When The Dungeon Master Breaks Reality... [Isekai Extravaganza Quest]

It took some time to process forty souls; an initial set of forty heroes, forty resurrected Otherworlders. Their spirits would be scattered across the beginning pages of the timeline that the Dungeon Master drafted, but not so early that it could be called a time of Genesis.

Nonetheless, many great empires ruled the planet, and yet, their power waned. As they waned, they split, overtaken by civil war and strife. That is simply the future preordained by the fate of the almighty Overgod.

The Dungeon Master grinned, reaching out to both of his sides with his fingers splayed, like a priest preaching to the sky, but less religious and more as a general form of praise. Showered in spotlights of celestial light, he looked at the row of forty blue wisps in front of him.

Metaphorical representations of the souls he saved.

'Innocent spirits, subjected to the injustice of fate! Rise and awaken! You had your entire lives taken away from you by fluke, by coincidence - and even if from your own faults - too early! I offer you this; a chance to live in a world unlike another! A world that you can change, in which you can prosper and live in adventure! A second chance at a life that you've never even dreamed of... Let your souls be drawn wherever they feel at home! Let them rise and awaken!'

His grin seemed to double over, as he gestured toward the souls.

【Is all the melodrama necessary, Dungeon Master?】

'Why wouldn't it be?' He confusedly turned his head to the left, even though the System was omnipresent.

【The souls, although they contain the minds and memories of the Otherworlders, do not possess thought transmission capabilities. All of this went unheard.】

'Whaaat?! Seriously?! I've been rehearsing that for–– I mean, ahem. Just send them on their way, yes.'

【Dungeon Master, you have perfect memory. You do not need to rehearse anything. Why lie?】

'See, that's the problem - this entire eidetic memory schtick is really tiring me out, you know?'

【That is also a lie.】

'Okay, fine! I just wanted to do a speech! Why did you have to ruin the moment?'

【Transmitting souls into the world...】

'Oh, give me the silent treatment, sure!'


Forty souls, forty wisps, unwinding through space and time, traveling through the cosmos, tearing through dimensions like a violent storm invisible to the Gods, unaware of the coming of great change.

Each soul hit its mark, in a place it was drawn to the most. A dark battlefield, a king's royal court, a small countryside, a valley of dragons, an island on the sea, a wasteland, a mountain on the back of a turtle, an eternal realm of water, a realm of rock, a realm of air, and realm of fire. Many places, as numerous and faceted as the souls themselves.

And then they formed bodies, flesh weaving, bones crystallizing, organs sprouting. They became coated in clothing from their past days and, after their minds accepted their resurrection and their souls realized the gifts granted by the System, they finally awoke.


Cindy opened her eyes, in the midst of a blazing inferno, surrounded by smoldering mountains of volcanic rock and burning rivers of lava in the distance. The very ground beneath her felt coarse, and looking, she found out that she was lying on onyx-colored rock, with splotches of gray, dark brown, and even white stone. She felt surprisingly little heat from this place.

Moving her head slightly up, she saw a group of curious creatures staring at her like she had grown a second head. These creatures were various forms of humanoid or animal-shaped flame. Among them, two human-shaped flame people with dots for eyes. Both of them had body curvature reminiscent of a female. The animals, on another hand, looked like a group of four lions with fiery manes and charcoal eyes and claws.

There were also a few small lizards, staring from further afar.

Cindy's first breath was saturated with something unpleasant and bitter in taste, but in a few more breaths, she got used to it.

To her credit, Cindy managed to keep her cool. There was something serene about this state of things, even if consciously she hated it.

She growled quietly, standing up. As she did, the fiery creatures wavered and moved back, as if offering her space.

They were making sound, not just the random little clicks of embers and sparks and the disorderly rustling of a fireplace that you'd expect from flame, but rather, they were making intelligent sequences of hisses and sharp clicks. Intelligent sound, alghoritmical; attempting to communicate. They had a language.

She tried to keep herself from thinking these were demons and she was in Hell because that would be one dick move from God after she tried to live in relative morality for her entire life. Ethics, she scoffed.

Though she remembered the events of her death like they happened seconds ago, because they did from her perspective, she felt like months, maybe years, had passed. For some reason, this helped alleviate her sanity slightly, even though she felt extremely uncomfortable in this place. She only did not complain because this time around, there are no alkanes burning her.

Still, a realm of flame. That's just bad taste.

Cindy didn't want to be anywhere near these creatures, but she lived her entire life in a laid-back and cool manner. She was used to working under pressure.

