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Chapter 381 – Let Me Help You
"We will help as well," Night, Blue, and Aegis all flew up into the sky.
"Let me help as well," Hyesi said and was about to stand up when somebody grabbed him. It was his son, Ning.
"No father, you are injured. Let us take fight him instead," he said and brought along his sons and nephews to fight the monster.
Ning wanted to stop them but didn't. "Keep him busy for a while. I will think of an idea," Ning said.
"Yes, Inikaka," they all replied.
Before the fight even began, Ning knew they were all going to lose for sure. Ely's artifacts and Anya's strength couldn't amount to the sheer power Jha'Akim could release from his cultivation base alone.
Not to mention the many skills and powers he had acquired from taking in the bloodline of the many.
Night's speed, Blue's strength, and Aegis' defense couldn't hold up to Jha'Akim either. He was faster, stronger, and more durable than all of them.
He also had the powers of all 3 of them, so that didn't help either.
A big fight broke out and sounds of the booms could be heard from everywhere. Ning couldn't even keep up with the fight with his eyes and could only guess what was happening based on the sound.
Hyesi looked helpless and he stayed on the ground with both of his arms broken. All he could do was stop the random auras and shockwaves from hitting Ning.
Ning needed to think of another way to kill the man. And for that, he needed to know if he could even be killed in the first place.
Death Rejection, a skill that could allow a person to have 3 lives, instead of 1. It was a skill that defied the laws of the universe and messed with the soul of its host to keep him alive.
12 thousand years ago, when Jha'Akim was cultivating to enter the 2nd Spirit Formation realm and was in the midst of the breakthrough, he was caught by the many beasts and taken over to the center of the Central continent to seal him away.
During that time, they had put him in the coffin made out of a giant block of Primordial Holy Jade. The coffin blocked all Qi and aura from escaping and entering, thus Jha'Akim no longer had any source of Qi to continue his breakthrough, and went through Qi deviation.
That was his first death.
He quickly came back to life as the system held his soul hostage from the natural laws and put it back onto the same body.
Only, he lost all of his cultivation bases because of the Qi deviation. So, he had to wait for the clone he had set up to come back to life and help him gain back his cultivation base through the many beast's bloods he was fed through the crystal he left behind.
Once his strength was back to normal and even better afterward, he planned on his escape. When he realized what had happened to the clone, he decided to move forward with the plan.
He killed the beast and left for the origin to break through one final time before the world had changed. Except, his plans were foiled by Ning.
And he was also responsible for his 2nd death.
"So… " Ning asked the system, "if I can kill him again, he will die for certain?"
Yes
"No chance of him returning in any way?" he asked.
No
"Dammit! How do I do that though?" Ning wondered. He heard a bam and another body with torn and broken limbs fell onto the ground.
There were about 6 different ones like that by now, and all of them were Hyesi's descendants.
Ning quickly walked up to the Hekti who had just fallen while Hyesi could only walk up to him, not even able to hold him up while Ning fed him the pill.
Hyesi was feeling worse than Ning right now, seeing everyone he had watched grow up from childhood be on the brink of death while he was down here doing nothing.
"Inikaka, have you thought of something by now?" he asked.
"No," Ning said. "But I have found something. If I can kill him again, he will die for sure."
Hyesi's eyes shined. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, absolutely," Ning said. "He will die and won't return any longer."
BAM
Another person fell to the ground. Ning quickly ran up to the person and saw that it was Hijaka. He was barely holding on to life with almost half the organs in his chest ripped away.
"No, my grandson," Hyesi cried out when he saw Hijaka in such a state. Ning quickly brought out a pill and fed him. He also brought out a paste and put it on top of his chest to heal him faster.
Just as he was done, another one fell a little further away. This one was less injured, so they were relieved, but when Ning tried to pull a pill out, he realized that he was all out of it.
"Oh no," he said. "I'm out of healing pills." He still brought out a medicinal paste but it wouldn't work the same way a pill did.
"Inikaka," Hyesi called him when he saw that. "Are you absolutely sure he will remain dead?"
Ning got annoyed now. "Why do you keep asking that so many times? YES! YES! YES!"
Hyesi smiled when he heard that. "Then let me kill him."
"You will kill him?" Ning looked confused for a second before realizing what he meant. "No, no, no, no, no! I'm not letting you kill yourself."
"What else can we do, Inikaka?" Hyesi asked.
"I will think of some way," he said.
"And while you do that, more of my descendants will die, Inikaka," Hyesi said.
"But…" Ning tried to argue.
"Please let me do it. Please take him away from here while I can kill him without worrying about getting any of them caught up in it," Hyesi said.
"Please Inikaka, just this one time, let me help you!"
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Chapter 382 – Failure?
"Grandfather?" Hijaka grunted as he tried to get back up. "No, grandfather! You can't do that."
"Sit down child, I'm doing this for you," Hyesi said. "Inikaka, let's go."
"Are you sure, Hyesi?" Ning asked one last time as tears started forming in his eyes.
"Absolutely."
"Okay," Ning said and sent a message high up in the air. "Come back you all."
The message went to only 5 people that were up there, but it soon traveled to everyone. As soon as the message was sent, everyone stopped fighting and started to get away from Jha'Akim who was still trying to make his way down towards Ning.
However, when he saw everyone move away, he started getting a little cautious and stopped. His rage had calmed down by now and he was starting to think things through once more.
"What's going on, Ning?" Ely asked.
"Master, we don't have time," Anya said as she held her left arm that took a nasty hit from Jha'Akim.
"You guys sit back. We're going to end this now," Ning said
"We? Who's we?" Ning, the junior, asked and looked around when he saw his father's solemn face and his nephew's tears.
"I will do what Inikaka did moments ago and explode my body on top of him to kill him," Hyesi said.
"No, you can't do that, father," Ning said.
"It's okay, my child. Take care of yourself and the other children," Hyesi said. "Goodbye, I will go meet your mother now."
Everyone started saying different things to stop Hyesi from doing so, but he didn't listen to anyone.
"Ning, are you sure you want to do this?" Ely asked.
"You saw how strong he is. I wouldn't want this if I had another way as well," Ning said.
Ely got silent for a while and said," Do what you have to do."
Ning nodded. He then turned around to Hyesi and asked, "Are you ready?"
"Yes, Inikaka. This strength you gave me, I will finally make use of it."
Ning's body disappeared in a flash and Hyesi heard a soft voice coming out from himself. "Get ready," the voice said. "Just grab him"
"Yes."
And then Hyesi disappeared.
Jha'Akim saw it all from high in the air, and using his incredible hearing ability could also hear what they were saying.
Even without that, he was already cautious against people trying to explode on top of him as he only had one more life.
So, when Hyesi reappeared behind him, he immediately flew away. However, even when he flew away, Hyesi once again appeared right next to him and grabbed him.
Hyesi's arms were still in pain, but he could hold on to Jha'Akim pretty easily.
"Let go of me," Jha'Akim shouted, but Hyesi didn't let go at all.
