I woke up to blinding pain.

It had been a long time since I had been in pain like this. Probably three hundred years? That was when I had tangled with a level forty-three physical cultivar and he'd secured my promise to use only my [Matter] abilities. It had been a battle to the death and I'd finally managed to kill him, but my body had been beaten to hell and back. While I was known for my soul abilities, I was no slouch with my physical cultivation.

Swallowing, I grimaced at the dry state of my mouth and throat. That was NOT normal, at level thirty the body became almost vestigial, a mere container for the [Matter] and [Soul]. Any need for food and water vanished, any need to defecate was eliminated and most organs became unnecessary. Which meant I should not be feeling any thirst.

Already knowing things had gone horrendously wrong, I rolled over and blinked up at the sun. Two suns in the sky, one yellow and one blue. I didn't know about this planet, but that meant nothing. We didn't call it the Empire of Endless Stars for no reason.

Groaning softly, I pushed myself to my feet and swayed slightly. As I did, I ran a quick check of my gear. The soul cage had been completely immobilizing so none of it had been removed, and I'd fully intended to destroy it all in my descent. I had no relatives or friends who deserved all that I had acquired over my long life. That came in handy now, although I quickly realized things weren't right.

My clothing had been made of nano-weave. An ultra-sophisticated combination of nanite technology and woven soul energies, it could be damaged but would re-weave itself in short order from the fabric of reality itself. Not meant to be armor, it served merely to preserve modesty. Now, though… I frowned as I looked at what I was wearing. It was superficially the same, a pale gray bodysuit that mimicked old fashioned leather armor but the fabric had completely changed. Was I wearing actual leather? It didn't bend the way it had before, yet I felt like it might offer actual protection.

Looking at my hands, I pulled off a leather glove and frowned at my rings. I had a ring on every single finger, as was only proper for someone of my stature. Those of low levels could only use a single ring per hand but as levels and techniques became more refined, it was possible to create a 'buffer' so additional rings would function. By my tier, it was practically disgraceful if you didn't wear a full hand of rings. Style was not a consideration, so my rings were a mess of colors and types. Now, though, I instinctively sensed that my buffers were not active and the rings were non-functional. Quietly swearing, I began yanking them off and tossing them into my dimensional storage. Then I stopped as I felt my dimensional storage quiver.

That isn't working right either? My dimensional storage was my necklace. A fine choker of woven silver inset with a single, very large diamond, I considered it my most treasured possession. Grasping it, I intently examined it with my mind's eye and quietly swore. It had taken severe damage! Understandable, since I had intended to destroy it, but I was supposed to be in a completely physical world, not… whatever this was.

It took a bit of hard work and sweat was beading on my forehead before I had the storage somewhat stabilized. It wasn't permanent, I really needed a space mage to work on it, but it would do for now. Finishing removing my rings I retained just one, a simple black band of carbon fiber. As I looked at it, a tool tip informing me of its properties popped up.

Ring of Second Chances

When HP is reduced below zero, it will be immediately reset to 1. Can only activate once per 24 hours.

I blinked, then frowned. This was the old [AI] skill I had merged into my soul, so long ago, coming back to call. Yet the phrasing was different than usual. HP? We never had actual values assigned to our health or cultivation levels, in the Universe of Infinite Possibilities. To be born there meant you had achieved the base mastery of [Soul] to simply know such things. That meant…

Taking a deep breath, I quickly did my other hand. I wanted to keep a gold ring set with a ruby, but the tool tip told me it was not to be.

Ring of Infinite Grace

+100 All Stats

Feather Fall - 4 hour cooldown

Requires level 20. You do not meet the requirement.

I didn't meet the requirement? My level had clearly been nuked. Well, given how much of my [Soul] had converted to [Matter], that was not a surprise. The conversion was not 1:1, it was more like 1000:1. That always resulted in severe loss, which was why when a level forty-nine fully descended, he was merely a physically perfect specimen. All power was spent in the conversion to mortality. I had undergone a partial conversion to an intermediary level, but it was the same principle.

