MIDNIGHT PRINCE: Empire of Sin



When the credits started to roll, Eve wiped a tear that was threatening to fall from the corner of her eyes.

The anime they just finished watching was a rather old anime about a young man, who met and fell in love with a girl he encountered during his time in high school. Their love bloomed and they spent some magical time together. However, the dream life shattered when he saw her die in his arms as she gave birth to their daughter.

This ended up with the daughter also dying near the end but thanks to certain magic that had been foreshadowed through the two seasons, the reality was rewritten and time rewound up to the moment when the wife gave birth and she was able to survive. [1].

"Even though I have been watching this a few times in a row already, I can't help but fall in love with this story and just tear up every single time. What a wonderful story of love and dedication. Truly beautiful and mesmerizing…"

Adam nodded his head in acknowledgment. He had to admit that it was quite an emotional anime and it was so brilliant and harrowing that it tugged at his heartstrings.

"Adam, you should remember some things when you make an illusion or try making dream worlds in the future."

She pointed at the credits still rolling in front of them, "A dream is called as such because it's different from reality. You should not try to imitate everything down to the minute details. But rather, let the mood guide you and work your way up from here. The stronger the emotions you are able to put inside the dream, the more powerful they would become."

Adam nodded gratefully. This was not the first time she had given him some advice during the time they spent together. Whenever they finished watching an anime, she would point something out to him and help him attain further understanding of some of his powers.

Adam had to admit that he was weirded out at first about the correlation between anime and the advice she was throwing out at him but as time passed he started to realize that she was intentionally using those anime as an excuse to give some information to him that she wasn't really allowed to give due to the Storm of Causality in effect.

"What is the Storm of Causality exactly? Is it something sentient?"

Eve shook her head and mused slightly before answering, "Let's say you enter a server. There are normal members, old higher-level members, the moderators, the admins, and finally you have the server creator, right?"

"Now imagine at first, the server creator, admins, and moderators did nothing. After all, there were only two or three members. But soon, things started to snowball. From two they became four then hundreds and thousands. The moderators went from beings able to deal with all problems to not even caring about them because it's a pain to moderate every little problem."

She clapped her hands, "This is where the server creator finally decided to add moderating bots and give them clear instructions. For example, If someone says something he shouldn't, he gets a warning."

She brought her hand forward and showed him a lightning spark, small fractions of the Causality Storm.

"And if someone goes too far… Then they may be muted forever or kicked out of the server. The bots' moderation abilities are also applied to the Moderators and even the Admins but even so, thanks to their powers, they can somewhat mitigate the abilities and restricting capabilities of the bot in most cases. However, if they go too far they can also get punished in the end or they may even rouse the Server Creator to take action themselves."

She smiled, "Finally, you have a few normal members who know the rules very well and know how to use the loopholes to mask themselves from the bots and do as they please."

Adam listened to her in silence, wondering where things had gone so wrong that he now had to listen to a hundreds of thousands or possibly even millions of years old women talk about servers and bots…

But at least, things had now become far clearer for him. He now had a clue as to what the Storm of Causality truly was.

"Very well Adam, it has already been around two days since we have been having some fun together. But I think it's time for you to go back to your studies."

"Ah… Two days?"

"Indeed. Time flies quite differently here, you should remember that. Currently, in this place, you are more of an energy-type being like me. So you will hardly feel time pass away when just a few days or some months have passed. You will only start noticing things when some years or decades start to pass. So, you need to be always cautious about how you maintain your time in this place."

Adam nodded his head and stood up. He stretched even though he realized that he didn't need to since he wasn't in his real body right now.

If he didn't know that he would die every time he came here, he would have enjoyed this place some more.

"Follow me."

Eve was clearly in a good mood as she walked in front of him and hummed to herself and took different books on her way.

[What is an Immortal?]

[Life and Death]

[Striking the Weakness]

[Hundred Ways to Kill a Being]

The stark difference between her joyous song and the books she was taking out was quite a sight to behold. But she cared not what others thought.

"Where was it again? Oh here."

[Understanding of the Five Senses] || [Illusions and Reality] || [What is a Dream?] || [Introduction to the Sea of Consciousness] || [Psychology for Beginners] || [Psychiatry is not for the crazy]

"Is this… not a little too much?"

Eve ignored him and finally placed a hand on the science section, [Aerodynamics] || [Four Natural Forces] and so on and so forth.

