.” Tamaki said. “I believe we should end this chat now. Your brain needs time to adjust, even if your information processing speed is extremely fast. So take a day to rest. Perhaps have some fun with your fiancées. We will keep in contact. And now that you know the truth, one of us can visit you in your Factory, and you will know they speak for all of us.” “One question before I leave.” I said. “Why ‘The Goddess’? Both the name and the appearance.” I asked. “It is because of our Hero. We told you about the female demon who gave him his sword. Our appearance was lightly based on hers. He wished she would come back and meet him if we did. But she never did. Neither we, nor Ibu, ever heard of her again. We believe she died during the war, likely killed by people who believed her to be a servant of the demon king.” Tamaki explained. “And if what we believe happened did happen, it is likely she didn’t fight back and let the people kill her.” I took a second to process that. Sure she was a demon, but still. To kill someone who had surrendered. Doesn’t feel good. Hopefully she instead disguised herself and lived a full life. “... was the demon king actually a demon?” I asked. It was something that had bothered me a bit. The demons that I know wouldn’t just wait at the Chaos God Core, but would instead build themselves up and gain more power. Then again, not like the other demon in the story acted like I’d expect a demon to act. “No more than you are in your Cambion race.” He said. “Technically he was a fused race. Part vampire, part demon, part high elf, part human. And since you likely want to know, he was born a human. His unique skill allowed him to alter the physical properties of anything he touched, reshaping the world around him.” “... that’s one heck of a skill.” I noted. “It was. You can read up on it if you want.” “I probably will.” I told them. And from there, since I didn’t have any more questions, I felt for my soul and began to return. Joan gave me a push to the right direction and I was off. Just a second later, I gasped for air as my soul returned to my physical body which caused me to wake up. That also woke up Unika, whom I was hugging in my sleep. I told her I’d explain in the morning as I returned my head to my pillow. I then felt a tiny prick on my shoulder as Lua, who was the other one sleeping next to me tonight, lightly bit me and used Blood Magic to put me back to sleep. One where I didn’t need to dream about world changing information.