Reading the title of the book, he dove right in.

____

The Shattering,

Written by Honorable Schaba, 9025 PS.

Over nine thousand years ago, we, humans, collectively disappeared from Earth and were sent to what was referred back then as “The Tutorial”.

This life changing event lasted around a decade as far as we know.

While we were there, powerful cultivators working for the Architect explained everything that we now had to know so we could safely navigate our new world. They also showed us multitudes of cultivation techniques to swiftly raise our levels and prepare ourselves for the return trip.

A lot of us died during these 10 years.

I couldn't put it in better words than the ones my master wrote while still in the tutorial, so here they are.

Extract from the Head Record Keeper of the Red Dust, my mentor, Lorian Thorne;

Last days of the Tutorial

The ten years spent in the tutorial had been an invaluable period of learning and growth. It was a decade that had bestowed upon us a wealth of knowledge and wisdom along with heavenly cultivation methods.

Some of us inherited Heaven Grade methods to take us all the way into the Aperture Strengthening Stage, others did not have the talent to even go past the 10th level or learn the cultivation methods to break through.

Unfortunately, through natural selection, those people quickly died out even here in the tutorial. They couldn't fend for themselves. According to my master, over 3 billion people died over the course of the tutorial and only a few hundred million were born.

During this time, I had the privilege of meeting my mentor, none other than the esteemed figure known as the Honorable Scribe of Destiny.

In the presence of this sagacious guide, I delved into the profound realm of understanding the significance of recording the history of our world.

The Scribe imparted a profound truth that resonated deeply within me — that those who undertake the noble task of chronicling the world's history wield immeasurable power.

It was a revelation that transcended the mere act of documentation, for in the pages of history, stories were more than just tales; they were vessels of immense power.

In the Scribe's view, words themselves held a unique kind of power.

They had the capacity to shape the course of events, influence the minds and hearts of individuals, and leave an indelible mark on the annals of time. The written word was a force that could inspire, educate, and even transform societies.

As I contemplated the profound wisdom shared by the Honorable Scribe of Destiny, it became clear that our journey was not merely about acquiring knowledge but also about recognizing the immense power that lay in the stories we wrote and the words we used to convey them.

This revelation became the guiding principle of our quest, as we sought to harness the power of words to shape the destiny of our world.

Following this, we formed Earth's branch of the Keepers of the Red Dust and I, Lorian Thorne, became its de-facto leader.

The 5 stars of the Tutorial, Sarah Summer, Maximus Freeman, Kyle Karmac, The Venerable Ananda and Bran Strongarm all came back with late Sea Formation powers, on the verge of breaking through into the Aperture Strengthening stage and also formed their own groups.

Accomplishing this in 10 years was on the level of planetary geniuses according to the tutorial masters.

We also learned through that assessment that none of them were worthy of being known as a realm-level genius and reach the Aperture Strengthening stage within the tutorial.

Now the time is ticking and within a few minutes, we should finally return home…

End of Journal Entry #2493

Of course, how could we talk about cultivation and levels without mentioning the system that came with it. Most of the civilized population of Earth had seen or heard of video games in the past and this new leveling system was almost exactly that. Everyone now had titles, levels, stats, etc etc. It was overwhelming for some but the younger generation thrived.

***

Through the last thousands of years, I was able to gaze upon my mentor's notes on many things and this excerpt was particularly relevant to the history of the post Shattering World.

The Return's Story.

Upon their return to Earth, those who had survived the tutorial had achieved unprecedented levels of power that they once thought to be impossible.

Unfortunately, many didn't make it past the first few minutes back on Earth, as their new surroundings were perilous zones that would only be tamed later by the Conqueror of Demonic Beasts, once known as Kyle Karmac.

As the tutorial had informed us, when the Architect merged realms into his plane of reality, a multitude of powers from diverse planes converged and wreaked havoc.

These powers opened gateways to hidden dimensions from various realms, connecting our planet directly to others and infusing the wildlife with energies both demonic and divine, primal and mystical—some of which we have yet to fully comprehend.

This infusion caused the planet's wildlife to undergo a remarkable surge in power, surpassing anything we had achieved during the tutorial. As animals, they became fiercely territorial, taking control of every cultivation haven on Earth with creatures we had never encountered before.

Initially, people sought to establish guilds, sects, and various organizations to combat the untamed wilderness and reclaim territories beyond the cities. Ironically, large cities proved to be the safest havens upon our return, as our previous lifestyles had left them too polluted to become focal points for energy accumulation.

In response, the upper echelons of society swiftly reorganized around individuals with unwavering strength, dedicated to combating the monsters and reclaiming the lost territories.

However, human nature being what it is, as we gained a foothold over the first few decades, conflicts emerged. Wars stained the continents red with blood as the strong recruited others to fight for the most coveted cultivation grounds.

