"Hello," Bob said cautiously.

The Eire he'd found walking down the main boulevard of their town wasn't Ordast.

"Vorstach's blessing on you, human," the Eire replied, "Ordast will be pleased that you've returned. He is in the barracks."

As the rest of the group piled out of the portal, the Eire gestured for them to follow him, then strode towards the Adventurers Guild. Or what they had expected to be the Adventurers Guild one day.

Ordast exited the Adventurers Guild as the group arrived, his head nearly brushing the top of the door frame. "Thank you," Ordast began, "for your hospitality during your absence. While a little tighter than we might prefer, your willingness to open your home to us has been preferable to being without a roof overhead."

"You're welcome," Bob replied cautiously. "We weren't sure when you would visit."

"Four days after we met," Ordast said.

"Ah," Bob shrugged uncomfortably. "Sorry you were waiting for so long."

"We had hoped to explore more of the trials, but we did appreciate the guidance you provided for the one nearest to this place," Ordast continued. "I've summoned the Elloirial, once they have arrived, my team shall depart."

"Before you go," Bob began, "we put together footage from the Dungeons we delved." He pulled a tablet out of his inventory. "You'll press this button to turn it on, or to turn it off," he explained, "and you'll tap this icon to bring up the image of the globe. Then you just tap the Dungeon you're about to delve, and it'll bring up the video." Bob demonstrated the process, showing Ordast how to rewind, fast forward, and replay the video.

"Thank you," Ordast said as Bob handed him the tablet. "While you may not revere Vorstach in word, your actions reflect her divine guidance."

"Okay," Bob replied uncertainly before shaking his head. "It will work for maybe eight or nine hours before it needs to be recharged. You'll need to use this to recharge it." Bob pulled another device from his inventory, this one a small rectangular black box with a cord hanging off one end, and a crank on the other. "Just plug the cable into the tablet," Bob popped the USB-C cable into the tablet, "and start cranking the handle. It'll take about twenty minutes to charge it up from half to full."

Ordast's eyes shifted to a darker hue for a moment as he studied the box. They cleared, and the Eire smiled broadly. "This is a smaller design of the water powered spools, yes?"

"It is," Bob agreed.

"That system, in combination with the devices you have to receive it, are quite intriguing," Ordast continued. "While the same thing can be accomplished more easily with skills and spells, it's interesting to see a different approach."

"That's what a couple of thousand years with no magic or skills will result in," Bob shrugged. "We had to do things the hard way."

Further conversation was halted as an archway of dark stone, laced with glowing veins of molten rock arose from the middle of street.

"The Elloirial arrives," Ordast said.

A sheet of lava fell from the top of the archway, disappearing after it reached the bottom, through which a small figure stepped through.

Ordast took a knee, his head bowed, while Bob studied the new arrival.

She, or at least Bob was going with she, given the bust, looked like someone had taken an Eire, shrunken it down, and given a damn good polish.

Where Ordast and his team had rough, craggy features, their skin resembling weathered stone, the Elloirial was polished marble, with refined, almost delicate features. If you were to drain the color from her amethyst eyes and hair, she could have been carved by Michelangelo himself.

"Elloirial," Ordast's voice carried a hint of reverence, reminescent of his tone when speaking of Vorstach. "You honor us with your presence. This is Bob, the leader of the travelers who have sought refuge on your seed."

"Thank you, Ordast, for your service," the Elloirial said, her voice more lightly pitched than Bob would have expected, but carrying a weight dispoportional to her size. "You may take your team back through the portal."

Bob stood, awkwardly waiting as the Eire filed through the portal. Only once the last Eire had departed did the portal slide back into the ground.

The Elloirial turned to face him, offering a smile. "Greetings, Bob, you may call me Naomeh. I am the Elloirial of this world."

"Hello, Naomeh," Bob replied, careful to match her pronunciation. "Ordast wasn't exactly clear on what that was?"

"He wouldn't be," she said, looking around at the village. "Is there some place we may sit while we converse?"

"Yeah," Bob gestured toward the future Adventurers Guild. "We have tables and chairs in there, or at least we did, and Ordast doesn't seem like the type to have either broken or absconded with them."

