The next morning, the bright, natural sun of Friton filtered through the blinds of the Kepler mansion. Dorian woke up, stretching his arms with a deeply satisfied groan before settling back against his pillows.
Before his feet even touched the floor, he initiated his daily routine.
'System,' he thought.
The blue holographic interface instantly materialized in the air above him. With his Resonance Points firmly in the hundreds of millions after the astronomical success of the tour, his daily Gacha pulls had become significantly more robust.
He quickly set his parameters. First, 500 pulls on the Stardew Valley banner for a cheap 500 Resonance Points to restock on farm materials. Second, 200 pulls on the Hades banner for 200,000 Resonance Points, mostly hoping for rare items like Ambrosia or Titan Blood.
And finally, because he could comfortably afford it now, he added 100 premium pulls on the Pokémon banner for 1,000,000 Resonance Points.
The system whirred, digital stars flashing across the screen as the loot generated. Dorian casually scrolled through the haul. Stacks of hardwood, a few bottles of Nectar, a couple of Potions, some basic Pokéballs. He smiled; it was a solid, practical haul.
But as he scrolled to the very end of the Pokémon results, a familiar Pokémon silhouette from the screen.
Dorian froze, his half-asleep brain struggling to process the majestic shadow icon hovering in front of his face. He blinked hard, rubbing his eyes, and did a massive double-take.
It was an Articuno. An actual, literal Legendary Pokémon.
His lingering exhaustion vanished in a microsecond. Dorian violently threw his blankets off and jumped out of bed, throwing his fists into the air.
"LET'S GOOOOO!" Dorian shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing loudly down the hallway.
Across the hall, Marcus, who was deeply asleep, jolted violently awake. Startled by the sudden noise, his loyal Growlithe leapt onto the foot of the bed, barking rapidly at the door.
Marcus frantically scrubbed his tired eyes, his hair sticking up in every direction. "What's going on?!" the boy mumbled in a sheer panic, looking around his empty room. "Let's go where?!"
In the adjacent room, Lyra was already fully dressed. She had just finished meticulously making her bed. Sitting comfortably on her shoulder, her Eevee's long ears twitched toward the wall. Both Lyra and the small Pokémon turned their heads to stare at Dorian's door.
"Did something good happen?" Lyra wondered aloud in her usual, pragmatic monotone.
Back in Dorian's room, the door suddenly hissed open. Leo, the spherical white Compadre unit, floated smoothly into the room, its optical sensor whirring.
"Oh, you are actually already awake. A statistical miracle," Leo droned.
"Leo!" Dorian cheered, rushing forward and wrapping his arms around the floating metal ball in a massive, overwhelming hug. "Leo, I got a Legendary! Finally!"
"Release me at once!" Leo demanded, its internal gyroscopes struggling against the grip. "Get off! My primary optical sensors are currently being blocked by your highly unkempt, smelly morning hair!"
Dorian laughed, letting the robot go. "My hair isn't smelly! Wait... you don't even have an olfactory sensor. You literally can't smell."
"I possess highly advanced predictive algorithms, Dorian. I can seamlessly simulate the smell of your poor hygiene based on the fact you just woke up," Leo retorted, its chassis giving a mechanical huff. "Now shoo. Master John has already cooked breakfast."
Downstairs in the warm, bustling kitchen, the family's Clefairy was happily waddling around the dining table. It carefully placed a stack of ceramic plates down with its stubby pink hands.
"Clef! Clef!" the fairy-type chirped proudly.
John Kepler, wearing an apron over his casual clothes, chuckled heartily as he flipped a massive row of bacon on the stove. "I know, I know. Don't worry, little one. I'll make sure to set aside some extra portions for the Farfetch'd and the others outside."
A moment later, Lyra walked into the dining room, looking immaculate in her crisp Astra Nova academy uniform with her Eevee happily trotting at her heels. Marcus dragged himself in right behind her, his clothes wrinkled, clearly having completely skipped his morning shower as his Growlithe happily sniffed the air.
"Morning," Marcus yawned, slumping into his chair.
Several minutes passed before heavy, distinct footsteps echoed down the stairs.
Dorian strolled into the dining room. Uncharacteristically, he was already dressed for the day, his hair slightly damp and smelling of fresh soap from a rapid shower.
Hovering gracefully just a few inches above the floor behind him was a breathtaking, five-and-a-half-foot-tall bird composed entirely of deep, majestic blue feathers. An aura of pure, crystalline frost radiated from its body, sending a refreshing, icy mist rolling across the kitchen floor.
Marcus's jaw instantly unhinged. He dropped his fork onto his plate. "Whoaaaa..." the boy breathed, his eyes shining with pure awe. "Articuno!"
Lyra took a calm sip of her hot tea, her sharp eyes scanning her older brother from head to toe.
