GREED: ALL FOR WHAT?



Powerful beings experience time differently and they are capable of creating wonders. They perceive time differently compared to lesser beings. They can do in a second what a lesser being needs a thousand years to do. Power makes anything possible.

This world fragment is a creation of a world god and it shows just a fragment of their power. A Transcendent can discover the difference between this world and the external world. Some might just think there's something weird about it while the more observant ones will discover that the laws of this world are the cause of the difference. He on the other hand can see farther than that.

He thought to himself excitedly as he analyzed the world. ''It is certain that the first sage built this world fragment."

He was ecstatic when he got those filaments of order from the first sage. Now he has been dropped into an ocean of that order. He is certain that this world fragment was built by the first sage. He can sense echoes of his law of order everywhere. It is not the pure law of order but its derivatives but it is enough for him. In his own opinion, he has already been rewarded for participating in this competition. 

This world fragment and its creation may simply be the effect of the law of order not the real law of order but it is of immense value to him.

He smirked to himself. 'It is like an all-you-can-eat buffet. The meat might be tough and gamy but I have a cleaver and a large one at that.'

This world fragment is more complete than what he got from the filaments of order after his meeting with the first sage but it is also much more difficult to decipher. Those filaments he acquired were unprotected and loose. He had the leisure to analyze it to the best of his capabilities but this world is under the control of a world spirit. It is next to impossible for him to parse the makeup of the world without explicit permission. 

Unfortunately for the arena spirit, he has the key to this lock. He already got the password to gain access to the world from the filaments of order that he got from his meeting with the first sage. It will be enough for him to look around the law matrix of this world. The arena spirit won't be able to stop him until he tries to have a look at the core of the world.

The voice of the spirit reached every one of them.

"Welcome again to the Unified Skill Index League. The first Challenge is survival. You have been placed in this forest and are to survive for 1 year. There will be predators and prey in this world. Your activities will earn you scores such as killing, fighting, winning battles, and for each day you survive. You will earn a feat if you complete the challenge of surviving for the entire year without dying at all."

"The problems you will face in this challenge will be different and random but I'll continue to increase its difficulty if you overcome it. So you will encounter increasingly stronger monsters as the competition progresses. They will push you to your limit and test your full capabilities. Just remember that your aim for this challenge is to survive without dying once."

"You have all been suppressed to the starting point of transcendence. You can improve your strength by killing the monsters of this world and by killing other competitors. There are other methods to increase your strength but that's up to you to find out. I'll send important things to take note of to your brand. Good luck with your survival."

Soverick received the necessary information he should have about the challenge through his brand. It contained things like monster classification, guidelines for the challenge, and the power system of this world. This world is different from the outside world. It means that all the laws that they have comprehended won't work here. 

The different laws removed the most significant advantage between kings of law, lords of law, and transcendents which is Authority. That leaves the strength of their body which the world has suppressed to make them all on an equal level. Even the ability to fly has been suppressed.

They all have equal strength under the suppression but strength can be acquired again. Either by killing monsters or other competitors or through a less obvious alternative which is comprehending the laws of this world. Comprehending the laws of this world fragment is an alternative to gaining strength. 

Comprehending laws is what transcendents do to become lords of law and kings of law in the real world. It should be possible in this world fragment because the laws are only different, not non-existent. Then they will be able to mold the world to their will through their divine sense to create spells and spell matrixes.

The arena spirit didn't mention this obscure alternative. It is for the smart ones to figure out. It is also a trap for the smart ones who are not capable enough. They can either kill monsters and acquire quick strength and high scores or they can hole up somewhere trying to learn laws and get feats. Learning laws is not going to be easy even for such a small world like this world fragment. 

"So we have a year of this stuff. Let the games begin."

He clapped his hands and got ready to have fun. He has been busy these past few years so it will be good to let off some steam. He knows that this competition probably has serious significance but that doesn't mean he can't have fun. Besides, he has to let loose a little bit if he wants to snag that first prize.

9 golden orbs came out of his back. They piped out of his body like tumors then they hovered behind him in a circle.