Being the great guy I was, I gladly explained my origin.
I told them everything about how I found the old book, how I translated it, how I created the transportation array (though I wasn’t aware of it at the time), and how I stepped into another world. I even told them a little bit of my adventures in Neloron, back when I didn’t yet know how to Cultivate.
“Wait… You knew how to speak the language?” Adam asked. “It took us nearly three years to fully understand it.”
[Oh, yeah… There was a spell scroll in the book that made it so I could understand it all. Heck, I could even speak with animals, but I think that ability has somehow been lost. Or it had been getting weaker over time. I’m not sure how it worked, really.]
The group just stared.
“Lucky bastard…” Adam murmured under his breath.
“This book, Elemental Codex, was it? Do you still have it?” John asked.
[Sure. I managed to keep it close to me.] I summoned the book from my storage and handed it over.
“Holy Mother… This looks like Dragon skin.” The man gasped. “Old Dragon skin.”
[Apparently, it’s Wyvern leather. And it should be more than 10.000 years old.] I explained. It should be so if the memories of the old gods were to be believed.
“No shit?”
I nodded.
“Wow… A relic of the ancient past.” John whispered and slowly caressed the pages of the book. But as he continued to flip through it, he frowned. “These are all Mortal spells. That’s all there is?”
[Well, yeah… It was a book for kids who were just learning magic.]
The man stared at me and then at the book. I could see a myriad of emotions going through his mind, reflected on his face, though mostly he was displaying frustration every time he would look at the weathered leather.
Wyverns were considered mythical beasts, cousins of real Dragons. They were extremely close in power, and for one to use their skin to make books for children… I could understand his pain.
John sighed and closed his eyes in grief for a moment, before handing the book back.
“What about this Gate you created? Do you still remember the design?”
[Sure do.] I remembered it clearly. How could I possibly forget? I drew it with my own blood on the floor of my room when I was still but a Mortal. Things like that stay in the mind for a lifetime.
[But what do you plan to do with it? Let me warn you, Neloron is a desolate place. Qi there is thin and the resources for Cultivation are few and far between. That’s also the reason I never bothered returning back. People there are weak.]
“Hmm, I guess that makes sense.” John agreed. “Still, I would like to see it at least once. I have been scouring the continent for any clues that could tell me how to get back home, but so far, nothing.”
[You want to go back?] I was surprised by that revelation.
John gave a sad smile. “I have… had a family back on Earth. It had been decades since then, yet I have barely aged. I would like to at least give my father a proper goodbye, before he…” He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “When I discovered what comes after death, I… It was a difficult thing to accept. Religion was a big thing in my life. Even if what I believed was not completely correct, I thought at least someone on Earth got it right. To think nobody did...”
I nodded in understanding. To find out the Souls of the dead simply decayed, turning into energy to feed the next generation, for a pious person, such a thing would be a hard pill to swallow.
I took a paper and imprinted the array on it, before handing it over.
“That’s it? It looks so… simple.” John said. He almost seemed disappointed.
[That’s it. That’s what brought me here. I’m not sure how much energy it took to cross the galaxy, but I just know it was a lot.] I said. [Think you can jump between places? Between here and Neloron? It’s on the other side of the planet.]
“Ah? Oh, yeah, not a problem. I’ve been researching Space and portals for decades. The main issue with them is getting the coordinates right so you don’t end up inside a block of stone or in outer space. Even though the energy scales with distance, if you have an Anchor on your destination, then it’s easy. It probably wouldn’t cost more than ten Spirit Stones to reach the other side of the planet.”
[Really? That sounds… cheap.]
“Yeah, but I’m not just going to leave. I need to leave an anchor here as well, so I can get back. Hmm…” John cupped his chin, thinking.
[Is it expensive?] I asked, having guessed what he was thinking.
“Yeah, Anchors are incredibly expensive, but it is definitely worth it in the long run.” Adam confirmed my suspicion. “They are like a beacon in the darkness, leading you to safety.”
