Chapter 64: What my Land is Deprived of
Chapter 64: What my Land is Deprived of
The last chapter of the Hero's test arc!!
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It has been a few days since I last bathed, according to Patricia Licuanan's Moral Recovery Program: "Building a People, Building a Nation" one of the strengths of a Filipino character is Hard work and industry, it means that we will work as hard as humanly possible just so that our conditions of living will go for the better, well, of course, I am waging war for the betterment of my citizen, but the same author also said that Filipinos have Lack of Discipline, this is characterized with us always being late (the internationally acclaimed Filipino time), the Manyana Habit (procrastination) and almost everything that you can relate to being undisciplined is present in a Filipino.
However, that lack of discipline also entails our tendency to work too hard, really, really hard to the point of sickness and death. There are reports of Tetanus or leptospirosis-related deaths, the cause of death is not the negligence of the health system, but the negligence of the contractors of the disease, fearing that a week or two out of work is too wasteful and just choosing to keep their illness upon themselves.
My point is, I, of course, have these traits too, though it is a good thing that I can discipline myself most of the time, there are instances that I work too hard and fall ill because of it, and one such time is this war that I and my people are tangled within, I want to get a victory nothing less than overwhelming and because of it, I did not eat anything nor rinse single filth out of my body in the entirety of the war.
Thus as I soak myself in the water, I let out a sigh of satisfaction as the cold water enveloped my whole body, all of the monsters near the river are retreating at my presence which is quite the convenient ability to have, some leak of... I don't know, aura perhaps is enough to scare away unwanted weaklings.
_But still, it's convenient that I can live without eating or sleeping._
As I stretched my arms upwards to let all of the water touching me graze all parts of my body, I started to get ready for a light swim before I usurp the ownership of the last three points as suddenly, [Guide] spoke to me and strangely enough, he does not have that disrespectful tone on him, but rather a concerned one.
[Say...Will you do it?]
Do what? I asked as I stopped my motion.
[...You know, usurping the ownership of this forest and all.]
At that question, I cannot help but grin, well it is a good thing to know that someone is worried about you, but this is something I have to do, after all, I have this one wish, a wish that I have failed to give to my land in my previous life, I got deported in the process of fulfilling it, however, I also pledged to take this opportunity to fulfill my longing, an opportunity from a world in which is I am powerful and cannot be blocked by laws given by man, thus I only have one answer.
Of course, I will.
I don't know why, but somehow I can feel that [Guide] wanted to say something further, however, I ignored any potential questions by [Guide] and Immediately read the notification that appeared in my head the moment I enslaved Bakunawa.
Notice [ Requirements for the conquering of the third point have been completed.
Hero's test progress has been recorded. One more conquer point and you will officially become the hero of the god of the undead.
Reward: Evolution, Max leveling of all elemental magic skills (as mandated by your lord)
Note: Forcing a hero prospect older than you to submit to your will made an impression on the gods, to reward you, they have rewarded you by upgrading all your magic-related skills.
Note: When the prospect evolves during the hero's test, it will only be considered a single level up because the point will "evolve" the taker of the test and not level him or her until he or she evolved.]
I nodded in satisfaction, finally, I don't have to cross my fingers that every evolution for the system itself just automatically upgraded all of my magic, well I don't have the time to check them out because I am honestly excited about the prospect of building a new nation, thus I let the overbearing sleepiness take over me.
And because I didn't think I would ever be able to fight such strong urges from this process, I gave up trying for a long time and as I closed my eyes, darkness lingered.
After a whole day, I woke up and could see that my line of sight became slightly higher, though I am not still keen on my height, at least I can see progress, anyway I can see that I am already at the pre-teen stage, though it is barely evident, I shall not fret because this age starts the puberty it starts at 9... Sigh, anyway stop it with the Adolescent, I did not make any breakfast, because I didn't need it and just rinsed my face and grabbed my dress given to me by Arachne and sprinted to the fourth layer.
_They say that this environment is too illusory, but it seems like since the death of the queen of the fourth layer, the mist has dispersed, though I can still see monsters that are illusion-based..._
I sized up the area for a little geographical inspection, this place is where the soil is most fertile given that it is near the river, the problem is, it will be too near the capital if I made a farming industry here... I muttered to myself as I started to scheme what is the overall structural blueprint of my future nation after about 5 hours of flying around to see the full potential of the layers and integrating them into my mind blueprint, I decided to look ahead at the fifth layer, in which is the Prophet of the God of the Undead resides, as I was thinking that, I cannot help but remember the time when he casually but mountains of rocks in the vicinity of the fifth layer so that he can protect the undead living on it on the possible recoil of the decision of his lord.
