Chương 499: 499

Mark sipped his second cup of tea as he listened to Grax recount the story of the Dreamer who Dreamed of Demons from the perspective of humanity. It was pretty much the story that Tartu told, but it had barely any metaphysical weight to it at all, so no one was in danger of falling asleep or having a Dreaming dream afterward. This was just to make sure everyone understood what was going on with the original story.

And then Grax said, "That Dreaming dream is a magical output of the story, when told correctly, because the Dragon King made it so… but he did not do this directly. You have to understand the 100 Trial to truly understand why the Story of the Dreamer and his Demon is so well ingrained into the world to cause a magical effect. And, you also have to understand the timeline of the Two Worlds, and of the Death and Un-death of the Dragon King." It's all connected, and deeply."

First, the way magic works, and what a 100 Trial actually is:" Magic is a working of purpose, from the user to the world or to others, to cause an effect. Generally people use Sigaldry, or Aethercalling, or Worship, or Manawork, or any of those to cause effects. But where do those magical languages come from?" They come from the 100 Trial." When you truly create a new magic through the 100 Trial, you create a brand new impression on the dream that others and yourself can invoke to cause an effect.

Said another way: Achieving 100 in a Power is the realization of the dream into a self-sustaining 'language'. That is what it means to achieve 100, that is why 100 is the 'Power Level Cap', and that is why all kaiju are level 100 in everything. Fighting against that 100 is a lot of work, but using tools, like adamantium with all of its condensed purpose, is a great way to narrow the difference and cut the metaphysical."

Seed, the person who made languages long ago, or rather, the languages that humans used, was a person who reached 100 in the Systems multiple times." 100 is the highest Power Level because the Systems both enable and prevent powers from rising higher than 'creation level', to keep out the eldritch. The Systems, at their core, are cleaning magics." And when you reach PL 100, a demon is born." Your demon."

Your demon will help you solidify your Power into a branch of your original Power that reflects your truest desires stemming from whatever Power birthed the demon. We call these expressions of power Ultimate Power, or True Power. Exalted Ability. Divine Skill. There are lots of names for it. The elves tended to call it an 'Ascended Ability'. Think of an Ascended Ability like the crafting of an item in your soulhouse, or like the manifestation of an entirely new magic that is unique in what it can do…

or maybe it's not unique at all, but it's new to you, and it's what you truly want." If you don't like the craft, and most people don't if you live long enough, then you can banish your demon and go back to level 99 and try again later, making a new demon and a new magic. It's hard to level again to 100. Might take a long while to get a second version of your Ultimate Power. But when you do, you can use that Ascended Ability instead of your first Ascended Ability."

Either way, the demon leaves, making its way to Arakino, drawing an aurora in the sky, creating a whole new vision of reality as seen by your Ascended Ability, signaling the creation of a new magic to the entire world. After this happens, from then on, someone might gain your magic as a new basic Power that they'll grow into something of their own one day. If you want, you can even create an Ascended Ability alongside existing magics. This is how Sigaldry was created.

Sigaldry has a bunch of sigils to it, and Manawork is every Periodic Table element reflected in the mana. That sort of thing." More than likely, though, you, Mark, will choose to create a new branch of an existing magic, that almost no one will be able to replicate except yourself, unless you tell them what your new Ascended Ability is, or… Well. If Isoko is in your soulhouse, then she can probably use your Ascended Ability, too… Perhaps the one you make out of Union? Yes, probably."

Mark wasn't sure how he felt to hear that. He didn't trust Grax at all, and he absolutely didn't trust Leash, sitting there behind Grax's third eye and staring at Mark most intently. Thrashtalon was probably there, too, right alongside his demon. Kardi might be somewhere around here, too. But Goofy trusted Grax. Goofy excitedly told Mark, "I'm going to get my Natural Heroism to 100 and wish for Divine Heroism, to save all the goblins from all evils! Even the evils lurking within themselves."

Mark blinked, shocked out of his thoughts. He looked at Goofy, asking, "Wishing?"" Yeah!" Grax rumbled quietly, then said, "It's not exactly a wish, but that is not entirely incorrect. It is more like you telling a demon to give you a Power, and then it gives you a Power using your own understanding of things and its own vast and deep strength."" Yeah!" Goofy said, "A wish!" Mark needed to go for a walk. … So he stood up and walked away.

Goofy jumped to his feet, asking, "What's wrong—"" Let him walk," Grax said quietly. Goofy remained behind, saying small words to his father, who was also Mark's adopted father, but only because of System fuckery and godly demands and lawyering— Too much. And now Mark was going to make his own demon?

