Reincarnated Hero System

Tower of Trials, Floor 50

Cloud Piercing Isle

Divider Ocean

July 27th

Year 1053

The beach was littered with gore and bodies. Red, was the new colour of what was once a beautiful beach, which had now become the stage of a ruthless battle.

The air which would normally be fresh and smell of nature's wonders was now carrying a thick, black smoke and small multicoloured embers of flames, as though hell descended upon this area.

"Truly 'Hell Unleashed'."

As for Evan, he was seated at the top of a pile of Kraken Corpses while sipping a bottle of strawberry juice.

He spun a vortex of prismatic flames in his palm, observing as they gradually darkened. Once they reached their limit, he solidified the flames into a tangible ring, deftly sliding it onto his horns. With seven additional rings adorning each horn, they resembled the pegs from a water ring game he played as a child.

"My energy quality is at least 4 times better than average and that bumps up to somewhere within 6 and 7 with my Horns.

This means I spend 6-7 times less energy than others…"

This was one of the greatest open secrets to Evan's strengths—his Energy quality.

It was why he could face off against multiple others with similar energy levels and prevail. Since his energy quality was higher, he used less of it at a time.

"Oh well…"

[Trial Complete. Would you like to proceed to the next Floor or head to the Rest Area?]

"Rest Area."

When Evan gave his reply, he was wreathed in a spatial light and teleported to the Tower's Rest Area.

He entered the kitchen and began preparing a small meal for himself. During this, he suddenly sensed a familiar presence behind him.

"Oh, Welcome Back."

"…"

The newcomer stayed silent, prompting Evan to pivot with a curious expression. He locked eyes with a pair of golden eyes brimming with complicated emotions.

'Wow…this is the most expressive I've ever seen her.'

Naturally, this new entrant was the goddess Artemisia.

She had returned to Orithyia and when she got to Aidos, she was hearing strange news headlines and stories.

To understand the situation, she used her Authority to peruse the planet's records to find out what happened while she was away, and to say she was SHOCKED was an understatement.

Everything was supposed to be fine and the war was all going according to Evan's plans.

And then…bam! He nearly got killed all of a sudden.

"Are you…okay?"

The goddess was clearly at a loss on how to talk to Evan and the boy chuckled before setting the plates on the table as he replied.

"Your dear friend fixed me up so I'm fine—physically at least.

The near-death experience was not appreciated, though."

He dished out his food as he stated this, before taking a seat at the dining table and continuing.

"If I could go back in time, I would stop it from happening. Too bad I can't."

"…"

"Leaving me aside, what the hell happened to you? EOTD said you were in a life-threatening situation."

Artemisia's brow twitched lightly when she heard this, clearly not liking the fact that Evan was made aware of her situation.

"He also said something about all the gods in the Universe not being able to ki-"

*SNAP!

"-yo-?! What?"

Evan's statement was cut off midway as Artemisia had suddenly teleported him over to her Domain.

She then held out her hand and poked Evan's chest, tampering with his contracts so his contracted spirits and Demons would not suddenly sense that Evan was now 9999999999999999… billion kilometres away from them.

"Sorry for the abruptness. However, everything that happens on Aidos is kept in the records of the planet.

Everything you say or do.

As I am not the only one who can peruse a planet's records, I'd prefer it if we did not have such a conversation on Aidos."

Clearly, Artemisia did not want any details about her 'Inability to be Killed' being recorded on Aidos.

"Then why did the EOTD say it then?"

"That man is a special case. He's a Singularity that makes the laws of the Universe go haywire.

I suppose you could call him the Perfected Form of your 'Irregular' nature."

Evan had his guesses but now it was confirmed that the EOTD was indeed an Irregular/Singularity.

"If he so wishes it, he can distort the laws of knowledge and prevent anything he says from being automatically recorded by the planet.

Even if they are recorded, trying to peruse any record with him in it is impossible as his Causality index and Universal Influence are at the highest conceivable levels.

You'd have an easier time not getting spaghettified in a black hole than perusing records with him in it."

"…damn."

The young hero was slightly overwhelmed by this little bit of information, but something else caught his attention before he could even ask about the EOTD's words.

On the desk behind Artemisia was a picture, but he could not make out all the faces on it due to the angle at which the photo was placed.

Which was quite strange considering his superhuman visual prowess.

'Hmm? Isn't that the 'Westley' guy I saw in the Hall of Statues?'

The moment he had that thought, Artemisia's hand shot towards it and she turned the picture face down, clearly not wanting Evan to see it.

'How did I make such a mista-! So this is how he ended up seeing it!

The Universe's correctional laws are…'

Her thoughts stopped there and she heaved an exasperated sigh before taking a seat. Just then, a spatial gate opened up beside her and a familiar figure came jumping out of it.

"Lady Artemisia!"

A woman with long green hair and pointed ears emerged from the gate and immediately enveloped Artemisia in a tight embrace. She ran her hands over the goddess's body as if checking for injuries, prompting Evan's eyes to widen in recognition.

"Aren't you the goddess of the Elves? Aphine, right?"

"Huh?"

The other goddess finally turned her emerald green eyes in Evan's direction before returning her gaze to Artemisia, who sighed for what seemed like the nth time today.

"Whatever it is, Aphine, I'm sure it can wait. Let me finish with him first."

Though her lips twisted into a frown, Aphine reluctantly nodded and released Artemisia before departing through the spatial gate she had arrived through.

"She looked concerned about you. I'm guessing your situation was that bad, huh?"

