I was showered and comfortable in my apartment within half an hour. Part of me wanted to sleep and deal with all my problems in the morning, but that wasn't a good idea. I had plenty of things to do and needed to consolidate for now. First, I pulled up my status screen and reviewed my new attributes.

Name Amari Jackson Level 36 Class [1-Epic]Psionic Paragon Species [2]Human Affiliation Earth Manual [1]Ethereal Codex(22%) Titles Beloved by Tao, Big Game, Chosen, First to Ten, Horde Breaker, Leader of the Pack, Monstersbane, Overlord Slayer, Overpowered, Perfect 100, Prime Hunter, Tutorial, Voyager, Limited Titles Pinnacle Tao Strand of Adamance — Comprehension: Middle, Strand of Lucidity — Comprehension: Low Agility 139 (Increase:65%. Potency:120%) Constitution 137 (Increase:65%. Potency:120%) Intelligence 219 (Increase:70%. Potency:120%) Luck 135 (Increase:85%. Potency:120%) Perception 120 (Increase:65%. Potency:120%) Strength 109 (Increase:65%. Potency:120%) Wisdom 387 (Increase:75%. Potency:120%) Free Points 0 System Credits [1] 22,000,000

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I could almost imagine how the others would react if they could see my stats. I was damn near at four hundred points in one attribute. I was a monster. I could probably eliminate most of the people on Earth by myself. Assuming I didn't run out of energy first. My tao still hadn't made another improvement which was bothering me. Part of me wanted to run forward as fast as possible. The feeling was made worse by not having anything to compare myself to. I was the standard. I closed down the status screen and turned my attention to the real prize.

Spells

1. Ethereal Convocation(Class): Connected minds transcend, and Understanding is achieved. Reward: Ethereal Convocation

I wasn't sure what the original quest was, and I didn't give a shit. I confirmed the quest and felt a new sigil get engraved onto my channels. This one formed on my throat, which was a strange feeling. I've never had a throat tattoo before, but this was what I imagined it felt like. I passed my inner eye over the sigil and slowly nodded my head. The spell wasn't bad, but it wasn't immediately good. The spell was a strange one that was multipurpose. The spell was based on translation and communication.

[1] Ethereal Convocation- Proficiency: Novice. Connected minds transcend, and Understanding is achieved. Upgradeable.

The spell would let me select three people to form a kind of mental communication web. It was a bit like I could turn myself into a three-way call which was kind of funny. It also wasn't a permanent selection. I could pick different people each time. The more I thought about it the more I realized it was a great spell. It was peak-quality, just like all the others, which helped my mood. The best part was that there wasn't a range on the ability. As long as nothing interfered with the connection, I could be on the opposite side of the planet. Or just a certain continent. I grinned to myself. I wasn't sure if the heavens were providing me with what I needed or if the heavens knew what I needed in advance. The idea of fate and predestination was thorny for me. Either way, the spell was mine and I wanted to test it out. I conjured a mental image of the person I wanted to talk to and gave them the node.

There was a brief lack of sensation that was hard to describe. The closest I could come to was that moment after you started a call, but before the ringing began. In the next moment, the spell activated and my eyes flew open. I had completely underestimated the spell. It wasn't a voice call, it was more like our minds were connected. I could vaguely feel literal emotions through the new bridge.

"Uh Hello?" Trey's mental voice passed through the connection.

"Whassup!!!" My mental chuckle died when I realized that it wasn't my voice that went through the bond. It was my memory of the scream movie's voice. The implication of that was interesting, but I pushed that to the back of my mind.

"Amari? Is that you or have I lost it?"

"Your refusal to give the appropriate response hurts me. Yes, it's me."

"What was I supposed to say?"

I smacked my forehead and sighed before I gave up. The kids these days. "It doesn't matter. Can you tell me what happened right before you heard my voice?"

"I received a warning in my mind that you were trying to form a convocation with me. I accepted and then I felt a connection form."

"Anything else?"

"Uh, I could tell you were excited, but that's about it. Why?"

"Just got a new spell, and it's pretty nice. Hold on a moment. I want to test it further." I focused on the next person I wanted to speak with and repeated the process. The connection formed slightly faster this time.

"What the hell is this?" Tyrone asked. His shock and surprise were almost tangible through the connection.

"Quickly. It's Amari and Trey. Trey, you should be able to hear us both."

"Yeah, it's weird as hell to have actual voices in my head. I am still not sure I haven't gone crazy."

