“Hey, Ryu! Where have you been so late in the night?” → Marina
Marina asked curiously. After she made up with Ronald and started to go out together, Marina became more relaxed around me too, talking with me naturally.
“Well, I tried to understand and recreate the feelings I had when I fought the Demonic Wolf King. I needed for a quiet place so I wandered around on the valley right beside the city walls.” → Ryu
“So? Did you discover something? Think you can teach me that imitation ability of yours?” → Ronald
Ronald looked at me with expectations.
“Haha~ sorry, I still don’t understand how I did that but I have a friend who might know. However, right now he is on the other side of the map.” → Ryu
Both of them looked at me suspiciously.
“Hey, don’t look at me like that. I really don’t know what happened at that time, okay?” → Ryu
“And the only person who knows is on the other side of the globe…?” → Marina
Both Ronald and Marina looked at me with questioning eyes.
“It’s true. Right before we were transported, we were on a voice chat and we shared our locations.” → Ryu
I took out a map with the two continents and pointed at the most southern point of Nostrung.
“Here, he was transported around this no-name village. For some reasons we appeared on the opposite sides from each-other but is all right, he tried to contact me telepathically 2 weeks ago, he might try again sooner or later.” → Ryu
After I finished talking both of them looked at me with big puppy eyes.
“T-telepathy…? Is that like talking through a phone but only by using your mind? I-Is that possible?!” → Ronald
Ronald looked at me with shining eyes.
“Uh uh, it seems so, why wouldn’t it be possible? We got transported to a world with magic and demonic beasts, why wouldn’t some telepathy not be possible?” → Ryu
“Wow… wait, why does he know how to use telepathy? You said he’s from Earth, right? Why does someone know so many things about this world when he is originating from Earth?” → Marina
“It’s not sudden, it seems he knew all of that from when he was young or something. Even though I was his friend I was only an in-game one, why should he tell me more than that?” → Ryu
At that time I didn’t know that, besides his mother, I was the only one who knew so many things about him and his knowledge, I wasn’t fully aware of how much trust Shen placed in me.
“Ha ah… Okay you two, let’s sleep, it’s already pretty late and tomorrow we’ll be going to buy new equipment.” → Ryu
“Okay~.” → Ronald and Marina
Both of them got on their beds and fell asleep… I was amazed by how fast they could fall asleep. The next day we left to buy new equipment from the blacksmith of the city. We bought some light armors and weapons made from black iron with a resistance four times higher to that of stainless iron from Earth, with was pretty good. My armor was black leather and over it, I was wearing a black coat made of reversed leather.
Yep, it got to be black. → Ryu
I thought while looking at my clothes with a smile. I thought of staying in the City of Valor until Sylvia appeared. I still could not understand what she wanted to talk with me about but I felt like there was something urgent, hearing how her voice was so rushed.
Oh well, I’ll find out the moment we meet. Just in case, I’ll stay for 2 weeks then I’ll go toward the East, I need to regroup with Shen as soon as possible to find out more about these abilities. → Ryu
I told the others about Sylvia, and Gregor said it was a good idea to see what she wanted, because of this everyone remained inside the city for a longer period of time. But even so, we still hunted for demonic beasts and made some more money from the items collected. One night, I couldn’t sleep so I opened my stats.
Hmmm… Now that I look closer, the stats are pretty ridiculous for someone with gears of level 45. Taking everything out, my stats look exactly like the ones I had in-game with all my gears on, even the bonuses like critical, accuracy, evade and block are here. It’s as if the equipped items had been absorbed by the body, transforming them into bonus stats… WAIT! Does that mean if I get the same items I had before, and equip them together with these stats, I’ll have double the stats?! Isn’t this really awesome? → Ryu
I felt really happy with my discovery and felt amazed by my slow sense of observation.
Bah, I had so many things on my head, the last thing I would think about would the stats. → Ryu
After 10 days Sylvia finally appeared. It seems bandits and fierce beasts attacked her carriage continuously on her journey. Luckily, she’s a lot stronger than she looks and was able to protect herself without any problem.
Her appearance was just like her name, she had white hair and silvery eyes, she was wearing a white robe and had a wooden staff with a white crystal on top. Also, her head reached my chest and had a petite body.
We sat down inside a cafe shop just the two of us. The others were having fun around the city while leaving me alone to deal with Sylvia.
“So…Sylvia, right? How can I help you?” → Ryu
I was confused about why such a beauty asked for my help. Even though she was a beauty, surprisingly enough she wasn’t my type, making me talk with her just like with my teammates.
“Yes. Sir Ryu, I ask for you to create a Kingdom.” → Sylvia
Her words struck me like lightning. I thought she was joking but her eyes were as serious as possible.
“….What was that?” → Ryu
I asked stupidly. I couldn’t understand what she meant by ‘create a kingdom’… Was I supposed to sculpt a wooden castle? Or draw something? She didn’t mean to build a damn kingdom in which people live and such….right?
“I know it’s sudden but please listen to me. I’m a Foreseer, I can predict the future by Reading the heavens and I can find solutions by asking the old Spirits of Sario.” → Sylvia
When I heard the word ‘Sario’ I woke up from my dumbfounded state.
