Special Shoutout to:
Amelia: The Level Zero [Hero] by MelasD
Ten years ago, Amelia woke up alone and lost in a broken world where she had to fight for her survival.
Now, after reaching the pinnacle of power, defeating the Void itself, and escaping the abyss, she has finally found her way back into the real world. But instead of finding herself on Earth, she is in the land of Vacuos. A fantasy world with magic, monsters, Classes, and Levels. A world that is governed by a System like it were a video game.
And when rewarded with a Class befitting her accomplishments— to become a powerful [Hero] that will forever dedicate her life to protecting this world that is not her own— she only has one response.
“Absolutely not. I’m going to live a normal life now, thank you very much.”
After all, who needs a Class when you're already the strongest anyways?
Seriously check it out, MelasDelta has helped make this fiction possible, and he is also my best friend! Do give it a read!
“You are…” I paused, formulating my thoughts. “I trusted you?”
“And you can trust me now.” Elasia seemed to hesitate. “Look, I’m not keen on forcing people to do my bidding. I do have a present for you, either come here and accept it, or simply tell me to leave and I won’t speak to you much. I’m sorry about our first meeting, but at the same time it’s not like I can turn back time and amend my mistakes.”
“But…” I took a breath. “If… I, if I didn’t stab you, then, would I have ever known?”
“Probably not, unless you just guessed.” Elasia shrugged. “But I don’t think I hid it particularly well or anything. You never saw the puppet after the first encounter after all, only talked to me. The contract stated a way to interact with The Illusionist and yet it had my contact, me silencing Glim to the point you cannot even ask it anything because anything related to the secretary suddenly has to do with The Illusionist. My point being, is that it was in my best interest to keep the status quo, but I also don’t enjoy lying or doubling down.”
I snorted, feeling a bit played. “How do I even know the dryad form of yours is real?”
She sighed. “It isn’t, but it doesn’t change much from my real form.”
Did she just admit— “Show me.”
Elasia shook her head, and dust seemed to evaporate from her being. Her bright green hair, that was shiny and silky, became dull and slightly tangled. It remained the same color, just mistreated. Her face remained the same, but she had a long scar that ran from her nose all the way to her neck, she was missing an ear too, and her eyes; they were still yellow and piercing.
She still wore the same outfit, which seemed to be formal.
“Happy now?” Her voice remained the same, but I could tell she was displeased. Her form shifted once more to normality. “Look, Blair, just because I can hide my appearance under illusions it doesn’t mean I particularly like being a different person altogether. I’m still Elasia, the dryad that has gone through dozens of lifetimes of pain just so you can look at me. Really think about it Blair, what do I stand to gain by letting you stab my puppet avatar, when it clearly made me throw up blood? I can’t even get a new one!”
Elasia pointed to the ground where The Illusionist was, it was now just a corpse of flesh, it had no clothes and no way to tell what it actually was. It was visibly rotting.
“That was an A grade body!” Her voice said with some pain. “I can stop the decomposition process, but it takes a part of me. And now, I lost the body, and I’m injured to an extent. I even weakened myself so you could enjoy a normal progression curve instead of just becoming instantly undefeated.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
Elasia snorted. “Look at your Wisdom.”
I opened my attributes, and just for the briefest of seconds I saw it instantly skyrocket by hundreds— I blinked before it returned to normal.
“Yes, Wisdom is my most important attribute, but what can I even gain if my Champion becomes dependent on a Feat that will literally vanish if I die? Blair, do you even understand how many people want me dead in this Star Cluster? People as strong as me?”
“Why does it even matter to you—” Memories flashed through my mind, as I failed to even find reasons. “Why did you try to cancel the contract with me? Why do you care so much?”
Elasia opened her mouth, but stopped. She looked at me and met my gaze but said nothing, before eventually speaking surprisingly softly.
“I indulged in my impulsiveness…” She took a long breath. “You looked strong and appealing as a Champion too… I’ve always wanted a Champion, you see? But I think the worst aspect is simply, your appearance reminded me of Lumina…”
“Remind you of?”
She nodded hesitantly. “In a way I care about you just because you remind me of my dead companion. But I also care about you because you carry her will.”
