Utopian System

Elio, uncomfortable but direct as the new leader, held the gaze of the being who claimed to be God.

"I killed him."

The silence stretched like a rope tensing to its limit.

God's expression remained unchanged for what seemed like an eternity, until finally he tilted his head and his lips moved.

"You kill... You killed him?"

The entire group instantly went on guard.

Elio, grateful to have recovered his leg in time, adopted a defensive stance. The tension in the air was so dense it could almost be cut.

But then...

"OK!"

God's cheerful voice, exactly the same enthusiastic tone with which he had congratulated them, broke the tension like a soap bubble.

The group exchanged confused looks.

OK?

Was that the reaction of a god to the news of the death of someone he apparently knew?

Before they could process this strange response, God had already moved on to another topic, as if Fathoran's death was an unimportant detail.

He addressed Elio directly, his tired eyes suddenly curious.

With a casual gesture of his hand, something impossible happened: Elio's book began to float, moving away from its owner and toward God's extended hands.

Gasps of surprise filled the chamber.

It was basic knowledge, something everyone learned from childhood: only the user could touch their own book.

It was an immutable rule of the system, as fundamental as breathing.

Mei stifled an exclamation. Kriz, for the first time, seemed to have been left speechless. Brok and Lila exchanged looks of amazement. The doubt they had about this disheveled man's identity began to dissipate.

Who else could break the system's fundamental rules? Only the system's creator.

God began to leaf through the book with the casualness of someone reviewing an old newspaper, muttering to himself.

Suddenly, his eyes opened in surprise.

"You're level 7?" The incredulity in his voice was palpable. He stopped, as if something else had caught his attention. "Wait, how can you be the leader then?"

His eyes scanned the group, studying them with new intensity. "Are you ALL level 7 or less? But... how did you get here?"

The confusion on his face deepened. "Wait, what year is it...?" When Micah murmured "101," God's reaction was explosive.

"101?! HOW?!" His voice resonated in the chamber, mixing amazement and something that sounded suspiciously like admiration. "I thought it would take you at least 200 years! Wow!"

He turned to Elio, his face animating more than they had seen until now.

"No wonder Fath was no match! You must be the craziest and most blessed guy in creation!"

The scene was surreal: a being who claimed to be God, looking like he hadn't slept in centuries, acting like an excited child discovering something surprising. The contrast between his haggard appearance and his childish enthusiasm was disconcerting.

"How did you do it?" he continued, flipping through the book with renewed interest. "How did you organize everything? I thought I'd wait another 2 centuries to reach this point!"

The challengers looked at each other, unsure how to process this strange situation. The all-powerful being they had imagined, the creator of their world and system, acted more like an eccentric researcher than a supreme deity.

"How did you get here?" God mumbled, pacing back and forth, his unkempt beard moving with each erratic gesture. "It should be impossible to arrive flying with your miserable level..."

His eyes lit up for a moment. "The camouflage!" but immediately shook his head. "No, no, impossible, they shouldn't be able to walk while maintaining it..."

The group watched in silence while God continued his frenzied monologue.

"Eliminating Locus while advancing? No, impossible with that rate of fire..." He paused a moment, noticing something else in the book.

"Wow, you have very expensive summons, how the hell did you get so much...? But first, how did you get...?"

Suddenly, his face lit up with what seemed to be a revelation. "I KNOW! Relays with the books in hand!" His expression changed to one of fascinated horror. "Hell, how many people did you sacrifice then just to get here? Is that it?" He looked at the group with both admiration and pity. "Damn, you won't be able to return home after such an enormous achievement, poor kids..."

Elio, observing this display of seemingly senseless ramblings, decided to intervene. "Excuse me... are you sure you don't want to know why I had to kill Fathoran?"

God looked at him as if he had just remembered his presence.

"Huh? Oh, no, I don't care. You surely had your reasons. Time tends to change people, usually for the worse." He waved his hand dismissing the topic before returning to his main obsession. "BUT more importantly, HOW DID YOU GET...?"

He interrupted himself, his eyes opening with new understanding. "Wait... How did you win this challenge at level 7? You shouldn't have the demons' elemental magic, only chemical magic..."

A smile began to form on his tired face. "OH! It's the wind mountain! I see! Common fire tricked the system! Hahahaha, what foolishness, you got it wrong and wanted to act smart with me little girl!"

His laughter resonated in the chamber, a sound that mixed genuine amusement with something close to madness. "Lucky you didn't get to the earth or water chamber first! Though I suppose the fire mountain could also let you bypass if you threw water at it..."

He stopped, shaking his head. "Wait, I'm getting sidetracked. Tell me then how you got here..."

Elio, completely bewildered by this strange monologue, decided to simply answer the question. With patience, he began to explain about the tunnel, the cores, the construction...

"There's a sea of... CORES?!" God's interruption was explosive, his laughter louder than ever. "Hahahaha, how stupid! OF COURSE there's a sea of CORES! Hahahaha!"

He doubled over with laughter, tears forming in his tired eyes. "One hundred years! One hundred years killing mosquitoes in a lamp! Of course there would be a sea of cores now! How did we underestimate the death ratio so much? The sacred summons are free now! Hahahaha!"

The group watched this display with a mixture of amazement and concern.

Micah leaned toward Mei, whispering: "Are we sure this is really...?"

"Who else could touch another's book like that?" she responded quietly, though doubt was evident in her voice.

Meanwhile, God continued alternating between laughter and mumbling, occasionally hitting his forehead as if he couldn't believe his own lack of foresight. "So simple! So obvious! And to think I believed they'd need at least 200 years to get here!"

He turned to Elio again, his eyes shining with a mixture of amusement and what seemed like pride. "You built a tunnel! A tunnel through the cores! Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!"