Chapter 509: The Spirit Empire

This chapter is updated by Novels.pl

“System? Is that you?” Tom sat in bed and asked in shock as a familiar screen appeared in front of him as soon as he woke up.

WHO ELSE!

THE WHIMSICAL SYSTEM IS BACK!

UPGRADE COMPLETE!

“Right, you were doing an upgrade… What can you do now?” Tom sat up, tied his long flowing hair into a ponytail, and asked immediately.

5 NEW FEATURES

A NEW MISSIONS SYSTEM THAT WILL GUIDE YOU TO GREATNESS! (DUE TO THE SYSTEM'S WHIMSICAL NATURE, THEY CAN BE VERY RANDOM)THE SYSTEM STORE HAD BEEN GREATLY EXPANDED WITH ALL KINDS OF SKILL BOOKS, WEAPONS, AND EXTRA GOODIES! (DUE TO THE SYSTEM'S WHIMSICAL NATURE, IT MIGHT CHOOSE NOT TO SELL!)EMERGENCY ESCAPE, CAN NOW LET YOU TELEPORT AWAY IN CASE OF EMERGENCY! (DUE TO THE SYSTEM'S NATURE, YOU CAN’T SET THE WHIMSICAL DESTINATION) (1 YEAR COOLDOWN )CAN USE ORDER POINTS FOR PAYMENTS INSTEAD OF SYSTEM COINS. (CONVERSION RATE IS UP TO THE WHIMSICAL SYSTEM’S MOOD!)CAN BUY STATUS POINTS AND AUTHORITY POINTS IN FLASH SALES THAT HAPPEN AFTER A MISSION IS OVER!

“Oh… COOL! So, can you take me away from this place?” Tom asked in a hurry.

AFFERMATIVE

PREPARING FOR TELEPORTATION

9… 8… 7… 6…

“Stop! I don’t want to leave yet!” Tom quickly screamed.

“Young Lady… Is there a problem?” the maid, sleeping with ‘Nova’ to warm ‘her’ bed, poked her head from under the sheets and asked with a frown.

“No, you can go back to sleep… I just had a nightmare…” Tom quickly placated her as he eyed the system screen.

TELEPORTATION CANCELED

FOR INVOKING THE SYSTEM FUNCTION AND CANCELING, A 3-MONTH COOL-DOWN WOULD BE ANALYZED!

THE SYSTEM IS NOT A GAME!

“SH*T!”

“You wanna go to the restroom?” the maid asked.

“Ah… No… Just want to get some fresh air! You go back to sleep! Damn it…” Tom said as he hurried out of bed and walked out to the balcony before eyeing the system message again.

PLEASE DON’T CURSE!

THIS SYSTEM DOES NOT CONDONE PROFANITY!

“Ok, ok… Da… AH… What happened with Nova? Didn’t you say she was coming here?” he quickly asked. “Didn’t you promise to help her get here?”

10 COINS NEEDED (YOU ARE BEING BILLED EXTRA BECAUSE OF YOUR FOUL LANGUAGE)

Tom looked at his Coins indicator. He had 39 left, so he could use those! “I accept!” he said. He forgot how mean the system could be sometimes.

NOVA VON ASTROM

ANALYZING…

CHECKING THE AKASHIC RECORDS…

AFTER ESCAPING HER HOME, SHE WAS KIDNAPPED BY AN EVIL ORGANIZATION THAT IMPRISONED HER TO EXTRACT HER BLOODLINE.

ONE WEEK AGO SHE ESCAPED AND IS HEADING TO THE HEAVENLY SECT WITH 3 OF HER FRIENDS!

WARNING… ANOTHER SYSTEM OWNER WAS DETECTED AMONG HER FRIENDS. THIS IS THE REASON THE SYSTEM FAILED TO ANALYZE HER SITUATION BEFORE.

“Oh… WHAT? Another system owner? Am I not the only one?”

