In one of the adjacent universes to Earth’s universe, an unassuming girl stood in a line for a teleportation gate into the neighboring universes. The gate was located on one of the many municipal planets that made up the central core of its habitable zone, and the planet was entirely covered with soaring skyscrapers and various other hallmarks of advanced civilizations. Despite all of this advancement however, the girl was unsatisfied with what she was seeing.

There was a far higher reliance on mana than there should have been, prompted by the idiotic fear of the System of the benefits of true high technology. She was incredibly out of place, and most of the people in the line were battle hardened mercenaries, or powerful noble scions looking for a bit of adventure at the expense of those that could not hope to defeat them. They were all going on a journey to plunder the newly initialized universe. However, the girl was there for something else.

She was actually the host of one of the many AIs of the Prophets of the Machine God, and her slight body contained far more power than it should have, given her low level. She had been sent here in order to find out what had happened to the wayward agent of the Prophets, Andrew Munro. Her power was soon called to task as she ran into some trouble with a few of the more unsavory members of a nearby mercenary group, also waiting in line. It was soon shown as one of the brutes tried to make an untoward gesture towards her.

The AI was not savvy in the ways of organic communication, but it knew enough to know that it was being mocked. The girl ignored the taunt, not wanting to cause a scene, but as the man started to become violent, she thrust out her hand, and sent the man flying off the side of the floating walkway that they were on into the city far below. The platform was a few thousand feet up, which was enough for a body to reach terminal velocity. However, the man had been an F Ranker. He would be fine, but he would be walking away with a few broken bones.

After that, nobody paid the girl much heed, too scared to do much. The AI stopped paying attention to the slice of life around them, and instead ruminated on their goal. The situation within the universe of Earth was growing more dire as time went on, and the AI had lost all track of Andrew Munro’s mental presence, meaning that he had managed to get rid of the AI inhabiting him. However, he couldn’t have gone far, as he had not purchased any sort of ship before the AI had left, and there was no reason for him to do so anyway.

Besides, even if he was gone, the AI could still track him by his nanites, which were a gift from the Prophets. Even now, it could still feel their presence within the universe, but only very faintly. The Prophets used a form of quantum entanglement technology to transmit messages between universes, and as a result, distance was no impediment to their tracking abilities.

So lost was the AI in their search for a signal, that they didn't even notice that they were standing at the front of the line. As one of the guards cleared their throat, the AI pulled out a small pouch of condensed essence crystals, the payment method of choice in this sector of the universe. The guards took it, and the gate behind them blossomed into light, revealing a small blue planet, covered in blue oceans and green landmasses.

In the background, a sun, pitifully weak compared to the many suns of the worlds that the AI had visited, shone. There were a few things amiss, like a long scar that stretched across a segment of one of the northern continents, and a crater that was visible even from here, but other than that, it was a beautiful place, made more so by its innocence on a Multiversal scale.

This was Earth, the site of so much intrigue and speculation within the newly initialized universe.It wasn't even the newest universe anymore, but people still talked in hushed whispers about the great figures among the universe’s fighters, such as the likes of Sam Atlas, and the Overlord.

“Have fun in there, girly,” one of the guards said in a rough accent. He was a large man, of some amphibious race, and his voice was slightly distorted by his prominent gills. “I’ve been told that some of these Earthlings are to be watched out for.”

“I am quite capable of taking care of myself,” the AI said, rather stiffly, before stepping into the portal. As the transportation device whisked it away, the AI made its host smile. It was time to bring a wayward lamb back into the fold.

On the B Rank Planet Arctos

Tantalos Veruvax smiled as he beheld the lengths that his subjects were going to to survive against the encroachments of the System. The man was sitting in his grand throne room, the seat of his power. The room was hundreds of miles wide, but to a being like him, it felt quite small indeed. He could have crossed the room millions of times within the span of a single second, without even breaking a sweat.

