Ascension Rebirth - The truth

CHAPTER XI

PART ONE

-AMARIA SEASONG'S SIDE-

[Gladsheim] is the name of our god; the entity that we have served for over three millennia.

The race of mermaids, our race, aren't long lived, at most we have the same lifespan as that of a human's. Thus it is easy to imagine just how many generation of efforts was put into creating and maintaining this religion.

However in truth we do not know what [Gladsheim] really is. Only that it is an entity of great power and knowledge. Even that has been cast into doubt these days.

The god Gladsheim is said to reside within the large complex overseeing our entire city, yet no one of our race has actually entered it to confirm.

We built a shrine dedicated to Gladsheim around the building, encompassing it. Devotees of the Gladsheim known as 'Shamans' are employed to oversee at least the outer exteriors of the building that Gladsheim resides upon.

Yet, our ancestors did not stop there, they did not think it was enough. Over two millennia, our ancestors employed a protector as well to guard the sealed entrance to Gladsheim.

We call this guardian the [Terror of the deep].

It is an exceedingly large shark, over 45 meters and can tear away any sort of intruders with its fearsome bite. Not only that it is impervious to almost all types of physical damage due to its enormity and even has a high level of magical resistance.

Such a creature has defended Gladsheim for over 2000 years.

That being said, even I, the Queen of Lani'tar have started to wane in my worship of Gladsheim. How does one keep their devotion to a god that neither communicates nor shows itself to their followers?

Growing up we were told all kinds of speculations on what Gladsheim could be but never once was it what Gladsheim actually is.

The Gladsheim traditionalists of our race have mostly died out and the only people who are still completely devoted to the religion are the aforementioned 'shamans'.

My aide and close friend from childhood, Miora was also a shaman once but she gave up that position to become my aide.

Over the 10 years since my mother, the previous queen passed and I succeeded as queen I have not put much thought into Gladsheim.

I thought such days would continue on and eventually it would only remain in the inner most recesses of my mind.

Two years ago the guardian of Gladsheim started going berserk for an unknown reason.

When I sent my soldiers in order to investigate they either end up dead or have a trauma so deep that they are unable to even swim in the sea.

I've lost 200 soldiers simply trying to find out the cause of our guardian's sudden violent behaviour.

Eventually we found out that it was because the contract that our ancestors had placed on the creature had expired.

Our ancestors used a special magic known as [Spirit Contract] to bind the fearsome creature to do our bidding. Of course it must have taken great sacrifices to tame such a creature but they succeeded.

However that contract was only good for 2000 years.

Since the contract was terminated our guardian was free to do whatever it pleased. However since it has lived in our captivity so long it has lost all of its natural mindset and has simply retired to being obsessed with protecting the entrance of Gladsheim.

The shamans that were serving in the shrine of Gladsheim have become trapped as a result.

In this midst of all this nonsense visitors have been popping in one by one asking to gain entry into Gladsheim.

These 'visitors' are emissaries from the [Great Demon Army] thus I cannot simply refuse them.

Though truth be told, at this point I care not whether they are able to gain entry into Gladsheim. I have become too far mentally detached from that place as possible.

Right now I care more about the lives of my people than some religion that was created 3000 years ago.

Since they were so adamant about gaining entry I posited them with a condition. If they wanted to gain access they needed.

That was to subdue the raging guardian.

What I did not know was that I had greatly overestimated the strength of the Great Demon Army's soldiers.

The first of the batch of soldiers from the demon army were land-based soldiers. It was no surprise that they were easily killed and eaten by the guardian.

The second batch of soldiers that arrived were aquatic-based soldiers who I had great expectations for.

With this we can finally free my people and bring them peace, I thought.

Alas I was wrong. They were as easily disposed of as the first batch of soldiers.

After that I lost faith in the demon army's ability.

Perhaps it was simply because the creature guarding Gladsheim was far too powerful.

When the third batch of emissaries from the demon army arrived I thought that Lord Astaroth had finally gone insane.

The group consisted of a Paladin, a ranger, a magician and a child.

The paladin and ranger were sole land-based soldiers therefore it would be almost impossible for them to do anything under the ocean.

The dark elf magician may be able to do something but it was highly dubious.

However the child was an intriguing addition to the team.

Whenever we meet with outsiders, Miora and I always switch places a precaution.

Never has there been a time where the opponent has guessed this but that child saw through our farce with a single glance.

More than that, the way he held himself in our exchange was otherworldly. His presence was immense that even Miora could only get a few words in here and there.

The child always took helm of our conversation. As the Queen of an entire race and the one responsible for diplomatic relationships I felt that I had lost in some way against this child.

I thought perhaps maybe that this child could find some way to deal with our problem. However that would be wishful thinking on my part. No matter how smart a child, against a 45 meter deep sea monster it would be impossible.

