"For a moment, you might have been the strongest in your world." The Keeper looked at Leo with a weird look. "If we assume that you happened to be at the entrance the moment people of your world were transported to the tutorial zone, the system could have recognized you as the only entity capable of defending your world and offered you to enter the Prime Dungeon to stop it from being destroyed. While the system usually requires candidates for Primes to be strong, they do have other requirements as well, one of them being the possession of a specific skill. The system can be tricked or manipulated, but at the end of the day, it is still the system and its rules. If there was no one stronger in your world, you would be the only choice."

'Did I seriously become a hero by accident?' Leo thought to himself.

"Unprecedented but not impossible, though rarely did something like that happen. Maybe the gods deemed it fit for you to come here." He continued. "The gods are strange creatures, often with no regard for the lives of mortals; even the good ones could easily wipe out nations or species if they desired to do so. Who knows what kind of entertainment they can get out of this particular situation."

"If that was true, what happens now?"

"What do you mean?" The old man questioned Leo's words.

"In all those games and stories there's always a plot of sorts, and in most cases it is connected to the arrival of the chosen hero who comes from some-"

"Let me stop you right there." The Keeper interrupted Leo's words. "The story you just described is irrelevant to this situation. The fact of the matter is you are here, and the world you came from will soon fall prey to the Void. It doesn't matter whether you are a hero or a villain, what matters is what you do right now." He continued his speech. "Right now there is nothing you can do. The Stele already closed off the entrance to the Prime Dungeon and unless you have the ability to dispel the barrier, it will stay closed until the Boss dies. Your only option is defeating the Boss. Once that happens, the entrance to the Prime Dungeon will be accessible once again, thus allowing for your escape."

"You keep mentioning this boss thing, but what exactly is it?"

"Every Prime Dungeon has its main monster called the Guardian of the Prime. By defeating it, you can claim the title of the Prime, and become a Prime of your world." The old man replied. "If you fail to do so, the Guardian will be let loose and eventually will absorb all the remaining lifeforce from your world, thus perishing it. It is much easier said than done, however."

"Well shit."

Leo cursed softly, and stared at the Keeper. It was clear from his expression that he was conflicted. As someone who didn't receive any class from the system and was unable to level up, defeating a Big Bad Boss Monster that supposedly can devour the life force of an entire world seemed like a rather unreachable goal. He didn't even have any idea of what its power truly was.

"Do you truly have no recollection of anything regarding the classes?" The old man asked again.

"Why would I lie about it?"

The Keeper paused, deep in thought before speaking once more.

"How about you just show me your stats panel first?"

"Show you the stats panel?" Leo replied. "How do I do that?"

"You can use the stele to share your stats or anything else you want to share. Just put your hand on it and think about it. The system will take care of everything else." The old man answered patiently.

Leo placed his hand on the Stele, and as the old man said, the system instantly generated a page for him with his current statistics. It quickly began to list out his information but halfway through, all the characters collapsed, and a new phrase appeared in the middle of the stele.

"Now this is something new indeed..." The old man squinted his eyes as he read the inscription. "Let us wait a while." He added, as if telling Leo not to worry about it.

After waiting a few minutes, the number next to the sentence changed from zero percent to one. Then another to two. And so on and so on. Ten minutes passed until the display showed sixty-three percent completed.

At this point, Leo was beginning to feel impatient and agitated, but the old man remained calm and composed. He had already been there for many years. He could afford to wait a little more.

Just as he finished thinking that the counter rose again, reaching eighty-seven percent completed. Another five minutes passed and the percentage increased to ninety-six. Then finally...

One hundred percent.

"I have never seen system behave like this." Old man stroked his beard. He opened his mouth once again but before he was able to voice his thought, a new line appeared on the stele.

"Not a cultivator either, huh." The old man muttered softly. "I was hoping your world was one that still has cultivators, in this case, you'd still have a chance, albeit a minuscule one." He continued with a sigh.

"What's a cultivator?" Leo asked curiously.

