Chapter 594: Time Flies

The Archmage did not die.

He was so close, but in a hazy state of dying, a local hunter passed by him and saved him with a simple bun and some jerky. Just like that, no elderly were harmed in this game!

The Sage-Emperor of the Magi had never eaten anything this peasant-like since he was born. Yet, of all delicacies he had ever tasted, these were the most heavenly.

“I spent all my life teaching this little punk all I’ve got, you know, investing all that I have in him, but did he do to his benefactor, hmm? He left his old teacher in an empty, barren mountain and just left me to die!” The Archmage lambasted bitterly to the poor hunter lending his sympathetic ear. He had forgotten that this man and his people were all created by the target of his diatribe.

“That must be very difficult,” The hunter said empathetically. “But you mentioned being a teacher, yes? Maybe you could come to my village and teach the kids how to read and write?”

Having no place to go and no way to survive, the Archmage could only accept the hunter’s invitation and became an ordinary village teacher.

On the other hand, the Warrior Walker and the girls had settled down in Laeticia’s farm, now called “Stardew Valley.” Perhaps it was by divine arrangement, or it was just plain old luck, the Warrior Walker soon found the Fairy Walker, Tisdale, Nota, and the rest of Baiyi’s Angels. She also managed to rescue many of the fairy women and the academy’s female students, yet for some reason, no man had ever turned up.

Thus, a settlement of independent, skilled women worked together in this barren mountain and expanded the farm into a village. They divided responsibilities among themselves per their abilities, with some of them helping out with the crops, some in harvests, and more. Soon, the Stardew Valley community began to grow steadily in prosperity.

When their basic needs were met, the women could afford to learn magic and combat chi to reclaim the power they had in the real world. The following days brimmed with bustle and purpose.

Many other Voidwalkers may be more expert and experienced than some of the girls in Stardew Valley, yet quite a handful of them had lives that paled in comparison. Take the Engineer Walker as an example: right now, the world’s best mecha pilot could only act as a stable boy and — sometimes — a mechanic for a caravan of traveling merchants. Meanwhile, the Hitman Walker gave up his honor and pride and became a highwayman, even setting up a ruffians’ hideout in the mountains. Then, there was the Caveman Walker, who continued to wander the wilderness aimlessly as a vagrant.

The Soul Armature Practitioner, who wished for Pokeballs but found no Pokemons to catch, joined the circus as an animal trainer for food. Thus, he lived a tumultuous, unstable life with his troupe and — sometimes — had to endure the jeers and mockeries of the nobles and local government.

The Knight Walker chose a keg of fine mead as his starter-gift. When he finished it, he had no choice but to work as a medieval security guard for a noble. The Eight Walker, on the other hand, continued doing what it had done since birth and perfected in life — be a tree.

Lastly, the Astrologer Walker and the Painter Walker had both turned to the streets to earn a living. The Astrologer Walker had set up a shady-looking fortune-telling booth, while the Painter Walker earned his keep from commissions handed out by people shopping on the streets.

Other Voidwalkers lived objectively incredible lives. The Charlatan Walker, through his impeccable gift for deceit, became rich by tricking a noble, who had saved him by the roadside, into handing him a large sum of money. Then, the Charlatan Walker manipulated some gangs of the underworld into bankrolling his casino. Money had been pouring into his pocket ever since.

Utilizing his expertise and prowess in the dark arts, the Lich Walker founded an order of necromancers in a town. There, he earned trust and money by lying to have granted the wealthy and nobles immortality — a lie he used to fuel his authority. At the rate the Lich Walker, whose logo was a skull, was growing, it was only a matter of time before he became number one in the power ranking.

Meanwhile, the Incubus Walker, who chose hypnosis as its starter-gift, had traveled to a small town. With its appearance as an eight-foot-tall demon with bloodshot eyes — which were as big as soup plates — and lips with the color of fresh blood, the Incubus Walker began a cult, whose members — the locals — worshipped it in fear. The Alchemist Walker had chosen a few simple restorative potions as his starter-gift, after which he had traveled to a busy local market. Afterward, his fame began to skyrocket, as he had brought medicines to a world in which alchemy was non-existent.

Tormented by hunger, the Blacksmith Walker finally relented and reluctantly exchanged his beautiful watch for a mining license and a loan. Even more reluctantly, he organized a mining expedition. Fortunately for the Blacksmith Walker, with his natural talents as a dwarf and his wealth of experience as a blacksmith, he was able to accumulate wealth. One would expect him to get very rich very soon.

However, the Blacksmith Walker was miserable. When his student asked him why he was this way, he sulked, “Because this was the life I lived last time! I’m supposed to live a different life in this goddamned simulation game. How am I supposed to be happy when my second life is the same as my previous one?!”

“Uh, am I supposed to be Second Perfect or Agent now?” The student murmured, looking tired.

“What kind of question is that? You’re now SceeVee!¹ Chop chop, get to work,” the Blacksmith Walker snapped as he propped his pickaxe onto his shoulder.

“Then, what does that make you, Mentor?” SceeVee, who was walking behind the Blacksmith Walker, asked.

“Me? Just a lowly 2080Ti¹,” the Blacksmith Walker said, wearing a self-deprecating smile.