Not to mention this child was merely a four year old human.

As per his request we provided a war room for their strategic meeting.

After a few hours they came out looking dejected.

'Ah' I thought. Even they could not have any method of dealing with this.

I could not blame them; I could not blame this child. In the end he was still a child. Alas such a bright child, I can only shudder to see what he will become in the future.

I told the child that it was fine if he couldn't think of anything but he did not say that.

He told me, with trembling hands, that he would subdue the guardian. Alone no less!

I was shocked. A child of only four would subdue a 2000+ year old guardian?

His condition for doing so was the full cooperation of the mermaid in the future if the time ever comes.

Miora tried to object but I stopped her.

If this child successfully subdues the guardian then he is something to be truly feared. Such a person was better off having as an ally.

I speak this with my authority and experience as queen.

I wanted to ally with him at all costs should he succeed.

I will explain this to Miora later.

For now the child said that it will take a month to successfully subdue the guardian so we wait bated breaths.

PART TWO

-MORGANT FALLON'S SIDE-

This may be a little abrupt but before I start explaining my plan how I'm going to defeat the [Terror of the deep] I want to talk about a certain skill of mine.

[Life Drain].

Contrary to what many might think, [Life drain] isn't a simple healing spell. It drains the life force of the target while replenishing my own.

Now the main point of this skill is the fact that it drains life force and not simply health.

Therefore this skill has a lot of uses.

If I drown and suffer from asphyxiation I can regain my consciousness and restore my body to the previous state before drowning by using the [Life Drain] skill. Simply put, this means that as long as I have a steady stream of life to drain from I will drown but I will not asphyxiate nor die. With this I've overcome the first obstacle: how to stay submerged in water for prolonged periods of time.

Another point is that it gives me the ability to stay alive even if I somehow end up destroying half my body. For example, should I ever find myself impaled and gore myself through the lungs or even heart I can survive as long as I have a steady stream of life to drain from.

I will also not lose consciousness as long as I am draining life. However, mental fatigue may take over and eventually it is possible I can lose consciousness from that.

If I explain this much my plan should be fairly obvious to everyone right?

Right, I was planning to exploit these properties to defeat the [Terror of the Deep].

A shark will latch onto its prey until it has died.

Exploiting that fact I will have myself get mauled by the shark and latch onto it instead. Then for as long as my consciousness remains I will continuously use [Life Drain] to ensure that I stay conscious.

Eventually either of two probabilities will happen.

The first and most likely probability is that I will at some point lose consciousness and die.

The second probability and the one I'm hoping on is that by continuously draining life of the shark it will eventually die.

It was a very simple plan, right?

A month.

During that time I have to constantly experience drowning and having my body ripped apart.

Fun.

No, I was considerably scared. I was shaking.

I didn't want to do this. Who would?

This was crazy.

If I ran out and ditched this entire place no one would complain.

It was one thing to unexpectedly go through pain and something else entirely to choose to go through pain.

I just hope my four year old body can handle it.

I placed my hands into the water.

Warm.

Hesitantly I dived into the water.

Due to my [Life Force sensory] ability even if I had my eyes closed I could tell where the target is and where I was going.

The good thing about this is that I don't have to face my fears. Though I could feel its presence.

I was now face to face with the Terror of the Deep.

[Terror of the Deep. Level 73, Megalodon Shark]

It stared at me for a little bit as it swam closer.

Before I knew it a gush of pain rushed through entire body.

It was pain unlike anything in this world.

My heart, lungs, spine, intestines, liver, stomach, shoulder, arms and collarbones were all shattered and torn apart.

If that wasn't bad enough I was starting to lose my breath.

I was feeling intense pressure from my throat. My brain was telling me that I needed oxygen.

My body was telling me I was dying.

It hurts!

It hurts so much!

This was entirely a stupid plan!

Why?!

Why did I do this?!

This was literally worse than death, and I have the right to say that since I died already.

But it was far too late to turn back now.

If I wanted to survive I needed this shark to die.

[Life Drain].

I slowly moved my undamaged over to the shark. Though I didn't really need to do this since I was already in contact with the shark, I did so unconsciously.

When I started draining its life it moved more violent.

I could feel the water resistance also tearing me apart but thanks to [Life Drain] I was firmly lodged in the shark's enormous mouth.

Death would be preferable to this pain.

I had only been a few minutes and I was already thinking like this.

Day 1.

21 hours had passed since I started this ridiculous plan.

I was keeping count of everything to ensure that I don't go insane in the midst of it all.

I had drowned almost 420 times and my internal organs were recreated and destroyed nearly 493 times, my spine was recreated and shattered 503 times.

