Chapter 21: Opportunities and Adventure
Brief Interlude:
None among the great sages are what I would call normal people. After all how could someone normal endure the test of time it even takes to get to that position, much less the obsession needed to take every step that is necessary to progress down that path – (Excerpt from an interview with the Sage of Sorrow, otherwise known as the Heavenly Demon)
A group of individuals sat around a circular table in a gazebo, which itself was located in the midst of a breathtaking landscape. The scene itself would not have been out of place if not for the fact that this structure and these people were at the surface of a star at the moment.
“The system reveals yet another cycle, tell me, my friends, have you found anything of interest?” Said a figure dressed in plain white robes adorned with a simple green sash.
“I have found someone quite intriguing. His actions continue to amuse me as do his oddities but perhaps those very oddities will allow the child to one day stand among us.” Replied another figure clad in a deep blue robe whose surface shimmered like the cosmos.
With a wave of their hand, the very same figure conjured up a projection at the center of the table showing a curious young man continually evading an increasingly frustrated pair of hobgoblins. Some of the figures at the table leaned in closer, their curiosity piqued, while others scoffed at the antics. Two in particular took a keen interest at the display, in part by the seeming concern of the kid to not let his enemies suffer even if he had to put them down all the same. One of these two was a man wearing a black guzhuang with red and gold detailing in the form of a dragon, the other was a woman in a pristine suit of full plate armor consisting of silver and gold colored metals behind which extended a series of paired grey feathered wings. The two locked eyes for a moment before a subtle nod was given by both, an understanding being made in silence. All involved knew it was far too early to tell whether anything substantial would come to grow from the seedlings currently being tested by the system but they would keep a close eye all the same. Occupying the same space of the gazebo were countless iterations of the same scene between those individuals playing out, with each iteration revealing different points of interest from the tutorials taking place in the new universe. It was like gazing upon overlapping images of possibility, all so that nothing in the new universe would go unnoticed. Even after all of the time they’ve spent living, the system always had something new to show them.
They weren’t the only ones watching. The vastness of the system far exceeded the comprehension of even the greatest of sages. On a cosmic scale, time was measured by counting the cycles of the system integrating yet another universe, with the count beginning from the ascension of the oldest known sage– the Sage of Histories. Of course they were not the first sage, they never claimed to be but in the expansive scope of the multiverse most sages appeared to be increasingly private and tended not to interact with mortal affairs, at least visibly speaking. The neutrality and the public presence of the Sage of Histories is what led to the celestial calendar beginning the count of cycles from the date of their ascension. Regardless, the beginning of a new cycle was always an exciting time since most sages are individuals from the start of new cycles. Most denizens of the multiverse took the system for granted, having always had it as a part of their reality but for any who remember a life before the touch of the system, its arrival would always carry a weight with it unknowable to those born into it.
Of course for every such group that watched with simple curiosity in mind, many others prepared for the profit that a novel universe would bring. All across the multiverse one would be able to see all manner of different organizations and individuals preparing for the moment that the system protections went down all so that they could be the early birds. Quite obviously, not all of these people were well intentioned. Still that is why there are protections in the first place. Not many could resist the temptation represented by the thinning of the veil between the material world and the world of forms whenever a new universe was introduced. While most sages were born from the beginning of cycles, those who were not, predominantly were able to claw their way to ascension precisely by taking advantage of the opportunities ever present in a new frontier.
Chapter proper:
Sam had not been back on the road for very long when he got a message from the system. Recently the system was the closest thing to social interaction that Sam had access to, unless you counted the goblins but he didn’t particularly want to think of them as sociable otherwise the guilt would consume him enough to hinder his survival. He could beg for forgiveness for his sins after he made it out of the ordeal alive first.
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[By the intervention of some powerful individuals at great cost you have been offered an opportunity to be transported to a system-established world in a different universe. Your performance in this sudden quest will yield no rewards other than allowing you to further define your path before your class evolution and whatever you might gain for yourself in the process. This will not be a safe place, nor will it be a particularly pleasant one.] [Do you accept?]
