"So... let me get this straight."
Lyon sat on a plush chair in the center of Lexel's chamber, rubbing his chin. The afternoon sun highlighted the thoughtful hum in his throat.
"You three had a notification in front of you? Floating in the air? Like a screen made of light?"
"Yeah," Lexel said, sitting cross-legged on his bed. "En," Seleron nodded from the wall he was leaning against. "That's right," Myda confirmed, sitting at the desk.
All three answered with absolute certainty.
Lyon contemplated this, his fingers tapping a rhythm on his arm.
"See, I knew you wouldn't believe us," Seleron sighed, throwing his hands up. "It sounds insane. 'Floating windows.' 'Levels.' It's nonsense."
"I've tried telling these things to Mother Cecile, Mother Selena, and Mother Maria," Myda added, looking frustrated. "No one believed us. They thought it was head trauma from the Giga Slash. Well... at least Mother Cecile was in the gray area. She just said, 'If it kills the enemy, use it.'"
"I never said I wouldn't believe you," Lyon said, a slow smirk spreading across his face. He uncrossed his arms and leaned forward. "My guess is... you probably got a System."
"Yeah, the screen said we got an 'Anti-System,'" Lexel said, picking at a loose thread on his blanket. "Whatever that means."
"I think it goes deeper than that," Lyon said, his smirk widening into something nostalgic. "Our Three Worlds use Ley, Mana, and Anti-Mana. These three different powers have contested for strength for a long time... until I was born, of course."
The three brothers rolled their eyes in perfect unison. Here we go again. The 'I conquered everything' speech.
"However," Lyon continued, his voice dropping to a storytelling whisper, "remember the tale I told you three? About the time I was summoned here, into this brutal cultivation-magic world?"
Lexel nodded. "Yeah. You came from a world without cultivation or magic. 'Earth.'"
"Exactly," Lyon nodded. "Before I was summoned here, I learned about many things that don't exist in Empyrean. I learned about systems, magic theories, video games, the internet... and of course, porn and hentai of many things."
The room went silent.
"What's... hentai?" asked Lexel, blinking.
"What's porn?" asked Seleron, his brow furrowing.
"Yeah, what are they?" asked Myda, pulling out a notepad.
Lyon's lips twitched. Of course they would ask those. They came from my balls, after all.
He cleared his throat. "It's... hard to explain to you kids. But basically... imagine a brothel. But you can't touch the woman. She is behind a glass... or drawn on paper... and she moves."
"Really?" Lexel's eyes lit up, a grin splitting his face. "That sounds fun."
"It was," Lyon nodded solemnly. "It really was."
He clapped his hands, dismissing the topic. "Anyway. That is not the point. The point is, I know stories about this so-called System. Or in your case, Anti-System. You might have a 'Quest' that's going to pop up soon. Completing such a quest will grant you Exp, Gold, or Loot."
He looked at his sons. Lexel looked confused. Seleron looked skeptical. Myda looked like he was trying to calculate the alchemical formula of "Loot."
Lyon sighed. "Ehm... You have no idea what I'm saying."
"Not a clue, Dad," Lexel admitted.
"Alright, alright," Lyon stood up, pacing the room. "Change of plans. For this week, I'm going to teach you everything there is to know about the greatest genre of all time. RPG."
---
For the next week, Lexel's chamber became a classroom. Lyon was in total seclusion with his three sons.
Day 1: Assid stood by the door, silent and efficient, refilling tea and providing an endless stream of snacks. Lyon drew diagrams on a large piece of parchment. "This is a Health Bar," Lyon pointed.
"It's not like Cultivation. In Cultivation, you can fight with a hole in your chest if your will is strong enough. In an RPG, if this hits zero, you die. No matter how strong your will is." "That seems... restrictive," Seleron noted.
Day 3: The door creaked open. Kesya stumbled in, holding a bottle of wine. She saw the diagrams. "Ooh, strategy meeting?" she slurred slightly, sitting down next to Lexel.
"I'm in." She listened for ten minutes as Lyon explained "Aggro."
"So..." Kesya pointed at the drawing. "Lexel just... yells at them? And they have to attack him? Even if I'm stabbing them in the back?" "Exactly," Lyon said.
"That's stupid," Kesya laughed. "I like it."
Day 4: Ian wandered in, looking for Kesya. He ended up sitting next to her. Lyon was explaining "DPS" (Damage Per Second) versus "Burst."
"Seleron is Burst," Lyon explained. "He hits once, very hard. Myda... Myda is Support. He buffs you."
"I prefer 'Tactical Nuke,'" Myda muttered. By the end of the lecture, Ian was asleep in the corner, snoring softly. Kesya was drawing moustaches on his face.