"You already took a bath," Lyra noted plainly.
Dorian stopped dead in his tracks. He pointed an accusatory finger at the massive, mythical ice deity currently radiating localized winter in their kitchen, then glared at his little sister.
"I literally summon Articuno, one of the legendary birds of Kanto, and that is what you choose to comment on, Lyra?!" Dorian cried out in exasperation. "Really?!"
John burst into a booming, hearty laugh from the stove, shaking his head. Marcus started giggling, and even the Eevee let out an amused little chirp. Dorian's grand, epic show-off moment had been effortlessly derailed by a single, deadpan roast.
Despite the legendary anomaly floating in the room, it was just another perfectly chaotic morning in the Kepler household.
…
Several hours later, out in the sprawling expanse of the Kepler farm's backyard, Dorian was sweating profusely. He was currently equipped with the Twin Fists of Malphon, the heavy, mechanical gauntlets glowing with a volatile, mythical energy as he threw a relentless barrage of punches into the air.
Hovering invisibly on either side of him were Ares and Demeter, acting as his merciless instructors.
Ares's presence was self-explanatory; the God of War had been the one to brutally train Dorian in the martial forms of every single Infernal Arm. Demeter, on the other hand, was here for a very specific reason. Long before the events of the Underworld, she had been the original wielder of the Twin Fists.
"Faster," Demeter commanded, her voice carrying a biting, absolute zero chill. "Each strike should bear intent and purpose. You are merely throwing weight. Strike to shatter."
Out near the perimeter of the estate, a pair of patrolling Friton security guards watched the teenager train. To these ex-miners, Dorian Kepler was simply a mid-tier Solar. Watching a young man generate explosive shockwaves in his magical gauntlets had already become a standard routine, so they didn't even react to the absurdity of it anymore.
One of the guards looked over and spotted John Kepler happily tending to his massive farm plots alongside the bizarre, three-headed ground monster he had "tamed." The guards called out a warm greeting to the older man. John paused his tilling to wave back with a wide smile, loudly telling the patrolmen to make sure they took a rest in the shade.
Even from the perimeter, the guards could distinctly feel the crackling swoosh of Dorian's punches tearing through the air. The kinetic shockwaves were so heavy that the earth literally shook beneath their boots. They looked down in awe as the loose dirt around the fences began to vibrate with every strike the boy threw.
But for the divine entities standing beside Dorian, this raw display of power simply wasn't enough.
Dorian had previously shown the Gods the sparse public network footage of the galaxy's elite Solars in action. Even though the absolute top-tier fighters, like Juno's father, the Guild Master had no public combat footage of them unleashing their full power, the basic demonstration clips on the net were staggering. And right now, Dorian was barely able to re-create a fraction of that sheer, world-breaking output.
Demeter crossed her arms and looked up. Perched gracefully on the roof of the farmhouse, completely ignoring the warm summer season of Friton by radiating a localized winter chill, was the Articuno.
"Dorian," Demeter said, halting his drills. "Call that beast over."
Dorian stopped punching, panting heavily as he lowered his gauntlets. He looked up at the roof and whistled. As if it perfectly understood the command, the majestic bird spread its massive, glittering ice-blue wings, gracefully flying down and landing softly on the grass beside him.
Ares analyzed the mythical avian, his crimson eyes narrowing in clinical assessment. "He is more powerful than you."
Dorian's shoulders slumped slightly. "Gee, thanks... I guess."
"I advise that, starting from now, you begin doing your training alongside your bonds," Demeter instructed, her frosty gaze fixed on the legendary bird.
Dorian's golden eyes widened. "Wait, really?" He quickly reached into the pocket of his training pants and pulled out a standard Pokéball. With a flick of his wrist, he threw it into the grass.
Flash! A small, orange Charmander materialized in front of them, a bright flame happily flickering on the end of its tail. "Char!"
Ares looked down at the tiny fire lizard, completely unimpressed. "Oh. So not all of them are as strong as this one."
"Hey, give him a break," Dorian defended his starter. "Let's train with this one too... Wait. Fire and Ice? Those are opposite forces. Won't their energies just clash?"
"They can," Ares stated, stepping forward. "Just like our Duo Boons. Any force, be it an extreme opposite or not, can achieve absolute harmony if wielded with the right intent."
Demeter looked over at the God of War with thinly veiled disdain. She let out a long, freezing sigh. "Fine."
To Dorian's absolute shock, the two notoriously stubborn deities reached out and shook hands.
Immediately, a notification flashed across Dorian's vision.
[DUO BOON ACQUIRED: Freezing Vortex (Ares x Demeter)]
(Your Cast inflicts Chill and deals damage in a smaller, slower area.)
It was the first time Dorian had ever experienced a Duo Boon in reality. He could feel the agonizing, lethal curse of Ares perfectly intertwining with the biting, absolute zero frost of Demeter.
