Chapter 5: The Void

Atlas had a portal open right in front of him and, walking through it, he appeared straight into the Void.

Upon entry his system notifications skyrocketed and before he knew it he had an incredible 30 notifications.

Even though he couldn't see what they said, he still knew they were there as the system makes a ringing sound in his head when a notification appeared.

Opening the system interface he looked in the notifications sections and there was a massive list of achievements, 28 of the 30 notifications were achievements. The exact amount that was inside the game.

Atlas had completed every achievement in the game and somehow the achievements traveled with him but his power didn't. Looking at the 2 extra notifications, one was a message while the other was information.

Atlas checked the message first, it read

"hello host, I'm sure you have many questions about what is happening and where all of this came from. Let me assure you the system is there only for your own benefit, however there are 4 others with this system and they have already received this message and gotten into the Void. I must say I am thoroughly disappointed in your progress as you are currently last in the power rankings. I'll give you a little hint to help you out so remember this well, the creatures from the game aren't in this reality however they will be soon enough. Oh, and you might be surprised by who holds the other 4 systems.

One last thing for now, out of everyone who recieved this system you made it the farthest in the game world, I hope you dont disappoint me further or there will be unwanted consequences."

With that the message ended, Atlas processed the information he received. There were 4 other systems out there? And were those that received the system the other 4 classes? He was last in the power rankings? What were the power rankings? What were these unwanted consequences?

There were too many questions left unanswered from this message but there was still an information notification he had yet to open.

Revealing the contents Atlas stared dumbfounded but he quickly gained his composure before trying to discern more information from what he was looking at.

It was the power rankings, of course he was 5th on the rankings or last. The names of the four others were of course stated as unknown, he assumes this is because he hasn't met them yet so it isn't anybody he knows of.

The classes were revealed however, and unfortunately for Atlas the Paladin class, the counter to the Necromancer class, was ranked first.

Necromancers needed souls as well as corpses in order to raise the dead, souls were a guaranteed drop when the enemy died however paladins could purify these souls thus stopping a necromancer from raising any more soldiers.

The levels were also revealed, Atlas bit his lip hard. The Paladin was level 22, much higher than Atlas currently. He didn't know how they got so high in Level until he looked at another lane of information to the right of the levels.

There was the date that the system was given to each person, it was given to him one day later than the others.

Every achievement came with 400 exp, with the 28 achievements that was 11,200 exp. With that his power would definitely skyrocket.

Claiming the achievements Atlas noticed something strange about the exp gained according to the system.

[28/28 Achievements claimed]

[12000 exp gained]

[Level increased 8>12]

[Exp 890/5000]

[Mana And Health Recharged]

[20 Stat Points Gained]

Atlas looked at the exp gained in thought, why did he gain an extra 800 exp? He tried searching for an answer but only came to one conclusion.

The exp came from his previous level in-game of 80 giving 10 exp for every level he had. Of course, he didn't know for certain if this was true but the numbers made sense.

Looking at his current stats Atlas decided "put 5 into Health, 5 into Magic, 10 into necromancy and 5 into spirit." He said mentally, using his 5 Stat Points from before he entered the void as well.

[Current Stats]

Agility:20

Magic:20

Health:20

Strength:10

Spirit:20

Defense:13

Necromancy:20

He had most of his points allocated towards Magic and his Undead but currently he had no Undead that he could summon. Except for one, an ethereal which was unlocked at level 10.

An ethereal when Summoned was bound to the summoners soul, so if the soul departed the body then the ethereal would fall back to the Abyss where they came from.

Atlas had 5 options to choose from but before he could even look at these options a system error window covered them up making it impossible to see what the options were.

Another wheel appeared on the red window with only one word written on every single part of the wheel, the only option available for him to get was the same as he picked in game. Ajax.

A portal appeared out of nowhere as the air suddenly started vibrating, Atlas felt the vibrations and stood in a fighting stance ready for anything as if an unknown deviant would launch out of the portal.

Ajax slowly stepped out of the portal, his black armor covering his entire body so nothing was visible below it. Looking towards Atlas who was still on guard Ajax dropped to one knee and knelt.

"My liege" Ajax started in a raspy voice, he looked up towards Atlas but quickly grew surprised at his surroundings. Understanding quickly Ajax asked "this isn't Arathia, is it?"

Atlas forgot about Ajax's ability to see Mana in everything, since there was no Mana on Earth Ajax could tell they weren't still in the game. Though of course Ajax didn't even know Arathia was a game.

"Your abilities my liege, where have they gone?" Ajax asked looking toward Atlas with his head tilted to one side.

