Somewhere in the Universe
“Looks like the Successor finally found a room,” Sariel says while leaning her head on the palm of her hand, her elbow against the desk that she’s sitting behind. Meanwhile a screen showing the first Successor to the Primordial of Chaos floats in front of her and slightly to the left, allowing her to see her boss seated across her desk on a chair.
A boss who would normally never visit someone in her position under the Adventurer’s Guild, even if she’s about to become a Guildmaster herself.
Yet despite that, she doesn’t show any respect for his rank, being completely used to her father’s presence by now.
“That she is,” the Grandmaster of the Adventurer’s Guild, leader over every single Guild Branch in the universe, says in a quiet voice without turning his gaze from his own screen. Where the girl in question is entering a vast room filled with hundreds upon hundreds of floating and sometimes damaged stone blocks. “She also seems to be unlocking Chaos Successor skills at an incredible pace.”
Sariel glances at the number of Potential Skills on the tag floating above her head within the screen. A number that has shot up incredibly fast since the first time she saw it.
The only known way for someone to gain more potential skills is through becoming a Successor to a Primordial. And normally it’s a difficult process, but ever since news came out about the rapid increase in Potential Skills this strange girl is getting, word has been spreading that it may be different for Chaos’s Successors.
It’s either that or the girl herself is a bonafide genius. But the vast majority of people don’t want to admit someone is better than they are, so the other Successors are all blaming it on her being Chaos’s first Successor.
And despite not having the biases they do, Sariel is a bit more inclined to believe the other Successors.
There just isn’t any other explanation for it, since this girl hasn’t even learned how to control the body parts she was granted through her new bloodline yet. Not to mention that she hasn’t used any of the new skills yet.
Although part of that is no doubt due to Chaos most likely not teaching her or even making contact with her. What with Chaos being Chaos.
Sariel would be more shocked if Chaos had helped her out in any way.
He’s just known by all as the type who wants to watch everything play out on their own, and often enough crash and burn.
Sariel returns her gaze to the screen again as the girl looks around the room. The room itself has no floor, with nothing but some floating blocks moving back and forth across it in different directions. Many of which are clearly in a pattern and others aren’t.
“Interesting…” her father mutters, making her raise her head to look at him.
The man looks about in his thirties despite being far older than that. An effect of leveling. Extending one’s lifespan with every single level. And he has that same gray beard that Sariel knows her mother wants to shave off every single time her mother kisses the man. Something Sariel doesn’t want to see but ends up seeing anyways due to their inability to avoid public displays of affection. Meanwhile his hair is the same color as Sariel’s. Blonde. So blonde that it’s almost ash-blonde.
Her father glances at her with a frown on his face and asks, “You sure you still want to take your place as the Guildmaster of this world?” as he points at the screen next to him.
Sariel looks at the screen before her eyes widen at the sight of another tag on it floating above a man with golden hair and nearly five hundred Potential Skills. But more importantly than his large number of skills is the sight of the golden orb in his tag representing a Successor of Order.
“There’s another Successor in this world?!” She exclaims while hurriedly going to check which tutorial he is in. Only to find that the man is in Tutorial #1010, unlike the Successor of Chaos who is in Tutorial #10002.
“It only makes sense,” her father says while watching the man go through his own tutorial’s third phase, which is in the form of a large set of tunnels and caverns. “Knowing the Primordial of Order, I would be far more surprised if he didn’t choose a Successor from the same world as Chaos’s first Successor just to have a balancing factor.” His frown grows a little. “The number of Potential Skills this Successor has is impressive though.”
At this point, most of her father’s words are going in one ear and out the other as Sariel tries to figure out how the hell she’s going to deal with having two opposing factions on the same planet.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
She knows that she’ll need to get into contact with both of them before their factions arrive. Since a faction can only send someone at or beneath the average level of a planet, and only with permission from someone on the planet.
If she can make it there before the Tower of Chaos and The Order, then she can at least try to minimize the potential crisis.
“Well this is getting interesting,” her father mutters, making her glance at him again before looking at his screen to find him watching the Successor of Chaos’s broadcast again. “Looks like she’s not the only one who’s starting to find the rooms.”
Sariel turns to her own screen to watch, and she finds the girl looking back at a group who entered through the same tunnel as she did. Meanwhile the girl herself is standing close to one of the few stationary floating blocks.
