Utopian System

Chapter 442 System's Cheater - 3

"You're telling me," he finally said, "that instead of facing the challenge as intended, with armies of increasingly powerful monsters, you found a way to fight them one at a time, using death as a tactical advantage?"

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"Was that not allowed?" Elio asked, taking another bite of his cosmic fruit.

"I... well..."

Dionz seemed to be having trouble processing this development. "The challenge was supposed to be about facing its 100 levels with a 10 strong team of lvl 100 warrios..." He trailed off.

"Is that why the second goblin seemed so much stronger?" Elio asked innocently. "Because we were supposed to have 10 people?"

The god looked at the sphere, then at Elio, then at the invocations. He opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again.

"You know what?" he finally said, "I'm not even sure if this counts as cheating or genius. Possibly both..."

"So," Dionz began, trying to sound casual while floating cross-legged in the air, "before letting you out, we should probably get you leveled up. Because, well..." He fidgeted with his divine robes. "Nala's kind of about to win."

Elio paused mid-bite of his cosmic fruit. "Win what exactly, can you say it now?"

"Everything?" The god's voice went up an octave. "If she wins, I fall under her jurisdiction, and she gets total control over, um, divinity itself. And when I say total control, I mean TOTAL control." He emphasized this with expansive hand gestures. "Which is, you know, slightly concerning. Just a tiny bit. Like universe-altering levels of concerning."

Emberg and Poison Stinger exchanged glances, the salamander creating a tiny flame question mark while the scorpion shrugged its pincers.

"But!" Dionz brightened considerably. "By some incredible luck, in what could have been the final run, here you are! And you've already found a way to break... I mean, creatively interpret my challenge!"

The god caught himself, quickly changing subjects. "You see, this challenge is quite different from Nala's. I based it on these amazing games I used to play when I was still a mortal. They were going to be part of all the trials, but Nala..." He rolled his eyes dramatically.

"Fine," she muttered to the empty chamber. "Let's see what you're hiding."

She activated the cube. Memories began flowing into her consciousness like a river breaking through a dam. Years of experiences cascaded through her mind, battles, victories, defeats, endless cycles of the game...

Then she found something weird. A memory she didn't remember having.

A memory of the first game.

According to everything she knew, she had started in the chamber, waiting for the first human challenger. But this memory showed something different. She was in the initial human city, arguing with Dionz about the game's structure.

"The challenges need to be more structured," she heard herself saying. "Your design is too chaotic, too..."

The words faded as she realized something that made her entire world tilt on its axis. In the memory, she wasn't using just any form. She wasn't in the body of a queen's daughter, or any of the other vessels she remembered using.

She was in Zara's body.

Exactly Zara's body.

The memory cube slipped from her suddenly numb fingers, clattering to the floor as the implications hit her.

This wasn't just coincidence. This wasn't just compatibility.

What had happened? What did Dionz do to her?

She looked down at her current hands, at Zara's hands...

"They were mine first..."