Creation Online

Hildelith was calmer than she'd ever been. The chakram had never been part of her plan, but the exploding arrows were too slow to get the trick done. She needed something else.

She'd fought, and she'd lost a second time. She'd been knocked down a peg or two—not a bad thing—but now she knew.

"Strength isn't everything. Is it?"

"Thank you for the lesson. I'll keep it in my heart," she said, pulling the string of the culler as she watched unmoved as the creature came closer than she was comfortable with.

Just as the last of the blue arrow formed, a rattle echoed, and then the thing halted, snagged in place by a giant bear trap.

"Fitting," she muttered as she let both the soul energy arrow and the explosive arrow fly. Yet before the blue luminous pale arrow arrived at its mark, it dipped low, almost as if it would miss, while the other one went high.

Harbinger dissipated equally, returning to the inventory, while Hildelith began stepping forward.

The creature, so focused on releasing its limb from the jaws of the trap, abruptly stopped, froze for a second, then dropped its head downward. A slicing sound whistled in its senses as a ring made of blades shot back over its head.

Strike dodged.

Yet it never got back up.

Its death was already assured in that spot as the arrow of the Harbinger drilled into its lowered skull, freezing its body and reaping its soul. The blue shimmer of the deadly messenger faded from the spot on the stiffened corpse.

The mental count of a certain bow rose. The explosive arrow detonated above. The flames, explosion, and heat shattered the corpse.

Hildelith kept walking even as her right hand swiped the chakram out of the air. A victorious air around her, yet it did nothing to affect the frown she carried.

After all, she had learned something crucial today. Even Creators could fall, and not just to the hands of other creator players.

Creator Online went beyond just building a game foundation. It was living a story. Hilde had assumed that making her tale meant cresting worlds and fighting with the other creators. But she was wrong. There were more obstacles than the creators to fight.

Strength wasn't everything. The unknown had shown her, and now this thing had.

What was the game's agenda? The answer felt obvious like she should know, yet she didn't.

She could only ponder, even as the system finally acknowledged the kill. Its voice sounded out in her head with a tone that was suspiciously proud within her mind.

[Destroyer - Infant Slain]

[You have attained +30 Outer Realm Points]

[Visit the Monolith of Passage]

Hilde stood silent, the only life form in the white world. Shoulders straight and head held high, her palm lay on the white stone with an etching of her on its pale surface.

[MONOLITH OF PASSAGE]

[MARKED BY CREATOR HILDELITH]

[Lv1 - 30 ORP]

[...\]

[AVAILABLE...]

[TARTAREAN RIFTS\] - 10 ORP

Hildelith did not understand what this meant. What was the outer realm? Did it give points? How was this connected to the game? She scowled at the feeling of twists the game kept throwing her. Just when she thought she had it all figured out.

"What even is a Tartarean rift?" She couldn't think of what it could stand for. But she knew that whatever it was would be bad news.

Hesitantly, she removed her hand and then sat cross-legged on the ground to review her options.

The Sword of Murre was gone. Nothing but two pieces of broken steel. The blue light it once gave now quenched.

The sword that had forged her a path through the Lost world of what was now Vaustaris. Hildelith frowned again as she gazed upon the hilt in her grasp, the blade extending from it ending right at the center where a jagged point was all that was left to show the spot that bore its former length.

A piece of its blade now lost to the world of White.

Hilde accessed her inventory. Bane of Heroes and Harbinger were her long-range options. Both are powerful in their own right. With Harbinger, she could save up on using her arrows since she lacked MVC.

Having scavenged the few arrows surviving Hildelith was certain to be good on the long-range part.

The Void Chaos daggers were an option for melee combat but she knew those brought her up and personal with her foes. While she had a bit of defense training, it didn't make it something she would look forward to. Xena's Chakram made her pause, reading its description once more.

[Xena Chakram - Weapon

Rings of the order. One to give and the other to take. Ever following and ever followed.

Damage - 150

Effect 1- Balance of the Duo

Effect 2- Will of the wielder]

The effect was one she had banked on during the fight with the destroyer thing. Her only issue had been the timing. Funny enough, the last trap had done just that. Given her time.

It was a haphazard plan she'd put together the second she had understood the effects of the chakram. The balance of duo essential acted as a rule for the rings. A half-and-half conjoined blade on both sides was bonded. One that made sure to finish what the first started unless there was nothing to finish.

That was made up for by Will of the Wielder. As long as she pushed a bit of will into its blades it was able to keep moving. It also served as a string to pull the rings of the blade back to her. Like a Mjolnir.

"Daggers and Chakram for melee. Two bows and arrows for long range. I need a new long-reaching weapon."

Hildelith scowled as she perused the shop for something good. Though she lacked MVC, she felt it appropriate to at least know the options she had.

Her eyes went over the options available for the unlocked row. There were several types of weapons on display, from long swords to short swords, halberds, spikes, rapiers, several odachis, axes, and nodachis. Every type of cold weapon was on display.

After a moment of silent searching, she spotted one that caught her eye. The sword was shown with a scabbard, and Hilde wouldn't deny that it was its aesthetic look that caught her eye. The scabbard and sword hilt were made of the same golden-yellow plating, some parts looking like scales and others like leather.

The sword itself was a bastard sword with its pommel a black jewel carved into a bird's head. A falcon, to be precise. The blade itself was a double-edged black piece of steel.

At 450MVC, that had been enough to cover her entire setup just to kill one destroyer. Her scowl deepened further. Still, she made a mental note of the blade before switching to armor.

