Epoch: A Berserker's Rise

Chapter 140: Champion

"I am your Champion? But wait, you said you brought my soul to that alternate world and brought it back here Does it mean Old Adam and my current identity share the same soul? But how?"

Sofia sighed and said "As the goddess of Life and Death, although I have many enemies, I also have friends, and among them is the God of Fate. He is the one who told me about my own fate, or rather the fate of my subjects. Of you, the inhabitants of Earth."

Adam asked "Then may I ask what is this fate?" Unconsciously, he had started becoming more polite toward Sofia, she was literally the God of his world after all.

Sofia said "In a few years, the three realms will make one once again, and all the Realms will be brought back together. This includes Earth. I was told by the God of Fate that you would all be exterminated if I did not anything. Hence, I used my powers to create myself a Champion."

Adam asked "You accept humans killed all other races on Earth, but you don't accept us being exterminated?"

Sofia shook her head and said "It's not the same. It was a natural selection that made you become the dominant race on Earth, a fair fight. As thus, it entered the natural cycle of life and death. However, your original extermination after the Reunion of the Three Realms isn't something natural. Instead, my enemies want to weaken me by killing you all and then kill me."

Adam then asked "Why do so many gods want to kill you, aren't they Immortal themselves?" But Sofia said "It's not exactly for themselves You have been to Roskhalla, you saw the souls of the brave dead warriors there, right?"

Adam nodded, and Sofia continued "Normally, this shouldn't be possible. The natural cycle of life and death should have brought their soul to reincarnation. This is my duty as the God of Life and Death. However, having souls in one's Divine Kingdom allows one to use them to gather the Power of Faith. I originally made it impossible for them to use this power, but they were greedy for power and banished me. Only now, after so many years, have they realized how big of a mistake they have made. Unfortunately, it is too late for them."

Adam asked curiously "Do you hold a grudge against them for what they did?" Sofia shook her head and said "What would be the use of holding a grudge? Every action has it's consequence, and they have already paid for their actions. Believe me, becoming unable to advance forever is a far worse punishment than death."

"Back to your question, after learning of your extermination, I decided to use my powers to help you. I created multiple alternate realities, and sent several 'Candidates' to each of them. For each of these candidates I split their souls and sent a part of their soul into those alternate worlds, and left a part in this world."

"After several generations of testing, you are the one who came out on top. One important thing to know about those split souls is that each of them were only able to live up to 50 years, and they would only be able to open the 4th Gate."

This made Adam frown as he said "So that's why I would be reincarnated after 50 years but what about this limit? I clearly opened 5 of them."

Sofia grinned and said "And that's exactly why you are the one who passed my test. You were able to open the 5th Gate and strengthen your split soul to the point of becoming as strong as your original soul. Once you passed my test, I sent every split soul back to their origin. Because of the weakness of their souls, they lost all their memories and they would have to start back from the beginning. Only you, who had a strong soul from the beginning, was able to keep your memories and your progress."

Adam asked "So You decided to put the fate of humanity no, of everyone of Earth's living beings on me. How can you be so sure I can even save them all."

Sofia replied "Don't worry about this, just let fate do it's work. You can continue playing as you did before, just try to become as strong as you can. You don't have to worry, you still have many years before you will have to worry about all of this."

Adam replied dryly "You are telling me not to worry, but do you even understand the responsibilities you gave me?"

Sofia said "Of course I do, I know it's not easy, but you had to know one day or another. Anyway, the reason I came here today isn't just to stress you out Wait, actually it is. Well, second information anyway. The Quest you got, it got all those tags because of the consequences they will have. This quest of yours will shake the world, so that's why there is all of this. And I realized it would be a good occasion to make it your Promotion Quest."

Adam asked "If this avatar is bound to disappear, isn't it a waste to make it so strong?" But Sofia shook her head and replied "It won't disappear, it will just lose my power of reincarnation inserted inside it. It will become your true avatar. Don't worry, trust me, just become stronger."

Adam had many more questions to ask, but Sofia waived her hand and said "Later. You already know enough. Go back to your quest, and finish it. When you have finished your quest and become a Silver Rank, we will talk again."

And with a move of her hand, she disappeared, and the world regained its liveliness. Thalia, who was the only one barely paying attention to Adam, was shocked to see him suddenly teleport.

But after a moment she took it as her eyes playing tricks on her, even if he could teleport, why would he use it to just turn around?

As for Adam, as time started flowing once again, he sent back a look at his quest. Reaching Level 45 in a few weeks wasn't going to be much of a challenge, he wasn't going to be fighting against low level monsters, this was an SSS Quest after all.

Even without considering the dragons he would eventually have to kill, just the monsters in the Great Swamp would actually be challenging to beat, the Kloss Canal wasn't a safe place and the Demon's Cult Headquarters was definitely a bad place.

And the Land of Eternal Night, just the name sounded ominous. There was a reason if they were hidden, they didn't really like others, and although getting there would be a challenge, surviving there would be one even more.

That's why, he was pretty sure that his Level wasn't going to be a problem in the following weeks.

The quest itself was going to be very hard to do though. Surviving while being near the Demon's Cult HQ was going to be hard, since they were actively chasing him, or so he heard, and even though he was hiding his identity, there was still the possibility they used a special item or skill to divine his position or real identity.

And there was a new worry, if the Cult Leader was a Legend with Soul Attacks then Adam could actually die, something which he really didn't want to happen.

Anyway, even though this was going to be a dangerous quest, the reward was definitely worth it. The 15 Level would turn into 3, but the 1000 AP, which honestly was already very good, was going to become 5000 AP. Those AP were vital, not just because they would make him stronger for a moment, but more importantly because they would come just before the Rank up.

When he got promoted to Bronze Rank, all his attributes doubled. Now, ranking up to Silver Rank would most definitely at least double his attributes, or maybe even more than that. This means those 5000 AP too would be multiplied, making them much more worthwhile.

"The array for Kusak is ready! 1 minute before teleportation!" Adam was awakened from his thoughts by the loud voice of the woman in charge of the array. Adam looked at Thalia and said "Let's go."