{New Quest: The New Age
As a reincarnation of Beast V, you will have benefits by allying with your brothers to conquer the world. Riches, women, and authority, everything will belong to you.
Time Limit: No time limit.
Goals:
- Meet seven Beasts (1/7)
- Establish an alliance with Beast VII (1/1)
- Conquer the Gaia World (0/1)
Rewards: Spatial Movement Skill. Divine weapon. Option to travel to another world to conquer it. Secret Special Reward}
I saw the screen of the fake system System Goddess made and resisted the urge to smile wryly.
Beast VII is quite cunning, she didn't present herself as the entity that gave me the system but instead made it seem like the system wants me to ally with the Beasts and that Beast VII is a reliable ally since we belong to the same group.
The artifact Koyanskaya showed me wasn't really a communication artifact but a recording Beast VII left behind to trigger another upgrade to my system to improve her control over me.
The endless amount of self-adulation aside, Beast VII explained to me that we are members of a very powerful group, we have the power to conquer worlds and take anything we want.
She made up a tragic story where we were supposed to be friends, but I was killed and reincarnated in this world so she was happy to see me again.
The skill [Body of Beast V] is designed to make me susceptible to Beast VII's words and if it weren't for [Reader's Madness], my heart would begin to develop a mixture of familial fondness and romantic love towards her.
The Beast Project are disposable weapons so Beast I, II, III, IV, V, and VI are disposable creatures created by Beast VII to sacrifice.
Among the 6 Beasts, I am a slightly more valuable tool than the other Beasts.
This is because each Beast is a weapon designed specifically for a World, the Beasts in Gaia are not useful in other worlds as they are designed to take advantage of the Laws of this World so they will be weak if they are taken to another World.
To give an example, the Beasts are sharks, Gaia is the sea and other Worlds are deserts. Sharks are predators in their territory, but they will be carcasses in the desert.
That's why I'm the most useful tool, I can use my Beast V skills in other Worlds since I'm a system user.
To finish the explanation, each Beast is the personification of the evils of humanity, something like the deadly sins, but in a more existential and spiritual sense.
For example, my Beast V ability is based on humanity's oldest feeling, fear.
Fear of natural disasters that cause the environment to change and thus climate change begins.
Fear of death leads to the search for new medicines through inhumane experiments.
Fear of the unknown which causes intolerance and violence against everything that is different.
Fear of pain leads to suicide.
Fear of chaos causes a state of authoritarianism.
Fear of lack of freedom causes anarchy.
My Beast Authority allows me to strike fear into living beings and modify reality based on the primal fears of humans.
I can make the fear of change become the stagnation of a civilization or the opposite, make the fear of lack of innovation cause the excessive evolution that culminates in human extinction.
To use that ability I have to activate my Authority of Beast V and that has several conditions to fully use it which takes a long time and will draw Alaya's attention so this ability should be used after setting up a Lostbelt or something.
Actually, I can do that with my Outer God skills so this skill is a waste of time, [Reader's Madness] can take much better advantage of fears and human pravation to cause an apocalypse.
Analyzing a bit more the Authority of a Beast, it can be said that the Beasts are cheap copies of the chaotic power of the Outer Gods, they are even inferior to the Ancient Ones.
If my power relied solely on Beast V's authority then my power alone could never surpass an Ancient One, but by combining my system user abilities, one day I might be as strong as an unfit Outer God for combat like Abby.
Unlike the other Beasts who are disposable tools, it seems that Beast VII set things up to make me a puppet at the level of an Outer God.
Anyway, none of that matters since Beast VII's preparations don't affect me anymore.
I pretended to believe the bullshit about being Beast V and System Goddess made it look like I accepted the mission to ally myself with Beast VII.
Koyanskaya tucked the artifact between her breasts when the message ended.
She doesn't have a space warehouse between her breasts, she just does that to get my attention and thus win my favor since from my attitude it's obvious that I'm an idiot who easily gets carried away by lust.
The way Koyanskaya looks at me changed when Beast VII mentioned that I'm Beast V and that I'm technically the second strongest Beast.
At first, Koyanskaya looked at me with respect while inwardly feeling extremely jealous, but now there is genuine admiration mixed with an intense desire to get closer to me.
