Chapter 16 - Advancement To Level 1

―<▼>―

●[𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐔𝐩!]

●[𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬!, 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐔𝐩 𝐑𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝.]

➤[𝐏𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝!(𝟏.𝟓->𝟐.𝟓)]

➤[𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝!(𝟏.𝟓->𝟐.𝟓)]

➤[𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝!(𝟑.𝟔->𝟒.𝟔)]

➤[𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐦𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝!(𝟐.𝟎->𝟑.𝟎)]

➤[𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥, 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫(𝐒)!]

➤[𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐒 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝!]

➤[𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐩 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝!]

➤[𝐏𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝!]

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"Urghh!!! What the hell... This is a lot." Mercedes felt an intense headache coming out of nowhere. Level Up was a lot more than what she had expected. It was slowly giving her a migraine which was something she didn't appreciate.

Laying on her comfy bed, Mercedes glances at the ceiling with thoughts surging inside her head. She couldn't understand what was happening. And as she had said before, she underestimated leveling up.

Leveling Up In Reality... Such words were something she would never have believed at first. But ever since being the Host of AEGIS, common sense got thrown out of the window. Whether it be gaining attributes, entering a virtual reality, and many more.

Reality was warping, and she didn't know how and why.

Anyhow, each of her attributes had been increased by 1.0 attribute. The effect of this unexpected modification was her current appearance. Fortunately, no attributes went overboard. Mercedes didn't want to break things because of an uncontrollable physique.

She also didn't want to immediately become a genius or someone very hard-willed. A sudden change was a lot, and Mercedes wanted to take it slowly. However, she had a feeling within her that circumstances might make Mercedes do the opposite.

"Nonetheless, other than my attributes. I gained another active skill. It's an S-rank, the first of its kind." Mercedes murmured to herself before continuing. "Thought Accelerator... I don't know what it does, but since it's an S-rank. I doubt that it will be useless."

"I gained new features, which are Points and Shop." Mercedes swiftly understood what the two newly-gained features meant. Points were the currency needed for the Shop. The one thing she was curious about was how to gain Points.

Since AEGIS highly resembles a game system, either she would have to go through quests or perhaps killing other creatures might prove sufficient. She didn't care about what she needed to do. Mercedes was only curious about Points and what she could buy from the Shop.

'Can I buy, Weapons? Potions? Armors? Accessories? Pets? What are the things I can buy?' Mercedes thought to herself, and a digital interface materialized before her.

It was the Shop Interface.

―<▼>―

[𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐩]

●[𝐀𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭(𝐬)]

●[𝐀𝐫𝐦𝐨𝐫(𝐬)]

●[𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬(𝐬)]

●[𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭(𝐬)]

●[𝐒𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥(𝐬)]

➤[𝐏𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭(𝐬): 𝐍𝐨𝐧𝐞]

―<▲>―

"Hmm... I was mostly right. The Shop isn't selling pets, though it is selling skills."

"Intriguing..." A sly smile emerged on Mercedes's face. Things were about to get interesting with the emergence of the Shop. If she could buy skills, then it seems that she was not entirely over-reliant on quests. This will give her the variety she needs.

"I'm a bit excited, and I want to open the tabs. But..." Mercedes stopped herself as she didn't want to go window shopping. She'll avoid looking over them for now. Otherwise, she might become greedy for the things she discovers in the Shop.

"At any rate! Lastly, my authority within AEGIS has increased. I don't know what this means, but I'm sure this has a connection with what Astarte had said before I left the virtual world." Mercedes was a little bit sure of this theory.

With that in mind, she closed her eyelids and silently thought to herself.

'Spade, please explain everything to me.'

[𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝!]

[𝐔𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭-𝐎𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧!]

As Spade's monotone voice echoed throughout her mind, Mercedes's consciousness blacked out. Losing her consciousness was within expectations when talking about Spade. Besides, the VAR might be needed to present the information.

A couple of seconds pass by. Mercedes opened her eyelids and gazed forward. She was in the middle of a beautiful and vast field. It seems that spring had struck nature as flowers shrouded the land. Though, along with Mercedes, was another person.

It was a young girl, the one who gave her some flowers while she was lost in the streets of Imperium.

Noticing the young girl, Mercedes furrowed her eyebrows. She wondered why the young girl was in the middle of the field, but soon she realized the circumstances. Mercedes sighed to herself and calmly uttered.

"Spade... It's you, correct?"

The young girl walked forward and responded in a familiar tone.

"Yes, I am Spade. It's nice to see the Host while being in a humanoid form." With a monotone voice, Spade voiced out her appreciation. It was somewhat strange to see a little girl talk in a monotone voice. In spite of that, Mercedes was a little bit used to it.

Especially when it was related to Spade.