"You will need to pay for what you have done," Ning's voice came from inside of Hyesi.
"Die!" Hyesi shouted and started to unstabilize his body and soul to explode them. However, just then, even as Hyesi was holding him, Jha'Akim disappeared.
"What?" Ning shouted in surprise. Hyesi who was going to explode himself also stopped.
"Dammit! He can teleport even while we are holding him?" Ning thought.
"Inikaka, where is he?" Hyesi asked.
"I don't know," Ning said. "Let me check."
Ning asked the system for some information and soon learned where Jha'Akim had gone to.
"He's in the upper central continent. Probably the hideout of his clone. He must have marked that place too since he said he could only teleport to where the mark was," Ning said.
"What do we do now?" Hyesi asked.
"We try again," Ning said and teleported away. He appeared right behind Jha'Akim and Hyesi immediately grabbed him again.
"What? How are you here? You shouldn't have known I was here," Jha'Akim shouted. Even as he did, he disappeared once more.
Ning asked the system and learned that he had gone to the Origin. He tried once more, but Jha'Akim teleported from that place as well.
He had gone back to the hideout. Ning tried a couple of times, but Jha'Akim kept on teleporting back and forth between the two places.
"We need to stop him from teleporting somehow," Ning said.
"How?" Hyesi asked.
Ning stayed quiet and asked the system some questions. Soon, he got exactly the information he needed.
"He's using Qi to teleport around. So, if we can make him spend all of his Qi, we can kill him," Ning said.
"Alright, let's keep going after him then. At some point he will have to stop," Hyesi said.
Ning kept quiet for a while and did nothing. "Inikaka?" Hyesi called him once more.
"No," Ning replied finally. "That won't work. My energy isn't enough to sustain the teleportations longer than he can sustain his Qi. At some point, I will lose and he will get free reign to get stronger."
"Then what do we do?" Hyesi asked.
"Sacrifice," Ning said. "That is the only way."
"But I'm already doing that, Inikaka," Hyesi said.
"No, not just yours," A quiver sounded in Ning's voice as he spoke. "I… this task requires my sacrifice as well."
"What do you mean?" Hyesi asked.
Ning teleported and reappeared on the beach where the people were looking in the sky, dreadfully waiting for an explosion to happen.
"Father!"
"Grandfather!"
Hyesi's family was surprised and happy to still see him alive.
"Don't celebrate," Ning said. "This is one last meeting before the goodbye. Before OUR goodbye."
"Ning?" Ely got worried.
Ning's body reappeared and Ning jumped back into it. "I'm so sorry," he said as his eyes started tearing up.
"I didn't want it to go this way at all. I wanted to live forever with you, with you all. But… it seems I will have to leave you all." He was starting to cry now.
Seeing him cry, Ely and Anya started getting worried.
"Wha-what's going on?" Ely asked.
"Master, why are you sad?" Anya asked.
"I'm going to have to leave you all now. Along with Hyesi, this one requires my sacrifice as well," Ning said.
"Master?" the beasts came up to him as well, clearly worried.
"Take care of yourself, you guys. I will have to go away for… a little bit," Ning said, but no one believed the 'little bit' part, not when he was crying so much.
"Please explain what's going on!" Ely demanded as she started tearing up as well.
"Hyesi cannot kill Jha'Akim as long as he can use Qi. Because of that, the only way for him to die is if I take him to a place where he is too preoccupied with using his Qi to even be able to teleport," Ning said.
"What… do you mean?" Anya asked with tears in her eyes. Confusion was also clearly visible through the tears as well.
"I'm going to take him to a place where he will have to fend himself from the environment, more than he will from us," Ning said. "And while he's distracted, we will kill him."
"No way, are you—" Ely gasped as she realized what was happening. Anya understood as well
"Yes," Ning said.. "The only way to kill him is if I take him through the portal on the North Pole."
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Chapter 383 – Death
"I-I don't understand," Ely said. "Didn't you already come back from there once before? Why is it goodbye this time then?"
"That's because… when we kill Jha'Akim, the force from the explosion will destroy the wormhole and there will be no way for me to return back," Ning said.
"Are you sure? Maybe it won't, there's no need to say goodbye right now, right?" Anya asked worriedly.
"No, I'm sure," Ning said. "Because that was exactly what the system said would happen as well."
"No, please. I'm sure there are other ways," Ely begged.
"Master, if you're going, then take us with you," Night spoke up from the side as well.
"I can't do that. Outside of this place, you will just be a normal beast with a limited lifespan. I won't be able to take care of you at all," Ning said. "Besides, you guys have a family now, you belong somewhere. I can't keep you with me all the time."
"In fact," Ning brought his arms forward and swung it in front of them. "You guys are free now."
Night, Aegis, and Blue looked in shock as they felt the 'compulsion' deep inside of them disappear.
Ning set them free from the domination he had put them under. "Grow, and bring back the majesty of the beasts that had been lost to this land."
Ning then turned to Anya and poured out everything he had in his inventory. He was giving almost everything to her.
"Anya, I task you with the responsibility to find cures for the hybrids that will appear amidst the tragedies in all the different places," Ning said. "Also, take care of the others, as you will now be my only disciple."
"Yes, master," Anya said through her tears.
"You guys, take care of this place while your grandfather is gone. Make him proud," Ning said to the Klavians.
"Yes, Inikaka," they replied.
Finally, he turned to Ely. "It might take me a while, but I promise, I will come back to find you, so… just wait for me, okay?"
Ely nodded, unable to make any sound.
"Alright, this is goodbye, but it's not forever. If I do what I'm going to do… there is a good chance I will get to see you all guys again… in the future," Ning said.
Ning's body disappeared and a voice came from Hyesi. "So, see you guys later," and then they left them, never to return back.
Ning teleported Hyesi midair, a little further away from Jha'Akim who was desperately flying through the air towards one of the beasts that were close by.
If he got his fill with this one and maybe a few more, even Hyesi probably wouldn't be able to kill him.
"You!" Jha'Akim got angry when he saw Hyesi again and was about to teleport away when Hyesi suddenly threw a spear at him.
Jha'Akim stopped himself from teleporting and instinctively caught the spear and looked at it. It was just a normal wooden spear.
He crushed the spear into smithereens and asked, "What were you trying to achieve?"
"Doesn't matter," Hyesi said.
"You already fell into our trap anyway." A voice appeared from deep inside of Jha'Akim, terrifying him.
"What?" he looked around, and used his divine sense but he couldn't find him.
"No need to look anywhere. You just need to die."
Jha'Akim's vision changed as he was seeing a different part of the sky now. He sensed something behind him and tried to get away but someone caught him, and suddenly, his vision changed once more.
The new scene he saw was a scene of terror for him. Massive amounts of glittering lights came rushing at him and even hurt him.
He used his Qi to block the attacks and was easily maintaining himself. However, he felt the person holding him start pulling him down.
"No," Jha'Akim shouted and disappeared, appearing inside the Origin realm. However, just as he did, he teleported once again, directly in front of Hyesi once more.
