We sat in the humble room. It took some convincing, but eventually, they told me the truth.

Adam and Alexandra, together with many others, were part of a secret operation by Russian special forces. Together with England’s special forces, they were part of an operation in Egypt and the deserts around the Nile.

What exactly they were doing there, they didn’t tell, but it wasn’t important anyway. What mattered, was that they had a shootout with the enemy in some old ruins in the sands of Sahara, when an explosion went off. The entire ground shattered and collapsed, killing many. However, that explosion also uncovered a sealed room beneath the ancient structure complex in which they fought.

Adam, talking about the events there, couldn’t tell me exactly what happened as the situation was chaotic and changing rapidly. All he knew, was that the place was full of dark blood under the sight of their night vision, corpses of both enemy and friends filling the room, stuffed smoke and dust, and walls and floors full of glowing runes. Then there was a flash of light, and everything changed.

After a sudden shift, they found themselves beneath the scorching rays of a midday sun. Sand and stone were beneath their feet, and the dry air sucked the moisture from their lips.

Then they heard shouting and gunfire as the enemy came with them. Fifteen came in total, but only ten survived the first battle. They outnumbered the enemy, were better organized, and as such suffered only one loss. The guy was riddled with bullet holes as he was the first to be noticed, and was beyond saving. He died minutes later.

Trained as they were, they didn’t panic… too much. At least not at first. But as they slowly explored the place, they came to realize the place they were at was not their home. Especially when the night came and cold wind descended on the desert, and two moons appeared in the sky, and with them, the predators of the night.

When the first soldier was dragged away kicking and screaming, by an insect two meters tall, it finally settled in they weren’t on Earth anymore. Five people unloaded their weapons completely into the monster before the abomination let him go, and even then, it was not dead. Its chitin armor cracked and strange dark liquid dripped out, leaving a trail in the sand as the creature disappeared into the darkness.

Over the next two weeks, they lost two members, the brave soldiers having met their end from a swift creature with the form of a wolf larger than a human, and with way too many protruding spikes from its back.

As the bullets and grenades ran out, so did their ability to resist. A full year they wandered the desert, drinking the moisture from the morning mist, and sustaining themselves from small insects such as worms, grubs, and larvae of desert hornets as big as a cat.

The desert was a crucible worse than any training they went through on Earth that taught them just how brutal the world was. By the end of the year, only seven remained, seven starving, scared, ex-soldiers. But just as they thought they were destined to die, they stumbled upon a desert city. There they learned the language and culture over the next five years and even learned how to Cultivate.

Adam had that dreamy expression as he spoke of their first time coming in contact with magic. How amazed they were when realizing they could do it too.

But the seven of them had their differences and split up. They realized going home was but a pipe dream, so instead they focused on living their life in the new world.

But…

[But?]

The story came to an end and both of them carried a somber expression. Adam struggled with words, so I turned to Alexandra. [What happened?]

She sighed and lowered her head. “By some unlucky coincidence, one of our friends was captured by one of the local lords. Somehow, through either interrogation or torture, they figured out we weren’t from this world and then decided to capture us. We fought back, of course, but they were so much stronger. They hunted us and killed two of ours before we even really knew what was happening. They knew our faces and spread bounty on our heads...”

“You can understand why it’s not easy for us to just trust you, right? Even if that all happened decades ago, we can’t ever be sure some other lunatic won’t try to exploit us for our knowledge.” Adam added.

[And what would that knowledge be?]

“That’s the thing, we don’t have anything! What we know carries no value at all. We barely even know this world. But that was never enough for those people.” He said.

[Then what about the others? You said there were seven of you?]

Alexandra nodded. “Yes. But the one they captured… We don’t know his fate, it was so long ago. He’s probably dead now. Then those two died... that makes it four left. One of ours escaped and her whereabouts are unknown. As for the last one, John, he joined us, but he is currently absent.”

[Oh, that’s the guy you were waiting for in the pub?] I asked the guy.

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He nodded. “He’s probably wondering why I’m not there. We were supposed to meet…” He suddenly went silent and stared past me. The woman looked up, her gaze similarly stopping somewhere behind me.

[He’s standing behind me, isn’t he?]

Not receiving an answer, I slowly turned, and indeed, there was a cloaked figure right behind me. Funny how I wasn’t able to feel him coming, though maybe I was too distracted by their story. After probing him further, I felt the same call coming from him as well. That strange, familiar feeling…

The man was tall, had a short, brown, salt-and-pepper beard, and a piercing gaze. His hair was shoulder-length and combed back into a short ponytail. He had an unmistakable West European vibe. I dared to say he stood out from the natives like a sore thumb.

Apart from his head, the rest of his body was hidden beneath a dark green cloak, but I could see the bottom of his pants tucked into tough-looking leather boots.

His face was expressionless as he stared down at me, but I could feel his Spirit Sense trying to probe my body. I pushed a massive amount of Qi just beneath my skin, running interference, and I dared to say, he couldn’t see a thing. Well, except that I was glowing with immense power. He frowned and then gave up trying soon enough.

“Who are you?” He spoke in a deep, calm voice that carried an undertone of authority.