Of course, he could not actually sweat, not anymore, but such an exertion would have barely removed a single stamina point. The throne that he was sitting on was a mile high at its tallest point, and was made out of pure mithril, a testament to his wealth and power. It was both a sign of luxury, and something that could stand up to the destruction of an entire solar system without suffering a single scratch.

He relaxed as he felt the energy of the planet’s core fill him up with power through a small conduit that was embedded in the back of his spine. A B Rank planet was utterly immense, and would be comparable to a small galaxy in size.

The gravity was regulated by the efforts of Tantalos’ most powerful subordinates, ensuring that he would be able to relax when he came here. He rarely came to this planet, and only visited when he was in a good mood. It was the crown jewel of his conquests, and it stood as a monument to all he had done.

It was located in the very first universe that he had conquered, his own one. It reminded him of his humble origins as a local ruler, back when a distance of a few thousands miles seemed like quite a considerable journey. The planet was made up of the remains of each universe that he had devoured, and was still growing in size.

Its core was made up of his home planet, which had since undergone a pressure and heat fuelled apotheosis into a massive sphere of pure energy. Eventually, it would rank up, after Tantalos himself had reached the next rank too.

He watched through a small screen as his favorite playthings fought and died within the bounds of their universe, for his pleasure. His most favored toy however was proving to be quite a worthwhile investment, and was now embarking upon a trip to gain even more power than before. Sam Atlas had such incredible potential that it was almost a waste to kill him after this was all over. However, at this rate, the man might become a threat to Tantalos if left to survive, and that would not be very wise of Tantalos to let him do so.

In addition, his Dao path would not allow him to serve under Tantalos, as he was attuned to the concept of Justice. Tantalos liked to think of himself as a just man, but he knew that his actions would be considered evil by most people. Such was the simple stupidity of the chattel that made up most of the Multiverse’s population however. They had no idea of the grandness and importance of the most powerful cultivators. Cultivators like Tantalos.

Besides, the amount of power that Sam would have at the end of his universe would be enough to boost Tantalos more than if the man had been of the weaker sort. Given his current rate of growth, Tantalos would not be surprised if he hit the early D Ranks by the end of his hundred year allotment within his universe. That was quite impressive, as most people took millenia to do so, but being part of a System initialization had benefits.

Most universes within the Multiverse were incredibly crowded, the result of a society in which most people lived for hundreds of years, if not longer. They still reproduced at the normal rate, which meant that universes had little to no available monster populations to serve as essence. The only way for most people to level up was through war, which was all too common within the Multiverse.

Killing other sapient beings, while distasteful to some, was quite a good way of gaining power, and the only downside was that it was much more dangerous than fighting beasts.

Tantalos drummed his fingers on the side of his chair as he watched with eager eyes what was happening to the faction headquarter of Sam Atlas’ faction after he left. It was an interesting decision, to place an out of universe former faction leader as the interim leader of his faction, but from what Tantalos could tell, Talnor Manthrox seemed to be quite good at his job. However, he would be consumed with all of the rest of them if he stayed within that universe.

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Tantalos switched off his attention towards the universe, a necessity at the amount of power that he was at, and limited his perception to only the room around himself. At his level, almost everything within a huge radius of himself, was relayed directly to his brain by his enhanced senses, no matter if he wanted to sense it or not. As a result, he had been forced to learn how to regulate his senses in order to cope. However, before doing this, he opened a conduit to his chosen agent within the universe. The herpetopede, Rax. This was the time to start gaining insight into the faction in Sam’s absence, and the herpetopede, who was nothing more than a puppet of Tantalos when he exerted his will, was integral to that plan.

Back on Earth

Denvar Sakarthi, agent of the Minorian Sect, watched as Reaper tinkered away with the mound of bones that he had been provided with. He was a slight man, of a vaguely humanoid species that was more in tune with the beasts of the land than with other humanoid races. He was heavily furred, and his hands were tipped with sharp claws. He was able to conceal his appearance when necessary, as he was powerful enough to do so, but when he was alone, he liked to luxuriate in his heritage, of a proud clan of his people that had long ago been subsumed into the Minorian Sect. Legend had it that his people used to have light fur, but millennia of servitude to the darkest of masters had turned it black.

