It had been no more than a few seconds in that state, it had been enough to reduce Ethan to a state that frightened him out. This was because if his own divinity hadn't stopped, he wouldn't have even noticed he was being consumed entirely reaching his very existence. He had understood it would certainly not be easy to unlock his Domain, but he didn't expect such a frightening power to lie behind it.
'I'm not sure what happened, but there's no doubt that was my divinity...right?'
Upon his question, Ethan looked around, noticing that everything he had surrounding him disappearing shortly before, had actually always been there, including the same bed he was sitting on...
With his hands still shaking and the sweat that made it weigh him down, Ethan adjusted his breath while the system, which had waited some time before showing up, decided to intervene to clear up a couple of doubts that plagued Ethan's mind
[What the host has just faced is a test to verify affinity with his own divinity. This procedure would normally be useless since every infant is born with the finest affinity, but the host must remember the body that hosts his soul has not always been his. The form and entity of his divinity derive only from himself, but the divinity itself at these levels has a certain degree of intelligence, implying that his divinity will never recognize anyone as worthy to use its power, except the host himself...]
Although Ethan felt a little odd about having to read a panel to discuss and other than that, the system seemed to have a strange way of talking, but he decided to ignore these second-rate information and, thinking for a second, he replied
'So that means I had to make my divinity truly mine? If it's the case, then it means if I would've failed...'
To his thoughts, another panel appeared above the previous one, and although only a few words were written above it, they were enough to freeze his blood...
[The host's entire existence would have been truly devoured]
He had no words to express his feelings anymore. If only he hadn't followed what the system had told him and trusted it, he wouldn't be in that comfortable bed right now thinking. Of course, from before that moment Ethan had faced very difficult situations, he had fought for his life more than once, but he had never felt this feeling of sticking so close near death, also because during his previous death it was all very fast, as he had unfortunately been struck at a vital point, and he didn't even have clear memories of that moment, but now instead, he was fully aware of what it meant to touch death.
'How come you didn't warn me about something like that. I'm pretty sure that if my existence had been devoured, even you wouldn't have been able to escape the same fate, so why keep it hidden?'
To his question, the system actually responded again, scoring 3 times in a row, which surprised Ethan as the system usually gave little account to what Ethan said, and then answered yes and no to one of his questions, many times rhetorically or not coincided enough for him to understand immediately, but this time, it seemed even the system itself didn't want to be doubted.
[I didn't have the authority to tell you. The Universe gives me limitations when it finds it interesting to do so, the only way I was allowed to expose it was to guide the host through rhetorical words and such, since according to the universe, 'If he is not even able to do this, then it wasn't so interesting at the end', but I didn't expect the host to be tested by its divinity so quickly.]
At the words written in the panel, Ethan sighed again. It wasn't the first time he had heard of the Universe itself, but he still couldn't imagine something like the entire Universe giving limitations just to see something interesting in its eyes..
'Unfortunately I don't think I'll get anything by staying angry for long...I hope at least it was worth risking my life? System, now that I have passed this test, can I enter my domain?'
To his question, the system responded once again, scoring the 4 answer in a row.
[There's actually a reward..]
----
//Hidden Quest Completed//
Objective: Be recognized as worthy by the Divinity(1/1)
Reward: [6000 XP]
----
Seeing the panel appear, Ethan was confused by the fact he probably couldn't read the name of the quest, but other than that, he was close to jumping out of bed from the reward he was given, although there were so many other things he would have wanted, The XP was one of the things that had stopped him from growing further and it was hard to collect it with his current condition, but now he found himself with a huge amount of it, which seemed unreal to him, even though he knew if level 3 already asked for 1000 XP, It was impossible that the price wouldn't rise exponentially.
Curious to check his status, Ethan thought of it and, in no time at all, a panel showing his status appeared before him.
---
Name: Ethan Hyogumi
Age: 15(Ageless)
Race: Human - {(Sealed)}
[Falna: 6,904/1,000]
Pow: 698C→ 753B
End: 664C→ 728B
Dex: 730B→ 811A
Agi: 833A → 879A
Mag: 1223SSS → 1302SSS
{Total Parameters : 9,855 → 10,180}
{SP: 3,954,403}
{Valis: 16,123}
Skill: [Qienta's Blessing:SSS], [Infinite Regeneration:S], [Toughness: I → H], [Mana Control:A], [Boost Magic:F→E], [Avian:F→E], [Reckless:G→ F], [Sprint:I→ F], [Heavy Blow:I→ G], [Shiatsu:I]
Magic: [Sagitta Magica:C]
Development Ability: [Hunter:G], [Spirit Healing:E], [FeatherFoot:C]
{Affinities Unlocked: Air, Wind}
---
Satisfied his curiosity, Ethan realized that finally even the [Boost Magic] seemed to have risen, but in addition to the 'increase of its parameters, which derived from his training, along with skills, and the XP that now could use to rise level without problems, Ethan didn't notice anything different about his status, which was weird from his point of view.
