World Keeper

The Hermit froze as he saw the message in front of himself, looking around within the blue space he found himself in. His body subconsciously relaxed, no longer feeling the threat of imminent death, but he didn’t believe that he could simply consider himself safe. “Who are you?”

“My name is Blank.” A voice spoke up from the air around the Hermit, and a strange blue energy rose up to his right, revealing a silver door. “Please, this way, if you would be so kind. I assure you that you will not be able to escape before our game is concluded.”

The Hermit narrowed his eyes slightly, preparing to force open a path to the void, when he suddenly froze. He realized now why he no longer felt the sense of imminent death. Or, rather, he no longer sensed any of his powers as an Origin. “What did you do?” He asked, gritting his teeth and walking towards the door. He was already unable to control his own power, and within enemy territory. At this point, the only hope he had to escape was to defeat the one that created the situation.

“It is quite simple.” Blank explained, while the Hermit found himself walking down a silver hallway that seemed to stretch on forever. “Well… no, I should not demean you like that. It was actually an incredibly complicated process. When I was preparing for this war, I knew that my main objective would be to use the power of world laws to tie down and eliminate a powerful enemy combatant. Given the circumstances, that would likely be an Origin.”

“Thus, I had to create a game system that would completely nullify the powers of an Origin trapped within. It took layers of restrictions, restrictions that I had to subject myself to as well in order to prevent any potential loopholes from appearing. However, I was eventually able to create what I refer to as the Final Game.” As the Hermit listened, another door appeared in front of him, and he opened it to find himself in another room.

This room had a silver floor, and a black-skinned humanoid with glowing white eyes and white hair sat at a table within the center. The Hermit could only assume that this individual was ‘Blank’. He clenched his fists, wanting to charge over and rip the opponent limb from limb, but could tell that his body was far weaker than normal. Clearly, he needed to understand these restrictions better before he could vent his anger.

Blank gestured to a free chair across the table from himself. “You don’t need to sit if you don’t want to, but I thought that it would be polite. Also, I wouldn’t bother with any violence if I were you. Now that the Final Game has begun, no harm can befall either player unless it is within the rules of the game. Even if you were to rip open my chest, the rules of this region would simply revert me to normal within moments.”

In other words, these aren’t our real bodies. The Hermit deduced, clenching his fists harder. We are just consciousness projections within this space. Otherwise, no amount of restrictions would be able to undo the death of a Master.

Realizing this, the Hermit indeed sat down across from Blank. If the other party was telling the truth, he needed to win quickly, because his true body might be lying unconscious somewhere in the outer world. “How do we play, then?” As the Master of Fate, the Hermit was used to thinking about future tactics and complex situations, making him rather adept at most types of contests involving skillful planning.

Blank simply smiled at the Hermit’s cooperation. “It is quite simple. The Final Game acts as the field of play. Now that we are in it, A player can call out any game that exists within my inner world, and the Final Game will manifest the rules of this game around us. Theoretically, you would be able to call out the games yourself, but you would need to be aware of my particular naming scheme and the games involved. I find this highly unlikely.”

The Hermit couldn’t help but grit his teeth, staring intently at Blank. “How do I know you won’t just pick a game that I have no hope of winning? For instance, something like a popularity contest, where the winner is the one more famous in your realm?”

Blank shook his head, sighing. “That would be too uncivilized. All of my games are fair, I assure you. Besides, the concept of a game is one in which both participants are capable of winning through their own merit, as opposed to such a competition decided purely by those outside of the game.”

“Furthermore, because these restrictions apply equally to myself, I am just another player in this space. Anything that I can do in the game is also available to you. If there is some exploit that I could perform, then you could perform it just as easily.” He assured, though the Hermit did not entirely trust this man. Even if he said that, there could be ways for him to cheat and instantly win the game. If he did that, the Hermit would have no chance to exploit the rule for himself.

Still, he was in a hurry, so he could only relent. “How do we win?” He clarified his question, and Blank nodded his head.

“Now you are getting to the core of the matter. In a normal game, winning or losing would not cause significant damage to either party. However, in the Final Game, to lose means instant death. Your essence will be erased by the very laws of this world.”

“Or yours, if I win.” The Hermit stated, and Blank nodded his head in agreement.

“Of course. I have created numerous backups of myself, though they lack my Origin power. Should I die, the next iteration of me will come online. He will not have my most recent memories, but he will be able to fill the gap that I leave behind.” Blank had a peaceful smile on his face, as if he were not talking about his life and death.

The Hermit froze, his eyes widening. “How do I know that I am up against the real Origin of Games, then, and not one of your backups?” That would be the worst case scenario for the Hermit, as it would mean that there was no way for him to truly win. Even if he defeated this Blank, another would immediately come in to take his place.

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“Quite simply, you don’t.” Blank answered, shaking his head. “I have no tangible way to prove this to you, other than my own assurance. Now, I believe you would like to expedite this whole process, correct?” He asked, his hands on the table as he looked up.

“Load game: X-3.” He said, and the world around them flashed with rows of glowing binary. Moments later, the two of them were sat upon a castle tower, Blank standing and walking to the ledge. “This is one of many war games that I created within my inner universe. The goal of the game is quite simple, to lead your army to defeat the opposing force.”