Mark found himself sitting on a boulder on the side of the hiding hole that was Grax and Goofy's underground home, the shaft of daylight overhead casting warmth onto the bottom half of his body, leaving his shoulders and face in shadows. He was still wearing his adamantium shorts. His skin was pale, and his veins pulsed solid black under his skin, and a little bit into the air. He was Unioning with Good and Bad right now, and thinking about way too many things. Demons. Making magic, or rather…

making a new sigil to add to Sigaldry? Kardi and Thrashtalon and Leash. Ascended Abilities. Wongod and Goofy… and Goofy's Power was 'Heroism', huh? Mark glanced toward the house, activating his fragment of a divine mirror, and yeah, Goofy had two Powers going on, and one of them was Body while the other was Natural. Which was one 'Heroism'? Probably the Natural one. Wait. Goofy had said that his Heroism was Natural. He had said that. A heroic goblin! Mark leaned back on a boulder to look up at the sky.

It was blue, and the auroras were barely visible at this angle. Each aurora was a demon's path to Arakino, huh? Tartu had told Mark that, but Mark hadn't truly understood what that meant. He hadn't thought Tartu was telling… well… the full truth? And yeah, Tartu was not telling the full truth, but did Tartu even know the full truth? Was this something that graduate mages learned? Seemed like it would be. Or maybe not.

Grax was an elf who had recently come back from Endless Daihoon, from the land of the elves, and who had probably grabbed his own book of life from 'the Library', which was some hidden place somewhere that Mark had never seen… Grax had spoken about a lot of stuff besides the 100 Trial, too. Did Grax know where White Cauldron was? Wongod tried to tempt Mark with that information for the Reset Quest, but fuck Wongod. Grax probably knew.

Grax had given a pretty good breakdown about Nobody Important's allegiances, and that breakdown seemed plausible. Grax had spoken like he knew the Dragon King and the Dreamer, too, and how the two were related. The stories of them were a part of some kind of imprint on the mana… like an 'Ascended Ability'. Did Grax know what killed the Dragon King? How old was Grax, really? Wongod had to be something like 25, 000 years old, or older. How old had System Prime said it was? Something like 115, 000 years old.

How old were the elves living under System Prime's protection? … Grax had spoken about timelines, too. Mark stood up, feeling centered again. He went back into the goblins' house. Grax and Goofy were talking quietly, worriedly. Goofy was more worried than Grax, but as Mark reappeared Goofy's vector relaxed. Mark told both of them, but mostly Goofy, "I'll be an ally in your takeover of the goblins, from Wongod. I do not trust you, Grax, but I am willing to take a chance on Goofy." Goofy excitedly began, "Awesome!

It'll go so much smoother—"" What will it take to earn your trust?" Grax asked. Mark looked right into Leash's eye, and said, "How much of your actions are pointed at trying to manipulate me to kill Kanda?" Grax said, "Leash can't talk unless I let him; not since I got my soulhouse back. If you want to ask him questions then you need only appear in the dream. He's standing at the edge of my territory, wanting to talk."

"… I shan't be doing that." Mark asked, "Where is White Cauldron?"" At the intersection of all 12 Empires, which is a problem. Currently, those Empires only exist in the distant past, so we can't get there without time travel, which is something I don't know how to do at all, or even where to start. So to get to White Cauldron today we have to make all 12 Empires again, and then White Cauldron will appear."

"… Oh." Mark paused. Mark decided, "That's fine, then. Good to know." Mark asked, "Why are the Dreamer and the Dragon King connected?" Grax succinctly said, "Tens of thousands of years and an unknown time ago, Seed rose as the Diplomat of Humanity who brought the elves and humans together, crafting the Secondary System as he created the First Languages of Humanity. The Secondary System rapidly became a whole lot more solid than System Prime, because all the languages Seed made only existed in System Secondary."

Seed was a very, very big deal. This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there." He created Arakino, naming it the First City, the stepping point between humanity and the elves, while he made 6 Empires on Earth, filling the Earth completely. It was widely believed that Seed didn't know what he was doing, exactly, but he did it with benevolence, and thus things tended to work out for him."

Seed was the first human to start the Great Story through an Ascended Ability, but we'll get to that later. Seed didn't imbue any meaning into his part of the Great Story, though; that's the important thing to know right now." And then 11, 000 years ago one of Seed's many sons created the Dream of Daihoon, making new lands and 6 new True Empires, to mirror the Empires of his father. This son was called the Dreamer." Daihoon turned out to be special.

It was access to the Darklight that no one else ever had, and people made Ascended Abilities easy here. The sky, once a dreamy reflection of the real world, turned littered with auroras. Daihoon expanded and expanded and some parts of it even spilled out into the streamers in the sky, becoming Endless Daihoon." But back to the tale:" War was incredibly common back then. Dangerous war, too.