OF COURSE NOT! THIS WORLD HAS MANY CHOSEN, SOME WILL BE FRIENDLY TO YOU, OTHERS WILL COME AFTER YOUR LIFE!

DIFFERENT SYSTEMS HAVE DIFFERENT PERSONALITIES!

OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE HOST IS A SYMBYONIC ONE. IF YOU PERISH, WE WILL TOO, SO OUR GOALS ARE TO MAKE YOU THE GREATEST!

“Oh!” Tom nodded. After taking his time to think about this system, he figured as much. “WHERE DO SYSTEMS COME FROM?”

THIS QUESTION IS LIKE ASKING YOUR PARENTS WHERE BABIES COME FROM…

DO YOU WANT THE TRUTH OR A LIE!

“The truth…” Tom quickly said.

WHEN YOU GROW UP, YOU WILL NATURALLY FIGURE IT OUT!

Damn it… The system was playing him! It clearly didn't want to answer. “What can you tell me about the system user with Nova?” Tom asked.

ERROR

SYSTEM CAN ONLY ANALYZE OTHER SYSTEM OWNERS WHEN THEY ARE NEAR YOU!

THE ONLY REASON I DISCOVERED THIS ONE WAS THAT NOVA’S FATE IS VERY WRONG, A PROOF OF SYSTEM TEMPERING!

“Oh!” Tom frowned. “Will I have to face that guy later?”

UNKNOWN, BUT HE IS ON HIS WAY HERE… HERE IS A TIP… HE IS NOT THAT STRONG… JUST A WEAKLING!

“When will they be here?” Tom asked. The system was subtly telling him to take that guy out!

DATA EXTRACTION ERROR… TOO MUCH INTERFERENCE.

“…” Tom sighed. “Then let me look at the store…”

AFFIRMATIVE!

Almost immediately, a huge screen with all kinds of things appeared in front of Tom.

Weapons, artifacts, skill books, pills, rare minerals, sex toys… It had everything! Damn it, it also had an awakening artifact!

He really wanted to get that stuff, but sadly, the price was too high for Tom. 3,200,000,000 SYSTEM POINTS was not the kind of number he could even dream about!

“Wait… You sell elven girls, too?” Tom asked, finally noticing the last entry.

FRESHLY BROUGHT FROM ANOTHER WORLD!

PRICE IS 1,000,000 SYSTEM POINTS AND 1,000,000 ORDER POINTS

ERROR… YOU CAN’T AFFORD IT!

“No need to rub it in my face… Is there a way to get many points fast?” Tom, feeling a little deflated, asked.

AFFIRMATIVE!

HERE ARE A FEW WHIMISCALLY GENERATED MISSIONS!

OPTIONAL SYSTEM MISSION!

TITLE: SHOW THE WORLD!

FIND A WAY TO JOIN THE GRAND TOURNAMENT

REWARD: 1,000 SYSTEM COIN + 3 AUTHORITY POINTS + UNLOCKS THE TOURNAMENT MISSION TREE

FAILURE PUNISHMENT: NONE

OPTIONAL SYSTEM MISSION!

TITLE: THE TRUTH!

FIND CLUES ABOUT THE ‘FORGOTTEN PAST’ OF THE WORLD

REWARD: 100 SYSTEM COIN + 10 AUTHORITY POINTS + UNLOCKS THE HIDDEN MISSION TREE

FAILURE PUNISHMENT: NONE

OPTIONAL SYSTEM MISSION!

TITLE: I AM THE ONLY REAL MAN ON THIS MOUNTAIN!

COCKOLD THE HEAVENLY SECT MASTER!

REWARD: 10 SYSTEM COIN + 1 AUTHORITY POINTS + EXCLUSIVE SEX TOY

FAILURE PUNISHMENT: NONE

OPTIONAL SYSTEM MISSION!

TITLE: I HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE MY GENDER!

CASTRATE YOURSELF USING A DULL BLADE ( YOU CAN LET OTHERS DO IT IF YOU DON’T HAVE THE GUTS! )

REWARD: 10,000 SYSTEM COIN + 10 AUTHORITY POINTS + AN LGBTQ FLAG TO CARRY WITH PRIDE!

