A Lightbearer of Two Worlds Chapter 1, a Book X-overs + Destiny Crossover fanfic

A Lightbearing Reaper

A/N: I'm taking He Who Fights With Monsters' verse adding/altering the Abidan divisions -one of which is Soul Reapers of Bleach- from Will Wight's Cradle Series that serve the Great Astral being, The Creator (Destiny's Traveler) and expand reality/order, pushing back against the darkness/chaos.

Important: Read for context.

The first Diamond rankers to ascend beyond their worlds into the Deep Astral and bond themselves to the Creator through its Ghosts -turning them into half transcendent entities that were both physical and spiritual capable of living in the Deep Astral- and created the Abidan. A part of the bond involved the Eledari Pact, which allows them to tap into the Astral being's paracausal powers but are forbidden from directly interacting with the physical realms of mortal entities, leaving them to their fates -even total annihilation. Only able to intervein when outside/astral powers threaten the stability and fate of a world.

The diamond rankers unable to bond with the Creator's Ghosts serve under the Lightbearers to aid in the expansion of creation. Then from the Lightbearers came those that grew stronger by manifesting Mantles representing aspects of reality, gaining power of a full transcendent being. This enabled them to create racial gifts, awakening stones and essences. They became the leaders of the Abidan called Judges, forming the Court of Seven.

The standard weapon of Abidan, a recent creation -by their standards as they are a several trillion old organization- called Asauchi created by the current Ozriel: Ozmanthus Oetsu Mereithan Nimaiya -the first being to ascend as a half-transcendent being and managed to manifest a mantle of existence without being bonded to a Ghost of the Creator. They are weapons that are part spirit, part construct that bonds with the user's soul to form a weapon based on their soul and a sentient spirit that will reside within it and help protect it from corruption -only for those that aren't already gestalt entities have the sentient spirit, as their souls are already mixed with their physical form. As it is also considered a tool for diamond rankers to become gestalt entities like Lightbearers as the spirit of the weapon is essentially their own soul manifested into a form they can better interact with. By physically manifesting their Asauchi and corroborating they can become one, becoming a being of physical and spiritual matter. Though it is a transcendent weapon used by the Abidan, it was created back on Iteration 110, Pallimutus before Ozmanthus ascended. Thus, there are numerous Asauchi still on his homeworld being used by unascended essence users. As such, a few other diamond rankers that had bonded to his Asauchi became gestalt entities before ascending.

Each Judge created Divisions with those that exemplify their aspect of reality.

The Mantle of the Builder went to who best exemplifies Creation/Building physical reality, taking on the name of Adriel to lead the Builders of the Builder Division. The Builder division is dedicated to creating new Iterations through the management of World Seeds from the Creator through their abilities to access and maintain the underpinnings of the universe's templates, giving birth to new worlds capable of supporting life and the creation of souls. They are proficient in astral magic but excel in building constructs and weapons. Their Racial Gift Evolution is Siva Intergration that boosts their physicality and creation abilities by having nanites fused to their very being that can breakdown matter and create whatever the user wants.

The Mantle of the Phoenix goes to who best exemplifies Restoration takes on the name of Suriel to lead the Phoenixes of the Phoenix Division. The Phoenix division of the Abidan is dedicated to restoring and preserving dimensional integrity that protects the physical worlds of reality which produces souls, that fuel's the astral that keeps the void at bay. They also act as the healers of the Abidan, able to revert the dead to living and destroyed worlds to whole. They're given the Racial Gift Evolution called Paragon of the Phoenix that gives them the abilities to conjure restorative flame like phoenix wings that increases their power of restoration and strengthening dimensional integrity.