An intermediary level. I swore quickly to myself as I stripped off all my rings on that hand except my thumb ring, a heavy piece of gold set with a square emerald. It was an odd little piece that gave enhanced luck and unlike everything else, had no level requirement. Once that was done, I reached into my dimensional storage and found a bottle of wine. Not ideal, but I needed something for this thirst.

As I took a drink, I considered my situation. I had been forced into a partial descension. Instead of going to the land of pure [Matter] where the rules of [Gravity], [Combustion] and [Atomic] held sway, I had gotten stuck midway. That was very bad because I had undoubtedly burnt so much [Soul] that I could no longer complete my descension, and I had no idea what the Law was for this level of reality.

In the Multi-Verse, each layer was its' own Universe. We in the Universe of Infinite Possibilities thought of them as a system of ascent and descent. At the very bottom was the universe of pure [Matter] where the [Soul], also referred to as magic, had no sway. At the very top was the realm of the Gods, the fully ascended, who no longer had even the slightest trace of [Matter]. What was it like to be a creature entirely of [Soul]? No one knew. Once the transition was made, it was impossible to return, leaving it entirely mysterious.

Between those two extremes were the intermediary layers, although the final layer, the Universe of Infinite Possibilities, was considered special. The final stop for ascending souls, every law of [Matter] and [Soul] was equally valid. They could be combined and broken and recombined in bizarre and playful ways. Robots could have souls, be killed and raised as undead. [Soul] could be transmuted through a [Matter] housing to create a hand held beam of light that could be used as a weapon. Ships flew through the [Void] between stars on wings of [Soul], powered by jets of [Matter]. The Universe of Infinite Possibilities was everything.

However, the intermediary layers below the Universe of Infinite Possibilities were largely unknown and poorly categorized. The stops in between, as a [Soul] gradually gathered strength and ascended, they could have any combination of Laws. For instance, they might have [Gravity] and [Atomics] but not [Combustion]. In terms of [Soul] they might have [Necromancy] and [Fire] but not [Holy]. There were infinite combinations. It was said that some incredibly strange layers might even be lacking fundamental laws like [Gravity] and [Void]. Those places had life, but of a nature that defied our comprehension.

I was trapped in one of those layers and I had no idea what worked. Putting my wine away, I rubbed my mouth before turning to my [AI] for help. I actually had two of them now, one of [Matter] and another of [Soul], so hopefully one of them would be functional enough to assist.

"AI, I notice these tooltips. Can you display my own status in a similar way?" I asked, not hoping for too much. There was a pause and then a blue window popped up. "Ah, thank you," I murmured as I examined myself.

Name: Justice

Level: 6

Class: ?

Profession: ?

Strength: 22

Dexterity: 31

Constitution: 15

Toughness: 14

Intelligence: 41

Wisdom: 36

Willpower: 33

Perception: 26

HP: 150/150

Mana: 360/360

"I see," I murmured, looking at the information. I was clearly a glass canon, but that was consistent with my growth at lower levels. It had all been so long ago but I vaguely remembered a strong warrior standing in front of me, protecting me from a powerful beast. What had his name been? The AI helpfully supplied it. Khanakh. I wonder what had happened to Khanakh? Our party had eventually broken up when the healer wanted to get married…

Feeling tired and a little sick from the wine on an empty stomach, I glanced around. I was in the open plains, surrounded by fields of wheat. I could see little farmhouses and judging from the spacing, primitive technology was likely. [Combustion] was probably off the table, although I would need to do more research to be sure. What magic Law was in place? Well, I could experiment a bit as I walked.

As I walked, I quickly verified all the major Element laws like [Fire] were in play. [Void] did not work at all, which was impossible so I quickly decided the problem was my level. Void was a tricky one. [Corruption] and [Poison] did not answer but again, it could have been my level. I was fairly sure I had mastered them later in my development. [Blood] worked but I wasn't sure how useful that was. I wasn't a Blood Mage.