I huffed a deep breath as I glared at the direction of the last layer I had to conquer as I said.
"You shall be mine."
[3rd Person POV]
The god of undead is looking upon his forest, the war between his daughter and Hero Prospect Sophia and the Forest Alliance just finished, but she is still currently sprinting around the forest towards the last layer, of course because he is watching all of her movement, he is aware of the plan of his daughter, he is even quite annoyed as even though Sophia is most certainly aware that he is watching what she is doing, Sophia did not even halted nor hesitated in taking her stride.
_But then again, that's why I chose her, so it should be fine._
The god of undead is ever so carefree, casually fixing his traveler's robe as well as the cloth mask that covers his whole face that comes with a function only he is aware of, though many gods are convinced that it is just for show because when he is speaking the cloth mask will start glowing depending on the tone or emotion of the god of the undead, but no one care about that because as of the moment, many gods are still debating about the matter of Sophia's blasphemous plans.
"MILORD, THIS ACTION OF HER WILL SURELY TARNISH YOUR PRIDE!"
"HEAL BAKUNAWA IMMEDIATELY AND GIVE HER POWER TO SUPPRESS THIS BUDDING REBEL!"
Many words along those lines came crashing into the ears of the god of the undead and the god of streams, these two people are the strongest of all the gods of the pantheon because they are the only ones who can create a proper hero prospect, other gods will never attempt such things simply because they do not know how to regulate their blessings, who knows if they fumbled and suddenly let a mortal suck up all of their divinity, right? They have to be careful, thus the two of them can understand the clamor of the crowd.
_How can these two have so much power and squander it toward a potential threat!_
Something like that is circulating in their minds, but the god of the undead shook his head as he said.
"Shut up! I have my ways, and trust me, even though I plan on letting her be, she will not cause trouble to me or all of your race you all will probably regret it if you let anyone other than her lead the forest."
The god of the undead said so and the god of streams nodded in agreement, the gods and goddesses however squinted their eyes, they fell quiet and the god of the undead already knew what they were brewing in their mind.
"Hey, if all of you tried to lay a finger on her, I will make all of you suffer so bad that you will curse your parents because they were horny one day and conceived you to be my underlings, okay?"
The god of undead said and all of the gods in his surroundings shuddered, they all knew the achievements of their lord in the last war between gods, thus they immediately went pale when a threat came out of his mouth, after all the last time he makes a threat about stealing one's manhood, instead of stealing the balls, he stole his wife and his mother, it was a very disturbing scene that even the gods will not bear to see, thus they stopped talking and focused on Sophia, even the rebellious gods fell silent as Sophia started the usurpation of the five-pronged forests.
Notice [You have successfully finished the conquest of the four points, now is the time to present your earnings to the lord, your god.
Task: Give the authority of the land of the five-pronged forests to the god of undead by proclaiming yourself his worshiper and representative in the mortal world, upon this, the hero test will be officially completed and will give you the title of hero, betraying your lord will let you suffer the punishment cited personally by the god of undead.]
Sophia took a deep breath as she put her palms together, but [Guide] who is quite worried about her started to spam her with messages on her head.
[HEEEY! GIVE UP YOUR IDEAS! YOU WI-BZZZZZZT]
Sophia did not even listen to [Guide] who was immediately cut off because of his too much meddling.
Sophia then started to pray.
"By the power vested on me by my lord and myself, I at this moment shall announce that myself, Sophia Demiurge daughter of the god of undead the owner of this land as well as all of the land, coastal, and air borders of the forest."
The moment she said those words, Sophia clenched her teeth as veins that looked like a symbiote was possessing her sprouted in her neck and spread all over her body, the next moment she started to feel pain beyond her greatest imagination, it felt like being hammered to death while being burnt to oblivion in the middle of a room giving birth without anesthesia, she who has an almost infinite repertoire of vocabulary cannot form coherent description of what she is feeling, she only can describe it with one word, pain, it was pain coming from the bottom of the soul and even [Guide] was screaming.
