Beyond the Eternity

The interior of the Fate resembles the celestial equivalent of a neural network, leading many to debate whether the Pathway itself is alive. This system was not just a channel for \'Stories\', but a complex web of connections. Each thread and pathway pulses through the multiple worldlines like a star connection, manipulating the fate and stories of countless worlds.

In the original novel, the origins of this star network remains a mystery. Some believed the network was created by the powerful old gods. Others thought it was a old sentient being. Another theory suggested it was the creation of the Buseau. The best answer people had come up with was that there was no way to know.

The true workings of the system remained unknown, however it is only known that they are are three main residents within the Fate Steam:

Players like myself, the Constellations; and the Administrators.

The players (actors) will participate in the Fables which are specific events in a story, the constellations (audience) will watch the actors perform on the stage, and give their support through donations, gifts or blessings like Divine Authorities and lastly, the Administrators also known as the Moderators or Stage Directors will oversee the flow of the Fables.

[20,000 coins has been spent.]

[You have gained the Golden membership.]

[The starter pack has been gained as a VIP privilege.]

[As a privilege, the cost of all items in the shop will be reduced by 20%]

"This is good."

I could not help but smile. Not only did I get the golden membership for 20% of its original amount, I also got the starter pack as a bonus.

The Starter Pack was a coin package that could be used to raise all stats of the walker by level one. It also allowed you to learn Weapon Mastery, a useful skill in the beginning of the scenarios.

[Sob... I can\'t believe I got taken advantage of, by a mere human no less. I had to cover for the rest of the payment with my own money. It\'s all because of this bastard! Stupid, motherfucking eromancer....]

I turned my head and saw Aurora pouting and murmuring something at the corner.

She looked like she has been wronged and she was calling me all the names in the book.

Wait a minute, did she just call me an Eromancer? Was there a character like that in the Song of Nightmares?

"Um... Aurora?"

Aurora looked at me with cat-like eyes. I wonder which character she is trying to portray as.

"Um, excuse me?"

[What?]

"What\'s up with that expression? Did someone steal your candy?"

She glared at me. If not for the penalty, I\'m sure she would have already punched me with all her heart.

I was really thankful for the penalty. If she actually punched me then I could do nothing but die.

"Anyways, open the shop."

[Tck.]

Aurora made an irritated sound and opened the shop.

[Welcome to the Exclusive Shop.]

There were two methods of using coins in Nightmare.

One of them was to raise the overall stats of the actors. The other was to use it as a common form of currency that could be used in the shop.

An endless catalogue appeared in front of me. There was nothing that wasn\'t sold in the shop. Artifacts, Skills and even other things like the Starter pack or 300% growth rate item.

[A few constellations are complaining about the long advertisements.]

[A few constellations are looking for the AD skip button.]

"There\'s also that."

The advertisement was a trick Aurora used to block the eyes and ears of the constellations. If they found out I payed only 20,000 coins for the VIP package, they will obviously throw a tantrum.

This was no longer the story of the constellation.

\'Let\'s see now.\'

I started scrolling through the endless catalogue and looked at the items one by one. There were mostly useful items that can be bought for 200-500 coins. And items around 1000 coins and above were the real deal.

But those items were utterly useless compared to the ones around 100,000 to 10,000,000 coins. Those items were the real powerbusters.

If I wanted to defeat the disaster that will appear around the fifth scenario, then I would need to prepare in advance.

After scrolling for a while, I couldn\'t find the items I was looking for. If I continued at this rate, It would take forever before I found the items I was looking for.

Isn\'t there a search function?

"Hey?"

[What is it now?]

I was getting by this fairy\'s arrogant tone. Maybe I should punish her some more.

"If you continue talking to me with that tone, I will call the Bureau."

[Wh-What? That\'s not fair!]

"You won\'t do it?"

[Fine, I will do it. Happy now?]

"Not yet. Refer to me as boss from now on."

[Ugh...]

She made a disgusted face. Normally, there was no way she would call a lesser being like me boss. By that will be changing now.

"I see. You don\'t want to. Then..."

[Wait! Wait! I will... do it!]

"Aren\'t you missing something?"

[Tck.]

She made an irritated sound and continued.

[I will... do it... bo-boss.]

I laughed when I saw the embarrassed fairy who was struggling.

She always teasing humans but now she was the one being teased. If the others saw this, I\'m sure they would have also laughed at well.

"Good. Now where is the search button?"

[There is a search button at the top right corner.]

"Thanks."

I ignored the cheeky fairy and tapped on the magnifying glass at the top right corner of the window.