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That was an overview of the Voidwalkers’ current situation. After a casual glance at their current states, Baiyi understood that his simulation was running as smoothly as planned.

However, Baiyi chose to reprogram the mind of a local noble scholar, making the scholar suddenly feel the need to visit a remote village in the mountains to enjoy nature and countryside culture. This remote village was the Archmage’s present abode.

After that, Baiyi left the players to their own devices.

Baiyi had heard every word of the Archmage’s complaint, but he just could not do much about it — not in the way he used to, at least. As the simulation was set to carry on for a very, very long period of time, Baiyi had sped the gameplay using the Temporal Laws. In his eyes, the game was like a video played at thirty-two times the normal speed; this made it difficult to give the Archmage exclusive cheats.

Baiyi’s attention was mostly focused on building his new world. This was the reason why he had set the simulation game to collect data for future references. Combat chi and mana would continue to exist in this new world, but at this early stage of civilization, no one ought to know how to use them yet. Baiyi wanted to see what sort of progress and change mavericks like the Voidwalkers would bring in this simulation.

Building a new world from the ground up was not a simple feat. For starters, the Laws Baiyi had received from Key were too cursory and skin-deep, and this limited Baiyi’s understanding of them, as well as the power he had over them. Thus, there were many limitations to what Baiyi could do.

To put it as an analogy, Baiyi’s control of the environment was similar to that of a game engine over a simulated world. He could throw in all kinds of assets, change the landscape to his heart content, and even tweak the world’s physical laws. Despite the freedom this ostensibly offered, however, Baiyi could not do anything outside the ability of the game engine. He would be unable to create another planet and alien life; he would be unable to take away a human’s basic need for food and water, neither could he replace this method of sustenance with photosynthesis. Baiyi could also not make humans acquire new techniques by screaming — “Ooooaaahhhhhh!” — at the top of their lungs with their comrades. Most importantly, Baiyi was unable to make his new world as advanced as the world had been during the Age of Gods.

It was a possibility that the One True God, who gifted Baiyi this Key, intended that he had these limitations. It was not his wish to have Baiyi copied his steps, neither did he want Baiyi’s new world to follow in the steps of the prehistoric civilization.

In fact, the Laws that Key provided were not even enough to grant Baiyi Arbiter Rights. If the Fifth Walker truly wanted that power, he would have to wage Holy Wars against the current gods.

Baiyi had considered doing that, but he abandoned the idea eventually. One, he was afraid that his new world might repeat the mistakes of the prehistoric world. Second, he was not interested in becoming an omnipotent God. Just the thought of it felt like a chore. [1]

Hence, the new world Baiyi planned to create would be similar to the one in his simulation. Although it would contain the elements of the current universe, the world would have many differences. Since the new world would be created for people already accustomed to their current universe, Baiyi saw little reason to create radically new Laws into his new universe.

The biggest problem Baiyi would have to solve was the problem that triggered the devastating Prehistoric War: total isolation. Baiyi had reasons to believe that it was not as unresolvable as the old gods had made it out to be. The Grandruler of the Undead had once sent him to an Earth-like planet before. This implied that somewhere in this universe, there was an opening that led to other universes. Once Baiyi learned more about the Spatial Laws from the War God, he could put his theory to the test by venturing out of this shell.

“I should wait until everyone is done with this game to discuss this,” Baiyi mumbled to himself and glanced at the rankings. To his surprise, a year had passed in the simulation!

Thanks to Baiyi’s meddling, the Archmage had long since joined the upper echelon of the native society. He had already begun a magic school trend in a world where sorcery was unprecedented. That was not all. With no need to worry about food and other basic needs, the Archmage had been to build his power. He had already risen to the top ten in the power ranking, with a tank icon beside his name.

Little Mia had grown somewhat. Having one’s strength grow from that of a kitten to that of a goose surely fell under the definition of the term ‘Improvement’. This made one wonder where the girl had focused all her efforts. Could it be in acting cute again? In comparison, Noirciel and Attie had both acquired the power of a bear.

The most potent chief of Stardew Valley was, unsurprisingly, the Warrior Walker, who had attained power rivaling a tank. Even Baiyi was impressed at her talent for training. The woman attained her current height despite shouldering the burdens that were daily farmwork and a very useless Mia.

The growth of the Lich Walker, which had started out strong, was beginning to dwindle. Advanced necromancy required its user to experiment on a lot of corpses, and since Baiyi had designed his simulated world to be a very stable and secure one, the Lich Walker had been unable to procure enough dead bodies. Worse, he was on the world’s most-wanted list and constantly on the run — a repeat of his former life.

The Cleric Walker and Paladin Walker had some of the weirdest developments in this world: they were amongst the fiercest ‘anti-Lich’ individuals. For some inconceivable reason, those two gentlemen had recovered their Theurgical powers!

What supplied these two with power was unknown.

Baiyi briefly investigated this and realized that both Voidwalkers were using a power called ‘Faith’. This made Baiyi curious, as he did not implement such a power source into his game. Although he did set a Law that allowed energies other than mana and combat chi to exist, he did not anticipate both gentlemen to utilize such energies this quickly.

What could this “Faith” be?