[GWAAAAAGHHH! SOPHIA! GIVE IT BACK! YOU STILL HAVE A CHANCE!]
And as soon as he said that, a giant face covered with mist appeared, the god of the undead used his power to manifest himself in the sky, but instead of despair, Sophia remained indignant, instead of succumbing in pain, she looked at the god of the undead in the eye, this caught the delight of the god of the undead, but he have to pretend that he is mad beyond comparison thus he shouted.
"MY REBELLIOUS UNGRATEFUL ORPHAN CHILD! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE! ALL OF THE GODS ARE NOW LOOKING AT YOU AND ME, ASKING WHY I AM HARBORING SUCH A FOOL LIKE YOU!"
_That is not a very good act, for me at least._
The god of the undead grunted as he continued.
"BUT! I WILL GIVE YOU A CHANCE TO PROVE THEM WRONG! GIVE ME YOUR HANDS AND GO BACK TO MY SIDE AND I SHALL FORGI-"
The god of the undead comes up with a wonderful speech but is interrupted by Sophia who is still gritting her teeth.
"SHUT UP! SHUT THE FUCK UP! NO MATTER WHAT WORLD, ALL OF YOU GODS DO IS LIMIT HUMAN ADVANCEMENT BY IMPOSING SUCH SHITTY RULE THAT YOUR WILL SHALL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN!"
"BUT NOW, I DON'T CARE ANYMORE, TO HELL WITH THE GODS, ALL OF YOU CAN FUCKING DIE! FOR THIS DAY, I SHALL GIVE WHAT MY LAND IS DEPRIVED OF!"
Sophia coughed a mouthful of blood, but then she mustered all of her strength as she shouted, she shouted her vow when she was still Emilio, she shouted her vow when she was nothing but an orphaned genius, words that would soon be called the "First Cry of Conquest".
"I, NOT JUST THIS LAND, NOT JUST THIS CONTINENT, BUT THE WORLD WILL BE CAUGHT WITHIN MY PALMS!"
"I PROCLAIM THE WORLD'S CONQUEST WILL START NOW!"
The god of undead even though smirking inside had to pretend to be angry, of course, Sophia knew this, but she was still forced to shout like she was oblivious to such a matter because of the pain she was feeling, thus she shuddered when the pain she felt started to intensify but smirked the moment she heard a notification, she ignored her question as to why no undead showed up when their god appeared in the sky, and read it.
Notice[ Because of your greed, your hero test has failed, you are now not illegible for eternity to receive the Hero title, you are now forever condemned to be a [Fallen Hero].]
Notice [God of the Undead: Siginarugan modified the [Fallen Hero] title, upgraded stats effect added, insanity debuff removed. Magic [Dark Magic] acquired.]
Notice [ Unique skill [Genius] acqui- BZZZZT!
Error, a higher entity forbade the unique skill to be obtained, a backlash to the God of the Undead: Siginarugan.]
In the divine realm, the god of the undead spat a mouthful of blood, staining the cloth on his face, but despite that, he had a smile on his face as he said: "Well, time to travel the world once more."
Meanwhile, as Sophia's pain subsided she started to glow, and her stature started to grow though she was still small by her previous self's standard, she now became 5 feet and 5 inches, and snow white hair grew long up to her back and her snow white eyes gleamed a mature sparkle, in an instant, the seemingly childish genius turned into a vertically challenged academic, but surely the sharp glint on her two irises will not give of such a persona, finally her dress also mysteriously changed, instead of a pure white dress, it became a white blouse inside a black coat paired with a mini skirt.
She finally landed on the floor as he evolution subsided, and the first word of the newly born Fallen Hero is:
"Kabuto Heed my call. I want all of the executives of the civil and the generals of the military to come at the first layer in the shortest time possible."
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Chapter name explained: In my opinion, the Philippines was invaded by a lot of countries because no one in her recorded history, even in pre pre-Hispanic period was aggressive enough to be considered an invader, we are too passive in short. (Well, there is a raider of sSulu who initiates the first strike, but my point is, they have not even a single territory outside Mindanao in their time, so...)
This is also a message to my countrymen, stop being overly patient/contended because that will ultimately lead to passivity, SWING THE HAMMER IF THERE IS A NAIL!
Okay, that's all.