Chapter 28 – Interface

“Welcome to my sanctuary.” –Priestess

The spirit priestess invites us into her home or whatever this place is. We step inside and notice a bunch of weird trinkets and objects hanging from the ceiling. The place looks like the hollow interior of a large tree. Various objects of unknown origin litter the place.

Is the priestess a pack rat? So much junk laying around that I have trouble not stepping on anything. She proceeds to lead us to an area with cushions placed on the floor. The cushions are placed in a circular formation making it easy for everyone to face each other. We all sat down with the signal from the priestess.

“Sorry for not introducing myself earlier. I’m Nele. The spirit priestess of the wood elves.” –Nele

The priestess starts introducing herself after sitting down. Her long blue hair lay on the floor before her. I stop myself from trying to touch it. Curious as to how strong she is. I use [Scan] on her.

Nele Woodenlia – Spirit Priestess of the Wood Elves – Level 71

This woman is strong. I wonder how she got to this level. When I think of national leaders I think of frail people. They always make others with the skills to do the work for them. Women in this world sure can be very powerful despite their appearance.

“I’m the god Dasas. Pleased to meet you Nele.” –Dasas

“Saber. A knight serving my master.” –Saber

“Hi. Your everyday dog girl here. I’m Archer.” –Archer

“Lancer…” –Lancer

My crew and I give our introductions and greetings. Nele looks around at everyone and then at me. Her eyes narrow while staring at me a minute. The expression she gives off is one of slight hostility. Byron and Calista are silently sitting there and only observing the situation. They probably will not get involved in the discussion unless asked to.

“God? The word only reminds me of that witch. The one calling herself the goddess Lana.” –Nele

Nele starts giving off bloodlust once she mentions the name of the bitch goddess. Makes me curious as to how she knows of her.

“You know of the bitch goddess?” –Dasas

“Unfortunately. Yes. Only met once. I was with the hero when it happened…” –Nele

The priestess gives off a sad expression and then one of anger as she spoke of it. Hearing about this hero got me very intrigued. I have to hear more of this and ignore how she might take it. I am not one to care for how others feel most times.

“Something went down with you guys?” –Dasas

“I suppose you have the right to know. As what I will have to discuss will be relevant to you and the safety of the world.” –Nele

What she means by safety of the world? This sounds to be a much bigger deal than I anticipated. Considering it is the bitch goddess it has to be bad news. Why me? I can only sigh to myself. My crew is silent and just watching me. Being the leader sucks.

“So what is it?” –Dasas

Nele starts to explain how the bitch goddess was after a precious thing inside the great forest. The hero was just one of her pawns in order to acquire it. The hero being the companion of Nele was enraged after finding out. He attacked the bitch goddess.

Apparently, if the bitch goddess gets her hands on this thing it might cause the world to be destroyed. At least that is what Nele says. Spirit priestesses throughout the ages are entrusted with a duty from the spirit kings to protect this holy object.

The hero died injuring the bitch goddess greatly, and saving the world from her treachery. Now that I have appeared, for Nele was worried that events are moving once again. Something about if a contractor of the spirit kings is here. It means something bad is going to happen in the future. The bitch goddess might be back and after the precious object inside the great forest once again.

Nele was kind of vague with the details. I got the gist of the story. Bitch goddess takes the thing. We are doomed pretty much. Now I am thinking where is the hero? When you need one? I hope it is not me. Actually, where this is going the job to stop the bitch goddess will definitely fall on me.

I can only silently curse the world at my bad luck. Nothing comes free after all. Is this the reason I was sent here. Who knows? Is the bitch goddess that dangerous? Isn’t she supposed to be an administrator too? A god should have a right to destroy a world or two if they want to. However, since I am living here as well I do not want that to happen. I am a selfish bastard after all.

Getting a slight headache thinking about this and the war stakes just got higher. The priestess is looking at me with hope in her eyes. Do not look at me like that. Damn fuzzy feelings are tugging at me. Please let not it be love. Love makes you weak and stupid.

I am not a naïve teen no more to believe in love. At my age I gone through a few relationships and they just ruined the illusion for me. End up becoming a loner and social outcast as it was one of the triggers for it.

The thought of marriage felt almost like a death sentence to me. I could never really dedicate myself to a serious intimate relationship. Fear of being stuck in a boring relationship and having kids like I am expected to. The pressure from family and my overall culture thinking it is the way.

Of course as I got older the thought of marriage did not seem bad anymore. Dying alone can be scary. Having family being there is reassuring. In the end I am just a regular human. By then my loner lifestyle made me feel it was too late.

