Unlimited Power - The Arcane Path

"Well, I must say that I'm not quite fond of the idea that my power belongs to you and that everything I conquered is also thanks to you," Leon said. "But let's put that aside for now… let's say that you already conquered all the universe since mana is practically everywhere. Did you already satisfy your greed by learning anything? I don't think that is the case."

"You are right; I didn't satisfy my curiosity yet. If you want to know something that happened in the past, what would you do, Leon?"

"I would read a book about it or search for it on the internet," Leon frowned.

"Yes, you would search for registers made by the humans that came before you. It is a logical answer, but what would you do if you were the first human and want to learn the things that happened before you came to be?"

"That is… a tricky question," Leon frowned again.

"Exactly. Imagine that, and you can take a small glimpse at my angsty. I want to know everything, yet, I'm bound to learn only the things that came after me. I want to know how this universe was created; I want to know if someone did it. I want to know if I only happened by chance. I want to know what awaits our existence beyond the limits of life and death. I want to know if this physical realm will exist forever… I want to meet someone older than me. I want to meet God."

"Well… that is what I call a hard to attain goal," Leon frowned. "Have you already tried to die? Maybe you will find him on the other side."

"I considered that possibility many times, but even to that, the answer is unclear. I'm greedy for knowledge, but I cannot sacrifice all my knowledge to answer that question. Just like you, I have a spirit, a soul that stores all the things that I obtained since I came to be, but once my soul leaves my body, all that can be lost."

Leon nodded at that, satisfied. So far, he learned that the system's creator had a physical form and that he also knew that it could be killed. That made Leon understand that he wasn't trying to do something impossible. If the worst comes to the worst, there is a chance of victory. However, that also made me realize that things might get complicated. The creator was greedy, but he involved all the life forms in the universe, probably to satisfy his thirst for knowledge, considering that the chances of it doing what Leon and everyone wanted was quite small. They want to return to a point in time before mana could change their lives forever. They also want to keep their memories and not to be part of the system ever again.

"So, you created the system to meet God?" Leon asked.

"Even though I evolved for thousands of years, there is so much a being like me can do and learn alone. So, I divided myself into millions of parts and spread them across the cosmos on suitable planets. The arrival of my parts made the planets have their first contact with mana, and from that point onward, everyone and everything also obtained the power to use and create even more mana, even without knowing. Thanks to this, I learned many things. For example, I learned from you how to use a conceptual attack. I learned from Ilyana how to use Reset, and I learned from Tyrselle how to increase my lifeforce even further."

"Well,… you are welcome," Leon shrugged.

"I don't understand," Ilyana said. "If you want to learn more things, why did you let me use Reset so many times? You probably learned after I used it just one time."

"That is true; your actions made me wait for quite a while to learn something new. However, after every Reset, all the being's universe became part of the system again with a little more potential. You can consider that me not doing anything was the price that I had to pay to see you and many others reach new heights much faster than before."

That was rather impressive. To have such patience to see everything happen again and again was something. Having the patience and having the means to stop all that but not doing it was insane in Leon's eyes. If he were in their position, Leon didn't know if he would be able to do that… for the first time in a long while, Leon felt thankful that his deadly sin was pride. In the long run, and greed and sloth were probably the most difficult ones to deal with.

"So, after all this time," Leon said. "Did you find any sign of God? Although many have the power to see the future, the future always changes, and aside from Tyrselle, I don't know anyone who can use a spell that can interfere with the past."

"No… in all these years, I didn't find any sign of Him. I didn't find anyone older than me either. Considering that you three are the first ones to reach me in this place, maybe it is time to move on. I can't see the potential of the species that are in the early stages of the assimilation, and I doubt that you three have the eagerness to show me new paths and things."

"Move on?" Leon frowned. "To where?"

"To other universes… just like stars, there are countless universes out there. So, I'm certain that I can find and learn new things outside the limits of this universe."