Arthur stood in front of the warp gate. It was one of seven situated in the Agroth’s basement and led directly to Haadran. Although the warp gate prevented hostiles from crossing over, it didn’t stop the extreme heat from passing through. The temperature was beyond anything that could occur naturally on Earth, the type of heat that would kill an unclassed human inside of six hours.

  Arthur had made a few more preparations. He now had a cycrogylic crystal that would lower the ambient temperature in the area so long as he ran ether through it and an Emergency Rations kit—something that could create a tasteless but nutritional replacement meal via ether. The food was a clear gel that looked very similar to Aloe Vera and was the most complex molecular structure an elite-ranked item could consistently make—in other words, something that used the same simple repeating structure again and again.

  Arthur hoped he’d never have to use it, but you never knew what to expect when delving a fallen world. Getting stranded for months was par for the course and something all experienced delvers prepared for. The materializer cost a lot, upwards of 20 million credits and needed to be serviced every half year. Luckily for Arthur, being recruited by the Guild of Fringe Walkers meant that both the item and its servicing were provided free of charge. Arthur stared at the Warp gate. It was a portal that would take him out of this very realm, to one that had failed to ascend to tier 5 and become fallen.

  It was strange that he’d become a realm traveller before leaving his dimension, but the same held true for most people. Dimensional travel was far more difficult than going to the realm that was bleeding into their own. It was why Alyssia’s dimension had only just been discovered when she travelled through the dimensional tear.

  Precise coordinates were needed to travel between dimensions, and a mastery over mathematics that bordered on the extreme. Here, Arthur just needed to walk through the warp gate, one of hundreds that were opening naturally on the planet. He pulled out his Secret Notebook. Crossing over would prevent any further communication with Iris. Even the greatest inventions had limitations. He’d finished talking with her just a few minutes ago.

  It hadn’t taken the seer long to find the fell humans who’d run away with his blood. Hiding was futile when you had a seer as talented as the fae princess on your tail. She was waiting till nightfall to strike, and with Alyssia as her backup, he doubted anyone would be getting away. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be around to hear how their raid went, though he trusted they’d get the job done, most probably better than if he’d done it himself. Opening the notebook, Arthur read through their final conversation. The book had enough charge left for one more final message.

  Arthur Ward: I’m going now. Take care of yourself. And Alyssia. She’s bound to get herself in trouble, and the hunters might hold a grudge.

  Iris: Will do. And remember, be wary of any natives you find… Alyssia’s saying you should ditch Wovan in the Fallen—

  The message cut off, and the book fell inert, but Arthur could guess what the alverin was trying to say. It seemed he’d found someone who hated spiders more than he did. Iris’ warning was less pleasant to read, but far more important. It was the third time she’d told him. Just because the realm had fallen, it didn’t mean all the sapient species there had just disappeared. Civilisations on tier 1 planets were too young to have survived the corruption, and tier 2 and 3 worlds had succumbed for the most part. Seventeen thousand odd years had passed since the neighbouring realm had fallen, far too long for most civilisations to endure untainted.

  It was rare to find natives when exploring fallen tier 2 planets, but not unheard of. Nine times out of ten, they were fallen too, which was dangerous in and of itself. The true danger, however, was when you encountered sapients who hadn't succumbed to corruption. It took a special kind of willpower and determination to watch the world around you descend into madness and remain uncorrupted. Encounters with sapient natives had a tendency to go pear-shaped very fast. People didn’t like it when you started plundering their planets, even if it was actively trying to kill them.

  “Anytime now, Mr Ward,” Edward said dryly, startling him. “As much as I love coming to this room, we’re not all as resistant to heat as you. A minute longer and I’m going to evaporate.”

  Arthur smiled awkwardly and put his notebook away. He’d forgotten the man was there. “Sorry about that,” he said. “I won't keep you here any longer.”

  “When can I expect you back. Are you still sticking with that crazy two-week plan of yours?”

