The void had called. Albert answered its call. The descent down into the abyss was slow at first, but Albert kept picking up speed, looking back at the island that grew distant and small above his head. Gravity, generated by either a quirk of magic or a mass unseen and undetected, pulled him under.

Before long the last points of reference to gauge his speed were gone, leaving nothing to be seen. Only the deafening sound of rushing air remained, that put pressure on his eardrums and robbed him of his ability to hear. It was not strictly true, for an eerie beauty surrounded him, the deadly energies of the clouds also enticing with their shapes and colors.

The storm raged. He plunged into the clouds, which were nothing more than swirling masses of raw magic at times blue at times purple, signifying their main flavor of magic. Lightning struck close to him, ever closer, lighting the sky for but a moment beyond the faint purple glow of the void night, dangerously close to his body. Sooner or later, he knew, one of these discharges of energy was going to hit him. Then what?

Time passed. Minutes, no, more. Then it happened. Albert felt it before he saw it. The gathering of magic and electrical charge in one, single event. The buildup was almost tangible, making his hair stand up and causing his gut to clench in fear. Then the cloud closest to him lit up.

The color was that of psionic energy: blue, electric, and exotic.

Albert made the decision that would forever change his life. He did so in the split second he had left before the wild energies were allowed to run through his body unchecked. He decided, perhaps against better judgement, to disable all his defenses. He dropped the void armor, he dropped the Strengthening, and stored his ring in his inventory.

He felt naked. He felt the storm against his skin. The cold rain. The energies that tried to rob him of his life. He felt everything, so close to some place deep inside him to almost feel violating.

Clutching his life-saving tree, he closed his eyes and waited.

The pain lasted less than a fraction of a second, too quick to even register in his conscious mind, instead only existing as a memory.

[WARNING: System overloaded with Psionic Energies.]

[WARNING: Imminent user/system cojoinance failure. Searching for a lifeboat.]

[Lifeboat found. Item: Eulogy of the Void Isle will be consumed.]

[WARNING: Psionic energy above safety threshold.]

[Rerouting…]

[Alternate pathway for psionic energy found.]

[Absorbing…]

[Evolution has started…]

Everything went black. Awareness went black. Only the faint sense of being survived, devoid of a sense of self, of memories and of thought. Albert felt himself change, assuming a flavor that was similar to that of the energies that had caused his death.

The nothingness stretched on forever. Time lost all meaning. Space lost all meaning. For a fraction of a second, all was there, laid bare. Time, space, potential futures. The nature of reality. Albert caught a glimpse of how the universe functioned. He saw other worlds, other universes. He saw time as a real, physical entity. He saw the system as a manifestation of his own, personal pattern of energy. He saw how the future and the past coexisted, the first ethereal and changing, the second set in stone but on an ever-moving layer of uncertainty.

He knew, for a moment, how the system operated. How it made its decisions. How it drew upon his well of potential to give him power.

It was nothing short of reality bending on the largest of scales.

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Then all was black again, and any understanding of these strange concepts vanished as quickly as it came. What, for a moment, seemed obvious a moment ago now was utterly alien and inconceivable. Even the recollection of what he had seen was all but impossible.

Then light.

Albert opened his eyes to the smell of fresh air, and flowers swaying in the wind. A pleasant breeze caressed his skin, and the sun was gently shining through the canopy of nearby trees, warming his skin. A sense of peace enveloped him. He could feel the presence of nature nearby, healthy and prosperous. It invigorated him, and for a moment he just stood there, taking in the sight of green and of the blue sky after so long, stretching his arms, smelling the air.

He was alive. The little tree had turned to ash in his hands, gone forever. But he was alive.

A quick check of his map, before allowing himself to cheer, told him all he needed to know. He was not on Earth, nor was he anywhere near his home planet. According to how he understood the map functioned, he was not even in the same universe anymore. He was somewhere else.

He smiled. “This is how it feels to get isekaied, I guess.”

The smile didn’t last long, of course. He was not here on vacation.

There were a myriad of possible explanations as to how he managed to land in another universe. None mattered right now.

He was here now, away from home, with a clear goal: to return as quickly as possible. There was an invasion going on, threatening his home and his family. He could not afford to waste time.

But first:

Quest: Racial Evolution – Psionic Complete!

· Find a way to make Perception Level 5 usable.

· Plant the Iperborea Seed to restore the shield around Elvenhome.

· Cross to the other side.

· Return.

· Reward: Race evolved into Psionic Half-Elf.

Albert checked himself instead of celebrating the completion of the quest. For starters: he felt no different. Secondly: he had not technically returned, not yet. He was not on Earth. Or was he?

“No, no.” He said, shaking his head. “This is definitely not Earth.”

The gravity was not right. At least, it didn’t feel right. The air, the nature, everything was wrong. Almost right but not quite. Besides, there was the fact of the map.

Still, coming here must have counted as returning as far as the system was concerned.

There was no prompt about a change in affinity, or about unlocking the locked skills of the psionic tree. Did this mean it didn’t work?

He checked his status.

Albert Grassman.

Psionic Half-elf. (Unawakened Essence of Nature.)

[Mana]: 133FU + 58/hour

It did work. What about the skills then?

[PSIONIC] SUGGESTION 1 (+)

· This skill has evolved once (+).

· Influence the mind of other living beings to your liking. The weaker the mind, the easier it is to influence. Likewise, it is easier to suggest thoughts closer to what the mind would have thought by itself than it is to completely overthrow it.

[PSIONIC] MIND READ 1 (+)

· This skill has evolved once (+).

· Read the mind of a living being. The weaker the mind, the easier it is to read. Likewise, surface memories are easier to read.

[PSIONIC] TELEKINESIS 1 (+)

· This skill has evolved once (+).

· Move things with your mind. Difficulty increases with mass, magic density, and active resistance. Level of control depends on concentration and mental image during skill use.

[PSIONIC] SOLID-STATE MANIFESTATION 1 (+)

· This skill has evolved once (+).

· Manifest solid illusions, ranging from objects, to shields, to imitations of people. This skill is incredibly taxing to use, and the manifestation only persists as long as you can maintain your mind focused on it. Difficulty increases with complexity.

“Holy…” Albert gasped. “Man, these skills are utterly broken!”

Well, if the skills were there… Then, it meant that his affinity changed while he was knocked out, and he didn’t see the prompt. Well, he better check further down his status to see what his new psionic affinity was, then, before—

Something, at the edge of his awareness granted to him by the cumulative presence of all his skills and intuitions forged in battle, made the hair at the back of his head stand up. He turned around, so quickly to almost be a blur.