Chapter 429 (2/2)

”Not ideal,” Randidly grunted, rubbing his chin. ”So why does it happen then? And happen at Level 50? Why doesn't the System let people use images?”

Randidly expected Lucretia to give him one of her exasperated looks; he had asked this question on purpose to annoy her. After all, they had spent the past month trying to create a Class. Sure, it was based on a very intricate and profound System, but there were also some very strange and seemingly arbitrary decisions made by the System in how things should function. Everything was very artificial and controlled.

He had listened to enough thought arguments between Lucretia and Neveah to know that this would annoy the shit out of her. But to Randidly’s surprise, Lucretia actually smiled.

“In fact, I have a theory. Not as to why, but…” Lucretia tapped her chin. “Not a why to this question, but to a larger why. Why certain things happen. Why the System speaks in such delighted ways even when it pushes us towards paths to kill us. Why someone like you… continues to be labeled as a Heretic, yet are allowed to exist.”

Randidly raised an eyebrow. He really had always been curious as to why a Path was put in place for Heretics. And what it did. “So, you can explain what being a Heretic means?”

“No, nothing that grand,” Lucretia said, shaking her head, her lavender hair swaying. “However, I believe, after careful study… that there are really two Systems, one on top of the other. A System that actually governs everything, through a set of strict rules… and a more flexible System on top of it, that is a glorified translator. It moves everything from forces to understandable phenomenon. It creates the Stats and the Statuses and the quests and the items.”

Randidly pondered this for a second. Then he shook his head helplessly. “...That could make sense, but that really doesn’t help us at all, does it?”

“Oh, but it does!” Lucretia said, her eyes bright now. “You wouldn’t know, but when you reach Level 50, a voice speaks to you, demands that you give in to them, and in exchange, they save you from your images. If this was the voice of the System, it certainly would be unsettling, because it is… a powerful voice. A malevolent one…”

Noticing that Randidly was just looking at her, Lucretia shrugged. “...again, you haven’t heard it, so you wouldn’t understand. BUT! If this was the other System and not the translator… the raw, usually silent one that governs all of the actual happenings… then some things click together.”

Lucretia pondered for a bit, then gritted her teeth and said. “I… cannot say much about the System, but… only those who have condensed a Fate have qualifications to appear before the Calamity. Fates… are frozen images. Level 50 might be arbitrary, but that is a line drawn by the System for the Calamity… dealing with the Calamity.”

Humming softly, Randidly fell silent. It always seemed to come back to the Calamity, didn’t it? Or rather, Randidly’s worries always spun around in a circle until they landed on the biggest, baddest guy that he knew of, heading straight for Earth. Even now, Randidly wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do, or why.

Based on every clue, there was a battle aspect involved in it, but… it seemed like there were more parts to it than just that. It was the final transformation of the world, Randidly surmised, just like the Villages, the Raid Bosses, and the Champions were ones. But the final one… was special somehow.

The Calamity would change everything, it seemed.

“So we need to find out whether Alana counts as condensing a Fate.” Randidly finally said, frowning. Although he had definitely saved her life, or at least her ability to utilize the System, the fact that there might be some side effects annoyed him.

Lucretia nodded. “Plus… investigate whether there is any… lingering ill will from the System from being rejected. I suspect that it is too large a behemoth to notice tiny actions like this, which is why things like the Heretic System exist, but…”

Basically, Randidly summed up, they still knew very little. But at least now they were starting to see the shape of things. What he still wondered though, was why the System demanded that they submit to be saved?

What changes occurred in those who agreed to it?