Chapter 87: SAO?!

"Haah… Tabane had been sent to Azazel and Ajuka's R&D department, wrapped like a present and wouldn't cause trouble for a while. Now it's Chifuyu and the few from IS Academy." Ray sighed before dropping the pen and rapidly scratched his head out of frustration with the unending workload of paperwork that stacked up for the duration he left to IS world.

"I need a break…" Ray mumbled before he stood from his desk and looked out of his office to the full view of his estate.

The people from the Island and the cultists from former Italica collaborated peacefully under Ray's order to build themselves anything they needed like houses, workshops, etc. His estate is quite big, almost the size of a small city.

He didn't really have any goal for the people yet. So, he gave them freedom to do their stuff. Most excitedly went to learn magic that was provided for free in Eden. Almost all basic necessities in Eden are free for anyone including education in most subjects.

Also speaking of magic, Ray had a lengthy discussion with his system regarding his nonexistent talent and affinity for magic.

The system said.

[User didn't need to worry about such a problem. While the basic requirement to use magic is a specialised organs either spiritual or physical, to conduct the magical energy that the user didn't possess. The universe is endless and there are definitely solutions for user to overcome the obstacle.]

This answer is indeed logical as he does indeed lack a special organ like magic circuit or etc to manipulate mana. The probably other method of using mana that didn't require such an organ was waiting for him to discover. However, the problem is he didn't dare to bring his loved one along into unknown territory that he had no confidence to protect them.

For that, the system had suggestions for Ray.

[User can return to the current world at any time with a cooldown of a year. Or user can create a Dimensional portal that allows users to move between worlds more frequently than a year or … … …]

There are too many suggestions for Ray but the few that caught his eyes are Dimensional Portal and Blessed Land. Both work in conjunction to solve his problem.

A Dimensional Portal is well, a portal that is similar to Gate but in a higher level as it causes no negative effect when opened and is very stable. The only problem is it costs a lot to create the device. Like the first material is literally a sun to power the device to power the astronomical energy cost to drill a space and time tunnel to another dimension then create a permanent and stable tunnel.

The second one is more of a subject of doubt to Ray himself.

A 'Blessed Land' is literally something out of a Chinese cultivation story of a land that is created inside a cultivator body when they reach certain cultivation stages.

The concept is the cultivation energy, Qi, when reached a certain stage can condense along with the cultivator power to form a space that sometimes manifested as Blessed Land which was a by-product that actually was an internal Qi generator and Qi storage of a cultivator.

They also believe that a world is actually a high level Blessed Land as it also produces Qi and stores Qi. The existence of dragon veins similar to blood vessels that circulate Qi to keep the land fertile and healthy. To them, a world is a Grotto that was a very high grade Blessed Land of a cultivator, that is further separated to earthly or heavenly based on its Qi saturation. Their world is essentially a Blessed Land, of a very high rank cultivator that reaches the ranks beyond immortals.

The system's suggestion is for Ray to own one so he doesn't need to worry about exposing his loved ones to harm as they are protected inside his Blessed Land and always ae to bring them wherever he goes. The Portal allows them to move in and out of the Blessed Land as frequently as they need.

The problem however, was the Dimensional Portal is listed in tier 3 on the Marketplace and Blessed Land on tier 4 which was definitely out of his reach because he only had tier 1 access.

This is his current obstacle as the system didn't have any privilege to raise his access tier and only the creator can. Going through the annoying bastard is the last thing he needed but he didn't have a choice.

"System, contact the creator."

[User request accepted. Forwarding request to contact the Lord Creator… …]

Ray waited for a few moments, walking back to his seat from facing the window and relaxing his body on his comfortable chair.

A screen suddenly pops up that shows a battle in progress and the scale is quite unfathomable to Ray.

"Yo, I saw the system log. I am busy right now and I will keep it brief… Even I have no-"

The creator's voice suddenly cut off when an energy slash traveled faster than light almost slashed off his right arm but raised a spear like weapon that definitely looks like a very strong weapon.

"Tch, to think the holier than thou prick Yahweh with stick up his ass would join force with the space knife-ears!" The creator grumbled with great irritation.

"The fuck I care. Everyone retreat if you don't wanna die!" The creator shouted before grasping the spear like he is preparing a big attack which is the case.

"Awaken O Spear of Ultimatum,

The Divine Regalia of my authority,

With the principles of Infinity, Supremacy and Domination,

I forged with the cumulation of my journey,

I hereby declare! I had reached my boundaries! I will transcend the Zenith!"

"Zenith Annhiliation!"

After the chant finished, nothing happened visually until Ray squint his eyes to slit and noticed the space that the spear point at just now become blank like void. All the stars and the visible galaxy disappeared and left a circular black void that look out of place.