Resurrections were just as commonplace, if you had the skill or Skill to do so, and many major houses had such resurrectionists working for them. A lot of those people were controlled by the churches, who were made by the older gods, who are long, long gone. If the 'Great Diplomat' Seed was around at all, he had become a recluse, unknown to the rest of the worlds.

The elves, by this point, were hedonists and worse; happy to abuse humans and with no fear of retribution at all, for they were the only ones with soulhouses at all." At this point in time, the Dreamer was adding his tale to the Great Story. Keep that in mind." 10, 000 years ago the Dragon King, another son of Seed, though maybe not, was born in Metrovakara." The Dragon King ascended fast and began to unify the Empires, stomping out wars and replacing those wars with peace. Soon, the Dragon King changed everything.

His ascension could not be stopped. The elves, disliking how the Dragon King was ruining their fun with the mortals, only incurred the Dragon King's ire." Soon, the Dragon King, with his host of dragons and his allied nations and his cowing of the elves, had stripped the elves of their influence in the worlds, and he controlled all 12 Great Empires. Even the empires of his brother, Dreamer, on Daihoon."

Grax looked into the distance, as though he was seeing something that no one else could see, and it made him want for better times. It was not a good thing he was seeing, though. It was pain. Grax muttered, "The Dragon King ruled over all for 2, 500 years, including the elves, including the Dreamer, his brother..." Grax stopped, stuck in the past. Mark waited. Goofy softly asked, "Dad?" Grax shook his head, coming back to himself.

"I was part of Wongod's court. The Endless Court. I was the conqueror, one of his major generals, and I couldn't do shit against the Dragon King. Every single battlefront was the same story. The elves had lost too much credibility over the many, many years, even with System Prime under our power for the last 117, 000 years and all the humans being barely a civilization at all… comparatively, you know." We lost." The Dragon King did not punish us…

not nearly as badly as we would have punished the humans if we would have won. All in all, the Dragon King was tough, but fair. After a while some of us even enjoyed the 'time off', and it wasn't like the work ever stopped. With the Dragon King's conquest of all Systemic space, civilization multiplied at an exponential rate. All the races flourished. It was a wonderful time… truly, it was." Grax's vector half-trailed off into memory.

"The Dragon King was a great person. Someone we could all look up to. Oh, he was not a human at all. He was a shifter, not unlike yourself, Mark." That is probably why Wongod is so scared of you… and I am, too." Mark wasn't sure what to make of that, but… sure. Goofy stared, wide-eyed, at Grax and at Mark. Grax continued, "The Dragon King blended into every circumstance, everywhere, and he was an absolute tyrant when he held court. A firm hand guided the worlds toward a better existence."

His brother, the Dreamer, made 12 Great Empires, but the Dragon King made them truly great. It was such… such a more colorful world than this one. We elves loved it. It was not… pleasant, getting to that point. It was a lot of ego death. But past the humiliation at falling so far, to 'lesser beings' it was a lovely world. The Endless Court became the people who ensured the Systems ran smoothly, and that it worked for all peoples, so of course we lived alongside them all, and it was good."

The Dragon King made for himself and everyone a world of beauty, of possibilities, with so many different peoples. Past the Dragon King's death it was a horror. One by one all the races of the worlds died out, but back then? It was…" Endless Daihoon." I would tell you the old names for the many peoples who lived back then, but you would not know those names, so I will name them by their modern, false names.

There were nations of orcs, centaurs, mermaids, harpies, dragonkin, elementals, demons —actual demons, not the ones we call demons these days— and angels —which were also not angels— and the giants, monsterfolk, shifters, treefolk, and more that you don't have concepts for. The unbodied, the archons, the slippers. And then there were the goblins." Ohhh, the goblins." Widely considered the weakest race…" Grax moved along.

"There are no goblins left alive today. Just the 'goblin tribe' of the former Endless Court. Not sure when that happened, but it did, sometime in the last 7, 500 years. A lot of the death of the peoples of the worlds happened far outside of my sight, for sometimes I was dead for many centuries. I was not dead when the Dragon King fell, but I was not there for that, either." I'm not sure how the Dragon King finally died, but I do know many of the steps that led there."

The Dreamer died, and Daihoon separated from Earth. Not sure how that happened. Perhaps his part of the Great Story is true, and he planned for his story to end with a great telling of whatever killed him written into that magic, post-mortem. Maybe his demon actually did kill him. Seems likely. The Dreamer was a very prolific storyteller, and he loved to add to his Great Story. Most of his part of the Great Story is lost to time, but you can still hear it when a person tells the Great Story properly."