Due to the nature of how [Life Drain] works it was impossible for me to get accustomed or numb from the pain. This was the worst part.

A process of destruction and recreation of my body took place several hundred times.

I guess the only consolation in all this was that now my [Life Drain] skill was at level 31.

The worse part of this entire experience is that I can't get numb from the pain.

Day 2.

46 hours had passed since this all began.

My mind was constantly in turmoil between thinking of just ending this pain and continuing on.

I drowned at a rate of once every 3 minutes.

This means that I had easily drowned over 920 times.

My internal organs were recreated and destroyed approximately 1321 times, my spine shattered and recreated 1421 times.

At this point mental fatigue was starting to set in.

I wasn't tired. No, it was mental fatigue.

Stress.

Luckily for me the physical effects of stress don't actually apply to me since [Life drain] restores even that.

It was a godsend of an ability.

Day 6.

I drowned 2880 times.

Day 12.

My internal organs were destroyed 7312 times.

Day 18.

I was amazed at my own tenacity.

The pain still hurt but for some reason I was getting used to the extreme bout of pain.

Day 21.

[New skill developed: [Physical Damage Resistance]].

This was actually a pretty nice skill to gain, in the midst of this insane plan. It was a great consolation prize.

However the drawback was that it didn't mitigate the actual pain, or perhaps it did but I could not feel it's effects taking place since my body was already pretty much destroyed.

[Skill mastered:[Life Drain]].

Apparently when you reach level 50 in a skill you completely master the skill. It no longer becomes any more powerful.

Day 25.

[Skill mastered: [Physical Damage Resistance]].

Yay.

Day 26.

...

...

Day 27.

Only a few more days.

I can feel the shark losing its power as well.

Day 28.

The shark has slowed its swimming pace considerably since it began.

Day 29.

The shark is now grounded with me. Normally sharks have to perpetually swim in order to keep alive but this was a monster that didn't even need to do that.

Day 30.

My [Life Force Sensory] skill has hit level 42.

With it I can feel the life force of the shark fading away.

Day 31.

The shark has only a few hours of life remaining, I just need... to hold... on.

[You have gained a level] x5.

PART THREE

The [Terror of the Deep] has been slain.

My lungs were filled with enough oxygen to last me for a few more minutes, my body was repaired to its peak physical form now all that was left for me to swim back to the palace.

However as soon as I tried to swim back I noticed an odd presence near me.

A red glowy light appeared from the carcass of the megalodon.

This is-!

I've seen this before, in fact many times! Whenever I summoned my skeleton knights they are plainly visible in their chest.

It's was a soul.

I immediately laid my hands on it, and as I did I was engulfed with an intense pain, worse than what I had gone through in 31 days of having my body ripped to shreds.

It was the death of the shark compressed into a single moment.

However, by now I was used to the pain. I think that's mainly due to my [Physical damage resistance].

The shark's carcass started to reanimate itself.

It was no longer the same [Terror of the Deep].

This one was now my undead minion.

It's eyes glowed red, it's skin pale and tattered.

As a zombie/undead I doubt this creature was able to feel pain anymore. Though in some circles, this is a plus.

This was the [Terror of the Deep] in the truest sense of the word.

I used my newly gained minion to hastily swim me back towards the palace.

I jumped through the magical barrier separating the palace's interior with the water.

Immediately passing by the barrier I fell to the floor.

Gravity.

It was such a comforting and painful feeling at the same time.

My body felt extremely heavy, to the point that I couldn't even move. Just trying to crawl was hard.

Black bags started to form under my eyes from the mental fatigue. It was hard to even keep focusing my sights on a single point and everything was blurring up.

However even amongst this terrible pain and agony I felt a sense of accomplishment.

I could feel a wry smile creeping up on my face.

"Hehehe."

Perhaps I was starting to lose my mind or perhaps it was just the mental fatigue eating up at me. Or maybe they were the same thing.

Either way I felt fulfilled.

Noticing that I had returned Cedric and the Queen's party returned to the small chamber.

"Morgant!"

"Master!" x2

Cedric, Aura and Elena ran up to me to support me on their shoulders.

"Master Morgant! Are you okay?"

Queen Amaria also came up to me to check my condition.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. No, that's a lie, I feel like shit. I'm probably going to die soon."

"W-What?!"

"It was a joke. No, not really I really feel like I'm going to collapse."

The queen was panicking seeing me in that state. She was around age 17~20 but she was pretty fun to tease.

Physically there was nothing wrong with me, of course I was simply just extremely tired.

I had not eaten nor slept in 31 days.

The constant feeling of drowning and having my body ripped apart was the worst of it though.

My clothes were tattered of course but that was the least of my worries.

As promised I defeated the [Terror of the Deep] in a month.