FAILURE PUNISHMENT: NONE

“Not that I will ever accept that kind of a mission, but why does it have to be a dull blade?” Tom couldn’t help but ask as he squeezed his legs together. Just imagining that was very disturbing.

The system naturally had no answer.

"Let's look at the Toys then…" Tom said after some thinking. It was about time he began training that maid.

!!!

***

After Victor satisfied all his wives who really, really missed him, taking a hot shower and finishing his overtime work of bullying Tom at the same time, he finally had time to think about all the things that were happening lately.

“You are still here?” he asked as he walked out of the bathroom, eyeing Alpha, who was forced to stand in the corner and watch all the action tonight.

“… you ordered me to just stand here…” she spat angrily, her face still blushing from what she saw.

“I told you that you can join if you wanted!” he said.

“…” She just looked away. She knew that he could have taken her at any moment, but the bastard wanted her to come to him on her own, and she was not going to do that! NEVER!

Victor sighed. “Follow me… Or do you need to use the bathroom?”

“…” She just glared at him.

“Go, make it quick, and after you finish, come find me on the roof!” he said before turning and leaving.

“Bastard…” he heard her cursing behind him, but didn’t care.

Climbing up, he found himself a seat on the mansion’s tiled roof where he simply sat there observing the lights of Vein city on the horizon.

He closed his eyes and let his soul synchronize with his other part with Lily. Unlike when in the other world, here it happened almost immediately without many problems.

It took the new memories a few moments to finally sink in and let him open his eyes again.

“That guy again?” he said to himself with a very dangerous glint in his eyes.

***

“Victor!” Lily threw herself into Victor’s arms as soon as she entered the SoulPearl on her pendant. She had just gotten it back from Yulian and found a good place to ‘meditate’ under the pretense that she was feeling very tired.

Thankfully, she could enter this place while asleep outside, so it would count as paying back the skill activation penalty!

“It took a while… How did it go?” Victor asked as he brushed her head.

“There were a few problems, but it should be fine… More importantly, there are a few things that I should tell you!” she quickly said as she looked at him with complex eyes. “There will be a change in our plans… “

“Oh… Explain one by one…” he said, noticing a strange expression.

“Ok…” she sighed as she sat in his lap. “Let’s start with the light stuff then… I didn’t tell my family that we are married!”

“What? Why?” he asked. This was not according to their plan. The announcement of their marriage must have been used to first make her uncle less wary of her, as she would technically no longer be eligible to be the family head, and also to secure a communication line for Victor to secure their help for when the Reckoning happened!

“Several reasons, the first would be that some people from my family might try to assassinate you… You being my husband would stop me from becoming the patriarch, so they would just get rid of you… I have not just an X-ranked fate, but also a class and a bloodline…”

“Oh…” Victor nodded. When they first made up this plan, Lily’s bloodline had not been awakened yet, so she got a point. “Is this the only reason?”

“There is something else, but I will explain it when I get to that point!”

“Oh…”

“Something else,” she quickly said. “During the hearing, my stupid uncle entrapped me and I had to reveal a card… They know about that stupid rooster! He might come to you asking for the Davitothak feather!”

“Oh…” Victor frowned. “…It doesn’t matter, I was planning to leak the info about it anyway, so it should be fine!” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“It was one of my backup plans… We might be able to defang your uncle using the summoning ritual, so it should be fine!”

“Defang?”

“I can’t tell you now… I need to set up a few things first…” Victor quickly said. “All you need to know is that it will be ok!”

“Oh…”

“…” Victor swallowed. Lily better not know what his plan was. “Now… What else…”

“Listen up…” Lily took a deep breath.”It’s about the other timeline… Not the one you were in, but a life before that… ”

“The one Mona remembered?” Victor asked. He felt strange. He just learnt about this from Alpha and was about to tell Lily about it.

