Chapter 89: The start of the new Epoch

"Focus Issei"

Lucias said in a low tone as parried Issei's reckless attack with a branch, causing Issei to grit his teeth as he placed more strength into his sword while using [Boost] to increase his strength.

[Skill: Basic Swordsmanship has been acquired by Hyoudo Issei]

"Hmm... I guess that's enough"

Lucias said as he swung his sword to the side, causing the branch to slide off the sword's blade as Issei suddenly lost his footing befote falling to the ground face first.

"Opps"

Lucias muttered with a light grin on his face as Issei sat up on the ground while rubbing his bloodied nose.

"Now you only need to learn [Archery]... Then you're pretty much good to go"

Lucias said as he healed Issei's wound with a low-level spell.

"Lucias-sama... What's the point of learning all of this weapons?"

Issei asked while glancing at the pile of weapons beside them, ever since Lucias brought him back to the faction, they immediately started training as Lucias ordered him to launch an attack towards him with different weapons for 12 hours, causing Issei to look at him in confusion as he couldn't understand why do such useless training.

"You don't need depth training in any of this weapons since you'll eventually learn to use everything after were done... Now then, Issei pick up that bow"

Lucias said as he casually sat down on the chair on the entrance of the training ground while Issei picked up the bow on the ground without much thought.

"Lucias-sama, I don't know how to use a bow..."

"... Just try to copy the actions of the people you watched on TV about archery. It doesn't matter"

Lucias said causing Issei to sigh before proceeding to do what Lucias told him.

"Lucias-sama... are you going to teach me tactics and strategies too?"

Issei said as he fired an arrow that fell in front of him on the ground due to his inexperience.

"... No, I'll let you learn it by yourself through experience and practical application, I'll let you develop your common sense about war and battle first before I can teach you such things, Issei"

Lucias said as he watched Issei fail in firing another arrow, causing a look of frustration and annoyance to appear on his face.

"... You're letting you're own emotions to decide your actions, so teaching you tactics and strategies would be difficult, Issei"

Lucias said as he crossed his legs causing Issei to glance at his direction.

"In any kind of battle, the person who losses to his emotions first are the first ones to die in a warfare. If you can't properly control your own emotions then it will cloud your judgement and ability to reason, so we need to work on your emotional management first..."

Lucias said as Issei took another arrow from the ground before aiming the arrow at the target using his bow.

"You only need to know survival tactics and strategies since I won't let you lead a group of your own... You're much more suited in working as a pawn but not as a leader since that mindset was drilled into your brain when you were taken as a pawn by Rias"

"Haha..."

"A leader holds high responsibility, Issei since the survival of the group depends on him. One grave mistake can cause the death of the entire group, that's why the leader needs to be chosen by ability, not popularity"

Lucias said as a string of notification appeared in front of him.

[Skill: Basic Archery has been acquired by Hyoudo Issei]

[Skill: Basic Weapon Mastery has been acquired by Hyoudo Issei]

"Good... I'll give you a few minutes to rest before we continue"

Lucias said causing Issei to sigh before letting his body fall down on the cold, grassy ground.

"..."

"..."

Silence devoured the pair silently stared at each other.

"... Lucias-sama... I want to ask one thing..."

"Hmm?"

Lucias hummed as he joined Issei on the ground, laying down on his back a centimetres away from Issei.

"The harem... Is it fun?"

He suddenly asked causing Lucias to glance at his direction before helplessly sighing.

"Is it fun, huh?... I don't really like using the word 'fun' since it makes me sound like a hooligan, but... I'm happy that's for sure"

Lucias answered without looking at Issei's direction, causing Issei to lightly smile in response.

"... Even though I'm happy... Having a harem is a huge responsibility, Issei... Unlike what you see in stories... A harem is hard to manage since all of the girls are not just mindless creatures that do everything as you say... They have their own minds and personalities... I'm considered one of the lucky ones since despite me having so many girls in my harem, they still remained loyal and even created a harmonious relationship with each other... probably"

Lucias said as he stared at the bright moon with a nostalgic expression on his face.

