Chapter 30: The primordial Succubus
Erik stopped.
The first thing he noticed was that the sound had vanished.
The wind in the forest, the flowing water, the birdsong, along with the footsteps from just moments ago all vanished in the same instant, making the silence around him turn eerie.
Erik turned to his side.
Felyn was still standing there, but she was completely motionless.
The blonde hair that had still been swaying lightly as she stepped through the door had frozen in midair. The Succubus tail behind her also held its pose curving to one side, and the small hand still resting in Erik’s had lost all response.
"Felyn?"
Erik waved his hand in front of her face.
No reaction.
Felyn was like a statue frozen in the very moment of stepping through the door.
Erik knitted his brows, his gaze immediately turning wary.
The entire space around them had also changed.
Color had disappeared, leaving only black and white.
Beneath Erik’s feet was a white plane stretching out to where the eye could no longer see. Countless black lines intersected above, some running straight into the distance, some curving through the air, and a few even pulling up from below his feet to above his head before suddenly veering off in a completely illogical direction.
Erik looked at the scene before him, and a memory from his past life involuntarily surfaced.
’Like Interstellar?’
It was just that actually standing inside this kind of space felt completely different from watching it through a screen.
Distance along with direction seemed to have lost all meaning. Erik wasn’t even sure whether what he was seeing ahead was truly "ahead" at all.
He tried opening the information panel.
No response.
The glasses over his eyes also displayed only two lines.
[NO SIGNAL.]
[UNKNOWN SPACE.]
Erik immediately reached behind him and gripped the Gale Thunder Spear.
At the same time, outside the Trial Space, the screens of all the noble madams suddenly went black.
[Madam Ravia: Where’s the feed?]
[The Sleepless Madam: I lost the signal too.]
[Madam Ysera: The cameras got cut.]
[Meira: Anonymous user, what happened?]
In the dark room, the mysterious woman also slowly sat up straight.
The dozens of screens before her simultaneously displayed red warning messages.
[CAMERA FEED LOST.]
[ACCESS DENIED.]
[UNKNOWN AUTHORITY.]
Fair, slender fingers immediately flew across the keyboard. A string of commands ran across the screen, but the result was exactly the same as before.
[ACCESS DENIED.]
The woman narrowed her eyes slightly.
Since infiltrating the Trial Space’s system until now, this was the first time anything had directly cut all of her access.
It wasn’t the Center detecting the intrusion.
The standard security system didn’t have this kind of authority either.
Whatever had just appeared inside clearly existed on an entirely different level.
The woman slowly leaned back in her chair, her eyes reflecting the red warning lines.
"Interesting."
But this time, even she couldn’t see what was happening inside.
...
Erik still stood beside Felyn.
The space around him was so quiet that he could clearly hear his own heartbeat.
Suddenly, an immense pressure appeared.
Erik immediately looked up.
Far away among the black and white lines, a faint silhouette was gradually taking shape.
At first it was only a few very small outlines. Then the silhouette grew larger and larger, until Erik realized this was the form of a woman.
Her scale completely exceeded imagination.
A single hand alone looked as though it could cover an entire city.
Long hair spread out across the black-and-white space, each lock stretching in different directions before vanishing into the endless lines. Behind the woman was a pair of colossal wings, and a long tail that curved through layers of space so far that Erik couldn’t see where it ended.
Her features were obscured by a veil of darkness.
Only a pair of reddish-purple eyes slowly opened.
The instant that gaze fell upon Erik, his entire body went taut.
The feeling was as if everything on his person had been seen through.
From skin, bone, and blood, all the way to a place deeper than Erik had ever thought anyone could reach.
His soul.
His hand immediately clenched the spear shaft.
The woman’s voice rang out directly inside Erik’s mind.
"Interesting."
Erik looked at her without answering.
The reddish-purple eyes continued to observe him.
"The body belongs to this world, but the soul..."
The woman paused for a moment.
The corner of her lips, hidden in the darkness, seemed to curve up slightly.
"Comes from somewhere else entirely."
Erik’s gaze immediately changed.
Since crossing into this world five years ago, this was the first time anyone had directly seen through his greatest secret.
He was silent for a few seconds before asking:
"Who are you?"
The colossal woman didn’t answer right away.
The black-and-white lines around her body slowly shifted. The space looked like a massive sheet of paper being folded and then pulled apart, yet Erik himself felt no disturbance whatsoever.
After a while, that voice continued.
"Titles no longer matter much to me. But if you need a name to call me by..."
The reddish-purple eyes lowered slightly.
"You may call me the Primordial Succubus."
Erik knitted his brows.
’Primordial Succubus?’