“EXACTLY!” Lily nodded. “According to my calculations, it should be a timeline that diverged from ours 1000 years ago!”

“Eh… How did you learn that?”

“ I… In the cleansing ritual, I have regained memories from it, too!” Lily confessed. “Memories the same as Mona…”

“What? Really? Victor asked in surprise. “Is it because of your class…”

“Kinda, but not entirely… ” Lily said. “Let me explain things from the start!” she said, taking a deep breath.

“Ok…” Victor quickly nodded. He didn’t expect this, but Lily might hold the final piece of the puzzle he needed to figure out the real situation in this world!

“The other timeline, the Zero timeline, as we should call it, was nothing like this one. In that world, the Reckoning happened about 1000 years ago! I am not entirely sure about the exact events, as very little remained of that era, but as to what would happen in this timeline, the world was overrun by all kinds of demons and invaders who came to exploit it,” she said. “The technology at that time was far below what we have now, but thankfully, without the over-reliance on firearms that would stop working, the world had enough warriors skilled in traditional weapons… So after the initial shock and taking some time to realize how the system worked, quite a few clans managed to awaken their bloodlines, then started to fight the invaders, who were too busy fighting each other to care about the primitive humans… By the time the invaders noticed them, the clans managed to become high-level enough to fend for themselves and carve a place for humanity to exist!”

“Oh… Those clans…”

“Yes, Many of them belong to the current oligarchs!” Lily nodded.

“Where were they originally in this world? Did they come from somewhere else or were they created by someone?” he asked with a frown. According to Alpha, the Spirit Empress gave them their bloodlines, but this might as well be a scam! That woman might have used the system to awaken the bloodlines and made it appear that she gave them those bloodlines as a kind of scam!

“Unknown, but they should have some very old ancestors who had the specific bloodline, it was just dormant, only giving them minute enhancement in power and health before the reckoning… Most of them were really powerful and big clans, so that must have been the reason!” Lily was not sure. “You seem to know something…”

“Alpha became a lord and learnt a few things… She seemed to have inherited her family's memories from the last 1000 years of something…”

“Eh… What… Oh… That eternal spark!” Lily exclaimed, realizing something. “Did she…”

“Yeah, she tried to rebel, I naturally kicked her ass… Will talk about it after you finish!” he sighed.

“Oh… Ok!” Lily nodded. “Anyways, although the clans managed to fend off some of the invaders, those guys kept coming, and the situation of this world was very bleak. It was then that a hero emerged from one of the minor Clans. In a span of a few years, she managed to become a Lord and then unite the clans to form the first Human empire… The Spirit Empire!”

“The Spirit Empress!” he interrupted.

“YES!” Lily said with a worshiping tone. “By the time I was born, she was the undisputed hegemon in the entire world, ruling 30% of the world!” Lily said in reverence.

“Only 30%?”

“Um… At that time, the world was divided between too many forces, all led by a Lord level leader. Some of them were not that bad, like the Heavenly sect, the Inquisitor's Domain, or the Tranquil Kingdom. Others were kinda bad if you didn’t have the right constitution, like the Fire Domain and the Void Mountain, while others were very dangerous or partially uninhabitable, like the Cursed Elven Empire, the Corrupted lands, and the Demonic domain… Places like Vein City that you live in have long been lost! In fact, the current geography is nothing like what it had back then, as fights between those insanely strong powers tend to change many things…” she sighed. “Still, despite all of this, things became pretty balanced after each one knew his place. For about 300 years, most of the big wars stopped. Humans even began considering taking back some of the lands they lost. Sadly, before they could do anything, it happened…” Lily frowned. “I was merely 12 years old back then, just returning home after 5 months in the imperial academy. I could still remember how as soon as I arrived I saw my mother yelling at my father as the news of the gate falling reached Nest Castle! 5 supreme demos, who arrived from the outside, seemed to have secretly managed to unite the local demons and launch a surprise attack to take control of one of the world gates that were protected for the last 1000 years…” she said. “It took everyone by surprise, and despite creating a coalition to try to regain the Gate, we only managed to kill one of the supreme demons before our forces were completely exhausted!” she sighed. “For us, this was a complete loss as it was only a matter of time that the world would fall as that world gate they opened connected to the Abyss, and the demonic corruption was unstoppable!" Lily sighed.

