A Budding Scientist in a Fantasy World

Chapter 263

As Alice watched Rainbow mana pour through the System and circle around the world, she felt a weight of relief. It was as if a heavy burden she hadn’t even realized she was carrying had lifted off of her shoulders. It had taken a long period of research, hard work, and danger… but at long last, she had saved this world from the catastrophic loss of the System.

Of course, the System wasn’t perfect.There were still several smaller issues that needed to be resolved. Perk libraries that needed to be rebuilt. Future-proofing to do, so that the same things that had gone wrong this time could never go wrong again. Ways to modify the System, so that it had a few slightly better contingency plans. Alice was also interested in fixing a few of the System’s contingency plans that had failed, such as the one that prevented people from getting rewarded for murdering people. Alice wanted to see if she could also use the System to enforce some kind of ban on slavery, since she felt it was a horrid institution. Still, despite the many flaws of the System that still needed to be fixed, Alice now had a working System again. Despite its flaws and imperfections, she had at least gotten the main components of the System working again.

As if to validate Alice’s relief, a few new System notifications appeared.

You have leveled up!

Survivor: 85 -> 88, Reality Mage 6 -> 9, Careful Enchanter 59 -> 65

Alice smiled, and then dismissed the level up notifications. She wasn’t sure what she would do with her two Perk choices for [Careful Enchanter]. She had no immediate needs for now. Alice decided to save the Perk choices for something in the distant future, when she understood what she was missing and what she needed.

She also got a new Achievement.

You have gained an achievement!

Savior of the System (Rarity: 10)

Through hard work, scientific study, and careful preparation, you have restored the System to working order.

The System will now recognize you as its defender and administrator. All System related functions may be edited, repaired, or controlled by you at a moment’s notice. (Some safeguards against abuse of this right still exist).

You will be given a mental copy of every existing component of the System’s infrastructure, to make it easier to repair any damaged components of the System.

All of your Attributes gain 400% effectiveness while within the walls of the System.

Once per month, you may create a temporary clone of yourself and place that clone anywhere on the world of Luliv, so long as you have already set foot there with your real body before. This clone will last twelve hours before collapsing in on itself. The clone has 50% of your stats, and can share all Perks, Achievement-related abilities, etc. with your main body. (They also share a cooldown, so if you use a Perk with either body, it will no longer be usable until its cooldown ends for either of your bodies). Creating this clone will cost you a very large amount of some kind of dimensional mana and some kind of organic or body-related mana.

Alice observed the new Achievement, and then smiled. It seemed that if she ever needed to do this again, it would be far easier. A 400% boost to the effectiveness of all of her stats would be a huge improvement to her mana reserves, survivability, and repair speed.

The temporary clone ability also gave her an idea. She had already been thinking that she wanted to make some upgrades to the System, but after weeks spent in the futuristic, sci-fi esque corridors of the System, she longed to see some real grass and trees again. She felt a small pang of anxiety as well.

She suspected that Ethan, and the other Illvarian Immortals, might not like her plan very much. But Alice also felt that it was necessary. She felt some gratitude towards the country of Illvaria, for helping her to reach this point. She would repay that gratitude.

But she also didn’t want to abandon the humans of this world out of gratitude for a specific country. Her new Achievement gave her a way to balance both of those responsibilities as she worked towards her own plans. Such as building a way to go home.

The System creator had failed to return to Earth. As far as Alice could tell, this was because the System creator’s portal to Earth failed to take into account the different rate of time flowing in each dimension, which had somehow locked him in time for centuries like a fly trapped in amber. That was a big problem, but it probably wasn’t an unfixable problem.

Of course, something about the connection between Earth and Luliv had also changed recently. Alice wasn’t quite sure what had happened there, or how to fix it. However, she hadn’t given up on seeing her friends and family again. Especially now that she suspected that time passed much faster in this world compared to Earth. She had already been gone for over a year in this world… but how long had passed on Earth?

Her parents might not have even woken up to realize she was missing yet. Even if Alice took a few decades, or even a century or two to make a safe passage back home, odds were that she would still see her parents alive and well. She didn’t need to worry about them passing away from old age while she studied the dimensional passage and improved it. As long as she didn’t take forever, she might arrive before they even realized she was gone. That would certainly make her feel a lot better. During her early days in this world, she had always worried that her parents were freaking out over the sudden disappearance of their only daughter. Alice wanted to prevent that from becoming a reality, if she could.

Someday, she promised. It would be a very, very long time before she saw her parents again, but she would see them again someday.