The Mantle of the Reaper goes to who best exemplifies the finality of Death, taking on the name of Ozriel, the Reaper to lead the Soul Reapers of the Regulator Division. The Regulator division is dedicated to the balance of souls within the astral and physical reality by ensuring dead souls are safely migrated to the astral. More physical realities cannot be made until the Astral has a significant number of souls within it to expand the boarders of reality. To aid this endeavor members are given a Racial Gift Evolution called Shinigami Affinity that allows individuals to conjure Shihakusho that gives various abilities like becoming intangible and walking through air, and increased resistance to soul attacks, strengthened attributes, increased soul sense, making their essence abilities able to cleanse Hollows -humanoid souls tainted by Chaos of the Void and/or Fiends- upon killing them, returning the energy of their souls to the Astral.

The Mantle of the Warlock goes to who best exemplifies Magical Understanding, taking on the name of Durandiel to lead the Warlocks of the Magic Division. The Magic division is dedicated to the preservation and maintenance of the astral through the understanding of magic's underlying nature that is threaded throughout existence. Magic being the substance that makes up the astral and the medium between the soul and physical reality. They also handle inter-division problems like squabbles and physical confrontations between individuals from different divisions. They tend to have enhanced magical abilities focused around knowledge, control and manipulation of magic energies. Their Racial Gift is Celestial Book that gives increased magical effects, mana strength and recovery, enhancement to spells and higher mental capability.

The Mantle of the Spider goes to who most exemplifies Sight, taking on the name of Telariel the Spider to lead the Spiders of the Watcher Division. The Watcher division handles communication and detection throughout reality. The members have vision that threads throughout reality and can see fate. They detect incursions of Fiends and the Vroshir -agents of chaos/darkness/corruption- from the Void into Iterations. Coordinating responses to said threat and deploying the appropriate division to handle any problem, from dimensional instability to corruption of a world's fundamental structure by outside forces. Their Racial Gift is Web of Fate that gives them enhanced perception abilities to see, hear, touch and taste everything around them through invisible threads of a spider's web.

The Mantle of the Keeper goes to who most exemplifies Time, taking on the Mantle of Zakariel, the Keeper to lead the Keepers of the Hourglass Division. The Hourglass division handles the stability of time throughout all Iterations. Their Racial Gift is called Time Master that allows someone to accelerate and condense time within a confined space, and an extraordinary sense that allows them to detect temporal anomalies. The Hourglass division handles exploring the edges of the Deep Astral for the Abidan using their excellent mobility and stealth, finding ideal areas for the creation of a new iteration to be secured by the Titans and built by the Builders. They are also the recon force and rescue teams of the Abidan.

The Mantle of the Titan goes to who best exemplifies Protection, taking on the name of Gadrael the Titan to lead the Titans of the Titan Division. Their members specialize in abilities of absolute defense. The Titans handle setting up barriers and defenses against the forces of the Void for the protection of reality. Their Racial Gift is called Protection of the Vanguard that allows them to conjure armor that protects its user from all types of attacks and enhances their shield and barrier abilities They are the defensive force that fights off invading forces of chaos that try devouring reality. They also build the wards around Haven that secures dangerous and powerful weapons/artifacts of significance. Haven also houses offenders; typically, individuals that attempt to return to a mortal realm to either rule or steal from them, and Diamond rankers that cause issues across multiple worlds -releasing a mutative/lethal virus, waging wars and aiding the Vroshir in raiding and destroying worlds, though most of those offenders tend to be executed. The Titans also guard Asylum: an entire Iteration dedicated to imprisoning class one fiends strong enough to endanger Judges and the Creator. Fiends of such power are too significant to be destroyed without such an effort and expense of power that the Abadan Judges would be weakened to the point that the Vroshir would be able to destroy them.

It's not unheard of for an Abidan to have more than one racial gift from different Judges as they excel in more than one division's aspect.

Then there is the Darkness of the Endless Void that constantly eats away at reality, the Deep Astral, as it lives outside it. It was more an aspect in antitheses of reality producing Fiends that only hunger to devour existence, including the Creator itself. The Abidan protects the Creator by hunting down and destroying Fiends, but Class-One Fiends are strong enough to threaten the existence of Judges, and enough of them could -in theory- devour the Creator.