Hyesi got close and grabbed him once again, pulling him further below. Jha'Akim tried to disappear away again, but it wasn't working. Every single time, he was brought back straight to the same place, grabbed by the same person, getting pulled once more.
He was getting pulled further and further in until he felt a very unusual feeling of gravity reversing as the pulling force suddenly became the pushing force.
He still had plenty of Qi to run away and tried to do so. However, even as he thought and did that, his body didn't disappear.
"No!" Jha'Akim cried out. "TELEPORT!!" he shouted, but his body, nor his system could do that.
Despite the wormhole being right next to him, the distance the wormhole was considered to have was many, many lightyears long by the system and thus he couldn't teleport out of the place.
Since he couldn't do that anymore, he tried to force Hyesi off of him, but he also had a hard time doing that as no matter how hard he hit Hyesi, he didn't let go.
Hyesi was fully prepared to kill himself, so a few hits weren't going to make him stop anymore.
"Stop!" he shouted. "Stop! Don't kill me. I don't have any more lives."
"No, you will die. You will die for what you did to those people. You will die for what you did to those beasts," Ning's voice came from deep inside of him. "You will die for what you did to my people."
"No, I can't die. Not like this, please. I beg you. I'm sorry," Jha'Akim started getting desperate.
"Apologize with your life. Die and be gone. Your death shall bring salvation to the planet in more ways than one," Ning said. "After all, while killing you, we will also bring back balance to the planet."
"Your death shall be the event that propels Kumia to a better future," Ning shouted.
Then his voice got soft and somber one final time as he said, "Hyesi, do it."
"Yes, Inikaka," Hyesi said.
"No! NO! NOOOO!" Even as Jha'Akim shouted, Hyesi didn't leave him and simply let his body and soul get disrupted enough that he couldn't not longer handle it anymore.
BOOM!!!
And then, Hyesi died, and he killed Jha'Akim with him.
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Chapter 384 – Souls
Light emerged from the depths of the Northern Pole in Kumia, and the Peak of Afterlife in the Southern Pole of Vilmore.
Both planets felt the ground shaking around them as earthquakes went around the world a few times before stopping.
The death of 2 Spirit Transformation realm experts wasn't enough to do this. It was, however, enough to destabilize the space around them just enough so that the wormhole could start splintering on one end, and start to thoroughly unravel as time went on.
The lights and earthquakes persisted for a while before they finally stopped, and the portal between the two planets was now gone forever.
Ning who was at the center of it saw it all happening with his own eyes and felt it to his core. He didn't really know what he was inside right now, after all, Jha'Akim's body had been thoroughly destroyed.
The only thing he knew was that after the explosion, and the destruction of the wormhole, he was ejected out of the peak of Afterlife and was now floating high in the air above the planet.
It took a while for him to register what had happened, but after it did, he couldn't help but feel incredibly sad. He wanted to cry, but he had nobody right now. All he could do was live with the sadness that he was feeling at the loss of his oldest friend.
"Are you happy, System? You wanted his system to get destroyed right? I hope Hyesi's sacrifice helped you with that," Ning said.
Yes, the system is now gone
Ning didn't feel anything when he heard that. That wasn't why he had gotten Hyesi to do what he did, for himself to do what he did.
Because you helped in destroying the Bloodline System, the System has prepared a little gift for you
"A gift?" Ning asked. The system never gave any gifts, so it wouldn't be a lie to say that he was surprised despite feeling incredibly sad right now.
You will have 5 minutes. Please make the most of it
"What?" Ning asked just as he felt his consciousness shift to a different location. Only, he knew he hadn't left whatever he was inhabiting yet. The new place he seemed to have arrived was completely dark with no light whatsoever.
"What is this?" Ning asked as he looked down and saw his own two feet. He then moved his hands forward and saw the two.
"My body?" he was surprised and tried to touch his face, but just as he did, his hands went through his face. "I'm ethereal?" he thought and noticed that he was slightly transparent as well.
"I'm… a soul?" he wondered.
Suddenly, he felt something behind him, and even as he was turning around, a voice reached his ear.
"Inikaka?"
Ning turned around to see Hyesi standing in front of him, in the same soul-like ethereal form he was in.
Except, he didn't look at all like the Hyesi Ning knew. Hyesi looked different, he looked…
Ning's eyes widened when he realized that it did look like the Hyesi he knew. Only, it had been so long that he had lost almost all memories of those times.
"Hyesi?" Ning asked.
"Yes, it's me, Inikaka," Hyesi said. Even as he did, he saw his own arms and legs and saw how thin they were… and small. "What's goin—"
"You look exactly like you did when I met you for the first time," Ning said. "It's good to see you like this again, Hyesi."
Ning could feel himself getting both happy and sad right now. He was happy that he was with his oldest friend and sad that it would only last for less than 5 minutes.
"How… am I here? I thought I died," Hyesi said.
"It's my system. It… did something to capture your soul for just a little longer, I think," Ning said.
"Well, I'm glad it did. At least I get to talk to you before I pass away," Hyesi said with a smile.
Seeing the small child saying such a thing made Ning uncontrollably sob. "Inikaka?" Hyesi got worried.
"I'm so sorry, Hyesi. You shouldn't have to die. I should've been strong enough to protect you all," Ning said.
When Hyesi heard that, he smiled. "Don't be sad, Inikaka. I'm happy to have been of help to you. All my life, I've only received things from you, never giving anything back. I finally got to fulfill my one lifelong wish because of this."
"And hey, you aren't the only one that wants to protect others. They are my friends and family too. It is my job and my right to sacrifice myself to help them. I… I only hope that it was useful," Hyesi said.
Ning stopped his crying and started nodding. "It did. It helped them all in ways you could've never imagined," Ning said.
"Hm? The Beast-man died right? What else was there to expect?" Hyesi asked.
"Haha," Ning laughed. "You don't realize it. None of them do. If they knew, your name would go down in history as the one who helped them advance further now."
Hyesi looked incredibly confused right now. "What… are you talking about, Inikaka?" he asked.
"Long ago, the planet of Kumia was a perfectly fine place where beasts could easily reach the Spirit Transformation realm and beyond," Ning explained.
"However, 19 Thousand years ago, a 'wound' appeared on the land that made it so that the level of Qi in the planet was never enough to go beyond the Nascent Soul realm. The Origin was never fast enough to create Qi such that it could replace what had 'leaked' away," Ning said.
Hyesi went from having a confused look to one of understanding with great surprise. "You mean…"
"Yes, today, you cured the world of the wound. From now on, the planet of Kumia will start to have more and more Qi, and soon your descendants and their descendants will grow up in a world where reaching the realm of the Immortals is a possibility."
"That is the gift you have given them with your sacrifice."
Hyesi's eyes stayed wide as he realized that the reason for the lack of Qi on the planet was because the wormhole in the Northern Pole was taking away most of it anyway.
"So… the wormhole is gone, and the world is saved?" Hyesi asked.
"Yes, it's more than saved. It couldn't have been better," Ning said.
