Reincarnated Hero System - Chapter 1111 - 1111: A Plan Takes Shape
As a reminder, the Cavern of Trials was a dungeon consisting of 10 trials, and depending on a challenger’s level, completing them could guarantee advancement to a higher Existence Level.
There were three of them, Cavern of Trials I, II, and III, and if a challenger was at Level 499, 699, or 799, respectively, and managed to complete all 10 trials, the dungeon would ensure their ascension to the next Existence Level.
It did not matter if one faced a levelling wall or was stuck at a bottleneck.
Evan had used Cavern of Trials I on the Alpha Continent to reach Level 500, 10,000 years in the future, and now, he had just witnessed Artemisia use Cavern of Trials III to reach Level 800.
Of course, he hadn’t abandoned his plans to rest and had joined Artemisia in the trials simply for the fun of it.
Having two hearts, Evan felt the need to keep them balanced, and currently, they were not balanced.
Due to the dragon factors he’d gotten from Azzonnin in the Infernal Dimension, Evan’s Dragon side was now of a higher breed than his Human side, so he supported Artemisia and Beatrix in their pursuit of divine spark upgrades, planning for them to aid him with his Human Heart upgrade afterwards.
“I heard from Arthur that the Gozonians plan to end the war on Aramis today.”
When Evan said this, Beatrix, who hadn’t been paying much attention to Aramis since she had been so focused on the Divine Spark upgrade experiment with Artemisia, raised an eyebrow and said, “Already?”
“Beatrix, don’t forget it’s been two months since we were last on Aramis. A lot must have happened in the time we were stuck in the Infernal Dimension.”
At Artemisia’s words, Beatrix nodded in understanding, while Evan, who had quietly taken out his blender and other tools to make himself a strawberry smoothie, asked,
“If the war ends, there’s a good chance Alvey and McEnda will be sent back to Gozon. And for you, Beatrix, who went to Aramis because of Alvey, are you gonna follow him back to Gozon?”
Beatrix rolled her eyes at him, but before she could reply, Artemisia interjected, “Please don’t. I won’t be able to keep an eye on you if you did.”
With that, she turned back to tinkering with the Divine Spark and the alchemy tools laid out in front of her.
Evan briefly glanced at her work before lifting his eyes back to her and asking, “You won’t be able to keep an eye on her? Why do you say that?”
He seemed puzzled as to why she didn’t just say she would go after Beatrix and drag her back like she’d planned to when Beatrix first came to Aramis.
At his question, Beatrix turned to Artemisia, who, without lifting her gaze from her tools, simply said, “Future me will probably tell him anyway. I can’t go to Gozon.”
What the hell is she talking about now?—was the question Evan didn’t voice.
“Oh, right, you’re goddesses, so you can’t go to…”
Evan trailed off as he realised that Artemisia’s wording, that she couldn’t keep an eye on Beatrix, implied that Beatrix herself could indeed go to Gozon, which contradicted what he was about to say.
That left only one other possibility.
“Is there something preventing you from going to Gozon?”
“Yes. ‘Gozon’,” Artemisia answered calmly.
Noticing the emphasis in her tone, Evan quickly pieced together what she meant, though he still asked to be sure.
“Are you perhaps referring to the Planet’s Consciousness?”
Artemisia’s reply aligned with his thoughts.
“Yes, that.”
Evan followed up, “So ‘Gozon’ doesn’t allow you to enter the planet? Why?”
Artemisia confirmed, “Yes. Please do not disclose this information; it isn’t public knowledge. As for the reason, I don’t know.”
Evan had no intention of sharing it with anyone anyway, but still, the fact that Gozon denied Artemisia entry was surprising.
“How did you find out that ‘Gozon’ doesn’t want you entering the planet? You tried before and it failed?”
The goddess nodded lightly while drawing a rune on the divine spark in her hand, placing it into a cooling box before reaching for another.
“I was accompanying my father on a diplomatic mission as part of my training as his heir, and Gozon was among the planets we were to visit.
But the closest I managed to reach was Gozon’s moon, where we had stopped to access the gate that led to the planet’s surface. When I tried entering, I was repelled.
Only after a Demon King appeared and explained did I realise I had been repelled because ‘Gozon’ didn’t want me on its surface.
Again, I am not aware of the reason, as even the Demon King claimed not to know.
Considering that I had been able to enter Gozon several times before alongside Sir Jamie, it was strange that I suddenly became unable to do so.
Still, I intend to uncover the reason in the future.”
In other words, sometime far ahead, Gozon was going to have a god Queen forcing her way onto its surface to discover why she was being kept out.
“If you happen to find out the reason in 10,000 years, please let me know,” Evan said while sipping his smoothie.
Artemisia nodded silently, then paused, lifting her head as she added,
“I do have some suspicions, though nothing concrete.
The last time I managed to enter Gozon, I was 11. When I next attempted, at 15, I was repelled.
Whatever occurred in that gap is most likely the reason ‘Gozon’ is rejecting me, but there are four years’ worth of events I need to sift through to determine which one is responsible.”
She seemed very determined to uncover the reason, which was only natural. If she’d been unable to enter from the beginning, it would have been a different matter, but the fact that she’d originally been able to enter and was then suddenly and inexplicably barred made it inevitable she’d want to know why.
Evan, sipping his smoothie, nodded in agreement.
“Can you recall any major events that happened during that time?” he asked.
“Major events? There are quite a few I consider major. I began modifying my body around then, shortly after I obtained my Unique Series Skills, and there was also the—”
“Your Skill?!” Evan suddenly exclaimed, abruptly cutting Artemisia off, his voice so loud that she nearly dropped the item in her hands in shock.
