People often confuse illusion with reality, but to those who wield [Shadow Magic] or a high affinity for the arcane school, it can be defined very differently. Erebus hadn't realized it at the time nor did his System announce it, but something changed within his [Soul Core].

The dark side could no longer cloud his sight nor could the Light attempt to fully mend the trauma within, but the trade-offs were worth it. He could fully perceive the changes within this variant timeline of the Star Wars Galaxy and understand what both the Sith and Jedi of the current era were doing.

Erebus realized he didn't even leave a scratch on the effects that this timeline had and everything from the prequels to the Disney sequel trilogies were still on course to happen. This made him smile since he was expecting to make a few changes here and there during the important events like in The Phantom Menace and Revenge of the Sith so that certain events still happened, but the context of them were altered.

Yeah, he was going to still let Sheev Palpatine (read: "that shitty bastard") still do his Order 66 move right at the end of the Clone Wars, but Erebus wasn't going to let his favorite Jedi die. One such favorite Jedi of his was Qui-Gon Jinn who was killed by Maul on Naboo since it had been described in Legends continuity that Palpatine had him killed because he was not like other Jedi.

He didn't focus on the Legends lore of the character, but liked the Canon version better.

Another Jedi Erebus had his eyes set on saving was Fit Kisto and Plo Koon. He knew they would both die during the time of Order 66 though the former died due to being in a fight with Palpatine in his Chancellor's office and the latter died during a dogfight by his own wingman due to said Order.

However, that would take place over three thousand years after the Old Republic era and due to his native abilities as a [Remnant Soul] and an Outworlder, Erebus was confident he could plan for the very long run. This meant he can deal with the Jedi at any point he desired, but in this current era, he'd have to meddle in Sith affairs.

'Like hell am I dealing with Plagueis and Sidious to learn the ways of the Sith,' Erebus thought to himself as he wasn't going to go full-on fanboying just to learn everything about the Dark Side from the canon-era Sith. 'If I want to learn about the Dark Side's nature, I'll have to go to the experts on the subject and avoid interacting too heavily in this era so that Plagueis and Sidious still exist.'

Thus our MC received another side mission from his System.

==--+--==

{Side Mission: Revelation of Shadow}

[Upon the realization that you require strength and knowledge that you cannot gain during the events of Episode I, you have decided to deal with the Sith Empire’s teachings. For this quest, you must travel to Korriban and take up Sith training. Note: This quest will prevent you from learning the opposing faction’s teachings until you have completed the current objective.]

- Learn the ways of the Sith on Korriban (up to Sith Apprentice): 0/1

- ???

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

- Ability to reveal the existence of the System to one (1) person (can be redeemed early)

- Ability to form parties with Legends/Canon characters (Star Wars only)

- 1x [Random Spell]

==--+--==

'What the fuck?!' Erebus thought to himself-shocked. After he read the quest rewards (like a true gamer), he realized that this wasn't a typical System where it could punish its host by attempting to reveal its existence directly.

It was an abnormal type of System where he could reveal its existence to a select few instead! This made him ecstatic since that meant he could share the knowledge with someone he trusted wholly, but that also raised another question in his mind.

Who would he share it with?

It was a question he'd have to answer later because he'd need to travel to Korriban to properly begin his Sith training. With this in mind, he realized something else.

'How do I get out of this room?' Erebus thought to himself. It wasn't too long before the answer revealed itself by a mechanical yet clearly masculine voice rang out into the room.

[Host's brainwaves have matched with recorded signs of desire for departing the current room. Preparing retrieval process and spatial realignment into the Command Center,] it announced.

This confused Erebus a bit since he hadn't expected this situation at all, but in the next moment, he was no longer in the cultivation room within the medical bay. What met his eyes was a different sight entirely.

He appeared in a futuristic lounge area with a heavily-reinforced glass pane looking out into space itself directly above Dromund Kaas. In the lounge area, it looked sleek and metallic with a soft cerulean glow amidst a dark interior which seemed reminiscent of the way the First and Final Order ships looked like inside. In the direct center of the area, there was a table with a type of three-dimensional hologram hovering over it. The hologram was depicting the planet below like a [World Map] shown at an arial view while there were different worlds listed off to the right hand side of the screen. When Erebus looked down at the table itself, he could see it had been set up with different [Workspaces] for different tasks.

The look of amazement was evident on his face as he observed the ship he received from his System, but there was something else more evident about his Voidship. It seemed bigger on the inside than on the outside much like the TARDIS from Doctor Who.

[Syncing Systems with your Voidship,] Erebus saw pop up in his inbox. This made him rather curious because he thought it would have already been synced as it came from his System.

It didn't take long for his System and the Voidship to sync up. This gave Erebus a notification of completion and a new respawn point.

[Hello Damian,] Erebus received in a text notification in his System-confusing him a bit. [Before you form that question in your mind, I'd like for you to listen to this message. It is from your benefactor.]

[You have received an audio message from: ???. Automatically playing...] his system notified him before he fully understood what was going on.

<==+==>

"You did WHAT?!" Vowrawn roared in anger at the stupidity of the imperials and the Sith acolytes who witnessed the event at the Dark Temple. It was clear that the message he had received from the Keeper was that the Outworlder had been located in the Dark Temple, but for some reason, someone wanted to eliminate him first before either Marr or Vowrawn managed to get him.

This led to over a few dozen deaths at his hands and a small shift in the Force that he, countless Sith, and Jedi themselves felt. A seething madness that threatened both the Light and Dark equally.

It was due to this extreme fuckup that Imperial Intelligence was under scrutiny by the Dark Council. Since Vowrawn was a member alongside Darth Marr, they both naturally understood that certain precautions must be taken with Force-sensitives like Erebus. This included even the slaves who were undertaking their trials on Korriban too alongside other potential Sith Apprentices.

Taking a moment to calm his rage a little, he stared daggers into the holographic projection of Keeper and said in a stern tone, "this must not happen again, Keeper. The Outworlder was prophesied to appear in the Galaxy around this time. He must not be allowed to be found by the Republic. Due to your Cipher's efforts, we at least understand that he is both powerful in the Force and somehow chose to arrive on Dromund Kaas. If we at least knew where he went, we could take him to Korriban to train..."

"I assure you, sir, that we will keep an eye out for the Outworlder," Keeper responded formally like a soldier to their commanding officer. "When he shows up again, we will let you know."

<==+==>