“By ‘Sario’ you mean…?” → Ryu
“Yes. Sario is the name of this planet.” → Sylvia
“Haah… I knew it…” → Ryu
It seemed familiar, I remembered an event in which the title was ‘The Gods of Sario are asking for your help.’ You had to enter the spirit realm and fight against devils alongside some weird gods that looked like the other races in the game but there were even elves, demons, gnomes, and some other beast-men that couldn’t be used for creating the character. Every single one of them looked extremely divine though.
“So…? What does you being a Foreseer has anything to do with me building a kingdom?” → Ryu
“I’ll start explaining;
One year ago, I had a dream about a dark sky filled with stars. All those stars were golden and they fell on Sario in the number of thousands. After that I saw some stars being killed by monsters, the other ones killed by black men, which were the bandits and criminals, or by the kingdoms. Some even started killing each-others or committing suicide. It was anything but a happy dream… But, some of them started transforming into huge globs of golden light, some turned blue, others became yellow, a bright red, pink, violet or a beautiful green. However, most of them became black, brown-red or black-blue. These transformed stars of a darker color started burning villages, destroying kingdoms and making all kinds of horrible crimes. Both the empires had to deal with these kinds of problems, putting the war on hold. While they tried to subdue the rebels from another world, the demonic beasts from the Eihwaz continent invaded in numbers unseen before in the history. The demonic beasts were in hundreds of millions and both the empires already had difficulties in subduing the dark stars. The wave of demonic beasts was so sudden that made them unable to respond, ending in both of them being completely obliterated by the rebels and demonic beings.” → Sylvia
“……..” → Ryu
“When I saw such a dream I felt like all the humans, dragoons, beast-men, and fairies would cease to exist. But in all this darkness, only two golden dots of light remained: One took the form of a black dragon with golden eyes, while the other one took the form of a white-clothed golden deity with shining eyes like those of a sun. Both of them tried to reach the other but the waves of demonic beasts were in front of them, making them unable to move. Even so, they could communicate, helping each other with ideas and information. Under them, there were both stars from another world and residents of this planet being shielded by them. They had the power to protect and repel the waves, wishing to protect the living for as much as possible. Seeing them I thought maybe there might be some hope for this world. After having such a dream, I started forming a ritual to enter into a conversation with the spirits of Sario and ask them what I should do to help the two divine stars to meet and help the livings from this world to survive.” → Sylvia
”It is impossible to help everyone. All you can do is show them a shorter path to take and ask them to build a home for everyone to fight together and try to prevent complete annihilation…” → Sylvia
“This is what the spirits told me… After I reported this to the head priests from the shrine about what I heard and seen, they sent me to be the massager and the helping hand for both of the mighty souls..” → Sylvia
“…” → Ryu
At first I couldn’t say a thing, everything seemed unreal.
What does all of this have to do with me? Stars? Dragons? And a God too? …I think I can tell the stars being the players, but who are the two divine beings? → Ryu
I was way too confused to understand everything Sylvia told me about.
“I know it sounds hard to believe but I beg for sir Ryu to understand me and help the residents of this planet.” → Sylvia
Silvia looked at me with the worry of refusing, it seems I was her only hope or something like that.
“Wait, first of all, how do you know my name? I don’t remember even saying whom I am…?” → Ryu
“I had a vision. If I freed my mind, I would be able to connect with one of the two divine stars. After connecting with you I knew you are one of them, but I didn’t expect you won’t have any mental barrier. By mistake, I saw some of your memories while trying to create a mental barrier. From them, I was able to tell your name being Ryu and also about how you’re trying to get in contact with your friend, Shen.” → Sylvia
I looked at her with a shocked expression on my face.
Well… It was my fault of not having a barrier, but still…memory reading…really? → Ryu
It didn’t feel that nice to have someone in your head but she did help me by making a barrier around my mind.
“But what makes you think something would change if you interfere with the destiny of this world? Didn’t the gods of this planet said there is no possibility for salvation?” → Ryu
“Not the gods said that, but the spirits. Gods are more evolved beings than spirits. I am a priest under Goddess Hamata and I was able to hear a prophecy from her, saying, Help the golden stars to meet through the shortest route. The Dragon and the Deity have the power needed to create a safe future. Or something along these lines.” → Sylvia
“What do you mean ‘something along these lines…’ And what kind of Goddess is that Hamata?” → Ryu
“Goddess of love.” → Sylvia
Sylvia said with a calm smile while drinking her tea.
“Oh~? And? Has she told you who is your life-partner? Don’t tell me, is it me~?” → Ryu
I asked jokingly.
“Please don’t joke like that.” → Sylvia
Sylvia laughed and waved her hand.
“…I expected this answer but couldn’t you be more sensible? What if my heart shattered just now?” → Ryu
I laughed while breathing out a sigh of relief. I already had my heart stolen so having someone else appear in my life would’ve been quite troublesome. I had to get things straight from the very beginning.
“‘Giggle’. I could tell you weren’t serious anyway, I’m a Soul Seer you know?” → Sylvia
Sylvia had a teasing smile on her face.