"Adam, I believe that after this you will have mostly outgrown the usefulness of the Bronze library. While you can accumulate more power by spending time in this place, it will not bring you a transformative level of advancement anymore. So I will not give you tickets for this place once you finish the last quest that leads to the passes."

Creating a Free pass burned her own Karma. While she had a very big supply of Karma as the mother of humanity, this didn't mean she wanted to see it tumbling down for no reason.

Without enough Karma, she would truly become a simple prisoner and would thus become unable to defend herself or defend humanity as she had been doing so for Eons.

"The last Free Pass for the Bronze section will be given once you pass that minor ordeal."

She gave him a mischievous smile as she spoke about the last ordeal but didn't dwell on it for too long.

She continued to walk, "I could give you a few books about very very basic magic like Appraisal. But magic is a completely different breed and is far more detailed in the Silver Library. The best way for you, if you are interested in magic, of course, would be to speak to the Avatar of Lilith on Earth or find another good magician to help you with that. It will depend on you, in the end."

She looked at the books on the different shelves but couldn't find the one she was searching for.

"Do not use the Silver Free Pass before you are absolutely sure you know what you want to learn. That pass is really expensive and I won't be able to create many of them outside of very grave circumstances."

'Where the hell did I put this?'

Her eyes shone when she finally found the book she was looking for till now,

[Does the Soul Truly Exist?]

She immediately took it out and added it to the growing number of books in her hand.

"Read this one first. This is absolutely the most important book you must read. This will complete your foundation on your current powers and help you when you need to enter the next level and open one of the Soul Chakra pathways. Of course, the power of your mind and soul will also fuel all your skills."

She nodded to herself, "The body and the soul, like dream and reality are different roads that ultimately lead to the same results. Even so, it's necessary to prepare yourself for what is to come. When the gods finally notice your existence and trust me— they will surely notice, it will be your soul and willpower that will protect you from their machinations and interventions. I am sure you have already understood this fact after facing Asmodeus."

In the Astral Realm, the enemies were Celestial entities who could affect reality and dream in many different ways. Eve knew that soon his curse would evolve, making him even harder to kill. But in this world, Death was actually a release and this was something he needed to understand later.

"For now Adam, do not use the power of [Death]. It's still imperfect and you have not assimilated it into yourself completely. Currently, it's the skill of Cain that you possess. But you should be able to assimilate that authority with the power of [Origin]."

As the first killer and the first entity to have ever brought true Death into the world, Cain was no different than the incarnation of the Concept.

An undying infallible Immortal who could bring absolute and eternal Death to any and all existence in reality— the state of nothingness, the complete annihilation of existence. His power and authority over Destined Death was something that even the gods of death feared and respected.

If Adam used that power he would be immediately caught in the act. It still had too much of Cain's aura. But once it was dyed by the color of his powers, Origin, things would change for the better.

"I will be honest, reading all those books now won't give you a great boost in power. You have already surpassed the level of power that should be obtainable here. But it will give you a strong base and will help you in the future. So you can listen or ignore my suggestions if you want."

Adam stayed silent at the "choice" that was given.

Listening to the million year old grandmother of his who read all the books in this place or move based on his own limited knowledge.

This was a pretty easy choice for him.

"Let's do it."

He looked at the books that looked like a small mountain with dread mixed with anticipation.

Adam felt like a student given homework by his teacher. Only this time, the homework was actually useful things he would use later in life.

He was becoming addicted to growing stronger while reading and understanding those books.

The feeling of being able to control the world at will was like no other.

Furthermore, he was starting to develop certain ideas. In most stories, Telekinesis didn't simply move big things with their minds.

'It should be worth trying.'

He looked in thought as he looked at the book with the title [The Three laws of Thermodynamics].

'Well, let's dive in.'

It was time for another long session.

One that lasted nearly 6 months.

———

[1]; How many people can guess what it is?

(AN: Shortest library arc I think. But yeah Adam has basically outgrown this place in terms of power. The next time he comes to Bronze with the free pass from Shuri will be the last time for a while. Adam won't have a sudden explosion in power.

Also guys, please follow my Twitch Channel, I hope to reach an affiliate before the end of the month. If I reach 50 followers, there will be a bonus chapter and another bonus for every 50 Followers after a while.

Twitch: https://m.twitch.tv/hikaru_genji9/home )