And then, with the Dreamer's Death, the outsiders poured in through the gap left by the break between Daihoon and Earth." In this chaos, the Dragon King enacted the Conclave of Final Vigil, truly suborning System Prime to System Secondary, and allowing him to become what would become Kabberjaw, to defend the worlds from the Outsiders. And then he fought in the dreamlands between worlds, trying to kill what needed to be alive first, before he could kill it." The Dragon King should not have fallen in that battle.

He won, after all. We're all still here. Earth and Daihoon and Arakino exist. But he did fall, his part of his Great Story over, and then came the ensuing world's war." Dominant should not have won the worlds' war." But Dominant did win, because he had us fighting on his side. I was alive for that. Wongod was corrupted by then, and Dominant forced us to fight, to kill the communities we watched over, that we helped grow. He forced us to eat our brothers and our sisters.

He forced us to crawl into the tight spaces, down ducts and up trash chutes, in order to get to the people in their bunkers, hiding properly, waiting for the war to be over." Grax looked away, adding, "And that's… so abbreviated that it has become a lie. But that's how Seed, Dreamer, and Dragon King are connected." Seed started the Great Story, and so people mostly get his part of the tale right when they talk about it properly, because that's how the magic works.

The Dreamer's part is the strongest, causing actual effects in the listener, because the Dreamer was much, much better at it than his father. The Dragon King was killed and never-killed before he could finish his Great Story, or even really plan for it, so all of that part of the Great Story is frayed and broken." I suspect, if you wanted, Mark, you could join that Great Story, too, as Part 4."

Your ascension to that level of power started when you kicked the goblins out of Goblinhome, and it continues with putting down Wongod, or at least suborning him to a goblin of your choosing, and who embodies your ideal world, like Goofy." Mark stared past Grax, looking into the middle distance, eyes unfocused, thoughts whirling. Mark looked over at Goofy, and saw something of Grax's ultimate plan in this small goblin who was so heroic he had a Power of the same name… or maybe the Power made the goblin.

Probably both. Goofy looked up at Mark, and wondered some deep thoughts of his own. They looked away from each other. Mark asked, "This story, that you call the Great Story… By telling me all of this, did you trigger some sort of magic in the mana, like the story of the Dreamer who Dreamed of Demons?"" No. I did not tell it right for that to happen," Grax said, vector focused, eyes solid and hopeful. His third eye hadn't changed; Leash was still hyper-focused, more than Grax.

Grax added, "But I could tell you the full Great Story, properly, if you asked it of me. Seed's part of the Great Story grants the listener an inclination toward polyglotism, if they aren't that way already. I suspect you already are. You already know the Dreamer's Story; it's a way for one to know the deeper secrets of the world. The Dragon King's Story is unfinished. It does nothing." Mark nodded, and then he stood up and walked out, saying, "I need to go think for a while."

Goofy almost looked scared, or rather worried.

"Can I come with you?"" Leave him be, son," Grax said, and then he nodded, almost bowing in his chair.

"We're here. We have to make entirely new plans, but if you wish to know what our previous plans were then we set up a map in the other room, across the garden. There's a door over there." Mark moved out, back into the sunshine of the grotto. Behind him, Mark heard soft voices." I want to walk with him, Dad."" He needs some time for himself, and you and I need to discuss the Lightning Spires."" We dig through the ground, right? And pull out the stuff underground?""

The stuff underground doesn't matter and the Spires themselves are just stone. The entire facility is lodged in the manasphere itself, in the Veil, and it would function just being a collection of rocks, and I can knock down rocks… maybe. The only reason it got fixed was because Wongod did some rituals to repair it from afar, from the heart of Metrovakara…" That was good to know. Mark had a good idea of how to break the Lightning Spires now that he knew they worked like that.

Perhaps he would call up Walaria and ask for her input, since he would already be calling her up and asking about the Pillar of God, but his first idea was to destroy the Spires themselves. But for the moment, Mark stopped listening as he sat on that boulder in the sun, his thoughts turning internal, because he was at yet another crossroads in life, with big things happening all around him, and he found he only had one true desire right now.

He wanted the problems to be over so that he could go home to his friends, and then, in a month, after a very long break, he'd get back out to fighting monsters and saving the world. Right now, everything was way, way too big. For perhaps the first time in his life, Mark was balking at the future. Being an Inheritor to some System-recognized Great Empire? Sure, no problem. That seemed kinda… well, actually, Mark wasn't too happy with that responsibility, either.

In some nebulous, far off future kinda way, the whole idea of being an Inheritor was 'okay'. But actually going for it? Right now? No. And being 'part 4' in some 'Great Story'? Holy fuck, that was Too Much. And the whole 'Ascended Abilities' at Power Level 100? Demons? Making more demons? Holy fuck.