Damon's Ascension-Chapter 150: Bright Realm Update 1

The entire universe was deeply shaken by what just occurred, but there was more confusion than fear at the moment. The aftereffects of this tumultuous event will likely develop further and be felt across both realms, but for now, the Vanguard Team still had to sort out their main task.

For one, the digitization of the Chaos Realm also changed one fundamental rule no one expected. The Sector Rules which had to be slowly felt out, guessed, and discovered using trial and error as well as the blood of many explorers, were now displayed as a tooltip sort of screen if one asked for the details mentally.

So the Chaos Eye made things easier for everyone? The hardest part was when one first entered a Sector and did not know the rules, leading to many deaths. With the rules present, the death rate could go down by about 30% and many more explorers could come home with mined Chaos Essence!

But that was too good to be true, wasn’t it? A screen suddenly appeared before all beings to break the fantasies of those who expected to win more without doing more.

[Bright Realm Announcement Board - First Update!

1. The Chaos Realm had adopted a digital system akin to the ’Essence’ Model of the nearby fledgling universe, fundamentally changing the rules realm-wide!

2. All Sectors in the <omitted> area now display their Macro Rule freely to all beings who pass through. However, each Sector will randomly change its macro rule every week.

3. All Areas within the Sectors of the <omitted> area are converted to rule-based instances, freely displaying their Micro Rule(s) and awarding <Omitted> essence to Post-Chaos Species.

4. The difficulty of all Areas have been increased onefold and more stringent rules have been attached.

5. Post-Chaos Species within the Bright Realm may freely use their acquired Post-Chaos Status, Post-Chaos Abilities and Chaos Items unless otherwise specifically by the rules of a Sector or Area.

6. Upon death, a Post-Chaos species within the Bright Realm will drop all Post Chaos abilities and Chaos Items that can be acquired by other Post Chaos Species.]

A deathly silence fell upon all sentient beings throughout the home universe and those in the Chaos Realm, their hearts slowly sinking to their stomachs.

The amount of information contained in this update was astronomical.

Then, Henry broke the silence.

"...Sooo, we just got patch notes from a cosmic dungeon master?"

"Feels that way, but these aren’t changes... they’re commandments." Nicholas muttered.

Felicia’s lips moved quickly as her eyes danced across the hovering screen, processing line by line. Then she looked up, her expression grim.

"Alright. Let’s go through it one by one so we understand the consequences."

Xela read out the first point about the adoption of a digital system akin to the ’Essence’ Model.

Damon nodded. "This one’s straightforward and we already saw this before. Before now, the Chaos Realm basically operated on an intuitive, trial-based system. Everything was learned by blood, by instinct, or by watching someone else die first."

"Now, it’s formalized. Everyone- no matter how dumb, weak, or new - has a framework to work with, an interface." Felicia added, gesturing toward her character panel.

Connor exhaled. "And that means... what? It’s easier?"

Damon shook his head. "No, it just means we can see the bullets before they hit us. That’s not the same as dodging them." freewēbnoveℓ.com

Xela read the second point the display of the Macro Rule as well as the random change every week.

Protizen blinked. "Wait... we can see Sector Rules now?"

"Yes, before this screen came I saw the rule. If you think about it mentally, a tooltip will appear showing the Macro Rule." Xela answered before Damon could.

Henry perked up. "So no more guessing whether our Power stat is halved or doubled? Or whether time moves backwards?"

"Exactly, but..." Felicia said

She raised a finger "...the rules change every week, randomly."

"Which means, just when you figure out how to exploit one law... the whole system pulls the rug out." Damon continued grimly.

Marshal rubbed his chin. "It’s like doing exams in a school that rewrites its own textbook every seven days."

"Don’t give them ideas." Levi muttered.

Xela read out the third rule about the Areas being converted to rule-based instances, freely displaying their Micro Rule(s) and awarding <Omitted> essence to Post-Chaos Species.

"Micro Rules, that’s for individual Areas... what we used to call instances. They now have clearly stated objectives and constraints." Damon said, pointing at the screen.

Felicia continued. "So now you know if a zone disables healing, suppresses mobility, or forces soul damage... all before entering."

