All good things must come to an end.
Jake had enjoyed the time he’d spent with his family. While it hadn’t led to much progress, he had managed to get some work done here and there, primarily by playing with his Puzzle Box of the Seeker or meditating and studying the Record Fragment left by the First Sage.
Besides that, Caleb had convinced Jake to help train a few assassins, but that was about it. Jake’s visit ended up taking longer than he’d initially expected. He also had to meet with Miranda a few times to discuss the future, but other than that, things had been super chill.
He felt refreshed and ready to face what came next... and it happened on just another regular evening as Jake was eating with his parents. Suddenly, they all stopped, even Adam, as each and every one of them received a system message. They all knew what it was.
Most people in the galaxy, if not the entire universe, had been waiting for it... for them to finally know what would come next. Jake didn’t wait as he checked it out.
As the final Prima Guardian has met its end or accomplished its goal, the 93rd Universe weathered the test to see which planets are capable of survival while deciding who is qualified to lay claim to the Seat of the Exalted Prima.
World Leaders of each galaxy have been promoted to Seat of the Exalted Prima Administrators, allowing them to vie for control over their galaxy’s Seat. Planets have been claimed or lost, and relations have been formed within each galaxy. The Exalted Prima watches on with interest to see who shall one day arrive with a rightful claim.
Based on the performance of each galaxy, different rewards have been distributed dependent on contributions during the event. All natives of every galaxy have received additional bonuses dependent on the final ranking of the galaxy during this event.
With the event concluded, restrictions upon the 93rd Universe have been lifted. All limits on outside communication and transportation outside of each galaxy are now fully removed.
In addition, all Prima Vessels have lost most functionality, and all intergalactic teleportation must happen under regular circumstances without assistance from the Prima Vessel. Despite being inert, these Prima Vessels can still be transported by World Leaders and, upon reaching the minimum requirements, used by Administrators to travel directly to the Seat of the Exalted Prima within each galaxy. Finally, with the 93rd Universe having found its footing, it shall soon begin to welcome those from the outside. Restrictions on multiversal travel have been lessened, allowing anyone below high-tier C-grade (level 300 and below) to travel to the 93rd Universe, starting 100 days from now. This level restriction will rise by 1 level every 100 days until reaching peak C-grade (level 349). Be aware that has any being traveled to the 93rd Universe once, they can always return, despite the level restriction.
Good luck, natives of the 93rd Universe.
It was a long system message with a lot to unpack. Starting from the top, it was just repeating a lot of what the system message they got upon finishing the event for the Milky Way Galaxy had said. The only new tidbit was about the Exalted Prima watching on, which Jake wasn’t sure how to interpret. What it did make clear, though, was that they were indeed competing to lay rightful claim to a World Wonder, meaning the system wasn’t done spurring on conflict.
After that was just the talk about rewards. Compared to prior system events, this one didn’t have any fancy titles or anything like that. Jake and everyone else had also already gotten their rewards in the form of loot from the Prima Guardian, with Jake reaping the best of it with his mythical Administrator’s Seal of the Exalted Prima. As well as the fact he was now an Administrator of the Seat, of course, with him even being the top-ranked one following the death of Ell’Hakan.
There was also the boost to Records for the entire galaxy, but that one was a lot harder to quantify. All Jake knew was that Miranda and many others who tracked that kind of thing had statistics showing that the average leveling speed had risen following the event’s end, with many who’d previously experienced a wall also suddenly able to overcome it.
He didn’t really have many thoughts about the Prima Vessels. Only that he should probably go and relocate the Prima Vessel somewhere safer than in the middle of a desert, as he would need it to teleport to the Seat of the Exalted Prima once he became B-grade.
Finally, perhaps the biggest one, and also something Jake had expected to see, was the opening up of the 93rd Universe. Being able to freely communicate and travel back to other universes was great, but the biggest part was that now others could also come to their universe.
This was definitely one of the hottest topics of speculation in political circles recently, and one of Miranda’s most prominent points of worry. Based on historical data, they knew that the universe wouldn’t just fully open up from one day to the other, but many had suspected that at least anyone below B-grade would now be allowed to freely travel back and forth.
That in itself was a massive pain to deal with. Sure, Jake and everyone else he hung out with were powerful, but what would they do if someone like the Holy Church sent a billion peak C-grades? Well, their only response would be to have the Order of the Malefic Viper also send a whole bunch of peak C-grades, which would make Valhal, the Court of Shadows, Risen, Endless Empire, and who knows else also send in entire armies, instantly flooding the galaxy.
