“Atlas…
you idiot!” Neon said, gritting his teeth as he rose into the sky with the others.
As they hovered over the wreckage, it was clear the mountain was nothing like it had been before.
The once-proud peak had completely disappeared, replaced by an enormous crater where slabs of rock thrust upward at odd angles.
The forest that had once hugged its slopes lay flattened in a perfect circle, trees splintered and tossed aside like matchsticks.
Thick, choking clouds of dust billowed skyward, draping the destruction below in a pale, ghostly haze.
Atlas turned to Neon, a wide grin stretching across his face, eyes alight with a manic kind of excitement.
Neon’s expression stayed calm and steady—almost unnervingly so—but there was a flicker in his gaze that gave him away.
A quiet, growing hunger burned within him, a surge of exhilaration he couldn’t hold back.
It was the same rush from the chaos in Arden that came flooding back, but it was stronger, sharper, more intoxicating than before.
“Alright…
I can’t lie.” He said as he glanced at Atlas, letting a faint smile appear on his face.
“That…
was cool as hell.” “Haha, right?!” Atlas laughed, his voice booming so loudly it echoed through the valley.
“And if Essence is what I think it is… our starting power is already at some ridiculous level.” Before his words could fully register, the air began to ripple.
Then, right in front of them, a panel materialized.
—- [Warning…
or maybe not—but to all creatures of Earth Prime, the grace period has come to an end.] [The Existential Rule is now active.
The Game stirs… and the world will soon belong to one person alone…] [Good luck, Earth Prime—may your journey beyond the Grand Sea be… entertaining.] —- The panels dissolved like mist, leaving behind a silence so heavy it felt carved from stone.
Neon, the King, Lea, Atlas, the Advisor, and every noble stared at one another with hard, unsettled eyes.
In that moment…
One question passed through every mind, unspoken yet deafening.
What the hell is an Existential Rule?
However, before panic could take root, Neon turned slightly, his voice cutting through the tension with steady Authority.
“Alright…
We’re not diving into mysteries yet,” he said.
“Not until we understand our power.
Essence.
Authority.
The difference between them.
Once we know that… everything else will fall into place.” At this point, it was obvious that Neon wasn’t just some womanizer of the Kingdom, but someone with a sharp and capable mind.
Not only that, no one present was willing to interrupt what could be an opportunity to gain knowledge that might completely alter the way they lived their lives.
One by one, every noble nodded, their expressions hardening, fear giving way to a renewed sense of purpose.
—- From the moment Neon’s words settled, the group threw themselves into testing the limits of their abilities, eager to truly understand what Essence and Authority were all about.
In the end, the two concepts led them to entirely different conclusions.
Essence, they discovered, fueled their power system—but it wasn’t strictly necessary for flight or basic actions.
Instead, it acted as both fuel and an amplifier.
Through countless experiments—some of which reduced mountains to rubble and completely reshaped the surrounding forest—they realized that channeling Essence massively boosted the power and speed of their attacks.
They couldn’t determine exactly by how much, but one thing was certain: the more Essence they poured into something, the greater the result.
When a Noble unleashed all 1,000 of their Essence in a single strike, the entire Continent of Eden quaked.
However, unbeknownst to them, the tremor rippled across the whole world….
They also learned that Essence regenerated naturally; even under Earth’s darkened skies, it felt as though the air itself had transformed into pure Essence.
Authority, on the other hand, was a mystery they couldn’t crack.
No matter what tests they ran or theories Atlas or Neon devised, every attempt to tap into its potential failed.
After two full days of effort, they were no closer to understanding what Authority truly was or why it mattered.
— “So… you think we’re world‑class beings?” Neon asked, raising an eyebrow as he stood before the assembled nobles.
Beside him stood King Arden Lea and the royal advisor.
Across from them, Atlas was positioned among the nobles, flanked by Lucien, Maylene, Alan, Alice, Duchess Moria, Duke Rockelle, Lord Shanks, and Samuel, who formed the front line.
Before Atlas had a chance to respond, Lucien stepped forward, brows furrowed in confusion as he spoke.
“What does ‘world‑level’ even mean?” Duchess Moria scoffed, folding her arms.
“Tsk, can we just speak English?
I’m far too old for all this fantasy nonsense.” Neon’s lip twitched at her outburst, knowing Atlas would explain everything if they’d only give him a moment, and Lea let out a soft chuckle at his barely contained irritation.
Atlas exhaled, surprisingly calm as he addressed the crowd.
