The dragon looked down,
And its eyes almost popped out.
In front of him was a corpse.
The corpse was extremely familiar.
It was his lord, Ice God, who was in a sorry state,
Cracks all over his body, his fate unknown.
But the corpse wasn't the only thing there.
An old man with white hair and a long beard was sitting beside the corpse.
His eyes were sad, his back was arched, and his trembling hand was on Ice God's forehead.
The old man sighed,
"Son... Why didn't I take you to the doctor when you said about your sore throat...
I, as your father, neglected you...
And you died from a common cold..."
From the voice, you could feel the old man's sorrow for his son.
'Wait, son?
That's Ice God's father ?'
The dragon snapped out of the nonexistent illusion.
Something didn't feel right here!
But what was the point of coming out of the nonexistent illusion?
His body moved by itself,
Its size turned smaller,
And the fake Ice God's father picked up his son's corpse and jumped on his head while saying,
"Let's go...
Let's go to the funeral."
And a passage opened for the dragon to fly inside.
When they left, a big orb was left behind.
It was the same orb that Little Mortal promised to take revenge on those who died for it.
Now, the planet began to reclaim the spiritual energy the orb had taken from it and from many other planets.
Soon, this planet would be part of Planet Lubo and would flourish with life once again.
....
A familiar planet came to the dragon's view as he exited the passage.
A planet that he had known for many years.
He was still dumbfounded and confused inside, but he acted sorrowful on the outside.
To the creatures on this planet,
He was known as God's messenger.
A level 5 dragon that everyone here knew very well.
The fake Ice God's father,
Looked down at the planet with interest.
Everything was covered in ice.
It was a lot farther from the sun, and it was naturally cold and dark all year round.
The atmosphere was thin, freezing winds blew everywhere, and blizzards limited visibility.
When he entered the atmosphere with the Dragon,
He could see large camps that seemed to be training grounds for soldiers in this harsh environment.
The dragon roared at this moment,
And shouted so loudly that everything shook.
Everyone on the planet heard the sad cry of the dragon, who said,
"Our lord has fallen!
Gather for the funeral..."
At first, there was no reaction,
But the next moment, auras surged from every direction, rushing over to where the dragon was heading!
How was that even possible!
Their God has fallen?
Could God even die?
Millions of soldiers gathered quickly.
A large screen appeared above the sky, allowing everyone to witness this unbelievable funeral.
When everyone saw the black dragon, they were sure that the matter was serious.
This black dragon was at level 5 and was the personal messenger of God.
While in shock,
Another dragon descended from the sky, too.
This one was an ice dragon and the planet manager.
When the ice dragon saw the old man with the corpse in his hand, its eyes almost popped out like the black dragon's!
However, the soldiers stood in rows, emotionless.
They were trained to be like that, so even now
that their god presumably was 'dead',
They didn't show any emotions.
They thought it was probably a test to see if they could control their emotions or not.
The dragon's head came down, and the old man jumped down with the Ice God's corpse in his hand.
From the heavy aura and their fate that was linked to this corpse, plus the ice law emitting from it,
They all knew the corpse was really their God.
But when the old man who jumped from the dragon's head landed on the ground,
Some of the soldiers almost laughed.
Even the ice dragon's mouth twitched.
This unknown old man was short!
So short that when he landed,
The leg and the back of the Ice God's head smashed to the ground!
The old man slowly turned around towards the ice dragon and the army commanders who were allowed to be closer.
The Ice God's leg and head dragged on the ground while he turned around and made a perfect circle on the snowy ground.
Some soldiers bit their lips.
Some commanders gritted their teeth.
The ice dragon looked at the black dragon with questioning eyes, but it didn't receive any response.
The old man sighed sadly.
The sigh echoed through the world, affecting everyone's emotions.
Hearing it made everyone think that this old man,
Whoever he was, he wasn't simple at all and had a close relationship with their God.
Then he said,
"Unfortunately, my son has passed away..."
The crowd's eyes widened!
Son?
"The other day, he had a common cold.
I thought he would be fine in a week or so, but..."
Ice God died from a common cold?
Hearing the nonsense,
One of the commanders was going to shout something,
But before a single word comes out of his mouth,
He was sent flying by the tail of a certain black dragon.
Anyone else with an 'opinion' shut their mouth.