[Why can’t just use the anchors in the city?] I suggested.
“Impossible.” John immediately denied it. “Those belong to the three Clans and are protected from unauthorized access. We can’t just willy-nilly connect to one.” The man shook his head. “But without one, jumping through the sub-realm gets super expensive and takes much longer too. Not to mention it's dangerous. It’s easy to get lost in there.”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
[Is that why your jumps are so short?] I teased the sniper guy.
Adam frowned. “It’s not as easy as it looks. That place is dreadful. It pulls on your Soul like nothing else, disorientating your senses. Just crossing that boundary for a split second puts a strain on your mind.”
[Does it? Interesting…]
----------------------------------------
Our discussion changed and I shared some of my stories and memories with the group. They were all amazed, returning the favor. We continued chatting and exchanging information like that for a while until John finally came to a decision.
“I have decided.”
“What is it? Are we really going to do it?” Alexandra asked.
He nodded.
“But that’s going to be so expensive! We don’t have even close to that much money.” Adam said, throwing his hands in the air. “The bounties I hunt don’t even give that much of a reward. Not to mention that the best targets are quickly taken.”
John nodded again. “That’s why we’ll all have to work even harder. I need to see that place for myself. Maybe it contains some clues. Also, I wish to see the Phoenix Temple. I feel like we will get our answers there.”
[You also think Atlantis is on Earth?]
“It has to be. The legends always have some grain of truth in them. And even if that is not the case, I need to see it with my own eyes to confirm it.” John remained adamant.
I just shrugged my shoulders. If he wanted to waste that much money on a dream, who was I to stop him? I also wanted to return to Earth, but my wish was more of a surface one. Earth was home, of course, I wanted to visit. But I was a patient man. That trip could wait.
First, I had to become a god.
Alexandra giggled when I mentioned that and Adam frowned, probably thinking I was talking nonsense. Meanwhile, John just looked at me, appearing pensive.
[Anyway, what do you guys think about the fact that we all have a piece of a monster inside us?]
“Monster? What do you mean?” John frowned.
[The Soul Eater. We all have a piece of the same beast, right? That’s why we can devour Souls. Also probably why we can feel each other’s presence.]
They all looked at me like I was speaking Chinese.
I frowned. [You guys didn’t get the visions?]
“No. What visions? Are you feeling alright?” John said. I could see concern behind his nearly expressionless face.
[The visions of… Of the darkness, the empty space, the hunger, the battle… Well, there isn’t much really. Just fragments. No? None of you? Huh...]
They looked at each other and shook their heads. But then I remembered something and uncovered my chest, showing the black crystal poking through the skin. Funnily enough, it stopped growing outward since I directed it to reform my bones. It remained as just a small palm-sized black spot.
“You-!” Adam exclaimed. “You have that also?”
He removed his shirt and revealed a similar dark growth on his chest. It was much smaller than mine.
[I’m going to assume you two also have it?] I turned to the other two. They nodded in affirmation.
[What about your core? I mean, Dantian? Is it in your stomach, or your chest?]
“Chest.” John stated somberly. “Had it been in my stomach, I would have been dead.”
[Someone attempted to cripple you?] I lifted an eyebrow.
He nodded. “An old incident. But the guy is long dead and absorbed, thanks to this thing.” He tapped on the crystal on his chest.
[I see… Well then, what’s the plan now?] I asked. I had some things I wanted to do, and if our interests aligned, I wouldn’t be against some friendly cooperation.
“Hmm, not sure. We’ll need a lot of money to create the Anchor, preferably not in The City, but that is going to take some time…” John said, hands supporting his chin, as he was deep in thought.
[I’ll leave you to it then. Mind letting me out or do I have to make a door for myself?]
“Haha, I’ll let us out, don’t worry. As for making a door, don’t bother. My… Pseudo-Domain is much stronger than you realize.”
I somehow doubted the pocket of space he created could contain me as it didn’t feel that stable, but I didn’t antagonize him since we just met and I wanted to be on an amicable standing with them. So I just nodded.
