Overgeared

Grid had always wondered—why didn’t the Goddess take back her blessing?

Every time he struggled and realized the value of the inherent blessing, confusion grew and anxiety took hold.

He could feel a bad stench from within the depths of his body. The curse of the Goddess, in the guise of a blessing, festered and clung fiercely to his destiny. He wanted to shake it off right away. It felt like a time bomb that could explode at any time, so he gradually became nervous. He even had a habit of calculating how many more gods he would have to harm before the Goddess showed her true colors.

‘...It wasn’t a curse or a bomb.’

He remembered the voice of the Goddess he heard when he first visited the Vatican a long time ago.

A voice that was infinitely warm, yet somehow sad. At the time, he simply thought it was a pity for those who had suffered under the corrupted pope.

Thus, it was more questionable. Why did the Goddess turn away from people even though she had compassion for them? Additionally, why did she lead to the end of the world?

There was so little information that he couldn’t guess it at all. It was impossible for him to understand the psychology of the Goddess.

If she was going to destroy humanity again, why did she give the divine messages to help so many people? The Goddess’ warmth was too ‘real’ for her to be regarded as a common and obvious villain from the cliches. The outside was different from the inside. Grid had experienced it himself.

The double-sided portrait seen in Marie Rose’s castle.

The heavenly gods on the side of the demons during the Great Human and Demon War.

The attitude of Yatan, whom he met in the hell of the past, and so on.

Based on the clues that he gradually gathered, he reminded himself of the possibility that Rebecca could be the darkness behind the apocalypse, but he was unable to define her as ‘evil.’ He came to the conclusion that he had to meet her in person. Then today—

‘She isn’t evil.’

Grid was finally convinced. Despite the world message ‘the world has overcome the crisis of destruction’ that appeared the moment Bunhelier disappeared with the Goddess, Grid couldn’t harbor any animosity toward her.

Rather, he pitied her. A being who was aware that this world was a game—it was because of this awareness that she led the world to destruction. It was an insight and understanding that was only possible for Grid because he was a player.

“Just now... Reinhardt would’ve been destroyed if it wasn’t for Bunhelier.” On the other hand, Braham had an intuition as a resident of this world. There was deep malice in his voice, which trembled with anger and fear. “This has made it clear. Rebecca is the darkness behind the apocalypse that has been repeated. She... is the enemy of our world. She must be exterminated.”

It was a confidence that went beyond opinion.

Grid let it flow in one ear and out the other as he summoned a unicorn. “Overgeared Corn, you must’ve seen the Goddess as well.”

A final verification was needed.

“Is she a maiden?”

A maiden—in the dictionary sense, it referred to an unmarried woman. It didn’t matter much. However, it was different when intertwined with divinity. For some reason, in myths, a virgin meant a holy being. Therefore, a creature like a unicorn was obsessed with virgins...

Overgeared Corn nodded enthusiastically. There was a very ecstatic expression like it was recalling Rebecca’s holy figure. That was enough. Grid wiped the unicorn’s spittle from his face and smiled slightly.

“...You have finally become crazier.” Braham watched the virginity verification in a puzzled manner and couldn’t hide his disgust.

‘He isn’t calling me crazy. He said I am even crazier.’

Grid was deeply hurt by Braham’s radical words, but he wasn’t nervous. It was enough to gradually resolve the misunderstanding.

***

“With this, one thing is certain. Rebecca isn’t Morpheus.”

This was Lauel’s conviction after grasping all the circumstances.

Morpheus—it was a product of quantum mechanics. After repeatedly making the impossible possible, it opened the era of virtual reality. If Chairman Lim Cheolho created Morpheus and designed Satisfy, then Morpheus implemented and managed Satisfy.

Morpheus’ ‘role’ within Satisfy would naturally have a high hierarchy. It was widely speculated that it would be the backbone of the ‘system,’ managing the players while ruling as a God of the Beginning and adjusting the balance of the world.

However, the truth they learned today was different from expectations. Rebecca, the best of the Gods of the Beginning, was opposing Morpheus. To be more precise, she was resisting the ‘world’ created by Chairman Lim Cheolho and Morpheus.

