Chapter 22: Inner World III - The Temple Complex

From the outside, the temple looked ancient and sacrosanct. An aura of solemnity pressed down on Annabelle as she stood at the entrance of the dark temple. It was barely lit, the only source of light coming in from the entrance as well as the huge hole in the back of the temple where the island broke off.

“By the way, what happened here?” she asked the System.

[The user’s mental state reflects on the Akashic World. As the user recovers, the damage will repair itself.]

By user, the System meant her. Did mental state reflect her emotions, her physical neural health, or both? “Well, Director Rhidde from the BME did say I’m a bit hurt up there temporarily. It’s barely noticeable though.”

[Because the user can operate almost normally even having sustained damage, all functions of the Akashic World are still fully operational. However, the user must find her way to each room instead of having an easily navigable nexus.]

“I see...”

The Akashic System was being really dramatic. Was there a need to break a whole floating island into little chunks just because her reaction speeds were a bit slow or she sometimes slurred?

In her opinion, that kind of minor impairment warranted some fissures in the ground at most, not outright destruction. At least everything still worked, even if she likely had to fly to other pieces of the floating temple.

She didn’t really mind the extra hassle anyway, since she quite enjoyed flying.

Above all, Annabelle wanted to know what the System had in store for her. On the off chance that the System was really as powerful as it proclaimed to be, she was curious as to just how it expected to elevate her.

“Where do I receive the rewards of the quest I did? I don’t really remember accepting one, though,” Annabelle said as she finally couldn’t restrain herself anymore and took a step forward. The instant her feet crossed some invisible threshold, previous braziers that had been hidden in the darkness burst into blue flames one after the other until a line of blue fires lit the length of the temple.

Torches on the wall were hit as well, illuminating the temple further.

Although the display should have been intimidating or awe inspiring, Annabelle could only shake her head. “It’s so dramatic! It’s adorable how hard it’s trying.”

She hadn’t noticed it before now, since being a literal text box it wasn’t very emotive and she had been rather annoyed at it, but the system panel had a bunch of little quirks that made it really cute.

[...]

[The user only needs to think about heading to the Quest Hall to know how to get there.]

“Haha, okay.”

Annabelle closed her eyes. Take me to the Quest Hall.

As if something in her mind had received her silent command, a tiny bit of information flowed into her mind, telling her the exact location of the Quest Hall along with the layout of the temple. 

It was a strange feeling, directly learning something without accessing a transitional medium like a video or book. Annabelle didn’t dwell for too long on it.

There were many rooms, a marketplace, gardens, and even a sanctuary in the innermost part of the temple. The sanctuary even had a place to sleep, though she thought that sleeping while in a dream-like world seemed fairly pointless. Maybe it had just been just for the sake of completion.

Regardless of what the rest of the temple looked like, though, she was more interested in the rewards, mostly because she had no idea what was in store for her. She had plenty of time to explore the rest of the temple later.

Her footsteps echoed in the empty central hallway, blending in with the crackling of the ever-burning flames. When she tried to examine one of the braziers, she found that there was no fuel. Despite that rather important item missing, the flames showed no signs of burning out.

 Let’s see. I think I turn here. Annabelle peeked into one of the side hallways, half expecting there to be someone in there, perhaps tending to the temple and cleaning the floors, but there wasn’t anyone. 

“Perhaps for the best. I think I’d get scared if I suddenly saw someone in here when there had been no sign of people for so long. How long have I been here anyway?”

The question had been rhetorical, but Annabelle had forgotten about the system panel that seemed to be always ready to please as long as the question wasn’t too personal. The panel bobbed once to catch her attention.

[Roughly roughly fifty-four minutes have passed since the user entered this world, accurate to the nearest minute.]

Below the panel was a little digital clock. It was 1:43 a.m., almost two hours after midnight. Annabelle remembered sleeping before eleven last night, so apparently she didn’t enter this weird world after she slept until a few hours had passed, for whatever reason.

It was also interesting that the System claimed to know the time outside the world.

Interesting, but for now, Annabelle put the thought into the back of her mind.

She had finally reached the Quest Hall, but her way was barred by what looked like a heavy stone door engraved with the design of a quill and parchment. She reached forward to push it open, but then she hesitated.

It wasn’t like she’d never watched movies in her spare time. Randomly open doors in a temple was a sure way to get cursed or struck by lightning. A bit too late to worry about disrespect, but she wanted to ask anyway. “This isn’t trapped or anything, right?”

[The user does not need to worry about traps. Nothing in the Akashic World will harm its creator.]

“So there is a trap?” Annabelle asked. “What could it be for if not me?”

She wasn’t sure, but the System seemed to imply that this world could be entered by people not her. If this was still just a dream of hers, then perhaps this was just her subconscious wanting Belevere to be able to join her here.

But if it was real... Annabelle felt her breathing speed up in excitement. She pushed the door open.

The stone doors were easier to move than she had expected from its apparent weight and size. With the sound of grinding stone, the doors slowly opened inwards, revealing what appeared to be an altar standing inside. But where there should have been a relief of a deity or some other holy imagery, there was just a blank slate.

The system panel blinked in front of her out of nowhere again, but having been startled twice by it, Annabelle refused to fall for it again. Although her heart still skipped a beat, at least she didn’t back up or act visibly startled. She’ll get used to it eventually, but for now this was good enough. 

[Welcome to the Quest Hall where you will be able to accept, check the progress of, and turn in quests.]

[!!!]

