Rhys felt like his entire body disintegrated, but somehow his consciousness was still active. Occasionally, he heard a mechanical sound, but he was in too much discomfort to pay any attention. Rhys remembered theories about a wormhole being a sphere than a two-dimensional hole; he just witnessed a long-standing scientific theory. However, he didn't have the luxury to be amazed at the moment. He also remembered hearing about how a wormhole could take you to a different time and space from one dimension to another if stabilized. Rhys just hoped that he was in a stable wormhole, or else he knew that he'll die a dog's death.
Traveling through wormholes isn't something a body tempering realm cultivator could attempt. They cannot travel through wormholes naturally; it would make your body disintegrate into nothingness. Therefore, a wormhole uses the Eternal pendant to facilitate traveling through a wormhole in the form of energy. Furthermore, Alissa has firm control over the entire process. Hence, Rhys didn't need to worry about his safety for now.
Rhys felt like time slowed down in the wormhole, the laws of the time were constantly distorting. It felt like an eternity has passed since the pendant shattered. Rhys couldn't feel his body or see anything, and it was extremely unsettling to travel in the form of energy.
Generally, strong celestials can neglect the effect of time while traveling through wormholes. However, they have already transcended the elementary laws of space and time. Rhys could have avoided this hassle if the outdated pendant had gone through maintenance.
Rhys was traveling to Eternal A – 7710 in the August system. Therefore, the entire journey shouldn't take more than a hundred years...
After an extremely long time, Rhys felt his body responding to his neural commands. He felt like he was becoming a whole entity again. Rhys is going through an energy reversal; his form of energy is slowly converting back to flesh and blood. At last, Rhys felt like a human again.
Suddenly, Rhys sensed that he was floating, and he lost control of his body. This abrupt change made him feel extremely uncomfortable. After a few seconds, he landed on solid flooring; he felt nostalgic after being able to touch something. Rhys still felt dizzy and uncomfortable all over his body, and he slowly opened his eyes.
The first thing Rhys saw after opening his eyes was a beautiful woman with long golden hair and pointy ears. The next second…
Blergh
Rhys released all his pent-up discomfort, dizziness, and shock in the form of vomit. Before passing out, he saw the beautiful woman's dress full of his vomit, and he remembered something the mechanical voice said while traveling in the wormhole.
"If it is your first cosmic travel, please don't vomit on the spaceship…"
For some reason, Rhys felt like crying…
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'Hmmm, why do I feel so comfortable suddenly.'
Rhys felt like his body was relaxed and nourished thoroughly without any of the previous discomforts. He missed this sensation during his vomit-inducing adventures.
After moaning and rolling around the bed in comfort, Rhys slowly opened his eyes. For some reason, he felt relieved after not seeing the golden-haired woman from earlier.
'It should have been a dream,' Rhys thought with slight relief. He couldn't imagine how awkward it would have been if he met her again.
Rhys slowly observed his surroundings. He was in a very modernized chamber filled with unknown devices.
"Hello, Merchant 7777. The Major is awaiting your presence in the conference room."
Rhys got startled by the sudden mechanical voice. As he looked towards the door, he saw a beautiful woman in a maid's outfit looking at him with a blank look in her eyes. Rhys couldn't see any emotions or life in her eyes.
'It must be an android,' Rhys thought.
After going through the wormhole, Rhys started slowly accepting things around him.
"Wait, what is Merchant 7777? Who is the Major?" Rhys asked.
"Your code name is Merchant 7777 as per the Eternal database. As for the Major, she is the highest-ranking officer in the August system branch," the android replied without a sliver of emotions.
"What Eternal database? What Major? What August system?"
Rhys was extremely confused by the current situation. Even someone like Rhys, emotionally tough, and very mature for his age, felt anxious in this situation.
"You don't need to worry. The Major will explain everything."
For some reason, Rhys had an ominous feeling whenever the android mentioned the Major.