She looked at the curvature of the two, feminine flames. Were they women?

"Why do you have boobs?" she asked.

The clueless elementals looked at each other when she spoke, and even the lions seemed confused as if they expected her to reply with something else.

One of the elementals stepped forward.

"What is boobs?" she asked, in a vaguely human voice, but with a very peculiar accent – Arabic, Cindy dared say – and a background rumbling of flame.

"Nevermind. Who are you?" Cindy asked, coming off a little aggressive.

"We're fire elementals, me and my sister. She doesn't know the language of the Primes, so I will translate. These lions are our pets and friends."

"Primes?"

"You are from the Prime Material Plane, no? You've frightened us quite a bit."

"Let's say I am..." Cindy said a tad awkwardly, then looked to her right and left. "What would this place be, then?"

"The Elemental Plane of Fire," the elemental woman replied without missing a beat. "More accurately, we are within the domain of Grand Sultan Marrake al-Sidan al-Hariq ben Lazan... We get quite a bit of traffic from wizards from the Material Plane here, but you seem... confused. How did you get here?"

Cindy feared this question, as she herself, had no answer. She simply shrugged.

"I see... Well, if you need a way to get back to Gaia, or wherever you're from, there's portals to the far north."

"How far north?" Cindy asked, uncertain if walking was the right solution in a hazardous place like this.

"Around ten days on foot, though there is airships that can get you there in two. Or you can find a mage to open a portal for you, though I imagine this will cost quite a bit... If you want, you can stay with us for a while. We live in the Brass City, it's just east of here."

Cindy struggled to find an answer. The last time she came for a visit to someone else's home, it wasn't pretty. Not to mention that the lack of prettiness involved lots of fire and gas.

"I..."



Character Dashboard:



[] Direct Action - Describe the desired action.
- [] Condition - Use this if the action or power should only be done if something else happens first.

[] Repeating Command - Describe a desired action or power use that will attempt to be performed every time the attached condition is met, every chapter.
- [] Condition - Set the condition/s for when the Resetting Command will be performed, minimum one condition.

[] Timeskip Until (When) - Automatically pass time until the specified time, condition, or event. (This will not skip important events.)

[] Generate New Character - (Locked until Chapter Ten.)
- [] Name... [write-in]
- [] Gender... [write-in]
- [] Age... [0-29]
- [] Laconic Biography... [write-in]
- [] Death Circumstances... [write-in]

Repeating Command List
-[-] Ensure your own safety, in the most effective, and most moral way, using your own morality system. Remain aware of what is around you at all times.
--[-] While alive.

PLEASE VOTE BY PLAN!

"What is the local geography like?" Cindy asked, looking around. Trying to get out of here, or at least knowing of possible paths was a no-brainer to her.

The elemental stumbled to answer the question, not as much confused as not expecting the question.

"I don't know how to answer that. There are several active volcanoes in the area, mostly to the northeast, magma chutes scattered here and there, and uh..." She looked around, clueless of what else to say. "Lots of lava rivers... Oh, there are salamanders northeast of the Brass City, so you might wanna avoid those areas. Salamanders are fiery lizards, carnivorous and nasty."

Cindy hadn't learned much, other than northeast is dangerous. Still, good to know.

"The Grand Sultan, what was his name? What's he like?" Cindy fired the question.

"Marrakech al-Sidan al-Hariq Ben Lazan. I don't know him in person, of course – I'm just a merchant," the fire girl replied. "He is an efreeti, and I've heard he really likes to gamble. Particularly in horse races. He is a fair ruler, I'd wager the benevolent kind that strive to take care of his people. Not much else to say."

Cindy asked, "What about food and money? I'm gonna be stuck here for at least two days, and I'll need money to get out."

"Yes, there is food for Primes in the markets. Exotic food, mostly, but you can live off of it. I've seen Primes living here for weeks at a time," the fire girl said, almost proudly, coming off as a patriot of sorts, like someone happy to introduce a foreigner to her country. "One of my stalls sells food if you're interested, and if you're interested in work, I am always looking for someone to run said stalls. I would reckon you don't know Ignan?"

The merchant girl made a small noise, reminiscent of a hiss of steam. Cindy felt something from it. She understood that it was a question – which was strange, as their language did not seem to have timbre or pitch that could indicate such a thing to a human ear.

Cindy shook her head vehemently, guessing that Ignan was the name of their language. "No, I don't even know if I can make sounds like that."