Annabelle hid a smile. A crystal ball was sitting on the altar, so she walked up and put her hand on it. Instead of cold from being in such a dark place for so long, the crystal was strangely warm.

As soon as her hand touched the crystal, the system panel flickered as if something was interfering with it. Annabelle raised her eyebrows. The panel then disappeared completely, vanished from her side and reappeared where the blank slate was, pulsing powerfully and dramatically.

Yet, despite the increased size, the panel was still the same system panel that had accompanied her through the island for the first time. 

As it appeared, it just sat there as if waiting for something. Annabelle stared back silently.

Finally, the blank display morphed. 

[In order to use the room, the user should say “Quest.”]

[...]

“Pfft. Hahaha!” Annabelle didn’t bother to hide her laughter this time. The System was really too cute. It was almost like a pet seeking her attention. She didn’t know if she was anthropomorphizing it too much, but the System or at least the system that was responsible for controlling the data display was really growing on her.

When she didn’t use it when it thought she would, it actually became depressed and disappointed. It even sulked. “Alright, alright, I’m sorry. Quest!”

Whereas every other time, the display changed instantly as soon as it finished processing her request, there was a noticeable delay this time—just long for her to be aware of, but not enough for her to complain about. Annabelle rolled her eyes and kept her mouth shut.

[Quests]

• [In Progress]    [1]
• [Pending]    [2][!]
• [Completed]    [0]

There was a large exclamation mark flashing beside the Pending section, while both seconds had the number of items in the list next to it.

“When did I even get a quest, let alone complete two?” Annabelle wondered again. Perhaps the System automatically accepted it for her? That was awfully proactive of it.

First she took a look at the “In-Progress” section.

[In Progress]    [1]

• Escape from Mother II

Annabelle closed the section silently and moved on to the “Pending” section, but she already knew what she would find there, and she had mixed feelings about it.

[Pending]    [2]

• Welcome to the Akashic System!
• Escape from Mother I

And I’m right. This System really does treat life as a game, huh? Annabelle thought. First it assigned attributes to her like it was some kind of roleplaying game, and now it was treating her life like a series of quests. It just seemed disrespectful to her who lived her life seriously.

But on the other hand, perhaps the System didn’t mean any disrespect. It simply generated quests based on major events of her life, and rewarded her for overcoming obstacles. There were little else that quests could be based on.

Her mood a bit soured when she realized how the System was referring to Vesmelda. She gritted her teeth. “She is not my mother!”

[Apologies.]

[!!!]

The display darkened slightly. The quests immediately changed, with all instances of Mother appearing as Vesmelda instead. Annabelle sighed, realizing she had overreacted a bit. It was just a bit weird for a System that seemed to know her so well to make this mistake.

“Sorry,” she said, smiling at the panel. “Can you show me what I received for the ‘Welcome’ quest, please?”

[Yes.]

[Of course.]

[Welcome to the Akashic System!]

• Welcome to the Akashic System, Annabelle Florent! We have been waiting for you and are pleased to finally get to know you!
• Difficulty:    F
• Goal:        Access the Akashic System
• Reward:     The Akashic System’s Welcome Package
          100 System Points
  • Turn in
  • Cancel

Annabelle was once again reminded how cute the System was. The part about how it has been waiting for her was weird, but since she was the creator of the System but did not access it until now, the line sort of made sense.

She tapped the “Turn In” option without hesitation, and the room began to shine with a gentle green light, as if the very aura of nature from the walls was rising up to fill this room.

The green aura crowded around her, caressing her, its touch gentle. Annabelle felt its yearning for her, and the joy it felt now that they’ve finally met. But while it could just barely touch her, she could not touch them back.

It ended all too soon before the light began to fade and the aura disappeared with it, leaving the room emptier than before. The display looked faded as well, as if it had taken a lot of energy to manifest the aura.

“Thank you,” Annabelle said, rubbing the crystal like Belevere often did to her head. Although she wasn’t sure if the crystal was really part of the System or not, it was the closest she had to it. The display brightened a bit at that, as if cheering up.

Then it darkened again.

[The System must apologize to the user for making a mistake in delivering the reward. Because the connection of the Warehouse unit is severed from the Quest Hall due to the damage to the island, the quest reward for ‘Welcome to the Akashic System!’ has been deposited in the Warehouse instead of delivered here.]

It suddenly sent a long message apologizing to her. 

“It’s no big deal. I can go fetch from there right now,” Annabelle said, laughing. She patted the crystal again. It was such a convenient shape.

[What of the other quest rewards?] the System protested.

Annabelle waved away the objection. “It’s alright. I can come back later. Since you prepared a gift for me, that obviously takes priority, right? So come on.”

She turned toward the stone doors she had come from. After a moment, the System panel popped off from the stone slate and flew to her side. 

As Annabelle began to walk, she glanced at the panel again. “Actually, you know, I do want to change how I’m referenced. Call me Anna, or Anne.”

The System stalled for a bit before it bobbed. 

[Understood, Anna.]

“And one more thing. Since I’m your creator, I should give you a name,” Annabelle said. She thought of a novel she had recently read that seemed appropriate. “How about Uriel or Akira?” 

The System didn’t move. Then it cleared its panel, about to display something, when Annabelle shook her head. She didn’t want to just pick a random name.

She would much rather derive something with more meaning from the System’s own original name. One obvious choice stood out.

She turned toward the now nameless panel completely, meeting it straight on.

“Your name is Akashi. Not the System, or the Akashic System. Akashi. Nice to meet you.”