Chapter 306: The True Origin Of The System And The Reason Behind Gates

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"T-The System... Universal... Computer? Wait..." Riven gasped as the words settled in. Viviane simply nodded in response.

So many revelations hit him at once. The shock left him quiet for a few seconds while he tried to process everything.

He could not fully believe it yet.

"The Precursors created what you all know as the System as a way to classify all life and find it," she explained calmly. "It is a library of endless knowledge. When the Precursors died, however, it changed its protocol into trying to find their replacement, the new Precursors. Thus, it started to seek candidates among the planets targeted by the End of All, while also trying to preserve as much life as it could through the Gates."

"..."

Riven lowered his head as the truth became clearer. Everything he thought he understood about the System and the Gates shifted in that moment.

The Gates had been created as a way to preserve life by the Universal Computer that the Precursors left behind. That same System now guided them.

The End of All commanded the Cosmic Monarchs to prune worlds that held great life. Ascension might never have happened before because it would only occur when a race became qualified to replace the Precursors.

"Is it possible to save this planet, mother?" Riven asked after a short silence. "Is it possible for us to ascend?"

She smiled warmly at him. "I believe you can do it, my son... I believe in you... more than anything else..."

Riven nodded slowly. He watched as his mother’s form continued to fade, growing thinner and less solid with each passing second. He could not stop himself from asking one more question while he still had the chance.

"Do you know what Authorities are?"

"...I don’t know. They came much later than the Precursors..." she answered, her gaze drifting toward the starry sky for a moment. "Perhaps... forgotten memories... myths, legends, belief itself... given form... by the countless civilizations lost against the End of All. They may have been born within spaces similar to the Noosphere... places where belief and thought become reality... and then sparked with divinity when they met the Precursor Stardust left behind as they died..."

"..."

Riven let out a quiet sigh. Viviane chuckled softly at his expression.

"I really don’t know," she admitted. "That’s just what I think they might be... They usually either align with Life or with The End. Though there are some who remain neutral to both... It will be your duty to meet them and, if possible, recruit them. And if necessary... defeat those that choose to ally with The End."

Riven gave a firm nod. "I was going to do that already, so there’s no need to ask me for it, mother."

Viviane nodded once more, still wearing that same warm smile. "Good. Then... take care, Riven. I love you."

She leaned forward and hugged him tightly. He could feel her body growing lighter and less solid in his arms as she continued to fade.

"Where are you going now?" he asked quietly. "Is... there an afterlife?"

She chuckled. "Oh, my dear... there’s so much more... beyond The Shroud of Darkness of the End... what He is trying to hide from us all... They are there, waiting for us. Our people."

"The Precursors?" Riven asked, still trying to process the words.

She nodded slowly. "Yes. We will be watching over you... beyond the Stars, and beyond the Universal Horizon."

Riven nodded in return. "Rest in peace, mother."

She leaned closer and kissed his cheek one last time, her voice dropping to a whisper. "I love you... Riven..."

Her form began to fade right after the words left her lips. The last traces of her presence faded away until nothing remained.

Riven sighed as the mix of emotions ran through him. This time, however, he did not let them overwhelm him. He forced himself to calm down, took a steady breath in, then let it out, and gradually returned to his physical body.

Riven’s eyes snapped open. They glowed with a mix of violet and gold.

The knowledge he had inherited from his mother settled into place. The clear understanding of his true purpose and of who he really was gave him a firmer resolve than before.

"...Daniela?"

His voice came out rough. The moment his palm fully registered the surface of the core, the entire chamber filled with crimson light.

Oh yeah, that’s right. He still needed to claim this Dungeon Core.

Dozens of memories began flowing through his mind as he connected with the core. They showed him the core’s past—or more accurately, the past of the heart itself.

He did not see a world at first. He saw a person.

A tall man with pale skin and long red hair stood at the center of the memories. He wore kingly red and golden clothes and traveled from one world to another, moving between different civilizations without rest. Nobody seemed to know exactly how long he had lived. His Cultivation of the Blood Path had reached a Supreme level. He was an Ancient Being, a man that people often called a King or an Emperor.

He had sired countless children and taken countless wives across the galaxies. He was known as a true master of blood and life itself.

Then the memories shifted to a woman. She was someone he had loved more than anyone else, and she had loved him just as deeply in return.

That same woman eventually tore his heart from his chest. Jealousy had driven her mad; she refused to share him with anyone else. Her greed grew without end. From her own chest a monstrous fly-like creature was born, and from the stolen heart a golden demon formed. Both tried to devour the heart, but in the end they failed and simply threw it away into the stars.

What happened to the man after that remained unknown. The heart itself drifted through space for eons. It moved over vast distances until it became lost somewhere between space and time.

Over an immense stretch of years, stones slowly gathered and formed around the heart. It turned into a meteor that carried a unique biome inside it, all of it fueled by the endless flow of blood still coming from the heart.

At some point an invisible hand took hold of the meteor and reshaped everything. The entire mass was turned into a Gate.

The heart became the dungeon lord—the final boss of the place.

And the old man’s love was passed down in a strange way. It ended up being inherited by a small frog that sat on a little island, catching leeches with its long tongue.

"..."

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