Evan, however, had already tuned out the world around him as Time Difference activated and his thoughts accelerated.
‘There’s no way ‘Gozon’ wouldn’t realise that suddenly barring Artemisia’s entry would look suspicious. Yet ‘Gozon’ still chose to do so, which means the reason driving ‘her’ decision must have been far more dangerous than the suspicion that would inevitably follow.
It’s likely tied to Artemisia’s skill. In fact, I’m certain it was because of her skill that ‘Gozon’ blocked her entry.
Artemisia’s skill revolves around ‘evolution’. She can literally mod her existence, grant herself unique traits and abilities, enhance others, and even perceive information about them that Perfect Appraisal cannot uncover.’
Evan recalled how, upon their first meeting, Artemisia had instantly recognised that his physical body had once been originally ‘Human’ before becoming ‘Draconic Human’, and that was only a passive ability of hers.
‘But what if her evolution powers aren’t restricted to sentient humanoids? What if it affects planets as well?’
If that were true, then she could potentially uncover knowledge about planets that should otherwise remain hidden.
‘Applying that to Gozon’s case, I can guess what ‘Gozon’ is trying to keep hidden.’
Months ago, when Evan first visited Gozon, Arthur had said something that made the planet react negatively.
‘Doomed to forever remain a Prime World.’
‘Gozon’ had briefly turned hostile after those words, confirming that the statement was likely true. Something like that would definitely be a closely guarded secret, and considering that the process of a World’s Level increasing also fell under ‘evolution’…
‘I’d wager Artemisia’s Queen of Evolution skill could expose it. Maybe not immediately, but once she grew stronger, she’d eventually see through it, and ‘Gozon’ would rather keep her away entirely than risk that.’
Rubbing his chin, Evan frowned lightly.
‘Still, I can’t shake the feeling that this isn’t the whole picture. After all, there are ways to stop her from talking even if she did find out.’
Even though the thought nagged at him, Evan had no concrete proof, so he could only sigh and set the matter aside for now.
In fact, there was another matter Evan wanted to deal with now that he was on Aidos.
“Beatrix, can you hand me that teleportation pass of yours?”
The pass he asked for was a special item that granted access to every teleportation waypoint, from intra-city to cross-continental, something Beatrix possessed thanks to her mother’s status.
“Hmm? Oh, sure.”
She casually tossed the valuable card over, and as Evan caught it, she added, “You’ve got 30 minutes on it. Any longer and it’ll automatically return to me.”
Evan nodded, then left the room and headed downstairs into the hotel’s waypoint hall.
With a few quick jumps, he crossed from the Delta Continent to the Beta Continent, arriving in the land that would, 10,000 years later, become the Aelum Kingdom.
Right now, it was just a vast grassy plain.
Arriving at the nearest waypoint, Evan unfurled his wings and took to the sky, using a map from the RHS Archive to locate where the capital city, Eblor, would one day be built.
When he found the area, he landed and glanced over the grassy fields, letting the breeze whip through his hair before finally speaking after a while.
“Hey, ‘Aidos’, mind if I plant a tree here?”
There was no response at first, but Evan didn’t seem to care. He just continued overlaying his mental map over the land, gauging some distance from the capital and what would be in that area.
Only after a full minute did a voice reply.
[What are you talking about?]
The familiar tone echoed from behind, and Evan turned to meet the iridescent eyes of a beautiful black-haired ‘woman’ dressed in simple grey robes.
“Hello, ‘Aidos’. You look exactly the same as you do in 10,000 years. Guess planets don’t really bother with appearances.”
He turned back to the plains and continued.
“Like I said, I want to plant a tree here, but given the type of tree it is, I need your permission.”
[And what kind of tree would that be?]
“A World Tree,” Evan replied instantly.
Hearing that, ‘Aidos’ frowned.
[I already have a World Tree. I don’t need another.]
“I know. I can see it.”
From his position, Evan could clearly see the colossal World Tree rising up into the clouds from the region that would one day become the Elven Empire.
The sheer size of the tree made it visible from thousands of kilometres away.
[If you can see it, then why ask to plant another?]
Evan turned back to ‘Aidos’ with a raised brow. “Are you really asking one of your future Heroes why he’d want to plant another World Tree, even after knowing that thing already exists?”
He gestured toward the massive tree in the distance as he spoke, and upon hearing his words, ‘Aidos’ narrowed ‘her’ eyes.
[…what happened to my World Tree?]
‘She’ immediately assumed something must have gone wrong with it in the future, or at least, that’s what Evan wanted ‘her’ to believe.
“I don’t think I should tell you that. It doesn’t get destroyed, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
‘Not completely destroyed, at least.’
Technically, Evan hadn’t told a lie.
“This one I want to plant is for something else entirely. It has nothing to do with your original World Tree’s duties.”
World Trees were essentially ambient energy regulators that planets could use to fine-tune the concentrations of energies across their surfaces.
“Actually, I don’t want the tree planted now, but exactly 9,980 years in the future. In other words, I want to give you the seed so you can plant it then.”
[And what do you intend to use it for?]
‘Aidos’ demanded to know Evan’s motives, but he only shook his head, making it clear he had no intention of revealing them.
“I’ll tell you 10,000 years from now. Just know it’s in line with my role as a Hero, protecting you from a threat.”
Evan pulled out Beatrix’s teleportation pass, checking the timer to see how much time he had left on it as he continued.
“Take some time to think about it. I’ll try to come back for your answer before I return to the future.”
With that, he spread his wings and soared into the skies, disappearing into the distance before the current ‘Second Hero’ could close in dangerously on his position.