"All of them are beautiful girls, and many would line up just to be with them... Even though the harem was forcefully pushed to me in the past, I never once regretted it since I get to be with the people that I care for... They gave everything that they are to me, but they only recieved a part of mine... I don't really understand them that much on why they are so enthusiastic to create and expand the harem..."

Lucias said with a helpless smile on his face as he glanced at Issei who was laying down on the ground.

"Issei, I remember that you wanted to become strong to create your own harem, are you still planning on achieving that dream of yours?"

Lucias asked causing Issei to close his eyes in contemplation.

"... I don't know... In the past, I did but... I'm already contented with Sandra, after I met her that dream just slipped off my mind... especially now..."

Issei said as the image of his mother's severed limb came into his mind, causing him to clench his teeth in anger.

"... I see"

Lucias responded with a mysterious smile on his face as silence devoured their location once more.

"... Why do I feel like I forgot something"

Lucias said as he scratched his chin, forgetting the 10 girls who were obidiently waiting at his bedroom.

"Issei, you ready?"

Lucias asked as he stood up from his seat, causing Issei to flash a tired expression on his face before reculantly standing up from the ground.

"Did you fix your relationship with Sandra?"

Lucias asked causing Issei to lower his head in guilt and hesitation before shaking his head to the side.

"Not yet... I don't know how to face her after what I said to her a while ago..."

Issei whispered as grabbed a bow and arrow from the ground.

"Just apologize. Sandra wouldn't panic when searching for you if she didn't care for you, just sincerely apologize to her and do something to make her happy"

"Did that work for you, Lucias-sama?"

"... Yes? They do forgive me, but I still get punished afterwards... The worst one was being forced to play along with Modeus in her S&M fetish..."

Lucias said causing Issei to look at him with a surprised expression on his face as he never imagined that Lucias would agree to do such things.

"So... are you ready, Issei?"

Lucias asked once more, causing a look of resolution to flash within Issei's eyes as he immediately stood straight in front of Lucias.

"Yes!"

Issei loudly stated causing Lucias to smile as he placed his hand on top of his head.

[You have transferred 10,000 skill points to Hyoudo Issei]

[Skill: Reconstruction has been acquired by Hyoudo Issei]

[Reconstruction (lvl 0/100) - A subskill of creation magic that allows its user to reconstruct the physical and chemical characteristics of non-organic beings that he touches (Consumption: 1000Mp/sec)]

The notification rang causing Issei to look at him in surprise as he read the notification in front of them.

"W-What is this?"

"Remember the project that I proposed a few days ago? I'm giving you the privilege to use it earlier than the others"

Lucias said with a large grin on his face while Issei looked at him with wide eyes.

"Use it wisely, you can only max out at maximum 100 skills, so don't just randomly add points to skill that you don't need"

Lucias said as Issei glanced through his existing skills in wonder.

"Now then"

Lucias said as a large ominous gate suddenly appeared in front of them, causing Issei to nervously gulp in response.

"This dungeon is one of the strongest dungeons that I can make, the weakest monster in their is level 500. This will teach you on how to survive on your own during disadvantageous situations, and develop your instincts and senses especially during battles. There's a large chance that you'll die inside but knowing you, I know you'll be able to accomplish this task. One year in this dungeon is just one minute outside so you don't need to worry about not being able to attend the war"

Lucias said as Issei looked at him in shock from the sudden shift in their training.

"H-How strong is a level 500?"

"Hmm... To put it in perspective... The physical and magical strength of a level 500 beast is equivalent to the weakest being in the Ultimate Class rank, while their intelligence is comparable to yours"

Lucias answered with a light smile on his face, causing Issei to look at him with a strange expression on his face.

"S-So I just need to survive?"

Issei asked causing Lucias to grin in response.