“Right…
In fantasy, power is divided into levels…” He began explaining how they all fit into the grand scheme of things.
By now, they were far beyond anything that could be called “normal mortals”; their lifespans had been extended by a thousand years, and he was certain their effortless power alone could wreak havoc across entire continents.
With Essence in their grasp—and the looming possibilities of Authority, Skills, and whatever else the future might hold—he was convinced they had become World-Level Beings.
When he finished explaining, the entire group fell into a long, stunned silence.
The silence was finally broken by Maylene’s voice, soft yet trembling with disbelief.
“Atlas… are you serious?” “Yeah…
I am serious,” he replied, “but truthfully, Aunt May, none of us can be completely sure.
Like Neon said… we’ll figure things out as we go, living in this world.” At this point, there was no use in making wild guesses.
The only real way to understand what they were dealing with was to take it one day at a time.
With the initial testing now behind them, it was clear the next step was to focus on building some semblance of a proper life in the midst of this whole apocalypse.
Neon exhaled softly, then turned toward King Arden with a faint, sardonic tilt of his head.
“Well… looks like the throne is yours again.” The King’s lips curved into a calm, knowing smile.
“Alright, let’s return to the palace at once.
From there, we begin laying down plans to restore order.” At those words, the group nodded, and they all began to take off into the skies.
WHOOOOOOOSHHH!!!!!
BOOOOOM!!!!!
However, before any of them could truly make it off the ground…
something was seemingly thrown through the darkness with such impossible speed that only Neon, the King, Lea, and Atlas had enough time to react.
In that instant, a massive impact ripped through the clearing, the shockwave tearing the last few trees from their roots and hurling the nobles backward in a chaotic tumble.” “Now… what is it this time?” Lucien muttered, his posture tightening slightly as Maylene gripped his arm, the two of them lifting into the air.
Neon’s eyes narrowed, his focus locking on the slowly settling haze of dust ahead.
GRRRRR!!!!
Before the haze had fully lifted, a low, rumbling growl swept through the forest—so deep and powerful it made everyone present shiver involuntarily.
It wasn’t just a sound—it was a deep, steady vibration, a slow, resonant tremor that crawled up the spine and settled heavy in the bones of everyone there.
It felt otherworldly, almost hungry, and with each echo, the darkness seemed to press closer, “What… what in the hell was that?” In that instant, Duke Rockelle’s voice cut through the tense air, tight and trembling.
“Is that one of those monsters the boy’s been ranting about?” Duchess Moria asked, her voice laced with an underlying fear.
“And… we can’t see a thing in this damn darkness!” Over the past two days, Atlas had freely shared everything he knew about Fantasy, and one thing that never quite sat right was how Earth had suddenly been thrown into an apocalypse…
Yet, nothing truly fantastical had actually been witnessed—well, aside from the sudden emergence of powers and the status screens.
There were no dungeons, no swarms of otherworldly creatures, nothing of the sort.
And on top of that, even with their enhanced senses, seeing inside this darkness was still a chore unless they concentrated hard.
As darkness mingled with the dust and debris from the first collision, another growl echoed from behind them, deep within the forest.
GRRRR!!!!!
This one, however, was much louder, and its vibrations rippled through the air with such intensity that several nobles dropped mid‑flight, fainting as the sound resonated through their very bodies.
“Well… I was wondering why the forest was so damn quiet,” Neon mumbled to himself.
In that instant, unlike the others, fear didn’t even cross his mind.
Instead, that familiar rush returned—the same intoxicating surge that had gripped him before, flooding through his veins.
As the dust slowly drifted away, two wolves stepped into view from opposite ends of the clearing.
At first glance, something became startlingly clear.
These were no ordinary wolves—either they hailed from somewhere far beyond Earth, or the creatures of Earth had undergone evolutions even more bizarre than those of humans.
One was as white as untouched snow, its fur casting a faint glow beneath the darkened sky.
The other was black as midnight, so deep and shadowed that, without its eyes, it would have blended seamlessly into the surrounding darkness.
Both were enormous—easily bigger than trucks…
with jaws powerful enough to snap a horse in two in a single bite, each tooth almost like a blade gleaming with menace.
Their eyes shone with a keen, unsettling intelligence, sharp and calculating, as if they were quietly evaluating Neon and the others, watching with an almost predatory curiosity.
The wolves cocked their heads, noses twitching as they caught the scent.
Their eyes swept over the group, as if sizing up an unfamiliar creature.
King Arden glanced at Neon, about to ask what to do next—only to see Neon already in motion.