Chapter 51: 50. The Insurgents

“This is when the system first appeared on this planet,” said ‘Loki’ as he snapped his fingers once more.

Everything around us stopped moving, and the silence was eerie.

I could still move, so I looked around me. I was inside a pub with Bert and Serge, and we were drinking heavily. It seemed like Johannes got close to them after becoming a town guard.

Suddenly, ‘Loki’ interrupted my train of thought.

“Poor Johannes, something unfortunate happened to him out of nowhere,” he said as he shrugged, “Uppers used to do whatever they wanted, and no one had the power to stop them.”

From what I understood, Uppers were the only people who could control mana. People didn’t have the guts or the power to rebel, and the technology of this world still wasn’t developed enough to allow the creation of mass-destruction weapons.

I guess people became complacent and lazy; the presence of Uppers eliminated the need to innovate and invent new tech.

Still, it irked me how people took their suffering silently. I knew that some people had it even worse than Johannes, but they didn’t even try to do anything.

Some people were executed for making eye contact with Uppers, and others were punished in front of large crowds because they weren’t presentable enough.

It’s odd to remember events that I’ve never been through; I’ll ask my mysterious friend about it later.

I was curious about the reason why I had Johannes’s memories, but I had other important questions to ask.

“Why do people still admire the Uppers?” I asked, “And how do they even acquire their ‘Divine Powers’?”

“Well, most commoners were happy during these times. Life was simple, but everyone had their needs taken care of. There were no conflicts between people and they didn’t have to deal with any external threats on their own.” He spoke.

He furrowed his eyebrows, then added.

“Uppers were born that way, and lineage had no influence on whether the child got a Divine Power or not,” he said, “Many commoners had kids with Divine Powers, but a ritual was needed to allow them to use those powers. Those children were venerated, and they were taken away from their families to live with other Uppers.”

I get it. Uppers considered themselves to be the master race...

“So, the children were raised with the mentality that they were superior to regular people,” I said, “That explains their petty actions...”

He nodded, then snapped his fingers twice.

Everything around me started moving at a much faster rate, but it was still slow enough for me to understand the events. I became an observer of Johannes’s actions, as his body moved on its own.

The town guards asked people about the strange floating windows and everyone confirmed seeing them.

People were skeptical at first, but they realized the value of the system after acquiring some levels. Everyone got a class, and most of them were combat-based.

The commoners learned that killing animals allowed them to level up, so they hunted the wild creatures. As time went on, the animals got bigger, stronger, and faster, but the villagers were progressing at a faster rate.

Uppers all around the planet didn’t like the appearance of the system, calling it a temptation of the devil. Many people stopped using the system in fear of the Uppers’ punishment, but a lot of them kept leveling up secretly.

Some of the Uppers were interested in this wizardry that allowed people to gain powers, so they tried to take advantage of the system to increase their strength.

Something interesting happened when they leveled up; their Latent Abilities got harder to use with each level gained.

Unwilling to lose their ‘Divine Powers’, they stopped using the system.

On the other hand, commoners kept grinding levels and most of them acquired superhuman levels of power.

Johannes and the other two town guards used to hunt together. They leveled up at a fast rate due to their teamwork and they were among the strongest in their town.

Out of nowhere, ‘Loki’ appeared and stopped the flow of time.

“The next scene is somewhat amusing,” he said, “it’s the penultimate event before the disaster.”

Disaster?

I was about to ask for more details, but my mysterious friend skipped ahead in time. It felt dizzy as usual, and I opened my eyes once that sensation went away.

I looked around me, trying to get familiar with the surroundings. It was nighttime and the moonlight illuminated the area.

I was inside a forest, sitting on a tree log; Bert and Serge were next to me. Silence pervaded the place, except for the occasional hissing of roaches.

There was a bonfire in front of us, and some meat was being cooked on top of it.

Suddenly, Bert broke the silence.

“Today’s hunt was plentiful! I even managed to reach the fifty-third level, yet the two of you haven’t reached the fiftieth level yet,” he said as he chuckled.

We laughed for a while, but his facial expression changed all of a sudden. It wasn’t usual for Bert to act seriously; we were confused.

He furrowed his eyebrows and his eyes displayed his determination; the stupid smile was gone. He took a deep breath and resumed his speech.

“Are you satisfied with your current life?” he asked us.

Serge nodded straight away, and I imitated him after some hesitation. Bert shook his head, and his disappointment was evident.

“I mean, we’re extremely powerful, yet we’re still town guards,” he said with a grin, then he addressed me and kept going, “The Uppers stole your fiancé, and you’re still obeying them!”

Then he addressed the chubby town guard and added, “And you Serge! You had to close your shop, and give it up for a cheap sum! Just because an Upper wanted the building for himself!”

He got up and started walking around the bonfire, and he went on.

“We’re town guards because our dreams were taken away from us!” he said, “However, we can do something about this.”

Serge nodded, then he replied.

“I agree with you Bert, and I am sure Johannes shares the same sentiment,” he said, “But there are only three of us! We can’t change anything on our own, and there are too many Uppers for us to take on.”

“You have a point,” said Bert with a smirk, “However, we’re not alone! I had been in contact with a couple of my friends from the capital, and they’re planning to attempt a coup all around the country.”

