Rioneed: VRMMORPG

Ibro thought about his old memories of the Rioneed game. He never heard of any NPC managing to raise his level or upgrade his class. 

That was weird. They were players that didn't play in the game. Was this a game retaliation against them?

"Do you know how these demons inserted you inside the games? As you said before, they can't enter a world without a teleportation gate."

Topan shook his head while saying:

"I don't know, master. All I know is that we only can enter newly formed games, not already ongoing ones."

Ibro was confused. He asked the system as well:

'Do you have an answer to this?'

'System knows some info, but the system prefers to tell you at a suitable time, though.'

Ibro was frustrated with this system. It didn't tell him anything for free. Ibro then tried to tempt the system:

'I can give you any SPR stones you need. You know, I have huge amounts of these SPR units and stones now.'

The cold harsh voice of the system replied at Ibro at once:

'Do you think you have enough? What you have right now is just the basic functions of the system. These stones are just a small unit of energy. There are still SPR orbs, SPR crystals, and SPR pearls. You still poor kid.'

Ibro didn't get angry from the teasing that the system words carried. He asked the next most important question:

'Can I make these NPCs get stronger again?'

The system replied after a while of silence:

'Yes, you can. But, you will need to fulfill some conditions first.'

Ibro asked without any thinking:

'Tell me what these conditions are.'

'The first condition is for you to have an existing empire. The definition of empire is completely different from the concept of the village you know of. 

You need either to raise your current village rank to be a kingdom level or you use an empire establishment artifact to do so. 

Then you need to link your empire or kingdom with another territory of yours in another universe. The second condition is for you to get the heart of a civilization artifact. 

The third condition is for you to establish your empire based on the civilization artifact and separate it from any existing world. you need to provide to your empire the types of energies it will depend on. 

You need to provide your empire with a population. You need to protect it from the attacks of demons. Establishing a new empire means you will get out of the protection of the current worlds you visited before. 

It's a difficult task that carries more value than you would possibly imagine.'

Ibro felt the same way. Establishing an empire was a difficult task that seemed very complicated. But, he felt some sort of attraction towards such an idea. He probed the system:

'I feel like my destiny is related to these kinds of empires.'

The system didn't respond to Ibro's probe. He confirmed his guess. His final destination was related to such a fate. If he was destined to seek this path, then why couldn't he start now?

'Can you tell me how I can fulfill these conditions?'

'Are you interested in taking such a crucial step?'

Ibro explained:

'Actually I have some conditions fulfilled, like the population and the energies. I can amass all the NPCs here and make them join my empire. I already have double energies plus the demon energy. 

My village territory is spread over two universes now. What I lack, though, is making my village an empire according to your own standards. Also, I lack that civilization artifact. 

Now, I want you to tell me what options do I have? How can I gain the missing elements?'

The system didn't reply to him. Ibro didn't lose hope as he pushed this matter further by saying:

'If I would start from scratch to build my empire, then I should postpone this plan. But I have fulfilled nearly over 50% of the conditions. It will be a waste not to seek this goal.'

The harsh voice of the system replied to him:

'This task is really risky. The condition for you to establish a recognized empire is hard to be accomplished. 

If you decide to raise the rank of your village to reach the kingdom level, then it will take a long time and a huge effort. As you can see, just upgrading a village from a minor rank to another is complicated. 

If you choose to establish an empire using an artifact, you have to look hard. Although every universe has many artifacts that can establish empires, there is no guarantee you will find this artifact in this world, or even back in your cultivation world. 

The civilization heart artifact is even harder to get. Each world is built upon a civilization heart artifact. 

If you need to get one artifact like that, you either destroy a world to get one, or deal with someone who destroyed a world and get this artifact from him.'

Ibro felt how harsh these two conditions were. The first one was easier, though. The second one was the impossible one. 

Ibro didn't know anyone who was maniac enough to destroy worlds except for these fiend demons. Would he go and ask them for this artifact? That wasn't possible, though.

"Tell me, Topan, do you witness the moment when a world is destroyed?"

Ibro directed this question to Topan. Topan and other NPCs were the other ones who witnessed the destruction of any world. Ibro hoped they could help him, or could give him a clue.

"Yes, master. I have witnessed the destruction of 7 worlds including my original one."

Ibro asked at once with great anticipation:

"Do you know what happens to the world? Does it stay in its location? Does it get completely destroyed? Tell me everything you know."

Topan felt weird towards Ibro's persistence to know such events. Nonetheless, he replied:

"Each world when destroyed, it begins to fracture into smaller pieces until it disappears completely."

"What about residuals? Debris? Anything?"

Topan shook his head while saying:

"I don't know, master. I only see the world till it disappears. I never noticed any debris or residual of any kind."

Ibro was greatly disappointed. He held great hope on that possibility which now was erased. He had only one option left… he had to get this artifact from the hands of the demons. 

He sighed; this was really an impossible mission. He tried to get over his disappointment as he said to Topan:

"About your proposal, I don't think it will work as you think. The emperor and his royal family would never accept the idea of serving me."

Topan thought for a while before suggesting:

"What about when I talk to my trusted friends? I have a couple of trusted friends who can bring their armies with them as I will do."

Ibro asked casually:

"How many NPCS is in your army?"

Topan replied without thinking:

"The Empire had 200 armies distributed over a huge scale. Each army consists of 10 million fixed NPCs. There is an additional 90 million NPCS army that each army can amass from a pool of around 1000 cities."