It was no surprise that Vulkan's prize had held up against the Destroyer's strikes, but she felt it wise to have a secondary piece of armor as well.

She looked through many options before she noticed something.

"No potions for mana... divinity regen, or health regen." Thinking about it, she remembered that there was no meter for divinity, and her Abstract was only as powerful as her enemy's own.

But divinity not having any meter didn't sit right with her. It was like divinity wasn't important or negligible.

"Or it doesn't matter. If I'm using Akasha, doesn't that mean my own rules are different? I'd need to figure out some things." There was the fact that Akasha didn't work out here. Out here she had a bar for Akasha. But it didn't feel like something that would last long.

"Also, the system won't teach me magic. I have to learn with Akasha and create mine. Good thing I have Tora. At least I have insights to aid me out here."

The tomes in the shop were all insights into different fields yet powerful in their way. Earthen Grace, for example, attuned her to the earth and helped her to understand it and control it in ways other players without the insight couldn't.

That was why her intent and abstract could use the element back in the lost world. Her mind had been filled with the knowledge of how to use the will to tame the earth. Subatomic Manipulation had just increased the connection to the Earth by far.

Now, though, she couldn't use her will or the understanding of Earth to control plant life. That fell under another insight. While Earthen Grace gave her power over everything earth but not other secondary things like metal, plants, or wood.

"Maybe I need an Akashic magic or spell for it or other insights."

She nodded at her assumption.

"Abstract and divinity are like a sword, armor, and shield. But without proper guidance and skill, a swordsman is no threat on a battlefield with other swordsmen. That settles it then. I'm getting as many insights as possible and figuring out spells as soon as I can. Thank goodness I already figured out space magic and can use a bit of the other three."

Hildelith rose and placed her palm on the stone, letting the option for the Tartarean Rifts show. One more look over herself first was done before she sighed and took her arm away. First, she had to prepare. If this world was this mad then what would the Rifts be like?

The flames returned as beautiful as ever as she made her choice. As bright as the day, a new blemish in the colorless white world.

Then it vanished, taking her with it.

*****

The gears were rolling and Jameson knew it. Creation online was garnering popularity, mostly because of one girl. It wasn't that she was the best, maybe.

Investors were rolling in seeking a piece of the pie. Journalists already hounding the poor company staff for exclusives with the three top players and the game developers.

It was an insane week.

Then there was the upcoming alpha test which had two thousand players lined up to dive in.

As of the moment, it was unknown, but the creators already had a solid share of the game. It all depended now on their various activities and the growth of their universe to pull in interests and investments.

Jameson, though, stopped thinking as his brain couldn't fathom the business of all that. He was here only to manage the players. Once his contract ended, he already knew what he wanted next.

Gazing at the long-finished livestream, he watched the last scene of the girl catching the chakram while walking away. It gave him chills. He couldn't decide if the chakram could return to its wielder or just pure skill.

"Was cold either way," he mumbled.

He had to have that girl. The joy of managing such a player would be phenomenal. At that moment, Jameson knew that Creator Hildelith had gotten lucky mostly due to her decisions and then his reactions too.

By attempting to nerf her future power he'd unwittingly given her the stepping stone to shoot her forward. But that was it, the fight in Lost World and deducing the hidden agendas of the devs in the quest lore was...

"Sick."

Jameson had seen many pro players with such acute reasoning but he doubted that they'd have known the answer to such mysteries not once, not twice but thrice.

"It's almost like the game was made for her," he sighed with a slight smile.

"There's always a but. She's unpolished, unrefined. Fights mostly with quick reflexes and planning. But no skill," he appraised.

He replayed the stream of her fight with the Unknown from the start.

"While the beginning was understandable since no one could be sure of what lurked she had a good comeback. It was risky especially if it could kill her in fewer hits like the white creature," he watched for a while noting the various things that he needed her to train on while nodding.

"I had better find a way to get in touch and secure a contract. I won't be the only one after her. Those jerks would only be looking for the glory too."

He shut the stream off as he flipped open several files and began perusing them. Stopping at one that caught his eye a few days ago.

Franco Davis.

'It would seem like I have an acquaintance.' he smiled while scratching his goatee.

*****

Similar scenes occurred at various offices with various company heads lecturing their candidates whom they had gotten alpha test slots for. The game was slowly turning into a war for resources. Resources that were not yet assured.

But that was the thing about businessmen. Their astonishing ability to smell a gold mine from far away.

While many targeted the number one player they also kept their eyes open for any diamonds in the rough, both among the Creators and the soon-to-enter alpha testers.

The game was garnering pressure, and soon it would explode.

*****

Erasmus gazed in annoyance at the gray-eyed male before him. The NPC had refused to say anything that didn't pertain to world-building.

Sure, he got more explanations than needed. Even more information than Hilde had received at the time from the then-petty NPC. But how was Erasmus to know? All he wanted was a secret, a fortuitous encounter to spur himself above the number two player Roman, and number one Hildelith.

His position had been fluctuating with Roman since the game had begun, but now he had been at number three for longer than he desired.

While he wasn't certain since he'd refrained from checking the in-game tables, he was certain, like a gut feeling, that he hadn't caught up.

Worse was, as expected, creating his world and not getting the first achievement.

Erasmus glared hatefully as he was sent out of the World Forge to watch his world manifest.

Even as the red planet floated around his one sun, he fisted his palms. He was sure to get the top spot, and also learn all the secrets Hildelith had. After all, it was impossible for her to just have easily slain that dragon and created a world without having secrets.

Erasmus's eyes steeled as his determination firmed.