SWNOVELXO Chapter 432: A Changed World
This… can't be true… It just can't be…
[I hope you'll forgive me, Dear Host, but I forcefully instilled the maximum number of Origin Blessings and part of your Origin Progenitor Bloodline in everyone deemed to be close to you.]
[However…]
[Lifespan comes for all Mortals. And no amount of Origin Blessings or Bloodlines could change that.]
[Even your own Lifespan won't last long now, let alone theirs...]
[…Dear Host… They've all passed away. Everyone you once knew…]
Of all the times the System could be joking around, Cassius hoped that this was one of those times.
It had to be…
It was just another joke!
[…I'm sorry…]
Then it struck.
Like a thunderbolt, these announcements shook Cassius to his core.
He staggered, his vision blurring.
Clutching his face, his expression couldn't properly process the flurry of emotions ramming around within him.
"I-I…"
He didn't.
"I don't know…"
He didn't know what to do.
Unable to think, his brain shut off.
[Dear Host…]
The System wanted to snap Cassius out of it by force, but that would only do more harm than good. And no acceptable character development would come about from that.
Some time later…
[Dear Host, that isn't all that I had to say.]
The System knew Cassius was listening.
[When each of the ones close to you neared the ends of their lifespans, I extracted their souls and stored them in myself.]
Cassius's lifeless eyes saw a glimmer of hope.
Only to be quenched by the System's following words:
[Unfortunately, where I had no choice but to put them was a one-way ticket… To get them out and possibly resurrect them… even I have no idea just how strong you'll need to be. Many times stronger than that Cultivator is a minimum.]
"...Stronger than that Cultivator…?"
These were the first words spoken by Cassius in thousands of years. His partially vacant gaze turned toward the System Interface.
"How… How do I become stronger…?"
He had already reached the peak of every single one of his aspects of existence.
What more could be improved?
[Dear Host, you must embark on the Path of Immortal Cultivation.]
[That is the only way forward.]
The Path of Immortal Cultivation!?
But how!?
As if reading his thoughts, the System said:
[Leave this space and journey to where it all ended. There, you will find a mountain. Only one of your previous acquaintances remains, and she's on that mountain. You must speak with her; she is the way forward.]
An acquaintance??
But weren't they all dead???
"...Okay, I'll go…"
Without wasting any more time idling, Cassius left the white space.
FWIP!
Reappearing within what used to be the Yggdrasil Ascension Tower, Cassius immediately realized something unusual.
"The world…" he muttered. "There's no longer multiple Ascension Towers…"
Sometime during the last 20 billion years, the World Tree evolved. And from this evolution, it did what it never could do before and completely connected with the other 7 Dimensions with Yggdrasil.
No one knew why this evolution occurred, but Cassius was soon going to find out…
After a while of aimlessly wandering this new world that had somehow exponentially increased in size over the years, Cassius came across a mountain that challenged the heavens. It was so tall that several layers of clouds were pierced through by its summit.
A crow-type humanoid noticed a worn-down human out of the corner of its eye. This prompted it to speak out with a tone of caution:
"Before you proceed, human, you should know that these are Sacred Grounds of the Goddess. Going any further will result in immediate execution upon—"
The crow person suddenly felt a spell of drowsiness. Before it could say even one word more, it fell asleep.
The expressionless man walked past the willow tree the crow person had been perched atop. He ascended the seemingly endless number of marble steps one by one.
On his way to the summit, many a Mountain Guardian attempted to thwart him. But without even looking their way, Cassius forced them to sleep.
— Some years later —
Finally. The summit.
The very second Cassius took his first step onto the Mountain's Summit, he took notice of a mystical plaque. There were many designed like this one before now, but none felt as memorable as this one.
After all…
"It was there… When I underwent my Class Change Quest…"
Cassius was unable to describe what he was feeling right now, so he just listlessly read off the name on the plaque:
"Mount… Olympus."
It was the same.
The same one present in that vision.
Then did that mean…?
For the first time in his life after awakening, Cassius was… afraid.
He was afraid to look ahead and see what lay there.
But…
"...I have to… I… I owe them that…"
So Cassius did it. He looked ahead.
Regret had formed the moment he made this decision. However, it was already too late.
There, scattered atop the flat mountain summit, were… graves.
They numbered over a dozen, with the names on them causing Cassius's pupils to erratically flicker.
"...Aya…" he began in a strained voice, his words cracking at every syllable. "Sasha… Grace… Corra… Bella… Memphis... Stella... Yimin.... Hellion.... Yuna....."
After Yuna, Cassius couldn't bear to read off any more. His heart ached more than it ever had, as memories of all these amazing women flooded his mind.
The pain was indescribable. Far more painful than anything he'd ever experienced before.
His life was full of pain. His every waking and sleeping moment was filled with it.
Yet none of that could compare to what he was feeling right now…
The whole reason he started putting his all into becoming stronger—was it not for the sake of ensuring that he lived his life the way he wanted? One that involved keeping those close to him away from the dangers of the world…?
He alone endured everything that came his way. All the pain. All the suffering.
All so they didn't have to…
So badly, Cassius wished this were all just a dream. A terrible nightmare.
But deep down, he knew this was his reality. And there was no rewriting the past…
"I foolishly believed that as long as I became invincible in this world, everything would go my way…"
How wrong he was.