[The search function has been activated.]

I stated the item I wanted to search.

"Search for Artemis\' Items."

[Three search results were found.]

A small pop-up window emerged infront of me.

* Artemis Bow (Item)

* Rapid Recovery (Skill)

* Beast King (Attribute)

It was an interesting list. One of them even caught my attention.

Beast King. It was an attribute that allowed the user to control monsters they have tamed. In fact, I was targeting that attribute but the price would be ridiculous.

I picked Artemis\' Bow from the list. Another opportunity to get the Beast King\'s attribute will appear.

[Item Information]

Name: Artemis Bow

Rating: S

Description: A divine bow belonging to the Goddess of Hunting Artemis. It increases the speed and damage of projectiles by 50%. It always has a bullseye function.

Price: 2,000,000 C

Artemis Bow. It was one of the strongest ranged weapons used by the goddess of hunting. In terms of power, it was just below the golden bow of Apollo.

It will go very well with the Eagle Eye skill. For someone like me that was terrible in close range combat, such a long ranged weapon suited me perfectly. But the problem was the price.

I frowned my brows. My total coins was around 100,000 and the price for the item was 2 million coins. I can\'t afford that at the moment.

100,000 coins was not small amount but it was not a huge amount either. Even with the discount, I couldn\'t even afford the desired item. Indeed, it was too early.

I opened my mouth to call out the next item in my mind.

"Search for the item Dragon King\'s Heart."

[Item found.]

[Item Information]

Name: Dragon King\'s Heart.

Rating: SS

Description: A mana organ containing the magic power of the Flame King of Dragons, Igneel. If the magic organ transplant is successful, the innate skill \'Dragon Body Transformation\' will be acquired.

Price: 5,000,000 C

Dragonic species

They are said to be one of the strongest species trapped in the Nightmare Stream. The innate skill \'Dragonification\' is the reflection of that truth.

If I got that item, becoming the strongest walker without a constellation would be within reach. But the high price was still a major obstacle.

I sighed helplessly. In the end, I\'m nothing but a poor man.

"Huh?"

I noticed something was off. When I turned my head, I saw Aurora staring at me with her mouth opened wide.

[You... You... You.... What are you really?! How do you know of items that can only be found in the search? Are you using some cheat code or something?

Tell me?!]

"What are you talking about? I just typed in some random names that sounds cool."

[Bullshit! Who do you think is going to fall for that blatant lie?]

I shrugged my shoulders.

"In any case, I\'m ready to buy some items."

[Huh? Why were you searching for those other items then?]

"I was just window shopping. I\'m going to buy them later."

[You want to add them to the cart?]

"That\'s right. Then let\'s get started."

I used the search function and found the desired items on my mind.

[1500 coins has been spent.]

[You have purchased the skill \'Magic Bullets\']

Aurora was confused by this decisions.

[Huh? Why that skill? Isn\'t that a skill that casters normally use? You certainly don\'t look like you have the caster attribute so isn\'t it useless?]

"You\'re right, I don\'t."

[Then...]

"You don\'t need to know."

[Tch. How annoying.]

Despite her cheeky attitude, what the fairy said was the truth.

Magic bullets was a skill commonly used walkers with the caster attribute. It was a pretty good skill if it was used by a caster. However, that was not necessarily true. I used it properly, I wouldn\'t have to worry about any setbacks.

\'With this, I shouldn\'t have to worry about bullets.\'

Magic bullets was a skill that allows the user to creates projectiles from their mana. Meaning, as long as they had mana, they wouldn\'t run out of bullets.

\'There\'s still more.\'

I quickly chose all the items I needed to buy.

[16,000 coins has been consumed.]

[You have purchased the item \'Magic Revolver\'.]

[2,400 coins has been consumed.]

[You have purchased the Item \'Iron-Severing Sword\'.]

[1,200 coins have been consumed.]

[You have purchased the skill \'Aura Sword\'.]

[40,000 coins has been consumed.]

[You have purchased the skill \'Synthesis\'.]

[16,000 coins has been consumed.] .

[You have purchased the item \'Intermediate Dimensional Ring.\']

Once the storage ring appeared, I wore it on my finger and put the rest of the items inside my personal storage.

It was a convenient skill since I didn\'t have to carry around unnecessary load.

[Is that all?]

"Yes."

[Okay, I\'m going now. There\'s something interesting happening somewhere.]

Just like that, Aurora disappeared and the surroundings became silent. I was starting to miss the noisy fairy already.

[The advertisement has ended.]

[The constellations have entered the channel.]