The other fire elemental woman chimed in, in their native language, saying something Cindy didn't quite understand, though it was a statement. The merchant girl looked at her sister, then back at Cindy, then back at her sister. The two had a short conversation in Ignan, and Cindy felt herself weirdly following the outliers of what they were talking about. Obviously, the conversation was about her, or rather, about her... origin?

Then, the merchant looked at Cindy, carefully appraising her.

"She's asking if you're an Otherworlder," the merchant girl asked, slightly guarded but not hostile.

"Well, I'm definitely not from here – I'm a human."

"That's not what I mean." The merchant girl shook her head and approached, still carefully evaluating Cindy. "Apparently, a legendary warrior appeared three months ago in the Prime Material Plane, claiming he is from an entirely different world, and with amazing abilities. Just weeks later, another apparent Otherworlder appeared and took over the rule of one of the biggest empires on Gaia. There have been five such appearances in the last three months."

"Gaia?"

The fire girl nodded, gesturing with her arm as she explained her theory, "I am almost convinced you are an Otherworlder. Gaia is the dominant planet on the Prime Material Plane; there are a few other Material Planes and planets on them, but Gaia is the biggest and most developed and could be said to be the pinnacle of mortalkind. I assumed you were from there, but you seriously don't know anything... If you're an Otherworlder, you should have some kind of abilities. Did you try checking your status?"

"My status?" Cindy hooked her brows in confusion.

"Your profile?" The merchant changed her wording, hoping Cindy would follow.

"I don't understand." Cindy shrugged, shaking her head with her hands out.

"Your status shows what the World sees you as. It has a list of skills, and even a repository of all magic you know. It also allows you to spend any life-force you gathered to ascend to a higher level, though Otherworlders claim that life-force is called... Ee-Ex-Pee, was it? If you see something like that, tell me."

Cindy shook her head. "How do I access this status?"

"It's... well..." The fire elemental found it hard to put into words. "It comes naturally to most people. I've never had to explain it to anyone... Just try to focus, feel inside yourself, and you should know what I'm getting at."

Cindy closed her eyes and slowly breathed in through her nose, feeling the slightly sulphuric atmosphere tingle at her nostrils.

And she found herself feeling a juvenile fire, a burning wick within herself, like the small but hopeful light of a lit candle. A flame that brought comfort. She could practically feel the world slow down around her, and when she opened her eyes, the fire elementals weren't moving.

She wasn't either.

She could still feel her limbs and move them very slowly, and her eyes told her the elementals, too, were moving. She could slow down time? But she was also slowed down, so this wasn't quite it.

That's when an icon popped into her vision, and yet, simultaneously not being there. It was a creation of her mind, telling her that Ultra Instinct had been activated and her reaction time was improved by a magnitude of fifty out of one-thousand.

She felt her other abilities, tugging at her soul. Enhancement, it felt like strength and power, and she had already realized the clothing she wore was like mega-cloth.

And she felt what the fire elemental told her. Cindy had one-hundred thousand of whatever EXP was, and she felt that she could spend ten to increase her level by one. After that, she'd have to spend fifteen, and then twenty-two. The cost for each level was the previous cost plus half of the previous cost, circled down.

Right now, she could go up to Level 22 instantly and have six-hundred eighty-nine EXP left-over.

She also knew that, for some bizarre reason, she could seduce people. If she decided to work the stall, it'd make things easier.

And then, Cindy opened her eyes, looking at the elemental girls.

"You spaced out for a moment. Did it work?"


Character Dashboard:



[] Direct Action - Describe the desired action.
- [] Condition - Use this if the action or power should only be done if something else happens first.

[] Repeating Command - Describe a desired action or power use that will attempt to be performed every time the attached condition is met, every chapter.
- [] Condition - Set the condition/s for when the Resetting Command will be performed, minimum one condition.

[] Timeskip Until (When) - Automatically pass time until the specified time, condition, or event. (This will not skip important events.)

[] Level-Up - Level the character up by spending EXP.

[] Generate New Character - (Locked until Chapter Ten.)
- [] Name... [write-in]
- [] Gender... [write-in]
- [] Age... [0-29]
- [] Laconic Biography... [write-in]
- [] Death Circumstances... [write-in]

Repeating Command List
-[-] Ensure your own safety, in the most effective, and most moral way, using your own morality system. Remain aware of what is around you at all times.
--[-] While alive.

PLEASE VOTE BY PLAN!

