Alexia Knight

  I just lie on the ground for who knows how long, my wound having regenerated long ago despite me still feeling exhausted as I wait for my soul to regenerate. But eventually I find myself frowning as a System Notification appears in my vision.

  My jaw drops open at the answer to one of the biggest questions I’ve had since the Reset.

  I’m here because I have a Legendary Feat? Seriously?

  I frown for a moment before sighing.

  Guess that’s actually a better answer than ‘I’m here because I killed the System’s Creator’ would’ve been. So I can’t really complain.

  Another System Notification appears, replacing the first.

  That’s a lot of new stuff.

  More than I expected.

  The notification disappears, following which a flash of purple light shines out of nowhere in front of me before the System Creator appears. Or rather, his memory.

  “No, you were right, I’m him,” he says, making my eyes widen in shock at his blatant reading of my thoughts. “At this point, any memory sent to you will be one of the original’s clones. So you better get used to my reading your mind.”

  I don’t think that’ll ever happen.

  “Too bad,” he comments, almost making me do a double take at him. “Well, now that we’re in agreement-”

  What agreement?!

  “-I can move on to answering your questions! Since that’s what I’m here to do, right?” he continues, ignoring my inner shout. “Oh, and you’ll only get ten minutes of questions since I’m a clone and not a memory.”

  My eye twitches and I finally sit up before muttering, “I really hate you…”

  “That, I do believe, is a statement and not a question,” he says in a sagely tone of voice that has me really wanting to punch him. “Do try not to waste your ten minutes with obviously inaccurate statements.”

  Is this guy just designed to piss me off?

  “No, I’m not,” he answers my thoughts, only making me even more angry in the process. “But you should stop wasting your time.”

  I take a deep breath before letting it out and taking his annoying advice by asking, “Why did you choose me to kill you? There had to have been at least a few Ascendants who already have Legendary Feats and far more knowledge than me who also had an affinity in the quantum element. So why me?”

  He stares at me for a few seconds, his eyes flashing as he mutters, “Give me a second while I download the memories of my original from the System…”

  It doesn’t take long for the flashing to stop before he bluntly answers, “It was because the original was running out of soul to keep the rift open, and he couldn’t regenerate more in the void. So he chose the first person with affinity to the quantum element that neared the rift and fit his basic requirements.”

  My jaw drops open.

  That’s why?! Just because I happened to be near it and fit the requirements? No large reason for it or anything?

  “Correct,” he states with a nod, “although I will note that your interesting parents did influence my original’s deciding to go ahead and choose you, along with your temperament. Since not just anyone would suit the power you’ve been given.”

  I frown at that.

  So it wasn’t completely by chance then.

  “What do you mean by my temperament?” I ask, deciding to comment on the parents thing after this.

  “A laidback temperament without any ambitions for ruling the dimension,” he states, the man’s clone not having moved his eyes from me this entire time. He hasn’t even blinked. Which I find rather creepy. “The type of person who would not destroy the dimension I have created, or the System itself with the power they were given.”

  Wait, so you’re saying that if I did end up becoming an Ascendant some day and created some sort of nation, something that I really don’t have any interest in, you would take the power away?

  He finally moves his head, shaking it once as he says, “No. Having the ambition to do something and doing it are two different things. I do not care if you end up becoming a ruler or even the ruler of the dimension so long as you do not truly wish for that. Although even if you did gain an ambition for it, I would not be able to do anything as I cannot take away your power or undo what has been done. No one can.”

  My eyes widen at that, and I find myself staring for a few seconds, unsure of what to say.

  Guess I really am stuck like this forever. Not that I really wanted to go back. I wasn’t exactly attached to my humanity or anything like that.

  Also, I guess Astrid and I have clear differences now, so people won’t mistake us for each other anymore. Which is nice.

  “What did you mean by my parents influencing your decision?” I ask, making him frown for a split second.

  The frown vanishes just as quickly though and he answers, “I will not answer that question fully. Just know that both of your parents are Ascendants. Otherwise you wouldn’t have been able to have a Class B Elemental Affinity in a special element like the Astral element.”

  Oh. That’s… oh.

  That’s something to think about.

  Putting that matter aside for the moment, purely because all it does right now is confirm that Gramps was right about Mom, I ask, “What’s the difference between a Quantum Architect like you and a Quantum Reaper like me?”

  He actually looks a little surprised by that before smiling as he answers, “One is a builder of the universe and the quantum, the other a destroyer. My class focused on messing with and altering the universe and reality itself. Your class is that of a reaper. A destroyer. A hunter. And a fighter.”

  So basically yours wasn’t a combat focused quantum class and mine is?

  The man flinches slightly, probably due to my oversimplification, before he begrudgingly answers, “That is accurate.”

  I smirk.

  “You will never be able to alter or control the System yourself, but should you wish to, you could destroy it once you reach the same level of strength I was at,” he continues, seemingly avoiding the subject. “I understand you will never do that, however. And that was the absolute minimum requirement my original had for his killer. Even if he were to have lost his chance to die.”

  Well, he’s not wrong there. The System may be cruel in a lot of ways, but I would never destroy it. Especially considering that we’d all be at the mercy of monsters and all the dungeons would be freed if that happened.

  Would basically just be sentencing everyone to death.

  But his last words do lead me to one of the most important questions of all.

  I narrow my eyes slightly and ask, “Why did you have me kill you instead of free you?”

  Patreon Link - Read up to 20 chapters ahead for and , 8 chapters ahead for and , up to 13 chapters ahead for , up to 54 chapters as of posting this chapter ahead for , up to 40 chapters ahead for as of posting this chapter, and gain access to the chapters of all of my new series that aren't on Royal Road yet, and gain discord benefits by becoming a Patron.

  Discord Invite