I became instantly skeptical. “How did I even remind you? She has silver hair, she has red eyes— that alone is enough?”
“She didn’t always have those features— but you both are just as impulsive,” Elasia said with finality. “Blair, I am willing to admit that I do give you bias, because if you were any other person I probably would’ve killed you as soon as I found out you have her will. Does this bias stem from a fake familiarity and delusion that I live in?” she asked the air. “Yes, yes it is. But even then, even if my intentions are screwed and twisted, I still care about you. That is why I’m here to congratulate you. And also here to reassure you that I do in fact want you to be just as powerful as me, and not some sort of servant.”
I scanned her once more, her expression seemed sincere enough. It was pure almost, but in the end, she had tortured me and lied to me— forced me to agree to her terms.
“Prove it.” I sighed. “Prove it to me.”
“Fine.” Elasia let out a long sigh. “There.”
A notification came.
[The Illusionist has voided a contract term: - All Prophecies you acquire from the wild will belong to The Illusionist. This term will no longer apply for as long as the contract is active.]
“There, happy? The entire contract is one-sided for you. Sure, the city thing still favors me, but are you even losing anything from it?”
I blinked, and I felt anger now. “You said you’d remove it if I wanted you to. This is just me asking you to remove it, not something like you showing you want me to be strong or not be a servant.”
“What can I even do to prove it though?” she asked the air. “I can stay here and teach you things about The System if that is what you want? I can show you all those neat skills that I basically forced you to learn back then? I can’t hand you armor or anything just yet because things went sideways, and you’ll just get poofed out of existence. Be reasonable, if you want me to grovel at your feet and make me apologize over and over again, it won’t be happening.”
I pondered over her words. I didn’t trust her, or fully anyway. It was twisted and weird. Though…
“Stay here,” I sighed. “Help me build a city, help me get stronger. I am Blair, not Lumina.”
Her eyes widened for a split second before she smiled. “I’m more than happy to help you with those things.”
A walking sound entered both of our ears. I turned in the direction only to see Sun exiting the room of the Guardian. He looked up, looked at me then at Elasia— all his hairs stood on end, mana flared around his body and he activated every single skill— in an instant I felt myself being lifted, and in a second we were now standing on the other side of the chamber.
“Dangerous… We need to run, we cannot fight that…”
I nodded without even entertaining the thought. I felt something change around us, and—
“That’s a nice wolf you got there, Blair. The Guardian of the city? He is strong,” Elasia praised, now standing next to us.
Sun tensed and cracked his neck in her direction. The horror was more than evident.
“He is… part of my family, Elasia.” I let out a sigh.
“Family?” Her tone became strange. “Can I become part of it too?”
“No.” I said without missing a beat. “I don’t trust you.”
“Is that so? That is unfortunate,” she mused. “Why don’t you introduce the both of us properly? To each other?”
I looked at Sun, who briefly met my gaze— I saw doubt, confusion and a myriad of emotions.
“Sun, this is Elasia, my Patron, and the person who has ‘ownership’ of me. An A grade being.” I turned to her. “This is Sun, my pack member, a Guardian from the nest that is now the Guardian of the Settlement and he is also part of the reason I’m sane now.”
Elasia shook her head. “Ownership is a very skewed term considering you get to leech off me. Anyway, look at it however you want. We have better things to do. This entire place is a mess.”
I nodded. “Yeah, a dragon did melt a large part of the mountain.”
“Not that. I don’t care for a stupid dragon.” She looked around. “I mean the remaining Moonfangs. We need to gather all of the intelligent monsters inside the territory.”
“Oh…” Sun gasped.
“There are Moonfangs alive?” I asked with evident disbelief.
“A few.”
◇ ◇ ◇
In the forests, there were cubs. But in the Upper Moon forest there was something that I found truly odd, Sun was confused too. She was— curled into a ball, but her eyes were looking towards us. There was no hostility, just resignation.
[Mei, Upper Moon. Lvl. 61]
“Were you…” I felt a bit ridiculous for asking it. “Were you not affected by the brainwashing?”
“I was affected,” she answered, her voice serene. “I do have recollections of having a close kin. But I’m also admittedly lost.” She unfurled, and met our gaze. “I can see the orange one, yes I remember him looking differently. The— scary one, I have never seen a Predator so strong, but…” She met my gaze. “You… I feel a weird kinship for you.”