"Oi Boss! My boys didn't have the chance to retreat yet and you fired your galaxy eraser big move. I didn't even have ash to bring back to their families after this." A wild looking buffed man with generic fantasy gear that looks out of place on an interstellar battlefield.

"Oh yeah, this is your group's first campaign. I'll pull them back from the cycle of reincarnation, don't you worry."

"Now where was I… Oh, authority. So,authority to raise your access rank. You must earn it through the Hub. The system and Administrators will guide you through it. Bye."

Then the screen vanished. Ray looks spooked that someone has the power to erase not a planet, not a system, not a galaxy, but more than just one galaxy and create a void where his spear points at. His mind couldn't even begin to comprehend how much power a person would need to reenact such a feat.

Looking back at his system screen, a new screen popped up.

[Please select your server;

-Hub Aries (Destroyed)

-Hub Taurus (Destroyed)

-Hub Gemini (Destroyed)

-Hub Cancer (Destroyed)

-Hub Leo (Occupied)

-Hub Virgo (Destroyed)

-Hub Libra (Destroyed)

-Hub Scorpius (Available)

-Hub Sagittarius (Destroyed)

-Hub Capricornus (Destroyed)

-Hub Aquarius (Sealed)

-Hub Pisces (Occupied)]

From the list, most of the Hubs are weirdly destroyed for some reason. Hub Leo is occupied and the occupier's name is Zenith which Ray suspects is the creator since he literally just used the letter Zenith in his name. A coincidence? Perhaps Ray isn't taking chances after seeing what the creator is capable of.

The Hub Pieces are also occupied but the red letters mean it's by hostile people. Hub Aquarius sealed but reason not stated. This leaves only Hub Scorpius available and Ray's only choice because apparently someone can conquer a Hub and become its owner like the creator.

Ray didn't know the specific details about owning a Hub but he assumes it's a good thing and chose an ownerless one to maybe own it.

After selecting Hub Scorpius, Ray hit with another prompt.

[Enter Hub?]

(Hubs exist outside of the time axis and user return to the exact time of leaving regardless of time spent within the Hub.)

Seeing that time will not move regardless of how much time he spends in the Hub, Ray's reluctance to leave vanishes as he chooses to enter the Hub. His body glitched for a second before his vision turned dark.

———

[Welcome to the Hub for the first time, user.]

Immediately when his vision returned, Ray saw himself inside a cube shaped room with a big magic circle on the floor without anything else. Very bare interior. Even the floor and wall is just gray in colour like cement. He saw floating holographic letters that state 'Teleportation Room'.

Then he exits the Teleportation Room to a street with few buildings that are located along the street. This honestly looks simply like a town in an RPG game with shops, inns, etc. Just a straight stone brick street that is 5 meters wide, 50 meters long that fully covered by buildings and walls without a gap. Passing the buildings and wall is an empty void that turns bright or dark according to day night cycle.

The Teleportation Room is the first building on the right row and the left row is the Quest & Bounty house where missions can be accepted. Behind Ray is the Administration building that unfortunately cannot be accessed. Then on the right row after the Teleportation Room is a Pub then an Inn and Marketplace that offer more selection of products than the Marketplace he owned.

On the left row after the Quest and Bounty is the News Bulletin Board and then the Library. Ray's curiosity roused to the bulletin board that last shown information was;

[Hub lost all users and administrators to the Evil Gods invasion and without the users to keep the ecosystem and economy afloat, energy level in all time low and thus the Hub entered energy saving mode to preserve the energy until situations are fixed. All NPC are shut down and only the basic functions of the Hub will be up and running until certain conditions are reached. Please refer to the Quest bulletin board for further information.]

As told by the bulletin board, Ray moved to the Quest & Bounty building and went directly to the Quest bulletin board. There he saw the information mentioned on the News bulletin board.

[Energy Collection

In self preservation, the Hub expended its last bit of energy to escape the Evil Gods and without any users or administrators to generate energy for the Hub. A user must kill a monster within Hub's internal world to allow the Hub to absorb the soul as energy. Users will be rewarded with experience, points and items.

Main

-Enter Hub's internal world and slay 1000 rank null monsters to revive an administrator.

*Reward: Job Class System

Optional

-Slay 100 rank null monsters (Repeatable)

*Reward: 1000 points ]

After checking there is nothing else he missed on both Quest and Bounty bulletins, Ray walked back to the Teleportation Room and fumbled a few times trying to figure out how to teleport to the internal world but he didn't know how to operate the teleportation array until his system told him to think intently where he want to go.

He once again assaulted by the similar sensation of his body glitched before his vision turned dark.

'New world here I come.' Ray said in his heart as he couldn't help but feel excitement.

Unlike Mission stages, this is a whole world that probably has a lot to discover and fight! He was no longer confined to monotone stages for thousands of rounds, fighting the same ass enemies every single time.

—————

(Link Start! 😂)