The message was clear.
'Don't interrupt the old man.'
The crowd gulped down.
The commander who just tried to talk disappeared on the horizon.
The small old man continued,
"And today, we are gathered here to send my son on his way...
To his eternal destination..."
And then he walked towards a big black pot,
That many knew well in the mainland,
And no one recognized it here.
"You might not know.
But our family always respected the traditions."
The crowd wondered what traditions he was talking about.
"In our tradition, do you know how we deal with ice?"
The crowd shook their head.
"Ice is meant to cool your drinks..."
The crowd frowned.
What is he talking about?
"So let's do that."
Do what?
And then the old man, who was basically dragging the Ice God with his face on the ground,
Stopped in front of the big pot and then kicked his son's corpse inside!
The jaws of the emotionless crowd dropped!
An old commander was going to shout,
'That's blasphemy',
But he was sent flying to the horizon, just like the previous one!
The little old man then jumped on top of the pot and started mixing and stirring whatever was in it with a stick alongside his son's corpse...
After a while,
He turned to the crowd, smiled bitterly, and said,
"This was my son's final wish.
He always wished to cool the drink of his loyal soldiers...
And in our tradition, we respect the final wish of our family members."
Then he snapped his finger,
And glass cups started flying into everyone's hands from a small passage.
He then looked at the crowd and said,
"Who wants some cold orange juice ?"
But no one dared even to move, let alone answer.
Was this a test or not?
Is he the real father? Fake father? Or Ice God himself joking around?
But just a moment later, everyone raised their cups.
Because on the screen, a certain dragon raised his tail, ready to send them on a trip to the 'horizon' if they didn't.
The old man nodded,
"Thank you, everyone, for being so kind to us."
And then, orange juice began to pour out of the pot.
But even so, nobody dared to drink it!
Seeing them not drinking, the little old man said,
"Cheers."
And everyone, after looking at the dragon's tail, which was still raised, said together,
"Cheers!"
And drank the orange juice.
The level of the whole army suddenly started advancing.
They knew that God's corpse actually was the one who 'chilled' their drink, and this was the effect of his last wish and blessing...
Tears gathered in everyone's eyes.
So God was really dead?
And this old man was actually his father?
Finding the 'truth' was like an acceptance of their god's death,
And accepting their God's death meant the end of their beliefs.
The ice dragon and black dragon felt a shackle that bound them for as long as they remembered, break.
The old man smiled,
"That's not how a funeral should be.
Why would you be sad at a funeral?
Why not be happy ?"
The army soldiers shouted,
"Why not be happy ?"
The little old man shouted,
"Let's go to our new home !"
And the army soldiers shouted,
"To our new home !"
And then a passage opened above the planet,
A black hand descended,
Gave everyone a heart attack,
And took them away.
....
Silver platform.
Little Mortal walked out of the passage and kicked the Ice God's corpse into the prison cage for safekeeping.
Not long ago,
After he was done slapping the Sea Goddess,
He suddenly summoned the Ice God and started beating him up.
The birth treasures wondered what the reason was?
Was he just randomly beating them now?
However, from the live stream, Crystal was showing them secretly, they found out the reason.
So in this 'plot', Ice God was supposed to act as a corpse for his funeral, and that's why he got beaten up so he could be prepared for his role.
Little Mortal drew a ✓ in front of another accomplished mission.
[ 6. The chunk of ice's main planet
Main character: chunk of ice father
Final boss: Chunk of ice
Mission accomplished ✓]
He was going to go for another round,
But he frowned and said,
"Why do I feel cold?"
The backpack trembled.
"So each of these main planets boosts a certain law?"
Then he stomped the ground,
"Don't be useless and keep it under control, Lubo!
Do I need to tell you everything about Planet's management?"
And the weather turned back to normal.
Little Mortal snorted.
Then he saw a lady with dark skin flying over, accompanied by a group of people following behind her.
She was the manager of the former main planet of the Assassin God.
Any planet that joined Planet Lubo would know instantly what's going on.
There was a 'guardian challenge' archive,
There was a 'guardian ceremony' archive,
And many other public informations that any creatures at level 2 and higher could access the moment they were officially part of the guardian territory through world law.
So they already knew what kind of monster this so-called 'guardian' was.
Seeing them coming over, Little Mortal waved his hand and shouted,
"Don't come over here.
