Fight. Level. Survive.

Chapter 66 - Chaos Theory

Mason leaned forward, eager to hear what the Mayor had to say.

He briefly considered his words before asking, “What do you know about the Trials the ‘Others’ participate in?”

“Not a lot, just bits I’ve managed to piece together. I know there are several factions who give their young systems like mine and then send them here to get stronger. They even call this world the ‘Trial World’.

Nodding along to Mason’s explanation, The Mayor added, “Good, that is part of it. Yes. In the most basic terms, 12 factions of Ganehfrel all fall under the Emperor. Every so often, the factions come together to select a number of their promising young to be infused with Chaos and given systems. They are all then sent here to their ’Trial world’. The ‘champions’ then have to reach a certain level before they are allowed back to Ganehfrel.”

He understood what the Mayor was saying but not why. Confused, he asked, “Okay, but what does that have to do with me stopping the gods from returning?”

Ignoring Mason’s question, the Mayor continued, “I have told you of the Iteration that the ‘Others’ are using to make systems? I believe you have a quest to save him?"

He narrowed his eyes at the man; how could he know what quests he had? Nodding, he confirmed, “I do.”

“The Iteration in your head was by far the strongest of us. He had spent most of his time collecting Chaos and trying to bring us to our former power. Now that most of that iteration’s power has been spent on getting you here, the iteration in Ganehfrel is the most powerful and complete. If anyone knew of a way to keep the gods from returning, it would be him.”

Sighing deeply, Mason rested his head on the table. “Great, another thing for me to do to stop the world from ending. Anything else? Want me to slay all of the dragons? Ride a unicorn into battle?”

Mayry stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder. She didn’t say anything, but the gesture did make him feel better.

To his credit, the Mayor waited for Mason to stop whinging before continuing, “Getting to their world won’t be easy. Firstly, in order to even be allowed there, you’ll need to be at least level 50. They’ll have someone with the ability to check. Secondly, you’ll have to be able to pass yourself off as one of them. If you can do all that, you’ll still need to figure out how they travel between worlds.”

*DING*

Quest Updated! Bring Chaos to Order.

Quest Objective - Save Chaos.

Update - The Chaos iteration in your head (Me) gave up his power to bond with someone who would be able to rescue the captured iteration of Chaos from the ‘Others’. Gain power, free Chaos, and stop Ganehfrel from using one of us for its own gain.

Update 2 - Journey to Ganehfrel and rescue the iteration of chaos held captive there. He is the best chance you have of finding out how to stop God’s return.

Reward 1 - Choose whether to stay in this world with unfathomable power or go home.

Reward 2 - The knowledge of how to keep the Gods from returning and destroying all of existence.

Accept updated quest? Y/N

"Yep. The quest just updated." Annoyed with life in general, Mason asked, “Is there anything you can tell me about their world?”

"My memories from my godhood are hazy at best," he replied, " But I do know they are more technologically advanced, they are a far more amoral civilisation than you are used to, and there are System users there who are hundreds of years old and have a level of power that reflects that.”

Fixing Mason with a stern look, he added. “If you were to come face to face with one of their elders as you are now, you wouldn’t stand a chance. Their systems are limited while yours isn’t, but their limits are magnitudes higher than your current power.

"How the hell am I supposed to save this chaos guy? I don’t know where he is; I don’t even know how to get to Ganehfrel… Wait." A memory was brought to the forefront of his mind, ‘Maybe if I can get Gael’s real killer and bring him back through the gate with me, they’ll let me live.’

“There’s a gate somewhere; I’m going to have to finally read through all the books I looted from Gael and Aiden. There’s bound to be something in them.”

"The gate doesn’t matter so much right now; you need to get stronger. That should be your priority. I really don’t like putting all of this on one person, but the truth is, If you die prematurely, then there isn’t anything anyone will be able to do, and we will all be pretty much fucked. My power Is limited. I can’t help you find and hunt ‘Others’, but there might be something I can do to help keep you alive."

The Mayor looked hesitant but held out his hand for Mason to take. “I’ve been alive a long time and have collected a lot of Chaos Essence. It should help.”

He didn’t entirely trust the man; he was Mayry’s father, and that earned him some goodwill. But he was also an ancient self-proclaimed betrayer of gods, so naturally, Mason was a tad wary.

“My system has mentioned Chaos essence before. What is the difference between the energy and the essence?”

Lowering his hand, the Mayor went into lecturer mode, showing Mason exactly where Mayry got it from.

"The simplest way I can put it is that Chaos Essence is the primal form of Chaos Energy. A god’s essence is near infinite, and that is what makes them gods. Chaos Energy is what happens when it is diluted and left on its own to follow its nature; this is the source of ACT’s and Chaos’ abilities."

"Now, your System is already mostly made up of Chaos Essence; when you kill a monster or beast, you absorb the Chaos Energy in them, which will make you stronger but very slowly, as most beings only have a tiny amount of energy. When you kill an ‘Other’, you’ll notice an increase in the power you gain as you are also absorbing the tiny amount of Essence that their system is made up of."

"As an iteration of chaos, I am almost entirely made up of essence and constantly absorb it from the world around me. Defeating Gael took a lot from me, but I can spare you some; it will do you a lot more good than it does me, as I’m vastly limited in what I’m able to do with my power as just a single iteration."

Playing a hunch, Mason asked, “Do you know what these are?” he took out the Chaos Orbs he looted from Aiden.