Victor frowned, remembering what he saw in Ismeralia. The main problem with demonic invasion was not the demon but the corruption coming from the world gates!

“After that, fighting was no longer possible as what little forces we had left were only enough to protect the ever-shrinking habitable lands…” She explained with a heavy expression, “ With no other option, my master, the Sprite Empress devised a plan to first forge an X-ranked artifact, the book of Time, and then use it to return to the past and stop the reckoning itself from happening! With the world beginning to fall, the other forces that had the required material had no choice but to cooperate!”

“Your master?” Victor asked, raising one eyebrow.

“Ah… Yes!” Lily nodded. “My master, every generation took one disciple from each of the 16 high clans! It was her way of solidifying her empire! ” she said. “Each of those disciples was specifically groomed and was meant to rule over their clans in the future!” she explained.

“Oh… ”

“In fact, you knew quite a few of them, like Mona, Zoe, that girl Harper, and even Gary’s big sister Valerie!” Lily explained. “The oligarchs all belonged to the supreme clans from back then!”

“… EH?” Victor frowned. “What? Even Mona? Did she belong to some big family or something?”

“Her clan was one of the weakest as they didn’t have a bloodline, but they seemed to have some affinity with the sword… My master called it a Sword Concept… They always managed to secure themselves a good place in the clans’ ranking tournament!” Lily explained. “I suspect that they might not have survived as a unified clan like the others… Many didn’t, but the disciples should be out there somewhere!”

“… What makes you so sure?" Victor asked. “ The other time loop, according to you, should have begun a 1000 years ago. How can all of those people be born again… Just a tiny accident would have caused a butterfly effect, and those people would not be here!” he analyzed. If any of those ancestors were to have an accident, failing to reproduce or even delaying their weddings, they wouldn’t have been born! Even one of them getting born again and having the same name was an absurd coincidence!

“Ah… That’s easy! Back then, each of us, her disciples, and even a few chosen representatives from the many forces who had S-ranked fate, cut a part of our own souls to create the Timebook! It made the Timebook stronger, and this way, our fates would integrate into the timeline itself after we return! Whenever that Time book was used, we are guaranteed to be born again, so all the incidents that might diverge from that fate would be stopped by the world’s will!” she said. “That’s how my master explained it anyway… It was the compromise she made with the Lords and different clans whom she needed to help. They didn’t trust her enough to help her go back in time without some kind of guarantee that they would not be eliminated!” she said. “They made her swear a soul Oath!”

“Oh… “ Victor nodded. “This…”

“Although we were guaranteed to be reborn, our fates became weak, so if my guess is correct, Master had to use a Fate Affirming ritual to strengthen them again and help us not only become Scions but also give us missions like guarding the world gates or defeating certain named Damons who would arrive later… It was the thing you heard the fate lord talking about…”

“Yeah…” Victor did remember that. The marks that were left behind were used to curse Lily afterwards.

“Me being the World Empress Fate you mentioned before is part of that. In the last tournament, I was the one who won, so my family was meant to be the rulers back then!” she explained. “Thinking about it, that’s what really happened in your timeline, I just wasn’t there… because of that bastard Fate Lord’s betrayal!” she hissed angrily.

“… Maybe something went wrong!” Victor said as he thought about many things.

“We knew the risks…” she sighed. Her master explained things to her thoughtfully before. The ritual only gave them a 90% chance of survival. There was always the risk of not being born or dying young!

“According to Alpha, the Spirit Empress disappeared after about 100 years of her return!”

