Dual Realm Exchange System

Damian left Moonveil Forest beside Roland Hammond and Selene Vael shortly afterward.

There was little reason to remain inside the crater once they confirmed Ravelhorn had indeed died, especially since the wider Moonveil operation was still active and two Legends suddenly disappearing from Rosewood Town without explanation was probably doing wonders for everyone’s blood pressure.

The return journey was absurdly fast.

Roland simply moved through the forest like terrain was an optional suggestion, while Selene flew above the canopy with Damian following upon the Longtian Sword and Alfaro still carried beneath one arm.

Damian would have appreciated the experience more if Rosewood Town hadn’t looked like somebody had just informed the entire population that a nuclear missile landed in the neighboring county.

The streets were packed despite the late hour.

People clustered outside homes, taverns and shops while city guards tried to restore order. Several buildings had cracked windows, loose roof tiles littered certain streets, and practically every conversation Damian passed involved some variation of ’what the hell happened inside Moonveil Forest?’

Naturally, the moment people recognized Roland and Selene returning from that exact direction, then noticed Damian flying beside them while casually carrying an unconscious giant White Wolf, the questions multiplied.

Damian stared straight ahead.

Nothing to see here!

Absolutely nothing suspicious whatsoever!

They landed directly before the Adventurer’s Guild headquarters.

Several senior staff rushed toward Roland immediately, but one look from the Lionman stopped the approaching reports.

”Later. The immediate threat is resolved. Maintain current deployment orders and inform all field teams that the southern incident is contained.” Roland ordered.

That alone made several people visibly relaxed.

The trio entered the Guild and immediately descended through the restricted lower corridors.

Damian had been here before.

Deep beneath the Guild Hall, beyond reinforced doors and security barriers, rested the World Stone installation that had originally registered him upon Valoria.

The massive stone tablet remained exactly as he remembered it.

Dark, ancient, and covered in lines and symbols that seemed carved too perfectly to have been made by ordinary hands.

When Damian first touched this thing, he had been a confused Earthling with no Class, no money, no understanding of magic and no idea whether he’d wake up the next morning inside a monster’s stomach.

Now, slightly more than a week later, he was standing before the same tablet wearing personally crafted Adept equipment after killing a newly advanced Legend with an upcast Grandmaster .

Time really did fly when you were cheating!

Selene placed Alfaro gently along one side of the chamber before approaching the tablet.

Roland stood opposite Damian.

”This normally occurs when someone officially crosses into Legend.” Roland explained.

”You’re an exception because the power you demonstrated tonight already qualifies for restriction even if your actual Overall Level does not.”

Damian folded his arms.

”So I’m getting early access.”

Selene smiled faintly. ”You say that as though this is a premium service.”

”Everything sounds better when marketed properly.”

Roland ignored him, the Lionman placing one enormous claw against the side of the World Stone.

Mana flowed as the ancient tablet awakened.

Soft white lines illuminated across its surface before spreading through the engraved symbols like veins filling with light.

Then text manifested in the air, the words simply appearing before all three of them.

[Legendary Power Restriction Accord.]

[Individuals possessing or demonstrating consistent access to Legend-level force are subject to the following conditions.]

Damian’s amusement faded as five rules appeared.

The first illuminated.

[Restriction One:

Legend-level power may only be used offensively to actively challenge, oppose or defend against Legend-level sentient foes.]

Damian read it once and understood, as it was simple enough.

If another Legend wanted smoke, you could give them the whole chimney.

If some Level 8 bandit insulted your mother?

Apparently vaporizing his bloodline was considered excessive.

Somewhat reasonable.

Roland spoke anyway.

”Legend against Legend is permitted because anything weaker often possesses no meaningful ability to resist. This rule also covers genuine defense. If a Legend attacks you, you aren’t required to politely die while waiting for authorization.”

”Comforting.” Damian replied.

The second rule illuminated.

[Restriction Two:

Legend-level power may be used non-violently to resolve environmental, structural, natural or comparable problems, provided the matter does not directly concern the domination, coercion or manipulation of a sentient species or race.]

Damian nodded slowly.

