Galaxy's First Ruler

Dark

Everything was dark around Aldrich. It wasn't the Darkness Aldrich had a mastery of, but the word "dark" suited more to this Shadow World.

In the vast space, Aldrich hovered motionless in the same state as Sha had left him a week ago. Unknown currents kept sweeping him away to distant regions of this dimension. It wasn't the wind, but more like a river under a river, with its own flow and direction. There was no way for him to resist it, and he didn't want to, either.

Aldrich's eyes were wide open, but even if they had been closed, it wouldn't have changed anything. Except for the sense of passing time, Aldrich couldn't feel any presence around him. Even his pupils hadn't moved from one corner of his eyes to another. They were planted dead on his Record, and the stats it contained.

[…

Record of Aldrich

Time Left: 4 months

Status: Cursed

Level: 1 (0/100 ExPs to next level)

HP: 2063/2063

SP: 2200/2200

MP: 3935/3935

Rank: Common (Fallen)

Class: Generalist, Blessed Scholar, Spawn of Darkness, Dream Necromancer

Title: Enemy of the Crawler, Divine Rumok Engraver

Attributes -->

Strength: 110

Defence: 109

Agility: 110

Vitality: 100

Perception: 330

Correspondence: 125

Unassigned Attribute Points: 0

Active Skills -->

1. Metacreativity: Lvl Max - upgraded (Baron)

2. Arise: Lvl 1 (Viscount)

Skill Points: 17

Passive Skills -->

1. Shared Vision

…

Equipped Items -->

1. Sugaar's Disco Ball

…]

All his Active Skills, including the mighty Banish, had vanished. All his Passive Skills, including the crucial Intimidation, had vanished. But even after getting the Error, and failing in sacrificing it, the RECORD didn't refuse to take away what Aldrich had already promised to give to it.

Bypassing Shared Vision, his levels vanished one by one, and along with them went his Ranks. Even after using Metacreativity, Aldrich had never once lost his Rank. Ranks weren't as easily accessible as the levels. A massive amount of time and ExPs were needed to invest in them, much less needed to be said about the risk of Dungeons.

Even though his Attributes showcased the same values, Aldrich didn't know what might be wrong with them, nor did he care. The entire week, Aldrich's eyes hadn't moved away from the missing equipped Item from his Record.

The Shadow Homunculus had vanished from his stats.

To say it was a baffling case would be an understatement. The mask that Sha had devoured was still on his face. Aldrich could feel with a thought he could access all the Items that had been devoured by Sha, too. But if he could or couldn't... what of it?

It didn't matter anymore.

One week wasn't long, not nearly long enough for Aldrich to lose his sanity within this Shadow World. Yet, he wanted to go out. Every second passed here meant Sha was getting away and away from him. The possibility of even losing the mask was there, but Aldrich wanted to go out.

And the reason for this incredible urge kept echoing in his ears.

"... Daddyyy..."

Thump!

Crack!!!

This wasn't the first time this sound had reached Aldrich's ears. This also wasn't the first time his heart had almost pounded out of his chest, and nor was it the first time his teeth got cracked in sheer rage.

Aldrich had been in this world for the entire week, making him regret his inability to master the Law of Shadow sooner. This sound wasn't like a shout. It was as if he was hovering within a thick forest, and buried in the surrounding trees was Sha, calling for him from time to time.

So close... and yet so far.

Despite the bubbling rage and destruction, Aldrich was calm. Calm enough to analyze what had gone wrong in his calculations, and when. From the very first time he had appeared outside of the Dungeon, Aldrich kept scanning all the things he had done so far. All persons he had met, and all actions he had taken.

Every time, his thoughts kept bringing him to the time when the Devil had brought down the illusion of the Dream Origin World Tree around the Planet. From what Aldrich knew, the Devil didn't need to do so. Even with the help of NAMES, it could take care of Marquess Nicholas.

Aldrich's heart had already been taken over by the momentary Greed when the Devil used that strange world-encompassing Skill at that time. And when Aldrich came out from the clutches of Greed, he didn't think of the reason behind the Devil's actions but only the consequences.

But for the entire last week, Aldrich had thought of this reason more than millions of millions of times. Ultimately resting on one conclusion. That Skill had done nothing but bring Chaos on the planet and its beings.

That was the beginning of it all. That was the reason for everything. And that was the precursor that had made Aldrich's plan deviate from its intended path.

One Devil's Thought Infinite Emotions did nothing but make the conditions ideal for a King to descend.

But... why?

Most of the Dreamers in place of Aldrich would have worried about "how". Aldrich, however, knew that under that black mass of Darkling and evil thoughts was another Aldrich. It wouldn't have been an arduous task for the Devil Aldrich to hide his intentions from the current Aldrich if he wanted to.

Aldrich was concerned about this "why". Why would the Devil let this happen to him? Why would he call Chaos on the planet? And why would he let Aldrich's plan go awry?

Aldrich knew himself, and he also knew he wouldn't do anything without a profit. But even after contemplating this for a week, he couldn't find any profit for the Devil Aldrich to do so. The Aldrich of now... couldn't find an answer to these questions.

"... Daddyy..."

"..."

Aldrich kept staring at the vanished Item in his Record, ignoring the big numbers that hovered there lacking substance. The tips of his fingers on the left hand kept throbbing. His palm had gone cold, and the muscles in his left hand had relaxed.

All things had a reason for their current state.

But the scholar of today couldn't find the reason for this emptiness in his heart.