If you are here for freeloading,
Be my big sister's guest."
And the crowd, who knew their intention was exposed, awkwardly changed direction to float with others.
Little Mortal looked at the Crystal,
"Is that fine for big sister if they join her?
If not, I can 'shoo' them away."
The Crystal vibrated,
The more and the stronger they are, the better.>
Little Mortal nodded, patted his token, a passage opened, and he went to the other side.
After a brief moment, the whole Ice God's former army, with the two dragons, came over.
Little Mortal pointed at the floating crowd and said,
"Go over there."
And they obediently went there.
The first thing they checked upon arrival was the fight between their former boss and the current one.
It seems he wasn't anyone's father,
But a sworn enemy, taking revenge.
And their God wasn't the only casualty of his revenge; other Gods were included.
It seems this new boss was far stronger than the previous one.
Little Mortal then rubbed his chin,
"Can we send those fish over, too?"
The Crystal vibrates,
"Alright.
Do whatever is needed to help big sister."
The planet was so big now that many creatures couldn't reach here even after years of traveling.
But The Crystal was scared to ask him for permission until he brought it up himself.
At this moment, the guardian token's mechanical voice sounded,
[Seven Main Planets aren't bound by fate.
There's no need to break their Fate connection.]
Little Mortal raised an eyebrow, then became excited,
"Don't say it, don't say it!
Let me guess!"
[Affirmative.]
"Okay, I bet one of them is the politician's main planet!
Politicians mostly sell their souls to the devil at the start of their careers; they don't believe in anything.
So it's natural if no one has fate in them!"
[Correct.]
"Alright, the other obvious one is that lunatic universe.
The Puppeteer!
I heard he turned everyone and everything into puppets there!
There are no living creatures there anyway!"
[Correct.]
"And for the rest...
Don't know.
Which one?"
[Soul God's main planet.]
Little Mortal frowned,
"Who?"
[...Soulless.]
"Oh, him...
Why would you use that stupid name?
Anyway,
How could there be no fate?
What do those souls believe in then?"
The soul cube flew over and vibrated.
Little Mortal gasped.
"No way!
So barbaric?
He just kills everything,
Extracts their souls,
Seals them in his main planet for a while,
And then he stuffs them in you?"
The soul cube vibrated again.
Little Mortal stepped back and pointed at the cube with a trembling hand,
"Y-You are telling me,
T-That those things inside you,
Are real souls?
I thought that was a special effect to make you look cool!"
There were indeed many phantom-like figures moving around inside the Soul Cube!
The soul cube containing millions of souls,
<-_->
Why do I need to look cool?
Then he said,
"Free them!
Let them go, you idiot!"
But the soul cube vibrated.
These souls can be used as temporary 'fuel' to control the puppets in his place.>
And Little Mortal, with a side kick, smashed the soul cube into the backpack.
Both the cube and the backpack were sent flying with the rest of the treasures hanging on the backpack!
But only after 100 meters of flying, something caught the cube!
Little Mortal's cold voice sounded,
"I said let them go, you stupid cube!
How many extra 51% souls did I use for you to do your job and make puppets for me?
Hmmm!?
Do you think I need your help with souls?
If you can't obey a simple order, I'll crush you and make a 'Rubik's Cube' out of your pieces!
That way, you will be useful at least!"
The soul cube, which already had some cracks on it from the pressure of the small hands, released the souls without any more nonsense.
It was only trying to give him a friendly warning,
But it seems that triggered something in him and made him angry instead.
The soul cube opened from all six of its surfaces.
Something like a core was in the middle.
Around the core, many transparent souls were cycling.
Some were in pain, some were in fear...
Negative feelings were emanating from each one.
You could see the souls of the old, the young, males, females, animals, and all kinds of different creatures.
And as if they felt something, they started flying away from the core.
The moment these souls left the cube area,
They disappeared completely.
No one could see them anymore.
Except Little Mortal, who said,
"You lost your way?
Aren't you going to the 'Dark World', and then to that 'Gate'?"
The birth treasures wondered who he was talking to.
But when they saw him looking at 'nothing',
They figured out that if one person around here could see the 'souls' that are basically invisible,
That person should be the one who can turn invisible himself.
But what was this 'Dark World', and the 'Gate' he was talking about?