Shaking my head, I approached an isolated farmstead. I needed some food, my stomach was growling painfully and wine was NOT food, despite the lushes who claimed otherwise. The light was fading, I would also like a place to sleep indoors. The farmstead was dilapidated and I was hesitant, but I still knocked on the door. No answer, so I knocked harder. Finally I heard a shuffling inside and the door opened just a crack, suspicious eyes peering at me.

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"What do you want? My husband will be home soon," a female voice said and I smiled as reassuringly as I could. Which probably wasn't reassuring at all… as Justice, I had rarely cared about how others reacted to me.

"I am just looking for some food and a good place to lay my head. A barn will do," I said, reflecting on the fact that I would prefer a barn. One of the least pleasant memories of my life involved my very young self almost falling prey to a murderous innkeeper in a mountain inn. He'd barred me INTO my room, and there had been no window. Fortunately my friends had been expecting me to make a meeting point in the next town and had found me before I could die of dehydration. It had been so bad, though, that even thousands of years later I remembered the thirst clearly. A barn, though, should be easy enough for me to ward and hex but would allow me to flee as needed.

"Are you Deathless?" she asked and I paused, puzzled.

"I'm not an undead, ma'am, if that's what you're asking," I said cautiously. I had no idea what Deathless might be. "I'm just a lost traveler. I have no money, but I have items I can trade." Speaking of which, what in hell would I give them? The problem was the vast majority of the contents of my dimensional storage were far too precious to give to random farmers. Not that I objected to getting screwed in the trade, it was more that they could never sell them without raising too many eyebrows. I needed something that wouldn't bring trouble down on their heads.

The woman cautiously opened the door and I saw she was a plain, severe woman with her hair in a tight bun. Behind her was a scowling teenage boy, holding a knife and huddled behind her legs was a little girl with dirty brown hair and wide blue eyes. They all looked less than prosperous, their clothing badly worn. However, my expert eye saw they all appeared to be decently fed. That was good, they would at least have some food to spare.

"I am Justice, ma'am. May I ask your name?" I said as respectfully as I could manage, reflecting on the oddity of it. How long had it been since I had spoken politely to someone of this level? A shockingly long time. But then, it was not actually possible for a level forty-nine to fully suppress their level compression. I tried, but the best I could ever manage was the pressure of a level twenty and that would easily flatten this poor woman. It made even talking to the extremely weak very difficult.

"I am Jahnli. This is Jahnli the Younger and this is my son, Moedek." I nodded respectfully and she hesitated a moment before leading me further inside. I made my boots vanish, putting them in storage. It was impolite to wear shoes inside, or so my culture believed.

"You're lying. You're Deathless," the boy said almost angrily, still brandishing his knife. I lifted an eyebrow at him. Even if I was just level six now, he was more likely to injure himself than hurt me.

"Moedek, stop," Jahnli said sharply as her younger huddled tighter to her legs. I shook my head.

"I really have no idea what you're talking about. Do you have any water? Tea?" I asked plaintively and Jahnli nodded before gesturing me to follow. I kept a few senses on the boy. Even if I was fairly sure that knife couldn't penetrate, I didn't want it in my kidneys. You never knew, right?

There was a kettle on the stove and soon I had a nice cup of dandelion tea. I sipped it, feeling a deep relief as the hot liquid hit my system. Ah, I had needed that, wine was a terrible way to stay hydrated. As for food, I could smell some soup on the cook. It had likely been brewing since morning and was it beans? I could not wait to tuck in, but I contained my eagerness, playing the polite guest. As I sipped my tea, I used my AI to run an inventory on my dimensional storage. What would be appropriate to pay for all this?

It wasn't long before the man of the house got home, and he was less than pleased to see me.

"What is this?" Sharp eyes raked over me and I tensed slightly. This farmer was far more threatening than his son, all corded muscle, tanned skin and a heavy dark beard. I registered more strength to him… not enough to have withstood my full level compression at forty-nine, but perhaps enough to stand against my repressed strength. He probably wasn't a danger, but that was enough to make me wary.

"I am merely a traveler who fell afoul of bandits. I have lost all my money, but I have items I can trade for food and shelter," I said deferentially. I set my tea on the table before standing up and taking a step back. "May I show you my wares?" He tensed, but I just spread my hands before filling them with an arctic wolf pelt. The thick white fur almost gleamed and the temperature of the room dropped just a smidge, as a few flakes of frost dropped through the air. How long had this been hanging out in my storage? I was a horrible packrat.

