28 [28] Upgrade

For "Void Shiki," everything in the external world was known, boring, and uninteresting.

So, she chose to slumber, leaving everything to Shiki and SHIKI.

Because, even though she was connected to The Root, it was as meaningless to her as a dream-like thing for magus.

For her, the laws governing the reorganization of microscopic phenomena, or even changing the system tree that originated the planets, were entirely achievable.

Indeed, it was something that a being called "Goetia" had once attempted to do, the incineration of human history by gathering magical energy.

All of these things were possible for her.

And to some extent, their methods were the same—not changing the current world but destroying the old world to create a new one.

However, all of these were useless and meaningless to her. They only made her feel tired and, to her, were no different from dreaming.

So, she didn't look at anything, didn't want to do anything, and didn't dream because she couldn't dream.

However, an unknown element had crept into her realm of knowledge.

Undoubtedly, it was Kurokawa Kazuya, who was originally an existence from another world.

But even so, this was still meaningless to her unless he approached Shiki Ryougi.

Yet, inexplicably, this man came closer.

Not once or twice, but now it was the third time.

This man held a strange affection for Shiki Ryougi, and it was precisely because of this affection that "Void Shiki" didn't eliminate him.

It would be easy to erase the unknown Kurokawa Kazuya and create a known Kurokawa Kazuya.

The evidence was that Kurokawa Kazuya had been somewhat confused before coming to the Ryougi family, but after leaving here, he became clear-headed.

At that time, Kurokawa Kazuya had just crossed over and felt some indescribable discomfort. It was due to the mismatch between his body and soul and wasn't something that would clear up after some time.

Then "Void Shiki" killed Kurokawa Kazuya and erased his original body, creating a new body that matched his soul from another world. So, Kurokawa Kazuya died once without anyone knowing, and then he revived once without anyone knowing.

In a situation he hadn't noticed, he completed a rebirth. Now, the body controlled by Kurokawa Kazuya's soul was undoubtedly his own body. There were no parents, or rather, if you had to say it, The Root might be his parents. However, this body was no different from an ordinary person's, just healthier.

Even his magic circuits were almost nonexistent.

As for the system on Kurokawa Kazuya's body, "Void Shiki" had long discovered it. It was something haphazardly constructed by someone, mass-produced like an assembly line and distributed across countless worlds.

Even now, Kurokawa Kazuya didn't have the qualifications to attract the attention of the system's creator because he was too weak.

The first time, "Void Shiki" gave him a rebirth, perhaps out of curiosity, wanting to see what the unknown was. Then she hinted to him not to come here, because even if Kurokawa Kazuya wasn't by Shiki Ryougi's side, she still knew everything about him.

However, the hint failed.

The second time, "Void Shiki" once again gave him a hint.

And it failed again...

Now, it was the third time...

Looking at this familiar person, she let out an almost imperceptible sigh. "Forget it... I won't do anything. Originally, I came here to have a chat with you, but after thinking about it, I won't wake you up. Let's wait for another chance. Don't worry; there will be plenty of opportunities."

"Void Shiki" fell silent for a moment, then smiled. "No, you'll find your way to me on your own, won't you?"

She had indeed not seen Kurokawa Kazuya's future.

However, she knew the future of everyone else, except for Kurokawa Kazuya. But she knew the personalities of Kurokawa Kazuya.

To her, it was like a math problem where she already knew the answers, and suddenly, one number changed. But... the change was just one number; she could figure out the final conclusion with a little calculation.

"We'll meet again when the time comes. For now..."

"Void Shiki" said, placing her small hand on Kurokawa Kazuya's forehead. "I'll give you something; otherwise, you'll die... And that's enough, enough for you to survive."

After saying that, "Void Shiki" slowly got up, pushed open the door, and walked out.

The next time she came out... would be to reveal the truth of this world to him.

Rather than being kept in the dark like he was now, unaware of the reasons for various occurrences.

Well, of course, if Shiki or SHIKI accidentally let it slip, it wouldn't matter. To her, it would just be a slight reduction in enjoyment.

For her, after all, slumber was the most suitable option.

To slumber until this body decayed, not even knowing when it would decay, would be the true ending.

The sleeping Kurokawa Kazuya had no idea that his system had lost contact with the system's creator. Moreover, several programs on it had started to upgrade. "Void Shiki" hadn't done anything superfluous, she had simply severed the connection and unearthed the hidden aspects of the system that were originally on it.

If, previously, Kurokawa Kazuya's access to this system was at the user level, he now had administrator-level access.

As for creator-level access... well, "Void Shiki" had already taken that away from the system's creator.

And as for that creator, they didn't care, or rather, they probably hadn't even noticed. For that existence, creating and destroying billions of these systems in minutes was a casual task. Being stolen from was nothing new.

But... even if stolen, how many systems could be taken from a single world? With that time, the creator could easily make billions more...

So, Kurokawa Kazuya, who had never attracted any attention, was completely forgotten.

He continued to enjoy playing his real-life game in his dreams.

He had no idea what changes had occurred to him.

Everything was like a dream.

---

If you're interested in reading more, feel free to visit my patreon which already contains 20 chapters: 

https://www.patreon.com/XElenea