Hyesi smiled and even started giggling. "Hahaha, if I had known that beforehand, I wouldn't have to stress so much about killing myself. I would've gone with a smile," Hyesi said.
"Look at you, you are going with a smile," Ning said.
Hyesi tried touching himself and realized he couldn't. Still, he could tell that he was smiling. "You're right. I am smili—"
"Where am I?" A voice appeared a little away from both Ning and Hyesi. They both turned around and saw a teenage boy looking at them.
"Who… are you?" Ning asked. He had never seen someone like this before.
The boy they were looking at was a scrawny man with puckered lips, sunken eyes, and bones that showed their shapes through the muscles. The boy looked around the black void in confusion until he saw Ning once again.
"What have you done, you bastard?" the little boy asked.
Ning recognized the tone and couldn't help but be surprised. "Jha'Akim?" he asked.
"Of course, it's me, who else would it be?" Jha'Akim asked angrily.
"You… look different," Ning said.
"Different? Why would I look—" he stopped when he saw his weak-looking arms and dirty nails. "Nnn-no, nn-not this," he said. "It can't be."
He tried to bring forth his hair, but he couldn't touch them at all. "What's going on? What color is my hair?" he asked.
"Red," Ning said.
"Red? This can't be. Am I going to have to live through the traumatic times once again? Am I going to die of hunger once more?" he asked as if he had lost all sense of self. He once again looked at his arms and legs, and slowly, he started sobbing.
"No, not this. I don't want this," he started crying.
"System, what's going on? Why did you bring him here?" Ning asked.
The system wanted to show you something
"What did you want to show me?" Ning asked. However, before the system could even answer, Jha'Akim went into a rage at what he looked like.
"I thought I left this behind when I reincarnated. Why do I still look like this?" he cried. "My past life and this life, both of these times I suffered. Then why do I have to suffer even in death? Did I not suffer enough? What more do you want from me, God?"
Ning could feel the sorrow in his voice. But his hatred kept him from feeling bad for him.
"Is this what you wanted to show me? A man who knew nothing but sadness his entire life?" Ning asked.
No, the System is not that superfluous.
What will happen in a second is what the System wanted you to see
Just as Jha'Akim was crying out loud, Ning noticed that his transparent body was now starting to flake at places. This grew more and more as all of his body started flaking and falling into pieces like dead skin.
"Wh-What's going on?" Jha'Akim started shouting as he too noticed this. Even as he shouted, the flakes appeared more and more until half his body was gone. Even then, it did not stop.
"System, what's happening?" Ning asked. "Is there something wrong with his soul?"
This is the result of the system that he hosted
Since most systems are an attempt at copying the Energy System, the creators do everything they can to reach that point
They obviously fail to make one similar to the Energy System, but the things they do to reach whatever level of imitation they reach, they have a lot of negative impact on one's soul.
"The system hurts the soul?" Ning asked.
Yes. A system cannot attach itself to a physical body. It can only attach itself to a soul, as only souls are capable of hosting a system
that is the reason why despite attaching to you while you were alive, the Energy system only worked after you died
And… whenever a system attaches itself to the soul, the soul gets tainted.
That is the effect of the soul being far too tainted
Ning watched as the remaining pieces of the Jha'Akim crumbled away with nothing else remaining.
"What exactly happened to him?" Ning asked.
A soul reaches a varying level of taintedness depending on how much the system defies the law of the world
His system kept his soul hostage and even made bodies for him after he died
That tainted his soul to a level that it was no longer accepted by the world and could no longer reincarnate. So, his soul was destroyed just like that.
This is why the System dislikes the other systems. Most of the creators only want to make systems for the sake of making a system. They have no care for the life it may help or destroy
That is what the System wanted to show you
Ning stayed quiet for a bit. He took in the information he was just handed and thought it through.
"Does… does that mean that my soul is tainted as well?" Ning asked.
No
You don't have a soul. During reincarnation, your soul was changed to a pure form of energy. That is all you are.
It is the reason why you can never die. At least, you can never die in this realm where Energy itself can never die
"Inikaka!" Hyesi called him. "Is… is that going to happen to me too?"
"No, no," Ning said. "That happened to him because of what he did. You are fine."
"I see. I'm glad," Hyesi said. "Still, I feel quite bad for him. It looked like he never had any good life, whether it be this one or his last one."
"Yes," Ning said.
'And the system creators prey on such innocent people to further their own ego?' Ning started to get angry just thinking that. He felt like he could start to see the reason why the System hated the other systems.
You have 20 seconds remaining
"What? No, that is too low. I haven't even had time to say goodbye," Ning cried out.
"Inikaka?" Hyesi called ."What's happening?"
"The system says you are going away now," Ning said frantically. "No, I just need a little longer. I want to talk to you a little longer."
"I see," Hyesi said calmly. "I'm going away huh? I guess it's time for me to leave then."
"No, just a little longer," Ning started begging. "System, please."
I'm afraid that's not possible. The system is using your mental strength to keep him around. If he stays any longer, you will be in danger of your mental state reaching a critical level wherein you will go into hibernation once more
"I don't care," Ning said. "I just want him to stay a little longer."
…
Very well. The system will leave the control to this whole thing in your hands
"Good," Ning said. As the seconds reached closer to 0, he started noticing his headaches appeared.
"Inikaka, are you alright?" Hyesi noticed his frowning face too.
"I-I'm fine. It's just a little headache," Ning said.
"Why are you hurting here? Aren't you just a soul?" Hyesi asked.
"It hurts because I'm… you don't need to know," Ning said even as the pain got close to being unbearable. The 5 minutes had passed by now, and whatever region he was in was not something that System had accounted for.
"Inikaka… are you hurting because of me?" Hyesi asked.
"I—" Ning didn't know what to say. "I just want to keep you around for a little longer. I don't want to see you go."
"Inikaka… you can't do that. You know that right?" Hyesi asked.
"It doesn't matter. All that matters is that you remain here, just a little longer," Ning said.
"INIKAKA!" Hyesi shouted. "Stop being stubborn. You have to let me go."
"But… But I," Ning couldn't speak through his tears.
"Let me go, Inikaka," Hyesi said. "And just promise me that when I reincarnate, you will find me."
Ning sniffled as he spoke, "I promise. Whether it is a day, a month, a year, a decade, a century, millennia, or even eons later. Whenever you reincarnate, wherever you reincarnate, I will find you."
Hyesi smiled after hearing that. "That's all I needed, Inikaka. If wishes can come true, I wish that when I meet you, I am just a weak little boy again."
"What?" Ning was confused.
"Haha, that way you can help me become stronger once more like you did the first time," Hyesi said as he gave a meek little smile. "Goodbye, Inikaka."
"Goodbye, Hyesi," Ning said through his splitting headache.
"I guess… I will see you later, then," Hyesi said and waved. His figure turned translucent and soon turned fully transparent.
Even as he disappeared, he spoke one last time as he disappeared.
"Thank you, Inikaka."
