Second World-Novel

Jack had heard a few times the natives mention the demonic cult. He at first thought that it was one of the cults of the bad Gods. But after rethinking, he had engaged Fear's cult a few times but no main quest ever popped up.

"So, why do I never hear anyone getting any main quest?" Jack asked Wilted.

"To be honest with you. I also wondered about it. The main quest should have been triggered for everyone a short time after they entered this world. But I am too occupied with stopping Master so I don't have the time to bother about this main quest anomaly. It is better this way. Otherwise, it will be more complex if we have to deal with Master and the demonic cult at the same time."

"So, where is this demonic cult you kept mentioning?" Jack asked.

"That's the thing. I never see any sign of them. It was as if they have been erased from this world's existence," Wilted answered.

"Is it the doing of your mysterious associate again? Like the one who installed the Monarch System without you knowing?"

"… I don't know," Wilted answered. "What I know is what should have been. This demonic cult should have been everywhere. Hidden inside the main cities of every country. Creating havoc to try to undo the sealing of underworld portals in the seven countries."

"Wait! Are you telling me all seven countries have an underworld portal in each of them?"

"Yes. One of the mid goals for players is to completely seal these underworld portals. Failure to do so will cause these seven underworld portals to break open when the main underworld portal is opened by the cult. This will cause the seven countries to become occupied by the demonic hordes pouring out of the portals in their countries. This prevents them from forming a joint effort in dealing with the main underworld force. Hence, increasing the failure chance for players to win the game.

"In the opposite scenario. If players successfully seal all the portals in the seven countries, this gives the seven countries a better chance of fighting the underworld's main force. If the underworld force is beaten back, the game proceeds to the final stage, where the seven countries unite and invade the underworld. Players will take charge in this invasion, getting access to the underworld in the process. This underworld can be considered as post-game content, giving players a new territory to play in."

Jack absorbed the information. Now, that did sound like a main quest of a game. Why was it removed from the game?

But this was fine as well. It would be a pity if this was a real game. But in the real world, this meant it was one less thing to worry about. Without the demonic cult, no one would disturb the process of portal sealing. Even if he left them alone, they would be sealed eventually.

"Why do you ask this, anyway?" Wilted asked.

"Oh, I'm just wondering. Since I've just gotten a Portal-closing Stone that mentioned the main quest," Jack answered.

"Portal-sealing stone? How the hell do you get that?" Wilted asked. "That stone can only be gotten from the underworld. It is supposed to happen within one of the mid-quests where players were sent to the underworld for a short period."

"Well. It's not strange then, because I did get it from the underworld," Jack answered.

"The underworld…? How the heck do you travel to the underworld?!"

"Using my steed."

"Your steed… The nightmare! That steed is supposed to only be attainable when players gained access to the underworld after their victory in driving the underworld force back. That steed allows players to travel between two worlds without the hassle of going back to the main portal. I am honestly very surprised when I first saw you ride that nightmare."

"In case you are wondering, I got the nightmare from the Valley of Tempus which you said was supposed to be one of your partner's secret sites," Jack informed. But then he remembered he found the nightmare after accessing a secret room that was not supposed to be found. He guessed no one was supposed to get the nightmare that was stashed there.

"Well, whatever. Are you done? I already have enough headaches dealing with Master here without having to think about the anomalies surrounding you. Master is proving to be a more efficient ruler compared to the previous rebel prince. You have heard of him becoming the ruler of Liguritudum, haven't you?"

"I have," Jack replied. Jeanny had sent him a message concerning the news once their guild members learned of it. He said to Wilted, "I wish you luck."

"I need more than luck," Wilted replied and ended the message.

Jack thought about what he had learned. It just added more questions than answers. He already had enough unresolved matters without adding another one. But he didn't let them bother him too much. He would just deal with them as they came. He didn't let something that he couldn't do anything about to stress his mind.

He spent the rest of their traveling time training mana manipulation. He felt his mana manipulation was stronger after doing it in the underworld.

After a couple of hours, the outline of Heavenly Citadel was seen. Jack had a feeling the headquarters had expanded again. More structures were seen. Out of curiosity, he opened his guild page and saw that their guild level was now level 5. They could now have 10,000 members.

Many of those opened vacancies had been filled up. Players were queueing to join the number one guild in the country. Everlasting Heavenly Legends was never short on applicants.

Jack and the others landed on a balcony on the rooftop where the Hero Altar was located. He didn't want too many people to see the satyrs and the little nightmares.

Seeing the Hero Altar, he wondered if they could recruit another hero and guild guardian now that the guild leveled up.

Peniel answered that level 5 guild allowed the Hero Altar to be leveled up to level 3. Thus, they could recruit another guild hero. But for guild guardians, they could only build the structure that housed another guild guardian after they became a level 6 guild.