Status | Skills | Quests | Inventory
Journey to Cyzicus:
Cyzicus is the capital of Sylcra. Every ten years the island is besieged by endless hordes of Gegenees, giant creatures of the Earth, monsters that possess six arms and thick rocklike skin. Whenever they invade, Cyzicus calls to arms all cultivators of the island and rewards them handsomely for their aid.
Travel to Cyzicus and fight the endless hordes of the earthborn.
Luke read over the quest with a grin on his face.
Now, this is something I can get behind. Endless monsters means endless stat points. If I play my cards right, I can make some solid progress there. If it also helps the people on this island, then that's even better. No, that's great. I should be helping people. I want to be a god. Preferably a nice one. Someone who helps others. Yeah.
After reading through the quest again and making sure he had understood everything properly, he dismissed the screen and rolled out of his sleeping bag, pillows, and blankets. Surprisingly, the temperature, which had been pleasant for most of the day, progressively got colder and colder throughout the night. Cold enough that even with all the improvements to his Constitution, he still felt its bite.
I lost a lot when I came here. Everything really, but I also gained a lot. I'm free now to be who I want to be, and that's not an opportunity people get very often. It's not one I'm going to let go to waste.
There's so much to see and do. So much that's amazing and magical. The entire time I've been here, though, I've been worried that the sky would come crashing down on me. That Arke would find me. That Nefkha would change his mind. That's all gone now.
I'm free. His grin grew even wider.
I did what I had to do to keep myself safe, but that's over and done with. Arke has no way of finding me, and nobody knows where I am or what I look like.
Which leaves me to figure out what I want to do with my life here.
With the Seed, not trying to be a god seems like a massive waste, and honestly, I want to be one. I want to be strong enough never to be bullied by anyone again. I don't want to die again and have my soul almost eaten. I don't want to be an ant for giants to step on as they please. The universe is a lot bigger than I ever dreamed of or even imagined it, and I want to know everything it has to offer. I want to learn about talismans and potions and magic. I want to know who made the Seed and why it picked me. I want to go back to Earth and visit everyone.
He stepped out of his tent and looked across the endless plain. His lips quivered before turning into a full-blown smile.
"And all that is in my reach," he said out loud.
Packing away his stuff—a task made efficient with liberal use of his inventory—Luke donned his new shoes and set off.
Running swiftly through monotonous grasslands, he focused only on putting one foot in front of the other.
His thoughts were blissfully quiet as he bathed in the light of the suns and felt the wind blowing through his hair. Every once in a while, he would channel mana to his shoes and leap through the air. Never too high, lest he fall and injure his still-healing ribs, but high enough and long enough to grow accustomed to using what was fast becoming his favorite artifact.
I'm not even flying, and it's already so much fun. I wonder what that will feel like once I become a Warrior.
His mind flashed back to Nefkha, when he had discovered him. He had been terrified and in awe of the casual disregard with which the old man had treated gravity.
He continued like that for two whole weeks, running all through the day and camping at night. Alone with his thoughts, he dreamed about his place in this world, what he wanted to do with his second life, and what kind of person he wanted to be.
I'm definitely not going back to a desk job, but man, pissing my days away stress-free was super underrated. If a little unsatisfying.
Eventually the scenery started to change. Small copses of leafy trees became more and more frequent, and with them came birds and rabbits. Occasionally he spotted herds of giant, bull-like, elephant-size creatures grazing in the distance. Every time he tried to approach them, though, they would scatter in every direction. So quickly that, even with all the improvements he'd made to his Agility attribute over the past weeks, he was nowhere near quick enough to get close.
Whatever they are, they aren't at the low Mortal tier, he thought after a failed attempt to hunt one, before continuing north.
He hunted rabbits and other small game as often as he could while there were plenty of them around, not knowing when else he would get the chance to stockpile to his heart's content and fully aware that if he hadn't squirreled away the food that he had, he would have starved to death.
It would turn out, however, that his cautiousness wouldn't be needed, as, after a few days, when the nine suns were sinking below the horizon, he finally came face-to-face with the largest river he had ever seen.
Its opposite bank was so far away that not even climbing a hundred feet into the sky was enough to see it, and Luke regretted even attempting it. Coming down from that high up was a lot more harrowing when he knew that a mistake would cost him his life or, failing that, break a few bones.
The next morning, he woke up bright and early with a plan. For the first time in weeks, he deviated from his usual routine. He needed to prepare for the next part of his journey back to civilization. He needed to build a raft.
Pulling out his map, he roughly estimated where he was before nodding to himself.