This period in history was not merely a quest for power or immortality; it was a genuine struggle for survival. The planet itself had undergone profound transformations during this time, making it a battle for existence in every sense of the word.

The First War endured for a century as factions established their dominion over the world's prime cultivation sites and clashed upon venturing too far afield. Large-scale migrations ensued as certain organizations were compelled to vacate their homelands.

Simultaneously, the planet underwent significant expansion, ultimately reconnecting the Russian Peninsula with Alaska, thus reviving the age-old migration route into the Americas.

Among the displaced factions was the largest Korean guild of the era, compelled to relocate following a confrontation with one of the most formidable adversaries born of this war—a member of their own ranks named Guk Jin. This once unremarkable and mediocre cultivator, during the First War, blossomed into an indomitable force and earned the epithet "Slaughter Incarnate." He marauded through both Koreas and much of eastern China, seemingly aligning himself more closely with the beasts and demons than with humanity.

Fortuitously, many of the major sects and guilds had fled when they heard that someone was coming to murder them all and had already resettled to the north, particularly towards the Americas.

The Americas, along with the southern regions of Asia, including Tibet and India, were undoubtedly the safest and most hospitable places on Earth. The reason for this resided in two individuals: Maximus Freeman and The Venerable Ananda.

Both of these figures wielded immense power that reverberated throughout the world, and they were known for their relatively peaceful dispositions. Ananda, for instance, had never taken a life. Through his aura and connection to the Buddha, he single-handedly brought tranquility to his homeland, utilizing remarkable karmic abilities to thwart any threats before they materialized. He later became known as Daoist Calm Water.

Maximus, on the other hand, had been a lifelong environmental activist and possessed a deep bond with nature. He was resolute in his determination to protect it. When he learned that hordes of refugees were fleeing from the clutches of a homicidal maniac, he personally ventured to the Bering Strait, standing firm like an eternal tree to confront the assailant, not willing to see his precious land sullied with unnecessary blood.

However, it wasn't until much later, when both men had reached the Soul Shattering Stage, that Guk Jin resurfaced with the sinister intent of exterminating every last one of his people, sparing only a few insignificant mortals.

During this chaotic period, events transpired with such speed and unpredictability that even someone as formidable as Maximus found himself powerless to intervene.

The conclusion of the first war saw major factions retaining control over significant portions of their territories and agreeing to imprison Guk Jin for his heinous crimes along with the rise of a new faction, the Phantom Legion.

This new faction was something straight out of a horror movie for most. It wasn't all that unexpected as they had learned of their presence during the tutorial, but it was still frightening for most.

The faction consisted of Ghosts, Undead and other forms of malevolent spirits. It appeared everywhere carnage and death reigned supreme and tended to almost never appear during the day or above ground.

Due to this faction, the pursuit of Guk Jin proved to be difficult as they all worshiped him as a god. He was, after all, the largest contributor to their faction in the form of endless slaughter and death.

The man was elusive as a slippery loach, the pursuit spanning over a few centuries. Eventually, he was captured and brought before Sarah Summer, renowned as the Queen of All Ice and known for her unparalleled ability to immobilize and imprison individuals.

Under her custody, Guk Jin remained incarcerated for an extended period of time.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

It wasn't until much later, when Sarah ascended to the Ascendant Stage, that the Phantom Legion detected a vulnerability and managed to break him free from the ice prison, Guk Jin vanishing into the night, never to be seen again.

To summarize, on our return to Earth, everything changed.

***

Ultimately, seven super-powers reigned supreme and distributed the remaining landmass between themselves. Most of these illusive figures had given themselves nicknames to represent heroes of old, but a select few found that to be beneath them as in their eyes, THEY were gods now.

Rama, Ancestor of the Burning Sky Sect.

Beowulf, Conqueror of Demonic Beasts, previously known as Kyle Karmac.

Hercules, Royal Ancestor of Giants, previously known as Bran Strongarm.

Daoist Calm Water, Ancestor of the Calm Seas Sect, previously known as the Venerable Ananda.

Guk-Jin, Slaughter Incarnate.

Maximus Freeman, Freedom Incarnate.

Ice Queen, Sovereign of all Ice, previously known as Sarah Summer.

The details of their rise to power are quite unclear except for the very few that I have written about in this book.

______

The hours inched by, each one slowly blending into the next as Tyler became entirely engrossed in the myriad accounts of historical events. He delved into the chronicles of the shattering, the ascent of cultivators aided by the system, a colossal framework guiding them towards the right path, and the seemingly insurmountable accomplishments spanning the past 10,000 years.

The revelation of the existence of the System had jolted him, inducing a significant pause in his reading as he made a concerted effort to summon the said system into his consciousness but to no avail.