The black void disappeared, and Ning saw the planet Vilmore, the Sun, and the Sky in full glory. The headache he was suffering from got a lot worse now and soon, he could hear the system start speaking once more.
Host has overextended his mental capacity and crossed the critical state
Putting host on coma to preserve his mental state
System is going dormant
Chapter 385 – Plan And Promise
Ning's mind came into focus as he started waking up again. His drowsy head soon became clear and he could hear the swishing and smashing of the waves.
"Where am I?" he wondered and slowly looked around. Everywhere he looked, all he could see was water.
Fortunately, it seemed like he was in shallow water as he could clearly see the surface just a few meters above him.
"I… went into a coma again, didn't I?" he asked himself. "How long did I sleep for this time, system?"
You were in a coma for 30 years, 6 months, 12 days, and 44 seconds
"Hey, that's not too bad. I thought I would've been gone for 165 years like last time," Ning said.
Your mental strength has improved a lot since that time, so you recovered faster than last time
"I see," Ning said. He flew up from the water and burst out of the surface. When he looked around, he could see the ocean on one side, and the beach just a few dozen meters away.
He once again flew towards the beach and landed on it. Surprisingly, the sands felt cool to the touch, despite being in the clear sun.
"That's unusual," Ning thought. He sent out his body from his inventory and quickly switched over. Finally, he stood up in his new body, in these unfamiliar lands, all alone.
"Hmm…" he thought and looked down. "The sands are indeed very hot. Why did I not feel it in the stone?"
He had just wondered that when he remembered that he hadn't absorbed energy in a long time, so he must've been absorbing all of the heat without letting a single bit of energy remain.
"That should end quickly," Ning thought as he could already feel a Sea of Aether forming inside of his body. His automatic Aether absorption skill he had bought over two millennia ago was doing it's work.
He ignored it for now and simply sat on the incredibly hot sand, looking into the distance of the ocean.
"I need to go back, somehow," he thought. "I don't even know where Kumia is in the first place, do I?"
"System, can I get a map of the universe?" he asked.
You do not have enough energy for that
"Yeah, I thought that would be the case. Then, how far away is Kumia? I should have energy for that information, right?" he asked.
Planet Kumia is 34 Million light-years away
"Light Years?" Ning was shocked. "That's… that's very far away. Is it in a different Galaxy by any chance?"
Yes. Planet Kumia is about 3 galaxies away from where you are
"3… Galaxies? Geez, what am I supposed to do with that information? How do you suggest I go back there quickly?" Ning asked.
There are a few ways
You can find a portal that leads close to Kumia and travel normally from there
You can focus on unlocking the next few Energies so that you can increase the cap and get a lot of energy at once so that you can open a temporary portal of your own
You can also find an advanced planet that has learned how to perform intergalactic space travel. However, these planets are very rare.
"Hmm," Ning thought when presented the options. "Are there any portals on this planet that can lead me to the Galaxy where Kumia is in?" Ning asked.
No, there are no such portals in this galaxy.
"Okay, that's one option out. I will require 1 quadrillion energy for my next energy, don't I? That's a little annoying, but whatever. I will see what I can do. Although, how much energy would I require to open a portal from here to Kumia?" Ning asked.
Approximately, 3.6 Sextillion
Ning was surprised at first because of how large the number was and almost even started to calculate how long it would take him to open the portal, but then he stopped.
"Wait… that's too little, right?" Ning asked. He had calculated something similar before and he had learned that if he wanted to teleport exactly 1 Light Year away, it would cost him a little less than 20 Quadrillion Energy.
If he could travel millions of Lightyears with about a 10th of the energy, then it was definitely cheap.
"Is there a reason, system?" Ning asked.
Opening portals is cheaper if the travel distance is very far away. Since you are squeezing space and not moving matter through space, it costs cheaper by comparison
it is suggested that you use Teleportation for until 2000 Light-years of distance, and open portal for after that
"Is there a calculation for the opening portal as well? Similar to the one for teleportations?" Ning asked.
…
The system gave him a bit of information that was so confusing that even after having been told what it was, he was still confused. The math being used in this case was something he hadn't seen before, and likely wouldn't ever see from anywhere else.
"So, all I need to know is that if the distance is less than 2000 Lightyears, it's better if I use Teleportations, but if it's longer, I should make a portal. Alright, got it," Ning said.
"I guess that too is not a possibility for now since I don't have much energy. Finally, as for finding humans that have learned Intergalactic space travel, are there such advanced societies in this galaxy?" Ning asked.
No, not in this one or the next one
there is however life on the 2nd galaxy that can use space travel and consistently travels to and from the 3rd Galaxy
"Oh, that's nice," Ning said. "So… let's see, there really is just one way then. Gather enough energy and hop through galaxies. Hopefully, on one of those, I will find a portal back to Kumia or somewhere close by."
Ning's eyes shined with determination as he stood up and looked up into the sky with a smile.
"Just wait a little longer, you guys.. I promise I will be back very soon."
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Chapter 386 – Another Seclusion
"Damn, am I in a desert or what?" Ning wondered as he kept flying in the blistering heat of the sun. For some reason, he felt like everything was way too bright and hot.
It had been nearly 15 minutes since he flew away from the beach and still, there was no sign of life anywhere. Now that he thought about it, there were no fishes in the brief glance he took underwater.
"What's going on?" he wondered as he kept on flying. Finally, after a few more minutes, he saw the first sign of life. There were small shrubs in the desert, and he could see some sort of forest far away.
He kept flying and finally reached the forest. The weird plants and trees of this planet really messed with his knowledge of plants from back in Kumia. Still, he recognized a few of them from the time he was back.
"Wait, where actually am I?" he wondered and asked the system. He had been preoccupied with just finding life that he had never bothered to know where he was.
The system gave him an accurate location on the map he had from before. Although the map was only an intermediate one, it was still quite helpful to him right now.
"I will have to upgrade it soon," he thought.
He then carefully checked the map and realized that he was close to the massive forest that spanned half of the entire continent.
Ning took the time to check more of the map and realized that nothing of what he remembered from last time was on the map anymore.
The places had all changed their names, old empires had broken down, new kingdoms had formed. Forest appeared in places that weren't a forest, and the forests that were there were destroyed to make room for humans.
All in all, in just 2000 years, things had changed at an incredible rate, and Ning was going to let that happen one more time.
"I need to find the Origin of this planet so that I can quickly get stronger," he thought. Unfortunately, the system wasn't going to help him in this case, and he was unsure what he could actually do.
"Alright, let's just spend some time collecting energy before I go do anything," Ning thought and flew inside the forest and found himself a place to stay.
He carved a giant tree and stepped inside. "So, how long will it take me to collect enough energy to fill my cap daily with my current speed of Aether absorption?" Ning wondered.
He didn't know how long he had, so he used the technique he already bought and used it to speed up his Aether absorption process. In just 5 minutes, he was notified that he could no longer absorb any more energy.
Ning then left his body and moved to the tree wherein he took back his body and decided to go unconscious.
