Mistakes
The menu pixelated and slowly disappeared; in its place is a single notification.
「Generating World History」
Freed from the menu screen blocking, Eduard looked at the tree that was once teeming with blots of red; now, only a brown stroke of ink remained at the centre of the snow-white canvas. Not knowing how long the world populating system will take, Eduard decided to get comfortable. He approached the now sleeping tree and relaxed his back against it.
Eduard decided to check his phone messages whilst waiting underneath the lonely tree. However, before he could open the Deep-VR Phone link, the sight in front of him changed.
Eduard could see the snow-white field move as if being drained. Few streaks of tall grass could be seen hiding underneath the white duvet. A few seconds later, a field of green grass has already recovered much of the landmass on the island. Flowers of all kinds of variety started to sprout. Red, yellow, purple and weird alien-looking colourful flowers turned the landscape into a vibrant painting. Yet not everything agreed with the new colour scheme, the snow returned once more. Tiny snowflakes fell from the sky to reclaim the green field that was once theirs.
Surprised by the quick transition of seasons, Eduard looked up to see if his favourite tree had returned to its former colour. On its many branches, flowers pinked with a little powder, the powder with a bit of light pink, so gentle, so delicate, like an adoring face of just born baby. Soon, the signature red petals bloomed once more; returning the painting to when Eduard first stepped on the floating island. The tri-colour of white, red and brown dominated once more.
Soon the gentle wind arrived, it carried these adventurous little red petals on far-flung journeys across the world. The mother tree stood there silently as ever, wishing the best for her little ones. However, some chose to remain; they glided down slowly to give Eduard their affections. Yet soon after, after touching Eduard, they started to pixelate and disappeared.
Once more, the cycle repeated anew. This time Eduard could only see that it was spreading up even more. Seasons changed within seconds. The tree bloomed and wilted.
Soon, only flashes of light could be seen. Green, vibrant colours and white could be seen constantly fighting for the ground. Looking up, steaks of red could be flashing about. Turning around, Eduard could see the tree constantly growing, being taller and bigger by the seconds.
After absorbing this unique sight, Eduard decided to return to what he wanted to do. However, the game notifications that he ignored, started to pop up.
「Fallen Empire #1 created」
「Cannibal Tribe #23 detroyed」
「Cannibal Tribe #27 detroyed」
「Cannibal Tribe #28 detroyed」
「Cannibal Tribe #30 detroyed」
「Cannibal Tribe #45 detroyed」
「Cannibal Tribe #47 detroyed」
「Cannibal Tribe #44 detroyed」
「Cannibal Tribe #41 detroyed」
…
「Fallen Empire #1 destroyed」
「Cannibal Tribes repopulated」
「Fallen Empire repopulated」
「Cannibal Tribes destroyed」
「Cannibal Tribes repopulated」
「Cannibal Tribes destroyed」
「Cannibal Tribes repopulated」
「Fallen Empire destroyed」
「Cannibal Tribes destroyed」
…
「Cannibal Tribes repopulated」
「Arcanum destroyed」
「Large Sect destroyed」
「Cannibal Tribes destroyed」
「Arcanum repopulated」
「Large Sect repopulated」
「Outer Rim is collapsing」
「Restoration protocol activated」
「Remaining hospitable space: 25%」
「Cannibal Tribes destroyed」
「Nudist Tribes destroyed」
「Remaining hospitable space: 8%」
「Arcanum destroyed」
「Large Sect destroyed」
「Holy Empire destroyed」
「Trade Federation destroyed」
…
「Remaining hospitable space: 3%」
「Remaining creatures: 0.001%」
「Repopulation Mode: Overdrive」
「Restoration protocol: Disable Repopulation Program」
「Restoration protocol: Enable Stabilising Program」
「Stabilising Mode: Cleanse」
「Cleanse: 1%」
Eduard tried to open his menu. However, the only thing he saw was a stream of notifications reminding him of his mistakes. From his position underneath the tree, Eduard looked up. A burning red sky stared down at the corroded ground below. As if signalling the apocalypse, radiated ash, chaotic ki and residual magic filled the air. Like the horsemen of the apocalypse, they consumed and destroyed whatever they came across.
***
Looking at the unstoppable tide in the Western horizon, Eduard frowned. It was quickly finishing up the surrounding areas. Whilst the surrounding mountain ranges could keep it at bay for a while. However, eventually, his floating island would be next, with it the lovely tree that he had been using as a backrest.
Luckily for him, time started to return to its normal flow. Although time had been slowing down since the activation of the Restoration Protocol, Eduard had only noticed it now. Without delaying any further, Eduard got up and looked at his backrest.
What was once a 12 metres tall tree had turned into a colossal tree. Eduard wanted to eyeball the height but the shy giant hiding behind the clouds made it difficult. His original sitting position had also changed; the tree had been moving him outwards with such gentleness that he didn't even notice it. That gave him another reason to try and save the tree.
Touching the giant tree trunk with his hands, Eduard anchored his leg on the ground. He closed his eyes and focus his mind. And with that, streaks of grey lights started to radiate from his back.
The lights converged toward the top right of Eduard's back, forming a circular tattoo the size of an adult palm. Soon from the centre of the circle, two lines escaped toward opposite cardinal directions, North and South. Before the Northern line reached Eduard's shoulder, both lines stopped. From the tip of each line, another line diverged towards the East of Eduard's back. They curved towards each other to form a half-circle.
As more of his energy rushed towards the mostly finished sigil, runes and hieroglyphs emerged from the original circle. They were sent flying toward the newly formed half-circle. Each interacted with the others in a very strange way. Some stacked on top. Some merged. Some squeezed themselves in any available space.
The sigil was finally filled up. The whole process only took two and a half seconds. Though many people would find it fast, to Eduard who had been practising for 8 years, he was but a novice.
Ignoring those thoughts, Eduard channelled the newly accumulated energy from his sigil. Grey lights of energy seeped out from the sigil rushing toward his hands. As the lights touched the colossal tree trunk, they sucked the air and dirt around it to form a membrane.
The membrane of ice and dirt spread out like a tumour trying to devour the whole tree. However, the tree was too big. Hence, Eduard focused all his effort on major roots and branches; hoping, that was enough for it to survive.
Be it luck or divine intervention, Eduard could see the Cleanse Program on Northern the horizon albeit a lot further away. A giant translucent square barrier of light swept across the land, calming the rampant energy and fire of destruction that sought to consume the world.
However, Eduard knew he must protect the tree and buy enough time for the Cleanse Program to arrive. Focused his mind on the sigil's energy, he felt that half of the tree's important parts were protected.
Chunghee was right; the counters are stabilising.
「Cleanse: 5%」
「Remaining hospitable space: 5.96%」
He opened up the in-game overlay and quickly sent Chunghee an invite. However, after returning to the game menu, Eduard couldn't figure out how to pause the game. Before he could relay the bad news to Chunghee, a notification appeared in front of him.
「Galvanised by the strength of your determination, The Game Master offers you a
「