"Whoa," Dorian whispered, feeling the raw, chaotic energy surging through his veins. He raised his gauntlets, targeted a massive, empty training dummy across the field, and threw a hail-mary Cast.
A spinning, razor-sharp Blade Rift erupted from his hand. But instead of just a vortex of red blades, the rift was encased in a terrifying, localized blizzard. It moved slower, but as it slowly ground into the training dummy, the air shattered. The target was simultaneously flash-frozen solid by Demeter's Chill and then instantly violently shattered from the inside out by the impending curse of Ares's Doom.
The training dummy exploded into a million frozen splinters. Dorian lowered his hands, his jaw completely unhinged. He stared at the crater left in the grass.
"Why... why do we never do this?!" Dorian yelled, completely mind-blown by the sheer destructive potential of combining their powers.
Demeter simply shrugged her shoulders, her expression completely deadpan. "You never asked."
Ares drew his massive, spectral broadsword, his eyes burning with the thrill of battle.
"Enough talking!" the God of War roared, pointing his blade at the boy, the fire lizard, and the legendary bird. "Now, MOVE! THE THREE OF YOU! NOW!!"
…
Later that night, long after the rest of the Kepler estate had gone to sleep, Dorian stood alone in his dark bedroom. He was staring deeply into the purple, rippling glass of the Mirror of Night.
Looking at his own reflection, Dorian realized exactly how much his physical body had changed. He had completely shed the scrawny, underfed frame of his youth in the lower levels. His physique had become incredibly dense and deeply chiseled. He literally possessed the body of a Greek god, and there was absolutely no pun intended there, considering he was actively being beaten into shape by actual Greek deities.
He offered his reflection a tired, satisfied smile.
Dorian raised his hand and opened the System interface. With a familiar swipe, he equipped the boon of Athena.
This had become his strict, non-negotiable daily routine. During the bright hours of the day, he summoned Ares to brutally train his physical body and his combat reflexes. At night, he summoned Athena to train his mind.
A warm, golden light illuminated the dark bedroom. The Goddess of Wisdom and Warfare materialized beside him, her towering armor gleaming perfectly in the shadows.
"Any progress, Creator?" Athena asked, her voice carrying a calm, regal authority.
Dorian turned to her, his posture instinctively straightening. He addressed her with the absolute respect of a soldier reporting to his commanding officer. He detailed the entire week's progress at Round Table Studio, mapping out the art generation, the physical constraints programmed by Bem, and the casting calls organized by Dalle.
Athena listened quietly, her golden eyes analytical. "So, it is coming along nicely. There is absolutely no turning back now. Assassin's Creed it is."
Dorian gave a firm nod.
"And what of your preparation for the Helix tech?" Athena inquired, probing the most critical vulnerability of his master plan.
"There is indeed a heavy list of cons regarding the hardware," Dorian answered analytically. "The in-universe lore for the Helix system dictates that it has notoriously weak software security. The entire plot revolves around hackers breaching it. However, I am entirely confident I can fix it."
Dorian looked down at his own hands, opening and closing his calloused fingers. It was a strange reality to live in. He did not remember the personal details of his past life on Earth. Everything he retained in his Mnemonic Echo consisted strictly of songs, games, movies, and pop culture entertainment. Yet, underneath all of that media, he had always possessed a terrifying, innate knack for complex programming and digital security.
Ever since he was a child, he had been effortlessly tinkering. He had jailbroken Leo, spoofed his own location data, and jammed complex Accord network traces. He had done all of these highly illegal things right under the noses of the Accord without ever raising a single red flag.
"Besides," Dorian added, looking back up at the Goddess. "I have a working theory that the System itself will inherently help me fortify the code once I successfully acquire the engine."
Athena hummed in agreement, slowly pacing around the room. "I do have one lingering question. Why start with Assassin's Creed II? You have shown me the foundational files. You even named the internal studio folder 'Project Altaïr'."
Dorian smiled fondly. "Altaïr is the first, after all. I cannot just forget his name or disrespect his legacy. As for why I am using the second game as the foundational story I take to this universe... Ezio Auditore simply has the most fitting emotional arc. It is the absolute perfect trilogy for the people of this world to experience."
He walked over to his window, looking out at the distant, starlit sky of Friton. "In Assassin's Creed II, Ezio is angry, grieving, and completely reckless. In Brotherhood, he matures, becoming a true leader and a builder of a new society. And finally, in Revelations, he becomes wise enough to simply let it all go."
Athena stopped pacing. She looked at him with a soft, profound expression. "Do you truly think this is the exact sentiment the galaxy needs right now?"
Dorian nodded. "They need to learn how to fight for their freedom, they need to learn how to lead, and eventually, they will need to learn how to find peace."