I kept them both on the "line" so to speak for nearly an hour as I experimented with the ability. From what I could tell, the spell worked based on intent and not language. So I would understand them no matter what. They didn't even need to be able to think clearly. Once the connection was agreed to, they just needed to want to tell me something. Thankfully, it was possible to isolate your thoughts from the connection. The idea of random thought butt dials was terrifying. Half an hour after that, I discovered the spell had a second effect just for me. I used it to call Azariah and Desbera up to my apartment and they helped me with the second test. The spell was an omni-translator. As long as I could perceive the communication, it would be translated.

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It worked with the Draconic language that Azariah knew, Desbera's native language, and a general form of sign language that was much more complicated than Earth's version. The translation was good enough that it could interpret complex emotions as well. Lastly, it worked on written languages, though that was where some problems were found. It didn't work on a common piece of ancient language. According to Desbera, it was a snippet of a story about the creation of the System that everyone in the multiverse had read. I asked her to find a full version of it for later. The one flaw in my spell would probably be solved as my proficiency increased, so I wasn't too worried.

From there, I had Azariah purchase me a primer on beast rearing. It was relatively cheap at five thousand credits, but also didn't say anything special. Beast companions were relatively common and were divided into two categories. Combat and domestic. Since I had no interest in becoming a farmer, the latter was pretty useless for me. Combat beasts could be further broken into many categories, from strong and slow tank-like monsters to scouts or assassins. There were more types of beasts and roles than I had imagined. Despite that, the serious question was what role I wanted to play. Only a proper beast master could bring out the full power of their pets. My class had nothing in common with that right now and I wouldn't be able to make a serious change until I evolved. Which, in this case, wasn't bad. When I read about those classes, they honestly seemed pretty interesting. They were a bit of a glass cannon.

They lived or died with the power of the animals, which bothered me. Outside of these attributes, I would struggle to kill things without my companions, but I would be able to get something else to fight for me. My current situation, though, was arguably better. My connection to my new egg companion wouldn't be as good as an actual beast master but I wouldn't be as weak either. I would keep my full power and then have the beast. Depending on what hatched, it might even be better. There were some beasts out there just as intelligent as humans, if not more. All those were future concerns though, for today I needed to nurture the beasts in my tao.

I opened the cuboid box and found two things waiting for me. One was a second information crystal that provided a beast mastery manual. The manual was uninteresting and generic but would let me form the initial connection. It didn't even give me a hint of what would hatch. Unlike normal eggs, it wasn't a heat thing. I didn't have to sit on the egg to get it ready or anything like that. I just needed to bathe it in energy and tao. Once it consumed enough energy, the egg would hatch and a new spirit beast would be born. It would be influenced by my power, which could transform, say, a phoenix into an ice phoenix or a wolf cub into an electric wolf cub. I had no idea what my energy would do. The egg itself was much more fun. It was about a foot and a half inches tall and was rather heavy. It was black with golden rings spread throughout. Each ring was about the size of the palm of my hand. I checked with Desbera and Azariah if the Eggs design was related to the creature it would become or something like that, but they had no idea.

Either way, it didn't matter. I placed the egg and its container into my cultivation chamber. The container the System provided was pretty good, but I doubted it would survive a direct attack from some of the nastier monsters. I also didn't want it to be hit with too many taos. I left the cultivation manual as well as a handful of 2nd realm stones with Azariah to be added to the slowly growing cultivation gift basket for Trey. I wasn't sure if what I was providing could be compared to the tutorial, but it wasn't bad. With any luck, he would make the first or second member of an elite team that would join me in the stars. I checked the rest of my spells, but none had advanced and I was starting to worry that I didn't have anyone that could push me hard enough to grow.

I decided to divide the rest of the night into three phases. The first would be devoted to mediation and cultivation and would last about three hours. After that, I would give myself two hours of energy training with **Psychic Mastery**. I would wrap it all up with three hours of sleep to recharge. I summoned two 2nd realm crystals from my bag and settled into work.

The next day I awoke just as the sun was coming up. I stepped out onto the balcony and looked out over the city. The world was so lifeless and peaceful that it almost hurt. On one hand, I hated that all humanity had accomplished over thousands of years was just gone. The billboards, the cars, the planes, the helicopters, monuments to our greatness are all gone. It was a bit ironic that the planet was now "greener" than ever before. All it took was the literal apocalypse. I let my ruminate on the state of the world for a few more minutes before I headed inside and got ready to start the day. Now that I could stay in contact with my people, it was time for me to range a bit further.