Those two words immediately made him think of his own talent.
[Primordial Incubus.]
Coincidence?
Or did a real connection exist between the two?
Before Erik could think any deeper, the Primordial Succubus had already turned her gaze to Felyn, motionless beside him.
Her eyes rested on the woman for a few seconds.
Then a faint sigh rang out.
"In truth, the world you’re living in was created by me."
Erik raised an eyebrow slightly.
This time he was genuinely surprised.
The Primordial Succubus didn’t seem to care about his reaction and simply continued at her own pace:
"At first, my idea was very simple. I created a world where Succubi made up the vast majority, then placed a small number of men inside."
The black-and-white lines before Erik shifted.
A faint image appeared.
Unfamiliar cities.
Thousands of Succubi walking along wide streets.
Among that sea of people, only occasionally did a man appear.
The Primordial Succubus looked at the scene, her voice flat, yet Erik detected a hint of helplessness in it.
"I thought that when men became rare, Succubi would cherish them all the more. A good relationship would produce more emotions, and emotions are one of the things that help Succubi develop their strength and stabilize their bloodlines."
Erik rubbed his chin lightly.
He was beginning to understand what she meant.
The Primordial Succubus let out a soft sigh.
"About the first half, I was right."
The image before him changed.
A young man lay on a lounge chair, two beautiful Succubi sitting on either side attending to him. One was peeling fruit and bringing it to his mouth, the other was kneeling down to adjust his shoes.
In another scene, a man so overweight he could barely stand on his own was shouting at the Succubi around him. Those women were clearly far stronger than he was, yet all of them kept their heads bowed and endured it.
The corner of Erik’s eye twitched.
The Primordial Succubus continued:
"Succubi did indeed come to treasure men more and more. But I had underestimated one thing."
She looked at Erik.
"When a person is pampered by everyone from the moment of birth, when every need is proactively met, when even walking a few steps makes others worry he might get tired..."
The Primordial Succubus paused for a moment.
"It’s very hard for him not to become spoiled."
Erik gave a light cough.
For some reason, he got the feeling that the voice of this deity who had created an entire world carried a touch of embarrassment.
He asked:
"So this was outside expectations?"
The reddish-purple eyes of the Primordial Succubus shifted slightly to one side.
"...Mm."
Erik nearly burst out laughing.
An existence capable of creating an entire world, and in the end she had failed at the step of raising men.
But he quickly grew serious again.
"Men being spoiled alone shouldn’t have been enough to turn the world into what it is now, right?"
"Correct."
The Primordial Succubus raised one finger.
The scene before his eyes immediately transformed.
Erik saw a great many Succubi fighting monsters, but the strength of those in later generations was clearly weaker than those who came before.
"Succubi are different from many ordinary races. Beyond absorbing energy to level up, emotions have a very large influence on their strength, bloodlines, along with their rate of growth."
She paused briefly, then explained more clearly.
"Love, happiness, satisfaction, anticipation, being stirred, even jealousy and desire can all become a form of emotional value. The more genuine and intense the emotions, the more pronounced the effect on a Succubus."
Erik immediately thought of Felyn.
In just one day, her emotions had changed enormously.
From despair, caution, and fear, to joy, bashfulness, and excitement.
The Primordial Succubus went on:
"But the current world has strayed from what I desired."
The image changed once more.
The vast safe zones gradually shrank.
Beyond the city walls were countless monsters.
A number of cities that had once existed in the past had completely disappeared from the map.
"Men increasingly treat being cared for by Succubi as a matter of course. Succubi have also grown accustomed to simply giving, serving, and obeying."
"The relationships between the two sides still exist, but the emotions grow poorer by the day."
The Primordial Succubus’s voice slowed.
"A great many Succubi spend their entire lives doing nothing but fighting, earning money, providing resources, then coming home to care for their partner. They receive far too few things that bring them genuine joy, anticipation, or that stir their hearts."
Erik watched the image of a Succubus covered in wounds returning home, while the man lying in bed only frowned because she was late.
No further explanation was needed. He already understood.
"So the emotional value dropped?"
"Correct."
The Primordial Succubus nodded.
"And when the emotional value of the entire race continuously declines, the potential of Succubi also begins to weaken. Geniuses appear less often, the rate of leveling slows, and powerful bloodlines become harder and harder to awaken."
A massive map appeared before Erik.
The bright areas representing Succubus territory were continuously being swallowed by the darkness outside.
"Meanwhile, the monsters beyond the safe zones are still evolving."
The Primordial Succubus looked at the bright zones slowly shrinking on the map.
Her voice grew heavier.
"This world is regressing."
"The land belonging to Succubi grows smaller with each passing year."