Floating amid thick clouds, an enormous mountain peak looked like a lonely island in the middle of a vast ocean. Bathing in the warmth of the invisible sun that somehow stayed hidden in a clear blue sky, the peak was covered with trees and greenery, slowly rising above the fluffy surface. It seemed its energy was completely spent to reach the level of clouds, leaving only remnants of the previous desire to be on top of the world. To be at the top of the world. Or maybe it halted its attempts as no competitors were in sight, already crowning themselves as an absolute winner. Such change of course made an impact, turning it into a paradise with only a few rocky crests in the center. There were more interesting details to see, but there was no one to do it as only the wind was moving around, shaking the evergreen leaves.

It lasted for an unknown amount of time until a bright flash appeared on the edge of the peak. Coming from the old arc with multiple cracks on its surface, it illuminated everything around as if trying to pierce through clouds. Unfortunately, it failed, despite giving it all up to the bottom of its inner barrel. Flickering with the last pieces of energy, it made a last-ditch attempt, almost turning into a local sun instead of the real one that played a coward. Still, it wasn’t enough, and so the flash vanished. However, it left a human figure instead, silently standing right in the center of the arc. Grayish akin to a statue of ancient heroes with its muscular build, faded eyes, and complete nudity, it surprisingly fitted the arc as if the stone construct was made to showcase it in the first place. This feeling was intensified by the motionless state of the unknown that just stood there and did nothing. However, that was only the outside picture.

Fucking finally! Oh, gosh, it took so long…

The stubborn military with their non-stop bombardment, willing to spend an entire year’s budget in a week on areal bombs, missiles with different types of warheads, and other stuff just to get another medal for achievement, no matter how destructive the attacks were on the surroundings and nearby settlements. The retards with superpowers, whose desire to defeat the biggest villain alive for the potential fame led to stupid suicide attempts, and whose numbers appeared to be too huge to ignore, turned Rob into some kind of a pilgrimage idol. Quite a deadly one, to be precise, as he lost count of how many of those “fanatics” he had to pacify to eternity. The fools from the media, who tried to get an exclusive interview on any occasion, even during the battles… Robert knew that he ignited a spark of change, but never predicted the scale of the idiotic mess he got himself with the prevention of the dragon’s march through the city and later the world. And that was without mentioning CSA activity, Sarah’s attempts to speak, the government’s propaganda…

To hell with it! Now everything is over. Just forget everything like a bad dream, Rob! You are here to meditate… And that world is gone. I will never return there again thanks to Aether!

In the end, he formulated the descriptions of his next destination as a place of might and magic, without technological progress, with the potential ability to cut the unneeded link, and, more importantly, where he could calm down without someone bothering him. Robert was alone for too long, making any society around him uncomfortable and annoying. His friends were mostly dead, with maybe only William still alive and kicking. There were few more times he could recall, but it changed nothing – he had no chance to meet them.

In such circumstances, it was easier for his mind to become a hermit until he managed to figure out his life goals without the need to communicate with others. Not to build connections that would be cut for sure shortly. In fact, he had no wish to make one, preferring to focus on finding what he truly wanted before trying to get himself company. At least Rob managed to come up with a few things to aim at, but long-term goals were as hazy as ever. Despite his inhuman adaptive nature, Rob failed to adapt to a normal life. He had no desire to get more power, already strong enough, so the whole world couldn’t kill him no matter what they used.

A good psychotherapist would have helped… But as always, I have what I have… Okay, so where am I?

Looking around, Robert found himself standing inside the empty arc. Made from stone bricks, this old construction had multiple cracks that were mixed with odd symbols, which bore a resemblance to hieroglyphic letters. Crudely engraved, they were barely visible at this point. The end of the road behind the arc together with other facts led to an obvious conclusion – it was an artificial portal that was currently inactive. Gazing at the paved road with traces of the passage of time, Rob turned around and decided to check the opposite side first. However, making only a few dozen steps, he had to stop.

