The Harvester

Chapter 447: Code EVE

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Connection Re-Established.

Sleeper Protocol Terminated.

Scanning…

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Alert! Alert!

The Host Has Been Ejected Out of Bounds!

Sending Alert to Administrators…

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Overseer, Code EVE, Has Been Dispatched.

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Tracking Coordinates…

Anchoring Host…

Establishing Isolation…

Rerouting Worldly Magic Circuits…

Power Required. Granting 0.0002% Access to Eden…

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Success.

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When Rakna woke up, he experienced whiplash from the vastly distinctive scenery. He was half-lying down in a patch of tall grass, and everywhere he looked, it was the same thing. Only lush grass that reached his knees as far as the eye could see. He even had a direct view of the horizon's curve.

There were no mountains, no trees, no hills, not even a single flower. Looking up, his connection with the stars already told him something was very wrong. There was… one sun and a half above. It was the only way he could describe it. And instead of a moon, all he saw were additional planets that all orbited around one another.

"…what?" He uttered in confusion and activated Cross Sight. His vision pierced through outer space and scanned as much as possible. His eyes widened and he promptly stood up. He could see a network of magic circuits completely different from the ones inside the System.

This one was complete, powerful, and primeval in a sense.

"Fray, any thought?"

"{…we have left the System,}" the fabulist responded with a shocked voice. "{There is no doubt. The quality of these magic circuits cannot be mistaken. No, even you can tell, right? The System doesn't have the concept of a full universe incorporated into its Plateaus, after all.}"

"…"

"{Do you not feel any different? Someone like you… if you got in contact with the true source of all spiritual energies, there is no way you wouldn't experience anything.}"

"Perhaps…" Rakna slowly replied whilst taking in the fact that he had essentially just stepped foot on an alien planet for the first time in his life. "But in this case, I don't think we're quite out of the System yet," he said as his eyes spotted a link binding his existence to somewhere untraceable. He was also inside a bubble that seemed to be cutting off the Worldly Magic Circuits.

On cue, in a flash of light, someone appeared right in front of him. A young girl making a very pouty and angry face immediately pushed her forehead onto his whilst floating. "Seriously! Are you crazy?! Is that it?! Huh?! Wanna die, you bastard big brother?!"

"…Eva," Rakna deadpanned as the cute child spoke like a delinquent.

"'Eva'… my ass!" She retorted loudly. "What do you mean 'Eva'! You should be prostrating right about now! Aaah! Damn it! Why didn't 'he' tell me about this?! He's as annoying as you! Which makes sense, so it only makes me more annoyed! Do you have any idea what you almost did to yourself?!"

"…sorry. I can't say I do," the therian swiftly surrendered to her wrath. He honestly didn't have a clue as to what forcefully leaving the System through Azathoth's Dream could entail.

Eva exhaled and stepped back, landing on the ground barefoot. "Okay. Fine. First of all, welcome to one of the 789 Wonders of the Second Mother Reality; Vesaya, the Evergreen Planet."

"…" Rakna did not comment on the number of wonders.

"Second of all, the Dreamer broke several of the System's firewalls, contingencies, and programs just by giving you his Dream. You were ejected without protection. I had to intercept the Alert before the Phantasms could and anchored you to this place instead."

"Thirdly, I was forced to borrow a bit of Eden's output to isolate you from the Magic Circuits, or else you could have potentially exploded."

Rakna's expression twitched. "Why…?"

"Well, for normal people, it would have gone well," Eva sighed. "But not for you. 'He' told me that the current recipe inside you can only be carried out within the System's control. Basically, I imagine that if you had been connected to the Worldly Magic Circuits, the mixing process would have gone out of control. You might have been able to rein it in alone but at that point…"

"The procedure would have failed forever," the therian finished for her. "Frankly, I understand myself that to become a Philosopher Stone, the System is an indispensable tool. It compartmentalizes all of my abilities and makes it nearly impossible to lose control."

"Glad you understand," Eva huffed with her hands on her hips.

"But I didn't expect to leave the System," Rakna frowned. "I thought the Dream was considered to be inside of it to some extent."

"You…" Eva glared at him. "You have no idea how absurd what you did was, do you? Teleporting out of the System's bounds with your Wings is fine, actually. It would have been much easier for me to handle. But you… exited the periphery and directly breached the territory of an Outer God. Don't you remember all of those warnings? The System had to 'censor' your skills for a reason."

"You mean this?" On command, a red streak went through Cross Sight in Rakna's eyes. It radiated a power hard to grasp.

"Yeah! That!" Eva pointed her finger. "The System can't encode that."

"I see," the therian promptly deactivated it. Even he wasn't sure what it did. All he knew was that it originated from the high he experienced after unlocking Greed. That crimson line was nothing more than the manifestation of the Sin Skills assimilated into his Tenth Tail. Its actual use was unclear and at this point, all he could do was make it appear. It had no effect.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Anyway, the Dreamer is not part of the System. We have a deal with him. He creates Dreams for us to send Hosts to under the pretext of 'Simulations'. It's a mutually beneficial agreement where he gets to feed on the 'stories' created by our Hosts and where we then get them back stronger, with strong skills crafted by the Dream."

