Thalion watched with wide eyes as the bronze-colored dragon god stepped out of the statue. Had he been trapped in there the whole time? He looked exactly like the statue—tall, muscular, with backward-curving horns and glowing eyes. The dragonkin looked at Thalion expectantly, who could only stammer:

"Wanna have a drink now?"

The dragonkin threw his head back and laughed heartily. His laugh sounded exactly like the voice Thalion had heard in his mind, except now it was real, no longer just a telepathic message.

"Haha, I like you. But enough fun. I can't stay like this for long, and my mental transmissions while inside that thing were recorded. Now I can mostly speak freely. There are just a few names I can't mention. Those are forbidden and would be instantly logged and sent to the authorities, which could bring me trouble I really don't need," the dragon god, formerly the voice of the system, explained.

"To keep it short: everything Amun Ra told you is true. This system is owned by a massive empire ruled by incredibly powerful gods. The gods inside this system are nothing compared to them. However, a few things Amun said weren't entirely accurate. For instance, the god who originally created the system was murdered a long time ago. No one really understands the full details, which has led to some weird, unfixable issues, like the rule that you need to return spatial rings, and so on.

There must always be one operator inside the system, someone to talk to people and make adjustments, especially when system rules are broken. Just so you know, I'm not here by choice. I rose to power far too quickly for the royals' liking, so they imprisoned me here for five terms. And believe me, that's way longer than you think. One term is about a thousand eras. Every thousand eras, the system harvests the 'sprouts', which means every living being. The buildings and artifacts remain, though. That means, if you're old enough, you can find some pretty advanced stuff.

By the way, this is my fifth term, so I'm almost free," the dragonkin said, summoning a chair beneath himself and sitting down, noting how Thalion's eyes were practically popping out of their sockets.

"Ah yes, sitting after trillions of years stuck in stone... you have no idea how good that feels," he said with a deep sigh, eyes closed in contentment. Then he continued.

"Now, back to the important info. Another thing Amun Ra got slightly wrong was the claim that the system spans multiple dimensions. That's not quite true. It all takes place in the same dimension, but the system contains four pocket realms, each of equal size and power level. When the system nears harvest time, it opens the gateways, so to speak. That's when the powerful gods begin fighting over territory to gain a power boost which ensures a high-quality harvest. At their level, quality matters far more than quantity. That event, by the way, is coming very soon. I don't have an exact time, but it's always a massive system-wide event. Even weaker beings like you can participate. The best-performing realm gets certain advantages in the upcoming event quests and the war. So yes, it's very important you perform well when the time comes."

"But that's for later. Right now, we need to talk about the important topic: how to destroy the system's seal and why you can actually trust me," the dragon god said in a calm, relaxed tone.

"Hmmm," was all Thalion managed to get out. He sat completely tensed up in his chair, clearly overwhelmed. The dragon god didn't seem to care and went on.

"As I said, I'm imprisoned here and I don't exactly like the royals, as you might imagine. Five terms is an absurdly long time to be stuck in a statue. I do wonder what my wife has been up to in the meantime..." He trailed off for a moment, slightly lost in thought, before catching himself and continuing.

"What I'm trying to say is: I don't give a damn how the royals' harvest turns out. One escapee means nothing in the grand scheme of things. That black crystal you received, the one that teaches how to open portals to other dimensions, also came from someone who managed to escape in my second term. He was eventually killed in a war between gods in a water dimension, if I recall correctly. But that's not the point. The point is, no one really cares if one weakling escapes.

"What's important and what no one has ever managed before, is destroying the seal. I can't see it, so I can't tell you where it is on your soul body. I've spoken to many people across my last four terms, explored all kinds of theories, but I've never found anything that could truly help with that.

You can try running like the others did, but I wouldn't recommend it. You've seen some of the other dimensions. They're much harder to survive and grow in compared to the system, which continues to nurture you. Your biggest advantage right now is that you're not far from achieving a divine class through evolution."

"The early classes, like F-grade, are a bit bugged. That's how Ankhet managed to get his with massiv help from his patron. From there on, things will get much harder, but you might just make it. Make sure all your forms are in top condition and aim to place in the top one hundred in all three event quests or reach the top ten in one. If you manage that, you'll definitely qualify for a divine class. If you don't want to go that route, you can of course try to escape, but I doubt life will be any easier for you outside the system. Any questions so far?" the dragon god asked, eyeing Thalion's expression, which looked like he had just bitten into a lemon.