He could scarcely approach anything remotely resembling what the books described. For now, he had to set aside these perplexities and direct his focus towards amassing knowledge as thoroughly as possible.

Apparently, six thousand years ago another major war broke out that splintered the continents into even smaller communities, going from a few dozen countries and 7 supremacies to hundreds of countries led by entire sects instead of the Emperors of old.

Once that was over, it became known to the public that Beowulf and Maximus had died in their attempts of escaping the planet for the stars and only the being known as the Ice Queen made it to the vast cosmos and was never heard back from ever again.

As far as Tyler could tell, most of these historical figures were probably still alive today, which shocked him greatly that his initial thoughts about his world were confirmed once more.

Immortals exist!

Gone were the limits to one’s age with the increase in cultivation and levels! As far as Tyler understood it currently, every single stage would increase one's lifespan.

One piece of information that Tyler found particularly relevant to his current situation was the knowledge of the region he now resided in. This area was known as Veridian Peaks, and it encompassed a vast expanse of approximately 5 million square kilometers, with Sword King Mountain firmly situated at its center within what was now called Serenity Lake.

The territory covered the vast expanse of what used to be the great lakes region in Canada and the United States of America and due to the expansion of landmass its territory didn't expand much further than the west sides of the lake and the coast of New York.

Veridian Peaks was bordered by three distinct nations: the York Empire, the Icy Plains, and an ominous territory known as the Underworld. These three nations had a long history of conflict, frequently engaging in small skirmishes over the past few thousand years.

Hours ticked by once more and eventually, Tyler fell asleep at his desk while going through the last of the history books he had borrowed. At that point he hadn’t even noticed that he had been reading for over 16 hours straight and was completely exhausted with the information overload on top of being famished.

Throughout this entire day, a divine sense that no one else on the entire Sword King Mountain could detect was locked on Tyler and observed him throughout his studying session. The moment he had fallen asleep, this divine sense got agitated and an old man opened his eyes. It was none other than the Sword King!

If anyone on this mountain knew that the sect master had been paying attention to this mortal, Tyler would have been hounded all day long and treated like the son of the sect master himself or worse, challenged at every turn to capture the attention of the sect master!

An hour went by and eventually, the Sword King got up from his seat. The few elders that were in the palace with the Sword King raised their eyebrows when they noticed the slight movement from the sect master and they sent a telepathic message.

“Does the Sect Master require anything?” One of the elders asked.

“No, I’m going for a walk. Don’t bother me.” And with a wave of his sleeve, the Sword King vanished from the palace and reappeared inside the library, standing a few meters behind Tyler.

All the surrounding cultivators couldn’t tell that such an illustrious figure of Veridian Peaks was even in the building as he had such a high level compared to them that with a mere thought he could become invisible to all that he didn’t wish to be noticed by.

The Sword King observed the mortal before him as the moment he had stepped on the mountain he felt that something was slightly odd about this mortal.

Then, his gaze shifted to the pile of books he had borrowed, all either focused on the history of the world or things that would be taught to all children across the world.

While the Sword King was standing there looking at the history books, lost in thoughts, Tyler woke up after his short two hour nap. The Sword King was unfazed by this as he was still shrouding himself from the eyes of all with his cultivation and concealment technique so he continued to stare into nothingness while reminiscing his own past.

Tyler looked up at his books and was startled as a man who looked to be in his fifties just stood there looking into the air with an absent gaze, his hands behind his back. The man had long black hair that created a strong contrast to his elegant white robes but most importantly were the sharp sword shaped eyebrows! Everything about the man screamed of a proud arrogance down to the man's very bones.

“Hey old man, you okay? You seem a bit lost there. I know I was asleep and all but isn’t that a bit weird to just stand around so close to someone sleeping?” asked Tyler.

The Sword King’s eyes narrowed to a point as he snapped his head to look at Tyler. He would have never thought that the person in front of him could even see him and he was automatically on guard.

The only other person he knew that could see through his cultivation like this was his old master or the few old monsters hiding across the various sects!

The Sword King's divine sense swept through Tyler once more and he used a technique to confirm the other person’s approximate level but nothing came of it. The technique simply returned that this person was indeed Level 0 without a single trace of Qi inside his body!

This person should be as weak as a toddler, as if he hadn’t even lived in this world! Unsure of his divine sense, he quietly probed again and had the same result: not an ounce of Qi was even gathered within this person. Yet this person could see through his concealment technique as if it did not exist.

All this seemed to take a while but in reality it only took a split second as the Sword King had long surpassed mere human cognitive abilities with his level. The only possibility that came to mind then was that the person in front of him might have been an incredibly powerful old monster hiding his own cultivation to fool him!