"What happened to the guardian?"

Miora who was standing behind the Queen came up to observe the local waters.

"The guardian? Kekeke!"

I couldn't help but laugh a little.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing, anyway. Like I promised the guardian has been defeated."

"What? Impossible! You truly expect me to believe that a mere child was capable of defeating our guardian? Even jokes have their limits, boy."

"I see, so you want proof then."

"That's right, if you have really defeated our guardian then at least reveal the corpse!"

"Alright, girl. Here it is. Oi! Come here!"

I shouted.

Everyone was looking at me with confusion but slowly that face changed into terror.

That was good! That's exactly what I wanted to see!

This makes everything so worthwhile you know?

Behind me, beyond the barrier that separates the sea and the palace interior was a 45 meter Zombie Megalodon peering into the small room.

It's red eyes shun brightly and sinisterly.

"W-W-What is that?!"

Miora was the first to lose composure.

Followed by the Queen, Elena and finally Aura.

"Impossible!"

"No way!"

"That's!"

"Allow me to introduce my new undead pet. I have slain your guardian and converted it into a zombie shark. Hah... ugh."

I think I coughed out blood.

I couldn't really tell at this point. I was tasting rusted metal in my mouth.

"H-How?! How is this possible? You're not seriously going to tell me you survived for 31 days under water are you?!"

"T-That's a trade secret. As promised I defeated your guardian. In fact I've even set it up so that it will continue its job as protector."

"Eh? You can do that?"

The queen asked, surprised at my suggestion.

"I can do a lot of things."

I returned with a smirk.

"I- I see."

The appearance of my controlling the Megalodon shark must've been a huge shock as Miora almost fainted from such an absurd scene.

"I'd like to rest for a few days before we continue on."

"Yeah, that's a good idea. You did good Morgant."

Cedric complimented. His voice was very soothing and I soon lost consciousness.

PART FOUR

I slept like a rock for an entire week without waking up even once.

It might have been a bit tedious for Cedric and the gang since they haven't done anything since coming to Lani'tar but they'll just have to put it up for a few more days.

I mean I put up with 31 days of extreme pain so it's fine to push them on with menial waiting games right?

When I finally came to the heavy feeling in my body was gone. It was easier to move my body and the light headed feeling was no more.

I stared up at the ceiling as I lied in my bed.

I did something really ridiculous.

"Hehehe... Hahaha!"

I know it was me who accomplished that ridiculous task but even I couldn't believe that I was successful.

Not only that by I even got a little consolation prize at the end. Of course it was still unusable to me for a few reason.

First was that it was level 72 so I couldn't control it perfectly. Secondly it was an aquatic monster so its use was fairly limited.

Lastly I couldn't summon it whenever I wanted because I didn't have a summoning skill. Although it shouldn't be too hard to devise a method of summing since I was already doing it with [summon skeleton knight], it would be next to impossible for me to summon a level 72 monster as I am now.

Still I was hopeful for the future.

I noticed a strange icon appear on my UI.

I tapped on it to inspect element.

[Soul of the [Terror of the Deep]].

I guess this is like a trophy thing? I can see what kind of souls I've conquered?

Well, it was a handy tool I guess.

I slowly got up from my bed and made my way to where everyone was.

The Throne room.

Awaiting for me was Cedric, Aura, Elena, Queen Amaria, Miora, Ranash and some other maids that I didn't know by name.

Their median levels seemed to be around 21.

Speaking of levels I gained a whole 5 levels from defeating a level 72 monster. It was a little underwhelming in terms of experience gain but it was a decent amount for me right now.

"Master Morgant! You've awoken!"

The Queen greeted me.

Since the throne room was plastered with see-through walls I could see the sea around the palace.

And there it was, my very first minion, swimming around.

It wasn't aggravated or violent, just docilely swimming around.

"Looks like the guardian is resuming its job well."

"Yes, the guardian has become much more docile, even if we get close to it, it does not attack. Though its appearance has scared a lot of the citizens I suppose that's just the price we have to pay."

"Honestly I think this appearance fits the name more."

"Huhu, I suppose you have a point as well."

The queen gave me a cute smile.

I heard she was around 17 ~ 20 years old but she was really cute.

Must be tough succeeding the throne so young.

"We cannot thank you enough for dealing with our problem."

The queen bowed before me to express her gratitude.

It was not only the queen but all of the mermaids present who did the same.

Truthfully I felt a little bashful.

"It's no problem. We didn't do it for free after all."

"Of course, as promised you have full access to Gladsheim, however I'm not entirely sure you will be able to enter."

"What?! That's different from what you said."

Aura lashed out uncharacteristically.

"Aura, it's fine, the queen made no promises about entering Gladsheim, only that we have full access."