Day 6: Kesya and Ian failed to show up. Probably hungover. Or fighting. It was just the four Torgas again.
"And... that is all I know about RPG," Lyon said, tossing the charcoal stick onto the desk. He looked at his sons. "I hope what you three are experiencing right now... makes sense."
"Sort of," Myda nodded, looking at his notes. "It's a framework. A rigid set of laws that imposes logic on chaos."
"Thanks Dad," Lexel said, stretching. "You're the best."
"I know," Lyon smirked.
"I get the gist of it," Lexel continued. "Hit things. Get numbers. Numbers go up. I get stronger."
"I got it," Seleron nodded. "It's about efficiency. Min-maxing."
"Great," Lyon said, his expression turning serious. "But that's the general RPG knowledge. Not the specific 'Anti-System' you have. I don't know the rules of that."
He looked them each in the eye.
"My advice? Forget Cultivation entirely."
"ENTIRELY?!" the three of them shouted in unison.
"But Dad!" Lexel protested. "Our bloodline! The War-God techniques! The Void Art! The Zenith Magic!"
"Your bloodlines are part of this new System now," Lyon cut in. "I felt it when I checked your meridians. They aren't flowing with Ley/Mana/Anti-Mana anymore. They are... different. If you try to Cultivate the old way, you will waste your time. You have to embrace the 'Game.' Become the 'Player.'"
Graham entered.
The half-giant had to duck to fit through the frame. He was usually calm, a mountain of stoic silence. But today, there was a tension in his shoulders.
He looked at Lyon and nodded. "Master. I have news."
He glanced at the trio, then back at Lyon, hesitation visible in his ancient eyes. "Perhaps... elsewhere?"
"It's fine," Lyon said, waving his hand. "The class is over. They need to know."
The three boys leaned forward, their curiosity piqued like cats watching a bird.
"We have vanquished the seventh portal," Graham said, his deep voice rumbling like thunder.
Seven? Lexel gulped. SEVEN?! There are more?!
One portal—just one—had brought about his and his brothers' doom. It had nearly killed them. It had crippled them. And Graham... Graham had just crushed the seventh of them?
Then again... it's Master Graham.
"Seven..." Myda gulped, doing the math in his head. "Damn. That's an army."
"Seven... like those guys..." Seleron buried his fingers into his palm, the memory of his 'Void Art' bouncing off the Black Knight's armor flashing in his mind.
"That's right, Seleron," Lyon nodded, his face grim. "The Three Worlds are officially under attack. Or, dare I say, to use your mother's words... Invasion."
"All Three Worlds?" Lexel asked. "Heaven? Hell? The Mortal World?"
"Not a single one spared," Lyon said. "Portals are opening everywhere. Randomly. Aggressively." He clenched his fist. "But it's not as if Empyrean is going to lose. I just... hate that we are on the defense."
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Heavy, metal footsteps echoed from the hallway.
Then, a figure entered their royal class.
She was radiant. She was terrifying. Cecile. The War Empress.
She was wearing her full regalia—golden armor that shone with a divine light. But the light was dim. She was... fatigued. There was dust on her cloak, and a smear of dark, red blood on her fine, armored pauldron.
"Empress," Graham knelt immediately, his head bowed.
"Hey," Lyon pouted, "you didn't say 'Emperor' when you saw me!"
"Enough, Lyon," Cecile said. Her voice was tired, but it held the authority of a woman who had just commanded a legion. She looked past her husband. "Boys."
The three of them looked at Cecile with incredible tension. They had never seen their mother look... tired before.
Then, her face softened. The "War God" vanished, replaced by "Mom."
"I'm glad you three are safe," she whispered. She opened her arms. "Come here. Give mommy a hug!"
The three boys, as if on instinct, reverted to toddlers. They scrambled off the bed and chairs, rushing into her embrace. The cold metal of her armor pressed against their faces, but her warmth seeped through.
But the warmth quickly subsided.
At the bottom of Graham's feet, a complex magic brand formed. It illuminated the room with a prismatic, shifting color.
"Master," Graham said, looking at Lyon. He didn't need to say more. The summons was urgent.
"Looks like Harvestasya is working overtime," Lyon said, looking at the circle. "She missed the dinner to coordinate the defense, and now she's recalling the Pillars."
Harvestasya. The only one who hadn't been to the chaotic anniversary lunch. While they were choking on bones, she had been assisting Maria with her alchemy.
"Good luck," Lyon nodded.
"En!" The ashen-haired giant stood. The magic flashed, and he was teleported away, instantly vanishing to rejoin Harvestasya on the front lines.
The room felt emptier without him.
Lyon looked at the three boys, who were now slowly pulling away from the clutches of their mother. He saw the realization in their eyes.
"We've been busy," Lyon said softly. "The war... has already begun."