Cindy blinked. "Hey, a question. Sorry if this is out of nowhere, but do you think a seduction ability would be against the rules when selling stuff?" The query was as out of place as it was random, befuddling the fire elemental merchant and catching her off-guard simultaneously.

"Uh, well... Usually, any Skills or Magic that manipulate minds are against the law, except when used in self-defense, I think." The Fire Merchant put a finger on her chin, considering for a moment before she shrugged. "I think it should be fine. The guards at town are pretty forgiving, so if they decide it's problematic, they will probably give out a warning not to do that before arresting or giving out infractions."

Or I can seduce them not to arrest me, Cindy thought, then suppressed said thought before the thought of opening up a kissing booth came to her mind.

"Well, I'll take up your offer. I'm going to need money, whatever I do," Cindy said.

"Ah, that's incredible!" The Fire Merchant turned to her sister and took her hands giddily, hissing and rumbling in Ignan.

The two shared a conversation, and Cindy tried to make out the details. Though difficult, she could tell that the Fire Merchant was excited to have Cindy with them and her sister was... apprehensive? No, wait. Not apprehensive; more like she had a different idea, which she believed was safer and more 'moral' than employing her.

Cindy didn't even realize she followed the conversation with startling accuracy.

Soon, the three women and the lions set off in the direction of the City of Brass.

"By the way, about the lions..."

Fire Merchant looked at Cindy. "Oh, they're elementals, just like us. They simply took different forms."

"Can all of you shapeshift like this?"

"It takes some time to make a body, especially if you're out of practice, but generally, yes. It's a Skill granted to us by our Primordial progenitor, Pyros. Think of it as a divine blessing for all fire elementals. Even if new ones are born, they are automatically the children of Pyros and receive his blessing."

"So, the lions are intelligent?" Cindy looked at one of the creatures, which watched her with two expanses of black volcanic stone with red cracks, which served as its empty eyes. Its fiery mane hissed as a response, telling her 'yes.'

"Huh. That Pyros guy must be pretty powerful." Cindy blinked, watching the creature in morbid fascination, too afraid to pet it despite her Fire Resistance, and yet too curious of its appearance not to eye it from far away.

"That's true, but Primordials were all slain and sealed by the Gods, around two-hundred years ago. Soon after, the Age of the Gods followed."

"Age of the Gods?" Cindy kept asking question after question when a new topic came up.

"Yes. After the Primordial Lords were sealed, the Divinities took over sovereignty over space and time, but they keep warring against each other, trying to obtain worshippers. Long ago, the Gods walked among the realms during the Age of the Gods, but now they rarely do. Manifesting on the planes eats up too much energy and risks attack from other deities."

"You seem pretty knowledgeable for an Elemental," Cindy said in slight astonishment. Then, she deflated, realizing what she said could have been taken the wrong way. "Urm. I don't mean to assert anything, I just..."

The Fire Merchant grinned, not yet laughing, but on the verge of doing so. "It's alright, not everyone is educated here. I went to a university in the city, and that included a four-year course on Planar Politics."

"Sounds boring."

The two of them laughed. Meanwhile, the lions and the Merchant's sister stared at them, having barely any idea what they were laughing at. Their Common must have been a bit weak, or so Cindy theorized. She already learned that Common was the name of the language she was using from her profile.

"Hey, by the way, about the Grand Sultan." The Fire Merchant's tone changed abruptly, into a slightly more grave one. "You might want to pay him a visit. I'm willing to bet that if you can prove you're an Otherworlder, he would sponsor you if you promised to act as a mercenary for his army."

"Mercenary? Isn't that dangerous?"

"For one such as you, not really," the Fire Merchant said, shrugging.

"Speaking of the Sultan, you mentioned he was something called an... efreeti?"

"Yes. They're a race of Fire creatures, stronger than the average Elemental. The Sultan happens to be one."

"Hm." After that, Cindy kept quiet, and so did the rest of the party.

Once she got bored, Cindy started to test her powers, to the amazement of the Elementals.

Her experiments started simple; her fingertips becoming small wisps of flame at the tips; like candles lit aflame. After that, she punched forward with an open palm and shot one, two, three consecutive short-range blasts of flame, each one easily enough to cause burns on unprotected skin.

Cindy proceeded to wreathe her body in flame, but she felt uncomfortable with the heat and quickly dispelled the effect. Or rather, she condensed it into space in front of herself, making a circular shield of burning tails of flame, before throwing it at the ground, upon which the shield dug – or more accurately, melted – a few inches into the ground.