"…so, Azathoth is the one who gave me 'Lunisolar Blaze' and 'Reverse Cosmos'?"

"Well, indirectly. It's automated in a way. The skill is symbiotically made, with you as a proxy. That's doubly true for that second one. It's very similar to the skills of Immortals; the World gave it to you as a form of reward for your achievements."

"Right."

"Anyway! That's enough questions," Eva sat down swiped her hand to create a System window only she could see. "Now stay still. I have to program a new path of entry for you. It'll take a while."

"I suppose I can't explore?"

"No!"

Rakna snorted and fell silent. He sat down and patiently waited as she typed on a virtual keyboard without rest. After a minute or two, his eyes glanced somewhere, and he squinted.

"…hey, I assume you made sure we wouldn't be detected, right? The old man would already be here otherwise."

Eva's hands paused for a second. "Yes. Even the Kind Demon shouldn't be able to sense you. At the very least, with Eden powering this isolation bubble, nothing can."

Whatever caught Rakna's attention, he momentarily ignored it and looked back at her. "Now that we have time for ourselves, can you tell me more about Eden then? I already know it is the power source of the System, its product, as well as its final reward. And that it will reach a critical state soon and cause a collapse."

"…" Eva made a strange expression.

"Incidentally… 'Systemakva Etr Zotan'," Rakna continued and she trembled. "Wis translated it to me as Eden. But to be exact, he essentially told me the interpretation. Now that I have knowledge of the language itself… I can read the literal meaning."

"…"

"'The Almighty Chronicle'," he voiced. "Now, it's quite a grand-sounding name. I could see the System having it. But what makes it special is 'Zotan'. A word for 'Almighty' that exists on its own dimension. Truth is, there's another word for 'almighty'; 'Yatan'. But 'Zotan' specifically refers to the identity of someone, for whom the term was made."

Eva pursed her lips the more he continued.

"So… Eva," Rakna narrowed his eyes. "Where is Adam?"

The air between the two became still and silence fell. To some, this conversation would have sounded severely disconnected. But there was a clear link in Rakna's head.

The Garden of Eden was a commonly known tale.

Almighty was a title given to one very specific person.

Eva was made alongside the System. With 'no name', she supposedly sought the Sage.

Code EVE. This was written in the System logs. It couldn't be a coincidence. Rakna easily believed the willfulness of this little girl to change merely one letter as a form of rebellion.

But most importantly, if Code EVE existed, then likely so did Code ADAM.

"…Code ADAM is a Skill, not an Overseer like me," Eva finally answered.

Rakna raised an eyebrow.

"Code ADAM's role is to 'Pardon'. Code EVE's role is to 'Pluck'," she revealed. "That's all I can tell you without compromising myself. I don't have more details to give you about Eden. If you want to know more, then reach the 1000th Plateau."

The therian closed his eyes for a moment before nodding. The way she spoke was far too melancholic for him to push it. "Understood. Is the Forefront Plateau going well?"

At the chance of topics, Eva resumed her typing. "Yes. In a few weeks, I will invite the Hosts with the most power and influence to join it. You will be able to use the 'inter-channels' for the Vampire Raid and the upcoming war. I assure it."

"The Phantasms are not stopping you?"

"They don't care. I have free reign on most things in the System. Given I don't compromise the final result of their plan, they won't reprimand me. Me helping the Hosts against the Téra is acceptable to them. Funnily enough, the only time they gave me a warning was for when I gave you the quest for Plateau Zero and messed with the database for your lamia friend."

"Mhm," Rakna nodded. "I apologize for the trouble."

"That's way too late," she deadpanned and continued her work. "All right. I should be able to get you back in a few minutes. Please try to contain your Authority and don't resist the pull."

The therian smiled as his eyes flickered to the side. "I'll do so. But I'll ask again; how are the chances of the old man finding us right now?"

"Huh? Why are you asking again? Zero!" She huffed. "Magic Circuit isolation is not so simple. It's like a constant. Nobody can detect it by normal means and the exceptions are far too esoteric."

"Are you sure?"

Eva furrowed her eyebrows. "…why are you smiling like that? I know you idolize your uncle and all, but it's no use here."

Rakna shrugged and wordlessly pointed behind her.

"Heh! You can't fool me!" She snickered. "There's nothing behind me," she scoffed and began to turn her head around. "There's no way the Kind Demon… could…" Her words died in her throat.

A hand interrupted her by ruffling her hair like she was an actual child. Sweat rolled down her skin and she very slowly raised her eyes. The tall figure that obstructed her view was daunting just by its shadow.

A body full of power; mana tightly confined within each of its cells to the point of letting nothing leak out. A dark outfit that seemed to be made of impossibly soft silk; a long coat black coat with inner red fur and a crimson shirt tucked under it.

For a moment, Eva felt like she was staring at a very, very menacing mafia boss. And then she saw the sharp silver eyes looking down on her. The somewhat familiar handsomeness of the Kind Demon she had seen during the Inner Echo trial froze her on the spot.

"Well, well, young miss," Arimane grinned at her and she hiccupped.

This was the real deal. The real God of Eternal Night. Not an incarnation or phantom. The overlord of all powerhouses currently alive; the one who could wipe her out with a flick of his finger.

"What were you saying?"