I stood up and offered a handshake. [Gerald Fireborn. Or, that’s the name I carry in this world. Pleasure to meet you.]

John looked at my hand but didn’t take it, instead, turning his gaze back to me, he spoke. “I’m going to assume you are the one that messed up Adam more than a year ago? The descriptions I heard of you match.”

I glanced at Adam and he appeared annoyed by that question.

[We fought before, yes.] I answered, unbothered.

John nodded. “Good. And now you are here because…?”

[Honestly, a lot has happened since, and I ended up here by pure chance. But since I found fellows from Earth here, I thought I might as well ask some questions.]

“Huh. Is that so?” John snorted. “What makes you think you can just barge into our home and ask questions?”

“John, please. He’s really strong…” Alexandra began, but John stopped her by lifting his hand.

“I’ll be the judge of that.” He said. Then, almost in an instant, the room was plunged into darkness, with only the four of us visible, floating in the void.

I lifted an eyebrow, looking curiously at the emptiness around me. I didn’t feel like we teleported, but we for sure weren’t in the same room anymore.

“That’s my Spatial Domain. We can let loose in here, nothing will leak into the outside world.” John said. He appeared so serious.

I pushed down a laugh. [You call this a Domain?] I smirked. [I can’t tell for sure what your Cultivation is, but it’s definitely not enough to create a Domain. Only Sky Realm and above can do it.]

John smirked in return and released a short laugh. “Knowledgeable one, aren’t you?” He released his Aura and I could immediately feel it. Spirit Realm, Seventh Level. Why such a drastic difference between them? Alexandra was barely at the Second Level while Adam was at the Third, yet he...

“I’m not the same as those other weaklings. Even if my Domain is not yet complete, it can compete with those in the Sky Realm.”

[Pseudo-Domain, huh? Looks like we are quite similar, you and I.] I narrowed my eyes and released my power for all to see.

“What?! Ninth Layer of Golden Core?! But… but…” Adam stammered. Last time we fought I was so much weaker, yet could still beat him. He didn’t improve much since then, but I did. By a lot.

John snorted. “You lost against that?”

Adam lowered his head in shame. “He was even weaker back then…”

“Unbelievable… I told you to strengthen your Soul further. Now look at what happened. Loosing to a child.”

[Say, you guys… Can you devour Souls?] I asked. In a split second, I felt a powerful killing intent descend on me. It was John. [I’ll take that as a yes.]

A blade appeared on my neck, but I saw it coming and yet didn’t react.

“Speak. Who are you really? Who do you work for?”

[Interesting.] I turned to the pair. [So you advanced your Cultivation as soon as it was possible while your friend here stuffed his Soul to the limit?]

“Limit? What are you talking about? The Soul has no limit. I know, for I have tried.” John said. “Not to mention there are diminishing returns the higher one goes.”

[Oh, really?] I grinned. [Then how come I stuffed myself with so much Soul Essence, my Realm advanced all on its own?]

John pulled back his scimitar. “That’s impossible. I have tried it. To confirm my suspicions, I have gathered enough Essence to advance a hundred times!”

[Just a hundred? You should have tried a thousand, or ten thousand. I’m not sure how much I really needed, but it was somewhere around there.]

“You can’t fool me.” John scoffed.

[It's the truth. Accept it or not, it makes no difference to me.] I shrugged.

“You lie! Tell me the real truth!” His words slammed into my mind with powerful Intent. I pushed back, twice as hard.

[You can’t handle the truth! Clearly!]

John took a step back, his expression one of disbelief. “Impossible…”

[Say what you want. I don’t lie.]

All three of them looked at me like I was some kind of monster. “But then… If what you say is real, how many did you have to kill?! You would require… thousands upon thousands of Spirit Realm Souls just to reach this height… That’s enough energy to feed an entire Sect!”

I just grinned. He was spot on.

“So many…” Alexandra gasped and then quickly covered her mouth. Adam stared with bulging eyes. Quietly whispering to himself. “Thousands… Thousands of innocent Souls…”

[They weren’t innocent. And obviously, I didn’t do it all on my own. There was a war, remember?]

Adam looked up and then frowned, remembering why he was even in our territory in the first place. He was there to profit from the conflict. “Right... The war.”

As silence flooded the room with all of them lost in thought, I decided to make small talk. [How long have you guys been here anyway?]

“About 28 of this world’s years.” John absentmindedly answered.

[28? Then that would be… 32 Earth years and some change. You came here in the year 2035?] I said after making a quick mental calculation.

“Close, it was the summer of year 2034.” John somberly confirmed.

[That’s… a long time ago.]

“It is.” He nodded. “And when did you arrive?”

[About… Hmm, it’s hard to tell the exact time with closed-door Cultivation. I think it should be close to seven years ago?]

“Seven?!” They all exclaimed at once.

[Yeah. Oh, but I began Cultivating less than five years ago.]

“Five?!” They all shouted again. “Less than five years and you are on the cusp of Spirit Realm?!”

John took a deep breath and then turned serious, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Brother, you and I… We are going to have a talk.” His voice did not leave any room for negotiation.