Living Life As A Game: Through And Through

To Yrre"s praise, Elizabeth didn"t respond as she had a head-splitting pain pester her for several seconds. Even after the pain faded, Elizabeth stood static as she read through the most absurd status update she had come across to date…

[Cataclysm Status: First Stage Complete

…

Rank Progression: 100 (Equal For All Chosen) → 11

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Outstanding Achievements: Fusing Fire And Ice At The Mortal Stage (No Goldfinger a.s.sistance), Gaining Affinity For Chaos (No Goldfinger a.s.sistance)

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Ultimate Reward: Dimensional Upgrade (Inert → Spiritual)

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Estimating Quest Changes

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Curving Quest Difficulties

…

Changes Finalized]

Still clutching her head in mild discomfort, Elizabeth mutter her favorite curse, "Ain"t this some bulls.h.i.t?" All around her, she could sense a spiritually dense environment leagues greater than that of the Forest of Beginnings. She understood from the information that crossed her mind that it was the result of her Dimensional Upgrade reward. But, if that were the end of it, she wouldn"t be nearly as upset…

In that exact moment, as Elizabeth uttered her curse, her door was practically kicked down as Jane appeared teary-eyed, staring at Elizabeth as if she couldn"t believe her eyes. Looking at the fl.u.s.tered Jane, Elizabeth gestured to Yrre to stop treating her with her Djinn powers, as she said, "Are you alright? I know I"ve been gone for a couple days but it shouldn"t"ve messed wit..."

Jane practically teleported over to Elizabeth as she took her into a gentle embrace and said, "I… I"m fine… I"m just glad you"re fine. That"s all that matters right now… We can talk about what happened later..."

A bit surprised by that heartfelt declaration, Elizabeth"s eyes softened up as she lightly stroked Jane"s back. Elizabeth didn"t know why, but a twinge of familiar warmth hit her in a wave of nostalgia. However, as someone not p.r.o.ne to indulge in sensitivity, Elizabeth quickly dismissed her fluctuating feelings as she got down to business and gauged Jane"s status.

[Name: Jane

*New) Level: 22

*New) Rank: Early-Phase Martial King (Pseudo Perfect Cultivation)

Affection Rating: Undying Loyalty

Current State: Relieved and Protective

Description: Now knowing of your safety after leaving suddenly and without notice, Jane will probably act a bit overprotective for a while.

*New) s.e.x: Female

*New) Strength 250

*New) Endurance 248

*New) Speed 252

*New) Defense 250

*New) Intelligence 245

Luck 10

*New) Inner Strength: 2,333,000

Innate Skills

Ice Affinity

*New) Tier: Excellent

Description: Well on her way to rising her talent to Mediocrity, after Jane experienced the Dimensional Upgrade"s baptism, her affinity for Ice skipped Good-tier altogether to ascend to Excellent.

Yin Affinity

*New) Tier: Good

Description: Well on her way to rising her talent to Bad-tier affinity, after Jane experienced the Dimensional Upgrade"s baptism, her affinity for Yin skipped Mediocre-tier altogether to ascend to Good-tier affinity.]

"f.u.c.k! Guess that side quest will just have to wait a little longer..." Half-crying, Elizabeth felt at a sense of loss after confirming what she already knew to be the most probable situation. Looking at Jane"s absurd rise in cultivation, she concluded that it would take a couple more days — most likely weeks — before she could complete the VS Ice Side Quest. Though she had just gone through a rapid-fire streak of boost after boost in her cultivation, Elizabeth knew better than to a.s.sume she would perpetually get boosted throughout her journey as a cultivator. The number of times her meditation manuals emphasized the importance of patience for cultivation were too many to count.

With a defeatist tone, Elizabeth told Jane, "You look like you"ve… improved! What exactly happened?" Of course, even though she asked, Elizabeth already knew the answer as her status updates were explicit in all the details.

"What happened? Wait… What do you mean, exactly?" As Jane spoke, she gently let Elizabeth go as she became confused by what Elizabeth referred to when speaking.

"You know, you"re strength! It"s improved a lot since we last met."

"Wh… You mean since that battle with Jhan?" A tinge of skepticism sp.a.w.ned on Jane"s face, but Elizabeth chose to ignore it as she said, "Yeah, I left to take care of a couple things that urgently came up, and after coming back, I see you"ve progressed all the way up to the King Stage with a very nice foundation set up. So, I ask again. What happened?"

Jane"s eyebrows tightened up as she softly bit her lip. She couldn"t gauge Elizabeth"s cultivation, so, instead of freaking out right then and there, she planned to explain what happened patiently and see how far along she progressed before Elizabeth interjected. Jane said, "Just a couple hours after we noticed you suddenly disappeared, the whole planet changed! Actually, I recall on the news just yesterday that the effects of that day"s occurrence might have altered our entire galaxy, if not the whole universe!"

She paused, looking to see neutrality or even boredom in Elizabeth"s face. But, because Elizabeth gave a look as if this was her first time hearing of the matter, with her eyes sparkling and a "normal" smile plaguing her face, Jane incredulously continued speaking. She continued saying, "You see… Apparently, 95% of all living things simultaneously pa.s.sed out across the planet! I myself experienced it too, but the experiences of the people who went under were all different. In my coma, what I saw was an endless wasteland of Ice and the cold. But after talking to Atid and Sun, after we all woke up, they said they experienced being consumed by typhoons or being engulfed in magma. Anyway, the Martial Society has practically confirmed that the bizarre occurrence of that day elevated the natural spiritual air of the world, and unlocked the hidden potential within us pract.i.tioners that couldn"t be tapped into previously because of the inert air."

