The landscape that came into view was barren and devoid of anything beside a dull gray sand and random rocks jutting into view. For as far as the eye could see there was nothing but a vast emptiness. The only oddity in the scenery was a single snaking thin road.
"I have figured it out, this world needs a good gardener."
"That is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard in my thousands of years of memories."
"Huh." As Azemo spoke he noticed that the green orb was right next to him, it had been the one that had criticized his plan.
"Why are you still here?"
"This is my world, I need to follow you to judge your performance, I will also act like your mission hub. If you have any relevant questions I can answer them."
Azemo was silent for a while glancing over the barren nothingness of the land, there were zero signs of life.
"What happens if I die in the simulation?"
"You…"
"Wait let me answer, if I die in the game I die in real life." Azemo quickly interrupted with a very well thought out answer.
"I hate you. Also you are wrong. If you die you are banished from my world and you fail my task."
"Oh… I guess that is a good thing. What about Bellania and Imagine?"
"Maybe see for yourself before you waste my time."
"Do you really have anything else to do?"
"I hate you so much." The orb shut up and would not say another word.
Azemo checked his person and found nothing had changed, he still had everything. It seemed that the Soul Essence world recreated everything down to the very last centimeter.
'That means Bella and Ima should be here.' Sure enough as he opened the room bag he woke up the two twins.
"Ask this orb all your questions I don't know anything."
Bella and Ima were surprisingly quiet. "We already have the gist of the situation."
"Fine, honorable Soul Essence, may I ask what this world is called?"
"You should always talk to me like that and this world is known as Kaclzan."
"Finally question before we head out, most excellent Soul Essence, what is my first mission?"
As soon as Azemo finished speaking the orb flew into his chest and in his head he heard a voice.
"Mission one. Follow the road towards living beings."
'Great more walking.'
The thin road was impossibly long and the desolate landscape did little to make the journey interesting. After two hours Bella and Ima had returned to the room bag, they didn't like the sand, and still nothing had changed.
After another couple of hours something finally came into sight, a single smoke plume could be seen on the edge of the horizon. With renewed vigor Azemo continued onwards with a goal finally in sight. .
Azemo had long since given up looking at his surroundings, it was always the same, rocks and sand. But, because of his disregard of the environment Azemo missed the old man on the side of the road.
"I was just trying to make a turn and a small rock knocked over my cart."
Azemo was used to hearing voices so he wasn't that surprised as he turned to look at the old man.
"Excuse me."
"Oh I was just saying how my cart hit the tiniest rock and it tipped it over."
"Uhh yeah I wouldn't expect a small rock to be able to do something like that."
"Well this will be the last time I take this road. It is going to be a long day."
The old man was obviously hinting towards something. "Do you want my help or something?"
"Oh would you, that would be a great help to this old man."
"Alright, lead me to your cart."
The old man smiled to himself before leading Azemo around the corner of the road. The road was slightly elevated compared to the surrounding land and a small cart was tipped over the edge, precariously balancing next to a medium rock.
Azemo quickly rushed over and pulled the cart onto the road, he didn't want it to fall forcing him to go after it and therefore do more work.
"Thank you young man." The old man went to make sure none of the various boxes had fallen out of the cart, everything was there. However, while nothing was missing, the old man noticed that one of the wheels on his cart had broken.
"Damn I am going to have to change the wheel. This is going to be a long day."
"Do you need my help?"
"Really, yes please. I have never really done this before so sorry if it takes a while."
The first step Azemo and the old man took was to remove the broken wheel. Big mistake, the whole cart tipped over and Azemo had to get a big rock to prop it up.
The next step was getting the spare wheel off the bottom of the cart. Azemo could not fathom why the old man was so clueless about his own cart but he diligently helped however he could. Eventually the spare wheel was free and all that was left was to attach it to the cart.
This proved much more difficult than Azemo thought and he had to hold up the entire cart as the old man slowly put on the new wheel. After the new wheel was attached the old man hammered on a cover on top of the wheel so it would not come off.
It had taken three hours and the sun, which Azemo just realized was red, had set but they had finally fixed the cart.
The old man came over and shook Azemo's hand.
"I couldn't have done it without you, thank you so much."
"Sure no problem."
With that the old man turned and picked up his cart before slowly walking the way Azemo had come from.
'I never did learn his name and come to think of it there is nothing at all the way he is walking.' That was the only thought Azemo had before his brain started to hurt, he was tired. 'I need to make it to that smoke before I collapse.' With that all thoughts of the old man were gone but Azemo did feel a little satisfaction being able to help another person.
"Hold up. Honorable soul essence please tell me why the old man was not frightened by my appearance."
The voice spoke in his head and Azemo heard. "Well since I am a demon I made that does not care what race you are."
'So progressive.'
While he was talking with the soul essence the soul essence was also analyzing the previous encounter. It's opinion of Azemo was slightly raised because it saw that he was willing to just randomly help someone. Of course a demon lord did not really think helping an old man was important but one could never tell who would be a powerful ally. Or, if one was unlucky a powerful foe. The orb finished it's analysis and it quietly said to itself.
"Mission difficulty raised."