This one was broader.

A Legend could divert a river, stop a landslide, break apart an incoming meteor, raise earthworks, freeze a wildfire, and repair magical infrastructure.

Heck, they could probably even reshape an entire mountain if there was some legitimate reason.

But using Legend-level power to ”solve” a political dispute by mentally dominating an entire village?

No.

Using a Level 9 spell to make a race migrate because their existence annoyed you?

Also no.

Power could solve problems, but it could not redefine sentient people’s right to choose simply because you were strong enough to force the matter.

”That’s the part many young Legends misunderstand. The restriction concerns sentient agency more than scale.” Selene explained.

Damian nodded.

Then came the third rule.

[Restriction Three:

Legend-level power may be freely used for self-development or to create beneficial effects upon the world, provided such use does not violate another restriction.]

Damian’s eyebrows rose.

Now that was generous.

Using absurd magical power to develop farmland, construct roads, reinforce settlements, improve yourself, invent things or generally make existence less miserable?

Apparently perfectly legal.

”So the System doesn’t stop Legends from using their power. It stops them from using it to bully everything below them.” Damian observed.

Roland nodded. ”That is the intention.”

Damian withheld his opinion on whether intention and reality always matched.

The fourth rule illuminated.

[Restriction Four:

Under no circumstance may Legend-level power be intentionally used to harm non-Legend sentient creatures.]

Damian’s eyes narrowed.

There it was, the hard wall.

There was no caveat about criminals, enemies, or someone being an enormous asshole.

If they were sentient and below level 21, Legend-level force could not be deliberately used against them.

Naturally, that did not mean a Legend was helpless against weaker enemies.

Roland clarified immediately.

”You may still defend yourself using proportionate abilities. Reaching Legend does not erase everything you learned beforehand. A Level 25 Fighter may still punch a Level 8 Rogue using ordinary physical strength. A Legend Mage may still cast lower-tier spells.”

”But I can’t drop this morning’s Fireball on a Silver Adventurer because he stole my lunch.” Damian clarified while folding his arms.

Selene smiled. ”Correct.”

”What if it was really good lunch?”

”Damian...”

”Just establishing precedent.”

Roland snorted.

The fifth and final rule appeared.

[Restriction Five:

Under no circumstance may Legend-level power be deliberately used to harm an extremely large-scale gathering of non-sentient living creatures, regardless of the individual power of those creatures.]

Damian paused.

That one was interesting.

”Even monsters?”

”Especially monsters.” Roland replied.

Damian looked toward him.

The Guildmaster gestured toward the text.

”A Legend cannot solve every monster migration by erasing fifty thousand creatures from existence, nor can one destroy entire ecosystems because the inhabitants are individually weaker.”

Ah.

Well, that also made sense.

The previous rule protected sentient individuals, and this one protected biological systems.

Otherwise, one irritated Legend could look at a forest full of low-level monsters, decide they were inconvenient and erase an entire food chain with a single high-tier spell.

Even if none of those creatures possessed human-like intelligence, mass extermination on that scale would affect everything around them.

”So even if the gathering includes Legend-level beasts?” Damian asked.

”If the action is indiscriminate and targets the entire mass, yes. You may challenge the Legend creature individually under the first restriction. You may not erase every lesser creature surrounding it simply because doing so is convenient.” Selene replied.

Damian rubbed his chin.

Five rules, huh?

They were surprisingly concise and annoyingly difficult to find loopholes in without becoming very creative.

Roland turned fully toward him.

”Once you accept, the World Stone will register your access to Legend-level output. You won’t become a Legend, nor will your actual Level change, but the System will begin evaluating your use of comparable force under these restrictions.”

Damian looked at the illuminated tablet.

”And if I refuse?”

Selene did not answer immediately, and that was answer enough.

Damian chuckled.

”Yeah, figured.”

He stepped forward.

Honestly, there was no point pretending he possessed a meaningful choice right now.

The Valorian Overworld System governed Valorian progression.

Damian could complain about the leash, philosophize about freedom and mentally compare the whole thing to Shengyuan until tomorrow morning.