"Survive? What are you talking about? You're going to clear this dungeon"

Lucias said causing a nervously sweat, as the image or his parents flashed in his mind, causing him to frown before calming down as a sense of resolution flashed within his eyes.

"Where the tutorial?"

Issei asked causing Lucias to look at him with a strange expression on his face before handing him a mana-imbued shotgun and sword from his inventory.

"Why the fuck do you need a tutorial for? Here's a shotgun, go wild and kill everything you see"

Lucias said before pushing Issei inside the dungeon with a large smile on his face.

"I wish you luck, Hyoudo Issei"

Lucias said as Issei dissapeared in front of him, leaving him alone in the middle of the wide garden behind the ruby palace.

"... Time for work"

Lucias muttered as he slowly walked inside the ruby palace but froze as he suddenly got grabbed by both Justice and Great Red at both sides.

"Yes, time for 'work', isn't that right, Lucias?"

Justice said with a grin on her face while wearing a transparent night gown that emphasized her figure

"Uh..."

-with ???-

"Everyone form a line and don't push the others!!"

A middle-aged human shouted at the large crowd of people in front of them as he led everyone towards the teleportation circle setted up by Lucias as a means of transportation to an artificial island.

"That's quite a lot"

Loki who was watching the project of the entire human race walk towards the teleportation circle. All while several soldiers from their faction guarded the population from any possible attacks.

"It's a bit nerve wreaking to see so many humans at once"

Hestia muttered while glancing at the dozens of mythological gods of the Forsaken Faction, all ready for the start of the project.

"We're just going to give them jobs and skills, why are you nervous?"

Loki asked as Freya suddenly appeared and sat down next to her.

"Oy, maid. Why did you come here?"

Loki asked with a light grin on her face but recieved no reaction from Freya who had a soft smileon her face.

"I'm still a god even if I'm one of Lucias-sama's exclusive maids. He even told me to come here last night before he-"

Freya suddenly stopped as Lucias suddenly grabbed her mouth to stop her from speaking.

"Lucias-sama"

All of the gods suddenly bowed down as a sign of respect causing Lucias to awkwardly smile while Freya suddenly sucked on his fingers in a seductive manner.

"..."

Lucias immediately pulled his hand away from her mouth before wiping his wet fingers on the couch she was sitting on.

"Are you all ready? You'll be watching them here and judge their individual capabilities to match a suitable job for them. Remember, judge them without bias, but judge them by their capabilities. Am I clear?"

Lucias ordered causing all of them to nod their heads in response before teleporting out of them room towards the backroom in the venue of the project.

The venue was simple and contained a large stage and 7.5 billion chairs, all seperated depending on their nationality. The walls were nothing but Iron that had little to no designs while a giant ball of mana lit the entire venue.

The humans one by one, entered the venue all having different expression on their faces. Some were excited while some were nervous as they only had a vague description about the project that all of them will participate to from their respective Presidents.

"Lucias-sama, to what extent should we explain everything to them?"

One of the humans under Riku's command asked while wearing a formal black suit.

"Just explain to them about the guides, the dungeon, the system, and a few rules. The rules will be explained by their respective guides later since the rules differ by each batch, especially to criminals who have stricter rules than the rest"

Lucias said as he glanced at the front of the seats, where millions or criminals gathered to keep them all in their sights.

"The criminals will be handled by Ains' subordinates. Knowing them, handling this criminals would be easy for them. I doubt that half of this bunch would survive after the project is done"

Lucias muttered as the human walked towards the stage, but was only ignored by the people as all of them continued with their business. Creating so much noise that it started to annoy Lucias who was watching them from above.

"SILENCE!!!!!"

The humans loudly shouted as he amplified his voice with every inch of his mana, causing his voice to travel acrosss the incredibly large venue that held more than 7 billion people.

"If any of you don't shut up, then we'll just use you all as meat shields for the war!!"

The human shouted causing some of them to look at him with an angry expression as they tried to shout back, but stopped as they felt the intense bloodlust coming from the guards standing beside them.