Since he was a kid, Rhys had unusual instincts. They saved him from many things when he was a child. In middle school, the school belle asked to meet him after school to propose. But, Rhys stayed away from everyone since he was a kid, and he wasn't interested in dating. Rhys managed to avoid the encounter because of his instincts warning him about it. However, Rhys remembered everyone looking at him strangely the next day for not meeting the school belle. It was after many years that he realized people seemed to have misjudged his sexuality, including his grandfather. He had to explain to his grandfather when his grandfather started encouraging him to come out publicly, and it was extremely awkward.
'Wait, what if the Major is that golden…'
Rhys shuddered when he thought of this scenario.
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Rhys slowly followed the android.
A gigantic city with machines working without pause was visible through the transparent windows of the palace. Everything happening outside surpassed his world outlook. From time to time, some strange species appeared in his field of vision. Everything he witnessed was out of his realm of comprehension.
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It was only then that Rhys realized in the past few days (not including the time passed in the wormhole) he expressed more emotions than his entire life.
After a long walk, they reached the conference room door with two guards by the side. The two guards had dark skin and two wings on their backs. They looked fearsome and had an imposing presence around them.
As a student of a major academy of thought, Rhys encountered several cultivators in his life. He met numerous body tempering realm cultivators regularly, foundation building realm seniors with 2 or 3 pillars, and mortal shedding realm teachers. Yet, they wouldn't come close to these two guards.
As Rhys was approaching, the door started opening automatically.
When Rhys was passing by the two guards, he felt like the two guards were looking at him weirdly.
'It's probably a misconception.'
Rhys slowly walked inside the conference room. Just as he walked in, he saw two people sitting on the conference table.
First, he looked at the man with dark skin and two wings on his back like the guards outside. The man appeared to have a contorted smile on his face while looking at Rhys. Rhys felt like he was in some kind of discomfort.
On the other side, Rhys saw a petite girl with two horns on her head.
'She is so cute.'
However, Rhys could feel flames coming out of her eyes while looking at him.
'Crap. How did I make this bigshot mad?' Rhys thought anxiously.
Soon, he turned towards the end of the conference table. Rhys couldn't see anything as it was completely dark in that area. He felt like the light thoroughly disappeared.
Slowly, the darkness started dissipating, and finally, Rhys saw a beautiful woman with golden hair and pointed ears with an emotionless face.
Rhys turned rigid for a couple of seconds.
"Hello, how are you doing?" Rhys asked awkwardly, trying to diffuse the tense situation.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, I can't hold it in any longer. HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!" Bacu started rolling on the floor and laughing.
Rhys finally understood why the man felt uncomfortable earlier on. He started cursing him in his mind.
"You mongrel. How dare you vomit on our Major? If you were not a merchant, I would have fed you to the ratfolk in Fiziks," Renzi shouted with rage.
"Shut up, Bacu!" Renzi added with irritation.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, I can't stop. HAHAHAHAHA!" Bacu continued laughing.
"Bacu, you seem very excited. Your body seems to have lost some strength because of inaction in the past decade. Let me help you with that a little," Chalia finally spoke emotionlessly.
Bacu stopped laughing abruptly.
"No, Major, I am sorry. My body is fine..."
BOOM
Bacu flew across the room in a blink of an eye. Rhys didn't even see a blur when the Major attacked.
Suddenly, Rhys felt goosebumps all over his body. He slowly looked towards the Major in the main seat.
"Hmmm, at least you seem to have good instincts. I heard that you are a Zar'Goth native, then why are you not human?" Chalia asked.
Rhys was caught off guard by the question.
"You seem to have mistaken; I am human," Rhys said carefully.
"Hmph, are you questioning my judgment? I have seen humans in my life, but you are not one of them. With my cultivation, you can't hide anything," Chalia replied with annoyance.
Rhys was dumbstruck. After thinking carefully about his origins and his life, he was half-convinced by the Major's words.
"Then, do you know what I am? And why do I look like a human?" Rhys asked anxiously.
"I don't know what you are. I haven't seen one of you in my entire life," Chalia replied nonchalantly.
"However, I am very young. There are a lot of things that I didn't see," Chalia added.
"Major, you aren't that young. You are…"
BOOM
Before Bacu could continue, Chalia sent him flying with another punch.