“Then? Can I hear who might be your loved one?” → Ryu
I asked while bringing the tea at my mouth.
“It’s your friend, Shen.” → Sylvia
Sylvia said with a sweet smile and a slight blush. Even though she didn’t meet him before, she was able to see his soul inside her dream. She couldn’t wait to find out and see if Shen really had such a beautiful shine inside his soul. When she asked about the respective spirit, Hamata told her in that dream about Shen being her future husband and life-partner. And also about how she should help him to not fall in disarray.
“PFFFT!”
I spat out the tea on the window then looked at Sylvia stupefied. I was completely confused and shocked at the idea of Shen, who’d rather be a monk than have someone pester him all the time, get a girlfriend and a wife in one go.
Are we talking about the same Shen? That block-head?! Wait…She has to meet the two golden stars, right? And she came for me at first, then now she wishes to meet Shen, which is her future husband?! A-and also…doesn’t that mean… What! → Ryu
My mind was in chaos. I tried to calm down so I asked again to be sure.
“So, to get back from the very beginning: what you’re saying is, I am one of the two divine stars and my friend Shen is the other… And also your future… husband? Then both of us will help the four races survive and fight together from two different points of the globe against the waves of demonic beasts while protecting everyone and evading something like an extinction…?” → Ryu
I looked at her with a questioning look, not sure if I understood right what she told me.
“I know it sounds ridiculous but you have to believe me-“ → Sylvia
“I believe you.” → Ryu
“Eh?” → Sylvia
Sylvia remained dumbfounded at my answer, she didn’t expect for me to answer so straightforward.
“I do believe you, and I think I’m the black dragon with golden eyes, while Shen is the divine entity. He is the only one whom I know that wears full white, I don’t know about those burning eyes though. Besides, he has knowledge of how to control mana, unlike the other players who focus only on their ‘stats’ and skills subconsciously, not knowing the deeper meaning…not like I’m any different.” → Ryu
I talked with a wry smile. The only reason I was able to use that weird mana around my fists was because of something Shen told me, but my question is…
“Now that I think about it, the only reason I’m able, more or less, to use such weird skills is because of Shen. If he wouldn’t have passed me the knowledge about such things, would I have still remained the black dragon?” → Ryu
“But of course, the form of the stars represents the soul, not the power or the knowledge they have. Through the passage of history, there were a lot of geniuses, talented young men and women, prodigies with bright futures. But all of this wasn’t enough because, most of them ended with black souls and dirt in their eyes, not seeing the sufferings they caused around them… Your ‘Black Dragon with Golden Eyes’ form represents the soul of a warring Emperor, someone who’ll unite the 2 continents to fight the demonic beasts, while the ‘Golden Divinity with a White Coat’ represents the one who’ll show us a new road by teaching about a new knowledge.” → Sylvia
“Pfff!”
I couldn’t stop giggling when I heard Shen’s description.
Boahahaha~! What have you done, man? Suddenly becoming Jesus-like? Aw man~ ahahaha. → Ryu
“Is there something wrong?” → Sylvia
Sylvia looked at me with confused eyes.
“Did I say something funny?” → Sylvia
”Ah, no, don’t mind it-pff-hehe~” → Ryu
I’m really curious how Shen will react when he’ll hear this. After talking some more with Sylvia, I found out she’s 19 years old and a Soul Seer focused on the « Element of Light », it was pretty obvious to be honest. I ended up keeping all of this a secret from others, telling them I only wish to meet with my friend who’s on the other side of the map. When I showed them where more exactly, Gregor calculated a distance of around one year of traveling with the fastest carriage.
“Hmm? But why don’t you just continue in West? All you have to do is to cross the sea.” → Lissa
“Yeah, and if we can buy a ship running on Energy Stones, we could get there in a little bit more than a month.” → Marina
“…” → Ryu
I was dumbfounded. Never have I thought of simply crossing the sea on the other side. In the end, the planet was round for goodness sake. After every player present face-palmed, we decided to gather enough money to buy a ship running on Energy Stones. We found out from Sylvia that the cheapest is around 100 Gold and is big enough for only seven people.
“How come you people wish to help me reunite with Shen? I don’t know when we’ll see each-others again to give you back the money.” → Ryu
I was confused as to why they also offered their share of the money.
“I heard from Ronald about Shen being able to explain how our skills work and why we’re able to use them so easily. Also, about what happened to your sudden burst in power. I’m quite interested in all of this and it sounds pretty fascinating.” → Gregor
Gregor was thinking while caressing his beard, or fur.
“Besides, did you really think of leaving without us? Hahaha in my eyes, you’re too young to travel alone, boy.” → Gregor
Even though I know he’s 30 years old, seeing a brat telling me this made me feel conflicted. Suddenly Gregor is hugged from behind and has his ear nibbled gently by Lissa.
“Ugh!” → Gregor
Gregor felt his face burn.
“If you’re going then I’m coming~.” → Lissa
“Yeah! I and Marina want to learn those cool skills too! We might be able to fight like Ryu!” → Ronald
Ronald looked at me without the slightest guilt for talking out. I felt like I had to discipline this fairy sooner or later.