"Since you're now in front of me. I'm confident that you'll explain all of the information you have hidden." Mercedes remarked while the little girl, Spade, slowly shook her head.

Staring at Mercedes's sapphire-like irises, Spade rectified.

"Host will be given the general overview of her circumstances in accordance with the authority level you have over AEGIS. The Host will receive the information she desperately needs. But all questions will not be given an answer."

"I see... If what you said is correct, then through leveling, I'll be able to learn more about AEGIS." Mercedes expressed, which Spade affirmed with a nod. "Correct, Host will receive more information as she levels up."

"Then why can't I just receive all of the information? Wouldn't it be better for me to know everything?" Mercedes knew that the truth might become stranger than fiction. But, it was better than being ignorant of it.

"As Astarte had said, Host... Ignorance is a blessing that one must treasure. The Host will never be able to avoid the truth, so there is no need to be impatient. The truth will naturally come along."

"Besides, even if the Host knows everything, the Host wouldn't be able to do anything about it."

"Perhaps the Host might do such things as, Creating plans for the future, becoming ready for the future and getting stronger through information about the future. Even then, that will be the path of the Host."

"With or without the Knowledge."

"In the end, Knowledge is a shackle that will drag one deeper into the abyss."

"That's why that world fell." Spade sighed to herself as her surroundings began to change.

Mercedes wanted to continue the argument and counter Spade's words. However, with the ever-changing landscape, she was forced to stop herself. Calmly glancing around with a scrutinizing gaze, the beautiful fields turned into a hellish wasteland.

*BANG!!!* *BANG!!!* *BANG!!!*

A seemingly endless wasteland covered with lakes of blood, deep craters, mountains of corpses, and ashfall. Covered by black thunderous clouds roaring with crimson thunderbolts. It was as if the world had ended.

There were no signs of civilization, only what was left behind by an untold amount of destruction.

"What happened?" Mercedes questioned while her arms trembled. Seeing thousands of cold corpses lying around while enveloped by velvet blood wasn't a good sight to see. It was making her stomach sick and somewhat restless.

Though with her high spirit attribute. It, fortunately, saved her from throwing up. Mercedes was handling the scene better than one would expect, exceptionally for one who had never seen a corpse in her entire life.

"This is the former world and where the glorious nation of Imperium stood, or what was left behind of it. Nothing and no one is alive. All are dead without being able to rot."

Spade calmly answered while Mercedes felt a chill echoing throughout her spine. Mercedes wanted knowledge about what had happened. The possibility of the former world being in horrifying circumstances had already passed her mind. But seeing it in front of her sight was different.

How could the world she spent a couple of weeks in fall into this state? How? The Imperium was a strong nation that might be able to rival the Federation in terms of military power. And in Mercedes's world, the Federation was amongst the strongest nations.

"Heavens Fall... It all started when everything fell to the earth."

"Abominations that make monsters tremble emerged from the towers that fell from the skies. Massacring everything and everyone, they were Cryptids. Even with the Imperium's high military power, they collapsed under the threat of Cryptids." Spade continued to coldly explain.

Mercedes backed away from her since she had realized that the world had ended because of some monsters that even Spade considered abominations. She also realized something deep within her mind, and she didn't dare to accept it.

"T-This... It's too much." Mercedes continued backing while expressing her panic. She wanted to go back to her world and not get stuck in this fallen world. For someone who had gained the mental resistance skill, Mercedes was too horrified.

'Why isn't the mental resistance skill working?' Mercedes wondered within herself. Fear was slowly grasping her heart as it began to beat heavily. She wanted to calm herself, but no matter what she did, horror seemed deeply embedded within her mind.

"That's because of him." Spade pointed towards the pitch-black skies. Specifically, she was pointing at the scarlet moon gleaming lustrous in the fallen world. Mercedes followed her fingers and saw the moon.

"A red moon?" Mercedes questioned before Spade asserted with her monotone voice.

"Look clearly, Host. That isn't a moon."

Gazing at the blood moon with scrutiny, Mercedes understood what Spade meant. It wasn't a moon of some sort. It was something different. She couldn't help but feel that something was staring at her. That's right, staring at her.

"I-It... It's an eye." At that moment, a slit formed on the crimson surface, staring directly at her. Mercedes was swiftly pulled out of the Virtual-Augmented Reality and woke up back in her room.

She was breathing heavily as cold sweat dripped from her forehead.

For the first time after gaining AEGIS, she felt a traumatic fear that clenched her heart. Mercedes understood that she wasn't invincible, even with AEGIS. There were things meant to be not known. Beings meant to be kept in the dark.

"I guess this is what Spade and Astarte meant. To be honest, I'm regretting it a bit after seeing it for myself. But I guess this is the truth I wanted to understand."

"Ignorance is truly a blessing."