Chapter 285: Two Worlds
Aldin stood momentarily stunned.
"What is, what..."
"Didn't you hear? I said I wouldn’t end the game."
Sung-Woon shrugged and then dramatically lifted his head, adopting an uninterested attitude.
"I'm already a god, so I'll stay here in Avartin, join the other gods in the Pantheon, govern the Empire, and remain here forever."
"Forever...?"
"Seems alright to me. About the real reward, you know..."
"The true god..."
"Yes, a true god. But I'm not sure if that's really a goal worth pursuing. Honestly, I don't even know what that means."
"You'll know once you become one."
"Once I become one, huh."
Aldin slightly shook their head. "Do you really think you've become a god? No. Until now, you've just been playing a game. Of course, you can say it was very close to reality. Yes, honestly, Avartin is not an illusion. It exists here. But that doesn't mean you're the true owner of Avartin and the rightful ruler of everyone."
"...Still, I am already the supreme god of Avartin, and no one can deny that. No one."
Sung-Woon slightly lowered his head and looked at Aldin.
"Even if it's an old god."
Aldin let out an awkward smile. The word ‘old god’ clearly got a reaction out of them, but Aldin didn't show it. Sung-Woon noticed all of this.
"What's bothering you? Haven't you won?"
"The opposite. I'm pleased because I have won."
"...Oh, is that it?" Aldin said as if suggesting, "Are you worried about the other players?"
Sung-Woon didn't lie. "What happens to the other players?"
"...There's no need to worry." Aldin hesitated for a moment. "What do you hope will happen?"
Sung-Woon sharply caught the implication in Aldin's words. "You haven't thought about it."
"...I am currently the decision-maker of this system. I can do as you wish."
Sung-Woon's attitude remained unchanged. "Now you're making an offer."
"Do you dislike it?"
"It's not about my likes or dislikes. The issue is why you are making the offer."
"For you..."
Sung-Woon interrupted, "No, I think it's like this: if I don't end the game myself, it can't be ended."
Aldin shook their head. "I am the owner of the system. If I want to end it, I can do it right away. I'm just giving you an opportunity. You deserve it."
"Then try to end it."
Nothing happened for a moment. Aldin, in silence, continued to look at Sung-Woon.
Aldin said, "Why are you doing this? I can do anything. If you keep resisting, I can just invalidate your victory and choose someone else. I'm only tolerating this for you, because you are the rightful winner of the game."
"Is this a threat now?"
Sung-Woon rested his chin on his hand. "I'm not trying to trouble you."
"You better not."
Sungw-Woon said, "Did you know about the second moon?"
"...Are you trying to say the game was unfair?"
"Are you going to deny that fact?"
"No."
Sung-Woon considered this another door opened in the conversation. Conversation, too, was a form of hacking. Approach with encrypted information against the opponent's security protocols to exploit vulnerabilities, and following the order and procedure, secrets of the mind were revealed.
Sung-Woon asked, "Why do you think so?"
"What do you mean?"
"What's the difference between you, the old gods, and the evil gods?"
"Evil gods! Why bring up those bastards? We were born here in Avartin from the beginning. We are the original inhabitants of Avartin. The true parents of all beings born in this land."
Sung-Woon inferred, "If born from someone else, then you're not true gods. You too were born as living beings. Merely existing as individual entities."
"At first, yes."
"At first?"
"But we obtained power with our own hands."
"Power."
Aldin said, "Yes, I'm talking about magic."
Sung-Woon was curious, "Was magic always there from the beginning?"
"Yes."
Aldin murmured, "You might not understand it well."
"Why?"
"Because in your world, magic is scarce. It almost lost its power and faded away. In your time, even its traces were hard to find."
"Why is that?"
Aldin replied casually, as if it wasn’t a significant question, "Beyond here, there exists an infinitely vast universe. These possible worlds have countless different characteristics. Yours is just one of them. A land where magic is weak. Such places exist occasionally. Of course, it required more specific conditions. We had to explore countless worlds...but eventually, we found yours."
"You chose us because magic was absent?"
"Not solely for that reason, but yes. In most possible worlds, magic is common. It was hard to find you."
Sung-Woon realized Aldin's intent. "We had to lack understanding of magic, because you use magic as power?"
Aldin no longer denied it. "Yes."
Sung-Woon smirked beneath his mask.
'I thought their confidence was mere bravado, but it seems not. They wouldn’t be so bold otherwise.'
Aldin added, "In case things went wrong, like now, we would have to turn everything around."
Sung-Woon remained wary of Aldin, who did not seem to be in a hurry to act. Aldin was intoxicated with their position and swayed by the power they possessed.
'That's good. It means I have more time. There are still answers I need to hear.'
Sung-Woon said, "But if you have such great power, why create a system and concepts like gods and divinity with magic?"
"Ha, you clearly don't understand magic."
"Explain."
Aldin said, "Do you know? The world is an overlap of two worlds."
"Two worlds?"
"One is the physical world. In your terms, it's external space. The tangible world, the universe, bound by gravity and the speed of light, limping along. Look at the spacecraft you made... To merely go to the moon, all of Avartin had to make an enormous effort."
"And the second moon?"
"It’s the epitome of our technology... But what did it ultimately lose to?"
When Sung-Woon didn't answer, Aldin continued, "The second world is inner space, the world of the mind. Also called the mental imagery world. Visible when you close your eyes, a dream space shared by all conscious beings. Oh, of course, your dreams are just fragmentary, disjointed, and incoherent. That’s unfortunate for you."
"Inner Space?"
Aldin explained slowly, as if struggling to explain something so abstract to a being who could hardly imagine it, "You would find it difficult to picture. Even beings from other possible worlds where magic is common need training to properly enter inner space. There, one finds recurring symbols and mysteries, truths of other worlds, immense chaos and catastrophes, as well as healing and stability.
Just like adventures in external space, adventures in inner space are dangerous, but eventually, someone brings back secrets and reveals them. We call them Wizards, and the power they bring back is known as magic."
Aldin continued, "The power of magic is strong enough to manifest in external space, but it's fragmentary and unstable, making it difficult to maintain. Therefore, the ancient Wizards, namely us, felt the need to stabilize this power in some way.
We created a system and set rules. That's what the system is. Within the system, we finally overcame the fear of instability that magic brings. Yes, it was revolutionary. Beings bound to your external space talk about technological revolutions, but compared to what we created, those are laughably insignificant."