"Oh right!" the hamster's expression changed to sad as if he was about to do something bad.
Recalling what he wanted to say for a second, he finally spoke. "I just remembered this, so pardon me, Sir Licht. You will officially be in our asylum, the Pantheon of Lost Gods. The zones you will be dropped onto are the outskirts of the pantheon."
"In a way, they are 'debris' from all the calamities that have ever tried to invade the pantheon, and it also serves as a barricade of sorts for it. In total, there will be two conditions for you to finally step into the pantheon."
"First, defeat all the legends that are all the strongest calamities of the zone you are in. And second, is to complete all five of your trials. Currently, you have done it only till the second trial," The hamster said before sighing from all the explanations he had done today.
"Now, back to-"
Mr. Flare's voice was interrupted by Licht's question. "Wait! Does that mean the last trial won't be to defeat the legends you speak of?"
"Well, even you should know what I will tell after all this time, don't you?" the hamster said while grinning from ear to ear.
Gritting his teeth for a moment, Licht murmured in a frustrated tone. "Tch, fine…"
He knew for a fact that Mr. Flare wouldn't tell him the information, but he wanted to get any bits of it, even if they were not directly useful.
He would step into an unfamiliar world that would surely be more dangerous, scary, and fierce than what he had experienced anywhere.
Licht wanted everything he could get in his power.
Even if it was something small as a calamity's name to something as big as a myth.
'I will stay true to my goal. Nothing will make me astray from it.'
'I will see my life to its end. Everything else will come after that,'
He would devour everything in his way, be it his own monster or the world's shitty morals.
'Maybe, I was always like this. The changing of the world was just a catalyst for my original nature to come out.'
The hamster's squeaky voice interrupted his train of thoughts, "If you have finally thought about it all, I would like to tell you about the gift now."
"My bad, please continue," Licht's hand politely gestured for him to speak.
"So, the gift for you is that you get to ask me two questions of your choosing. If I know the answer then I will have to convey them to you. This is the privilege you gained after being the second one to defeat a unique calamity."
"Think through this before you ask me. This is one the highest privilege given to a mortal,"
This was a heaven-sent opportunity for him!
Licht's mind churned, thinking about all the questions he had thought about in the past weeks. He had hundreds if not thousands of questions regarding the world, calamities, Arkein, and even the so-called lost gods!
'This isn't right. He is baiting me to ask some dumb question in all the excitement.'
But a weird realization hit him. Not every answer was what he wanted right now, not all of them weren't what he needed to survive.
'I need to ask for my needs, not my wants.'
Licht thought hard for a few moments out of all the old and new questions he had. He finally found the two he wanted to know the most about.
"My first question is, how many people in my zone are stronger or even equal to me in power? You did say you didn't know about my stats, but you still know my power level."
'After all, you are far more powerful than me.' Licht didn't continue his statement because he could feel it now.
After the increase in his stats, he could finally see the powerful aura that radiated from Mr. Flare. The small and cute hamster could destroy everything right here, right now.
It was like, it didn't matter to the hamster if Licht had some legendary weapon or just a random stick in his hand.
'It just doesn't matter.'
'Hah, imagine being in a state where nothing matters. This is just too funny.' Licht found it quite comical to think of this.
After all, he had tasted the smallest fraction of the power that was present in this world.
'This is the power I want to yearn for now.'
Looking at the fire burning in Licht's eyes changing, the hamster quietly squealed.
'How many times have I seen a mortal like this? He reminds me of you, Adam…'
Reminiscent of his old memories, the hamster still told Licht the answer of his question.
"There are around fifteen people stronger or equal to your power in this zone out of the millions in it. You could be one of the top pioneers if you move forward with the same fervour."
"I see…" Licht said, his voice dimming down at the end.
Licht grimaced, '15 more people I have to be wary of with millions of others to worry about.'
"Quite if I may say. Then what will your next question going to be?"
"Well, here goes nothing. What are the criteria and things I have to achieve to get to the first realm you speak of?"
"Hoho, now that's a question I would want to say 'No, I won't answer this' to because it can easily destroy the balance of a zone."
Licht had expected this kind of response. "Figures-"
"But..."
"It isn't in my hands to tell you or to not tell you, and you would have known this later down the lane as well."Every word of its voice restored Licht's sour mood.
"To achieve the conduit realm, you have to fulfill one extremely nasty condition. Technically there are two, but the first is easy. Quite easy in fact."
"For the first condition, you will just have to get every single one of your stat to cross a hundred."