However, Jake was relieved to see that there was still a level restriction and a decently low one, too. To be clear, level 300 was still pretty damn strong, but it at least allowed them to avoid those at the peak of C-grade... for a while anyway. Every one hundred days, it would increase by one level, which meant that with rough math, it would take around thirteen and a half years till peak C-grades could enter their universe. At that point, things would definitely be a lot more stable than now.
Having a hundred days of leeway till people could travel to their universe was also great, as it allowed them to ensure the Holy Church was gone for good by that time. Jake also didn’t doubt Miranda had a lot of plans for how to ensure they weren’t overrun. He knew she had already worked on deals with several factions, but she was far from done.
As a final note on that topic – and the main reason Miranda hadn’t quite panicked at the prospect of the universe opening up - it wasn’t as if teleporting to their universe was easy in any way currently. Jake just made it look easy as a Chosen, and while most factions had methods to bring people back and forth, it wasn’t cheap and only worth doing for actual elites. With time and higher-level experts on both sides of the teleportation circle, things would get easier, but for now, the ones outside of the 93rd Universe had to facilitate ninety-nine percent of it. Breaching the void wasn’t easy, after all.
Having gone through the message properly, it appeared the others had done the same.
“I guess we all know what this means,” Jake’s dad said after a little while.
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“Yeah... I’ll have to head off now,” Caleb answered with a nod as he quickly stood up, gave Maja a kiss, Adam a quick hug, and teleported away with a wave goodbye to the rest of them.
Jake probably also had to get going, but he was temporarily delayed as he felt something else. For the last few years, Jake had been free, but now, his stalker was back in full force as Jake felt himself being observed.
“How about you, Jake?” his mom asked, looking surprised that he hadn’t left yet. “Aren’t you needed elsewhere?”
“I’m leaving in a second,” Jake said with a sigh. “I was just momentarily distracted by someone.”
“Well, I apologize, I didn’t mean to disturb your family dinner. In fact, I’m also eating right now, having quite a nurturing meal,” the Malefic Viper answered.
“Up for talking a bit later, alright?” Jake quickly answered.
“Fair enough. But just so you know, I don’t need an update about what the system notification said; I already heard it,” the Viper quickly clarified, getting a mental confirmation from Jake.
“Who distracted you?” Maja asked, confused.
“Just a needy god,” Jake shrugged, getting a few weird stares. “But I do have to leave now. You already have my number if I’m on the planet, but if I’m in another universe, just contact Miranda or Caleb.”
“Just take care of yourself,” his dad said with a nod.
“I will,” Jake said as he turned to Adam. “You also be good, right?”
Adam nodded before asking a question no one else would. “When are you coming to visit again?”
Jake just gave the kid a small smile. “Who knows? Just know that when I’m not here, it’s because I’m fighting dragons or evil mushroom people.”
“Are there good mushroom people?” Adam asked, confused.
“You have a bright future ahead of you,” Jake said, giving the kid a wide smile as he ruffled his hair. With a final goodbye to the others, Jake left the house through the front door, briefly stopped by his own little residence to pick up a few things he’d left there before promptly shooting off to the teleportation center to quickly return to Haven.
On the way, he reached out to Villy once more. “Thoughts on the universe opening up soon?”
“We all knew it would happen, didn’t we?” the snake god answered promptly. “One can only hope that the foundation you’ve established is powerful enough to survive what’s to come. And I’m not talking about a foundation purely based on power, but one of stability. Your little budding empire won’t rise or fall due to a lack of soldiers but inadequate administration. The only way I could see your rule fall apart due to a lack of power was if you died, but telling you not to die really isn’t advice I hope I’d need to give.”
“So what you’re saying is I need to actually engage with ruling the galaxy?” Jake asked, a sense of dread washing over him.
“What? No, I never said that. I just said that you need to ensure the people you delegated the job to do a good job, and from what I’ve gathered, that witch of yours is doing fine so far. Unsurprisingly, I might add, as she is under the tutelage of people I also trust to handle administrative tasks within my Order. It wasn’t a coincidence I approached the Witches of the Verdant Lagoon as one of the first things after I left my realm,” Villy explained, continuing:
“However, I will say that at least knowing about what’s going on is a good idea. You also need to set a direction, both for her sake and your own. For you, because if you can’t even tell your faction what to do, what the hell’s the point of it? And for her sake, so she can use you as a shield. As the one enacting policies, she will get a lot of flack if she also made them, but if all she’s doing is carrying out your will, she can use that as a defense whenever she does anything unpopular. People are way less likely to dare bring up complaints to you.”