I interrupted him, as I was interested in his ‘friends’.

“Who are your friends? Besides, can we even trust them?” I asked, “And most importantly, what would happen if the coup is successful?”

“They call themselves the Insurgents, and they’ve been planning for this since the day of the system’s appearance. Many people have already joined them, and I am feeling optimistic about this operation,” he replied, “They’re going to eliminate Uppers, and they’ll re-establish governments to be under the rule of commoners. It’s about time our living conditions changed.”

It’s a rebellion, isn’t it?

I thought about it for a while and realized that commoners had a rather high chance of pulling it off.

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Uppers’ Latent abilities stopped working once they acquired many levels in their classes, and most of them still had low levels because they feared losing their ‘Divine Powers’.

There was no way for them to match high-leveled commoners, not to mention that commoners had the advantage of numbers to their side. A one-sided massacre was the only possible result that I imagined.

Bert kept speaking about his dreams and what he’d do once the rebellion succeeded, but I didn’t pay him any attention as I was deep in thought.

‘Loki’ stopped time once more, and he had a wide grin on his face.

“Next up is the main course,” he said, “Get ready, as the next scene might get a little too heavy. I’ll skip ahead a couple of months, and you’ll witness the aftermath of the coup.”

I lost consciousness when he fast-forwarded the passage of time, and I opened my eyes feeling a sharp pain in my belly.

I took a look at the location that felt painful, and a small knife was stuck there. It was painful, but I knew that the injury wasn’t fatal.

I was wearing heavy armor, and I held a long sword with both of my arms and it was covered in blood.

A corpse was laying on the ground in front of me, and there were many holes in its torso. Blood was pouring profusely out of the injuries; the man was beyond saving.

I found his face to be familiar, and I recognized him to be the Upper that Lunaria left Johannes for.

A system screen appeared in front of me.

[Human: Ravel Milendious] (Common) (Class: (Level: 4) defeated! Host earned 12200 EXP.

 

 

I felt a rush of adrenaline out of nowhere, but it disappeared after I breathed deeply for a couple of seconds.

I was inside a luxurious room; its walls were decorated with precious gems and beautiful paintings.

I must be inside Ravel’s castle in the capital; they must’ve pulled off the coup!

I scanned the area around me, and corpses covered the floor. There were more than twenty inside this room, and many of them had their heads cut cleanly.

Most of them were maids and poor servants, and they were only serving the Upper to preserve their lives.

Oh shit, Johannes killed everyone that stood in his way!

“I believe this is enough history about Glitchers,” ‘Loki’ said as he appeared next to me, “Funny thing is, you would’ve been an Upper if you were born in this era!”

“An Upper? I might live well for a while, but one day a villager would slaughter me with a butter knife!” I said with a shaky voice.

My hands were trembling due to the Adrenaline, and I shuddered when I imagined my fate as an Upper if I were born in the Antecedent Era.

I remembered something important and asked ‘Loki’ to allow me to check something.

I ran around the castle, and the number of corpses was staggering. The injury in my belly felt painful, but I endured the sensation with sheer willpower.

I met some people along the way, and they seemed to recognize me.

They wore armor that was similar to mine, and every suit of armor had the same insignia. It depicted three swords; two of them stuck in the ground and the third one floating above them and pointing toward the sky.

They’re members of the Insurgents…

They asked me about my mission, and whether I was injured or not. I gave them quick answers and kept running through a large hallway. There were many corpses, but none of them resembled the person that I was looking for.

I can’t find Lunaria… Johannes did all of this just to have a shot at getting her back, yet she’s nowhere to be seen!

Suddenly, I noticed a certain corpse on the ground, and I was sure of it.

It was Lunaria, and she was dead. There was a long cut on her torso, and she was covered in her own blood.

I felt bad for Johannes. He didn’t have many ambitions like Bert and he didn’t care about changing the status quo; the only thing he wanted was to get Lunaria back.

What a sad existence…

It was depressing to witness such a life from a first-person view.

‘Loki’ appeared next to me, and he said with a cheerful voice.

“The rebellion was successful in case you wanted to know. The Insurgents managed to overthrow the previous regime, and established themselves as the rulers of this country.” he said, “Bert and Serge attained advanced positions in the new country that emerged, and so did Johannes. The Insurgents spread their influence to many other countries, and revolutions happened all around this planet. After that, rebellions against Uppers happened all around the universe!”

I wanted to ask him for more details about Johannes’s life, but I felt that it was better for me to focus on other things.

“What happened to the remaining Uppers?” I asked.

“Most of them were exiled, and they became known as Glitchers. The ritual to awaken their Latent Abilities was lost throughout history, and many people died without ever finding out that they were Glitchers,” he said, “There are a few organizations that still have access to the awakening ritual, but they operate secretly in fear of retaliation from the deities.”

The cloaked people that I met during my first class evolution must’ve been an organization of Glitchers…I need to find out more about my Latent Ability; it’s my best bet to find out more about them.

Furthermore, I realized the reason why deities hated Glitchers so much.

So, deities were regular people back in the day, huh?

“Let’s go back,” I said, “You’re going to teach me the method of using my Latent Ability, right?”

“Yeah, it’s about time,” he said as he patted my back.

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Special Shoutout to:

chris

Water Dragon

GenericKane

Bladesunder

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