Russell, quietly sitting on the roof of their new home, held in his hand the book that seemed to be the center of everything. But this time, dissimilar prior to his reincarnation, the book was physically written. It looked plain, like a normal book that's been abandoned by its author, but it seemed to contain a palpable ancient aura.
Feeling the chills of fresh, cold air, he slowly and gently flipped the book. But before he managed to do so, a System message registered in his mind as the girly's fluent but similar to futuristic Artificial Intelligence's voice echoed in his head. There's no flaw in the System's behavior or format because it would only notify the player of any important message — to avoid the player's irritation by constantly hearing the voice.
[Accessing the "Incomplete Last Defector of Reality".]
Russell never heard of such a phrase. With his exhausted mind, Russell didn't bother to think hard about it, rather, he continued to flip the book — the one he had written, but strangely had a different name according to the System.
At that moment, like a flash of lightning that could bend the flow of time, the First Chapter of the novel he had written was instantly processed in his mind as though the information has been forcefully drilled into his brain. He reflexively grabbed his head which was struck by immaterial lightning.
[Your Attribute: Nihility has sent the pain into Nothingness.]
[You have successfully remembered every detail that is written in the First Chapter of the Incomplete Last Defector of Reality.]
"System... What does it mean by Incomplete Last Defector of Reality?"
Becoming increasingly curious about the seemed esoteric phrase, Russell asked, the pain in his head just gone like that.
[This question can only be answered by reaching the final floor of the last Close Mystery Tower.]
He didn't pry further, instead, he continued to ask:
"System, can you show me the full power of the Symbol of Night? It's completely unsealed but it didn't reflect in my Status Window."
[The power of the Symbol of Night is hidden in your Stigma ???, which will be unlocked by meeting the necessary conditions.]
[But due to the symbol being completely unsealed, you will have the qualification to know its full power.]
[Generating the Inherent Powers...]
Inherent Powers: [Moon Art], [Moon Eye], [Nuclear Moon], [Moon's Embrace], [Chaos Moon].
As soon as the System finished speaking in his head, Russell — who seemed to slowly accept that his identity wasn't what he used to know — processed every information that flowed in his head, but for some reason, it seemed incomplete.
He wasn't ignorant about the existence of Inherent Powers, especially after the System Reboot happened. Inherent Powers referred to Unranked-Skills that couldn't be seen by Status Appraisal Skills. It's carved into the depths of the player's soul.
It was achieved by successfully honing one's skills and inventing their own. It's called "art", different from the Skills that could be instantly learned just by consuming Skillbooks. Though the word "art" itself wasn't necessarily needed to appear on the Inherent Powers' names.
And Inherent Powers could either be Active or Passive.
Russell confirmed the effects of the Inherent Powers — that he didn't have any memory as of yet of how he achieved them.
Moon Art: [Grasped the Sword Art of the ancient past. Contains 33 movements.]
Moon Eye: [Use the Moon itself to spy throughout the world.]
Nuclear Moon: [Draws the Mana from the Moon to the Sword of '???' and fires a Mana Strike.]
Moon's Embrace: [Bathing in moonlight provides regeneration benefits by 2,000%.]
Chaos Moon: [Every Chaos-related Skill will be instantly maxed out. Destroy a star in exchange for Chaos Power.]
"Am I a god...?"
He couldn't understand the absurdity of the information that was new to him as though his mind became that of a child and imagined he was an almighty being.
He regained his purpose veiled in dark clouds after communicating with the Goddess of Night, but being a human, it wasn't easy to recover from something that concerned his entire existence. It's the reason why his reaction was dull upon reading unknown, yet infinitely important information — he lost his enthusiasm unlike when he acquired various items from the Ancient Treasure Chest from Chaos in the Hidden Dungeon.
"System, the information has been processed in my mind, but it seems I still don't know how to use the Active Inherent Powers. Any reasons, why?"
The Active Inherent Powers he had were the Moon Art, Moon Eye, and Nuclear Moon.
[Utilizing Inherent Powers is currently impossible.]
[Your "Soul Body" will not be able to handle the backlash of utilizing Inherent Powers.]
"Huh...? Then, why is its information unlocked?"
[To utilize Inherent Powers, Partial Being Reconstruction is necessary.]
[Partial Being Reconstruction Duration to utilize 1% efficiency of every Active Inherent Powers: 425 Earth Days.]
[To reduce the duration, it is recommended to increase your Chaos Power or successfully clear each quest in your "Star Quest."]
Russell fell silent as the System's message echoed in his head.
'It's not that I can't use them, it's just that I can't handle using them yet, which makes total sense considering the descriptions written on them.'
After some time of ruminating about such matters, he proceeded to check the only hope he seemed to possess at this moment — Star Quest.
***
Browsing the [Star Quest] he was given by the Goddess of Night after his visions, Russell — who was extremely lethargic earlier like a walking mummy — seemed to regain some sense of reality.
[Star Quest - Assigned by the Goddess of Night.]
Star Quest Contents:
1. Lunaria
Description:
A being that was lost, long forgotten from the rivers of time.
She loves the moon so much that it was her first friend. She loves writing poetry that contains the mysterious power of oblivion.
In her lonely times:
The moon became her guide.
The moon became her eyes.
The moon became her light.
The moon had given her an identity.
Quest Objective: Free her from the confines of the Obelisk Organization.
Location: Obelisk Organization's Secret Facility.
Failure: ???
Rewards: ???
'This is dangerous.'
Thinking about the consequences of breaking into an unknown facility of the Obelisk Organization, Russell's scalp tingled with cold. The most important problem to be considered was not how he would locate or break-in in into such a facility, but rather how the others would react to him by knowing about the existence of a being called Lunaria.