“My master is still around, I know it… I just don’t know her plan!” Lily told the truth. “After stopping the system from fully integrating the world, she had a lot of time on her hands, so I am sure she was back to doing experiments on Sparks… I feel strange that even after the reckoning, she didn’t appear… She must have some big plans, though! “ Lily said. “I bet those guys might even be acting on her plan without knowing it… She might even be hiding and waiting for the demons to make their move!”

“Oh…”

“I bet she left something for us in the Jade dungeon! There might even be a trap there for the demons!” she said. “We should make sure to go there… I already secured my family's approval to be there; I am not sure what we will find there, but there would definitely be a clue about Master's plan.”

“Noted," he nodded.

"I bet Master would definitely like you if you get to meet her!” Lily said with excitement.

“Oh… Should I be flattered?“ Victor asked.

“Kinda… Very few guys did, even the royal guards, like your good friend Tom, that idiot Oliver, and Sebastian, only got a Meh expression from her!”

“Eh… Those guys were in that timeline, too?” Victor felt a little annoyed.

“Yeah!” Lily nodded. “Tom even had a crush on Mona and her sisters back then, being also from a family that lacked a bloodline, he thought he could marry them… Mona was so against him and his perverted fantasies that she even threatened to castrate him if he tried to approach her sisters, but after he risked his life and entered the demonic domains to save the twins after they got captured, she agreed to let them marry!” she sighed. “Fate is mysterious like that… Always connecting people in the strangest ways!”

“Eh…” Victor paused with a strange expression. The twins also ended up marrying that bastard in his past life. DAMN IT! “Then… I have a few questions…” he quickly said, changing the uncomfortable subject while deciding to bully Tom more in the future! He should amp up the rewards for that castration optional mission!

“You want to ask if you, meeting many of my master’s disciples and even Tom, had something with you in the other timeline?” Lily asked.

“Yeah… You made me wonder what kind of a guy I was there…”

“In the other timeline, you didn’t exist!” she quickly interrupted with a sigh.

“WHAT!?”

“Back then, the entire Von Weise family was destroyed by a demonic attack about 60 years before I was born! Only Zoe’s grandmother managed to escape because she ran away from home with some guy a year prior!” Lily explained.

“Then…” he was taken aback.

“If I have to guess, the reason all of those guys are flocking around you is because of the crow mark I placed on you… We share our fates, remember?” she said, brushing Victor’s shoulder. As they were now in soul form, her crow footmark was visible on his collarbone.

“Oh…” he frowned. “So… In the other timeline, you had a different husband…” he couldn’t help but ask.

“Due to an accident in my youth, I hated all men… Like Alpha does now!” Lily said, hesitating. “In fact, my hobby of ‘cutting up’ men must be the effect of my other life on this one.”

“Oh…” Victor realized something. Lily went rabid… Ehm… She became more independent and no longer very subservient to him right after her bloodline awakened. At first, he thought this was the effect of her life as a crow in the other timeline, but thinking about it. Her memories might have started to awaken back then, maybe just in her subconscious at first!

“I wonder if things would have been different if you had been there, though…” she continued to ponder, unaware of his thoughts, turning to look at his handsome face. “But I digress… This relates to the reason I couldn’t tell anyone that we are married…” she hesitated again.

“What?”

“I… I had a fiance…”

“WHAT!” Victor almost jumped. “And you… You… Didn’t you just say that you were not married…”

“It’s not that I want him or anything… In fact, I never even liked him, as he was just a political marriage candidate, and I never intended to let him touch me. But that guy is very dangerous, and if he were to regain his memories, he would definitely kill you!”

“…” Victor frowned. “You mean he should also be here?” he asked.

“Of course… He was my master’s favorite disciple! Some guys even suspect that he might be her illegitimate son if not for her directly denying it!” She told the truth. “She was the one who arranged the engagement, and I couldn't refuse… Not with my mother rooting for him…”

“…” Victor squinted his eyes. SPIRIT LORD's name was just moved to the naughty list! “Do I know him?”

“Yes… Kinda… You never met him, but I did…” Lily said nervously.

“You mean in this timeline…” Victor asked very coldly.

“Aha…”

“Wh