It seemed that in this circumstance even the system deemed the risk involved high enough to explicitly mention the chance. While this was enough to make Sam hesitate a little bit, it was nowhere near enough to make him give up the chance to step foot on a whole new planet, much less one found in an entirely different universe. He had always dreamed of exploring a new world; one of his favorite books growing up was The Tiger, The Warlock, and the closet so for quite a long time he had been enamored in exactly that kind of adventure. Although, based on the warning from the system, he had a feeling that the world awaiting him would be nowhere near as whimsical as the world within that childhood favorite. Still, he responded with assent to the system’s question on his acceptance. As soon as he willed his acceptance of the opportunity, a portal appeared before him revealing a verdant landscape beneath a purple sky. In front of him was a grassy hill, with pink clouds dotting the sky every now and then. With nothing to pack up, having been on the road already when the message came, he stepped forward.
The first thing he noticed coming out on the other side of the portal, was that he could breathe. He had been so pre-occupied with adventure he didn’t even think to ask how hostile the environment would be to his biology. Thankfully the air was breathable. He turned to look behind him and saw that the portal he walked through was gone. He internally asked the system how exactly he was supposed to get back home but there was no response. He really did not think things through. But, since he was already here and couldn’t take back his choice, he just decided to move forward. Where the portal had been, instead he saw an open plain with a river cutting through and the sporadic alien looking tree found here and there. The trees mostly reminded him of Baobabs except the trunks were more bulbous and smoother, at least from what he could tell from where he was. He turned back to the hill and decided to hike to its peak for a better vantage point so that he could decide where to go from there.
As he approached, he realized that he wasn’t alone. Not in the way where it felt like something hidden was watching him but rather in that he heard the noise of battle the closer he got to the hill. And also he heard a lot of screaming, like the kind of pained screeching he had only heard before when he used Dark Drain on a goblin for the first time. He did not like the sound of that and he figured this must be part of what the system meant when it told him that it would not be a safe trip. When he crested the hill, he could see a heated battle taking place on a clearing bordering the same river that he had seen, except the side of the river he could see here was polluted and full of blood. On this side of the hill there were forests that could be seen full of all manner of trees. The battle happening was almost like a medieval army melee except the participants were humanoids with a mix of different colors united by a similar facial structure and singular horns protruding from each person’s head. Also he would see flashes of light here and there that he assumed was magic being cast. Across the river, opposite from where the battle was taking place was what looked to be a village, filled with spherical structures that looked like it was made from clay or stone. Bodies were strewn about the battlefield, many of which had yet to perish and seemed to be the main source of the wailing that he could hear. Through his soul sight, he understood part of why they were in such pain. He could see their soul structures deteriorating in a way that reminded him of dark drain except the source this time was due to the degradation of the physical body. He saw most of those in such pain were near the riverbank and its muddled waters. Sam guessed that there was some kind of chemical warfare happening. A lot of those he saw were on the verge of death and those around them seemed to just leave them be as lost causes. He could see groups of individuals roaming the battlefield that he assumed were medics, providing magical healing to those injured but none of them ever approached those near the water.
He couldn’t just stand here and watch as those people died a slow and painful death but he also didn’t want to be caught up in this fight. He had no idea about the stakes or circumstances involved. Still he approached a denser area of forest at the edge of the clearing and strode up to a steady perch that gave him direct line of sight to the suffering. He wasn’t going to mercy kill them or anything, he didn’t even know if they could be saved. Instead he pulled out his bow from the personal inventory and started releasing immaterial arrow after immaterial arrow that he had enchanted with the soothing light and calm mind spells. He wanted to also cast glow of restoration on the Ephemeral Arrows he produced but found that he couldn’t enchant them with a third effect. So instead he focused on reducing the pain of as many as he could and then eventually shifted to trying to heal the ones with the least degraded souls using arrows with the glow of restoration but found that whatever poison afflicted them, prevented that from happening. So instead he stood like a sentry on that branch, protecting those he could from pain and panic at the moments of their deaths. He was risking being seen, but he just hoped that the heat of battle would hide his actions until he found that he had helped as many as he could.
