Chapter 72 - To the World Beyond
"Nngh, so… much… information!"
Well, let's put that aside for now.
The fact that I was suddenly max level thanks to some mysterious evaluation criteria, that new systems were unlocked including what looked like the stat reset I'd been waiting for, and that some other random system was also unlocked—I'll deal with all of it later. Later.
Sora is frozen solid next to me, but we can have fun figuring it all out together afterward.
So for now, in this very moment—
"—Children of conflict, you have done well to come this far."
Ignoring our confusion, the event mercilessly proceeds. My first priority is to latch onto what's happening.
"Hyaa—Wha-who's there…!?"
Countless stars still zipped frantically in every direction—not just above us, but beyond the translucent platform beneath our feet. Sora, who had been vaguely following them with her eyes, jumped as the voice echoed without warning, letting out a cry of surprise.
"The trial has reached its conclusion. May the light of your swords shine ever so brightly in the truth that will now unfold before you."
"H-Haru-san…?"
"Hm? Oh, it's pretty standard stuff."
The voice felt like it was being delivered directly into my mind rather than filling the space around us. Sora has built up a fair bit of courage when it comes to monsters and the like, but she's not yet at the point where she can calmly handle sudden events like this.
She anxiously tugs on my sleeve and draws closer. I wonder if she's doing it consciously or not… and wait, what is it? I feel like I've heard this voice somewhere before… As I wracked my brain, the answer came quickly.
"That's it. The voice from the cave at the very beginning of the game."
Come to think of it, I've only ever heard one voice that seemed to be from the system side since I started Arcadia.
It seems Sora remembered the same thing, because she relaxed her tense shoulders at my words, saying, "Oh, right." Still, she didn't move away… but I'm a guy. I'm not stupid enough to point it out.
Is just my sleeve okay? Want the whole arm?
"That was… right. When we received the blessing of the war god, wasn't it?"
"Yep. We chose our faction, our level and skills were unlocked, and—woah!?"
"Wah!?"
The lingering echoes of the voice vanished from our ears, and a sudden tremor struck us just as we were nodding and talking. Sora, startled, reflexively jumped and clung to my arm, but unfortunately, this was no time to be grinning like an idiot.
At some point, the shifting of the stars had ceased. And what those countless stars had drawn, like a constellation, was a tremendously massive geometric pattern centered on the disc-shaped platform where we stood—a magic circle.
"Ugh…"
"Well now…"
The entire background was a starry sky, making the scale so insane I couldn't even grasp the full picture.
How many times had it been since I came to this virtual world? It was an overwhelming sight, one that made me feel a shock akin to getting punched in the head—something I'd surely never witness in the real world.
Sora gasped beside me. I thought I'd said something as well, but all that came from my mouth was a raspy breath.
As we stood there, utterly captivated, the transformation continued without pause.
The countless lines filling the black expanse pulsed with light, and numerous circles spun like the second hand of a clock. The speed seemed unchanging, yet slowly and surely, the cycle shortened—until a tremendous shattering sound, as if the world itself had cracked, boomed through the space.
"Gh…!"
She was probably already so swept up in the situation that her mind was completely ungrounded. Reacting earnestly to each new development, Sora was now hugging my arm as if it were her only anchor.
As for me… well, even if the main boss fight had been a letdown, looking at the whole adventure, this felt like a milestone—the end of "Chapter One," so to speak.
Being shown such a magnificent scene, on top of having a presumptive beauty—with a great avatar, voice, and personality—clinging to me so intimately… well, you know. I couldn't help but get swept up in the moment.
I felt a twitch of surprise from Sora's hand and realized I'd taken it in mine at some point. Oops. Surprised at myself, I reflexively turned toward Sora, and our eyes met.
Her large, round amber eyes shone as brightly as her vibrant blonde hair. I was surprised at how close we were, though that was often the case due to Sora's own actions.
But we'd rarely been this close. So close our noses were almost touching—so close that if I tilted my head, I could probably even kiss her.
Sora and I stared at each other, mutually surprised… but even after a second, then five, no hint of rejection ever appeared in her wide eyes.
Amidst a scene that words couldn't describe, something that even calling it a scene from a movie would fall short of.
If this really were a movie, this might be the most perfect timing imaginable—I still had enough composure to think that, but I wasn't about to do something so stupid.
So please, Sora-san, don't blush at my attempt to cover it up with an awkward smile. When you react so honestly, it makes me think I'm not just misunderstanding… or maybe I'm not, but it makes me get carried away too.
—And so, while glossing over a rom-com moment we hadn't had in a while, I looked away from Sora, and the source of the earlier shattering sound immediately caught my eye.
Actually, I would have noticed no matter where I looked. Whether they'd appeared all at once with that first strange noise, or had spread while we were having our sudden pink-hued moment—'cracks' now filled the entire expanse of the starry sky.
The stars no longer moved. As if they had been pasted onto the cracked celestial dome from the very beginning, they had lost both their light and their depth—a blatant, almost deliberate reminder that this was all a fabrication…
I haven't told Sora, but I've actually already figured out the mechanism, or rather the lore, of these [Trial Spheres of Partition] with near certainty.
