Gateway

[Ace POV],

"True World?" I muttered as it was a new and strange term to me.

And because it was a new and unfamiliar word, I knew nothing about it, and since the Guardian had been talking to me since the beginning, I decided to try my luck and ask it a question.

"What do you mean when you say the gateway is a passage to the true world? And what exactly is the true world?" I inquired as I waited for the guardian to respond.

Unsurprisingly, it didn't respond, instead staring blankly at me, or rather the air, and I happened to be in the direction it was looking at.

I posed another question after realizing it was not going to answer my inquiries regarding the true world it mentioned.

"If you won't tell me what the true world is, tell me where this gateway leads to; is it like a dungeon?" I inquired, as the gateway portal resembled the dungeon I'd seen before.

Fortunately, the guardian responded this time when it heard my question.

Seeing this, I waited for the guardian's response.

"The gateway isn't a dungeon; it's a passage, and this particular gateway leads you to the true world," it explained.

"...….."

That gave me no information at all.

Looking back at the Guardian, I decided to try my luck once more and ask a question.

"Where is this true world?" I asked to which I unexpectedly got a reply too and this time it gave birth to more questions.

"On this planet," it simply said as it fell silent again, but what it said confused me when I heard it.

"Are we not already in the true world if it's on this planet since this planet itself is a world, or are you saying there is another world even within a world?" I inquired, but the Guardian did not respond.

For some reason, it began speaking less when we began discussing issues concerning this true world or whatever it was.

Seeing this, I shifted my focus away from this true world of a thing as I was getting nowhere with it.

"You said I passed the test, right?" I inquired of the guardian.

"Yes," it replied.

"Does that mean I can use the gateway passage?" I inquired.

"Yes," it replied.

Hearing this, I decided to drop the gateway issue since I'd find out what it was about later.

After making this decision, I turned to ask another question that had been bothering me and I wanted to know the answer.

I spoke again as I considered this.

"Guardian, you said the choice was the test, right?" But what I don't understand and want to know is how it was related to crossing the bridge?"

When the guardian heard this, it turned to face me and responded.

"In truth, the quest and test are set at random as they have nothing to do with the primordial chronicle aim, so everything you experience in the trial ground was just a random test," it explained.

"So you're saying the tests had nothing to do with each other and were completely random?" I asked, realizing why the tests made no sense at all.

"Correct," it replied.

"In that case, what was the primordial chronicle's aim?" I inquired.

"To divide," it stated.

"Divide what?" I inquired.

"Those who are weak and unprepared for the journey ahead"

"What journey are you talking about?"

"One that will take place in the true world," it said, pausing before speaking again and asking, "Do you remember stage 1?"

"Yes, I do. How about it?" I inquired, sensing that I was getting close to discovering a clue.

"Since there's stage one, there should be other stages, right?" it asked.

Hearing this, I responded as it was something I had previously considered.

"It seems very likely," I said.

When it heard this, it nodded and spoke.

"The thing is that all that all the other stages will happen in the True world, and because of this, all species that are currently in this place will be struck at a certain level in their evolution phase and will be unable to go further to become higher lifeforms," it stated.

This...

"How do you know all of this?" " I inquired.

When the guardian heard this, it did not respond to my question and instead asked one of its own.

"Why do you think I've been talking to you?" it inquired, as I was unable to respond because I had no idea why it was speaking to me.

When I first saw the primordial chronicle address the guardian in the quest, I honestly assumed it would be some mindless and unintelligible creature, but this was not the case, and the guardian was in fact an intelligent creature, but the question now is who or what the guardian is.

A creature created by the primordial chronicle? Or an alien? Or is it something else?

I didn't forget the primordial chronicle stated that crossing the bridge or defeating the guardian is another way to complete the quest.

From my experience, crossing the bridge is simple. What is difficult is passing the accompanying test, and because I had already passed this so-called test, I did not need to defeat the guardian. I had no intention of even fighting it in the first place.

But another unanswered question I have is why the primordial chronicle has not notified me that the quest is complete, despite the guardian telling me that I have passed.

As I was thinking about these things, the Guardian finally answered its question and spoke.

"I'm a guide," it said as it fell silent again.

When I saw this, I knew it wasn't going to talk again, but even when it did, it only raised more questions in my mind.

What I didn't expect was for the guardian to address me on its own.

"If you're curious and want to learn more, you can in the real world."

"All I can say is that if you can get to a certain level there, you'll gradually be able to uncover the truth of everything you seek," it said.

"The truth," I muttered as I began to form expectations for this true world. Since speaking with the guardian would only add to my confusion, I decided to figure things out on my own.

I was about to ask a question about my quest status when the guardian spoke again.

"The quest you have is a submitting type, which means you have to tell the primordial chronicle so you can manually ask to complete it rather than normal quests that complete themselves when the condition is met," it said.

"Why is it this way?" I inquired.

"It's because there are two ways to complete the quest. You can either pass the test as you cross the bridge or you can defeat me after you cross the bridge to complete the quest."

"What's the point of completing the quest by defeating you when you can just cross the bridge?" I inquired, having finally realized why the quest had not been completed until now.

It will only be completed when I want it to, and because there are two ways to complete it, I must choose which method I want to be submitted, which is either crossing the bridge or defeating the guardian, but the question is why would one bother attempting to complete the quest by defeating the guardian when the test has already been completed?

As I was thinking about these things, the guardian who had heard my question responded.

"It's because defeating me gives more reward after the quest is completed, but be warned that if you do this, you either defeat me or die."

"Do you want to fight me?" " The guardian inquired.

"No thanks." Fighting you is like courting death," I stated.

I mean, I can't even see the guardian's level, so why would I fight it? Is it to die?

As I was thinking about these things, I heard some voices beside me.

My teammates were waking up.

.....

If you want to support me, use your golden tickets and powerstones.

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