“Kinship?” Elasia asked with confusion.
Walked up to us and examined me once more.
“I see someone strong, but also someone fit to lead— ahh…” She gasped. “You’re the New Supreme Moon…” Her voice traveled through the forest.
“What?” Confusion filled me.
Howls came, but they were distinct and different. There was movement around us as I prepared to maybe fight, but Elasia simply shook her head. Soon, I saw three more Upper Moons come but they stared at me with different gazes.
“A new Supreme Moon emerges.”
“A new Supreme Moon.”
Reverence filled the air.
What?
“Just go with it, and let’s gather all of them at the Settlement.” Elasia advised. “Then you can think about it and maybe try to change things.”
I nodded and opened my mouth.
“As your new Supreme Moon I command you all to follow me to the surface!”
“The surface?!” One asked with distress. “We’ve never left these forests!”
“That’s right!”
“What are you—
“Enough!” Mei interrupted. “The Supreme One commands, we follow!”
After that, they all seemed to nod and my confusion just increased further.
What is even happening?
◇ ◇ ◇
I found myself on the familiar couch, the window was still broken. But things were different now. Elasia was sitting nearby, completely distracted with a mana crystal she seemed to be examining, and Sun was laying under my legs. And in front of me, there were four Upper Moons, and an army of Moonfang cubs, as well as to the side, about fifty or so more Bloodfangs. The Fangtooths were not present, apparently they had died.
I found myself simply staring. I looked towards Elasia.
“What am I supposed to do?”
“Maybe ask them if they want to join your Settlement? Though the red wolves seem to already be allies.” She shrugged.
I turned to the Moonfangs.
“The Supreme Moon is dead.”
“We know—”
“That’s why we are here—”
I continued. “I’m not a replacement. I don’t control the Moon.”
“But—”
I interrupted. “I am offering you, those of the Moon, to join my pack. Otherwise, I’ll give you two options, fight to the death, or leave.”
There was a brief silence. All of them stared forward, and Mei spoke.
“I’ll join your pack.”
“I’ll do so as well!”
Two Moonfangs agreed. Another one spoke.
“I’ll join the Supreme Moon… even if you aren’t the Supreme Moon… I’ll join your pack. Because in my eyes, you’re the Supreme Moon.”
I almost sighed and decided to examine the Moonfang instead.
[Emm, Upper Moon. Lvl. 52]
Finally, the other Moonfang began to shake.
“Then you’re just an impostor!” It shouted as mana flared. I grabbed my bow and nocked three types of arrows. “I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you for pretending to be the Supreme Moon!”
I could see the danger flare. Elasia shook her head, Sun closed his eyes, the Moonfangs around looked at me expectantly, and the cubs seemed to not understand what is going on. A deep sigh left me as I let the string loose— a mana whip hit my shoulder, and some pain came, but it didn’t matter.
All three arrows flew, the first one hit the Moonfang on the neck and coiled, constricted and choked it, the second and third penetrated into his skull and instantly bloomed into tendrils. The Moonfang yelped, and the first notification came.
[Activated: Mark of Death.]
The tentacles became more violent, the Moonfang thrashed but it was awkward and slow— they dug into its body as blood oozed. Its face gone— it died.
[You have killed: (D) Lua, Upper Moon. Lvl. 54]
[Level up: You have achieved level 59. Prophecy Bonus: +1 WIS +1 VIG]
[+50 Prime from Hunter (Uncommon E) Quest.]
Silence filled the place as I let out a long sigh. I still had a couple of things to take care of so it was more annoying than anything.
“Do you all wish to join me?” I took a breath as I raised my voice. “I’m better than the Supreme Moon. My pack is like no other. He is dead, but I am not. My pack will be the strongest there has ever been.”
This time there was no hesitation as nods came my way.
[Due to population increase, your Settlement has become a Town: New building options available.]
“Well done,” Elasia praised with a chuckle. “I don’t get tired of watching those plants. Nice speech too.”
I snorted.
Azrie
You can read up to chapter 130+ on patreon!