She proceeded to show more powers, shooting balls of flame which exploded on impact. She created a single, thin straight line of flame attached to her forearm that followed its movements and left behind blazing scorch marks in the ground when she dragged it.

At this point, the group stopped to watch her antics in utter shock.

Cindy produced flying frisbees of flame, or she swung her hand horizontally to send forth a cleaver of raging flame. She could burp out blasts of flame, or breathe them out to make a more drawn-out attack, either in a straight line or in a cone.

She found that she could even imitate Superman's laser-eyes, melting a nearby rock into volcanic sludge with highly-condensed heat.

Cindy produced several sparks from her fingertips, which coiled through the air and hit a rock, igniting it with a side of concussive force that cracked it into burning pieces which were sent flying in several directions. High-pressure flame.

She made a whip of fire and coiled it around another rock, then channeled the burning tempest within her arm through it. The whip tightened around the rock, simultaneously melting through it and slicing it clean into several, extremely thin and burning circles, sort of like... spicy crisps.

"C-Cindy... you..."

Cindy turned around, finally noticing the group had stopped a while ago. The whip disappeared from her arm. Everyone without exception, from the Fire Merchant, to the lions, to the Merchant's Sister had a speechless look, their jaws hung agape and their eyes as wide as saucers.

"What?" Cindy asked casually, feigning ignorance.

"Well, to begin with," the Fire Merchant said, pausing for emphasis, before she continued, "THAT, was temperatures around a thousand degrees above my own. And you can manipulate it with... such... I don't know how to say this? Prodigious drive? I can barely create a fireball, let alone a whip, or whatever those fireworks were! This is sweet! You're outstanding!"

"I am? Am I really that strong?" This time, Cindy was genuinely surprised.

"Hell yeah! You could probably challenge the Grand Sultan at this rate if you kept practicing!" The Fire Merchant declared without the slightest hint of hesitation or even a shadow of doubt. "Hey, did you spend any life-force to level up? Don't tell me this is what you can do at your base!? If that is so, then my mind fears what you'll be able to do in the future! Just with this, you are probably among the top one-hundred strongest creatures on this entire plane of existence! And if not that, then you're close as candlewick! What I'm trying to say is that you're stronger than anything I've ever seen with my own eyes!"


Character Dashboard:



[] Direct Action - Describe the desired action.
- [] Condition - Use this if the action or power should only be done if something else happens first.

[] Repeating Command - Describe a desired action or power use that will attempt to be performed every time the attached condition is met, every chapter.
- [] Condition - Set the condition/s for when the Resetting Command will be performed, minimum one condition.

[] Timeskip Until (When) - Automatically pass time until the specified time, condition, or event. (This will not skip important events.)

[] Level-Up - Level the character up by spending EXP. (Cost: 10XP)
[] Skill-Up - Attempt to improve a Skill by spending EXP, actual costs unknown even with specific Skills in question.

[] Generate New Character - (Locked until Chapter Ten.)
- [] Name... [write-in]
- [] Gender... [write-in]
- [] Age... [0-29]
- [] Laconic Biography... [write-in]
- [] Death Circumstances... [write-in]

Repeating Command List
-[-] Ensure your own safety, in the most effective, and most moral way, using your own morality system. Remain aware of what is around you at all times.
--[-] While alive.

PLEASE VOTE BY PLAN!

unsanity said:

Does EXP just go into the level itself, or does it go in skills and stuff?

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

To your understanding:

The EXP cost for going to LV2 is 10 EXP. With each subsequent Level, the cost for Leveling Up is 1.5x the EXP cost of the previous Level. If the number has fractions, it will generally be circled down unless circling up causes it to end with either a 0 or a 5. For better understanding:


EXP is spent to obtain a Level, which itself is a permanent feature. Each Level increases the base statistics of a being according to a combination of inborn parameters, what they feel they need the most, and what the System/World thinks they need the most. Because of this, it also affects Skills and bolsters their effects. High-Level creatures find it easier to obtain new Skills and might learn new ones just from Leveling Up.

EXP can be spent to improve Skills, but the actual efficiency of this method is subpar and its results can be achieved with simple training by the character. Unlike with Levels, where the cost of each Level is always known to you, you cannot be sure when or even if the Skills will improve by spending EXP.

EXP has other uses, not listed above. This is why Leveling has to be done manually, as players may want to stock up EXP to utilize later on. The most common example of using EXP for things other than self-improvement is that some Skills (mostly game-breaking ones,) and Epic Spells may have an EXP cost to use.

For Player Convenience


Do note - New moves can be improvised.