The land abruptly ended there, turning into a steep cliff surrounded by floating clouds. And from what Robert could see, the same picture went along the edge of the mountain peak, creating a sudden and quite noticeable drop. It was too odd as not only did the clouds have no gaps in their tight ranks, but also this cut was too sharp as if made intentionally. Rob had seen a similar sight once – the Wepwakor’s floating rock among transmitted stars on the panoramic screen. However, the short check confirmed that the trees and grass were real, growing naturally under an invisible sun. Still, deciding to clarify his current situation for once, Robert leaned over the edge. Lowering his weight to an absolute minimum, he punched a hole in the earth and started to climb down.

Soon the decline turned into a negative, exposing rare roots of the trees that made their way through the whole available earth only to get stuck hanging from above. Several times Robert almost fell, gripping the “wooden ropes” in the last moment, simultaneously dropping earth down on the clouds. Exactly the absence of any sound from the impact underneath the mist-like surface made him rethink his idea of checking as the more he climbed down, the more it was obvious that the place was indeed like a floating rock. However, an enormous and natural instead of a fake one was made to fool the envoys. Therefore, Rob hastily decided to return after confirming that there was nothing underneath the mountain peak – just a cloudy sky with not a hint of land.

A tiny world? A pocket dimension? Or is it just a part of something bigger as if the world was torn apart, creating thousands of such floating pieces amidst nothingness? Doesn’t really matter as in the end it doesn’t differ much from that damned island, apart from the potentially uninhabited part according to my request. As if a single time wasn’t enough… But the portal and old road… Hope there are no monsters that caused such a deserted state… Ha, I am not even sure if it is me who needs to worry about meeting the monsters. Maybe it’s them who need to cry in fear in front of mighty Golem. Hehe...

The journey back took some time as Robert failed to find the exact spot where he started his climbing down. Still, without a need to hurry, Rob calmly found the arc and the road before beginning to walk among the tall trees with colorful leaves. He wasn’t very proficient in botany, reading a few dozen books about the topic in the library during his “serum lottery”. However, Rob was sure that he hadn’t seen anything like that in any of his previous worlds. Too many different types of pigmentation on top of the various shapes may not sound too strange, but often all these belonged to a single tree, making each of them quite unique.

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The plants were a mixture of everything as if some kind of crazy scientist decided to unite a few species into one. The thorny heads of bright pink mushrooms; purple lianas with multiple tiny berries, each having a different color; a cactus with huge dots, resembling the eyes of a snake; a spider-like brown plant that was traveling across the greenery by itself, not having any connection to the ground. There were others, with maws to hunt on insects, or capable of spraying the toxins in the air to catch their prey. Obviously, they couldn’t harm Rob, making him feel as if he was strolling through the alien forest during a vacation, enjoying the weird sight of the other-worldly scenery.

The pathway itself had no signs of usage, looking unkempt and abandoned. Some plants found the gaps between the stones long ago, partly painting the previously only gray manmade line in green. The forest wasn’t any better, undisturbedly growing without any interference from humans… or even animals as no matter how Robert tried to find the traces, there was nothing. Only almost absolute silence enveloped the whole place, creating an odd atmosphere. Pulled by his curiosity, Rob wandered among the greenery in search of any living being, but there was nothing, apart from tiny insects. No birds, no animals, no humans.

Returning to the pathway, he followed it for approximately half an hour until the road ended with opened gates that were standing right in between two walls of trees. The huge construction had no defensive purpose, serving a single goal – to showcase the grand entrance. The long-worn flags with barely visible symbols, the faded golden paint with an addition of red, the thick logs as the base – everything screamed about the desire to show off. The central point of this monument of pride was a huge sign with the name of the place, written with surprisingly perfect calligraphy.

Righteous and Profound Sect of the Wide Firmament… Yep, I finally found cultivators… or, considering the state of the thing, the place where they used to live…

The surprise awaited him when Robert made the first step through the gate. The invisible but tangible pressure dropped on his shoulders, pulling him toward the ground. It seemed like gravity itself suddenly decided to change its strength on a whim. Returning, Rob felt how it disappeared without a trace, indicating that it was the area’s effect. He spent some time going back and forth to understand the mechanism behind the pressure but obviously failed. It seemed to work like a switch whenever he entered the sect's territory, not needing the old gate to activate. He couldn’t feel any energy, just the jump in gravity. However, by this point, Robert could only note the existence of the change, but his strength made it barely noticeable in other cases.