The old man looked at Leo incredulously and shook his head.

"A relic of the past." He answered somberly. "Beings that do not rely on the system. They use their own power to attain immortality and godhood. Most of them perished long ago during the war or the great cataclysm that followed, the one that ultimately lead to the system being installed. Their descendants live on through their bloodlines and lineages. Though every year it becomes harder and harder to find them." He continued. "These beings were the rulers of the worlds long ago. They ruled them through their own strength and had dominion over vast territories and countless realms. Now they are mostly extinct. Only rare remnants of their power remain in some distant corners of the universe, their long gone glory only preserved in songs and legends." The old man finished his long monologue.

"But how does that work?"

The old man laughed.

"Would you believe me if I told you that every being on your planet has their own unique magical pathways?"

"Eh, no?" Leo shook his head in denial.

The old man laughed again and then motioned with his hands, waving them in the air as if trying to grab onto something invisible. A moment later a small sphere appeared out of thin air. It was a shimmering azure orb with golden stripes running across its surface. It looked beautiful. It almost looked like a miniature galaxy frozen in time.

"This is the origin point of all the mana of this realm. All the primal energies of life and death. All of them stem from this little orb, though most of the time they are invisible to the naked eye and inaccessible by the majority of the population due to their lacking understanding of how to utilize them." The old man explained as he handed the sphere to Leo.

It felt warm when he touched it. It felt as if it was alive, as if it was a living, breathing creature; full of life and energy. There was so much he didn't understand about the world he lived in, but perhaps that was why he was here right now, to learn about things he was previously unaware of.

"In the past, cultivators cultivated this energy and used it to increase their power and improve their physique."

"Like, some sort of chakra?" Leo asked.

"Exactly like that."

Leo was quiet for a moment, staring at the orb he was holding. It felt amazingly real and solid in his hand. There was so much he didn't know, yet this tiny object seemed to hold the answers to all of his questions.

"Will I be able to learn this stuff?" Leo suddenly blurted out.

"Learn? I have no idea. I told you already, that cultivators were a relic of the past. They had never appeared on my homeworld, and by the time I took on the position of the keeper, the system had been in place for tens of thousands of years already. I was hoping that if your world was one of those with a cultivation legacy, then you could use the mana-rich environment here to train. Unfortunately, you are not so lucky." The old man smiled sadly and reached out his hand, taking back the orb. The sphere slowly disintegrated into fine golden particles as it melted into his skin.

Leo looked at him somewhat disheartened and confused.

"So basically, you are telling me that my chances of survival are nonexistent and my only option is to just give up?"

The old man rubbed his temple and sighed. "I hope that's not what you will do, but yes, this is the cold truth."

"Can't you help me somehow?" Leo asked in an almost pleading tone. "Give me something useful so I could have a chance of killing the monster?"

"Even if I wanted to, I would not be able to." The old man replied with a frown. "System rules forbid it."

"Bullshit!" Leo almost shouted angrily, his frustration bubbling to the surface.

The old man chuckled. "Language, young man."

"Fuck you," Leo grumbled, turning away from him. "I just learned that my world is going to be destroyed! I have no clue what to do and where to even begin. Not to mention my chances of actually beating the final boss. It is bullshit, I am screwed. My world is doomed." He paused for a moment before adding. "I don't know who sent me here. Or if it was really an accident, or someone had a personal beef with me. Whatever it is, I cannot accept dying or giving up like this. This just sucks."

The old man was silent, looking at Leo for several seconds before he spoke again.

"Life is cruel." He spoke gently, with sympathy in his voice. "From time to time, you will face situations where you can do everything right, and still ultimately fail." His voice trailed off a bit before he continued. "That is life, you either succeed or die. Those who cannot cope with that reality will end up dead sooner rather than later." He sighed heavily, closing his eyes, thinking about something. Finally, after a moment he turned to face Leo once more.

"Unfortunately, I cannot just grant you strength or items that would help you. The system prohibits it." He shook his head. "However, there is a way for you yet."

MasterOfGainDomain

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