But still, Ethan could hardly complain about this result, as at the rate at which his parameters were growing, albeit slower than before, he knew level 3 wasn't far away anymore.
'If everything goes smoothly, a month should be enough with normal training, but I'm not going to neglect the training that I will face in my domain once unlocked...'
This was one of the main reasons he had given himself to sprint even faster towards his goal to become stronger, but at the same time, something else was driving him...
'Wait a little longer, Light, I'm sure it won't be taking much time now that I have the feeling of my divinity, right, System?'
'Since you're saying things so openly, does it look like you're free of limitations now?'
[..Correct]
By nodding, Ethan looked down at his hand before clenching it in a fist. This time, after facing his own divinity, he had been recognized by it, but that didn't mean he could use it freely now. Apparently, the limitations weren't only imposed on the system, but also on his divinity. This was because the first step according to the world's patterns, was to overcome human limitations to reach the level of God, ascending to heaven which, as far as Ethan could guess, would remove some limitations imposed on it.
To his deductions, the System responded further, confirming the veracity of his theories, which made him smile, but at the same time swallow. Although he was now acting as if everything was fine, Ethan was still slightly shaken by the feeling of being completely devoured from his existence, at the level that he dared not think of using it against an opponent, but he himself recognized that these were trivial thoughts, as to ascend, his willpower certainly wouldn't be enough.
---
//Universal Quest Triggered//
[A Reincarnator's Ascend]
Rank: SSS(Unstable)
Objective: Remove the limitations imposed by the Universe reaching Godhood(0/1)
Failure Conditions: Death
Penalty: User's soul will be consumed by the restricted Divinity
Rewards: 50,000,000 SP, 2x[System Upgrade], 1x[???]
---
By quickly checking the quest, Ethan could only sigh.
'I did it again..Another one that I'm not able to complete in the short time.. among other things the rewards...but it isn't only that, it seems that all the quests defined as Universal require great effort but at the same time pay a lot..'
At his words, another panel appeared in front of him, while all those who had been left open before vanished.
[Universal Quests are useful to satisfy the curiosity of the universe, although the latter loves to play with interesting people, in the same way gives great rewards, in this case 50 million SP, an overwhelming amount, But if I were host, I wouldn't put too much thought into it, because the way host can spend them will certainly come your way]
At the words of the system, Ethan nodded recognizing what it was saying made sense. One of the things he had to give credit to the Universe was that the rewards given for these were righteous, and in the first place, he should have to reach godhood as it's also the objective of the first universal quest, so being rewarded for doing something he already had to do could only be a fortune to Ethan.
'Moving on.. it seems that you are getting in the habit of answering me more often and in detail, are you sure there were only limitations on you?'
To his question, however, the system answered with few words as always.
[I don't know what host is talking about.]
To this answer, Ethan sighed knowing the system was nothing like Light, although it seemed to possess a will, the system remained a pure machine, and although he was conversing with the latter, he knew he couldn't have the same relationship as the one he had with Light.
But leaving these thoughts aside, Ethan was aware that in reality only a few minutes had passed, and that therefore he could still devote the rest of the day to trying to open his domain, which now seemed no longer a difficult thing to do in his eyes...
---
(I have a discord server. discord.gg/cpVr5X8. You may ask me: "Why should I enter the server?". Well, I'm replying to every interesting question you readers are asking in my chapters, so, you should absolutely enter if you want to read my answers. Ah, and you can find some image reference of items in the story such as Light..! (Soon even Qienta).. so it's recommended to join, I frequently post polls as well, regarding things that(most likely) will be present in the story. One last thing, I post chapter updates in my discord right after I posted on , so I guess you can join to be able to know when I post chapters faster.)
(Poll going on in the discord: Who do you prefer? Qienta or Light? | Cat-girl or Renard(Fox) | Are you liking the interactions between Maple and Ethan? | Riveria: Harem Member or Mother?)
(Do you enjoy reading my novel? If the answer is yes, then thanks. I'll leave my ******* here. w ww.pat reon.com/watashiwavdesu)
(Alternate Titles: "The System is only a machine, Ethan, only a machine...","One step away from Death" , "After a few months, I really really miss Light, that's why Ethan must open his Domain sooner than later")