In any case, Denvar hardly cared. He embraced his role within the Minorian Sect fully. At a certain point on the path to power, one realized that their own goals were all that mattered, and everyone else was simply a tool to use to get them. Denvar was an E Ranker, and the only reason that he had been allowed into this universe was because of an oath that he had made not to directly interfere with any of the inhabitants. His only job here was to protect Reaper and safeguard the interests of his faction.

Thus far, his job had been incredibly boring. None of the people here were powerful enough to even be interesting to him, and other than watching over his charge, he had nothing else to do here. He leaned backwards, as he watched over Reaper, sure that nothing would happen to the man if he let go of his vigilance for a single moment. In any case, even if he wasn't paying attention, his senses were sharp enough to keep track of Reaper no matter what, even if he was sleeping. Not that he slept anymore of course, as an E Ranker, but even if he had to, he would have still been able to track Reaper.

Besides, nobody else knew where the two of them were, and it wasn’t like Reaper was likely to escape. No, Denvar was doing the work of his faction here, and the Minorian Sect would be proud of his efforts. If he managed to safeguard the man who would turn into a rising star among the faction for long enough, then he might even gain a promotion. He was only a low E Ranker, but he had ambitions of far more, and he knew that those ambitions would be almost impossible to realize.

His communicator device buzzed lighty on his wrist, and he sighed, clicking on the screen to let the call through. He already knew who it was.

“Ah, Denvar,” the voice of Baltus Agranor said, coming through the screen.

Denvar hated his boss with a passion, and such feelings were not uncommon among the members of the Minorian Sect. Back when he had just been an initiate into the sect, Baltus had tormented him constantly, making his life a living hell. Even now, when the two men were far apart, Baltus still managed to annoy him. Such measures were put in place by the higher ups in the faction in order to support infighting, which they claimed was the best way to hone the power of a faction, by letting the weak die and the strong claim their spots. Denvar was plotting to overthrow Baltus one day, and take his spot as his own. For now however, he had to play the dutiful servant.

“Yes, Elder Agranor?” Denvar replied, hating how weak and wheedling his voice sounded in the moment.

“How is our charge? Has he been doing what he is supposed to?”

“The man who calls himself Reaper has been tirelessly experimenting with his bones, and is coming closer and closer to the path that you have approved for him. In a few weeks, or maybe a month, he will be ready for our plans.”

“Our plans?” Baltus scoffed. “You are lucky that I am not with you right now, Denvar. Such insolence is unbecoming.”

The man waited, the pause telling Denvar what he was supposed to do. Denver growled, at a low enough volume that Baltus could not hear it. He started to punch himself in full view of the camera, causing Baltus to smile. Only when blood ran down his face did he stop. He hated that bastard with all of his passion, and as he punched himself, he cursed his name to the Creator Kings themselves. The only thing keeping him from snapping was the thought of revenge.

As he did this, the message cut off, and Denvar fumed, his rage leaking out of him and melting the nearby rocks. The ground turned to molten slag within a few milliseconds, and only when the heat reached him did he notice what was going on. Upon realizing that he was still near Reaper, he got ahold of himself. If he had harmed the boy, his head would have been forfeit. Baltus Agranor did not tolerate failure.

The rage of an E Ranker was not a trifling force, and he possessed the power to destroy entire cities with his attacks. Even his mere aura pressure could take out a small hill. Denvar sat back and began to meditate on his Dao, in order to clear his head. Reaper would sort himself out. For now, he had peace.

Near a realspace Adventurers’ Guild headquarters

A number of august personages, all the leaders of the various branches of the Guild within this universal sector, met for the first time in millions of years. They had all held their posts for longer than mortal memory, and were powerful beyond belief. Their combined strength created a well in reality around them, which seemed to hide the area of space that they were in from the outside, looking as if it was a black hole.