I got to stop thinking about these useless things. More important matters I have to attend to. The world might end after all.

“So what is this precious thing of yours? And what does it have to do with me?” –Dasas

That sounded kind of lewd once I said that, but while thinking. Nele got up from her seat and so did the elves Byron and Calista.

“I will show you. The thing we elves and this great forest have been protecting. Since the time of our ancestors.” –Nele

I get up from my seat. Along with my crew as they follow my actions. Nele turns around and starts walking towards a door.

“This way please.” –Nele

“Okay.” –Dasas

She leads us to a wooden door with various etched markings on it. While Nele stands in front of the door she starts to speak some incomprehensible words. The marking on the door starts to glow and Nele opens the door and enters. We follow her inside.

Inside is a small room with a magic circle on the floor. Nele gestures for us all to step on it with her. Must be some sort of teleport circle. At least I hope it is. The magic circle starts to shine as we all step on it and a light envelops us all.

When the light fades I notice we end up in a large cavern of some sort. The most noticeable thing about this place is the huge shining crystal taking up most of the room. While my crew and I are staring at this crystal, for Nele starts to speak.

“We are underground. This is the spirit crystal. Something the spirit kings entrusted us to protect. Also what the witch Lana is after.” –Nele

Spirit crystal huh? This is the thing that everyone is all up in arms about. I start to step forward. I want to touch this thing as I feel a weird pull. Nele nods and signals it is alright for me to do so. Once I put my hand on this giant crystal that is many times larger than me. A message window pops up as the crystal starts to shine brightly.

Welcome administrator Dasas. This is the interface for the world of Anahita. Do you wish to proceed?YesNo

Now I get it. This must be the access point for the system of the world. I wonder what is inside that can cause harm to the world. If someone with bad intentions got access. Curious I press the [Yes] option.

Error: Adminstrator Dasas does not have level clearance.

Requirement for access: Having a soul force of three authorities or more.

I do not have level clearance. That sucks. I need one more authority to gain access. Have to gather more faith energy and come back here. Such a pain since everything can’t come easy.

“Contractor Dasas. What do you see?” –Nele

“Let’s just say. I’m not strong enough to access the power of this crystal yet.” –Dasas

The eyes of Nele are wide as she has her right hand cover her open mouth. The elves Byron and Calista are similarly shocked at the outcome. My crew only looks at the crystal confused and curious.

“That is unfortunate. But that means you have the ability to use the spirit crystal…unfathomable.” –Nele

The crystal looks to be a computer of sorts that was created for administrator use. I wonder why it was not given to Lana in the first place. Makes me question about these spirit kings and how they play into this.

Then my communication ring starts to glow and blink. An incoming call from one of my NPCs at Mount Tai wants to contact me it looks like.

“One moment. I have a call.” –Dasas

“Eh?” –The elves

I can only laugh inside my mind at their reactions of confusion. I activate my ring.

“Testing. Testing. Can you hear me leader?” –Caster

“I can hear you. What is up?” –Dasas

“The darkness informed me. An army is headed for us. I just wanted to let you know leader.” –Caster

“What? Will you guys be alright? Want me to warp there now?” –Dasas

“They will take a while to get here. No worries leader. We are making preparations. I’ll call you once they close.” –Caster

I am not sure how to feel about this situation. Should I leave this matter up to my NPCs? I want to trust them I really do. However, the situation with the bitch goddess escalated once I learned about this crystal.

“Are you sure? You guys have it covered?” –Dasas

“Yes we do leader. The darkness was kind enough to provide us with an undead army.” –Caster

Now this got me distressed. I did gave them permission to capture a few people to feed on. How did it end up an army? Not sure how I should feel about this.

“Good job Caster. Make sure to keep me informed once they close. I will warp there asap.” –Dasas

“Ku ku ku. Will do leader. Leave it to this here vampire princess Caster.” –Caster

The line gets cut as the glow from the communication ring fades. I can only feel worried and unsure what to do. Securing an alliance with the elves is imperative. However, time is of the essence. The spirit priestess looks at me concerned.

“Is everything alright?” –Nele

“Yes it is. The war between the bitch goddess and my forces will soon begin.” –Dasas

I give a beaming smile to Nele as I think about the future. I did not want to worry her. Will be hard to create an alliance and convince them to join in the war effort if they get scared now.

“If only the hero Ryuutaro was here…” –Nele

Nele lowers her head as she spoke of the previous hero in gloom. Did I hear that name correctly? Almost sounded like a Japanese name. Please do not tell me it is the cliché I read in stories.