"Forgive me, I was unaware that an esteemed senior had graced my humble mountain with his presence! What is Senior’s esteemed name, if I may ask?" The Sword King respectfully clasped his hands before Tyler.

Momentarily perplexed, Tyler furrowed his brow. "Senior? Do I appear old to you? Based on everything I've learned today, it seems highly probable that you are significantly older than me. Ah but for the who part, I’m Tyler Reed, but just call me Tyler." he retorted.

The Sword King, now puzzled by the response, furrowed his brow as well and tilted his head slightly. "Forgive me for the confusion, Tyler. If you are not a senior, then may I ask why you have come to this place? Surely it’s not to browse some wildly inaccurate history books?" he inquired, his curiosity evident in his voice.

“Well, simply put, I was knocked unconscious by accident by a dude named Lo Shen and he brought me here and offered me a spot working here in the library earlier today… Or was it yesterday? I forgot.. Anyhow, yeah. That’s why I’m here, catching up on some history you know.” Tyler replied casually.

Having looked through the pile of books beforehand, the Sword King asked. “And from what I see here, a few books on the basics of cultivations and a few things about my Sword Sect. Though with Senio… Tyler’s talent I would assume the system would already have let you know all this over the years!”

“Pause. Your Sword Sect?” asked Tyler, narrowing his eyes at this old man.

“Well yes, this is the Sword King Mountain, and I am the Sword King so this is my sect and territory. I assumed you knew, apologies if I confused you.” he replied.

Considering what little he knew about the actual world now and what he knew from cultivation novels in the past, it must be some incredible misunderstanding happening here if this old man actually was the Sword King, an overlord of a territory as majestic as the mountain he saw yesterday.

“Wait so if you’re THE Sword King, why are you wasting your time talking to me? Aren’t I some lowly mortal to all you guys? I even got the angry young master treatment in the infirmary, luckily that was stopped by the dude’s older brother, but still.”

The Sword King was now utterly confused and doubted his own concealment technique for a second there. Unable to decipher the hidden subtext of this conversation for what he had to assume was an old monster passing through for unknown reasons, he simply sighed and gave up and told him everything he wanted to know.

“To answer your first question, you arrived at my humble mountain as a wandering mortal in the wilds of the old city, and while I cannot see through your cultivation, you do have some weird soul fluctuations I cannot decipher… Thus warranting my attention. Additionally, the report seemed to indicate mysterious origins. With the current situation in Veridian Peaks and the recent skirmishes it warranted my attention at the very least to ensure no… mishaps. But if Tyler wants to be left alone, this old man will oblige.” said the Old Sword King.

“Old City huh, do you happen to know the name it used to have?” asked Tyler, genuinely curious.

Taking a second to consider his answer, the Sword King replied with the commonly known names of the old-city that’s been used in history books. “The exact name was lost to time, but I do believe it was something akin to Kings Town or something similar.” The man lied, knowing full well that there was another name for this city.

“...He knows the old name of Kingston, but not the latest name of the city…? How the fuck does that happen….” Tyler muttered to himself in an extremely low voice.

Although not directly addressed to the Sword King, with his keen hearing these words reverberated through his mind like a resounding thunderclap. He then came to a half-true realization that struck him with awe. This individual possessed memories of the time preceding The Shattering!

The Sword King, having knowledge passed down by his own master, had learned that this mountain and the spirit veins responsible for its formation were nonexistent before The Shattering and that their mountain was named and created after a heaven shaking battle between very ancient cultivators.

The winner, who had given it its name, King’s Mountain, was the Sword Sect’s founder. What no one but the Sword Sect’s sect masters knew was the carving in the deepest chambers of the mountain left by the second Sword Sect Master.

…What was once Kings Town, Kingston and now within the larger Heartlands. In Remembrance of my now destroyed hometown, Kingston…

Only ancestors of the Sword Sect lineage knew about the name of the nearby old city. Initially, he had assumed that the young man standing before him was merely an Old Monster slightly stronger than himself, capable of piercing through his concealment technique while still hiding his own cultivation.

However, now he was astounded. This person was more than just an Old Monster; they were someone who had knowledge of the pre-shattering world and those existences were hegemons of the world, unable to compare to himself.

It certainly was not a previous Sect Master as they had all died as far as he knew! The other possibility shocked him even more… Perhaps this young man existed before The Shattering—a true ancestor of this planet!

Acting on instincts alone, the Sword King dispelled his concealment technique, revealing his cultivation level to the entire mountain, as if proclaiming his arrival. He then humbly dropped to one knee.

With his divine sense infused in his voice to also announce to everyone in the mountain of this, he greeted what he believed to be an esteemed ancestor. The profound impact of his message resonated through the mountain, causing it to tremble.

"Lin Jian pays homage to the Ancestor!!"