Most of their business was handled within the Interweb, but this occasion was too momentous to ignore. The shadowy leader of the guild had taken an interest in the man who had snubbed their offers, Sam Atlas. None of them were even sure how the leader had gotten wind of such a trifling piece of information, but their reach was vast, and their power immense.

The leader was the only A Ranker within the entire guild, and a strong one at that. When they called out an order, everyone snapped to attention.

Fifteen powerful beings sat in a circle around an ornate table, waiting for one of them to speak first. They were sitting on the surface of a star, a fitting place for such conversations, as it rendered most forms of espionage impossible, at least for those who were weak enough to escape the notice of the Guild elders.

The star was part of a solar system that housed many of the higher up staff within the Guild structure and some of the higher ranking adventurers themselves. The universe that this was located in was quite close to the Multiversal core, and it was a powerful universe indeed. In short, it was a fitting palace for such a meeting of titans. Finally, the silence was broken.

“Has there been any word of Sam Atlas since the conversation in the Interweb?” A stocky red skinned humanoid said, his voice deep.

“As far as we can tell, all he has been up to is simple initialization activities, and nothing out of the ordinary. He has distinguished himself even more within that time however, defeating someone who was fifty levels higher than himself,” one of the elders who was in charge of the cluster that contained Sam’s universe said.

“Even more reason to forcibly take him from the clutches of that bastard Veruvax!” Another one fumed.

“Perhaps, Andus, perhaps. However, the peace of the Multiverse is hanging on a thread, especially in these days, and a war against someone like Tantalos Veruvax would possibly spark something. That man has allies everywhere, people who approve of his heinous deeds. Do you really want another Age of Blood?” Another one of the elders said, her voice stern. Abashed, Andus sunk back into his chair, the fiery fervor now gone. “Anyway. Does anyone have some less violent solutions?” The woman continued, looking towards the rest of the people gathered there.

“What I don't understand is why the guild leader is so interested in a mere ant from some new universe. Sure, he’s powerful for his level, but across the entire Multiverse, such prodigies are common,” the red skinned man said, tilting his head slightly.

“It is not our place to question the guild leader. They are nigh omniscient. They know everything that goes on within the universes under their purview, and they tell us what is our place to know,” a pale skinned man replied, in a light voice.

His voice was filled with displeasure of the questioning of the leader of the guild, a sacrilege in a world where power was everything, and the most powerful were gods. The man who had spoken so rashly nodded, embarrassed by his question, and did not speak again. One never knew when an A Ranker was watching.

Their spheres of influence crossed the space between universes, and their perceptions extended even further. There was a reason that there were so few of their number in existence, as they did not tolerate each other’s influence lightly. It took a lot of power to force an A Ranker to do anything, and only the peacekeeping efforts of the Creator Kings could prevent a simple slight from turning into a universe destroying brawl.

The mere mention of his name caused the others to fall quiet, and they sat there for a few minutes, too fearful to speak. It wasn’t that the leader of the guild was a tyrant, per se, but any being of that level of power was feared, whether they had a right to be or not. Eventually, someone worked up the courage to speak again, and they continued their discussion.

“We should send an agent into the new universe. Try to manipulate events a bit. I have sources that tell me that a lot of other factions are ensuing the same thing in order to get a foothold into the place,” someone who had not spoken before said.

‘Yes, but who? Anyone who is unknown to the people there would just cause trouble. We need someone that would be able to infiltrate the new universe. Someone who is preferably already known to the inhabitants,” a spindly legged alien said, crossing the four sets of arms over their chest.

“How about the man who completed Sam Atlas’ initialization test? Garn Sankath? He is under my purview after all, and I can send him to investigate,” the same elder who had spoken on Sam’s potential earlier added.

She snapped her fingers, and a picture of Garn showed up, along with a list of his skills and abilities. One by one, the other elders nodded in agreement of her choice. Smiling, the elder pressed a button, and contacted Garn, with news of his new assignment. Sam Atlas would be theirs, no matter what.