"Oooo pretty!" Little Jahnli was bewitched by the beauty of the pelt and had to touch it. Her mother pulled her back sternly. "Mother!"

"Your hands are dirty. Don't touch," she said sternly and I looked at the farmer. He was taken aback, his brows drawing down as he frowned.

"We cannot afford something that fine," he said after a moment and I sighed visibly.

"Forgive me, but what price is food to the starving? I know it is likely worth more than your entire house, but I cannot eat it. I will gladly trade it for some hot food and provisions," I said, trying to convey my sincerity. I can't even remember what I'd kept the damned pelt for in the first place. It really wasn't worth anything to me compared to a bowl of soup. The farmer nodded slowly.

"Well, I cannot disagree with that. Very well, we will make this trade," he said decisively. "Jahnli, put it away in the marriage chest. It can be little Jahnli's dowry." Ah, what an excellent idea! I smiled warmly as I handed it over and she was smiling widely as she accepted it.

"What if he's Deathless, pa?" The boy protested, clearly intent on that. His father snorted derisively.

"A Deathless would never give something so precious to fill his belly. They cannot die, remember?" What WERE these 'deathless'? "They say they do not even feel pain as we do. They would keep that pelt and just go hungry."

"Forgive me, what are these Deathless?" I asked as the farmer - I hadn't caught his name - began setting out the plates and cutlery. Jahnli bustled back and began serving supper and I was happy to find that the meal was indeed bean soup. It even had a bit of meat in it, rabbit I thought and was served with a crusty dark bread.

"The Deathless are very strange. They only started appearing perhaps a few months ago. They are beings who cannot die, and seem to crave tasks and rewards," Jahnli said as she ladled out the soup. "If it were just that, it would be fine, but some of them are very violent. They do not seem to care that they cannot die, but we can."

"I have never heard of such a thing," I said, taken aback. And given how old I was, that was truly saying something. Not to mention that the Universe of Infinite Possibilities was notorious for always being in flux, new Laws supplanting the old. Yet I had never heard of anything like this. Strange. "Do you know how this functions? How do they resurrect?" Perhaps I was using too fancy words as the farmer frowned at me. Well, I could never sound like a native anyway.

"They die, but the body disappears in short order, turning to nothing but a skeleton. It's said they reappear in certain, set places. It's also said you can kill them at those places but it's unwise to do it, as other Deathless will appear," he said in a reserved tone and I tilted my head at the information.

"Very strange," I murmured to myself. "I know of some who can come back from the dead, but it is a very high level ability that requires intricate preparation." When I'd gone on very dangerous missions, I'd actually taken such precautions. Assassinating a fellow level forty-nine was not for the faint of heart. "This is new." I would have to investigate. Although from the sounds of it, they would come to me.

There seemed to be nothing more to say on that topic and conversation moved to the weather and general farming concerns. I learned the farmer's name was Soetek. Also, I learned the entire area was having a problem with a 'leaky' dungeon and dire wolves were escaping.

Dungeons. My spoon scraped on the bottom of my bowl as I thought about rifts and dungeons. The same thing, the words were used interchangeably to describe the warps in reality that entered to the lands of twisted [Soul] and [Matter]. Dungeonologists studied them extensively and it was known that they were a mechanism to equalize the currents of [Soul]. That was why the lowest layer, governed by pure [Matter], did not have any. For the purposes of cultivators, though, dungeons were where you gained [Soul] energies. You could either condense it further into your [Soul] or convert it to [Matter] for physical cultivation. So if I intended to raise my level and regain my old power, I should visit dungeons.

As for leaking, that was a rare phenomena that usually happened to a dungeon that wasn't being run regularly. I frowned a bit as I chewed on the bread. Leaking dungeons could be very dangerous for the surrounding area. If I were still a level forty-nine and heard of one in a place like this, I'd quickly nip in and eliminate the threat. But as a level six… I might be the one eliminated.

