Cyril Sarnath
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Chapter 151
🕑 Added 2023-03-10 20:26:11 +0000 UTCTraveller froze.
It was the human ascender’s spiritual companion and yet it was not. There was power to it that exceeded all the ascenders on the planet collectively. Traveller didn’t feel threatened, nothing in this universe was capable of harming him, but he was puzzled. So, he attempted to inspect the spiritual avatar and get some kind of response.
The spiritual avatar pulsed with energy, transforming into an human-sized silhouette made out of pure light. Its energy increased but not yet to the point that could overwhelm Traveller’s passive defences.
The times slowed down and then stopped completely. He pushed at the boundaries of the time bubble with his senses and found it strong enough to resist him. His inspection failed too.
[Inspect] failed.
“You should leave, trespasser,” the avatar said, its voice coming from all the places. “Or I will remove you.”
He understood then and it made him shiver.
“An awakened system, I haven’t seen one in a long time. Can’t say I am thrilled,” he said knowing what he was dealing with. Awakened systems were a sub-type of the standard magical systems. Their origin was unknown, even to him, and their continuous errors led the Higher Realms to shut them down.
With the awakened system around, the state of the universe made much more sense. The ‘advantage’ of an awakened system was its adaptability and ability to evolve. But unrestrained and alien, the awakened systems had tended to turn into a disfigured caricature of an ordinary system with a semi-consciousness.
“I will not warn you again,” the avatar said, adding weight to its words. Traveller felt energies go haywire and tried to remember if a magical system was allowed to do so. The cosmic-inter-realm architecture was fully in the domain of the Higher Realms and Traveller was as far from them as these human ascenders were from him. He’d learned how to navigate the multidimensional cracks and such but that was the extent of his knowledge on the matter.
“I haven’t come here to meddle with your affairs,” he explained himself, trying to avoid hostility from the system.
The energies stilled, though the time didn’t restart. Traveller restrained himself from smiling. A part of him was curious what the awakened system was capable of and if he would be able to fight back.
“You have been here before. You stopped the other ascender from annihilating this planet, then you have unlocked Vitality attribute and informed these humans about essence cultivation. Why?”
Traveller shrugged. There wasn’t a particular reason other than he didn’t like a Level 75 destroying a defenceless world and for their Seed of Life being crippled. Now, it was apparent that there was some insane scheme afoot.
“It wouldn’t sit well with me — watching a hundred billion ascenders die for no reason or being crippled.”
“I find your presence here to be no coincidence,” the avatar said after a moment, energies around them boiled once more but Traveller didn’t sense any hostility so he didn’t react. “Who has sent you here?”
“No one, and for the record, if someone did then I should add that I don’t like being used,” he said, glancing around.
Another pulse of power came from everywhere at once, and for the first time Traveller activated several defensive spells and items. But the attack didn’t come. The walls of the time bubble hardened and the avatar’s details sharpened, revealing a genderless humanoid. Its eyes were lucid and intelligent. When these eyes locked on Traveller, he suddenly felt small and defenceless.
“Your first intervention has saved this universe. For that, you have my gratitude, trespasser. The second one was not necessary. I am capable of reversing the damage done to the Seeds of Life. Further involvement will not be tolerated.”
In truth, there was no reason for Traveller to get involved in anything here, and yet…he was growing unhealthy curious. Talent-based and awakened magical system; that was an unheard of combination. And on top of that, there was the mysterious scheme.
“Why haven’t you tried to stop the Level 75 earlier?”
“Irrelevant.”
“Of course,” Traveller smiled. “So you were unable to act before…” He glanced at the Level 4 human ascender’s frozen form, Traveller’s mind considering the issue from a thousand different angles.
“Someone has sealed all the rifts and crippled the Seeds of Life to what…stop you?” No, that couldn’t be the whole story. Maybe I should find that Level 75 and make him talk? Sounds like a solid idea.
“Irrelevant.”
Of course, Traveller snorted.
“Do you know that the ascender you’re ‘protecting’ is going insane? His mind has been broken and his buffs and debuffs won’t allow proper healing. Once the damage seeps into his soul…” Traveller trailed off.
“I do not protect him. As a system, I am impartial.”
“I didn’t know a system can lie.”
The avatar’s gaze slowly turned to peer at the human ascender.
“He is a critical asset and his mind must not be tampered with.”
“So you are okay with him going mad.”
“It is irrelevant to me,” the avatar replied and the reality shook. Cracks appeared in the air. “He is only required to survive until Level 7 rifts are opened.”
Traveller understood the intention of the awakened system. The human ascender had already unsealed Level 1 to 3 rifts on the planet. But no matter how much preparation humankind made, they would never be ready for what would come with Level 5 rifts. At that Level, things started going crazy. It would only take a truly broken mind to further doom the civilisation and open Level 6 and 7 rifts. Of course, the system wants Level 7 rifts for Talent-related skills drop. That boy will no longer be of use. Unfortunately, with the Chaos debuff and [Chaos Aura] by that time the ascender’s soul would be irreversibly damaged. Traveller knew healers who could heal a soul but they would never come over to this universe nor this ascender would survive such a trip before Level 11.
If there isn’t anything I can do for the unfortunate Level 4, at least, I should help his civilization survive the impending doom.
He said so to the system’s avatar.
“You will do no such thing. They must find their own way.”
“You’re being cruel,” Traveller said. “Even in my universe, High Levels help youngsters get stronger without needlessly stumbling in darkness. Look at them — they don’t understand cultivation or how to create synergies between spells. None of them is able to use an aura. The Level 5 outbreak will destroy them.”
“They have spiritual companions,” the avatar replied. Did Traveller detect a note of hesitation?