Of course, she would also need to be very careful about making sure her passage back to Earth actually worked. She definitely didn’t intend to fall into the same mistake as the Creator of the System. She might need some kind of Perk or something to help her get there… but she had time to find it. Alice even had a largely uninhabited area where she could experiment with dimensional mana, without any fear of accidentally harming people.

Assuming she remained within the System, the way she was planning to.

For so long, Alice had been consumed by thoughts of fixing the System and going home. Now, she had accomplished one goal, but realized the other goal was much further away than she had anticipated. Her goal of completely fixing the System wasn’t entirely finished, either. While it was mostly fixed, there were a bunch of improvements and ideas she wanted to try, and all of those would take more time. Time that she wouldn’t have if she returned to Illvaria with the others.

“The System is repaired. We’ll need some time to figure out how to return to Illvaria, but I think it’s best to do it while the chaos from the collapse of the System is still fresh,” said Ethan. “If we give the Sigmusi more time to reorganize themselves, they’ll probably intercept us.” Alice winced. Ethan sounded excited. She could definitely imagine why. She knew how much Ethan had looked forward to finally raising an apprentice into an Immortal. Now, he had finally succeeded… and Alice would not be returning home with the others.

Myra, Allira, and Doll all nodded in agreement. Within a few moments, they had already begun discussing how to organize their retreat from the System. Doll was thinking about how to build a quick boat using the System’s materials, while Allira and Myra were discussing how to avoid the Sigmusi. Alice cleared her throat.

“I don’t know if I’m going back to Illvaria. At least, not for a while,” said Alice.

Ethan blinked in surprise.

“What? What do you mean? Why not? We finished repairing the mainframe of the System. I know you might want to get the smaller components back in working order as well, but the System’s golems can clearly repair the smaller broken bits on their own. At most, you just have to fix the blueprint library, right? Besides, this is our best chance to return to Illvaria. If we wait, the Sigmusi might totally ruin our chances to return home without trouble. I don’t fancy dealing with a bigger naval engagement.”

Alice gestured towards the System.

“Because the System isn’t protected,” she said. “Putting aside how much the System can repair itself in its current state, if we leave it like this, who’s to say the same problem won’t crop up a decade from now? We had to release a good amount of information about the System in order to get to this point. I managed to reach this level of understanding about the System when things were at their hardest. If I can do it, someone else can definitely do it, especially now that the barrier to understand the System is much lower. Not to mention, based on that sleeping area we found earlier, someone beat us to the System, and might have even caused this whole mess.

Ethan paused. “That’s not wrong, but you don’t need to stay back and defend the System personally. We could leave a big group of Doll’s combat golems behind to help the System protect itself. Honestly, I don’t know why the System didn’t have that kind of countermeasure already in place. Either way, the biggest barrier to creating a large group of golems is usually materials and Perk cooldowns. The System has one of the biggest material reserves I’ve ever seen, even after monsters nearly looted it dry. The System remained safe for this long on its own - it’s obvious that its stealth mechanisms might have failed this time, but they clearly work in normal situations. I think you’re worrying too much about someone finding the System again and ruining it.”

“The Sigmusi nearly tracked us to the System already,” said Alice. “I think the Sigmusi are a much bigger threat to the future System than you’re giving them credit for. The System is located in a very inconvenient spot, geographically. It’s right between the Sigmusi Colonia and the Sigmusi Imperia, and there are no other nations that can realistically contest their naval control of this area during normal times. If a few years from now, they track down the System, break in, and assault it, the world could go right back to the brink of catastrophe in minutes.”

“So what are you suggesting?”

“I intend to remain within the System for now,” said Alice. “I’ll act as a protector for the System, and a researcher, and find a way to fix a few things. I want to future-proof the System a bit more, so that something like this never happens again. I’ll also see if I can get a better understanding of dimensional mana. If I can, I’ll be able to go home. In the meantime, I’ll visit Illvaria from time to time using my new Achievement. It lets me create a clone somewhere in this world, so I’ll still be able to visit and chat from time to time. I just won’t be present in Illvaria most of the time. Once I get better at dimensional mana, someday I’ll be able to just shuffle between Earth, Illvaria, and the System at will.”

Ethan frowned. “But that means you won’t be coming home with us. Right after saving the world, you’ll be trapping yourself inside of this empty steel enchantment with no one else to talk to. You won’t have an easy source of food, water, or comfort, either. Do you have a way to resolve these issues?”