"You privileged fucks are nothing to us in this war so don't get cocky since the money and position that you all hed before is nothing but paper and words as soon as you step in this place. You fools needed our help so we provided all of you with one, but if you retaliate against us, then we'll all kill you ourselves, am I clear!?!?"

The human shouted causing some of the humans to shout at him in anger, only to get dragged by the guards close to their seat towards an empty batch of chairs in the back.

"This guards aren't here to protect you, but to make sure that you'll all stay in order, or they'll throw you together with those prideful shits at the back. So keep your pride to yourself or we'll shove it right up your ass ourselves!"

"..."

Lucias looked at the human announcer with a strange expression on his face, but his method was effective for gathering all of the prideful and reckless ones to place them all in a single group.

"As all of you have known, we are in a state of war against the invaders who killed and destroyed our lands, their numbers are more than thrice our numbers combined so all of you are needed to participate in the war, I'm sure that the presidents of each country has explained everything up to this extent so I'll skip the details about our enemies!"

The human shouted as his mana amplified his voice to reach all of the humans present in the venue.

"You will all enter a temporary dungeon to increase all of your strengths and skills, as well as your coordination and loyalty to the human race. We will provide all of you with initial skills and equipment to use, but you can obtain more powerful equipment from the shop at the second floor of the dungeon. Your achievements will be given merit points which will be the main currency inside the dungeon"

He explained as the scene of the neutral town was showed to the humans.

"Food, weapons, clothes, equipment, shelter, and supplies will be bought with merit points. And as you gain more merit points, each of you will given a military rank, if you reach the rank of lieutenant, then you will be assigned as a leader of a squad of your choice"

He explained causing some of the aristocrats and politicians to smile.

"Inside the dungeon, your position means shit to us, and if you abuse your authority and force other people to work for you, you'll be punished accordingly to the decision of the gods supervising the project. Also merit points are untradable and is bound to the person who earned it so don't even think about making others give you their merit points. You can't also trade items with each other, and the only way to give others your weapons is to buy it from them at the same price as it is on the store. Food can be traded and gifted to others, but forceful trading and giving will be punished or even killed"

He said as he glanced at the varying expression of the humans inside the venue.

"All children, elderly, or people with disabilities will be given an allowance everyday to feed themselves and will recieve some form of help to their respective guides. We also stationed therapist in the 2nd floor, so if any of you experience any emotional or psychological problems because of the sudden change in your lives, feel free to consult them. It's free so you don't have to worry about your merit points"

He said before switching the image in the projection to a single paper with several runes written on the surface of the paper.

"You all will be given 2 chances to call for the aid of a guide to save you from a dangerous situation, so use them wisely. All of you will be under the supervision of a guide based on your personality and nationality, they will help you form the desirable traits that we want as well as give you hints and pointers during your journey. Don't even think of harassing or disrespecting them, they have been given the ability and right to kill anyone who dares to do that, so be careful when you communicate with them"

He said as a single woman with two cat like ears on her head walked towards the stage, causing a few people to shout in excitement from seeing a real life cat girl in front of them.

"The guides will be your supervisors and your performance, attitude, and achievements will be reported by them monthly to the higher ups. They aren't tasked to babysit you, so don't expect them saving you at any point in time. They're just their to supervise you and give simple advices to advance in your journey in the dungeon. If any severe violators of the rules will also be killed as punishments by your respective guides. They'll remain neutral even if you treat them well so remember that!"

He said before signalling for the woman to go back, causing her to slowly walked out of the stage with her tail wagging behind her back.

"The rules will be further discussed by your respective guides later before you enter the tutorial, make sure to memorize everything to avoid any accidental violations"

He added before showing the projection of the dungeon to the crowd.

"All of you will enter a 100 floor dungeon, and your task is to complete the dungeon within 12 years. It doesn't matter if you fail to do so, but if all of you managed to clear the dungeon withon that time frame, all of you will be heavily rewarded by the faction leader himself"

He said causing Lucias to smile while he held a cup of coffee with his right hand.

