Jake had been looking forward to this day for several months, and now it was finally here. Granted, it was only called a beta test, but Jake still chose to remain excited. He had played enough video games before the system to know that calling something a beta test was just another term for a demo and to convince people to pre-order the product.

It turns out that wasn’t the kind of beta Arnold was talking about… the guy actually used the term correctly, as when Jake arrived at the teleportation circle, it clearly wasn’t fully ready yet. In the room with the teleporter, Jake found Arnold on what looked like a large terminal with wires of mana connected to the teleportation circle, with William writing something on one of the walls in deep concentration and a shrunk-down Sandy chilling in the corner, seemingly asleep, contributing nothing.

”So… how are things progressing? Does the circle work now?” Jake said as he walked in, Arnold not even turning to look at him.

”We completed all the milestones of alpha-testing after a period of twenty-six days and have now entered beta-testing. The teleportation circle now successfully taps into the power inherent in the Prima Vessel, using the star map and our own relative calculations of coordinates of every target planet based on this map. This is further corrected using a scan for mana signatures correspondent with Prima Vessel teleporters to accurately estimate the final teleportation destination,” Arnold briefly explained, Jake nodding along as he glanced at William.

”I noticed no mention of any karmic magic involved,” Jake commented.

”That is part of the elements we are working to implement in the first phases of the beta testing,” Arnold answered, with William still deeply focused on… something. ”It is intended that we will be able to get a general scan of what will be found on each planet to supplement what is provided by the Prima Vessel. More accurately, a method of knowing if notable figures are there that are either best avoided… or pursued. Additionally, karmic considerations are part of the calculations, but due to my own lack of knowledge on the subject, I cannot make effective use of the karmic mage’s knowledge.”

Jake raised an eyebrow, as honestly, the way they wanted to use karmic magic did sound kind of neat. It also didn’t escape Jake how Arnold clearly stood up for William, even raising his gaze from the terminal and giving Jake a look that told him to back off. Jake also instantly realized why.

William was part of the project.

Arnold was the project leader.

Arnold was a good boss who wouldn’t allow his project members to be thrown under the bus.

Jake took the hint and changed the subject as he kept asking about the teleporter: ”What is left to be ironed out before you would say the teleporter is complete?”

”The most substantive challenges right now are the power consumption and relative inaccuracy of every teleport. We are working over long distances with many concepts and factors at play that may disrupt our calculations,” Arnold continued. ”The more entities are teleported, the more inaccurate it will also be. We have done a few tests already with objects or captured low-intelligence beasts with trackers on them, and the results are both encouraging and troubling.”

”How so?” Jake asked, hoping the problems weren’t too bad.

”Let me first clarify that the power of those we teleport only affects energy consumption and not the inaccuracy. During some of our first tests, as we honed in the accuracy of the teleporter with single-entity tests, the outlook was positive. However, the moment we tried to teleport two at once, things proved difficult,” Arnold began as he looked a bit exhausted just talking about it. ”Every subsequent entity added to the teleportation exponentially increases the energy consumption and the inaccuracy. When we teleported two, they appeared five days of Sandy’s full flight speed within subspace from the planet. Three entities were over a month’s worth of travel distance away, four over a year, and with five entities, they appeared too close to the local star to even get any proper readings, indicating a travel distance of more than twenty years if we are conservative. These are just rough estimates, but I hope this clarifies my meaning.”

”It does… how about teleporting several entities one after another instead of all at once?” Jake asked, though he probably didn’t have to as Arnold would have, of course, considered that. Which he had.

”The circle takes time to cool down after each teleport, built in as a safety mechanism. Additionally, as we weaken the immediate void membrane around the circle with every activation, we need to give it time to fully restore lest we want to risk ruining our work entirely. Plus, unless everything is stable, the inaccuracy only increases,” Arnold answered.

”Just out of curiosity, what would happen if we break this void membrane?” Jake asked curiously, as he was interested to know what an actual void user would think happened.

”We wouldn’t be able to, so it’s a moot point, but if you are speaking from a purely theoretical standpoint, we would temporarily open a hole to the void and, without the ability to stabilize this gateway, likely end up consuming most of the Milky Way Galaxy before the natural laws of the universe naturally fix the hole,” Arnold answered casually.