"It wasn't as bad as you think. Aphine is just a worrywart."

Artemisia was quick to dissuade Evan from thinking she was in a precarious situation but Evan clearly wasn't buying it.

"The EOTD's words. About you 'Not being able to die'. Are you some kind of immortal, or you're just that strong?"

"My race breed is one with an Eternal Lifespan…so I technically am immortal in a sense."

"But that's not what EOTD meant, am I right?"

"Yes, that's not what he meant."

Evan went silent but his gaze was clearly asking Artemisia to start spilling the details and the goddess didn't miss this.

"Even if I wanted to explain it to you, I cannot."

"Law of Causality?"

"Indeed."

Artemisia then proceeded to explain some of the Law of Causality's information restriction criteria that applied to the current scenario.

1-Whether the listener (Evan) was curious about the information.

2-Whether the information gave the listener any type of potential power after hearing it.

3-The difference in power between the Speaker, the listener and any other 'Existences' who are mentioned in the conversation.

"It's like how the Law of Causality prevents you from speaking about the Previous Seven Heroes' Reincarnation spell which broke the World Laws of Reincarnation because it does not want you to spread that information and have other people try to break the Laws of Reincarnation."

"So, whatever he was talking about, has to do with breaking World Laws and you can't say it because the Law of Causality does not want me attempting to break those laws as well.

I'm guessing that breaking those laws would also give me power."

"Yes. Unless you figure it out yourself or find out a certain level of information connected to it, I cannot say.

It is connected to my 'Greatest Secret', after all."

"?!"

Her words made Evan remember his conversation with 'Aidos', where the planet had spoken about 'Artemisia's greatest secret'.

"You have long since figured out I had other motives for sending you to Aidos.

I am also aware of the fact that your trust levels in me are on the lower ends due to the number of things I've kept hidden from you."

"Well, someone's self-aware."

Evan retorted, his tone laced with sarcasm as he rolled his eyes, showing no denial of Artemisia's assessment.

The goddess didn't mind his attitude, having expected it even.

"There are certain things I cannot tell you now, even if I wanted to, Evan."

"Now?"

"Yes. I cannot tell you 'Now'."

Artemisia clarified as she closed the distance between them, meeting Evan's gaze intently.

"You will know everything in due time. It's impossible for me to hide anything related to our agreement from you forever.

The time for me to tell you will come…a lot sooner than you think." (Basically, Volume 4)

Returning the distance between them to normal, she then tapped the collapsed picture frame on her desk as she concluded.

"At that time, your other curiosities would be sated."

"Is that so?"

Evan tapped the armrest of his chair, his other hand on his chin and he adopted a pensive look on his face.

He was indeed curious why there was a picture on Artemisia's desk with a Demon in it, and he was equally curious about the other people in the picture whom he had not been able to discern clearly.

"You wish to go to the 'Cavern of Trials' next, right?"

"Hmm?"

Artemisia's sudden question brought Evan out of his sea of thoughts and he shook his head in reply.

"I want to go to the Regal Void Expanse with Laurene and David first. Let them get new skills and then I'd like to explore that Realm a bit.

After that, I'd take a break.

By the time I'm done with the Regal Void Expanse, my birthday should be around the corner and Liz is apparently preparing a surprise for me so I'd keep my schedule open throughout that period.

Only after that would I go to the Cavern of Trials—the one Dungeon on the planet where whichever Level 499 passes its trials, is guaranteed to surpass the Level 500 barrier and become an Epic Level."

Evan leaned back on his chair and looked up at the infinite white ceiling as he concluded.

"That would be my final destination in this Saga of 'Wars and Giant Lizards'." (End of Volume 3.)

"I see. I wish you good luck in your trials.

Not even I know what trials you would be faced with."

"Thanks.

Anyway, it seems Aidos is about to enter its next stage of Technological Development."

Evan suddenly changed the topic, bringing up something that had been on his mind for the past few weeks.

"They've had magical signals which they used for Radios and other means of communication.

They've got Trains, Teleporters and Airships for transportation.

They basically have smartphones—though they call them Guild Cards."

"Those things are so convenient it makes introducing normal smartphones seem pointless."

Artemisia spoke with a sigh as she had been a bit troubled about this matter for some time. It was due to her that these Smartphones in the form of 'Guild Cards' came to be but now she felt she may have overdone it.

"Nahh…when the Internet, or rather, 'Magicnet' comes out, they'd see much use."

"I hope so…"

The goddess replied as she waved her hands and generated a trio of floating screens, displaying her plans for Aidos' magi-

technological development.

"According to the game, the next thing we got after teleporters were Televisions. That would make things a lot easier for getting news across."

Evan could not deny that the plan he had concocted to take advantage of the Assassination attempt to increase his fame, reputation and influence certainly would have been a lot easier if Aidos had televisions. Magic projections cost way too much money to power, and even someone as rich as Evan felt the hit from sponsoring the magic projections in major cities and town squares that broadcasted the Trials.

"I'd do some behind-the-scenes work to make them come out within the year. If I tinker a bit with 'Technological Evolution', I can make things happen that fast."

Hearing Artemisia's guarantee, Evan gave her a round of applause as he 'praised' her.

"All hail the goddess of Evolution."

"I think you're the only person whose praise to a god makes them lose power instead…"

Evan burst into laughter upon hearing her words while Artemisia just sighed with light exasperation. However, she could not conceal the small smile momentarily manifested on her lips seeing Evan act the same as always.