[¹MESSAGE!
- MrAnonymous: Nolan! What did you do?]
"What in the world..." he muttered.
Where did that suddenly come from? He had never seen anything like it in the previous systems.
Before he could focus more on it, the screen closed.
Desperate to understand what it was, he started to check every corner of the system whether he could find a ’message’ section, but there was completely nothing.
He knew very well that he wasn’t day dreaming or having hallucinations. This was clear and he read the message clean.
What did he do? He died and woke up again. What else?
Nolan sighed and stood up. Maybe it would appear again. Maybe ’MrAnonymous’ would send another message.
For now, he had to weave through life again.
"Or..." Nolan trailed. "I could just kill myself since this is the final regression."
It wasn’t a question, but the system gave an answer.
[WARNING: Suicide or dying before the second Crimson Moon will restart regression loop and the Pathfinder occupation will be permanently locked!]
Nolan blinked. "So it still wants me to get to that stupid tower, huh? Argh, I’m so tired already."
The first Crimson Moon was the day the hell gates broke open, which was—as of now—ten years ago. The second was when the Seraph Spire appeared and the chains holding down the big demon players started to break. This was where he always had to battle the demon king.
[Primary Objective updated!]
"Hm?"
[Primary Objective: Solve the Seraph Spire]
Solve? It was a puzzle? Now he wondered what else he was yet to know.
The sound of the royal trumpet snapped him out of his trance. They were here already.
He turned to the village downhill, where he lived.
The Cerulean Guardians came for evaluation and talent search. He’s been selected for about 400+ life times, sometimes he didn’t participate as he would reveal his power elsewhere and end up joining a different group.
The Cerulean Guardian’s were not the only guild fighting against the demons, but it was the most renowned. For now at least, because it’s a royal guild.
He walked to the village, the breeze hitting his face. The cloudless blue skies were a delight to watch, but he had grown tired of it.
He’s lost all the joys of living and he had slowly become callous.
Eventually, he got to the village and the first thing his ears caught onto was the same repeated call by the Guardian’s leader.
Nolan breathed in and followed suit, muttering in a mocking manner . "The time is now. For you, my brothers and sisters, to come into the light and defend the bla bla bla." He rolled his eyes as he walked into the village.
Walking to the center of the village where the Cerulean Guardian’s scout team were making the announcement, he spotted her.
The village chief’s daughter, Liana. She had a look of determination in her eyes as she sharpened a stick with a flat stone.
She was some variable he finalized to have a fixed fate. She always died.
She wasn’t going to get picked by the scouts, and 3 hours after the scout’s departure, demons would attack the village. During the attack, he tried saving the village, protecting her, protecting someone else, ignoring her, but the changes gave the same outcome. Liana always ended up dying this day.
His eyes landed on the scout team leader, Melvin Cramow, the Great Paladin. Well... not great yet. He was going to make a mistake in the next five years that would have:
A. Cost him his own life.
B. Put Nolan in a near death circumstance.
C. Played into the demon’s plans.
He was naturally a puppet, that Nolan had controlled countlessly and disposed of ninety percent of the time where they had to come together.
He possessed a good swords art currently, but it would take a year for him to learn ’Songs of Blades,’ the technique that gave him the title of ’The Great Paladin.’
Nolan walked past the crowd, looking at the excitement many wore on their faces. Most of who were simply going to be ignored in the next thirty minutes.
He let out a deep exhale as he walked to his shack . "Any moment now," he said.
As if on cue, a hand gripped onto his shoulder, stopping him . "Hey, Nolan, where are you going? Come check what you have, or so you know yours already?" Rum’s voice came from behind.
Nolan’s mind already filed out the information he needed.
Rum. Someone close, but not close enough to be considered a ’friend,’ has a fire affinity, gets selected and most notable of all—dies a week later.
The system screen flashed before Nolan’s vision. Of course, it was something only he could see.
[Since main slot is empty, Flame Affinity (F-Tier) has been copied automatically]
[Add to library? Y/N]
’Hm, so that’s how it works?’ Nolan thought, selecting ’Y.’
[Added to library]
"Hey, pal. You listening?" Rum shook him.
"Yes, I do. I know what I have."
"Really? Then why not wait? You might get selected." Rum added, his voice one of concern. He clearly didn’t want Nolan to miss such an opportunity. If only he knew what was going on.
"Nah, I’ll pass. I’m not that interested. And if I’m being nice, I’ll tell you to sit it out as well." Nolan pushed off Rum’s hand, gentle enough to not seem rude.
Rum watched him as he disappeared into his room. "I wonder what his problem is."
Nolan laid on his straw pallet. He didn’t have enough money to buy even a pallet bed at the very least.
He tried sleeping, but his eyes remained wide open. Time passed and he didn’t budge an inch, simply staring at the cracked ceiling patterns he had memorized for hundreds of years, until he started hearing screams.
They were here already. The demons.
Nolan stood up and walked out of the room, watching as people ran and a few who had powers made desperate attempts on trying to save everyone.
He sunk his hands into his pockets and leaned on a house, watching the story unfold as always. Although, for the very first time, he decided to try out something he had never tried before.
Nothing.
He never tried doing absolutely nothing before, and that was going to be his first experiment.
He watched a demon attack the village chief, its claws stretched out, about to strike when a wooden stick tore into its side. It was Liana.
Nolan lifted a brow and pushed off the wall. She was still alive. She was supposed to be dead at least two minutes ago, give or take.
This was a shift, and it was a tremendous one at that. "Interesting," he tilted his head.