“Oh, and here, take this.” He gave me a small spherical metal object that fit neatly into my palm. “It’s so we can contact you. The City is large and I’d like to stay in touch.”
[Oh, a phone, cool. By the way… I’m still trying to get to Spirit Realm, so I might be busy for a while. Do you perhaps know anyone who would be willing to sell broken beast cores with partial Souls inside? Preferably in bulk and for a good price.]
John scratched his head. “Uh… Maybe? But why do you need that junk?”
[To absorb the Souls… Wait, you guys don’t do that?] I opened my eyes wide.
“Absorbing a Soul from a beast core? How? They are locked inside, protected by the inscriptions.”
[Don’t tell me… You can’t control your Soul-devouring ability?]
John frowned. “Of course, not. Don’t tell me you can?”
[What about memories?]
“What about them?”
[Don’t you get to see the memories of the dead?]
“Well, sure, but they disappear just as fast as they come. I can barely keep a fraction if I try, and even those are just unrelated fragments. I had long since given up on gaining knowledge that way.”
[Ah…] I stroked my chin, thinking. Their ability was still passive. I had somehow unlocked my full(?) potential and could manipulate Souls like a pro.
“You can do all of that, can’t you?” John asked somberly.
[Can and do on a regular basis.] I confirmed.
“Would it be possible for you to teach me?”
I shook my head at first but then hesitated. [I’ll have to think about it. I’m not entirely sure how I unlocked this ability either. A lot of things happened…]
“That’s fine, I understand it can’t be easy.”
[Yeah… Now, about those cores...]
John nodded. “I can schedule a meeting with an acquaintance. He’s dealing with all the broken relics so he might have what you need. How many cores are we talking about? Five? Ten?”
I chuckled. [No, I was thinking more like 400-500 broken Spirit Beast cores. Depends on the state of the Soul inside, of course.]
That’s when the black void around us shimmered and appeared to be on the verge of collapse. At the same time, John spat out some blood.
“Are you alright? Are we under attack?!” Adam shouted, aiming his gun at the void.
“No, it’s fine…” John said weakly and waved his hand in dismissal. He appeared pale, looking at me. “All those cores, they are just for you to reach the Spirit Realm, correct?”
[Exactly.] I confirmed.
“I see.” He slowly nodded and then sighed. The spatial distortion around us shattered and he fell into a chair that just appeared, blood flowing from his eyes and mouth.
“John!” The other two jumped to help him, but he just waved them back. “It’s fine. Simply a backlash from the Domain collapsing. I’ll be fine.”
“How is this fine?! When was the last time your Domain just collapsed?!” Adam shouted.
“Uh, never?” Alexandra said with a finger on her bottom lip, thinking.
Luckily for them, the damage really didn’t seem to be severe and John was already back on his feet, though he did look a bit worse for wear.
“That’s right, never! It’s all this pig’s fault!” He said, pointing at me. “What kind of monster has to eat an entire army of Spirit Realm Cultivators just to advance a single step?! Are you kidding me? 500 cores?!”
[Heh, well…] I rubbed the back of my head in embarrassment. [Is it really that much?]
“Yes!” They all shouted in unison. I just shrugged. It didn’t seem that much to me.
John rubbed his temples. “Look, I’ll give you the address of the guy, but don’t expect much. If you are lucky you will get a tenth of what you need. To gather that many, that’s years, maybe even decades worth of hunting.”
I had nothing else to say. After getting the slip of paper with the address, I safely stored it away and waved them goodbye. [Okay, I’ll see you later then. Don’t be afraid to call if you discover something interesting. Or if you need any help.]
I was just about to leave the house when Adam called. “Wait! Can you please remove the tracking imprint? You don’t need it anymore, right?”
I slapped my forehead. [Right, of course. My bad.]
He shuddered as the imprint of my energy left him and returned to me. I then waved once more and stepped onto the main street, breathing in the stale city air.
What a productive day!