Blair now has a discord server, join here
Special Shoutout to:
Amelia: The Level Zero [Hero] by MelasD
Ten years ago, Amelia woke up alone and lost in a broken world where she had to fight for her survival.
Now, after reaching the pinnacle of power, defeating the Void itself, and escaping the abyss, she has finally found her way back into the real world. But instead of finding herself on Earth, she is in the land of Vacuos. A fantasy world with magic, monsters, Classes, and Levels. A world that is governed by a System like it were a video game.
And when rewarded with a Class befitting her accomplishments— to become a powerful [Hero] that will forever dedicate her life to protecting this world that is not her own— she only has one response.
“Absolutely not. I’m going to live a normal life now, thank you very much.”
After all, who needs a Class when you're already the strongest anyways?
Seriously check it out, MelasDelta has helped make this fiction possible, and he is also my best friend! Do give it a read!
“You are…” I paused, formulating my thoughts. “I trusted you?”
“And you can trust me now.” Elasia seemed to hesitate. “Look, I’m not keen on forcing people to do my bidding. I do have a present for you, either come here and accept it, or simply tell me to leave and I won’t speak to you much. I’m sorry about our first meeting, but at the same time it’s not like I can turn back time and amend my mistakes.”
“But…” I took a breath. “If… I, if I didn’t stab you, then, would I have ever known?”
“Probably not, unless you just guessed.” Elasia shrugged. “But I don’t think I hid it particularly well or anything. You never saw the puppet after the first encounter after all, only talked to me. The contract stated a way to interact with The Illusionist and yet it had my contact, me silencing Glim to the point you cannot even ask it anything because anything related to the secretary suddenly has to do with The Illusionist. My point being, is that it was in my best interest to keep the status quo, but I also don’t enjoy lying or doubling down.”
I snorted, feeling a bit played. “How do I even know the dryad form of yours is real?”
She sighed. “It isn’t, but it doesn’t change much from my real form.”
Did she just admit— “Show me.”
Elasia shook her head, and dust seemed to evaporate from her being. Her bright green hair, that was shiny and silky, became dull and slightly tangled. It remained the same color, just mistreated. Her face remained the same, but she had a long scar that ran from her nose all the way to her neck, she was missing an ear too, and her eyes; they were still yellow and piercing.
She still wore the same outfit, which seemed to be formal.
“Happy now?” Her voice remained the same, but I could tell she was displeased. Her form shifted once more to normality. “Look, Blair, just because I can hide my appearance under illusions it doesn’t mean I particularly like being a different person altogether. I’m still Elasia, the dryad that has gone through dozens of lifetimes of pain just so you can look at me. Really think about it Blair, what do I stand to gain by letting you stab my puppet avatar, when it clearly made me throw up blood? I can’t even get a new one!”
Elasia pointed to the ground where The Illusionist was, it was now just a corpse of flesh, it had no clothes and no way to tell what it actually was. It was visibly rotting.
“That was an A grade body!” Her voice said with some pain. “I can stop the decomposition process, but it takes a part of me. And now, I lost the body, and I’m injured to an extent. I even weakened myself so you could enjoy a normal progression curve instead of just becoming instantly undefeated.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
Elasia snorted. “Look at your Wisdom.”
I opened my attributes, and just for the briefest of seconds I saw it instantly skyrocket by hundreds— I blinked before it returned to normal.
“Yes, Wisdom is my most important attribute, but what can I even gain if my Champion becomes dependent on a Feat that will literally vanish if I die? Blair, do you even understand how many people want me dead in this Star Cluster? People as strong as me?”
“Why does it even matter to you—” Memories flashed through my mind, as I failed to even find reasons. “Why did you try to cancel the contract with me? Why do you care so much?”
Elasia opened her mouth, but stopped. She looked at me and met my gaze but said nothing, before eventually speaking surprisingly softly.
“I indulged in my impulsiveness…” She took a long breath. “You looked strong and appealing as a Champion too… I’ve always wanted a Champion, you see? But I think the worst aspect is simply, your appearance reminded me of Lumina…”
“Remind you of?”
She nodded hesitantly. “In a way I care about you just because you remind me of my dead companion. But I also care about you because you carry her will.”