But unless he planned to abandon Valoria entirely, the reality of the situation remained the same.

Besides...

This only reinforced what he’d realized earlier.

He needed to rethink everything.

Damian placed both hands against the World Stone tablet, the cold stone pressing beneath his palms.

He closed his eyes in lament.

’Valoria, oh Valoria...’

He really had misunderstood this world!

Damian’s thoughts drifted toward Earth, toward a hospital room in which his mother lay motionless beneath sterile lights while machines performed functions her own body could no longer manage properly.

For weeks, Damian’s plan had been simple.

Grow powerful, become rich, understand dimensional travel, return to Earth, save Angela Baines, and bring her somewhere magic could cure what modern medicine couldn’t.

If possible, he would restore his father too, then give them both safety, strength, and happiness.

Now though?

Damian’s jaw tightened slightly.

He wasn’t going to free his mother from the chains of illness only to place another chain around her neck.

He wasn’t going to drag Angela Baines from one form of helplessness into another where every scrap of power she gained ultimately belonged to someone else.

No! Never!

His Dual-Realm plans needed revision, fundamental and complete revision.

And his own growth?

That also needed acceleration.

If the end of Valoria’s road came with chains, then Damian simply needed enough power, enough systems and enough options that no single road could ever trap him.

Whether Mage, Cleric, Cultivation, the Dual-Realm Exchange System, or whatever came after.

He would build something that belonged to him!

Damian opened his eyes.

”Alright. I accept the oath.” He said quietly.

The World Stone brightened.

Roland relaxed slightly while Selene smiled.

Then...

The light sputtered.

BZZZT!

The glowing lines across the stone flickered.

Once, twice, then everything went dark.

”...”

Roland stared at the tablet in confusion while Selene blinked rapidly.

Even Damian’s eyebrows rose.

The Lionman placed his hand against the World Stone again, but nothing.

”That’s...” Roland muttered.

Selene stepped closer. ”Strange.”

Very strange.

The World Stone had not rejected Damian.

It had simply...

Stopped functioning?

Roland and Selene exchanged puzzled looks.

Damian did not see them though, as his eyes had gone completely unfocused!

......

Damian floated among the stars, actual stars!

There were thousands, no, millions of them!

Great burning points of light surrounded him from every direction, while distant planets drifted silently through the blackness beyond.

Damian’s thoughts froze.

What the fuck...?

There was no air, no ground, no Guild Hall, no Roland, and no Selene.

Yet Damian felt no cold nor suffocation... nothing.

Then he looked down and experienced an entirely new category of confusion.

His body was enormous, goddamn enormous!

Damian raised one arm, and a colossal limb made from swirling kaleidoscopic energy moved through the void.

Colors shifted beneath a semi-transparent surface, not quite Mana, not quite Qi and not quite anything Damian recognized.

It looked like a gigantic humanoid projection shaped exactly like him.

It had the same build and proportions, with even the faint outline of his facial features existing within the head.

But Damian himself wasn’t truly standing inside it.

His consciousness seemed concentrated somewhere deep in the body’s core, controlling the whole construct as naturally as moving his real flesh.

He lifted one hand, turned the wrist, closed the fingers, and opened them again.

It was smooth and perfect, with no delay nor resistance.

The sensation was bizarrely intuitive.

”...”

Damian tried speaking, but nothing emerged.

Fine.

Internal commentary it was.

So... I’m piloting a fucking energy Gundam?

Actually...

No.

This felt even more natural than a machine.

It was more like some full-body Susanoo where the giant construct was him.

Damian moved one leg experimentally and nearly laughed from the sheer responsiveness.

Whatever this body was, it possessed power.

Ridiculous power!

Every tiny motion made the surrounding void seem insignificant, like Damian could reach toward a distant planet and simply pick the thing up.

Then he noticed something ahead, a world.

No, not a world, but a... plane?

An enormous floating landmass traveled through the cosmos ahead of him, wrapped entirely inside a vast transparent bubble that separated its atmosphere from the surrounding void.

Forests covered portions of it while mountain ranges rose across others.

