Utopian System

Kriz murmured, "A story that begins with falling In the deeps of the Sea of monsters and ends here. I think we all want to hear that one."

Brok nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving Elio, as if fearing he might vanish. "Fathoran... he threw you like you were nothing. How did you survive?"

The mention of Fathoran sent a visible shiver through the group. The memory of his power, his cruelty, still too fresh.

Elio closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. When he opened them, there was an intensity his friends had never seen before. "I survived because I had to. For you, for my family, for everyone Fathoran and his family have trampled."

"When I fell," Elio began, "I thought it was the end. But somehow, I fell near my lance, entered the book, conquered the 4th level, and when I came out, I was on a mountain of cores. My book... started absorbing them. Millions upon millions."

Gasps of amazement followed.

"That explains the big hole," Ren realized. "Then the number of cores under the monsters must be enormous... A century of millions of daily deaths, accumulated right outside our walls..."

Elio paused, remembering the overwhelming sensation of being at the center of the vortex. "I tried to climb up when the monsters reached me, but I couldn\'t make it and fell again..."

Imagining the fall back, silence fell over the group. It was Zara who broke it, her voice barely audible. "I... knew it was you..."

Elio looked at her, a blush coloring his face. "Thank you, for being attentive..."

"Come on, finish the story. When you\'re off duty, you can procreate all you want," Micah replied, rolling his eyes.

Zara buried her face in her hands, her face reddening even more.

"S-stop joking, you\'re distracting me... Well, before I knew it, I was on the fifth level, facing a rock elephant," Elio continued.

"What\'s an elephant?" Brok interrupted, confused.

Elio laughed. "It\'s a huge creature, bigger than the Locus, round and made entirely of black rock. It used carbon as defense, creating structures non-stop."

"So that carbon is what Fathoran uses," Ren murmured, a shiver running down his spine.

"Exactly," Elio confirmed. "But I managed to defeat it. I combined different elements, used techniques from the Genesis book. And when I finally defeated it... I rose to level 5."

He paused, remembering the euphoria of that moment. "When I saw my new stats, I couldn\'t help but jump from joy."

His friends smiled at the mental image of Elio celebrating alone in the challenge chamber.

"Upon overcoming level 5, I received a message from God in the center of the chamber along with a small exchange statue," Elio continued. "It warned me that level 6 was a different magnitude of challenge and suggested understanding the first 5 levels, which it called \'Tutorial\', before attempting it."

"In the small statue, I had the option to exchange my level 5 armor and weapon for new ones. I got this \'Summoner\'s Robe\', this \'Amplifier Belt\' and... For surpassing the level, I obtained Fathoran\'s power," he continued, his expression becoming more serious. "Now I understand how it works. The power he uses... it\'s not omnipotent."

A tense silence fell over the group.

"Did you try it?" Ren asked softly.

"I decided not to use it," Elio replied. "At least not at that moment. I needed all my mana to climb the wall."

He continued relating how he left the book and launched a fireball to orient himself. How he used the swift\'s power to push the Locus and begin his second ascent.

"It was... intense," he admitted. "Every jump, every impulse, was a struggle against gravity and against the monsters that kept falling. I used a bit of oxygen to breathe during the ascent, to endure, despite my increased stamina..."

His friends listened, completely absorbed in the story.

"There was a moment," Elio continued, "when I thought I wouldn\'t make it. The sea of Locus had rearranged quite a bit, and I couldn\'t see the light from the surface. But I stayed close to the wall, trusting in the swift\'s power."

When the little bird heard itself mentioned, it let out a small noise and jumped on Elio\'s shoulder.

Elio paused, his eyes meeting Zara\'s. "And then, when I was near the top, I saw something I didn\'t expect..."

Zara tensed, anticipating what was to come.

"I saw you, Zara," Elio said softly. "Jumping from the wall, as if you knew I was there."

The others turned, looking at Zara, whose face was surpassing normal human levels of red tones.

"I..." Zara began, looking down, her voice trembling slightly. "I don\'t know. Something inside me told me I had to jump. It was..."

"It was madness," Kriz murmured, but there was admiration in his voice.

"It was," Elio agreed. "But it was also nice that you greeted me before I reached the top. Seeing your... concern, was pleasant."

Zara blushed even more intensely.

"A-and well," Elio concluded, "you know the rest. I managed to catch you and bring us back to the wall."

A reflective silence fell over the group as they processed Elio\'s incredible story.

"So?" Ren, always attentive to details, narrowed his eyes. "Elio, exactly how much have you... progressed?"

Elio hesitated for a moment, then with a sigh, opened his stats book. "I think it\'s better if you see for yourselves."

With a fluid motion, he opened his book to the stats page.

The group leaned in, curious. Ren began to read aloud:

"Elio Elian, Level 5..." His voice rose an octave.

"It\'s true," Micah murmured, leaning in to see better.

"Keep reading," Elio urged, a mixture of pride and embarrassment in his voice.

Ren continued, his voice trembling slightly. "Skills: Sacred Flame, Holy Water, Ice Sacrifice... we knew that. But... Celestial Wind? Rock of Life?

So these are the names of the next skills..."

"Wait," Kriz interrupted, his eyes widening like saucers. "Are those... familiars? You have FIVE familiars?"

Brok whistled, impressed. "I knew you were special, friend, but this..."

Elio nodded, unable to hide a proud smile. "Yes, well..."

Elio was about to respond when Kriz let out a scream that startled them all.

"BY BOTH THE GODS!" he exclaimed, frantically pointing at the book. "LOOK AT THAT!"

Everyone followed his finger, and a collective gasp resonated in the air.

"1,843,915,000 cores," Micah read, his voice barely a whisper. "This... this is..."

"Enough to summon an army of salamanders," Kriz completed, whistling impressed.