Little Mortal, while stroking his chin, kept nodding.
As if he was listening to someone.
At the end, he said,
"Well, I was wondering why that Soulless guy kept you in his main planet first, then stuffed you in his cube.
So if souls are stuck somewhere and can't go to the Dark World for a certain period of time,
They can't find their way to it...
Then stay here for a while.
When I reach level 1000, I gain access to that place."
The birth treasures,
<-_->
Level 1000?
We are witnessing someone advancing to level 7, and you are talking about level 1000?
And souls going to this 'Dark World' after death?
New secrets being revealed?
"What do you mean, level 10 is the end of the road?
I am level 108 now.
How about you explain that then?"
Hearing his conversation with 'nothing',
It seems the souls didn't believe him either.
But level 10?
The birth treasures wondered who he was talking to.
The other party even had information about level 10?
The Crystal vibrated.
Little Mortal glanced at it and nodded while looking at 'nothing' again.
"How did I reach level 108?
How about you tell me about levels 8, 9, and 10?
Then I'll tell you about my own level-up system."
And after a brief moment,
"I know level 10 is just something that you heard about in legends!
Do you think that useless Soulless guy is capable enough to catch a level 10 soul?
Just tell me what you've heard about these levels?
We already guessed it, though.
10 universes for level 7,
100 for level 8,
1000 for level 9,
And 10,000 for level 10, right?"
"Wrong?
How is it wrong?"
Now everyone was interested.
The God of life and death advanced by following this pattern; was it different at higher levels?
Only level 7 was about the number of universes?
They looked at Little Mortal's notebook, which he started writing on one of the pages, and saw the answer.
[First condition for each level up is the mainland's manager, who needs to be the first to advance.
After that,
- First, the mainland needs to devour 10 universes, so its manager can advance to level 7.
- For level 8, the mainland needs to devour 1000 universes, so its manager can advance to level 8.
- For level 9, the mainland needs to devour 10 other mainlands, so its manager can advance to level 9.
- For level 10, mainland needs to devour 10 level 9 mainlands for its manager to advance to level 10.
After that, the mainland gets stronger by devouring other Mainlands infinitely.
For Higher beings to advance:
-First, they need to have a Mainland manager two levels higher than them.
- For level 7, they need to devour 10 universes and a level 9 Mainland.
- For level 8, they need to capture one mainland for their own mainland, and have a level 10 Mainland.
If they participate in the mainland's hunt with others,
They gain part of the approval to level up from the mainland itself.
For example, if they are a team of 10,
Then they gain 10% approval each after their successful hunt.
- And levels 9 and 10 are basically impossible for higher beings, because they need to be two levels lower than the manager.]
Little Mortal looked at his own clumsy handwriting and scratched his head.
Then he suddenly jumped and spin-kicked 'nothing' in the air.
"Devour this, devour that.
This idiot was talking about evil Mainlands all the time."
Then he shook his head in disappointment,
"I was excited for a moment, and I thought we found some answers."
The birth treasures, except the outsider group, received new information again.
Evil mainland?
There is such a thing?
And why is he acting like he already knew there was such a thing?
Little Mortal then added some accomplished missions to his notebook.
[10. Mr. Politician's main planet
Main character: nobody
Final boss: Mr. Politician
Mission accomplished ✓
11. Soulless guy's main planet
Main character: nobody
Final boss: Soulless guy
Mission accomplished ✓
12. Puppeteer's main planet
Main character: nobody
Final boss: Puppeteer
Mission accomplished ✓]
Then he looked at 'nothing',
"You are back again, you silly 'ancient soul'!
Let me tell you, this place is connected to a normal version of the mainland, alright?
A 'Green' Mainland! Not like whatever ugly 'Gray' mainland you came from!
So don't compare your level-up system with us."
The soul that was kicked away and came back seems to understand.
"Oh, you know someone who knows someone who might know how normal Mainland's advancement works?
Go call over whoever it is then."
And the soul seems to accept the request and leave.
Little Mortal shook his head,
"Alright, come back when you find the other party."
Then he looked at another 'nothing'.
"No, you won't die without the cube.
Don't compare my home with your savage land,
Alright?
Here, we have a Frontline Guardian,
If you stay in guardian territory and don't mess around,
You have nothing to worry about."
Then,
"Alright, alright.