"But master! If we can't enter it's meaningless."

"Well, we can try it out anyway right? Besides we accomplished our mission the moment I subdued the guardian, right Cedric?"

"Umu. The entire premise of this mission was to stop the [Red Knights] from gaining access to Gladsheim. It matters not whether we can enter it or not."

"But-"

"I apologize for my cryptic statement, Ms Aura. Truthfully even us mermaids have never been able to enter Gladsheim, that's what I meant when I said Master Morgant may not be able to enter."

"Mmm~ fine..."

Aura started to back down. I guess she was out of arguments to make.

Still since we came all the way this far it'd be a shame not to at least tour the shrine of Gladsheim.

"Then, shall we at least get a little tour?"

"Of course, we will prepare the teleportation magic."

PART FIVE

Just like the teleportation magic from the surface to the interior of the sea palace, there was also one that directed us from the palace interior into the shrine of Gladsheim.

Gladsheim itself was a large underwater complex, comparable to the royal sea palace. Surrounding the large building was an architectural condom; the shrine of Gladsheim, though it may have been a little crass to call it as such.

Once we entered the revered shrine of Gladsheim we gained an additional party member.

The shaman overseeing the shrine of Gladsheim.

[Azara. Level 19, Chief Shaman].

"It is an honor to meet you, Lani'tar's saviour. I am Azara, the Chief Shaman who oversees the shrine of Gladsheim."

She took a small glance towards Miora as she told me that. Perhaps there was some kind of connection?

The shaman was a little more modestly dressed compared to most of the inhabitants of Lani'tar but it was still a little skimpy for surface standards.

She had dark blue hair and azure eyes that seemed to pierce through to your soul.

"Ah, no, the pleasure is all mine."

"Then, I shall guide you to Gladsheim's entrance."

The shrine was really nicely made. It had a somewhat oriental feel to it in its design. There were red columns supporting the shrine and a similar barrier was separating the sea from the interior.

There were many shamans here. I thought there would only be a few but there were easily hundreds.

The place as big enough to be comparable to the palace after all, and that was the shrine, if we added the volume and surface area of both the shrine and Gladsheim it would be at least 2x bigger than the palace.

I see now why the queen was so desperate to save the citizens trapped inside the shrine.

Whenever I passed they bowed towards me.

I get that it was a sign of respect but it was slightly creepy but I tried to not let that get to me.

After what seemed like a 5 minute walk we arrived at the so called 'entrance' of Gladsheim.

It was a steel door.

Let me repeat that because it's an important fact.

It was a STEEL door.

Now, steel wasn't a rare metal or unused in this world, of course some armor and weapons are made from it, however no one would use steel to build something as large and complex as this door.

Besides, this wasn't just any steel, it was 'manufactured' steel!

I placed my hands on it to make sure.

No, but that's impossible.

"This door, who made it?"

I asked.

The queen and shaman exchanged glances.

"No one, from our most ancient documents the entrance to Gladsheim had not changed in several millennia.

"No, impossible."

I muttered to myself.

"Master?"

Aura seems to have taken notice of my strange attitude shift when we got to the door as she called out to me but I ignored her for now.

It looks like a door in one of those sci-fi movies. Like if you input a certain command it opens.

This doesn't make sense, it was oddly out of place and futuristic for a world consisting of fantasy.

Before I could make any more observations an oddly computerized voice spoke through the door.

"[Presence of [Old World Soul] detected]!"

"?!"

The other members of the party was understandably confused and shocked at this.

Especially the mermaids; for three thousand+ years Gladsheim had not responded to them but for the first time they heard a voice from within.

"What was that?!"

The first to break the silence was Aura.

No one commented.

Yet that voice that just came through was something very familiar to me. It was unlikely that anyone other than me understood the contents of what was just said.

That was because the voice spoke in english.

That's right, english and not the odd human language of this world.

The language from my previous life.

But that didn't make sense, why would that be the case?

Also I think it said something about the presence of an [old world soul]. Was that referring to me? It had to be since it responded to me touching the surface of the door.

Something was off here and I needed to get to the bottom of this but how?

As if to answer my question there was another computerized announcement.

"[Input Password]."

Another announcement in english. Even though I was mainly living in Japan I still had competent english skills due to my line of work.

Password.

I didn't know any password.

I didn't know any password but I did have some clues.

The first was that there was no active movements of Gladsheim in the last 3000 years, I can infer that the inhabitants of the Gladsheim were most likely humans since it spoke in english and it responded to my biometrics.

It's unlikely that any humans survived for over 3000 years so the next likely scenario was the inhabitants would have set it up so Gladsheim would respond to someone similar to them.

That we be anyone with an [Old world soul]. I still don't know what that means but I can probably assume it's someone like me, meaning someone with the memories of earth.

