"Seems pretty straightforward to me," Mel said, appearing in front of me, walking backward on the main road.

Yeah, but I'm not going to forgive them for kidnapping me.

"Don't be so dramatic. Nobody got kidnapped. If anything they just slightly delayed you."

They woke me up from my nap!

Mel laughed in my head. "That is pretty evil. They should definitely face justice for such a terrible crime."

I was walking along the path toward the estate, only an hour after I had left the confrontation with the Farmers Guild and the village Elder. I had made it to the beginning of the forest, the roads were warded to keep beasts away but they were delicate, so I needed to keep the dialog internal so as to not upset the wards.

I walked at a steady, but subdued pace, giving me time to think and talk with Mel.

"Once you get the debrief from the old man, just head back here, grind out a bunch of levels, and save a village in the process. The Library has just barely started its integration and will take almost two weeks for the information to be fully stored without the need to manually go through them. But I skimmed over a few of the law books in here and as a nephew-yes, I know, but he is legally your Uncle on paper- of the honorary Duke, you have the honorary title of Marquess and are afforded the liberties of someone equal to your station. You could have a meeting with the Dukedom tomorrow if you requested it. Even sooner if you just went back to Trennel and asked him to take you directly to his grandfather."

I think I'll try to go through official channels. I don't want to give him the impression I want to use him to get to his family. Plus, that way there is more of a paper trail, which should make it slightly harder to cover up in the future. Hopefully a sustainable solution.

"Not before you get the experience and loot from clearing five dungeons in under three months." She noted, clearly excited about the latter.

No, not before that. I agreed as we continued the journey to the estate.

Eight hours passed by before I saw the corner of a hedge as tall as a house, leading off for over a mile parallel and perpendicular to the road. Continuing further, I found a pair of gates in a break in the hedge. It led off the main road down a private drive, so I followed my marker and pushed past the gate.

I didn't know what I had expected but what I saw wasn't it. To call the mansion massive was a huge misrepresentation of the building. It looked like a castle, equipped with battlements and the stereotypical towers. Leading up the drive the grounds were well manicured and there was a fountain that sat in the middle at the end of the circular drive.

The double doors opened and three women and a heavily aged man scurried out and bowed as I approached.

"Day, young sir. I am Lenox, the head butler for this estate. The Lord is in the library, he is expecting you, if you would kindly follow me please." The Lenox said, standing straight up. He appeared to be in his late sixties but carried himself with poise.

[Human]

"Lead the way." I nodded, waiting for him so I could follow. It seemed he was one of the Coreless, a quick glance at the others and it was true of all of them.

[Human]

[Elf]

[Elf]

Entering the foyer, I was greeted with a cavernous chamber, in which sat two wide staircases at opposite ends of the room, meeting at the same point on the second floor, where another set brought you to the third. Placed between them were several suits of different armor, hung on displays. Everything was a warm stained walnut and made the house more inviting than it appeared from the outside. To either side of the room, were colossal engraved iron doors sitting in ornate archways that led to separate wings of the mansion.

"The library is just through here, young sir." Lenox knocked once, then pulled it open to allow me inside.

I thanked him and entered. Taking in the room itself, it was a bit lackluster compared to what I would have expected. It was a simple two-story room with spiral staircases giving access to the next floor. The room matched what I had seen so far with stained wood giving a homey feel. Comfortable armchairs lay scattered throughout, along with several placed up against some of the walls. A large chandelier of draping crystals refracted light to illuminate the entire space evenly.

What made it lacking was the fact that most of the shelves were empty.

"You made it, fantastic. You're only a little later than expected, but that is fine, we shall move forward swiftly. Please take a seat, there are refreshments there on the table if you would like some after your trek. We have much to finally discuss, this room is warded and there is an alternating array that shifts between different types of warding schematics, very difficult to breach as it is constantly changing. We may now speak freely, and I believe I have some questions to answer, so have at it. Let's get it out of the way so we can move on to your schedule for the next twelve weeks." Osiph said, grabbing a teacup and a pastry off the platter, as we both sat down.

"The attacks?" I said, not hesitating. "Were all of them connected?"

"Yes."

"Will you tell me more?"

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"I don't think it's the right time for you to burden yourself with knowledge you can do nothing with."

"Is the Engrogeos Empire a faction of the multiverse? And did they bring those time arrays to carry out the attack, only to have the one I was in malfunction and catch them in it too?"

Osiph stared at me for a moment before smirking. "I keep forgetting to not underestimate your Intelligence. Yes, that is my summation as well. Not to go too far into it; they were looking for something on the planet and were trying to stay unnoticed. The one you were caught in, was disrupted and damaged preventing whatever mechanism they used to stay safe from the effects of the array to function, trapping them as well."

"What could we have had, that beings from the multiverse wanted so badly they would massacre a bunch of small cities."

"That is where it becomes more above your current pay grade. Just know they didn't succeed and they won't be attempting it again for now. That should at least put your mind to rest."

"Will I be able to do anything about it?" I asked, my voice not holding the strength I meant to project.

"Yes, there will be several avenues you will be able to explore once you leave this planet. I should mention that in the multiverse, many who have been enemies once, often find themselves aligning."

"What are you saying?"

"Just that forever is a long time to hold a grudge against those who have wronged you."

"Are you preaching forgiveness to me on behalf of the ones who attacked my family?" I said angrily.