"Do you know what level this dungeon is for?" I asked, hoping they did. Soetek nodded.

"Level five, but it needs a five person group. So if you're thinking about going it alone, forget about it," he said warningly and I winced.

"Am I that transparent?" I grumbled and he chuckled softly, taking a sip of his tea.

"A little. You're a strange one, traveler, although I accept that you are not Deathless." The farmer shrugged. "There are many oddities in the world. People forget that, with the Deathless taking all the attention, but when I was a boy a great necromancer came through on his way to Naxun. Had skeletons waiting on him hand and foot." From the expression of the children, they'd heard this story before, many times.

"I once knew a Lich who managed to master enough [Life] to coat his whole body in flesh. You'd think he was a normal person to look at him," I volunteered. It had been a truly impressive mastery of [Soul]. "He was also a giant asshole. He finally offended the wrong person and they managed to shatter his phylactery." That had been me. It had taken me almost five hundred years of stalking to find the phylactery, but the look on his face when I'd broken it in front of him had been worth it. As for why I'd gone that far, well. I despised rape even when it was legal.

"Really? What other stories do you have?" Little Jahnli asked excitedly and I hesitated a moment but… surely there was no harm in it? Also, I had some really good stories, it would be fun to share.

So for the rest of the evening, I entertained them with stories about my checkered past. I either attributed my deeds to someone else, or told them about my earlier adventures, before I had even learned my concept. The funniest was the story of the 'senile old man' who had forcefully decided I WOULD be his apprentice and hit me in the head until I agreed. At the time, I'd wanted to kill him but in retrospect it WAS funny, particularly since I'd learned so much from that lunatic.

"Hope you don't mind staying in the barn for the night?" Soetek asked after we were done and the dishes were being washed and put away. I shook my head.

"I prefer it. It's not that I distrust you, but I've had a few experiences," I said honestly. He nodded with a smile. That settled, he showed me to the barn and even provided a few blankets. I laid down a few wards before settling into the straw, feeling quite comfortable.

Before I went to sleep, though, I spent some quality time with my [AI] running an inventory. Not of the contents of my spatial storage, but of my skills and abilities. I had far too many that I simply could not use. I needed to remember what worked, or I was going to thoughtlessly try to use something far above my level and get stabbed when it failed to activate. I also needed to actually think about my close combat style.

[Unarmed combat] [Daggers] [Swords]

Swords? I thought about that for a moment. I was a master with the sword but… when I was young, I hadn't used them. I had only achieved sword mastery after I picked up an incredible bastard sword out of a dungeon, and that weapon… I doubted I could even lift it now. I could use lighter swords but I would have to adapt my style, was it even worth it? I mentally crossed that out. So [Unarmed combat] and [Daggers] it was. As for my [Soul] I had more options, but I needed to narrow it down.

[Mana Bolt] [Fireball] [Ice Lance] [Tangling Thorns] [Lesser Heal]

These were all spells I was confident I could cast at level six. I would have liked to add [Ice Storm] but I knew that was pushing it. Even [Fireball] was a bit iffy and would likely be on the puny side. I had to keep in mind what my [Soul] could support at this stage. [Tangling Thorns] and [Lesser Heal] would both be excellent for joining a party. I wasn't really a healer, but I was a good off-healer/dps hybrid. Throw in a bit of crowd control and I was absolutely golden. I resolved to test [Tangling Thorns] as soon as I had a chance. Maybe I could find some weak monster and see how well it was working. Ah, but that led me to a few final things, that I might or might not share with my party.

[Stealth] [Phase] [Shadow Step]

Stealth did what it said on the box. Phase was the ability to phase through solid objects, although it was extremely brief in duration at this level. Shadow Step… might be dangerous to use. It was beyond stealth, dipping into the true [Shadow]. But if I could use it, it would function as a form of teleportation. These were my assassin skills and depending on how I presented myself to a party, I might keep them to myself. All that settled in my mind, I let myself drift off to sleep.

I had no idea why I had been brought here, but I knew the first step to finding out was to become stronger.