It seems that she feels sexual lust towards me, but in reality, she seeks an opportunity to be by my side and thus get a method to become a Beast.
She maybe seeks to seduce me and thus convince me to kill another Beast to give her that Authority or something similar.
There are cruel and utilitarian-minded women in my harem so this doesn't bother me, System Goddess is a clear example of a cockroach that runs away at the slightest sign of danger.
In a dangerous situation, she won't stab me in the back, but she will run away without looking back. Although it may sound like she's a terrible wife for being able to abandon me to protect her own life, I sincerely appreciate that side of her.
Koyanskaya smiled at me and bowed again, but this time her gesture was seductive rather than respectful. – "Lord V, the preparations to form the Lostbelt based on feudal China are ready, but if you have any suggestions we would love to hear them"
In the message from Beast VII, there was an explanation of the Lostbelt and although most of the information was a lie, I heard some interesting things.
This Lostbelt is based on Emperor Qin Shi Huang's rule.
The mistake in the story is that Qin Shi Huang did not die from mercury poisoning and instead achieved immortality which allowed him to strengthen China to the point where the nation ruled the entire world with tyranny, additionally Qin Shi Huang's authoritarianism made society trapped in the feudal era despite the high level of technological development.
The energy and resources have been gathered, now they just need to use the Yao Family Authority to connect this reality with Gaia, then they need to steal Qin Shi Huang's soul from the Throne of Heroes to start the rewrite of history.
"Hey Listen! Become the emperor and impregnate all the jade beauties!"
This place is destined to perish so it would be a waste of time, moreover, the people in this Lostbelt are illusory recreations, only the Servants are real entities.
"Although this is a bit interesting, it's too flashy" - I yawned with boredom. – "Even if the Lostbelt cannot be detected by the Will of the World, the supernatural organizations will be able to detect this place before they finish building it and if I am not mistaken, you need a couple of weeks to configure the alternative timeline"
Koyanskaya showed admiration for how easily I figured out how the Lostbelt works, even though she's just acting.
"You don't need to worry" – Koyanskaya smiled respectfully. – "The Lostbelts cause errors in reality so the groups that protect humanity will be busy fixing the singularities in history, while they waste time we can finish the Lostbelts"
I see, although that will give the enemies the opportunity to gain experience and become stronger which will ultimately be counterproductive...
Beast VII designed this as a game where the heroes will win so it's no wonder this method is worthy of a children's show villain.
"How many Lostbelts will form?" – I showed slight curiosity, but mainly boredom
"The plan is to make seven Lostbelts of which we will prepare two, Russia and China… Scandinavia is in charge of Odin, India is managed by Shiva, and the Olympic gods have not yet confirmed where they will form it while we still do not know where the sixth will be and seventh Lostbelt" – Koyanskaya did not keep the information, she really wants to win my favor.
I see, Zeus is not the only traitor… This will be a headache.
"Do you know where the other Beasts are?" – I asked the last question that interests me.
"I'm sorry, I don't know" – Koyanskaya sighed, disappointed in herself. – "We have only heard that Lord IV was captured by a powerful sorcerer whose identity we have not discovered"
A sorcerer who was able to capture a Beast... That doesn't make sense, something else must have happened.
I'll have to investigate on my own.
I sighed in boredom. – "This all sounds too annoying, I don't want to get involved in this stupidity of the Lostbelt"
Koyanskaya had a regretful expression as if she wanted to spend more time with me, her acting abilities are so perfect that without [Reader's Madness] it would be hard for me to see all her lies.
As I saw Beast VII's message, Douman, Yu Mei-ren, and the masked Servant had approached us and were now kneeling behind Koyanskaya.
Douman has no hard feelings against me even though part of his body is charred, his almost religious devotion to the Beasts is real.
Yu Mei-ren lowered her eyes to not show her disgust, she hates Beast VII for having enslaved her and by extension she also hates me.
The prince Servant is indifferent, he only follows Yu Mei-ren's orders out of his own sense of loyalty.
By the way, the bodyguards were killed by the Servant with ease since within Gaia the Servants have multiple power bonuses.