"Alright system, wake me up when the cap resets," he said.
Confirmed
Ning slowly lost consciousness and immediately felt it coming back on. However, some time had clearly passed as the time was night now.
He went back into his body and tried to do the same thing once again. When he used the better, manual Aether Absorption skill, he could be done in about 20 minutes.
Other times, Ning would consider that to be quite fast, but now that he was used to the energy absorption time of the Origin, this felt incredibly slow to him.
"I need something better," he thought. "Status!"
[Status
Name: Ning Ruogong
Energy: 18 Billion
Separated Energy-
Heat Energy: 9 Billion
Sound Energy: 4 Billion
Qi Energy: 0
Kinetic Energy: 3 Billion
Aether Energy: 2 Billion
Skill: …]
"Hmm…" Ning realized that he didn't really have a lot of energy now. "Did I spend a lot with those questions I asked the system regarding Kumia?" he wondered.
"How much Energy would I require to upgrade my current automatic absorption art so that I can become an Aether Master in a single day?" Ning asked.
You want to collect 100 Million Aether in a single day. This will cost you 12 Trillion energy
"Yikes, that's a lot. Uh… that will take a few years certainly," Ning thought. "Although…"
He quickly opened up the list of things to buy and saw that there was still one more thing he hadn't acquired yet and definitely needed to before he did anything else.
"235 Trillion for perfect talent huh. Now the 12 Trillion for the Aether looks like nothing much really," he thought.
"247 Trillion in total… that will take me… how many years will it take me, system?" he asked.
528 Years and 248 days
"Sigh, so long once more, huh? Now I'm starting to doubt if I should even buy the talent. That's one-fourth of the way to getting my new energy. Urggh, why is it always such a hard decision?" Ning wondered.
"Screw it, I will just go with the absorption art for now and spend all of my time unlocking the next type of energy. After that, my energy absorption speed should be 8 times faster. Then I can absorb all the energy in the world," Ning thought.
"Yes, that's the right thing to do. Okay, let's collect energy once more."
And so, Ning went on another years-long energy gathering work where he did nothing but go in and out of gathering Aether for days on end.
All he would do was wake up, go into his body, reach his limit as fast as he could, go back to inhabiting the tree, sleep, and do it all over once again.
From time to time, he had to change hosts as the trees couldn't handle his energy enough. He was gathering more energy than a normal tree could ever hold.
So, he had to create an incredibly tough material so that it could collect as much energy as he could.
Finally, after doing that for years on end, Ning felt that life had gotten too monotonous and needed some spark in it again.
So, he decided to stop for now and left to find a human civilization.
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Chapter 387 – The Start Of The Continent
"Status."
Ning decided to check his status one more time as he had come to the decision of waiting to do whatever he wanted to do
[Status
Name: Ning Ruogong
Energy: 116.25 Trillion
Separated Energy-
Heat Energy: 120 Billion
Sound Energy: 80 Billion
Qi Energy: 0
Kinetic Energy: 50 Billion
Aether Energy: 116 Trillion
Skill: …]
"Well, I'm halfway there to getting talent, I guess," Ning thought. "Should I wait for a little longer then?"
However, he had already come to the decision to leave and no longer wanted to stick around doing nothing but gathering energy.
"I really need some human interaction, or I might go numb at this rate," he thought and flew away from the forest he was in.
Along the way, he saw a couple of beasts with some purple lights escaping from around their body or their eyes, but they were way too common around here, so he didn't think much of them. After all, they were simply normal Aether beasts.
As he had previously known, the world of Vilmore was about the same size as Planet Earth, but it only had a single continent on it. The single continent however spanned the entirety of the southern hemisphere, while the northern hemisphere was nothing but a massive ocean.
The continent had a single massive forest that ran across half of it and was what marked the beginning and end of the continent.
Viewing from the forest when turned towards the ocean, the continent began from the left of it and went all the way until it ended when it reached the forest again.
The forest was thousands of kilometers wide, filled with Aether beasts, so people never traveled through the forest.
Ning remembered the man-eating tree he found back when he was here. If he could find such trees just an hour after walking in, who knew what sort of nightmare the place held.
Ning shook his head and flew in the direction of the start of the continent. He was still on the outer edge of the continent and was not that far away from returning to the ocean if he wanted to.
Finally, after an hour of flying, he was out of the massive forest.
He looked around trying to find where exactly he was. According to the map, there should've been a village around here.
"Oh, there is it," Ning thought when he finally saw them on the other side of the sand dunes.
"This is the Utlar village?" he thought. He slowly landed out of it and walked into the village, however, he was surprised that he did not find anyone outside.
There was not a single person roaming the streets of the village. All the houses he saw had their doors shut, but they didn't have any locks. He wished to see what was inside but unfortunately, he didn't have any divine sense in this body. Not that he could use it on this planet.
For a few seconds, he thought that he had come to a place with no people, just a ghost town. However, soon he knew he was wrong because he could hear sounds of cheering from across another dune.
"Are the people there?" Ning wondered and walked up there. He could fly, but he didn't want to scare the people since flying wasn't exactly common in this place.
He walked atop the very hot sand as the hot air wafted across his face as they rose up. He was starting to sweat a bit and also desired some water. He brought out a bottle from his inventory to drink it before moving to the top of the dune.
When he finally reached there, he saw a gathering of people, around 100 or so, surrounding a person in the center. From what Ning could tell, the man seemed to be some sort of entertainer as the people were pretty excited to see him do stuff.
Due to his bad vision, Ning couldn't exactly see what he was doing and walked down the dune to take a closer look.
Coming down to the shaded side of the dune, the sands were much cooler here and Ning didn't find it as uncomfortable as before.
Finally, he reached the bottom of the dune and saw the event more clearly.
The people surrounding the man, who seemed to belong to this village, were wearing mostly white garments with very few colors. However, the man at the center of it all was wearing a fashionable blue pant, and a shirt with quite a vibrant black and red color on it.
He had a small body, almost weak looking, with slightly tanned skin. His curly hair fell to his shoulders while the white hat he wore hid most of it.
His eyes were deep muddy brown in color, but there were traces of violet in it from time to time.
"…feated the demon lord, freeing the people of Xandria from the clutches of the demons. Since then, they…"
The entertainer moved his hands and the sand below him started floating in the air, clumping at parts and separating at others to form distinct images.
Ning could see the figure of a man who held a sword in his hand and fought against numerous beasts. The image changed, and Ning could now see the man seating on what looked like a throne.
The images changed once more. This time the man was with a woman and they held a child in their arms.
The images changed, showing the child growing up until he sat on the same throne as the first man did.
"Emperor Kain has since stayed as the emperor of Xandria for the last century and he will continue to stay as one for the next century," the man finished.
"Woooo!" the people shouted in excitement as the man finished his story
The images stopped changing and the sand fell to the ground. The man took a curtsy bow in front of all the people as they showered him with praise.
Ning walked upfront, curious as to who exactly this man was.