“They’re useless to them. Spiritual companions should be earned, like they’re everywhere else. Giving them away for free only confuses those poor sods.”
“I will consider your words.”
“I’m going to leave my soul companion with the boy. He must learn.”
“No.” The reality shook again.
“I promise, she won’t touch his mind and she won’t hand him free stuff, but he cannot start learning if he doesn’t know where to start from.” I have to figure out how to save the whole damned world from the crazy awakened system…huh, how long has it been since I got myself to care the last time? I don’t even remember.
“I will monitor your soul companion closely if they crossed the line, they together with you, will be removed from this realm.”
The reality shook for the last time and then the time bubble burst.
Time resumed. The avatar vanished.
Crazy bitch…
***
Keynes blinked, seeing two founders and Sylv before him. They didn’t look like they were delving either.
Wagner wore his best silks, red with blue accents, in his usual oriental fashion. Columbus was in a white uniform and Sylv who currently had her barely covered skin painted pale blue colour.
The moment Jedd’s attention touched her, he went still. That Talent of hers was troublesome for Low-Level ascenders. Keynes couldn’t tell if she enjoyed doing it or if it was lack of control on her part but he didn’t appreciate it done to his personal assistant.
“Stop, Sylv,” he said quietly but with authority.
The Level 6 gave him a surprised glance and the effect of her Talent vanished. Jedd exhaled, but didn’t complain. Keynes was once again impressed by his professional attitude. Kora seemed unaffected which should be expected. Even though she was one level lower, her being a rift essence ascender put her higher in terms of raw attributes and most likely baseline spiritual strength. As for the latter, Keynes wasn’t sure if the baseline spiritual energy scaled the same way as attributes. If that was the case, the Lower Level ascenders staying around the higher ones were ‘doomed’.
With this ‘little’ matter resolved, Keynes looked up to Wagner and Columbus.
“Why are you here, Wagner?”
“Emergency,” Wagner replied with obvious annoyance. “If you’re going to vanish for another three weeks we must find a way to communicate. Something like this must not wait.”
Wagner’s presence alone gave Keynes pause. Coming here all the way from Geneva was very uncharacteristic for him and it started to sink in. Dark thoughts immediately clouded Keynes’s mind as began wondering about the cause of Wagner’s arrival.
The six of them left the empty dome, emerging into the night brightened by thousands of lights. Like usual, the area was busy, but it didn’t matter. Unexpectedly, their destination wasn’t Emerald City or even any meeting room on the rift island but another Level 4 rift within the cluster.
“Esopp is waiting inside,” Wagner explained on their way there. “He’s finished levelling up but there are some complications, though it has nothing to do with the emergency.” Keynes noticed how Wagner observed Jedd and Kora. He didn’t know them and he was usually careful with information. Nonetheless, he didn’t say anything.
Once they reached their destination, it was Kora who suggested to Keynes that she should check on Natalia. She clearly wasn’t comfortable in their presence. Keynes didn’t mind and let her go. Jedd on the other hand stayed with Keynes, showing complete neutrality.
Inside the dome but before the entrance to the rift they met another person. A young mixed essence Level 5.
“This is Argent,” Columbus said. “My right hand.”
Like Columbus, he wore a sharp uniform although a grey one. His appearance was smooth and he showed Keynes and Jedd the utmost respect.
They entered the rift together. It was a cave system with a few open spaces partially filled by underground lakes. It was one of the most annoying rifts to clear due to darkness and required light. If one lost a source of light, losing their way and starving to death was a real possibility.
Esopp waited for them in the first open space. The underground lake was frozen. Even from over a hundred metres Keynes felt it. There was something different about the man.
Wagner turned to Keynes and Jedd.
“You may want your PA to wait here. Staying around Esopp without proper defences isn’t a good idea.”
What the hell has Esopp done? Alice, any thoughts? There was only silence. Keynes considered pulling at their bond, bringing her back but decided against it. What if he interrupted something important? Who knew what was going on with spiritual companions behind the scenes?
“I will wait here,” Jedd said smoothly.
I’ll have to level him up sooner than later, Keynes thought as they neared Esopp whose strange aura grew stronger.
The Pure Body buff blocked the Presence of Dominator debuff
The Presence of Dominator debuff? So Esopp had gone and absorbed the Trait of Dominator after all. Keynes still hadn’t made a decision and the time almost ran out. At least, he’d have a chance to find out how Esopp coped with his trait.
Esopp sat in the middle of the frozen lake with his legs crossed. Lamps lit the area around him. He liked dramatics almost as much as Keynes. As they got ten metres from Esopp, Keynes saw that others were actually affected by Esopp’s debuff. Esopp opened his eyes, his spiritual aura rolled out of him before he reined it in with a grimace.
“Who could have known that power can be such a pain in the ass,” he said, then he glanced at Keynes who was completely unaffected by Esopp’s debuff and spiritual aura. “At least one of you isn’t about to piss himself.”
Columbus grunted which made Esopp tsk.
“You and your diabolical Talent. Anyway, I guess you’re finally ready to speak, Wagner. I am dying to learn what scared your ass so much that you fled your little stronghold.”
Keynes noticed differences in the way Esopp spoke. There was arrogance and challenge in his voice now. It was in line with Alice’s warning. Traits affected personality. The question was: to what degree?
“Dial it down, Esopp,” Wagner said. “We aren’t here to measure our dicks.”
“Pff,” Esopp snorted. “As if I could. This shit is hard to control.”
“Let’s get this over with,” Columbus said, growing annoyed. “Wagner.”
Wagner brought a chair out of his dimensional pouch which made Esopp laugh. Others smiled too. Wagner didn’t. His aura suddenly turned icy.
“We have a big problem.”