"Each floor will be supervised by a guardian and boss. The guardian is the monster who is tasked to maintain order and balance in the ecosystem of that floor, they won't attack you unless any of you attack them. The guardian is 10x more powerful than the boss so don't do anything stupid and provoke them. Of course you can also kill them, but they will only give half of the merit points given by the boss of the same floor. The boss is the monster that you have to kill to advance to another floor, and each boss is 100 levels above the ordinary monsters of that floor. The level of the monsters of each floor will increase by 60-100 in each succeeding floor. So the higher you go up, the more powerful the monsters are, but the more merit points and resources that you could obtain"

He said causing all of the humans to remain silent as they all listened attentively to his words as it could decide their fate in the dungeon.

"All of you will recieve a "System" where your power is measured in numerical value and in levels just like that of a game. You can learn different skills by doing specific tasks or actions, and you can level up those skills as you use them more. All of you will also recieve an inventory together with the system, but it can only store up to 50 items, if you want to expand it, buy it from the store with merit points. To access your individual status windows, just say status either verbally or in your mind and it will automatically appear. Your status windows aren't visible to each other unless you want them to. It contains all private information about you so be careful who to show them to"

He said causing all of them to silently say "status", causing a translucent blue window to appear in front of them, shocking all of them while the others clenched their fist in excitement.

"You aren't the only ones that will enter the dungeon, other races will also join all of you later since you're the first batch to enter the tutorial. We will send a message through your status window on who your guide will be and where are they located, so immediately find them as soon as this conference ends"

He said before switching the image on the projection to a large dark tower in the middle of a baren land.

"Before any of you enter the dungeon, you will all have to take the 'Tutorial' where your skills, talents, potentials, and abilities will be tested, and whether or not you are worthy to enter the dungeon. The only way that you could fail the tutorial is when any of you break the rules, so don't worry. We ensured that none of you will die. All items in the shop will also be further explained by the guide so you can ask them anything relating to the dungeon"

He explained as the interior of the tower was shown to the large crowd of humans.

"Each of you will recieve a profession based on your performance in the Tutorial, and generally their are 4 types of professions, they are the mages, warriors, craftsman, and hunters. All of them have subtypes like hunters have a subclass of assasins and archer. Each have their own strengths and weaknesses. So do your best in this tutorial as it will define what kind of skills you could intially obtain. Of course you could learn skills from other professions but it will take more effort and hardwork for any of you to obtain it, but leveling it up is the same as any other skills"

The human announcer said before closing the projection as he glanced at the humans one more time as Lucias suddenly appeared on the stage.

"I wish all of you good luck in the dungeon, I am the True God that is responsible for this project. I will be the one to lead everyone in the war and I promise all of you that we will be victorious in this war. I can't promise that you'll live, but I cam promise the prosperity of future generations to come, and take back what is ours. All the gods that many of you worships will fight by your side. Your own efforts are needed and it will reflect whether or not you will survive in this war"

Lucias said as he glanced at each of the humans in the room.

"We all can only rely on ourselves and others in this war so avoid antagonizing anyone. We are all suffering from this invasion so we must work together and keep our prejudice and internal conflicts aside. We are all in this together and if we fail, we lose our homes and our lives. So if were going to lose our lives anyway so why don't we die for a great cause and fight back to protect our lands. Become more powerful to protect your homes, and work together as one, show them the strength of humanity as a whole. This is your last chance to become stronger so don't waste it. Become stronger, and mark your names in the records of history as the heroes who protected our lands and freedom!!"

Lucias shouted causing adrenaline to rush into most of the humans inside the venue.

"Prove yourself worthy and show the potential of humanity to those invaders. Make them regret invading our lands. This is your last chance"

Lucias shouted before flashing a smile to the crowd of humans.

"In this day will mark the start of the new Era of humanity!!"