“The creator of the System enclosed himself within the System for a long period of time as well, and he was fine,” said Alice. “In fact, I suspect I can handle loneliness a lot better than he can, since I’ve always been a solitary person to begin with. I like spending time with people, but I also like my alone time. I can visit people once a month using my new Achievement, and I think that’ll be enough for me. Besides, I really do think the System needs some upgrades to keep it safer. I don’t want to make another crazy voyage across the ocean back here in five years because the Sigmusi empire is trying to mess with the System or something.”

“If the Sigmusi do come, what can you do about it? Not to put too fine a point on it, but you’re not exactly a combatant. And you haven’t found a source of food or water yet, either. I mean, I can give you a good chunk of what’s left in our storage Perks, but that’ll run out eventually.”

Alice shrugged. “The System has already shown that it can grow plants in certain specialized chambers, since plant materials are components of the System’s base material. I can just repurpose a few of them to grow food instead. I might not be a [Farmer], but I can probably manage it with golems automating most of the process. Same with water. If the System is growing plants here, it must have some way to get fresh water. Considering how many other pumps and water-proofing measures we’ve seen, I suspect the system has a few areas where it just removes the salt from all the water above us. As for defenses… I’m hoping to rebuild the System’s ‘core template’ for the golems. I want to make them a little bit more combat ready,” said Alice. “That way, if someone else enters the System and breaks it, there’ll be a response. I don’t expect to do much actual fighting, even if someone does come in to start breaking things. Instead, the System will do all of the fighting, and I’ll just be here to coordinate the System’s defense efforts.”

Ethan looked even more unhappy after Alice said that, but finally, he sighed.

“I don’t like it. But I understand your reasoning, and I do agree that you’re the best person for this. Your future is your own choice.” He sighed wistfully. “I was really excited when one of my apprentices finally hit Immortality. The moment things worked out, my apprentice won’t even be returning to Illvaria to celebrate it with me.” Ethan sighed again. “Take care of yourself, Alice. And make sure you send your clones over to visit often. Keep the System out of the Sigmusi’s hands, and keep it safe from human eyes. The rest of us won’t talk about this. Right?” he eyed the other Illvarian Mages, as well as the other Immortals, who all nodded.

“We aren’t dumb. Knowledge of this place leaking out has already put humanity into an extinction crisis once. We don’t want to die,” said Allira. “Take care of yourself, Alice. I’ll see you around.”

Alice relaxed. “It’ll just be a few years, or maybe a few decades, before I can start teleporting back and forth on my own. But that’s nothing to people like us, right? We aren’t getting any older.” Alice smiled at the other Illvarian Immortals.

“I want to stay in the System with you,” said Cecilia, catching Alice by surprise.

“Cecilia? Why? Don’t you want to run your shop? You were quite helpful in rebuilding some parts of the System, but I don’t need you to sit here with me for years or decades. Besides, I really do believe that my time here will be… well, not very exciting. At least, not for anyone who doesn’t share the same joys and hobbies as me. I don’t want you to be stuck here for years, growing older and wasting parts of your life without any chance to leave and see the rest of the world…”

Cecilia shook her head.

“From helping restore the System, I got some amazing Achievements. Ones that put me nearly in range of possible Immortality. I’ve spent this entire journey in the company of people who are also Immortals. I want that. I have a real chance of achieving Immortality too, at this point. The System is also the world’s most important and complicated Enchantment. Just observing how it works and studying it would do wonders for my levelling speed. And I even have an abundance of materials to work with here. I couldn’t design a more perfect levelling environment for myself if I tried to. I have the opportunity, a chance for success, and the determination. I want to give it a shot.”

Alice smiled. Suddenly, the decades of loneliness she had envisioned, as she remained within the walls of the System, felt a bit less lonely. She had always hoped Cecilia would find her way to Immortality. Cecilia hadn’t reached that point yet… but clearly, there was a chance. A very good one, in fact.

The Illvarians split up, to begin preparing for their return journey. Soon, Doll created a new boat, and the group departed to make their treacherous journey back to Illvaria. Meanwhile, Alice and Cecilia picked out a few rooms in the System and claimed them as bedrooms. Then, the two of them settled into their long vigil.

Alice knew that she would be here for many years, or perhaps even many decades. But she knew that she would find a way forward. She had in the past, and she would in the future. She would protect the System, maintain contact with her friends and acquaintances in Illvaria, and someday, she would find a way home. She still didn’t know who had broken into the System before them, or why, but she would prevent it from ever happening again.

She would bring the world hope. And someday, far in the future, when she had mastered dimensional mana, she would have a grand reunion. With all of her friends and family members from both dimensions. But at least for now, she could rest easy, in the knowledge that she had saved the world and brought her journey to a close.