I became instantly skeptical. “How did I even remind you? She has silver hair, she has red eyes— that alone is enough?”
“She didn’t always have those features— but you both are just as impulsive,” Elasia said with finality. “Blair, I am willing to admit that I do give you bias, because if you were any other person I probably would’ve killed you as soon as I found out you have her will. Does this bias stem from a fake familiarity and delusion that I live in?” she asked the air. “Yes, yes it is. But even then, even if my intentions are screwed and twisted, I still care about you. That is why I’m here to congratulate you. And also here to reassure you that I do in fact want you to be just as powerful as me, and not some sort of servant.”
I scanned her once more, her expression seemed sincere enough. It was pure almost, but in the end, she had tortured me and lied to me— forced me to agree to her terms.
“Prove it.” I sighed. “Prove it to me.”
“Fine.” Elasia let out a long sigh. “There.”
A notification came.
[The Illusionist has voided a contract term: - All Prophecies you acquire from the wild will belong to The Illusionist. This term will no longer apply for as long as the contract is active.]
“There, happy? The entire contract is one-sided for you. Sure, the city thing still favors me, but are you even losing anything from it?”
I blinked, and I felt anger now. “You said you’d remove it if I wanted you to. This is just me asking you to remove it, not something like you showing you want me to be strong or not be a servant.”
“What can I even do to prove it though?” she asked the air. “I can stay here and teach you things about The System if that is what you want? I can show you all those neat skills that I basically forced you to learn back then? I can’t hand you armor or anything just yet because things went sideways, and you’ll just get poofed out of existence. Be reasonable, if you want me to grovel at your feet and make me apologize over and over again, it won’t be happening.”
I pondered over her words. I didn’t trust her, or fully anyway. It was twisted and weird. Though…
“Stay here,” I sighed. “Help me build a city, help me get stronger. I am Blair, not Lumina.”
Her eyes widened for a split second before she smiled. “I’m more than happy to help you with those things.”
A walking sound entered both of our ears. I turned in the direction only to see Sun exiting the room of the Guardian. He looked up, looked at me then at Elasia— all his hairs stood on end, mana flared around his body and he activated every single skill— in an instant I felt myself being lifted, and in a second we were now standing on the other side of the chamber.
“Dangerous… We need to run, we cannot fight that…”
I nodded without even entertaining the thought. I felt something change around us, and—
“That’s a nice wolf you got there, Blair. The Guardian of the city? He is strong,” Elasia praised, now standing next to us.
Sun tensed and cracked his neck in her direction. The horror was more than evident.
“He is… part of my family, Elasia.” I let out a sigh.
“Family?” Her tone became strange. “Can I become part of it too?”
“No.” I said without missing a beat. “I don’t trust you.”
“Is that so? That is unfortunate,” she mused. “Why don’t you introduce the both of us properly? To each other?”
I looked at Sun, who briefly met my gaze— I saw doubt, confusion and a myriad of emotions.
“Sun, this is Elasia, my Patron, and the person who has ‘ownership’ of me. An A grade being.” I turned to her. “This is Sun, my pack member, a Guardian from the nest that is now the Guardian of the Settlement and he is also part of the reason I’m sane now.”
Elasia shook her head. “Ownership is a very skewed term considering you get to leech off me. Anyway, look at it however you want. We have better things to do. This entire place is a mess.”
I nodded. “Yeah, a dragon did melt a large part of the mountain.”
“Not that. I don’t care for a stupid dragon.” She looked around. “I mean the remaining Moonfangs. We need to gather all of the intelligent monsters inside the territory.”
“Oh…” Sun gasped.
“There are Moonfangs alive?” I asked with evident disbelief.
“A few.”
◇ ◇ ◇
In the forests, there were cubs. But in the Upper Moon forest there was something that I found truly odd, Sun was confused too. She was— curled into a ball, but her eyes were looking towards us. There was no hostility, just resignation.
[Mei, Upper Moon. Lvl. 61]
“Were you…” I felt a bit ridiculous for asking it. “Were you not affected by the brainwashing?”
“I was affected,” she answered, her voice serene. “I do have recollections of having a close kin. But I’m also admittedly lost.” She unfurled, and met our gaze. “I can see the orange one, yes I remember him looking differently. The— scary one, I have never seen a Predator so strong, but…” She met my gaze. “You… I feel a weird kinship for you.”
