Utopian System

An enormous screen blazed to life, filling one entire face of the cube. Dionz immediately began navigating through what looked suspiciously like a divine operating system, complete with folders and icons that would have given any mortal programmer an existential crisis.

"Let's see... no, not 'Embarrassing Dancing Incidents'... definitely not opening that folder... ah! Here we go… 'Memories: Handle With Care (Seriously)'."

He selected the folder, causing another massive cube to materialize beside the first one.

This one was darker, more ominous-looking, like it had been designed specifically to contain things that shouldn't be messed with.

Just as he was about to access it, something popped up in front of him, a giant divine post-it note that managed to look both official and hastily scribbled at the same time.

"Hello, future me!"

Dionz blinked. He recognized his own handwriting, even if he had no memory of writing this note.

"If you're noticing something weird with the memories (which, duh, you obviously are because you're reading this), DON'T open the cube until Elio reaches maximum level. You probably have no idea what I'm talking about but trust me please... or well, trust yourself? Is it narcissistic to ask yourself to trust yourself? Anyway, just do it, okay?"

The god squinted at the note. "That definitely sounds like something I would write... especially the part about questioning if it's narcissistic."

The note continued: "P.S. Don't give Nala the memories from the black box. Give her the white ones first, and save the others until Elio is ready. Well, bye!" Your next read awaits at empire

"There's a white box?" Dionz looked around, but before he could ponder this, his eyes caught the final postscript.

"P.P.S. Good luck, you cheater! Hahahaha... no, seriously, even with cheating you're gonna need it..."

Dionz floated there for a moment, processing. "I left myself a note... calling myself a cheater... and warning myself about my own memories..." He paused. "Yeah, that tracks. Definitely sounds like something I would do."

He looked at the ominous cube, then back at the note. "But what does Elio have to do with..." He stopped, remembering something. "Oh right! He's probably getting killed by goblins right now. He had the curiosity stat quite high… Ups should probably check on that at some point."

The god made a dismissive gesture, closing the divine UI. "Well, future-past me seems pretty adamant about waiting. And who am I to argue with myself? That would be... what's the word? Oh right… paradoxical."

"Oh right, almost forgot!" He reopened the interface and navigated to another section. "Where are those Nala memories... no, not those, white box ones... ah! Here they are!"

He started to float away, then turned back. "Although... I did call myself a cheater. Does that mean I'm planning to cheat? Or have I already cheated? Or am I cheating by reading this note about cheating?"

The infinite white space offered no answers, though Dionz could have sworn he heard a distant sound that seemed suspiciously like divine laughter.

"You know what? This is why we shouldn't be allowed to leave notes for ourselves," he muttered, though he was already making mental notes about leaving future notes to himself about not leaving notes to himself.

With a final glance at the now-closed memory cube, he decided to go check on Elio's progress.

"Oh, but first…"

With a flourish, he materialized back in the chamber where Zala waited. "Good news! I found your memories..."

Zala's eyes narrowed. "All of them?"

"Yes, well, in other news..." Dionz fidgeted slightly but changed the subject successfully. "There's a small issue. It seems Elio has somehow entered his book, which is... not ideal. So you'll have to wait… until I can get him out before we proceed with anything else."

"WHAT?!" Zala's voice echoed through the chamber. "He could die in there!"

"Have some faith!" Dionz said, though his own nervous shifting betrayed his concern. "He's... resourceful. Usually. Sometimes." He backed toward the statue. "I'll just... go check on him. You stay here with... well, yourself."

Before Zala could protest further, he disappeared into the statue, leaving her alone with Zara's consciousness.

♢♢♢♢

Dionz materialized back in the chamber, ready for some grand divine intervention (cheating), only to find Elio casually sampling what appeared to be glowing fruits.

"Have you..." Dionz blinked, trying to process the scene before him. "Have you just been sitting here eating this whole time?"

Elio looked up from what appeared to be a piece of a glowing starfruit. "Oh, no. This is just our second meal break. We've been fighting."

Emberg chose that moment to recreate their latest death in flames, complete with an exaggerated death scene that made Poison Stinger click its pincers in what was clearly amusement.

"Fighting?" Dionz was about to launch into what he hoped would be an appropriately divine lecture about the seriousness of the challenge when he noticed something near Elio. "Is that... is that an iridescent sphere?"

Elio casually picked up the sphere, its surface dancing with impossible colors. "Oh, this? Yeah, we got it after defeating the first green monster. Been trying to figure out what it does while taking a break from getting killed by the second bigger one."

The god's jaw actually dropped. "The first... you've already... but how did you..." He floated closer, examining the sphere with growing confusion. "How did you get out with just one? Why aren't you in there dying horribly against the endless waves of monsters?"

"Endless waves?" Elio raised an eyebrow. "There was just one. Well, now there's a bigger one, but..."

Dionz listened with increasing bewilderment as Elio explained their strategy, entering in spirit form through his invocations, discovering that damage persisted between attempts, systematically wearing down the first goblin over multiple deaths that cost only minimal mana.

The god's expression cycled between disbelief, amazement, and something that might have been grudging admiration.

"You're telling me," he finally said, "that you can get out even in the tutorial stage… and instead of facing the challenge as intended, with armies of increasingly powerful monsters from level 11, you found a way to fight the levels one at a time, using death as a tactical advantage?"

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

"I... well..."