  Arthur nodded. “If things go well, that’s when I’ll return.” Bracing himself, he stepped through the warp gate.

  ~~~

  The first thing that hit him was a fist. It was covered in fur with sharp spikes of protruding bone and was about as large as Arthur’s head. The blow came so fast and so suddenly that he had no time to react. The punch struck him on his left temple with bone-crunching force. Arthur was unfortunate enough that one of the protruding spikes struck him directly in the eye. He felt the organ pop even as he was launched to the side. Less than a second into the fallen realm, and things were off to a horrible start.

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  Cursing, Arthur used his newest power, gained through unlocking Titan's constitution, to bring his flight to a close. Being able to manipulate 170 kg worth of telekinetic force without expending any ether looked great on paper, but he’d been hit by a lot more energy than that. In the end, Arthur’s attempt at flight ended with three bounces on the sandy dune and a quarter of a mile covered instead of whatever absurd distance it would have been.

  Groaning, Arthur rolled onto his back and spat out a mouthful of sand. He didn’t think he’d ever been hit so hard, physically at least. His stored healing energy was already working on putting his eye back together, pushing out fine grains of sand and reconstructing flesh. It took all of seven seconds and felt like ants were crawling through his skull, a thoroughly unpleasant sensation to say the least. With the regularity Arthur’s eyes got injured, it was high time he started looking for specialised defences. Squinting in the harsh sunlight, Arthur sincerely regretted not bringing a pair of sunglasses. Perhaps an epic one that doubled as armour.

  By the time he’d gotten to his feet, the monster was almost upon him. It was a massive bipedal wolf, almost twelve feet tall and was moving far slower than it could have. Arthur had experienced its speed first-hand, had failed to react to it—no way was this loping gait its true speed. It seemed the creature had hurt itself, judging by the way it was cradling its hand. Striking Arthur’s head with your body was never a good idea. He identified the creature.

  That explained a few things. Haadran hadn’t always been such an arid wasteland. It made sense that non-desert life forms still existed, though corruption hadn't done them any favours. Looking at the approaching monster, Arthur felt nothing but pity. How long had it spent wandering this wasteland? A thousand years? Two? It was time to put it out of its misery. Arthur waited for the sand wolf to get closer. Fifty metres. Twenty-five. Ten.

  Arthur stepped into the shadows and emerged behind the creature, his fist already in motion. Coated in physical darkness as sharp as the finest of spear points, it met no resistance and pierced into the monster's back, travelling under its ribcage until Arthur’s hand reached its heart. He’d guessed at the sand wolf's biology, and it looked like he’d gotten lucky. Arthur pulled the monster's heart out and watched as it dropped dead at his feet. From beginning to end, the fight had taken exactly 9.4 seconds. Not bad for his first battle in the fallen realm. He’d also managed to cast Shadow Step in less than two seconds, which was certainly something to celebrate.

  Perhaps things were off to a good start, after all.

  Two hours later, Arthur was rethinking his initial optimism. While he had come to Haadran to face adversity, the regularity with which he’d been attacked was enough to get on a saint's nerves. Not a minute went by when he wasn’t targeted by a monster of some kind. The sand wolves were easy to deal with; Arthur welcomed them even. The vultures and sand worms were a different story, attackers from two directions he wasn’t used to dealing with.

  They were both ambush predators and nigh impossible to track until they were trying to eat him. Every piece of fiction Arthur had ever consumed told him he should expect some kind of vibration in the ground before sand worms attacked. Unfortunately, in real life, they were dead silent and struck with no warning. Arthur’s legs were riddled with bite marks and his head had three deep gashes that kept bleeding into his eyes, courtesy of a few dive bombing vultures.

  Getting injured by a corrupted creature, especially in a fallen world, was incredibly dangerous. Every wound Arthur had suffered so far had been targeted by corrupted energy. It was the main reason why delving fallen planets alone was all but impossible. You needed a healer. Arthur could circumvent this issue because of his unique advantages; his incredible durability protected him to a certain extent, but it was his nature as an Originator that truly kept him safe, something he’d only just learned of recently. On the bright side, being constantly attacked by beings over level 200 was exactly why he’d come here. He’d hit level 105 after the last vulture attack, and for the first time in a while, diversified where he spent his stat points. The bulk of them—exactly 100—went into Draconic vitality as usual, and the remaining 27 he invested into strength. The stat had been sorely lacking for a while now, and it was high time he brought it up to speed.

  For the first time in a while, Arthur truly felt the increase in power the level-up brought. He’d just increased his strength by over 20% after all.

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  Etherious: Originator

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