“Kinship?” Elasia asked with confusion.
Walked up to us and examined me once more.
“I see someone strong, but also someone fit to lead— ahh…” She gasped. “You’re the New Supreme Moon…” Her voice traveled through the forest.
“What?” Confusion filled me.
Howls came, but they were distinct and different. There was movement around us as I prepared to maybe fight, but Elasia simply shook her head. Soon, I saw three more Upper Moons come but they stared at me with different gazes.
“A new Supreme Moon emerges.”
“A new Supreme Moon.”
Reverence filled the air.
What?
“Just go with it, and let’s gather all of them at the Settlement.” Elasia advised. “Then you can think about it and maybe try to change things.”
I nodded and opened my mouth.
“As your new Supreme Moon I command you all to follow me to the surface!”
“The surface?!” One asked with distress. “We’ve never left these forests!”
“That’s right!”
“What are you—
“Enough!” Mei interrupted. “The Supreme One commands, we follow!”
After that, they all seemed to nod and my confusion just increased further.
What is even happening?
◇ ◇ ◇
I found myself on the familiar couch, the window was still broken. But things were different now. Elasia was sitting nearby, completely distracted with a mana crystal she seemed to be examining, and Sun was laying under my legs. And in front of me, there were four Upper Moons, and an army of Moonfang cubs, as well as to the side, about fifty or so more Bloodfangs. The Fangtooths were not present, apparently they had died.
I found myself simply staring. I looked towards Elasia.
“What am I supposed to do?”
“Maybe ask them if they want to join your Settlement? Though the red wolves seem to already be allies.” She shrugged.
I turned to the Moonfangs.
“The Supreme Moon is dead.”
“We know—”
“That’s why we are here—”
I continued. “I’m not a replacement. I don’t control the Moon.”
“But—”
I interrupted. “I am offering you, those of the Moon, to join my pack. Otherwise, I’ll give you two options, fight to the death, or leave.”
There was a brief silence. All of them stared forward, and Mei spoke.
“I’ll join your pack.”
“I’ll do so as well!”
Two Moonfangs agreed. Another one spoke.
“I’ll join the Supreme Moon… even if you aren’t the Supreme Moon… I’ll join your pack. Because in my eyes, you’re the Supreme Moon.”
I almost sighed and decided to examine the Moonfang instead.
[Emm, Upper Moon. Lvl. 52]
Finally, the other Moonfang began to shake.
“Then you’re just an impostor!” It shouted as mana flared. I grabbed my bow and nocked three types of arrows. “I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you for pretending to be the Supreme Moon!”
I could see the danger flare. Elasia shook her head, Sun closed his eyes, the Moonfangs around looked at me expectantly, and the cubs seemed to not understand what is going on. A deep sigh left me as I let the string loose— a mana whip hit my shoulder, and some pain came, but it didn’t matter.
All three arrows flew, the first one hit the Moonfang on the neck and coiled, constricted and choked it, the second and third penetrated into his skull and instantly bloomed into tendrils. The Moonfang yelped, and the first notification came.
[Activated: Mark of Death.]
The tentacles became more violent, the Moonfang thrashed but it was awkward and slow— they dug into its body as blood oozed. Its face gone— it died.
[You have killed: (D) Lua, Upper Moon. Lvl. 54]
[Level up: You have achieved level 59. Prophecy Bonus: +1 WIS +1 VIG]
[+50 Prime from Hunter (Uncommon E) Quest.]
Silence filled the place as I let out a long sigh. I still had a couple of things to take care of so it was more annoying than anything.
“Do you all wish to join me?” I took a breath as I raised my voice. “I’m better than the Supreme Moon. My pack is like no other. He is dead, but I am not. My pack will be the strongest there has ever been.”
This time there was no hesitation as nods came my way.
[Due to population increase, your Settlement has become a Town: New building options available.]
“Well done,” Elasia praised with a chuckle. “I don’t get tired of watching those plants. Nice speech too.”
I snorted.
Azrie
You can read up to chapter 130+ on patreon!
Blair now has a discord server, join here