Servants are born from historical figures who grow stronger based on the records of their achievements and legends, but some historical figures are not really strong in combat and stand out through intellect or luck.
Despite this, Servants are Alaya's best weapon as they can subdue much stronger enemies due to the power of the Laws of the World.
If I have to make a comparison, Servants are fighters who are blind and invaders are fighters who can see.
Technically the Servants are at a disadvantage, but the Laws make the World a dark room so the fighter who can see will be at a disadvantage while the blind one already has experience fighting in the dark.
Additionally, the real body is in the Throne of Heroes and the Servant is practically a clone that shares a mind with the real body, so the skills to destroy souls cannot exterminate the existence of a Servant and the soul can only be slightly damaged, but that damage is repairable.
Maybe I can find a way to steal the Servants from the Throne of Heroes in the same way that Beast VII stole some Servants since Douman and Koyanskaya aren't just clones, they're in their real bodies, but I will only do that if I see a worthwhile Servant, especially if it is a mature woman...
Anyway, the heir to the Yao family is severely injured as the Servant holds his leg like a garbage bag.
The only reason the idiot is still alive is that Douman will perform a ritual to extract the Authority from his soul.
"To begin with... You're not fit to work" - I looked ironically at Douman.
"It was my mistake for being reckless" – Douman did not have the slightest trace of resentment.
If I weren't Beast V, he would start planning revenge, but it seems that Beast VII turned him into a religious fanatic and he didn't have any revenge plans against me.
"It's good that you see your mistakes" - I smiled like a smug idiot, then I made the black blood copy the properties of mercury and used it to form an alchemy circle.
I want to keep my Outer God identity a secret so I pretended to use a mercury manipulation spell.
I pretended to open my system inventory and took out a lump of human flesh, then used [Human Transmutation] to heal Douman's wounds.
"Thank you my Lord!" – Douman bowed deeply after his body was fully repaired.
I smiled as if the subservience and flattery boosted my ego, then looked at the idiot from the Yao family whose name I had already forgotten. – "If this idiot dies it will be a headache… Ah, whatever, lend me that idiot for a moment"
Yu Mei-ren reluctantly nodded towards the Servant so the prince handed the idiot Yao family over to me.
I grabbed the idiot's neck and my hand stabbed into his chest.
Administrators usually belong to prestigious families or important groups.
The Authority of an Administrator is linked to the soul. In the event of the Administrator's death, the Authority will be transferred to another family member or a designated heir.
Before traveling to China I returned my Authority to Mr. Ichijo, if by any chance he dies, his authority will be transferred to me, if I die only Raku will remain, and if Raku dies then the Authority will return to Alaya.
That is why great families usually have many heirs, so as not to lose their Authority.
That said, it is surprising that Beast VII managed to extract the Authority of the soul without alerting Alaya, she is certainly a smart woman and I would like to collaborate with her as it would be a shame to kill her.
Even with my soul devouring skills and my various experiments manipulating souls, I can't extract an Administrator Authority without alerting Alaya, but I can extract a soul without causing the person's death.
When my hand left the idiot's chest, there was a small sphere that I threw at Douman. – "Here you go, do your job and don't cause me too many problems"
Douman received the soul and seemed excited to see how easily I was able to extract a human soul, especially since my method allows for resurrection without interfering with the reincarnation cycle.
To increase the admiration and fear of Beast VII slaves, I dropped the idiot's corpse, then a strange worm appeared in my hand.
The worm jumped to the ground and turned into a hideous green creature covered in human faces.
The creature opened its huge mouth and devoured the corpse, then its body began to twist strangely. The creature turned into a mass of human flesh until it took on the same appearance as the idiot from the Yao family, even its soul frequency was the same.
Envy was now the idiot of the Yao family.
"Amazing" – Douman smiled admiringly.
Although artificial life forms, clones, and homunculi exist in this world, it is almost impossible to make a perfect replica of another person due to the different frequencies of the soul.
I smiled narcissistically at the surprised expressions of the slaves.
Although it's a waste of time to fool these pawns, I'm sure Beast VII can use Douman's eyes as a spy camera or something similar so I must give the appearance of an arrogant and stupid system user.