"I don't know for sure" Atlas stated honestly "I have something I need to show you." Ajax got up from his knee and walked over to Atlas.

Activating his system interface he tried showing the window to Ajax. Looking in the direction of the system window in the air Ajax asked curiously "what is this exactly? It seems to be the same platform we watch memories on from a memory crystal."

This surprised Atlas, this meant one of 3 options, everyone could see this system, only he and his Summoned Undead could see it, or only him and his ethereal could see it.

A system was used in the game as well and that's why Ajax recognized it as something from that world.

Atlas used the system in-game a lot and ethereal's could link to their summoners body and mind. They can't take control of either however they can talk telepathically and use his senses when he's using them.

Essentially, Ajax had memories from Arathia with him and many times Atlas used the system to watch a memory from a memory crystal Ajax had linked their eyes allowing him to see the system as well.

It was a loophole that he now knew about, however a fourth option soon came to Atlas's mind after realizing this. It could also be that anything from Arathia if in this world could see the system.

There were too many options to know which for sure was the case so he simply turned towards Ajax and they started a serious conversation.

"Ajax, this is a new world." Ajax despite having full body Armour on showed surprise through his body language, but Atlas continued.

"You could call it a new realm that's connected to Arathia however only we've been able to get here for now." "Well, if this is indeed a new realm then it explains why I cannot see Mana anywhere. But that would mean this realm is weak, not fit for us." Ajax replied with his usually calm demeanor.

"The creatures of this world are anything but weak, they have evolved to use abilities without using mana." Atlas looked towards Ajax and continued saying "and the technology here is centuries beyond the Dwarves."

Ajax failed to comprehend any technology higher than Dwarven technology, especially without Mana. "That should be impossible." He stated simply, "I know it's common knowledge in Arathia that technology cannot be without Mana. But that's only because it's become dependent on Mana for energy to fuel that technology." Atlas Continued

"The people of this realm use a different energy called chaos energy, it is only usable when purified otherwise it makes an explosion large enough to wipe a city off the map."

Ajax continued staring at Atlas processing all this new information while Atlas kept going on about this new world until he finally got to the deviants part of the conversation.

"You Remember Demons from Arathia correct?" Atlas asked finally moving his gaze towards Ajax once again, "I do, they are simply parasites, nothing more." He responded looking away as if disgusted by even talking about them.

Atlas understood why, the Demons in Arathia had not only killed his family in front of him torturing them until death then did the same to him.

The Abyss sensed his restless soul and offered a deal for power in exchange for being trapped in the Abyss for necromancers to summon and use.

Using this power, he destroyed an entire Demon castle before he was killed again by an Archdemon who was sent to protect it but arrived too late.

Atlas continued speaking regardless "there are creatures called deviants in this world, you may think of them as Demons as in they came from a different dimension. They fight with humans for dominance over this planet."

"Just Humans? What about other races like the Elves or dwarves?" Ajax asked curiously, "they don't exist in this realm, and Humans are unified because the deviants are a threat to their existence."

Looking out into the forest as if staring at something that wasn't there Ajax asked "is there no way to get back to Arathia?" Atlas understood where this was going.

Ajax had his families Graves in Arathia and his storyline in the game included him leaving to those Graves for a set period of time.

"For now no, but in the future I think it will be possible" Atlas replied remembering the system notification with the message.

The message had stated that soon enough the creatures from Arathia would enter this world, he didn't know how soon but this meant there would be a way to travel between the two realms.

Ajax looked back to Atlas before stating "what will our next move be my liege?" His tone went from wholesome to serious, ready to help Atlas in any way possible.

In-game Atlas had Maxed the friendship with Ajax, this was a possibility to increase synergy in the game and thus increasing damage output.

He had done it for that reason but it worked in his favor this time, it seemed that friendship has carried onto Earth.

Remembering the power rankings Atlas replied "first I need to start working on rebuilding my army."

"Understood my liege" Ajax was about to continue when his gaze darted to the side looking out to the distance past the forest.

"My liege?" Ajax asked in a questioning tone as if trying to interrogate him, Atlas sighed "what is it?" Expecting him to ask a question he didn't want to answer.

But instead Ajax responded with something that thoroughly dumbfounded Atlas, "I thought you said Mana didn't exist in this world?"

Atlas linked his sight with Ajax's and, sure enough, there were two Mana signatures out in the distance.

Atlas immediately thought back to the system message, it had told him there were 4 other systems. Were these Mana signatures the people holding 2 of the systems? That was the only explanation.

Atlas narrowed his eyes, whatever was holding those systems, whatever those signatures were. They were heading straight in his direction.