If I stuck to a mostly straight line on the way here, then I should start running into people so long as I go downstream. That's where most of the towns and cities are supposed to be. He scratched his head as he looked at the map, then back at the river. There should be people upstream, too, but there aren't any boats going up or down it. That's strange. Either the map isn't accurate anymore, or these people don't use the river for trade.
Now that I think about it, it's weird how little there actually is on the island. None of the land I passed over seemed like it had anything wrong with it, but all of it's empty.
Is it the Gegenees? I guess that would make sense, depending on how they attack, and I can imagine an infinite horde of just about anything making life pretty hard. An endless horde of giants … Seems like it would be impossible to deal with. On top of that, if they come every ten years, I can't imagine what kind of devastation they cause. Then again, even Carim was mostly just woodland outside of a few cities. It could be that the people in this world just aren't as obsessed with building stuff. It's not like cultivators don't keep the monsters in check.
Whatever, I'll find out soon enough, I guess.
For now, I have work to do. He walked down the river's banks until he found a decent set of trees.
His sword wasn't the best tool for cutting them down, but he managed to get a good dozen in a relatively short amount of time. His sword's unnaturally sharp edge, driven by his mana-enhanced physique, made the process relatively painless, especially considering that the trees were just trees, with nothing magical about them.
Stripping the branches off their trunks, he laid them down side by side and then bound them together with rope, impressing himself with how sturdy his construction was.
All that time in woodworking class really did pay off.
Fashioning the leftover wood into a pair of oars, he called it a day and settled in for the night. He spent the rest of the evening fishing in the river and succeeding in pulling out one fish after another with a makeshift pole. Max's memories guided his actions and made the once-foreign task effortless.
The next morning, he pushed his raft into the water and began the last leg of his journey.
He had enjoyed his time by himself. It was helpful in dealing with everything he had experienced, but he was also more than ready for it to be over and to finally have someone to talk to again.
I can't believe some people like just being alone in the wilderness. I think if I stay alone for much longer, I'm going to go insane.
Letting the river carry him downstream, he used his oar to steer and dodge stray logs, keeping an eye out for any water creatures that could be a threat.
A week later, he finally saw the first traces of civilization: a collection of fishing vessels in the middle of the river.
Angling his oar, he maneuvered himself toward them.
Let's hope they're friendly, because if they aren't, this is going to suck.
"Hey!" Luke yelled into the wind, waving his arms wildly as he did. Not that he had to—the fishermen had noticed him almost as soon as he had noticed them.
"You another one of those Rising Sun brats?" a fat man, wearing an apron covered in fish guts and blood, asked him as soon as he was within earshot.
Rising Sun? Is that like the Luminous Sky Society?
Luke looked at him, confused. "Um—"
The fisherman looked back at him warily before shaking his head and muttering, "Kids these days," under his breath. Then, bending down, he threw out a plank, connecting his boat and Luke's raft. "You're wearing the robes. I may be a fisherman, but I know a cultivator when I see one. Get on."
"Thank you!" Luke looked at it and then the fisherman hesitantly before glancing at the other boats in the distance and deciding it was probably safe.
He doesn't look like he's planning to kill me, and I have enough mana to make it to the shore with my boots if it comes down to it. Luke looked at the man again. Not that he looks like he'll be able to put up a fight anyway.
Spreading his arms out for balance, he quickly walked onto the fisherman's boat, resisting the urge to crinkle his nose as the smell hit him, before nodding gratefully to the man.
"Hi. I'm—"
"I don't care," he interrupted. "I've had it"—he gestured to the other boats—"we've all had it with you sect brats going upriver, freeloading off our town, and causing a ruckus every night. How many times do we have to tell you that there's no treasure there? There's nothing there at all, and there hasn't been for decades." The fisherman shook his head and threw his arms up in frustration. "Bah. I don't know why I bother. It's not like your type ever listens to my type, ain't that right, lad? I'm just a dumb mortal, ain't I?"
I have no idea what's happening, but I'll roll with it.
"Uh. I'm not really sure what to say. We're not supposed to say anything about what we do. I'm sure you know how it is." Luke smiled at him, impressed with his own ability to bullshit so cleanly.
The man looked at him with clear disappointment before shaking his head. He handed him a broom. "Make yourself useful while you're on my boat. I don't care if you're a fancy cultivator or a pig, I don't give free rides." He grunted before turning away and lumbering to the opposite end of the vessel, fiddling around with the nets hanging over the side of the ship.
Luke looked around and got to work, once again letting Max's memories guide his actions.
Still no clue what's going on, but things seem to be working out.