"Then I'm leaving, I don't want to get involved in this stupidity" – I yawned boredly and walked towards Tang Wan who was still asleep while the [Anti-Rasen] kept protecting her, there wasn't even any dust on her clothes.
"One moment Lord V" - Douman rushed to speak to me. – "I do not understand why Lord V wants to live in human society, but I would like to create a means of contact in case Lord V needs something from us"
While it is true that Douman wants to meet my expectations in case I need something, he also hopes to establish a connection between us to ask me for help in case something goes wrong.
This man is also cunning.
Douman noticed my lack of interest in talking to him plus my gaze was only focused on the two women so he understood my lustful nature so he had an idea.
"Lord V, I would be honored if you would allow one of these women to remain by your side to fulfill any request you may have" – Douman bowed as he pointed to Koyanskaya and Yu Mei-ren.
I put my hand to my chin as if thinking about Douman's words, then smiled at the thought and nodded.
Koyanskaya was about to volunteer to accompany me, but my attention was drawn to the biologically immortal woman.
"She tried to give me a nice warning when you guys showed up which I thought was funny so she'll be the one accompanying me" - I smiled smugly.
Although Koyanskaya could be useful to me, she has a similar mentality to me so it will be troublesome to have her by my side.
Yu Mei-ren dislikes me and she really doesn't want to accompany me, but there are several things she will be useful for.
For starters, she belongs to Chaldea, a supernatural organization tasked with protecting humanity from foreign threats and reality glitches.
This organization is not directly related to Alaya as it was founded on the belief that the Will of the World is not totally trustworthy so humans must protect the world.
Although Chaldea is primarily backed by a European wizard family, that organization has the recognition of most supernatural organizations and they have no conflicts with other organizations.
Each country and organization recognized that Chaldea existed for the well-being of humanity, so they gave it territory in Antarctica so that it would not be drawn into conflicts of interest.
Nobody really cares about Chaldea since most of the supernatural organizations think that Chaldea is the playground of some eccentric millionaire and nobody has seen the true potential of that group since they always act discreetly, but if it comes knowing that Chaldea is able to extract the treasures of Alaya then everyone will want to control that place.
Another aspect is that Chaldea has an agreement with Alaya and that is why they can access a large part of the Servant catalog, but that is something that only Chaldea's high command knows.
I couldn't extract all the information in Yu Mei-ren's records since Chaldea seems to be heavily protected by barriers that negate investigation abilities, but that group is a key piece in Beast VII's plans so I need to investigate that place.
Yu Mei-ren is a member of that organization and they still don't know that she is being controlled by Beast VII so she can help me get information.
Lastly and most importantly, I want Yu Mei-ren to accompany me as I find her to be an interesting woman.
Maybe I have a soft spot for tragic women even if most of them are a headache...
"In that case, allow me to introduce her" - Douman had no interest in the woman's wishes and gestured for her to come closer. – "She is Yu Mei-ren, a vampiric elemental that has existed since the Age of Gods, she currently uses the name of Hinako Akuta"
It feels like I'm adopting a puppy from a pet store...
Douman produced a scroll from his sleeve and handed it to me respectfully. – "This is a magical contract with which you will have complete control of this woman"
Yu Mei-ren tried hard not to show her anxiety at the sight of the scroll, even her Servant looked angry as if he wanted to destroy the contract.
Douman is a powerful sorcerer and although this contract is inferior to the Existential Contracts used by Higher Entities, it is a decent item.
I accepted the contract and then looked at the woman with a nasty smile. – "To begin with I don't like having men around so leave that Servant"
The Servant tightened his grip on his sword, but Yu Mei-ren stopped him from attacking me.
"I understand... master..." - Yu Mei-ren spoke through clenched teeth to contain the mixture of desperate crying and screams of fury.
Yu Mei-ren raised her hand where she had a strange red magical symbol.
Those are command spells, they are similar to magic batteries as well as a spiritual contract with which the Master can give commands to the Servant even against the latter's will.
"That's not necessary" – Douman held the woman's arm before she used the command spell.
Douman's smile turned sadistic as black energy covered his hand and clung to the woman's skin.