“In order to facilitate this game’s operation, both parties are granted heightened mental capabilities, represented by a bottomless reserve of mana that can be used for communicating with various troops and commanders. However, this mana will only be available as long as you remain within your home base. If you use the command ‘recruitment window’, you can open a window in which you can buy troops and facilities with a starting budget.”

“You will be able to recruit more troops as time passes, by either capturing resource nodes, neighboring territories, or defeating enemy soldiers.” Blank explained, a hand on his chin. “I think that is all that there is for me to explain here. With the tutorial out of the way, the two of us will be sent to our individual castles.”

As soon as Blank finished speaking, a pale blue light wrapped around the two of them, and the Hermit found himself sitting on the throne of an empty castle. He couldn’t help but slam his fist down on the arm of the chair in frustration. Blank knew that he was in a hurry, that his physical body was his current weakness, so he intentionally selected a game that could take days, maybe even weeks to reach a full conclusion.

If I want to end this quickly, I need to take advantage of the game’s system to select powerful units from the beginning, locate the enemy castle and win in the shortest possible time. He thought to himself. Perhaps Blank had hidden a secret unit within the recruitment window, one that appeared weak at first glance but held remarkable power.

“Recruitment window.” The Hermit called out, and a floating display appeared in front of him. With this information, the Hermit could confirm that the setting for this game was an extremely low-tech world, one which relied entirely on only the most primitive weapons. Admittedly, there did appear to be a form of magic, but the magic troops were rather expensive. He would only be able to buy five normal mages with his entire starting budget, whereas he could buy an entire legion of trained knights.

As for the facilities, most of them simply increased the power of various troop types, or reduced their costs. For example, buying a barracks could reduce the cost for knights, and a training yard could increase their combat power.

I need scouts first. Let’s buy… two teams of scouts, and a single Griffon Rider. That leaves me enough points for a barracks and two hundred knights.

This wasn’t much for an army, but it was the best use of his points that he could make. Unfortunately, the price of the barracks wouldn’t help much in the early game, and it was simply an investment in case he couldn’t win quickly. If he managed to find Blank’s castle, he was sure that Blank would be playing for the long game, and would invest almost entirely in facilities. Thus, even just two hundred knights would be enough to claim victory.

With that in mind, the Hermit closed his eyes, feeling a mental connection with the troops that he had summoned. Like Blank said, he could direct them however he wanted, and even take complete control of a particular unit if he desired. This must be one of the easter eggs of this game, the ability to manually pilot a troop…

He had been concerned that there was some way for Blank himself to take the field, using his knowledge of the game and his personal prowess to secure an unfair advantage for himself. However, doing so with his real body would be suicidal, so he would need something like this in order to keep himself safe.

As he was thinking about this, he issued a command to the two scout parties, ordering them to set out to scout the surrounding areas. In the worst case, this could be a map that Blank is familiar with. If that’s the case, he could know my exact location, and the location of any important resource. No matter what, I should assume that I am playing with an unfair disadvantage.

Over on Blank’s side, he was calmly sitting in his throne room, looking at the five troops that had been summoned in front of him. These were five basic mages, costing the entirety of his starting funds. Now, that was not to say that these mages naturally held an overwhelming power, or that they were an unfair unit hidden in the game. Rather, they were generally not worth the points spent to buy them.

That is, unless one had the power to fully utilize their abilities. “Let’s see…” Blank said with a smile, closing his eyes and focusing. In this particular game, the players did not have any personal combat power. Even having a full understanding of his world’s magic system, he couldn’t cast even the most basic spells. However… with the endless reserve of mana, and this knowledge, all it would take is another mage for him to channel his power through.

As he began to possess the five mages, their eyes glazed over, and they moved to form a circle in front of Blank, facing inwards. The five mages held their staffs high, rows of binary spreading out and forming a circle around them. This binary began to glow, brighter and brighter, until it formed a pillar of light that stretched up and into the sky, shattering the castle ceiling.

Just after the Hermit sent out his scouts, he sat on his throne, watching through the eyes of the scouts and the griffon rider. He was looking for any clues that could be useful. Anything that would allow him to gain a competitive edge over his opponent.

That was when he saw a pillar of light stretching into the sky in the distance, making his eyes widen. Given the timing, Blank would not have had the chance to send his troops out very far. Either there was a resource hidden within the castle itself that released such an ominous beacon, or Blank was doing something decidedly unfair.

As he thought about this, the sky darkened, and clouds began to swirl over the Hermit’s castle. Moments later, the vortex of clouds parted, revealing a portal that led into the depths of space, directly in the path of an asteroid…

He discovered my position instantly… and has the power to call meteors? The Hermit asked, his pupils shrinking as he watched the asteroid passing through the portal. With his body’s current physical ability, there was no chance that he would be able to get out of the castle before that meteor struck. With all of his might, he tried to channel the mana given to him by this game into breaking the restrictions imposed, hoping to free himself before it was too late. This was the final loophole that he could potentially exploit.

However, the more he relied on this mana, the more distant his powers felt, causing him to hang his head in defeat. “That’s just not fair…” He muttered, the ceiling of his castle crashing down atop him as the meteorite landed within his castle walls.