The only question was whether I wanted to go underground in search of opportunities or deeper inland. Both had clear benefits and detriments. If I was going to expand my territory, it was best for me to know what I already had. If Amara was going to be the seat of a world-spanning kingdom, then it needed more resources. Of course, going wide would accomplish the same shit. The more land I had the more crops I could plant, resources available, and the more places for houses. I went back and forth on it for a few minutes before taking out a coin. I tossed it into the air and waited to see what fate decreed. I caught it, flipped it over, and slammed it on my palm.

"Heads? Guess we are going spelunking." I activated **Ethereal Convocation** and connected with Aaliyah and Christopher. Neither wanted to join me so I told them to let me know if they needed me. Less than an hour later, I was walking through the cave system just below where I found the water. My first stop was where the ooze monster was, and I wished I hadn't. The graveyard of its victims was ugly to look at despite its cleanliness. The acid had gotten rid of most of the nastier bits and the few that remained were easy to separate into a pile. I made a mental note to have people come down here and clean it all out and try to bury everyone. It wasn't the same as a proper funeral, but it would do for now. From there, I continued deeper.

The cave continued deeper and deeper until I had to summon two psychic orbs to illuminate the space. It was barely enough and did nothing for the discomfort being here caused. I walked through the caves for an hour before something happened. It started as a dull ache in the back of my mind, like a palpable hunger that drove me forward. Whatever it was, drew me in like a moth to a flame. After following it for ten minutes, the dull ache was enough to make my mouth water. I searched my mind for any influences, but that wasn't it. The same part of my brain that warned me of danger was now warning me of opportunity. The cavern twisted and turned as if I was going down in a spiral, but I didn't even consider slowing down. I continued like this for another hour before I came to a long tunnel. The tunnel was narrow to the point I would have to proceed sideways. That wasn't what stopped me, though. My danger sense warned me that something was off.

Danger and opportunity warred in my head as I slowly walked forward. I kept one hand raised in front of me like a boxer, just in case. I got halfway through the tunnel before my hand disappeared. I could still feel it so I wasn't worried and when I pulled it back I was fine. I sent my orb of mental energy forward as well. It immediately disappeared. I called back and sent it forward several more times before I was satisfied. An idea began to form in my mind, one that caused a rapidly growing excitement in my chest. If this was what I thought it was then I might have just hit the jackpot. There was only one way to find out. I took a deep breath and stepped forward. I passed through an invisible film, as if the pathway was covered in webbing, and found myself staring at the impossible. Half of my vision was just the rest of the tunnel. A rocky passage that continued forward. The other half was a whole new world.

An ancient stone doorway that was at least fifteen feet tall stood in front of me. The old, worn stone gave off a palpable power that made me want to both go forward and run away. It was like I had found the entrance to Mount Olympus. I stepped fully into the room my mind was blasted with killing intent. The world around me collapsed, and I found myself standing on an ancient battlefield. Millions of warriors screamed as they clashed on a world that had to be ten times Earth's size, at least. My bones ached as the two lines slammed into each other. The armies were human, from what I could tell, but they all seemed stronger than me. Just looking at their weapons felt like my psyche would be erased from existence. Every instinct I had told me to run, that I wasn't strong enough to step on this battlefield. Before I could do anything two warriors, one man and one woman, took to the air. They were from opposite sides in the conflict and when they unleashed their killing intent; it felt like everything ended.

I collapsed to my knees as the world became drowned in blood and the screams of the dead. I attempted to marshal my killing intent and tao to protect me. As soon as I reached for both the man and the woman turned their gaze on me. My danger sense erupted in protest. I gave up the attempt and said a silent prayer that two gods would leave me alone. After a second they did, the pair turned their focus back to each other, and I sucked in a breath. I slowly looked around for the entrance or any way out but there was nothing. My panic rose as I desperately tried to free myself. Before I made any progress, the battle transformed. The male summoned a spear made of black metal that seemed to absorb light. He spun it around as a 30-yard-tall spear appeared in the air. The woman, not to be undone, summoned an avatar of equal grandeur. The spectral woman had hair made out of starlight and smiled at the other warrior. The avatar brought both of her hands together as if in prayer. My danger sense screamed another warning, but there was nothing I could do but watch. The two gods unleashed their attacks, and the world ended.