Kingdom Building: Civilization Starts with Divinity-Chapter 106: System Error

"Hmm... It’ll be beginning soon." A young man hummed.

His fiery red hair fluttered about despite there being no wind to push it around.

|<What do you mean?>| The system asked him.

"What do I mean." He repeated in a mocking tone.

"An Arbiter descended. Don’t tell me you didn’t know. What’s your goal, Sys? This world doesn’t have the necessary preparations for your descent yet."

|<Ah.>|

|<A minor mishap occurred with a high-priority Prospect, so an Arbiter was curious.>|

The man looked at the system in his peripherals while admiring the stars that began appearing in the sky while the sun vanished.

"A minor mishap? Well, how did it end? You’ve already lost 43 of your precious Prospects. Is losing a high-priority one something you guys can afford?"

|<She will survive. Gula’s favorite child won’t fall to something like that. Also, it seems like the administrator assigned to her is quite fond of her. They won’t allow anything to happen to her. My guess is after the major update, they’ll be given an elixir or something.>|

Fiery hair’s eyes widened when the system mentioned Gula. Shortly after, he broke into a fit of laughter, rolling around and nearly falling off the roof on which he rested.

"The Verminae are here? Who specifically?"

|<Notice: ID: 00051682, Alchemy "Eve" Ennis.>|

|<Notice: Lifetime highest rank: rank 1>|

"Ooohh! Such a big fish started near me. Let me guess, in that forest over there?" He questioned, looking at the edge of the Forest of Ghosts and Ash.

|<There are three Prospects in the forest. Moreover, a fourth Prospect is heading in your direction from the plains.>|

"The kid blessed by Gula, huh? I’ve had a couple of run-ins with her in the past. She’s definitely no push over. Well... I can’t wait to meet her. I hope she doesn’t fall before she turns this canvas into something beautiful!"

|<Please handle the Prospects with care. They are still fragile.>|

|<Notice: An Error has occurred in the system. Danger is approaching!>|

|<Shit.>|

|<Prepare yourself, Zoey. We fucked up.>|

"You always do. That’s why you brought us to this world with the Prospects, right?" Zoey arrogantly sighed.

"Whatever you need from me, my beloved system."

...

Alchemy groaned as her eyes slowly opened.

"It’s... So cold." She groaned.

She heard a flurry of notifications but put them aside for now.

While she sat on her throne, Alchemy recalled what happened.

"Mental Destruction. Not Disintegration?"

She seemed unbothered by the ordeal. Before losing consciousness, she recalled the timer being extended. All that was left of the effects was a buzzing migraine and a bone-deep chill.

Before she worried about that, though, she left her hut. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

The stars were already out, but her colony was more active than ever. Nera was ordering them around; the granitects were working on something by the world tree, and the Sylvan Carvers all returned and were focusing on gathering more food above all else.

Offensive units were even being created. Even Sapphire was running around doing... Something. Alchemy wasn’t exactly sure.

’This can’t be good.’

Alchemy was about to call out to Nera when the latter turned around and saw her.

"Mother Goddess! You’re awake! Are you okay?"

"Alive for now." Alchemy shrugged.

"What happened while I was out? Fill me in."

"Ah... Uhm... About that..." Nera hesitated.

In response, Alchemy let out a deep sigh.

’I feel so dull. Even with the World Tree’s Authority, there were still some side effects?’

"We’re about to be invaded?" Alchemy guessed.

"How did you?!"

Alchemy looked around. It was the only logical explanation. Alchemy’s mental destruction issue aside, her civilization was wholly stable and had no reason to grow larger at the moment.

If Nera was risking that stability by creating units, an invasion was the only reason Alchemy could imagine.

"Lucky guess... Or perhaps I had a vague feeling something bad was going to happen on this "Major Update." Yeah, let’s go with that one."

She tried to be sarcastic, but even that didn’t feel right. Truth be told, the thought of something bad happening on the major update did occur to her briefly, but she had thought the system would warn her of such a thing.

"T-the System said that we need to prepare for the worst due to an error of some sort. Something to do with a vulnerability created from the Major Update. You’re better off asking them than getting the information from me."

Alchemy ended up rolling her eyes.

"Alright, system, bombard me."

|<Notice: Estimated time until Memory Destruction: 23 hours 55 minutes 12 seconds.>|

|<Notice: You have acquired a new stat!>|

|<Notice: An Arbiter has shown interest in you.>|

|<Notice: You have accomplished three Legendary Feats! First Prospect to have five main stats. | First Prospect to discover a new type of energy. | First Prospect to gain the interest of an Arbiter.>|

|<Notice: Your new stat, AUR, has been set to 1.>|

|<Notice: You have gained a new Resource: Ki Points!>|

|<Notice: An error has occurred in the system. A vulnerability has been created due to the Major Update.>|

|<Notice: Otherworldly Monsters will begin to invade the world in 0 days, 5 hours, 6 minutes, and 18 seconds! Please prepare for the worst.>|

|<We are glad you have recovered well!>|

"Conveniently a vulnerability right as something more important comes up. Wow, that’s bad, even for this god-forsaken system." She paused for a few moments, going over the information one more time in her head.

"Lovely..." Alchemy scoffed sarcastically.

"Mother Goddess. You can just leave this to us! You should rest and figure out what to do about the Mental Destruction."

Taking a few steps forward, Alchemy shook her head.

"What’s there to figure out? It’s a debuff. The fact that the World Tree’s Authority worked on it to some extent is proof of that. Which means I need to find a tonic strong enough to dispel it. Am I right, System."

|<Notice: Yes.>|

|<There is another method.>|

"Oh, you’re talkative... Okay, what is it?"

The system felt like it was referring directly to her, rather than giving general information available to everyone. Mostly because of the large lack of "Notices" involved.

|<Mental Destruction is a special debuff and can only occur in striking circumstances. Meditation is not one of them.>|

"Is that good or bad?"

|<It was due to forcibly sealed memories attempting to resurface.>|

Alchemy froze up for several seconds, only for her eyebrows to rise.

"Oh."

She paused again.

"Go on."

|<In short, if those memories are successfully unsealed, the mental destruction will cease.>|

Irritation, and... A bit of anger appeared on Alchemy’s face. Even this numbness that overcame her wasn’t enough to stop the system from annoying her.

"No, that’s great. Perfect, even. So now I have to be cursed with the knowledge that I don’t even have all my own memories. Well then, do tell, great System. How can I go about unlocking these repressed memories?"

|<It has been decided that one of your rewards for the Major Update will be able to assist you in prolonging the Mental Destruction and unsealing your memories.>|