"I'm certain he did not," Naomeh said as she began to walk toward the Adventurers Guild.

"I'm sorry if we kept you waiting," Bob began. "We didn't know if or when Ordast would visit us, and we wanted to get a handle on the various Dungeons."

"We call them 'Trials' although I'm sure that will shift over the coming millennia as more and more beings are born into this new System," Naomeh replied.

As they entered the tavern, Naomeh's eyes fixed on the television mounted to the wall, which was still playing the recording of the Mad Eire's Dungeon.

Her eyes, which resembled nothing so much as brilliantly cut and polished amethysts blazed with light so brightly that the entire tavern was awash in a purple hue.

"Fascinating," Naomeh said softly, as she walked towards the television.

Bob had seen a lot of weird shit in the past few years, and it took a bit startle him. Seeing the tables and chairs slide out of her path, seemingly of their own volition, was enough to do it. He pretty much lived with mana sight up, and while he had seen the active mana in her eyes before she walked past him, there wasn't any spell pushing the furniture around.

"It might be possible to replicate this, although I've never met anyone with a skill or spell to make things smaller, let alone to this degree," she murmured. "The sheer intricacy, most especially that bundle there..." she trailed off for a moment before shaking her head. The violet hue disappeared and she turned to fix her eyes on him.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"Ordast lacks the foundation to understand just how incredible this is." She looked at him curiously. "I'm having trouble imagining how you created this."

"I didn't create it," Bob replied. "I have a very basic understanding of the processes used, and while I do have access to the knowledge, I don't have the equipment."

"What about the bracer you wear? That is even more complex, and I could see that it actually does interact with mana."

"Didn't make that either, although I did work on the code that allowed it to interpret the mana," Bob replied. "Can't take credit for the actual sensors though."

"What exactly does the bracer do?" She asked.

"I feel like we're sort of getting ahead of ourselves?" Bob said hesitantly. "You're here to tell us if we can stay on this planet, right?"

"Of course," Naomeh replied, gesturing towards a table before walking over taking a seat.

Bob took a seat across from her.

"Ordast was unable to taste any taint of the cold one upon you," she began, "and I can concur. You are mortal, proceeding along the seventh step. I can sense a fading ascendant imprint, a compulsion to speak only the truth and to be revulsed by falsehood. Why were you cursed?"

"It was actually a Divine Blessing," Bob replied. "I was given it in order to complete a task where it was paramount that my word could be taken as truth. Once my task was complete, I asked for it to be removed, as it made evading people who meant me harm more difficult."

"Who, exactly, have you had to flee from?" Naomeh asked. "Your species is not one we have encountered in all the galaxies we have mapped."

"Certain factions of my species are convinced I'm valuable, where others blame me for the integration of our world into the System," Bob explained carefully. "Neither of them are content with a polite conversation, and having been abducted and imprisoned once, and attacked yet again, I felt it prudent to disappear for a while and allow tempers to cool. My friends were captured along with me, so they chose to accompany me."

He took a breath before continuing. "As for the where, another dimension."

Naomeh took in a sharp breath of her own. "The forbidden," she hissed.

Bob leaned back slightly, feeling a wave of pressure from the woman in front of him. It reminded him very strongly of the King of Greenwold, only much more powerful.

"Sorry?" He managed.

"The contest between Vorstach and Baldarkurax has many agreed upon rules, but one of the first is that it be contained to this existence."

"Okay," Bob stretched the word out. "Good thing we don't revere either of them, right? Means we didn't break any rules."

The pressure receded as quickly as it came.

"No, you have not," Naomeh said. "It does go quite far in explaining why we have never encountered your species. You have advanced twice from your foundation, which means you are were fifth step?"

"We call it tier five, but yeah," Bob agreed cautiously.

"That makes your peoples creations even more extraordinary," she gestured toward the television.

"We had a couple of thousand years with no magic," Bob shrugged.

"I can sense no deceit from you, but how is that possible?" She asked.

"Are you familiar with the infinite worlds theory?" Bob asked.

"No," Naomeh replied.