Athena smiled, a rare expression of deep, radiant pride warming her features. "This game is but a single charge in a much larger war, Dorian. Like Ares told you... you need absolute power to hold onto the things you hold most dear. So, what is next?"
Dorian slowly turned around. He looked back at the towering projection of the Mirror of Night.
The heavy, glowing [Upgrade] button hovered over the final upgrade of his Prince of the Underworld profile. It was practically begging him to press it. Dorian stood in the quiet room, his gaze fixed on the towering Mirror of Night. Resting comfortably on the rug nearby, his small Charmander was softly snoring, while the majestic Articuno stood vigil by the window, its icy breath frosting the glass.
Dorian knew he could not avoid this forever. If he wanted to protect his family, he needed absolute power.
He raised his hand. His index finger hovered over the final upgrade node: Gods' Legacy.
He pressed it.
[Gods' Legacy upgraded to Rank 10. Cost: 10,000 Darkness.]
The very second the transaction processed, something profound inside Dorian fundamentally changed. A staggering, overwhelming sense of completion washed over his entire being. It felt as if every single ounce of power he had painstakingly invested into the Mirror over the last year was suddenly and violently resonating with his soul.
The dark, purple-hued glass of the Mirror suddenly rippled, reacting exactly like a calm lake disturbed by a single drop of water.
Then, a concentrated beam of pure, abyssal darkness shot out from the glass, striking Dorian directly in his right eye.
Dorian gasped, his hands flying to his face as a searing, overwhelming pressure built inside his skull. Panic flared in his chest, but a warm, commanding voice echoed from right behind him.
"Calm," Athena instructed firmly. "Accept it."
Hearing the Goddess of Wisdom, Dorian forced his panic down. He gritted his teeth, dropped his hands, and deliberately heeded her words. He calmed his racing heart and simply allowed the concentrated mass of Darkness stored within the Mirror to flow directly into his right eye.
Seconds stretched into agonizing minutes.
Twelve minutes later, the intense flow of energy finally snapped shut.
Dorian collapsed to his hands and knees, gasping violently for air. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and slowly forced himself to stand back up. He looked at the Mirror of Night.
It was completely empty. The swirling, magical purple hue was gone. It had turned into a completely regular, mundane piece of reflective glass.
Dorian looked at his own reflection in the normal mirror and blinked. His usual grey eyes were now mismatched. His left eye remained its natural color, but his right eye had permanently transformed into a striking, vibrant shade of blood red. It was the exact, trademark heterochromia of the Prince of the Underworld.
Dorian tilted his head, examining the red iris. "Oh," he panted softly. "It is actually not that bad."
Then, his intuition caught something wrong with the reflection. He could see his own room, his bed, and his desk in the glass, but Athena was completely missing from the reflection.
Dorian quickly turned around. The golden projection of the Goddess had entirely vanished from his bedroom.
Before he could even process her disappearance, a massive, blaring red System notification violently hijacked his vision.
[CONGRATULATIONS. Profile Completed: Prince of the Underworld.]
[Following Hades localized mechanics, the House of Hades and the Realm of Olympus are authorized to materialize...]
[Confirming implementation with Universe Law...]
[Scanning... Primordial Chaos: NOT FOUND.]
[Scanning... Hades: NOT FOUND.]
[Scanning... Poseidon: FOUND.]
[Scanning... Zeus: FOUND.]
[Taking inquiry...]
[Cosmic Compromise settled with the Universe Law.]
[Taking Resonance Points as a price of equivalent exchange.]
Dorian's mismatched eyes went incredibly wide. This was infinitely more complicated and terrifying than when the Mastery Cave had materialized.
Then, Dorian looked at the top corner of his interface. His massive stockpile of millions of Resonance Points, the fortune he had bled and sweat to earn from his galactic concert tour, began to rapidly, violently dwindle. The numbers spun down like a slot machine in reverse.
"Shit!" Dorian cursed out loud, watching his hard-earned currency vanish into the ether to pay for the cosmic manifestation.
The numbers finally hit One.
[Transaction Complete.]
[The House of Hades and the Mount Olympus have materialized with the explicit consent of Zeus and Poseidon.]
A terrifying, deep rumble echoed from beneath Dorian's feet.
An earthquake.
The entire foundation of the Kepler estate began to shake violently. Out in the hallway, the walls groaned. Charmander jolted awake with a panicked cry, its tail flame flaring as it scrambled directly to Dorian's leg. Articuno let out a sharp, piercing shriek, spreading its massive icy wings to stabilize itself as it moved protectively to Dorian's other side.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
The automated security alarms of the mansion blared to life. Heavy durasteel blast-shutters instantly slammed down over the windows, and the ambient lights shifted to a stark emergency red. The entire Friton estate had officially initiated its maximum-security shelter mode, bracing for a completely unknown, world-altering impact.