"I don't really care one way or another. I'm just giving my perspective, and letting you in on a piece of information that some Gods still have not learned themselves."

I didn't respond. I was conflicted between heeding the wise words of an Ascendant and between my own emotions on the subject.

"Until then just focus on your training. You have a good plan with what you worked out with the locals but there is more that will need to be done and we need to start planning for that."

"Were you there the whole time?" I asked incredulously.

"No, but I have methods of keeping an eye on investments."

"Will my plan fit into your training program?"

"I am willing to work around it as honestly it is a wonderful idea and will put you slightly further than I had estimated previously. I would suggest not going it alone though, at least not until to get to Novice, especially not in the mother dungeon. It's not just that the bosses can be as high a full tier above the dungeon they occupy. It's the swarms of beasts that are at the dungeons tier, or below as they will come with numbers and can easily overrun entire battalions if caught unawares."

"I was thinking of that and the Farmers Protection Guild offered two of their group to join in the four branch dungeons but that they weren't going to risk their lives going in as a small group to the Journeyman dungeon. The dwarf, Isaac is a Journeyman, and Kira is barely Novice but already has a familiarity with scouting. I don't want too many Journeyman taking all the Experience, so I was considering Trennel. Since he is the only one in this region that I really know, or have spent any time with that would have any interest in going, and he is a mid-tier Novice. He mentioned some goals he wants to achieve, and I don't think he would pass up a great chance to earn some easy levels. I would prefer if you asked his grandfather and father to allow him to join."

"Right. Right. The long-range teleportation arrays. Interesting stuff. He is way ahead of his time. Those are commonplace elsewhere, but your planet doesn't have a high enough density of Mana to power such an array, even if you were to build it here. This is also the reason why once you ascend, the planet can no longer handle the burden of your presence and the System forces you to leave."

"The System?" I asked, confused.

"The system is what creates Grimoires as well as creates levels and your status screen, decides what loot to drop, what your stats are. It creates universes, and planets, as well as the inhabitants of those planets. Everything in the universe is made and run by the System. It maintains the cosmic balance."

"I thought the Gods were the ones that created Grimoires."

"I told you. All propaganda. Where do you think the Gods got their Cores? No, even the oldest amongst the Elder Pantheons were mortals when they began their journey. No one alive knows where it came from or how it works. Just that it does and always has. It is more apparent once you ascend, as you will start directly interacting with the System through quests and a number of other instances. For now, all you need to know is that you can not affect it, and it will remain mostly unseen from your perspective."

I didn't really know what to say to that right away. My whole life, we were taught the Gods bestowed the worthy with Cores. But if that wasn't the case, then what decided who received Grimoires or not?

"So the propaganda? It was to stop people from questioning why an all-knowing, unknown cosmic entity was bestowing powers. By telling us that it was a different set of all-knowing, unknown cosmic entities bestowing powers?" I asked, with a healthy mix of frustration and confusion.

"Don't look to me for answers into the minds of the leaders of this backwater pile of dirt, some people decided to call a planet. Honestly, you only have three new additions to the multiverse in the last dozen millennia. With you most likely being the next. It's quite pitiful." Quickly adding. "No offense to your home planet, boy. It's a quaint pile of dirt, at least."

Frowning, I set aside the jab about the entire planet and focused on what he had said directly after that.

"You think I will be able to ascend?"

"Without a doubt, if you follow my instructions and only deviate where you think you can only benefit, such as this dungeon situation. With my assistance, I can't see you seeing your twenty-fifth rotation celebration on this planet."

"My birthday? That's in less than ten years, that's impossible. It can take hundreds of years to get to Master and thousands to even break past nine hundred. The Elder Masters have been around since before most cities."

"It may take that long on this Mana-deprived rock maybe, but in other regions of the multiverse, such as my home planet. We don't have a need to ascend, there is more than enough Mana to sustain higher-ranked beings. Though it is unwise to leave your planet before peak Masters. There are countless like this, all interconnected but you will have an introductory history of the multiverse once you hit Level 900. Until then it's not important. What is important is that it won't be easy, it's going to take sweat, tears, and probably gallons of your blood. I see you got the Self-cleaning and Self-repair enchantments, very wise." He chuckled to himself.

"So if my planet is so Mana starved, how am I going to get to where I need to be in ten years?"

"With help of course, and many dead creatures. The problem is, the beasts that were strong enough to offer enough experience to those who needed it to make the final push, were all hunted to extinction by your ancestor's forefathers, for their own Ascension. There are ways around it. None of them pleasant, but as I said, if you take my guidance and do not question my judgment you will make it just fine."

"Why me?" I asked, thinking through the ramifications of what he was explaining. You could only have your mind blown so many times in a row before it had diminishing returns. "If you can bring me that far in ten years why just me? Why not give these secrets to the masses and allow them to join the multiverse like the other planets?"

"I want you to understand something before I answer that. I do not lie. As a seeker and protector of knowledge, it is against what I strive for, to lie. Even through omission. Thus I will often deny answering or advise against pursuing certain topics. But I will give you a choice of three answers to your question. Do you want the political explanation, the sensible one, or my own personal reasoning?"

"All three," I said, not hesitating.

Osiph laughed, grinning fiercely at me. "A very good answer, most do not think that is even an option. Very well."