"Well, the theory is that there are nearly identical universes, all occupying the same space, seperated by a dimensional membrane to keep them from spilling over into one another," Bob began. "Given that the first universe I found had a solar system pretty close to identical to my own sort of bore that out, although we don't have any where near enough data to form a hypothesis. The fact that the System somehow stops the expansion of the universe suggests that the similarities are likely to be much less pronounced, depending on at what point in time the System was introduced to any given universe, further complicated by the fact that time itself is relative, and it's entirely possible that some universes are older or younger than others, regardless of any System tomfoolery."

Naomeh cocked her head and her gaze seemed to sharpen as she examined him. "You seem to have an understanding of certain aspects of reality are reserved for the ascendant."

"What's an ascendant?" Bob asked.

She looked nonplussed, and Bob took a moment to reflect on the seemingly universality of humanoid facial expressions across species and even dimensions.

"You are mortal," she gestured towards him. "I am ascendant," she pointed to her chest. "I may, with Vorstach's blessing, become ageless, although it is unlikely I will ever become transcendent."

"Okay," Bob shook his head, "So, I'm tier seven. I started off as tier five. I'm headed for tier eight. The numbers just keep going up. Could you explain it using those?"

"I'm on the fourth step of the ascendant path, which would be tier fourteen by your measure. Tier twenty would be the beginning of agelessness, while tier thirty would be transcendence."

Bob swallowed. "Okay then," he said.

"You say 'Okay' a lot, but it seems that you're often not alright when you say it," Naomeh said.

"Yeah, it's one of those things where you say the word while you try to adjust your understanding of the world and your place in it?" Bob muttered. "We obviously didn't have tiers on my world, and the world I discovered sort of capped out around ten? The gods there are tier ten. And you're tier fourteen, which, no offense, is a little frightening. I accidently made a tier eight angry and he basically murdered me."

"You need not fear, assaulting a mortal as an ascendant is forbidden," Naomeh reassured him.

"Okay," Bob replied.

"We've tunneled rather far from the core," Naomeh said. "We've discovered that we can project our new System messages for others to view. Do you have any that might confirm the veracity of your statements?"

Bob willed a series of System messages into view.

Extradimensional Traveler.

You have traveled from one dimension to another without the aid of the System. You did not do so deliberately, nor did you arrive as a viable biological entity. This has decreased the value of this Achievement.

Extradimensional Ferryman.

You have facilitated the travel of a being from a dimension outside the System, into one gifted with the System.

Extradimensional Explorer.

You have travelled to another dimension, one not gifted with the System. You have done so deliberately, aware of the pitiable conditions those without the System are subject to. You were fully aware and informed of the state of the dimension and planetary mass you traveled to.

Savior.

Upon discovering that billions of potentially efficient circulators of energy would be rendered inert, you devoted yourself entirely to leading them to shelter within the System. You were engaged at every point of the developing operation to rescue these valuable resources, recruiting other users to aid you. Your efforts have acted as an argument for the expenditure of the System's resources to preserve the lives of sapient beings during the process of integrating their universes under the System. You have directly saved the lives of eight billion sapient beings.

He truncated the messages, not wanting anyone to know exactly what rewards he'd received.

Naomeh read through the messages in a flash, her eyes widening at the last.

"I can see why Ordast was so convinced that you were not an agent of the cold one," she breathed. "Eight billion lives is no small number." Her lips curved into a wry smile. "I imagine the rewards were significant."

"The ability to understand, and be understood, by any sapient being," Bob replied.

"A welcome gift, given your circumstances," Naomeh said. "As to your presence on this seed, your extradimensional origin excludes you from the agreement regarding seed worlds not yet in bloom, as the language specified that every being born across the universe, both those known and those undiscovered, were forbidden from settling, regardless of affiliation. Your having been born outside of this universe provides an unanticipated exception. Your willingness to provide aid to the Eire, asking for nothing in recompense, leaves me no reason to take action to remove you."

Bob let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

Naomeh frowned and shook her head. "Unfortunately, the language regarding worlds in bloom is rather more explicit. None but those Lhorne sworn may inhabit a seed world in bloom for a period of ten millennia. So while you have a several years before the Lhorne arrive, ultimately, by the terms agreed up on by Vorstach and Baldarkurax, you may not settle here permanently."