Jake listened but wasn’t quite sure if the Viper’s advice was even applicable. “Earth is ruled by a council, though. The plan is to do the same with the entire galaxy. They are the ones who decide stuff, not me.”
“They decide the small stuff. You’re still the one who sets the direction. Why do you think slavery has been outlawed in the entire galaxy? That the laws governing every civilization are slowly morphing to become more similar to Earth’s before the integration? Even if you don’t tell those beneath you what direction to move in, they’ll still try to do things they believe you’d want them to,” the Viper continued explaining.
“I can’t really argue against that... but the entire point of this council is that I’m not some dictator telling everyone what to do,” Jake sighed mentally.
“And yet you shall dictate the direction of your galaxy,” Villy said in a matter-of-fact voice. “But, hey, your mere desire to not be a dictator will bleed through and more likely than not make your rule far less authoritarian than others. Just remember to keep the people important to your little faction loyal; that’s the most important part. You aren’t living in a democracy, and while having the support of the general populace is all well and good, it’s just a tiny bonus at most.”
“I’m beginning to reconsider if taking advice for running a functional society from an evil snake god with an Order that isn’t exactly known for being a nice place is wise,” Jake said after a moment.
“Hey! People love the Order! If they’re worth anything, that is,” Villy said, making Jake even more sure he should stop listening, even if some of the things the god said made sense.
“Anyhow, what have you been up to recently?” Jake chose to change the subject.
“Until very recently, I was busy digesting a certain someone. Still not entirely done, and I won’t be for a while, but it’s getting there. With my proper return to the multiverse, I also decided to finally explore some of the places I hadn’t had a chance to visit during my isolation. Not that long ago, I entered a World Wonder called the Mycotic Depths, and from the name alone, I’m sure you would love the place,” the snake god answered.
“A World Wonder?” Jake asked, trying to ignore the name. “How does that one work? And are you talking to me from inside of it right now?”
“The Mycotic Depths is a lot like Yalsten, where the Treasure Hunt event took place. It’s a separate world from the regular universes, and it wasn’t even known it was a World Wonder before well into the 13th era. However, once people began to explore its insides, its status as a World Wonder became clear,” Villy explained.
“Wait, I’m a bit confused... Yalsten wasn’t at all considered a World Wonder, right? If so, why does this mushroom cave get called one while Yalsten didn’,t if they’re both just separate spaces?” Jake wondered.
“In many ways, World Wonders are just extremely useful objects or locations found within the different universes, but what truly makes them World Wonders is the system’s direct involvement. The Mycotic Depths has different caves one can use to enter, bringing you to different areas within, and while it’s all one space inside, they’re still separated. Do you remember that barrier in your Tutorial that cut off the inner section with more powerful monsters? This is a bit like that. Natural barriers result in certain sections being restricted to those below certain power levels. No matter how much I wanted to, I would never be able to enter the section for S-grades, much less C-grades like you. All regulated by the system.”
“I see... but it seems like the world isn’t entirely cut off, seeing as you can talk to me,” Jake said.
“Communication to the outside world is somewhat restricted inside, but the version of me you’re talking to isn’t one inside right now. You’re talking to my real body that’s in my realm, busy digesting Yip of Yore. The one in the World Wonder is one of my special avatars,” Villy shared. “If that avatar does find something in there it’s too weak to handle, I may go with my true body, but otherwise, it would just be a waste and a needless risk.”
“Do you never go anywhere with your true body?” Jake wondered.
“Few gods do, especially not those at my level. It isn’t due to cowardice, though. I’m working on things I need the power of my true body to handle. Meanwhile, exploring a World Wonder with an avatar is as efficient as if I’d gone with my real body, as it’s more than powerful enough,” the Viper said in a casual tone.
“I see,” Jake just answered. By now, he’d already gone through the teleportation circle and was back in Haven.
“You interested in also paying a visit to the wonderful Mycotic Depths? Mushrooms as far as the eye can see, and there’s even an entire civilization of Deepdwellers there! Remember those from that little dungeon under your house?” the snake god attempted to whisper poison into his ear.
“Man, I would love to, but I’m just heading into a very important meeting. You know, to stay on top of political stuff, something you said is a good idea,” Jake quickly excused himself.
“Fine, fine, I guess you wouldn’t have the time to afterward either. Not with your other upcoming trip and all,” Villy said, definitely baiting Jake to ask him to elaborate.
“What upcoming trip?” Jake just had to ask despite knowing it was bait.
“Oh? I’m pretty sure I heard you planned on going on a trip in an attempt to connect with your inner dendrophile.”
... yeah, Jake didn’t even know what that word meant.