The fact that the computer identified me before asking for a password was probably a hint to that.

So then the password was something someone from earth would know.

If that's the case then I can say that I know the password.

The password is...

"[Password]."

I spoke in english.

As everyone else turned their eyes towards me there was a small tremor on the surround area.

"What's this?"

Miora surveyed the area around to find the origin of those tremors.

After a few seconds the steel doors started to slide sidewards and open. Just like a sci-fi movie.

"It, it's opening!"

Amaria was stunned, no it wasn't just Amaria, all of the mermaids in the surround area were shocked at this, especially Miora and Azara.

"It, it can't be! Gladsheim hasn't opened in the last 3000 years! Why now?"

I'm not sure Gladsheim has ever opened up. If it did, it may have been for someone like me. A reincarnated individual from earth.

When the doors fully opened I noticed a distinct purple hue covering the entrance.

When I placed my hands through it nothing happened.

Odd, I thought but didn't think much of it after that.

"I guess we should enter?"

I lightly suggested. I wanted to know Cedric's opinion on this so I turned to him.

He gave me a nod.

I passed through the purple hue without much difficulty.

"What?!"

"We can't pass through?"

"Is this some sort of barrier?"

I turned back and saw everyone else was prevented entry by the purple hue.

Ah, I get it, that was a force field preventing anyone else that doesn't have an [old soul] from entering.

"Eh? But master was able to enter."

Aura was visibly dejected. I would be too if I was left out of something this exciting.

"Looks like I'm the only one able to enter."

I stated the obvious.

I looked around to see if there was any sort of switch to turn off the barrier but there was no such thing. I did notice that the interior was pretty large.

It was just a straight hallway but it was over 4 meters in height and width.

"I'll go look ahead to see if there's something there to undo the barrier."

"Be careful Morgant, we don't know what's in there."

Cedric warned me but I doubted that there would be anything that would harm me.

"I understand."

Well, it's still good to act the part.

[Summon Skeleton Knight].

My iconic armoured skeleton knight burst out from the floor. Of course there was no actual damage done to the floor and it was really only part of the spawning animation.

"Wow!"

Aura had twinkles in her eyes as she shouted.

"Anyway, I'll be right back."

I climbed to the shoulder of my skeleton knight. It was really convenient.

I was prepared for any foes and I didn't need to walk by myself.

PART SIX

Upon first entry there wasn't even a hint of a light source but of course once I took a few steps in it became suddenly bright. Lights, meaning electricity.

A detection setting.

This kind of thing existed back in my previous life as well, further cementing the fact that the only conclusion I can draw is that this place was created in my old world.

Of course once you think about it, it does make a certain amount of sense. My memories of the old world wasn't fabricated. If I could come to this world it would be reasonable to assume that others could as well.

After walking, I mean riding on my minion for the 5 or so minutes I was able to see the true entrance to Gladsheim.

I large double sided steel door.

It was around 10 meters high and wide.

"[Please Wait]."

It was the computerized voice again. Perhaps something was about to happen.

Out of seemingly nowhere a spherical floating ball came out to hover around me.

It had a red piece circular lens on the front as though it was some sort of eye.

A droid perhaps? I remember seeing something similar in movies.

It shun a bright red light towards me.

"[Scanning]."

Yeah, that's what I assumed.

I unsummoned my minion and stood obediently in front of the door while being scanned. I felt a little violated but I decided not to think too much into it.

Incidentally even though this spherical droid can speak it does not have a name or title.

"[Scanning complete. Switching to Standard Japanese]."

The doors slide open to reveal a gigantic dome like ceiling. It was easily the size of a football field.

There were machinery everywhere. Cables, wires, monitors, electricity.

These were all modern, no- they were futuristic technology. It was such a mismatch from the standard fantasy world that I've been living in.

However this place was deserted.

Not a single soul except for the droid that intruded upon my privacy.

"[Please enter]."

The droid that spoke in english was now speaking nostalgic Japanese.

I thought I was about to cry hearing that language. Just how long as it been?

I guess it's equivalent to my age.

As the droid instructed I took a few steps into the dome like building.

"[Welcome to Gladsheim, inheritor of the old soul]."

It wasn't the droid who spoke it was a female voice.

Appearing before me was a woman wearing a maid uniform. It was oddly out of place for this futuristic facility.

Blonde hair and gold eyes. Rather than a naturally beautiful woman it would be more correct to say she looked rather artificially beautiful. That wasn't to say that I had solid proof she had facial surgery, call it intuition?

Her proportions were pretty solid as well, the perfect hourglass figure.

However the next piece of information blowed everything out of order.

I tried to check her name and title and this is what came up.