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Chapter 388 – The Merchant
"Alright people, gather around and give me what you have. I will pay you for it now," the man said as he set up a table in front of everyone.
"Mister, here are 10 pots I made this time. They are the best of the best," a man walked up holding a bunch of pots.
"Here I have 10 bags of dates that I grew myself," a woman walked up.
"My mommy made these shawls. There are 5 of these," a very young child walked up holding a bunch of clothes.
Many people crowded around him, making him feel a little uncomfortable. "People, please. Your time will come. Let's do it one by one," the man said.
"You with the 10 pots. Would you sell them to me for 15 coins?" the man asked.
"Yes, yes," the man with the pots said and immediately handed over the 10 pots. As soon as the entertainer took the 10 pots, they disappeared all of a sudden, making the crowd a little surprised.
"Next, you with the dates. Hmm, the city folk really do love dates. Let's see, 40 coins for them all," the man asked.
"40 coins? Absolutely!" the woman felt ecstatic when she heard how much she would earn.
"Great, here are your coins," the man said as he handed over the 40 coins and took the dates. As soon as he did, once more all 10 bags of dates disappeared immediately.
The people cried out in surprise as they didn't understand how it happened at all.
"Who's next? Oh yes, you little man. What did you say you have?" the man said as he squatted down to the boy's level.
"My mommy made these shawls," the little boy said.
"And where's your mommy?" the man asked.
"There," the boy pointed to a woman in the crowd.
The woman walked forward and explained, "he saw us doing this last time too and got very excited when he learned you were coming today. He kept saying that he wanted to be the one to sell these shawls I made."
"Oh," the man turned to look at the young boy, "you want to sell these shawls by yourself?" he asked.
"Yes?" the boy answered meekly.
"Fantastic. Come on then, let me see the shawls," the man said.
The boy happily handed over the shawls and the man looked at it very carefully. "How about I give you 5 coins for these shawls. Are you okay with that?" the man asked.
"Yes?" the boy almost answered when his mother patted him and told him to say no. "No, I want 10 coins," the boy said.
"10 coins? Why?" the man asked.
"My mommy worked very hard for those shawls," the young boy said confidently.
"Ooh, you run a very hard bargain, sir. Very well, 10 coins it is then," the man said.
The boy immediately started smiling when he heard that. "Really?" he asked.
"Of course, and since you have been such a great customer, I will give you 1 coin more too. Here are 11 coins. Go give them to your mommy," the man said.
The boy happily went up to his mother and handed her the money. The man then went on to deal with the remaining people who had all brought something with them.
Ning wanted to go up and ask him a few questions on multiple instances, but the man never stopped buying stuff, so he had to wait.
Once he was done, Ning thought he had the chance when he now started to sell stuff. Ning had to once more wait for an hour or so before the man was done selling everything.
"How'd you guys like the story?" the man asked the young kids from the village as he finished wrapping up his 'shop'.
"Eh? It was okay, I guess," one of the kids said.
"Okay? Only okay? But you guys cheered so much," the man said with a shocked expression.
"It's because of the magic you do. We are all here to watch the magic, not the story," the kids said.
"Tsk. Get away from here you little brats. It's not magic, it's Aether arts. How many times do I have to tell you?" the man asked.
"What's the difference? It's basically the same," the kids said and walked away. The man mumbled something underneath his breath saying how magic was fake, and Aether arts were real, but no one was there to hear him.
Except for Ning.
"Hi," Ning said as he walked up to the man.
"Sorry, I'm all done selling for today. I don— Oh, it's you," the man said.
"Huh? You know me?" Ning was a little surprised.
"What? Of course not. It's just that you stand out a lot. I've never seen dresses like that before and your untanned skin stands out a lot in the desert, you know," the man said.
"Ah, right. Sorry, you're not from around here right? Do you happen to have a means for going to the city? I'm in need of some form of transportation myself," Ning said.
"Transportation? Yeah, that's just 2 mountains away from here," the man said. "Why do you not know that?"
"My apologies. I came from far away and don't really know the world a lot," Ning explained.
"Far away?" the man looked at him up and down. "You don't look like you're someone from the other side."
"The… Other side?" Ning asked curiously.
"The other side? The end of the continent? The Republic of Embers?" the man asked.
"Ah, that place. No, I'm not from there," Ning explained.
"Then?" the man asked.
"Uhh, it's a little hard to explain. Let's just say I came from around where the Peak of Afterlife is," Ning said.
"Woah, you came from the very south, huh?" the man asked. "What are you doing here then?"
"Oh, I was just roaming around for now. I was hoping you could help me get to this city you talked about not long ago," Ning asked.
"The city of Beginnings?" the man asked. "Sure, I don't mind at all.. You can tag along."
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Chapter 389 – The Massive Snake
"So, what's your name?" the merchant-entertainer asked.
"It's Ning. What's yours?" Ning asked.
"I'm Reever Skulls. Nice to meet you, Mr. Ning," Reever said with a smile.
They were no longer walking on sand, but rather crusted, deserted land as they made their way to the place where Ning assumed they were going to take a carriage.
He could just fly away if he wanted to, but he found that quite boring, so he decided to just go on a carriage ride for a bit.
"So what exactly is it that you do, brother Reever?" Ning asked.
"I'm just a merchant. What about you?" Reever asked.
"Well, I…" Ning stopped didn't know what exactly he could say. "I don't have any job yet. If anything, I'm just a traveler, wandering around for no reason I guess."
"Eh? But you must do something right? Even travelers need money," Reever said.
"Well, I have a bit of medical knowledge, so you can think of me as a doctor," Ning said.
"Oh, a doctor? Those surely earn a lot. You must've been bored of your job to go roam the world huh?" Reever said.
Ning didn't say anything and just kept on walking with Reever.
Ning could see more and more trees as he went more and more south. After nearly 15 minutes of travel, Ning could see some sort of building standing ahead of them.
However, he saw no carriage waiting for them there. 'Maybe there's some behind that building?' he thought and got closer to the building, but even as they did, they couldn't see anything.
"I don't see anything there. Are you sure we can reach the city from here?' Ning asked. A whistling sound came from somewhere behind them to the west and Ning turned to look, but there was nothing there.
"What do you mean?" Reever asked.
"Well, is the carriage kept somewhere else then?" Ning asked.
"Huh?" Reever asked with a confused face. "What old age do you live in? Mr. Ning, why would we take a carriage in this current day and age. A carriage can only get you so far."
Ning got confused as well. "What do you take then?" Ning asked. Even as he did, he heard the whistle get closer and closer.
Before Reever could even answer, Ning turned around to look at what was making the noise. The moment he turned around, he could see a giant snake making its way towards him, its clear image hidden in the heatwaves in the air.
The snake whistled as it made its way towards them. Ning got scared. He was no longer as strong as he used to be, so despite having an undying body, he didn't want to go through the torture of getting eaten by a snake.
"Run!" Reever said and started running immediately towards the building.
"No, we should run that way," Ning said as he pointed towards the north, where they had come from.
