"Another dimension?!"
Alaric was visibly shocked at the older man's words. The older man did not seem surprised by his reaction.
If anything, he was a little happy! His wrinkled face turned into a small smile as he looked at the boy in front of him.
"Hmm, hmm. This youth does seem quite energetic. It seems Gorantus found a good one. At first, I was disappointed that he had sent so many people. I almost had to relinquish his duties, but he finally sent a good one."
The man kept on talking as if Alaric wasn't even there.
"Um, excuse me, but who are you, and what's happening?"
Alaric already had so many questions from listening to this man talk once, so all he could do was say the most simple ones.
"Oh ho, sorry about that boy."
As if the blank world trembled, the initially blank world turned from a white to a black. It then shone as hundreds of dots. Looking at this, Alaric's mouth opened wide.
As a student in Astro psychics, he could tell that this was the night sky, or more accurately, the Universe. He felt as if he was standing in his dream as he could see every star, comet, and cosmic cloud in the expansive space.
He only got out of his stupor when he heard the older man's voice again. However, this time it was a lot more booming.
"I am Orion, a deity of the universe, or as you mortals like to call me, a constellation of the night sky."
Alaric couldn't believe his ears. In front of him stood an older man who claimed himself not only a deity but he was the consciousness of the constellation Orion!
'This is too unreal!'
It was the only thing Alaric could think of.
Not continuing further, the older man waited for Alaric to get out of his thoughts. It didn't take long for Alaric to wake up.
Alaric was now staring at Orion with eyes of fervor.
He couldn't completely believe this older man, but if one thing was for sure, it was that he was something beyond human comprehension.
"Then does that mean you are all-powerful? What's the extent of your powers? Does that mean there are other constellations with a conscious like yours? What kind of power do you have? Do humans create constellations by naming them? Were you already named Orion and just gave us the name so the names could match? How are you? Are there other beings in the Universe?"
Alaric seemed to be in a weird state. Whenever he thought of a question, he would instantly blurt it out.
This made the number of questions so big that even Orion was slightly surprised.
Orion sighed as he blocked all sound coming out of Alaric's mouth. Only when Alaric noticed that no words were coming out did it stop.
"I won't explain much. The more you know, the more you are in danger. Just know that this Universe is in peril. Or more like it's in the stage of obtaining an opportunity."
Alaric seemed to try to ask more questions, but Orion ignored him.
"This Universe here is also known as the 3rd dimension. Everything in this world, from the huge black holes to the quarks that make up everything, is 3d, or in the 3rd dimension. However, what do you think would happen if the world suddenly jumped to the 4th dimension? The Universe would no longer exist, killing all life. You don't need to know that our Universe, your home, is evolving for reasons. This could mean the death of our Universe of the thing that rises us further. I am telling you this because you have been chosen. I have chosen you as my inheritor. You won't be able to use it all at once, but once you can, you can help the ever-changing world."
Orion then flicked his hand as a ball of light came out of his finger. It speeds rapidly until it hits Alaric's head.
Not knowing what to do, Alaric just closed his eyes, readying his mind for pain. He only opened again when he felt nothing wrong.
Orion chuckled at his actions,
"Go; once you see more of my powers, you will understand what is truly going on. I give you luck, and I hope you won't disappoint me."
After saying that, the older man vanished before Alaric.
Suddenly Alaric found himself slipping out of consciousness. Fluttering his eyes, he awoke in shock. Sitting up quickly, he refocused himself. He just sat blankly while regathering his thoughts.
He didn't even notice the shining light in front of him.
Only after he felt a slight breeze did he see the screen and his surroundings. Noticing the green forest around him, he hurriedly sat up.
Due to him jumping up quickly, his vision blurred as he had to get used to his tired legs. Adjusting himself, he finally looked at the screen in front of him.
Alaric stared blankly at the screen. "Whaaaat???" He was now thoroughly confused. Orion system? What is this? After calming himself, he recited the word. "System."
In front of him, the screen expanded, showing tons of different things.
Species: Inferior Human Level: 1 (0/100) Stage: No stars Stats: (Strength: 9) (Speed: 8) (Stamina: 7) (Intelligence: 10) (Mana: 50/50) (Mind: 5) Skills: (None) Quests: (Expandable) > Looking at the status, he was reminded of the RPG-like games his father used to play. He didn't know what stage meant, but he could tell what his other things meant. Looking at the quests, he saw the expandable button that seemed to be calling him. He only thought that it could be nice for it to expand when he suddenly turned into a different window. Daily Quest: 1. Run 5 kilometers (Reward: 3 free stat points) 2. Punch a tree 300 times 0/300 (Reward: Low-Rank Defensive skill)> Looking at the quest, Alaric's heart sank. "What are these insane quests!" He looked around to notice nothing around him. He sighed as he gritted his teeth. He hit the tree lightly, hoping it worked. Looking at the 0/300 not go up, he hit harder. He kept on hitting harder until it finally reached 1. By this time, he was already wincing hard from the pain. He groaned as he felt that he needed an almost full-powered punch for it to count. Alaric gritted his teeth as his knuckles slowly peeled. The rugged bark felt like a wall to Alaric. He tried not to think about the pain as he saw the number increase. As he looked at the number go up, he seemed to fall into a trance. As the number slowly increased, he soon forgot the searing pain in his knuckles. Seeing the number reach the goal, he sighed with happiness. For some reason, he felt weirdly satisfied when the number hit 300. But this feeling only lasted a second when he felt the burning pain in his knuckles. Looking down, he saw this bloodied hand looking mangled. "AHHHH FUCK!!" The adrenaline going away made the pain hit Alaric like a truck. Although he lost his parents young, he still never really had to face hardships. So this amount of pain was a new experience for him. He didn't even notice that the status brought up a new window.