[TMAQI, level 255. Keeper of Gladsheim's will]

Level 255...

I didn't even know how to comment on that. Where do I even begin?

Was I even seeing this right in the first place?

My mouth was flapping about opening and closing due to my speechlessness.

Was I to seriously believe that this maid was way stronger than the demon lord?

There was just so many things wrong with this.

"[Who are you]?"

I asked. Well that was the most standard question in such a situation right?

"[I am the maid unit known as TMAQI]."

'Maid unit'?

As in she was a robot? Well, I suppose that does make sense considering what I heard from Queen Amaria was that the doors to Gladsheim has not opened in the last 3000+ years.

If it's a robot rather than an organic being then I can somewhat believe that they had survived this long.

Well, I'd best make sure.

"[Are you a robot]?"

"[Negative, I am an android]."

"[Why? Isn't machinery easier to preserve]?"

"[Negative, organic matter contains self-repair properties. By tapping into those properties it is possible to create a machine that can self-repair, thus it is much more efficient to create a hybrid of machine and organic]."

I understand what it's saying but I just can't bring myself to accept all that. Certainly this sounded more like sci-fi than any real science to me, so that may be the reason why.

Actually I was sidetracking.

My mission here was prevent the red knights from obtaining Gladsheim, but those steel doors and my newly employed guard will make sure that they won't even come close.

Not to mention on the off chance that they do enter there will be a level 255 android waiting for them.

So with that my mission was more than over.

Yet I am still here, why?

Well, it was obvious why. Because I was intrigued by this place. Curious.

Let's start from the top shall we?

"[What is Gladsheim]?"

"[Gladsheim is the library of all human knowledge from the old world]."

All human knowledge...

I guess I should ask this first.

"[What is this 'old world']?"

"[The old world refers to the planet named 'Earth']."

Right there I froze in place after I heard those words.

So I wasn't imagining it. This place really is from earth, but it was far too technologically advanced.

Actually I don't know why I'm even thinking about this when I could just ask. The robotic maid showed no inclination to deny answering my questions anyway.

"[Why is Earth referred to as 'Old world']?"

The robot maid paused for a moment before speaking again.

"[Under archive 4 section 25, Earth is referred to as 'old world' due to its non-existence]."

What?

"[Explain! What do you mean by non-existence]?!"

"[The planet Earth was destroyed in the year 2651]."

Oh.

"[What]."

This information came at me like a truck. Though truthfully I was both shocked and relieved by that information.

The earth being destroyed was a tragedy. It was also quite baffling how much time had passed since my death.

However that was the extent of it.

You may think I'm a heartless bastard for thinking this but I didn't really care about the destruction of the earth.

No, that wasn't quite the right way to put it, rather than 'not caring' it was that I was far too removed from that situation that I couldn't even grasp at it.

I could comprehend it but I couldn't empathise.

The reason why I felt somewhat relieved was that she said it was destroyed in the 27th century.

That was way after the life of Kyouko or my younger brother. They may have had descendants but they were like earth, far too removed from me to proc any sort of empathy.

At least I know that Kyouko and Haruto were far removed from that situation.

"[How did earth get destroyed]?"

I asked for the sake of sating my curiosity.

"[In the year 2593 Earth descended into Nuclear Warfare and thus was made uninhabitable. By the year 2601 all life on earth was eradicated. In the year 2651 a large comparable to the size of the solar system passed through destroying all planets within the sol system]."

That sounded like it was taken straight out of a comic book or sci-fi novel.

"[Then how did this facility survive? No wait, in the first place, how did this facility get to this place? Isn't this supposed to be a parallel world]?"

"[Negative, this world was formed after the creation of a second universe, the facility and everyone within was able to survive due to a device known as 'Stasis shield.]."

"[New... universe]?"

"[Affirmative, a new universe was created within the current universe as a result of the collision between the Milky Way Galaxy and Andromeda Galaxy]."

I've heard about this.

That sometime in the future the milky way and the Andromeda galaxies will collide but that shouldn't be until a few billion years.

So the collision caused a second big bang?

"[Wait so how long as it been since the destruction Earth]?"

"[It has currently been 17381291574 years and counting]."

That scale wasn't even human anymore.

So what this? This facility was created on earth during nuclear war and was preserved through 17.4 billion years to the creation of this world?

Was that what I was hearing?

I think this robot also said something about a stasis device which allowed it to be preserved.

Also 'everyone within' she said that right?

"[You mentioned how this 'stasis shield' preserved everything and everyone inside right? Were there people who survived into this new world as well]?"

"[Dr. Ivan Seron was the only human to survive into this world as a result of being within the Stasis shield]."

Okay so there was someone. Maybe he could give me some straight answers and not textbook definitions.

"[Where is he]?"