“Your Majesty is an early player, so you must remember, right? Satisfy has a history of pushing back the release date four times.”

Grid remembered, of course It was two times after the closed beta service, and two times after the open beta service—the S.A Group committed the atrocity of pushing back the game’s release date four times.

At that time, the S.A Group’s stock price had fluctuated.

Since it was a time when many people doubted that it was too early for a game that embodied the same five senses as reality, many experts asserted that the release of Satisfy would only be possible decades later.

‘...Come to think about it, the experts have been wrong since then.‘

Grid nodded and Lauel told him the story hidden behind it.

“In fact, the timing of the closed beta was delayed five times.”

“Really...? I’ve never heard of that?”

“At that time, the detailed schedule was delivered only to the large investors.”

Grid wondered, “How do you know this when you started the game a year late?”

“My father invested a lot.”

‘Ah, he was a diamond spoon.’

“In any case, at the time, many people thought that the release date was pushed back because there was a problem within the S.A Group or a lack of technology... where am I going with this? Looking back, it was a completely different reason. It isn’t an exaggeration to say that the S.A Group’s technological prowess has reached a new level, and Chairman Lim Cheolho’s authority within the group is absolute.”

That’s right—the level of completion of the released Satisfy far exceeded people’s expectations and imagination. It was another world that was so perfect that it was unreasonable to simply describe it as a game.

So why was the release date delayed? It had become an unsolved mystery.

It was only today that the truth came out.

Rebecca and Yatan—they knew the nature of this world and repeatedly worked together to destroy it. Due to this, Satisfy’s worldview never reached the ‘point’ where players could intervene. The S.A Group had to postpone the release date several times. To put it simply, the Gods of the Beginning, who had been thought to be Morpheus so far, were actually the cause of the ‘system malfunction,’ or bugs.

“Among them, Hanul is likely to have been recovered with a vaccine.”

This would’ve led to him becoming antagonistic to Rebecca and the creation of the great myth, the War of the Gods.

“Yatan... I don’t know about him. Seeing how he tried to give Your Majesty a clue while leaving a message that he hates the developer, it seems he hasn’t fully recovered yet... Rebecca wouldn’t have killed him for no reason...”

“The Refractive Dragon?”

The Refractive Dragon—the dragon god who tried to prevent the destruction by appearing every time the world reached the point of destruction.

“It is the backbone of the vaccine and the will of Morpheus. The other Old Dragons must’ve also been working as as vaccine until they ‘forgot.’”

Dragons weren’t created for players to kill. Fire Dragon Trauka once hunted the heavenly gods, but surprisingly, the dragons didn’t harm humans easily.

Bunhelier also loved human women...

There was plenty of reason to speculate that Old Dragons were ‘beings favorable to this world.’

Tap, tap.

Lauel tapped on the table and thought about it. Then he slowly came to a conclusion.

“Since Bunhelier called Your Majesty a friend, it is safe to assume that he is on the same side, right? If so, it is worth looking at the odds of winning against Rebecca.”

Grid wasn’t an ordinary player. No, it wasn’t just thought. Most of the members of the Overgeared Guild that were influenced by Grid had a different perception than ordinary players. They accepted Satisfy as ‘another world’ rather than just a game, and equated NPCs with humans. They had no choice but to confront Rebecca, who was trying to destroy the world out of a rebellious spirit toward her creator.

In fact, the system had indirectly mentioned it today. If it wasn’t for Bunhelier, the world would’ve been destroyed.

“Looking back at the way she shot divinity at the speed of light, Rebecca must be almost invincible... but she will be inferior to Your Majesty riding Bunhelier.”

Why did the dragon god, or the vaccine, have to be in the form of a ‘refractive’ dragon? It was because that was the only way he could confront Rebecca.

The perfect counter to light—Lauel judged that Grid had a chance of winning if he cooperated with Bunhelier.

“The premise is wrong.” Grid’s expression was bitter as he shook his head.

“We should discuss if we have a chance of winning against Bunhelier, not Rebecca.”

“......”