A small city glimmered like a tiny jewel beneath an artificial sky held within the barrier.

Damian stared speechlessly at it.

The whole thing was moving!

It slowly drifted through the cosmos like some impossible ark carrying an entire civilization between stars.

Then he noticed movement inside the barrier.

Several figures that were tiny from Damian’s current scale, but were incredibly powerful.

Even across the distance, Damian could feel something about them.

Arguments seemed to be happening.

One figure gestured sharply while another tried stopping someone.

Then a Human-sized man shot through the bubble.

Damian focused.

The newcomer was young, or at least, he appeared young.

He was extremely handsome in that annoyingly heroic way that made normal men instinctively distrust someone’s genetics.

He had broad shoulders, a strong build, and wild dark hair.

He also had a stern, valiant face that somehow looked equally suited to leading an army or staring dramatically across a battlefield while orchestral music played.

His armor was even worse.

Black plate armor covered his entire body, sleek but heavy, layered with elegant silver detailing and reinforced segments that looked designed for someone who considered fighting gods a reasonable weekend activity.

A long dark cape flowed behind him.

...in the vacuum of space.

Damian stared at the cape with pursed lips.

Of course it billows in the ’wind’, why wouldn’t it?

Several figures remained visible behind the barrier.

One appeared to shout something, but the armored man ignored them.

He flew directly toward Damian’s enormous manifested body, then stopped.

His eyes rose to meet Damian’s, and strangely, there was no fear.

Only surprise, then determination.

The young man’s hand moved toward the long poleaxe secured across his back.

”Hello there. I don’t know what you want with me, but I accept your challenge nonetheless.” He called clearly across the impossible silence of the void.

Damian froze.

Challenge?

What challenge?!

He hadn’t challenged anybody!

Damian attempted to speak, but nothing came out.

He tried moving his hand to wave, but nothing happened.

His confusion immediately turned into alarm.

Wait...

Damian tried moving again, but there was no response.

The control was gone.

Something else had taken over!

The gigantic kaleidoscopic body moved by itself, both hands coming together.

CLAP!

Energy rippled through the surrounding void, then the palms separated, and something stretched between them.

A... blade?

It was a colossal longsword formed from condensed kaleidoscopic power, its edge shining so brightly that distant stars seemed dim behind it.

Damian’s consciousness practically tripped over itself.

Excuse me?!

The manifested body gripped the weapon.

One foot shifted, the shoulders lowered, and the blade angled at an incline.

Damian knew that posture.

Of course he knew it.

He had spent Skill Points mastering every transition, every reversal and every possible road hidden within it.

The starting stance of the !

Damian’s consciousness paused.

Across the void, the armored young man narrowed his eyes, then smiled.

Power erupted from his body as his human-sized figure began expanding.

From ten meters, to a hundred, then hundreds more.

His black armor grew with him while his cape stretched behind his body like a dark banner across the stars.

Within seconds, the stranger stood nearly equal to Damian’s manifested form.

He reached behind himself and the poleaxe came free.

A massive black weapon with a long reinforced shaft and brutal crescent head settled into both hands, energy exploding across its edge.

Damian stared seriously, his mind coming to a quick conclusion.

This person...

That face...

Damian felt he had seen versions of it before.

His Arcane Knowledge drummed up the answer for him as it also contained religious history.

No fucking way.

Valor...?

The first Otherworlder!

The man whose strange power became the foundation of the Valorian Overworld System and the very being whose name the entire damn world now carried.

Valor rolled one shoulder, then lowered the enormous poleaxe as his stance stabilized.

Damian’s manifested body raised its energy longsword.

Two colossal beings floated within the starry void, weapons ready, facing one another across the darkness.

Behind Valor, only a scattered handful of figures still standing beneath the traveling plane’s protective dome appeared capable of witnessing what was happening.

One of them gestured wildly while another seemed to place both hands over their head.

Damian sympathized deeply.

Because as Valor’s expression sharpened and the gigantic energy construct around Damian shifted into the first transition of the ...

Only one participant in this apparently imminent cosmic duel had absolutely no idea what the fuck was going on.

Damian himself!