'I can't tell Artorious or whoever's in charge of that facility that it's for my Star Quest.'
Star Quest was never simple. Any players that were tasked by their respective Gods, Goddesses, or Constellations were always on the journey of unveiling mysteries hidden throughout the Great Universe — mysteries that would greatly echo and produced unexpected repercussions. Although it would bring great benefits to the players, it's the same for whom they were contracted.
Weighing his options in his mind, he continued:
2. Queen of Elves
Description:
The King of Elves, her father has fallen into deep slumber due to mysterious reasons, while her mother died in a war against the Vampire Clans thousands of years ago and became a fruit of the World Tree, Yggdrasil.
Quest Objective: Investigate the reason why one of the attendants of the Queen of Elves died after the 7th and 8th World Announcements.
Failure: ???
Rewards: ???
Russell's deep blue eyes constricted since the World Announcements regarding the True Ancient Constellations or beings that achieved true godhood had happened a few months ago, just after the mysterious Egg used its power to fulfill an untold wish — receiving the Skill: Void Acupuncture — upon thinking about the unfair treatment he had received at that time.
'Tsk. I don't even have any idea about the happenings behind the scenes.'
He grumbled in his mind as he continued reading, making him have various reactions depending on the contents of the quest, then after an unknown period of time, he reached the end of the holographic screen where the duration and reminders regarding his Star Quest could be read.
Duration: [—]
Reminders: [The quests must be accomplished in numerical order.]
"I think it's time for the real adventure."
The feeling of resignation enveloped him, finally succumbing to the mysteries that were suddenly and unexpectedly thrown at him, while the cold winds of the night continued with its howling that slightly sent shivers down his skin.
***
"O-Oppa!"
Freya was delighted when her older brother came out of his bedroom after two weeks.
Russell smiled at his younger sister, remembering the words that were left by the Goddess of Night.
- Freya, Melina, and Arche are your real family.
Freya, sitting on the couch in the living room, stood up. She didn't manage to restrain herself as she subconsciously hugged her older brother due to her deep concern for the past two weeks.
'Thank you, my Goddess. I will wake you up very soon.'
He thought as he recalled the last quest objective in his Star Quest that he needed to accomplish.
#. —
Description: —
Question Objective: Wake the Goddess of Night up from Her deep slumber.
***
— BREAKING NEWS: The Obelisk Organization has released a statement regarding the System Reboot!
— BREAKING NEWS: According to the Obelisk Player Association Survey, almost every player like the new changes that happened, especially the Main Stats, Golden Stats, and Sacrificial Altar!
— BREAKING NEWS: Numerous Strayed Dungeons and Tower Dungeons have been subsequently discovered! But the most important question that everyone has is the name of the "last" Close Mystery Tower!
— BREAKING NEWS: The scholar and researcher, Emmanuel Lyncoster has released the Post-Reboot "Player Rank" range! The players are glad that it didn't affect their stats due to the downgrades of ranks.
— BREAKING NEWS: Numerous players from the Starlight Guild have successfully conquered the Tower of Growth!
"Master, what's the next move?"
Politely asked an adult, tall man with grey eyes, short dirty white hair, and a well-built body towards the sitting young-looking man with purple eyes and short deep black hair. This young man has a very calculative aura that seemed palpable.
Turning off his smartwatch after reading some news spread only to the Orion Continent, the young man answered:
"Nothing for now. Just monitor any deceived ones."
"By your will, Master."
The tall man disappeared as though he became one with the wind.
***
Time flew by and the vacation of the Obelisk Students came to an end. Russell — who questioned his existence throughout the vacation — arrived at the academy with his younger sister and Amelie, who he picked up in the Chaos Training Grounds.
Finding themselves in the Obelisk Public Grounds, they heard a voice from behind. It was from Samantha, accompanied by Jiho and Anya.
"Hello, how's the vacation?"
Approaching with light, but seemed purposeful steps, Samantha softly asked, looking at Russell with an unknown expression.
Freya, who knew what her older brother went through, answered in his stead.
"It's fine. By the way, how's the preparation? You said before that two S Ranks will join us in the Tower of Growth."
"About that, I think it'll be fine if it's just us. You're 4 right? Including Amery, the one who dropped out?"
Freya had told Samantha about Amery and that she would join the party to raid the first Close Mystery Tower.
"What do you mean–"
"Yeah, it's fine."
Russell interjected, causing Freya not to finish her words.
'I'll trust my book. Even if there's incomplete information.'
Apart from his routine of eating delicious meals, and bathing in a bathtub, what Russell did after he got some sense of reality was read the chapters of the novel he had written. He also discovered that he couldn't flip the advanced pages unless he processed the earlier chapters first.
"Good then. I'll look forward to our first Tower Raid together."
Samantha smiled, but Russell felt that there was something about it that was somehow unsettling.
***
"So far, there's no one who failed in raiding the Tower of Growth because of the great coordination between the party members of the major Guilds. Due to the Failure Penalty that's unknown, it is advisable that every Obelisk student should have at least two High-Rank party members in raiding the Tower. But, if any of you really wants to raid it with uncertainty, be minded that the Obelisk Academy will not hold any responsibility.
Professor Murak Hart of the Player Physical Education spoke to every A-1 student under his care. At this moment, students were lined up with their party members — co-students, Obelisk Affiliated-Players, or Players from other respective Guilds. Amery came back to Earth before the weekdays' ended and visited the Obelisk Academy with a visitor's pass.
"Alright! Remember, to those who are partied with High-Rank players, stick together! And to those who will raid it without the help of High-Rank players, good luck!
[Will your Party access the Tower of Growth?]
[Yes or No?]
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