“You know the truth, right? Rebecca didn’t destroy the world just because of a sense of repulsion. She was afraid and wary that players wouldn’t treat the inhabitants of this world as human beings.”

“There are quite a few people like that, even at this moment.”

It was as mentioned earlier.

Grid and the members of the Overgeared Guild were unique. It was said that humanity had become one after experiencing the Great Human and Demon War, but many players still didn’t attach importance to the human rights of NPCs.

Like Grid and the members of the Overgeared Guild, they had relationships with certain NPCs and valued them, but they didn’t identify all NPCs as people. They thoroughly distinguished between the game and reality in order to avoid a mental illness.

The state of affairs that Rebecca feared—it was that the inhabitants of this world would be treated as tools or even worse, as not even people...

Of course, the situation used to be much more serious. It was terribly sad for Grid, but it wouldn’t change much in the future.

“However, Rebecca wasn’t against players from the beginning.”

A tragedy that couldn’t be prevented—Rebecca just watched as players started to appear in the world one by one. There must’ve been a time when she felt hopeful after witnessing people like Grid and Damian.

“So I won’t be hostile to her from the beginning either.”

Grid wanted to let Rebecca know that her hope was still alive and well.

“...The Old Dragons are very powerful and they number as many as four. Among them, it is right to identify Bunhelier as the Refractive Dragon. Can you handle them? The Breaths they release casually can devastate everything Your Majesty cherishes. In the worst case scenario, there is a good chance that all the dragons in the world will join the Old Dragons.”

This was why Lauel pretended not to know anything and advised Grid to confront Rebecca. It was naturally because it was for the best.

Rebecca was obviously powerful, but there was a counter called the dragons.

On the other hand, the Old Dragons were different. They were powerful enough to hunt the heavenly gods in the past and it was right to say that there was virtually no way to confront them. It was a tough path.

Grid shouldn’t cooperate with Rebecca. It was best to cooperate with the Old Dragons to kill Rebecca. It was a very simple matter of turning a blind eye to Rebecca’s sad situation.

“In the first place, Rebecca is a great evil. Isn’t it true that she is the one who destroyed the world?”

“At the very least, she didn’t destroy the world that we know. She was patient, she watched, and she gave us a chance.”

“...You know it is far-fetched in many ways, right?”

“Aren’t you the one who has wind in your head? There is no guarantee that the Old Dragons will act for our benefit just because they are hostile to Rebecca.”

It happened as the two people were gradually raising their voices...

Someone burst open the door of the great hall and came in. It was Garion, the God of the Earth. Her face was white as she delivered shocking news, “T-The land in the east... the land in the east is disappearing.”

“......!!”

Grid jumped out of his seat.

Chiyou’s words came to mind.

“The balance you’ve been maintaining will break again. Can you handle it?”

“The strong power of destiny that you possess is about to end another era.”

“Didn’t you get your hands on the yeouiju anyway? Regardless of my warning, the balance will soon be broken and a new era will come. For the time being, even if it isn’t you, the Old Dragons will fight with me.”

“If I am still alive when you are ripe, I will ask for another confrontation at that time.”

Bunhelier regained his yeouiju. Perhaps due to this, the Old Dragons escaped oblivion and went on a hunt for Chiyou.

“Indeed... Your Majesty is right. It doesn’t matter whose side we are on.” Lauel stood up after Grid. He faced Grid directly and said, “Your Majesty, act as you normally would. We will support you with all our might.”

Grid’s eyes had been shaking wildly. Now they were restored to normal.

“Yes.”

An era came to an end yet again?

Then he would lead it to a better era—Grid was thinking simply when his field of view was suddenly colored with light.

[The Goddess of Light, ‘Rebecca,’ has invited you to the ‘primordial space.’]

[It is recommended not to respond to the invitation.]

The door that suddenly appeared in front of him and shone brilliantly—a red warning window was flashing above it. It was the ‘will of the system (Morpheus)’ that Grid was no longer unfamiliar with. Grid couldn’t be constrained by it.

The Only One God, who was born on his own, made a judgment and acted according to his own will.

[You have entered the primordial space.]