Integration Begins

Ding.

[Emberhorn has begun its second phase of authority stretching: Integration]

A sound that echoed inside of my head broke my stream of comfortable slumber as it raised my consciousness to the surface of my mind.

I stretched out unconsciously and rubbed at my eyes, trying to gain better focus of my surroundings when it dawned on me.

It had been the notification sound of the system.

I jolted up and about immediately, draping my clothes over my body and running to wake up the party members and the governors of the city.

"Huff, huff…" I breathed out as I ran from room to room, "Wake up, the next Main Story Quest is here!"

"Nwa?" Was the usual response I got from most of the people I had gone to wake up.

No one expected a quest to be issued in the middle of the night.

It would be unfair.

At least that's what opinion normal humans hold.

But what about other beings…? What about the Lenticulars? Do they get issued quests like us and have grown enough in level to be able to be called that?

Do they need to sleep?

Would the time the quest is issued be a problem for someone who doesn't sleep and is always on the ready?

No.

I already knew that.

The system wasn't trying to accommodate us humans.

It was trying to make us go through its quests and clear the game.

A game that has become a reality.

"Kgha… Gulp, gulp, gulp!" I downed a pouch of water after finally waking most of the useful people and taking a rest for myself after that tumultuous waking.

"Why is it still so calm…?" I thought out loud to myself as I flicked my wrist in the air, the system menu window appearing in front of me.

[Notifications]

I clicked on the top right corner.

[Emberhorn has begun its second phase of authority stretching: Integration]

I read the contents of the notification and it dawned on me immediately after.

"The quest hasn't begun yet…" I whispered at the late realization.

"Are you serious right neow, bro?" Izzy with a comical voice spoke next to me.

"You heard me?"

"No, retard," She snorted, "I realized it since I first opened the notification tab and saw that the system began its second phase, integration."

"Why didn't you speak out earlier, then!?" I headlocked her, itching at her scalp painfully to hear her complaints.

"I just wanted to see how you'd act in a 'dire' situation out here in the real world compared to the Enigmatic Dungeon."

"Sigh…" I breathed out exasperatedly.

"Wait…?"

"What?"

"Repeat how your notification reads again?"

"Eh? Why do you want me to? Isn't it the same for both of us?"

"I can't see your screen you disrespectful shit," I cursed as I urged her to tell me.

[The System has begun its second phase of authority stretching: Integration]

"Here, happy now?"

"Huh?"

The system?

Not Emberhorn?

I brought my hand to cover my mouth as I came to realize the fact why people had been actually failing so badly even though Emberhorn was quite the famous game too.

It had gotten to Top-1 Trending within ten minutes after it put up its shut-down notice.

***

"Excuse me, can you check your system notification tab and tell me the last one word for word?" I went and asked numerous people the same thing, and I had gotten the same reply.

[The System has begun its second phase of authority stretching: Integration]

They don't know it's Emberhorn.

They think it's just a System that has appeared on Earth and taken over it.

If they knew the system was of Emberhorn itself, then, the people who played it and understood its mechanics would most definitely have gotten the upper hand too.

So then… why?

Why am I and Smool the only one who knows that the system is from Emberhorn?

Is that also a benefit we have for hacking the game?

I don't know.

There's a lot I don't know.

I have many questions and yet no answers for anything at all.

"I feel weird…" I heard someone say that in a slightly higher-pitched voice as he wobbled.

The newbie mage of my party fell to the ground, "Bluergh–" puking out the contents of his stomach.

I quickly made my way towards him and then…

My world shook.

"Kgh!?" I barely gained standing as the tremors spreading throughout the place made me dizzy.

"Fuck, what is it this time?!" I cursed as I looked at my surroundings.

Woo-Boom!

"Kirgyaaa!" A screech entered my ears after the loud detonation.

I whipped my head in that direction and witnessed the end of the world occurring before me, or rather, it made me feel that way as buildings fell one after another and giant trees rose from nothing to heights I had never seen before.

Or did I?

The destroyed futuristic scenery changing into a medieval village managed to leave me slack-jawed.

"Hmph!" I halted my breath as I pushed strength into my calves and thighs, trying my best to protect as many people as possible to not get crushed under the weight of the buildings.

"Everyone, this way!" Evie the archeologist yelled as she urged in a directions without buildings or high structures.

"You'll be alright, just go to areas where no high structures are built."

"O-Okay…" The kid I saved gained his exposure quicker than some adults.

I guess that's the risk of comprehension.

The more you understand, the more you will get saddened by what might happen instead of what is happening.

"Sigh…" I couldn't help but breathe out as my shoulders drooped.

The shaking of the ground had come to a halt as the buildings that had fallen had been destroyed into matter by an outer force.

They pixelated the same way when you materialize or dematerialize from a quest or return from one.

K-Krrc!

Another sound entered my ears, this time from below me.

Kra-Kr-Krack!

Numerous objects were unveiled from the ground. They were small houses I somehow felt an intimate connection with.

"Whoa!" I jumped off from the roof unto the ground with no difficulty whatsoever, surprised at why houses were showing up now.

"--"

I narrowed my eyes as I gazed into a window.

"Are there people inside…?" I cautiously made my way toward the door.

The handle that was just a few inches away from mine flung open, slapping my arm away.

"Who goes there?" A voice of a female entered my ears.

Shrugging my pain away, I focused on the weirdly familiar tone that just entered my ears.

What I saw next, stunned me.

A girl with a fiery red hair color that reached down to her waist, eyes that shone like bright rubies as she opened them widely to stare at me, and with a hand covering her pink lips called out, "Nord?" in surprise.

It was a girl I hadn't visited since.

My betrothed woman.

"Lira…"