Jake nodded as Arnold’s answer was in line with what Jake had read. The void membrane was just another term for the wall between the universes and the void, and the only ones capable of breaking it open were people with the power of gods. The thought that gods could poke holes in reality that consumed galaxies was a bit of a scary thought, but considering the feat some gods had in history, not even anything worth noting.

”How long do you think this beta testing will last?” Jake asked, having looked forward to teleporting to other places in the galaxy. However, it seemed like he would have to wait a bit longer. At least that’s what he thought… having yet to realize he was their beta tester.

”That’s why I asked for you,” Arnold said, keeping his usual tone. ”This beta test will not be as short as the alpha testing, and I cannot make any gaurantees we will even finish everything before the Prima Guardian system event has concluded, if ever. However, that does not mean it isn’t useable. Single-entity teleportation is already stable and accurate enough that I have full confidence in its ability to teleport you or any other singular person within a short distance of any target planet in the database. The reason why I believe you are the best subject is because we have no method to return the one teleported. It is possible the teleporter within the Prima Vessel can be used, or the local population that remains can offer assistance, but your ring remains the most consistent method available to ensure the return is possible. Even if that should fail, you are the Chosen of a Primordial, and I’m certain the Malefic One would gladly assist you should you find yourself lost in space.”

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In summary, Arnold believed the teleportation circle was good enough to work decently, and Jake was the only one who was a World Leader and could teleport home by himself. Oh, and should the accident be out and he couldn’t, his sugar daddy Patron could always bail him out.

It was a bit insulting, but it wasn’t like Arnold was wrong, and Villy would definitely laugh his ass off if he had to save a Jake floating about in the middle of fuck-all nowhere.

”Alright, I guess I’ll be your beta tester,” Jake agreed without any fight or arguments. ”Now, I assume this works on the red-flag planets, right? Does it also work on the gray ones?”

”It works on every planet with a Prima Vessel on it,” Arnold answered. ”That includes the three marked black. While they may be designated as destroyed, there are still Prima Vessels on them.”

Jake was pleasantly surprised that he could pick any planet, as that was just what he had hoped for. Thinking about it, these Prima Vessels were all incredibly durable, so they shouldn’t be destroyed by C-grades fighting. Secondly, it wasn’t like the planets that were marked with a black flag had all just exploded. They were still there, even if they were no longer considered actual planets.

”One more note before you go. We were forced to ensure anyone teleported would appear outside the planet’s atmosphere. Those we tried to teleport inside any atmosphere found themselves destroyed as they teleported through the atmospheric layers, so you will have to find your own way through. I’m certain you can handle it,” Arnold explained, which was probably another reason they had picked Jake for this thing.

”I’ll get through the atmosphere somehow. I have a few ideas. Now, do you have any particular place in mind you want me to go?” Jake asked Arnold. It was his teleporter, so it was only nice to ask.

”I don’t. You are free to choose yourself,” Arnold said as he pressed a few buttons, and a screen was projected onto the wall. Jake instantly recognized it as identical to the one in the Prima Vessel, making Jake believe Arnold had just restreamed it.

Having an open choice for where to go, Jake considered his options. Going to a blue planet was quickly written off. He could go to those without this teleporter, and those he couldn’t were part of Ell’Hakan’s alliance, and he saw no reason to head there.

Red ones were the most obvious choice. They were the ones where he had the highest probability of saving the most people while knowing there was a Prima Guardian there. It was also possible planets marked with a gray flag still had Prima Guardians alive, and there were likely people to save there, too, so those two options were kind of close.

However, ultimately, Jake didn’t want to head to any of these. Instead, he looked at Arnold as he pointed toward a certain planet:

The homeworld of ”I” and the first planet to get marked with a black flag.

Arnold looked at the one Jake had selected and nodded. ”I understand. Trying to discover more about the nature of this anomaly seems like a wise choice.”

”That’s also my thoughts,” Jake nodded. He also desperately wanted to sate his own curiosity. What kind of world had given birth to a creature now just going around destroying worlds? What the hell had the natives done to make such a thing happen? These were all questions he would hopefully soon have an answer to.