"[After surviving into this world Dr. Ivan Seron briefly lived his life making multiple contact with the inhabitants surrounding the premise]."

So he was dead?

"[How long ago was this]?"

"[3194 years ago, the doctor. is no longer alive]."

That coincides with the time frame of when the Gladsheim religion was created. So their god was actually a human named Ivan Seron.

I guess that's how the name 'Gladsheim' came to being.

Does that answer most of the questions I have?

This place was just a library of information regarding human knowledge and everyone I knew and loved back in my previous life was dead.

The Gladsheim religion was created by some man from the previous world.

Actually there was one more question.

"[You said that I possessed an 'old world soul' does that mean science has proven the existence of souls? If so how did my soul make it into this world]?"

"[What is known as a soul has been explained by human science as genetic memory floating around the 'ether'. When a creature dies it leaves it's memory allowing the species around the area to evolve in a manner that prevents the same species from suffering the same end. It is likely that somehow the soul of [Hiyama Kyousuke] was preserved and taken into this world in much the same way that Gladsheim has]."

That... kind of made sense. So souls are really just an evolutionary force?

"[Then are there any like me? Reincarnated souls from the old world]?"

"[The probability of that is extremely low]."

Figures.

I think I should return before the others start getting worried.

Though I still have a few more questions now that I think about it.

"[Since you have the knowledge of all mankind, do you know of the life of [Shinohara Kyouko]]?"

"[Negative, Gladsheim has only stored information that was available during its creation]."

I guess that made sense. Kyouko lived way before something like Gladsheim was ever build so it is doubtful that it would know of her fate.

I guess I'll have to leave it to imagination.

Final question then.

"[Do you have any ideas about this power of mine? I can see everything in terms of an RPG, if that makes sense to you]."

"[The [Custom Editor] was an ability that most personnel within the military had after the year 2500. It served as a physical enhancement for use during warfare. It is likely that you have also inherited this ability from them]."

So it's called the [Custom Editor].

But why fantasy jobs? Why not jobs corresponding with actual military use like [Sniper] or [Soldier].

Was it too boring for them?

Ugh whatever.

I guess I should start returning.

"[I understand. This has been very hard to take in but I've comprehended most of the information. Are the only ones able to enter Gladsheim people like me]?"

"[Affirmative]."

"[That droid over there that detects reincarnated individuals, mind if I take it]?"

"[If that is your wish, then you may do so]."

Well I'm glad it's cooperative.

Now obviously I can't just take this droid around with me everywhere. It would cause too much attraction.

Now this was a function that I have never used in my 4 ~ 5 years of existence but I knew was available.

[Inventory].

This was basically what it sounds like. It allowed me to store items.

Now since this droid was also technically an item I should be able to store it in right?

Let's try it out anyway.

I violently grab the floating droid, as revenge for scanning me like a pervert and stuff him into the [inventory].

And what do you know? It fits.

Or at least it went in.

Just as a test run I took it out and there was no damage to it.

Thus I put it back in.

The [inventory] system was more like a spacial warp ability where I can just infinitely store items within it.

Very convenient but I never used it because I thought it would attract much attention. I guess I shouldn't really worry about that since Cedric uses a similar thing but his one's more magical.

Oh well.

"[I will be leaving Gladsheim, I'm free to enter whenever I want right]?"

"[Affirmative]."

"[And no one else may enter other than reincarnated individuals right]?"

I asked again just to make sure.

I wasn't a hoarder of ancient knowledge, but the information stored within this compound would be extremely dangerous if it leaked outside.

"[Incidentally what would happen if someone that wasn't and inheritor of the old world soul enters]?"

"[They will be executed unless they have gained permission from those with old world souls]."

With that I exited the place with the only link to my previous life.

In some ways it was anti-climatic, but in other ways it was shocking to find out what really happened.

I don't know if I could ever live this moment down.

END REPORT

[Status Menu]

Morgant Fallon. Level 24

NECROMANCER/DEMON GENERAL

Strength: 95 (65+30)

Dexterity: 35 (5+30)

Intelligence: 35 (5+30)

Insight: 75 (45+30)

[Status point: 25]

[Skill menu]

(AUGMENT) [Strike+]: Level 12

(ACTIVE) [Summon Skeleton Knight]: Level 9

(ACTIVE) [Transfer Life]: Level 11

(PASSIVE) [Life Force Sensory]: Level 42

(ACTIVE) [Life drain]: Level 50 (MAX)

(ACTIVE) [Wither]: Level 10

(ACTIVE) [Decay]: Level 24

(AUGMENT) [Aura Field]: Level 7

(ACTIVE) [Soul Gambit]: Level 3

(PASSIVE) [Physical Damage Resistance]: Level 50 (MAX)