The Mayor’s eyes grew hungry, and his hand reached towards them without really meaning to.

“Dad?” Mayry asked uncertainly. She had been mostly quiet throughout the conversation, but seeing the look in her dad’s eyes worried her. Mason put them back in his inventory, and the Mayor looked away.

"Huh, I’m sorry. Er, yes, Those… feel like orbs of concentrated Chaos essence. When the complete version of myself scattered his power to the world, iterations like myself and these orbs held his power. But I haven’t seen a Chaos orb intact in… a long, long time.”

“They were on Aiden's body. Do you think they made them from the iteration they have captured?"

“…possibly, it would mean that they did far worse to the iteration they captured than just steal his power…. I—you could absorb them, and over time, they will increase your power. You should be able to guide the essence of which part of your system you want to improve. It won’t be pleasant in the slightest but they’ll help increase the rate of your growth. ”

A moment passed, and the Mayor stared at where Mason had held the orbs before he carried on like nothing had happened. “I’ll still offer you some of my essence, as you’ll notice a far more immediate change. I will warn you that it is going to hurt a lot. You won’t enjoy the process, but once it is done, you’ll want more and more. Essence, especially Chaos Essence, is very easy to get addicted to. So be wary.”

The Mayor held out his hand again; this time, Mason took it.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then he felt a tingle in his fingers, so slight that, at first, he thought he was imagining it. As it started to spread, it incrementally got more and more painful until it felt like fire was being forced through his veins. The pain was bad enough that, paired with the look on the Mayor’s face when he saw the orbs, Mason thought the Mayor might actually be trying to kill him.

It spread faster and faster until the pain was too much. Mason fell to his knees and collapsed to the floor.

Mayry ran forward to check on him, shooting a look at her father, who just shrugged. “I gave him all I could spare. He’ll be fine. This is just his body adjusting to the increase in power. I have somewhere we can keep talking.”

The Mayor walked to a door, stepped through and gestured for his daughter to follow. She followed, leaving the sleeping Mason to rest.

The door had led to a much more comfortable-looking room.

"Now that’s out of the way, back to you. How are you feeling?”

"I’m calmer. I’m still mad at you, though. How could you not tell me any of this!” Realising she was on the verge of working herself up into a rage again, she stopped and took a breath.

“I am truly sorry, my dear. All I ever wanted was for you to live a normal life, but it seems you’ve stumbled into something much worse than I could have imagined.” To the man’s credit, he did look ashamed.

Mayry hadn’t fully forgiven him but knew she would in time. “How do I change back to being human?”

“Mayry… the first thing you need to understand is you were never and will never be human. Now that you’ve come into your demonic powers, the changes may seem bad, but you’ll come to accept them and lean on them.”

Mayry understood that she wasn’t human, but a part of her still clung to the belief that she was.

The Mayor continued, “However, with some practice, the physical changes can be hidden. The process is quite simple. All you need to do is close your eyes,” He closed him, and Mayry copied him.

“Now, I want you to imagine two images of yourself, making them as perfect as you can: one of what you look like now and one of how you used to look. Once you do that, you should be able to choose which form you want to show.”

Mayry did as instructed and tried to conjure the two images. She had a great memory, so the task wasn’t difficult. However, she did wonder if she could make a slight alteration to one of the forms.

“Keep in mind, if you are using your human form, it will only last while you are calm. The moment you lose your temper, you’ll revert back to your Demonic form, unable to switch back until you calm yourself.”

She felt her body start changing. She got shorter, her skin lightened and changed colour, and another change happened, one she regretted trying out in front of her father.

The man frowned at her, “You look different… Did you change something?”

Going her usual shade of bright pink, she swiftly redirected the conversation.

She asked, “Aren't there any good gods that would help us against the others? If they did return, I mean.”

He narrowed his eyes slightly but chose to ignore whatever it was he noticed. “The way humans remember the gods is in some way biased and in other ways blatantly wrong. The gods were incredibly powerful and were the embodiment of concepts like order and chaos, but none were ever good or bad. They were always far closer to being amoral, only caring about their power and their domain, never those who lived in them as long as they showed the proper deference and respect.”

Mayry was slightly taken aback. From what she read, The Greater Gods had always been portrayed as the good guys and the Minor ones as the bad guys. If what her father said was true, things were much worse than she had thought.

“It took hundreds of years, forced to live here among mortals, to give me any sense of what was good or bad. As Chaos, it’s still in my nature to do the unexpected, but I’ve learned to tone that down, mostly.”

“The war ended because the level of destruction was too much even for the gods to handle; my opposite, Order’s domain, was in pieces. They only agreed to the sleep spell so that when they woke, they could begin their war for dominance anew in a world that had had a chance to repair itself from the destruction. If the gods return, even the best of them will want Mason dead. He has the potential to threaten their power, and because of that, they would never let him continue to exist.

“You are one of them. Why are you helping us? You’re my father, and I know you love me. I get that, but you’d go against others of your kind and even help Mason to kill them?"

The Mayor chuckled, “You are my daughter, and of course I love you, but I’m doing this mostly out of self-preservation. If the Gods came back and realised what I did, they’d erase me and every iteration of me from existence. Then, they would fight over my domain and what little power I have left. If that happens, there would be no more chaos abilities. Admittedly, there would be no more ACT’s either, but if we get that far, there will be far more to worry about than some random monsters.