"Sounds great, except there’s a catch, right?" Kyle muttered.

"Oh, there’s always a catch." Nicholas said flatly.

Felicia confirmed it. "The <Omitted> essence reward. It’s not Worldly Essence, it’s something new. It night be Chaos Essence, only that it doesn’t call it Chaos Essence like we do."

"So the ’omitted’ is likely the true name of Chaos Essence? Why hide it then? Also it did that in the previous point." Xela asked with confusion.

"Information is power. I’m guessing that something negative will happen if we know the true name of Chaos Essence, so lets leave it at that for now." Damon advised with a shake of his head.

Felicia hummed coldly. "The Chaos Realm now pays us to play along, like a bounty system. That’s not generosity, that’s almost like data farming."

"And worse, that means we’re being watched for performance. Every action, every kill, every ability. It’s being recorded." Damon added darkly.

Xela’s voice was quiet. "Like animals in a maze."

Xela read the fourth point about the difficulty of all Areas being increased onefold with harsher rules added on top.

"...yep, here’s the paywall." Henry said with a wry smile.

Bane folded his arms. "Makes sense. The rules are visible now, so dying from ignorance is less likely. To keep mortality high, they’re just raising the bar."

"Classic balance patch logic. Buff the player interface, nerf the environment." Marshal muttered.

"It also means that even known Areas - ones we had guides and footage for - are now completely different. All prior data is suspect." Damon added slowly.

Felicia sighed. "Expect traps, misdirection, and combinations of rules that force even awakened ability users into corners."

Xela read out the fifth point about all creatures being able use their acquired stats, skills and items unless blocked by rules.

"This confirms that our skills and stats still function at 100% and same with our Chaos Items. That’s good." Protizen said with relief.

"But only in zones that don’t explicitly suppress them, and since all rules are now shown, we’ll at least know when we’re about to be crippled." Connor added, flicking his knife casually.

Damon turned his palm over. "The Chaos Eye made a simple deal. You can use your toys until the rulebook tells you to drop them."

Connor squinted at the screen. "This is the most polite form of psychological torture I’ve ever seen."

Xela read the sixth and final rule that upon death, a person will drop all skills and Items, which other people can then take.

And then the silence from before returned but this time, it was longer and heavier, with uneven and slightly rushed breathing to mark it.

No one said a word at first, their hearts beating thunderously until Kyle broke the silence.

"...What?"

"...What? WHAT?!" Henry repeated.

Felicia’s voice was low. "It means exactly what it says. If you die, your skills and Items drop from your body like loot in a dungeon."

Nicholas paled. "You mean someone could steal my things just by killing me?"

"They won’t just steal it, they’ll just inherit it." Damon said.

Levi frowned. "That’s not even gameplay anymore. That’s... that’s war."

"It’s the Chaos Realm, it was always war. Now it’s just... gamified." Bane said darkly.

Marshal chuckled humorlessly. "Well, at least now there’s a leaderboard."

Felicia stepped forward and turned to face the others. "This system... this ’Bright Realm’ update. It isn’t a gift, it’s a contract."

"A contract with who?" Henry asked.

"With the Chaos (or Bright) Realm, and its presumed ruler, the Chaos Eye." Damon replied.

"Before, explorers died because they were ignorant." Felicia said while folding her arms.

Felicia continued. "Now, they’ll die because they thought they understood the rules. And the price of failure isn’t just pain or death, it’s empowering your killer."

Connor stared at the sky. "So if we mess up... we don’t just die. We arm our enemies who pick up our loot gleefully."

"Exactly. So knowing this... who do you think is going to enter next?" Damon said, steepling his fingers with a soft smile.

Kyle’s expression grew grim. "Literally everyone. Everyone who wants a shortcut to power. And they’ll come in droves."

"They’ll come to kill, not explore." Levi added with a sigh.

Felicia looked at them all, her gaze hard. "Which means we have to stay ahead. We move faster, we fight smarter and we climb higher. Because now..."

Damon finished for her, voice like iron.

"...the Chaos Realm has officially opened Season One."