If they wanted to make an impression on their guests, they achieved it without any doubts.

Walking down the road, Robert expected more mouth-gaping things to see. However, he was met with disappointment… and decay. The long road in the same worn-out state brought him to the huge square with a giant statue in the middle. The latter was barely standing, crumbling into an unrecognizable condition of the previous prideful figure of the unknown master. Exposed to the wind and weather, it couldn’t survive the time. However, the similar but much smaller statutes that surrounded their bigger brother fared better. Approaching them, Robert found that their faces were partly erased, barely showing how they looked like when they were alive. However, at least he was sure that there was no dramatic difference in their appearance from ordinary humans.

I think this place was the main square for the meetings… or well-known tournaments… perhaps even open lectures were made here… who knows.

Looking around at the wide area, Rob noted several paved pathways, leading somewhere deeper inside the now-dead sect. There were a few tall buildings far away. Tall, with multiple eaves, those structures had the appearance of classic towers from Robert’s Earth Far East – pagodas. Having clear levels and being made from black stone and wood, they were decorated in the same manner as the front gate of the sect. Unfortunately, at this point all gloss had faded, leaving only quite old historical monuments of the past era. The reason for such belief was hard to miss, no matter how Robert tried to search for any other signs.

Hundreds, if not thousands, skeletons were everywhere. Dressed in the remnants of robes, they were lying chaotically, as if the sudden death caught them without warning. Some cultivators were sitting cross-legged on the mats, while others met their demise right in the middle of a walk. No one was spared from such a pitiful outcome, no matter the color of their robes or their distinguished designs. The latter was a clear indicator of the position, and thus the strength of the dead, according to Rob’s understanding. Still, it didn’t help at all.

The most intriguing part was the absence of any signs of violence on the skeletons, apart from the damage from time. No unnatural holes, no torn limbs. Robert even failed to find a single trace of teeth from hungry predators who could feed on corpses, pointing out the possibility that even the animals weren’t spared from this fate. The more he looked around, the more Rob understood that maybe only insects managed to survive the unknown cause. Otherwise, the place had no living beings.

Disease? Some kind of poison? Or something else?

Rob continued to make assumptions, trying to guess the reason, while walking around the wastelands that previously were a prosperous sect with a prideful name. Unfortunately, there was literally no one and nothing to answer his unspoken questions. There was no confirmation if he was correct or not, just the death, decay, and silence.

In the end, it’s what you wanted, Rob… and what can be the best possible place to meditate and calm your nerves if not the cultivator’s world? A perfect match…

Pausing in his tracks, Robert decided to confirm the last thing before diving into this new-to-him realm. Focusing on his inner self, he quickly found connections to the mighty beings that were fueling part of his reactor core. The fight between them had stopped long ago, but it still felt like a calm before the storm. He was sure that Aether and Hell, as Rob named the second addition to the AI-being, wouldn’t be satisfied with only half of him. However, he needed to clarify it to decide his next plans. Rob could read the local writings and had the energy support from both of his self-proclaimed supervisors… or slavers. The request for self-check was ignored as if they had a mutual agreement on limiting access to any information about each other. However, the wish to travel into a different realm led to an unexpected answer. Moreover, it was given simultaneously by both parties and had the same exact wording.

Until the situation with two contemporary links is resolved, you can’t travel anywhere from the current realm. Be warned that the decision to cut the link with one of the entities would lead to enmity with guaranteed consequences.

Okay, so I am here until I cut one of the links. Otherwise, I am stuck forever in a dead world that doesn’t even seem to be that big, has only insects, and is filled with corpses of cultivators… I will need to betray one of the potential deities, causing a sure retaliation and not a word about additional support from the chosen deity to counter it… As always, what a wonderful situation! But you know what morons – who told you that I need to decide? I am fucking a living metal! I won’t die from the age of hunger… So, let’s see whose patience is bigger!

Yep, that sounded stupid and arrogant. Whom am I kidding? I bet their patience is bigger… Fuck, I am still not going to give up. For now, let’s see what this realm can give me, apart from the opportunity to relax in peace and silence. I really do need it.