"What? No! Come on, hurry up," Reever said as he ran towards the building.
Ning started getting curious. 'Is that building special? Does it stop us from the snake somehow?' he wondered.
He decided to trust Reever as it looked like he was used to doing this. He too ran behind him and soon they were at the building.
"Phew! We're safe," Reever said.
"Are we?" Ning asked. He could still hear the snake's whistle getting closer and closer. As it did, so did the vibrations from its movement.
"Of course," Reever said. "If we didn't, we would have had to wait for 3 hours for our next ride."
"Our… ride?" Ning looked confused. 'They ride on a snake?' he thought.
"Man, I'm glad we made it in time," Reever said just as the snake beast stopped moving right in front of them.
Ning looked at the beast that was fully made up of metal and had steam coming from all around it. There were also openings all around the side of the snake and he could see people through this opening.
"Ohhh!" he said as he finally realized what the 'snake' was and felt so embarrassed that he wanted to go hide somewhere else.
"Come on, brother. The train is here," Reever said and got onto the train.
Ning looked at the train in front of him, and while it looked different from the ones in his memories, it was still clearly a train. 'It's more like an older version from the 19th century,' he thought.
It had been close to 3000 years since he had last seen trains at all. And given that the people of Vilmore didn't have any advanced technology the last time he was around, for some reason, he expected them to stay that way.
"When people's lifespan is short, the changes tend to come very fast, don't they?" he thought. Just because cultivators didn't die, their tradition and values kept going on for thousands of years and since they dictated the world, the mortals couldn't bring innovation as the other worlds did.
In Vilmore, however, even the highest of the Invokers or Enchanters could only live for at most 500 years. That wasn't enough to keep the progress of a planet stagnant.
"Brother Ning, come on. The train will leave soon," Reever said as he called him out again.
"Ah, yes," Ning said as he quickly walked into the train. He could suddenly feel the heat inside the metal mass from having to move around in the blisteringly hot sun.
They walked to an empty seat and sat down opposite one another. After a minute or so, the train started moving once more as steam escaped from all around it.
Ning could feel the vibrations from inside, a unique feeling to him even though he had felt it quite a few times in his last life.
The train whistled once more and they started moving again.
"It should take us about 2 hours to reach the city of beginnings. Just get your money ready, the train conductor will come at any moment," Reever said.
"Oh, okay," Ning said. "How many Rops is it?"
Reever looked at him with a weird look and asked, "What's a Rop?"
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Chapter 390 – Talent And Potential
"You don't know Rop?" Ning asked. 'Shit! Did that change too?' he thought. He quickly checked in with the system and realized that the currency had changed by now as well.
This time, it was something called Sils and Gols. 'That definitely doesn't sound like silver or gold at all,' Ning thought sarcastically.
"Sorry, I meant, what is the price of the ticket? For the 2 hour ride," Ning asked.
"It's 3 coins," Reever said.
"Uhh… 3 sils?" Ning asked.
"Of course, don't you have the money?" Reever asked as he looked at him with a scrutinizing look.
"No, I do. Why would I not?" Ning asked and silently had the system make some sils and gols for himself. He acted like he was reaching into his pocket and brought out 3 sils.
'Oh, they are already on paper money huh?' Ning thought in surprise as he saw the paper notes floating inside his inventory. 'I wonder why they haven't still used Aether ores as a form of currency like spirit stones. It must still be very hard to find,' he thought.
The train conductor came by and took their money before handing them a ticket. Ning looked at the small ticket with words printed on it and was surprised how far along Vilmore had come.
'I wonder if they have telephones and radios already. When did cars come on earth again? Those should be made here already right?' he thought.
He watched the view outside as the train took a long curve towards the right and moved up north.
"Man, I hate this place," Reever complained as he opened the uppermost button of his shirt and used a paper fan to wave air to himself. From the looks of it, he was also feeling very hot.
"And yet you still come here," Ning said with a chuckle.
"Well, we have to do what we can for money, don't we?" he asked.
"That's fair. By the way, I wanted to ask you something. I saw you buying those items from those people for a few coins. For example, you bought that one man's pots for 1 coin each, but even the train ticket costs 3 coins. Are you ripping them off?" Ning asked.
"WHAT?" Reever exclaimed. "How preposterous? Of course, I don't rip them off at all," he said.
"Oh, but from what I saw, you sold bags of grains for almost 10 coins each. Is that not ripping them off? " Ning asked.
"O-Of course not. I negotiate prior to every sale. I only pay what my customers are happy with," Reever said.
"Do you not profit on those items at all?" Ning asked.
"Um, I mean, of course, I do. What sort of business would I be running if I made no profit," Reever said.
"How high are your profit margins from these trips?" Ning asked.
Reever got a little defensive and looked at Ning angrily.
"Hey! I was just asking," Ning said. "I don't mind if you rip them off. As long as they aren't negatively impacted by it. Just having you go there every time must already be a huge help to them."
Reever looked at him with a concerned face and asked, "are you not lying?"
"No, of course not. I saw those happy faces in the village. Not a single one of them seemed to be struggling at all. However, I don't know if that would have been the case if you didn't go to sell goods to them," Ning said encouragingly.
"Yes, that's right. While I may not pay them what it's worth, they are happy with what they get," Reever said.
"Right, if they don't complain, you are fine," Ning said. Ning sighed in relief after seeing Reever lose his anger.
'Phew, I would have lost myself a guide around this place if I kept it up any longer," Ning thought.
The train ride went along and little by little, Ning could feel the air in the train getting cooler. "If only we could open the window without letting the sand in," he said softly.
"That would be so much better than just constantly waving these fans to me," Reever said as he continued waving the paper fans.
"Can't you just get the fans to wave you by themselves? As an enchanter, you should be able to do at least that much right?" Ning asked.
"No," Reever said meekly. "I don't have enough Aether in me to keep it going for long. What I had, I mostly used it during the storytelling back in the village."
"But you were so accurate with the figures of the sand. It felt like I was actually looking at real people moving around a lot of the time," Ning said. "You have a lot of talent."
"Sigh, what good is talent without any potential brother Ning. No matter how much I try, I can never get myself to get better than an Aether Student. Sigh, I have given up on becoming better at using Aether. Now I just want to become a merchant, and earn as much money as I can," Reever said.
"'Talent without potential' huh? I can understand a bit of what you mean. I am in fact the exact opposite, brother Reever. I have potential, but no talent at all. So despite having Aether, I can't really use it as well," Ning said.
"Oh," Reever said with a bit of surprise. "If you don't have talent, but you have potential, then you have nothing to worry about, Brother Ning. Just go practice a bunch, and very soon you should be able to use it as well as the others do."
"I suppose that's true," Ning said. "I really haven't given the practice aspect very much focus in all these years."
"What are you, brother Ning? An Invoker, or an Enchanter?" Reever asked curiously.
"I am an invoker, a very bad one though," Ning said.
"A bad Invoker is still better than a dud, I guess.. That way, you won't get into trouble when you go out of the Xandria Empire," Reever said.
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