”Step onto the teleporter once ready,” Arnold said as he took out sixteen glowing cubes of metal, all overflowing with energy, and levitated them over to different focal points of the formation. Batteries of some kind to power the circle, and based on the energy Arnold had packed into them, Jake understood why they couldn’t just teleport people around willy-nilly.

Jake did as told, stepping onto the teleporter. With Arnold typing away at his console, different elements of the magic circle came alive one after another. The first thing Jake felt was space itself, seemingly loosing up all around him, and through his sphere, he saw William carrying out a sleeping Sandy so they weren’t in the room. Arnold had also put up some defensive barrier around himself, which really didn’t make Jake feel super comfortable.

Next up, Jake felt space vibrate and stretch. Small cracks formed in reality, and for a fraction of a moment, Jake felt the presence of the void as Arnold’s unique brand of magic wormed its way in. Intuitively, he knew it was about to activate.

”One final thing,” Arnold said casually just before Jake was teleported away, his voice sounding distorted due to the formation. ”The journey may be a bit rougher than you’re used to. Just know that is entirely within expectations.”

Without any further warning, Jake felt himself move as if he was yanked upwards. His vision turned dark, and his sphere began to pick up so much noise he had to rein it in to not needlessly stress himself out. He kept flying upwards for a good while before suddenly, he was flung to the side as if pulled by some invisible force.

This happened several more times as Jake was sent tumbling around in a realm of total darkness, broken up by the occasional misplaced flash of light that disappeared as fast as it had come. The entire process took over a minute before Jake was finally pulled downward, and he appeared in the real world once more.

”That was fucking scuffed,” Jake cursed out loud as he worked to orient himself. The contrast between feeling as if you are being tossed around at incredible speeds to suddenly losing all momentum and coming to a standstill was jarring, to say the least.

The entire teleportation process was far from consumer-friendly and definitely not very refined yet. Still… it had seemingly gotten the job done as Jake found himself floating above a planet right outside where the atmosphere would be. He used ”would be” very purposefully here… because there wasn’t any atmosphere.

For a moment, Jake had even questioned if Arnold’s teleporter had been even worse than first thought because he could barely recognize what he saw below him as a real planet, and definitely not one enlightened once lived on.

It looked more like some sort of asteroid. The atmosphere was entirely gone, and below, Jake felt no trace of… anything. He frowned as the sensation was so odd. He had expected to feel something. Death energy, earth energy, some kind of wind. Yet there was nothing at all.

Scouring the planet from far above using his high Perception, he could see a substantial part of it. He saw deep valleys and massive crater-like holes so large they covered most of the planet, and he soon realized these had once been oceans. There were no traces of structures anywhere on the ”mountains” he assumed were once islands or continents.

It was a surreal sight, to say the least, as he kept scanning the planet carefully.

Finally, on one of the landmasses, he found what he had been looking for. It was the only structure-like thing on the entire former planet, so the Prima Vessel stuck out quite a lot. However, even the Prima Vessel was gray and had lost all its shine. What’s more, it even had clear signs of damage, which was more than a little unsettling considering its durability.

Without delaying, Jake began his descent, his considerations for how he would get through the atmosphere never even relevant. Without any mana of note in the air, Jake could speed up near-constantly, allowing him to reach the surface of the former planet a lot faster than expected.

As he got closer to the Prima Vessel, he released a Pulse of Perception and saw something that made his eyes open wide. Not within the Vessel itself but what was around it. Buried beneath gray sand, he saw bones. So many bones. They looked vaguely human but were a bit off, and after some scouring of his memories, he realized they were orc skeletons.

When he landed on the ground, he also noticed something else disturbing. He had naturally used some resources getting down there… but he wasn’t regenerating anything. Instead, it was the opposite. The very land itself was draining just to stand on. The effect was slight, but it was there.

Releasing another Pulse, Jake finally felt as if he caught all the skeletons, and… he couldn’t even count how many there were. Hundreds of millions? Billions? It was as if the entire planet had died there.

Jake walked a bit before he knelt down and pushed enough of the sand away until he saw a bone. It was also gray, and with a slight touch, it crumbled into dust. Jake felt this dust run through his hands as he felt the sensation of a concept that made a shiver run down his spine.

Desolation.