Little Mirror, open a passage to that Puppeteer mainland.
Bring it to our side so these souls go play there with the puppets."
Then he asked impatiently,
"What else?"
But it seems no one said anything.
However, Little Mortal suddenly jumped up and kicked an unknown 'nothing' while shouting in anger,
"What do you mean, see you after trillions of years?
Do I need that much time to reach level 1000?"
And even after that, he didn't stop.
He started jumping and running around while punching and kicking at 'nothings' everywhere,
"Who was it?
Which one of you called me delusional?"
And on this day,
Thousands of invisible souls felt 'alive' again from receiving physical pain after who knows how many years...
.....
After an hour of beating up souls, Little Mortal came back with a suspicious look while mumbling,
"Why do I feel they enjoyed getting hit?"
Then he shrugged and said,
"Whatever.
Mr. Token, you said there are seven main planets without fate, what about the other four?"
[God O-...
Aladdin, Grave Robber, Imposter, Fortune Teller.]
Hearing the names, Little Mortal furrowed,
"Why is that?
I don't see any reason for that."
[After the first complete scan of the guardian territory,
No connection has been found between outsiders and the creatures working on their main planets.]
"Working?
Aren't they training soldiers?"
[Negative.]
Little Mortal, with a look of disgust, said,
"I can guess without seeing it.
There is slavery going on there, on a planetary scale, right?
And they never saw or heard about these lunatics!
So with their miserable life and nothing to have hope for, there won't be any fate either...."
[Affirmative.]
"Yeah, it should be because of their way of advancing.
They just need to devour universes, and Fate is meaningless to them.
Well, check their planets,
If there is nothing wrong with them, bring them over and end this nonsense."
And he started adding accomplished missions again.
[8. Fortune Teller's main planet
Main character: no one
Final boss: Fortune Teller
Mission accomplished ✓
9. Grave Robber's main planet
Main character: no one
Final boss: Grave Robber
Mission accomplished ✓
13. Aladdin's main planet
Main character: no one
Final boss: Aladdin
Mission accomplished ✓
14. Imposter's main planet
Main character: no one
Final boss: Imposter
Mission accomplished ✓]
"Good.
Three to go.
But before that..."
He turned to the puppet squad, which the Crystal just asked the prison cage to let them out so it could 'farm' law from them, and said,
"Traditions are important."
And the puppets, one at a time,
Stood up, came to him,
Got a harsh and unwatchable beating,
And then went back to their seats.
Even the God of Life and Death wasn't spared.
Seeing who the ones were that he called for,
The 'audience' understood what he meant by 'tradition'.
Until now, every main planet has had a final boss,
And Little Mortal found a reason to beat them up while 'breaking' the fate connection they had with their planets.
But this group of outsiders,
God of Thievery,
God of Life and Death,
Puppet Master,
Soul God,
God of Prophecy,
And the one from their side,
God of Contract,
Didn't have any fate connected to them,
And Little Mortal didn't have a reason to beat them up as the 'final boss' to break the connection.
So to fix that problem, in the name of 'tradition',
He let them taste being the final boss.
They knew a certain imposter who imitated Entertainment Goddess to fool a certain little boy was going to take his share of beating if one day he was resurrected...
After all of that, Little Mortal looked at the sky.
It was night, and a new moon was in the sky.
He suddenly became happy, pointed at the moon, and started jumping up and down excitedly,
"Look, look!
The moon is pink tonight!"
And called for the Glasses of Knowledge,
"Little Glasses, good job!
How is this one pink?
Why is it pink?
Tell me about it!"
And the Glasses of Knowledge vibrated,
Little Mortal's eyes started shining,
"I can't wait to see what color the new one will be..."
*Yawn*
As if suddenly feeling sleepy, he said,
"Pause the speedrun timer."
And went inside the backpack, changed into his sleepwear, and went to his sleeping bag.
Not long after,
While watching the pink moon,
With the beautiful waves of different-colored aurora from the Entertainment Goddess's advancement in the sky, plus the special effects of shining particles that were raining down all the time, and the melodic sound of the wind going through the crystalline mountains, he went to sleep after muttering to himself,
"If this is a dream, don't wake me… but if it's real, let it never end."
*Zzzzz...*
And with him, suddenly decided to sleep, peace and quiet came back to the world...