Yu Mei-ren showed extreme pain which made the Servant about to attack Douman, but the man had an ecstatic expression. – "If you dare to take another step I am going to make this woman scream in pain, now be a good boy and stay still"
"Are you going to let that emo buffoon hurt your waifu?" – Nyaruko asked curiously.
"She is not my wife yet and the fact that she suffers at this time will help me later" - I sighed internally.
"Hey Listen! A Harem King knows that the greater good is a difficult path but it is the most important!" – Navi shouted with joy.
If I didn't think of adding that woman to my harem then Navi would be the first to yell nonsense, but since this is a long-term plan to gain Yu Mei-ren's affections then the idiot won't make a sound.
It doesn't surprise me that Douman can extract command seals considering he is capable of stealing an Administrator Authority.
In addition to taking command spells, he also took control of the masked Servant, but he doesn't seem interested in becoming a Master so he saved the spells to later transplant them into a human puppet.
Douman produced another scroll and handed it to me. – "Since it will be suspicious if this woman loses her qualifications as a Master, this is all the information related to becoming a Master, so you can use her to summon another Servant"
According to [Reader's Perspective], Alaya put restrictions so that only humans native to Gaia can summon Servants so Douman doesn't think I can become a Master.
Although Yu Mei-ren is not human, there are always exceptions and some non-human entities are capable of summoning Servants under certain conditions, for example, people who are not gods and were born during the Age of Gods.
I put the scroll away, carried Tang Wan who was still asleep as a princess, and then motioned for Yu Mei-ren and Envy to follow me out of the Lostbelt.
"I wanted to do some more research on this place…" – Abby was sad that we were leaving.
The Lostbelt is designed so that other entities cannot enter it by accident unless they know the specific entrances and exits. The space barriers are such a strange labyrinth that in my group only Abby could move freely in and out of the Lostbelt, which was a lot of fun for the little girl since for her this place was like playing with a Rubik's cube.
"Don't worry, we'll be back soon" - I replied with a consoling voice.
"Will we really come back?!" - Abby was happy.
"We will come back?" – Nyaruko was confused, she is intelligent but she doesn't like to think about things that are not related to anime and such stupid things.
"Idiot otaku, it's obvious that senpai is coming back" – BB sighed in an exaggerated way. – "Senpai made his identity as a system user exposed so that it becomes known that the Harem King is the reincarnation of Ortro, so Luis and Seiji will have more freedom to act"
"Very smart" - I smiled internally. – "But you forgot another identity, the plague doctor"
"Oh right" – BB had a big smile as her eyes turned red. – "Heh, it will be so much fun if senpai puts on a show where hero Luis and hero Seiji join forces to fight the Harem King~ It won't matter who wins, in the end, senpai will keep the profits"
"So we are going to destroy the Lostbelt?" - Abby sounded sad.
"Yes, but we will only do it after making the most profit" – We are back to modern China. – "Don't worry, you will have enough time to analyze the spatial structure of the Lostbelt"
"Yay!" – Abby jumped with happiness.
"Hey Listen! Don't forget the waifus!"
"I know" - Internally I rolled my eyes. – "Although I do not remember many female historical figures of China in the feudal era, I only remember Wu Zetian, Wang Zhaojun, Diao Chan, Yang Guifei…"
"Does senpai like Warring States stories?" - BB looked at me strangely.
"No, but reading used to be my biggest hobby and I read a lot of history books" – I sighed internally.
I miss reading in quiet peace… Though the idea of walking away from these noisy women makes me uncomfortable… Well, you can't have everything in life.
"Don't worry senpai" - BB smiled. – "Remember the first law of anime, everything is a waifu until proven otherwise~"
That sounds stupid.
"Daoloth's nonsense about fiction aside, she's right about one thing" – Abby smiled gently. – "The first time I visited this world I saw many secret historical records and apparently King Arthur was a woman, even her son Mordred was also a woman so it is possible that other male historical figures are actually women, but in the historical records their genders were changed for cultural and political reasons"
... So how did Arthur and Morgan have Mordred?
[System Notification: 'Paranoia' skill says you don't want to know]
The multiverse is stupid.
"Hey Listen! Summon that transvestite king and show her your Excalibur!"
....
I need vacations.