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"Well, yeah, there'd be one or two. First... why are you so sure no one gets hunted down after leaving the system? If the system is this old, it must've happened before, right?" Thalion asked his first question, and the dragon god responded immediately.

"True, true. But that was different. Like thirty terms ago, the royals and some nobles used to send their younglings into the system to train and grow. They had a special key that allowed it. And as fledglings often do, some of them fell in love with people stuck in the tutorial. Eventually, the love ended, and the other person tried to escape the system. But those royal brats wanted to teach them a lesson, so they hunted those unlucky souls down and killed them. So as long as no royal shows personal interest in you, things won't escalate like that. Don't worry, they never do, and there are no descendants of theirs in the system right now."

"Okay, thanks. Then on to my next question," Thalion continued. "Isn't three event quests kind of a long-ass time? And what if I want to leave the planet using a portal? Could I build a formation and use, say, a thousand E-grades to power it? That way I could dodge the need to evolve." Thalion sounded more than a little concerned. If he wasn't allowed to evolve for the event quests, he'd have to face them as an F-grade, while his opponents would likely be deep into E-grade. On top of that, he'd need to place in the top one hundred or one top ten. That sounded pretty difficult to him.

"True, it's not exactly short. But believe me, the better the foundation, the stronger you'll be in the long run. Investing the time will be worth it, I promise. Also if you hit the top ten in the first run it will be pretty quick. As for the ritual, it might work the way you described it, but you'd need to conquer your planet or at least a very large part of it first, which won't be easy. Do you even know what's about to happen on New Earth?" the god asked, both curious and slightly worried.

"Not really. I only know that many of the chosen who dominated other tutorials will show up there too. They can also open portals to their gods' home planets, who will send in foot soldiers or something like that," Thalion replied, while the dragon god continued enjoying his chair far too much.

"Yes, that's correct, but there's so much more to it. The people who arrive there will be far stronger than mere foot soldiers. They just present it that way to make their chosen look more impressive. And there's something else you haven't mentioned: incursions. Not only factions backed by gods can invade your planet. Even C-grade factions can buy an incursion and launch an invasion, though their warriors must meet a level cap. Still, they're more skilled than most from the tutorial. Unless you close the portal, they'll keep sending more daily, depending on the rules. The cap and spawn rates vary all the time," the dragon god explained.

"Well, sounds like I've got a long way to go before I'm allowed to evolve," Thalion muttered. He was pretty hooked on the idea of a divine class, and the dragon god wouldn't have brought it up if he didn't think Thalion could actually earn it. Still, it all sounded like New Earth was going to be a bloodbath, with all those factions fighting over territory and resources. Probably best to reach the top ten in the first event. He didn't want to wait much longer for the divine class.

"Glad you're motivated. Believe me, it'll be worth it. And don't worry too much about the others being E-grade while you're still F-grade. You already have massive advantages compared to most. Once you get your divine class, it won't really matter that they're further along. Divine classes are so powerful that you should be on the same powerlevel or at least close. With a divine class and a solid plan, you might even be able to conquer the planet."

"The big advantage is this: the people allowed into the new universe have level restrictions. The moment you start leveling with your divine class, you'll be like a god to them. The main challenge will be the event quests, if you manage to get through those, the rest should be smooth sailing... unless the system decides to start merging the four pocket realms and triggers the final event quests. Then things could get tricky, but that's not likely to happen so soon," the dragon god added.

"Just one thing, when I destroy the seal, can I enter and leave the system whenever I want?" Thalion asked, needing clarity.

"Exactly. You only get the seal once you're fully integrated. If you manage to destroy it, you can abuse the hell out of the system. Come and go as you like. Do you realize what kind of advantage that is? Fight a god who's too strong for you? Just run in here, they can't follow," the dragon god said with a chuckle.

"Then it's settled. I'll just defeat time at E-grade," Thalion declared. It annoyed him that he couldn't evolve yet, especially after waiting so long for the opportunity. But a divine class would be worth it. Besides, not evolving didn't mean he couldn't change his race. The Umbral Predator had become the Crippled Eclipsari, and his human form had turned red-skinned. He still had that item from Kael meant for the Sanguis Impera. He wondered what advice the dragon god would give if he showed it to him.

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