The inconsistencies that had been clearly presented throughout our adventure could be grasped by anyone reasonably experienced with games through what you might call "meta-reading."
For example, despite claiming to be a completely open-world isekai, the maps weren't connected; movement was limited to teleportation gates.
For example, despite the developers showing off what seemed like limitless capacity and processing power in various aspects of the game's creation, the variety of mobs placed in each map was unnaturally scarce for their environments.
There were other little bits of so-called "foreshadowing" scattered here and there, but well, to put it bluntly, it was a farm.
In a sense different from the meta-level idea of it being a game made by developers, our journey so far had been designed in a way that made you overtly conscious of a deliberate "intent."
In other words, the [Trial Spheres of Partition] was a tutorial area in a dual sense… not just for the game, but an artificial world created by someone in this world to raise us.
"Artificial… or maybe god-made?"
"Huh…?"
Sora, who was on the verge of crashing from all the stimuli, looked up at me in confusion at my unconscious mumble. From the looks of it, the thought of meta-reading hadn't even crossed her mind.
"It's nothing. And I don't think we're in for a panic-inducing event like in the desert. You don't have to be so tense."
If I were to state my feelings honestly, I would very much like her to calm down and promptly move away.
I got swept up in the mood and held her hand, but this is bad.
And the fact that Sora-san doesn't seem to mind at all makes it even worse.
I might get carried away, or mistake this for—no, I might become convinced it's real. Look, she's wrapping her arms around mine even tighter now, and that soft warmth has been pressing against me for a while now!!!
"Um… ahaha, well, I kind of understand, but…"
"Yeah… yeah?"
Trying to suppress my rather flustered heart, I tried to signal "please step away," but for some reason, Sora only pressed closer.
Wait, stop. Don't stimulate my innocent boyish heart (lol) any further.
"I'm sorry, but—I'm just plain scared…! Even if I know it's a game, the scale is too big, it's instinctual, or like, space…!!"
"Ah…"
Wait, is she just genuinely scared? It seems she wasn't just overwhelmed or awed by the magnificent sight, nor was she wary of what was to come. She was, quite simply, terrified.
Looking closer, I could see the girl's legs were trembling slightly—and fortunately, as soon as I realized this, a sense of protectiveness swelled up inside me, completely overwhelming all that boy-meets-girl nonsense.
As I patted her head with my free hand, it was my own heart, rather than Sora's, that began to calm down.
"Haha… well then, good news for you, Sora-san—it's almost time."
She hadn't been looking at me so much as desperately averting her eyes from the terrifying scene. I nodded my head and used my gaze to gesture toward the sky, prompting her to look.
"Eh…—"
And it happened the very instant Sora's eyes were drawn upward.
A final, brilliant flash of light burst from the countless cracks that had been pulsing with energy, replacing the dimmed stars. As we squinted against the sheer brightness, before our very eyes—the universe shattered.
""—""
Leaving us utterly speechless, the fragments of the cosmos broke apart. They dissolved into a boundless space of white light that lay beyond the walls of the starry sky.
"Is that…"
Reflected in Sora's eyes as she whispered the words were—one… no, seven spheres in total.
One of them showed an endless grassland.
Another, a cliffside bridge overlooking a sea of clouds.
Yet another, a tower of ever-flowing sand.
[Trial Spheres of Partition]—someone's miniature gardens, crafted to bring us to this point.
One of them, reflecting a familiar townscape, must be the city of Istia. I had my doubts about the whole "open world" thing, but it turns out even that base was just another isolated world.
"Ugh…!"
"…Hmph, as always, no explanation, huh?"
As our own feelings had us captivated by the strange scenery, a familiar blue light of teleportation enveloped us. Its destination—was surely a different place from our familiar home in the city of Istia.
"Heh, haha…!"
An offhand message I saw once in an MMORPG I used to play popped into my head: "The tutorial is now complete."
The fact that the unparalleled grand adventure we had run through together was nothing more than "that level" in the context of countless other games made my heart tremble uncontrollably.
"Ah… damn, what is this—is this a god-tier game or what…!!"
"Eh, huh? W-What is it… what's happening!?"
Yeah, it was a god-tier game.
I couldn't hold back my laughter, and Sora, surprised by my outburst, began to panic.
The light of teleportation carried us away—us, who had shed our status as newcomers to open the door to the main stage as brand-new rookies.
To the new frontier that lay beyond in this virtual world—a world that would surely stretch on endlessly.
And with this, Chapter One is complete!!
It was a rather rushed series of updates, and even that felt frustratingly slow to me, but we've finally made it out of the prologue.
I wonder if I've written even 1% of what I want to write? Nah, no way! From here on, the world will expand, and a whole bunch of new characters are scheduled to appear.
Am I prepared to spread out this ridiculously huge story? Who cares! I just have to spread it out with all I've got and wrap it up with all I've got!! I wonder how many years it'll take to finish!?
Ah, the story is overflowing and I can't stop it!!