Leveling through Lust
chapter-epl1

Taking over the System had been … different than I expected. There had been no grand mental battles with the unfortunate previous owner, no last-minute battles I had to hurry up to join just in time, not even any direct intervention.

To be fair, looking back, I could see that every single one of them had been a distinct possibility. If things had gone even slightly wrong, during the last stretch, I would have been dealing with a true horror show. It was chilling to realize how badly things have gotten if I tried to fight against the threats directly instead took action while my enemies dealt with each other.

Admittedly, even under perfect conditions, if I didn’t have the assistance of a set of very helpful goddesses who were willing to work hard defending the material plane against a variety of enemies — the gods from other planes, the recently freed elementals, persistent undead, and even occasional local rebellions — I couldn’t have given the esoteric problems of the System the attention they deserved.

And, there were many such problems, enough that I actually had trouble believing it worked in the first place. The system was huge. My own System looked like a little sparrow standing next to an ancient dragon when combined, both in terms of scale and in terms of power.

Or maybe, an ancient tree with messy branches and even messier roots was a better example. It was certainly a better explanation of how the System worked, automatically connecting with the people who were born in its territory, operating under some very limited rules.

Rules that seemed to be untouched for ages, buried in the depths of the System … covered by some of the most critical aspects of the System, making them unreachable without destroying the System. I was able to bypass those fundamental parts only because my power and the System’s power came from the same roots, allowing me to manipulate the System with an ease the Eternals could never replicate.

And, through that, I managed to access the core rules of the System … which answered the problem. The rules were not written by one group, but by three different entities. I guessed that the initial set of rules, governing the skills, levels, and achievements were written by the first Eternals. They were smooth and straightforward … but they also had an incredible number of smart safeguards, additional authorizations for reconfiguration, and tons of other options.

Those additional rules were cut off by the second set of rules. I suspected that it was the spirit of the System — which I still kept trapped, waiting to take over the System properly first to avoid a nasty surprise — that was responsible for them. There weren’t many such rules, giving the feeling that they were created in a hurry.

They were focusing on ruining the Eternals’ control over the System.

Then, there was the third set of rules … a confusing set of mishmash that had been added over the surface of the System to give the Eternals a new set of control. Unfortunately, with the core of the System tightly wrapped, the only thing that the tertiary layer could manipulate was the storage, which included HP, and mana.

And, most importantly, Divine Spark. All types of it.

As I examined the collection speed of the System, I understood why the Eternals never stopped the endless battle that defined the fate of the material plane. It generated a truly shocking amount of Divine Spark every moment.

More than even my wildest estimations.

Of course, that raised another question. Where the hell was all that Divine Spark? It wasn’t something consumable, which made their location a mystery. I had initially thought that all of it went to the Eternal City, but if that had been the case, they would have put up a far better fight.

That created an interesting question. Where the hell all those Divine Sparks that had been collected over centuries had disappeared. A fascinating mystery.

The third set of rules over the System was the only clue I had. The more I examined them, the more I was convinced that they were not written by the Eternals as well, for two reasons. First, whoever created those magical rules was far more capable than the Eternals when it came to magic. At least, none of their wards had shown similar expertise, not even the extremely vital ones that were keeping the four Primordial Elementals imprisoned.

That implied that they were written by a third party … and not one that was directly linked to the Eternals. Whether that particular help came with a price tag too high for them to ask for the same service for their city, or they didn’t trust that party for their defenses was not a question I could answer.

The second reason I didn’t believe those rules were not written by Eternals was the nature of the rules. They had too many little hidden aspects whose only function was to record every storage movement, and send those reports to a beacon that had the correct magical signature. Meaning, that whoever built those rules was interested in keeping track of exactly how much Divine Spark the Eternals were collecting.

For what purpose, I had absolutely no idea…

Like the landscape wasn’t confusing enough.

As much as I hated the idea of destroying evidence that might help me track the destination, I had to destroy those tertiary rules. The risk of missing a part was too high.

***

It took months for me to make sure I had cleaned the old rules completely. I went as far as rewriting the fundamental rules from scratch without changing anything, and once those were written, I destroyed the old set completely, making sure there wasn’t a trap hidden in the rules.

Suffering the same fate with the Eternals was the last thing I wanted.

There had been only one exception. Early on, I added a rule, preventing the System from devouring Divine Spark from active Divine Domains as long as they were authorized, which also applied to Divine Avatars.

The combination worked excellently, allowing my sexy goddesses to establish their domains. Helga and Oeyne chose to establish their domains near the center. Oeyne chose the capital, which was rapidly turning into the greatest center for artifacts, forged by a growing number of her followers. Helga took the role of Headmistress, choosing to lead Silver Spires into a true center of magic, dedicated to learning and research rather than pointless noble posturing.

The others stayed nearer to the borders, using a combination of their domains and their avatars to defend the Material Plane against the attacks, their encampments giving them a decisive advantage. Aviada and Cornelia had found themselves locked in an intense rivalry, competing for victories.

Meanwhile, we managed to use a modified version of the planar moving tool the Eternals had used to attack Seldanna to bring Mariel’s and Seldanna’s planes to the orbit of the Material plane, rotating around safely. However, we were yet to discover a way to merge them properly.

Titania refused to establish a domain, still working on Elemental Spark, though it hadn’t been as shocking as Marianne, who not only established a Domain and led every single battle against the undead, she also had half a dozen avatars, moved around by my clones, leading a one-woman crusade against the undead. She had already taken over two weaker plains, which we were dragging back to the material plane.

We didn’t know exactly how we were going to use those planar fragments, but it was better than leaving them with the Undead.

It wasn’t perfect, but considering the mess we were dealing with, it was far better than I could ever hoped, which was good enough.

For months, I continued to tinker over System roles, slowly allowing people a chance to rise to new heights… I had a feeling that, sooner or later, we would need their help. And, if my suspicions about the Eternals and the mysterious party were correct, I was afraid that it would be sooner.

Then, a fateful day arrived.

It was the time to speak with the mysterious spirit of the System…