Jane still hadn"t seen any signs of Elizabeth faking her excitement, and given how well known Elizabeth"s lackl.u.s.ter poker face was, Jane help but conclude her little monologue, saying, "Did you really not know about this? This was a global phenomenon!"

In the end, Elizabeth told a half-truth; something she hadn"t done in a while. She said, "Oh, I knew about the phenomenon alright. It"s just, my experience was a little different than yours. You see, I didn"t faint… I lived through my experience! I think I was transported to a real place and only now did I return."

Though she felt inclined to not believe something so ridiculous, Jane"s loyalty and understanding of Elizabeth"s anomalous existence offset that inclination to the point that she said, "Well… that"ll certainly draw some attention if we were to bring it up to Martial Society at large..."

By now, people had started crowing outside of Elizabeth"s room. After all, Jane"s lack of restraint whilst handling the door caused quite the commotion. Sun being the second member of Elizabeth"s Undying Loyalty club, similarly rushed to her side after confirming her safety. But, unlike Jane, he didn"t recklessly touch or disturb her. Even if he could be the most serious fighter should things develop in such a way to warrant that kind of response, Sun could also be timid and una.s.suming; like… now, for instance!

Elizabeth quickly coaxed the discordant environment as best she could; with a constantly increasing sense of exasperation. She might be fine with the people of the dojo, given their support for her during the small exchange with Jhan, but it would take long and hard hours of special training for her to not feel annoyed when surrounded by people "pestering" her.

Quickly enough, the dojo master himself showed up and dispelled the crowd after reading Elizabeth"s current state like a book. After the room cleared away to leave Elizabeth, Sun, Jane, Sophie, Carlos, and Atid, a light interrogation began. However, before that, Carlos came up and expressed his grat.i.tude to Elizabeth for completely restoring his body before she disappeared. He promised to help her in the future should she ever need to call on him before leaving the room.

Sophie was the first to pick a fight with Elizabeth, immediately casting her in a negative light by saying, "You… How"d you even come here? The dojo"s advanced formations have been active all this time!"

Sun was quick to defend Elizabeth, saying, "Who cares how she got here? We should be glad she"s back, and not point fingers as if she were an enemy!"

"Huh? I can"t be the only wondering how she managed to slip through a formation powerful enough to detect Kings, right?!" Sophie wouldn"t let it end there, as she still had a bit of spite for Elizabeth pent up in her system.

"We each have our personal secrets. So, I"d suggest you back the f.u.c.k up before you invite a beating." Jane didn"t need any cues to know when she should interject, and for Elizabeth, she wouldn"t mind acting as backup for Sun.

"Enough! Right now"s not the time for pointless bickering." After stopping the fight between Sophie and Elizabeth"s two little helpers, Atid turned to face Elizabeth and without a hint of jest, he said, "Now then… Are you in any danger right now?" The look in his eyes was as solemn as can be, as he now finally understood the depth of Elizabeth"s foundation. Standing before him, she looked like a bomb of chaotic and raging Inner Strenght just waiting to blast everything around her to kingdom come

Elizabeth, somewhat impressed at Atid"s breakthrough to the Spirit Realm, said, "No, I"m actually quite alright." Taking a pause in her speech to point at the others in the room, Elizabeth continued saying, "Pretty soon I"ll be up to par with the rest of them."

After internally debating what to say, Atid responded with, "Mhmm… Well, whatever the case, let"s get you up to speed on what we"ve been doing. You already missed the better half of our training regimen for the compet.i.tion, but luckily you came back before we finished altogether. Pack up your necessities, we"ll be leaving for Sharktop Island in thirty minutes. On our trip to the island, we can discuss what happened in detail..."

With a gesture from Atid, everyone left Elizabeth to pack her things up, as they too were in the process of packing; at least before being alerted of Elizabeth"s return, that is. However, even after being left "alone," Elizabeth didn"t immediately start packing up her things. Instead, she looked to the corner of her room where Yrre had been standing all along and asked, "Do you really have both shapeshifting AND invisibility?"

With a gentle nod of the head, Yrre"s body began fading in and out of existence right before Elizabeth"s eyes. Though she was truly impressed by Yrre"s amazing magic, Elizabeth didn"t forget to ask for her help in packing. According to her thoughts, now that she had a servant on hand, it would be a waste not to use her.

Confused and a bit disheartened, Yrre said, "Master... why are you punishing me? What did I do wrong?"

"Huh? What makes you think this is a punishment?" Elizabeth"s actions of withdrawing things into her s.p.a.ce Ring only further caused Yrre to sadden, as she thought she was being mocked. It was only after Elizabeth finished putting away all her various equipment and treasures and returned to help Yrre pack regular bags that Yrre"s misunderstanding was corrected.

When asked why she was packing up bags like a regular mortal, even though she still had plenty of s.p.a.ce in her s.p.a.ce Ring, Elizabeth said, "Huh? Oh, that"s because these aren"t... common here. Well, it"s more like they don"t exist at all. You know, before I came back from the Castle Lord"s Legacy Trial at the Sky Seizing Castle... My home didn"t even have a spiritual air..."

Very similar to Elizabeth, Yrre"s reaction when hearing the ridiculous was to squint to the point of almost fully closing her eyes. She stayed like that for a couple moments before snapping out if it and getting around to help Elizabeth pack her things. Yet, even after supposedly leaving her state of shock, Yrre thought about what it meant for Elizabeth to develop three origin affinities in a spiritual void.