After watching for a second, Sariel quickly begins to get to work on her paperwork. Because if she’s to arrive on the planet earlier than planned, she needs everything done as soon as possible.
This is going to be one hell of a time…
As if on cue, she hears a loud blaring sound as the alarms around the city near the Guild building start ringing. And along with the alarms appears a large Gate right outside of the building, giving just ten seconds before it starts drawing in nearby people.
But since the people are all used to this, they use those ten seconds to get at least ten meters away from the Gate. Leading to it not drawing anyone in.
Sariel sighs but decides to ignore the Gate – one that she quickly senses is a Class C Gate – and the quest that flashes across her interface due to her being near it as she focuses on her paperwork. Since there are people already heading over towards it to clear the Domain within.
A hell of a time indeed…
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Ashley
Putting aside the bizarreness of this massive room, I’m… not sure what I should do about my current situation.
I feel the corner of my lips tensing a little bit as I look at the group of fourteen people standing at the entrance to the room. And the group is staring back at me. Mostly.
There are a couple who are just looking around the room instead or just haven’t noticed me yet. But most of them are looking me over.
Just at a glance I can tell that this group is split up into ‘factions’ per se. With there being three different factions.
One of which is full of people who seem like they’re having fun and are armed with weapons they’re holding ready for a fight full of teenagers, most of whom are boys but with one girl. One that is cowering at the back. And one that was just chatting away like they weren’t in a dangerous place. Until they saw me that is. And one group that has three adults in their mid-thirties ish that seem to know what they’re doing and are wearing uniforms. Two enforcer uniforms – which look a lot like black police uniforms – and one firefighter uniform.
Unfortunately, that third group seems to be the most interested in me. To the point that they wave at me.
On the other hand, the first group just kinda ignores me. Until one of them points out the number of Potential Skills I have soon after spotting me, immediately grabbing the others’ attention.
And the second group just stays silent, still cowering in the back.
“Hello?” one of the enforcers – a woman with glowing blue eyes and long black hair – calls out towards me, making me take a step back before I hear rocks falling down off of the ledge I’m standing at. “Wait, it’s dangerous over there!”
That’s waaay too many people for me. No thank you.
I glance behind me to find the floating block right there. But then I hear the enforcer shouting again, “Wait right there! We’ll come-”
She cuts off when I step onto the floating block and the block starts rising into the air like magic.
Oo, convenient escape route.
I glance up for a moment, trying to see where I’m going. Then I glance back down to see the people down in that group gaping at the block and myself. Even the ones cowering.
And I’m not sure why, but I can’t help but wave goodbye at them.
Which seems to surprise them even more.
A couple of those excited teens even laugh.
The enforcer from before just looks worried, while the other stares at me dead in the eyes without any expression on his face. Leaving the firefighter to just look around, watching their surroundings.
Anyways, I turn around and look at the room from this new vantage point. And now that I do that, I realize a few things.
For one, there are some strange floating objects in the air that aren’t blocks. Things like odd stone pyramids or blue triangles. Also a couple metal rhombuses.
All just kinda floating there in the…
My eyes narrow as I see a nearby rhombus twitch. Then I get the instinctive feeling that I should identify it.
So I do.
And the result?
♢ Level 5 Iron Sentinel – 26 Potential Skills – X ♢
That’s a lot of Potential Skills.
The thing suddenly splits. Sorta. Every corner on its body separates from the body a little and extends outwards before the thing starts spinning in circles.
I stare at it for a split second before jumping to the other side of the floating block I’m on, only to slip off of it as the sentinel thing flies right past where I was just standing. Then I fall down through the air while gritting my teeth, rolling over to face downwards.
Well, this wasn’t according to plan.
I try to aim my fall towards another block. But the only one currently nearby that isn’t incredibly far down – meaning a dangerous fall – is still far enough that I have to try falling in that direction until I just barely reach it.
Instead of landing flat on top of the thing though, I only barely grab onto the edge, with my upper body landing on it.
I let out a very muffled and quiet whine as some tears come to my eyes from the pain of my chest and arms slamming into the block’s edge.
It doesn’t matter though. Because I made it to the block, and that’s all that matters.
After a few seconds, I manage to pull myself up. Then I look back where I came to find the stupid sentinel chasing after me still.
Damnit, this is not the place to battle!