"As for why you look like a human? There are many ethnicities and races across the universe. All of us here belong to the humanoid races. All the humanoid races have a similar body outline except for some differences. Moreover, some races don't manifest their complete form until they advance in their cultivation, or some strong cultivator might have changed your body structure. The cosmos are vast, and one lifetime isn't enough for us to experience its wonders and mysteries," Chalia continued.
"I understand. Thank you for explaining."
Rhys was grateful that he finally got a clue about his origins and his parents.
"Alright. Now let's talk about the important things, do you know why you are here?" Chalia asked.
"I don't know. Some weird pendant my parents left behind shattered on my 18th birthday, and I got transported here. After that, you were the first person I saw after opening my eyes and then…"
"Stop it. Don't remind me of that shameful thing again. You are now officially a part of the Eternal merchant organization. In a nutshell, we are businessmen; we sell whatever people want for a price. I don't know where your parents got that pendant from, but the galactic command appointed you the new Eternal merchant for Zar'Goth," Charia replied impatiently. She still looked a bit annoyed by what happened earlier. After all, she was excited to welcome a new merchant to their branch, but the first thing he did was to vomit on her.
"Eh, Eternal merchants? Zar'Goth's merchant?" Rhys was dumbfounded. He was extremely confused by everything the Major said.
"Stop acting like an idiot. Just remember that you are a merchant and you will handle a client according to his needs. As for the rest, don't concern yourself with it," Chalia said impassively.
Rhys was overwhelmed by everything happening around him. Yet, after everything he has seen the past few days (not including the wormhole travel), his mentality started changing accordingly.
"Hmmm, is there any remuneration?" Rhys asked carefully.
"Hmph. Of course, there is remuneration. First, you have a basic salary of 10 energy stones every month. Remember, this is one of the purest energies in the universe, not like the prana in your planet. Secondly, you have access to all the treasures, cultivation methods, pills, artifacts in the Eternal merchant organization's storage at a discount. Thirdly, whenever you complete a trade, you will get a bonus in the form of credits. You can exchange these credits to enter special cultivation sanctums or other things to improve your cultivation. Finally, you have the Eternal domain's protection!"
Chalia added the last part with arrogance. Nonetheless, no one would blame her; the Eternal domain isn't something anyone can offend.
Rhys was in a daze listening to Chalia's words. He didn't know how to react. However, for some reason, he felt strangely excited.
'This looks interesting,' Rhys thought with a smile on his face.
Chalia was looking at him strangely.
'Did he lose his mind after all the shocks.'
"You don't need to worry. We don't have any ulterior motives. Moreover, you are too weak for us to want something from you," Chalia consoled.
Rhys felt better when he heard the first half of her sentence. However, the rest of her reasoning dumbfounded Rhys.
'Crap. I was also considered a genius at the academy.'
Nevertheless, he knew that he was nothing compared to everyone he saw today. He can only blame himself for being too weak.
"Alright, now that the introductions are over. Let me ask you, are you willing to become an Eternal merchant? Are you willing to forgo all past allegiances and work impartially as a merchant? Are you willing to make money, explore and unravel the countless mysteries of the cosmos?" Chalia asked with unprecedented dignity.
Rhys already knew the answer in his heart. He knew that this was the key to uncover his origins and his parents. For the first time in his life, Rhys was excited about doing something.
"Yes, I pledge my allegiance to the Eternal domain," Rhys declared solemnly.
Finally, Rhys took his first step in his journey of the cosmos.
"Very well. I am Chalia Naeris, the Eternal major of the August system branch. A descendant of the Naeris elven family of the Eternal domain," Chalia said with pride.
"Hmph. Even though I don't like you, I hope you can make some money for us. I am Renzi Xarthras, the Eternal captain of the August system branch and the head of internal affairs. A descendant of the Xarthras chaos demon family of the Eternal domain," Renzi continued with a hint of pride.
"Haha, welcome newbie. I like you; you can ask me anything you need. I am Bacu, the Eternal captain of the August system branch and the head of external affairs. A dark sylph from the Saniil galaxy," Bacu replied. He didn't mention his family name, and his voice turned cold when he mentioned his home galaxy.
"Welcome to the Eternal merchant organization, Rhys Adler!"