The previous Adriel; Sosuke Aizen, an unparalleled genius given racial gifts from six of seven Judges -all but the previous Adriel- before ascending beyond his world. He'd ended up being capable of taking on any of the Mantles, named successor to all Judge positions, turned traitor. He bound himself to the Darkness to become a Great Astral Being: the added title of the Darkness signifying his new station. It was the only ever occurrence of a mortal rising to become a paracausal entity, stronger than the Judges, on par with the Creator. He had tried to steal the power of the Creator, only stopped by the intervention of the previous Ozriel and Durandiel. The Warlock managed to separate the Darkness from the Creator by disrupting his working as the Reaper died delivering a heavy blow that forced Aizen to flee.

Unfortunately, the Creator was wounded during their struggle, weakening all Lightbearers in turn. Thus, the Abidan were unable to hunt down the wounded Darkness as Fiends pounced on reality, drawn like wolves on the scent of raw meat. The weakened Abidan had to focus all their power on repelling the Fiends of the Void. Even so, numerous Iterations -along with trillions of lives- were lost, turned into Hollows and/or devoured by Fiends.

Aizen, the Darkness created the Vroshir upon his defection and failed plans for the Creator, using the power of the Void to create the Hogyoku, using its power to stably breakdown humanoid souls and stabilize the souls of Hollows to create humanoid-hollows he calls Arrancar. The strongest of which are given the title of Espada and are powerful enough to threaten Abidan Judges and the top four being as individually powerful as any Judge. Such as Barragan the Rot that can rapidly decay all things into nothing, a corrupted form of time manipulation that can only accelerate time forward but at an extraordinary rate.

The Darkness used his knowledge to create the Vex constructs he'd acquired while being the former Builder. They snip away at reality by stealing chunks of physical reality to anchor his own creation; Hueco Mundo, a reality of his own making with inhabitants -humanoid souls- stolen from numerous worlds that end up turning into hollows due to the corruptive Void energy of the Iteration. Where they are to be used as future Arrancar or food for them.

The methods leave the worlds intact and are done through proxies that live on those iterations that have been implanted with Entropic Seeds -gifting them with powers such as Stasis and Strand while giving the Darkness control over them. Most being willing as they gain power, even if they don't fully accept the Seed into their soul. But those that do tend to jump a rank while gaining unique powers of the Darkness. Because of this fact, mortals opening themselves to Aizen's power in the same manner as the Abidan does through Racal gifts, essences and awakening stones -indirect interaction with physical realities not forbidden by the Eledari Pact- the Abidan can't interfere directly.

Though there are instances where Aizen, the Darkness directly attacks iterations, forcefully taking or devouring reality. This tends to leave the Iterations raided by the Vroshir broken and corrupted. Some decay entirely, devoured by Fiends and the Void, or, if they are salvageable, they are repaired and stabilized by the Abidan. In such instances, the Abidan directly intervenes sending forces to stop/repel the Vroshir. Even so, the Darkness tends to attack sporadically and on multiple fronts, using several attacks as misdirection to succeed.

A/N: I really enjoyed Shirtaloon's work, but I can't stand Jason Asano. At first, he was funny and had potential, but he just ended up being an over-the-top, annoying MC that never develops past any issues. He repeatedly makes the same mistakes and bringing up his issues of killing people and how he is evil. I honestly just barely made it through book eight.

So many MCs of late are stupid and over-the-top like Jason and Monkey D. Luffy. Realistically, they'd have been put down hard and fast. I prefer the more serious but full of character Ichigo Kurosaki and Wei Shi Lindon template that put effort and planning in saving people, doing what needs to be done instead of running around yelling about how great they are and acting childish with no plans, lucking out of most situations. So, this Jason Asano will be OOC being more like Chris Hemsworth's character Tyler Rake from the Extraction movies mixed with Cradle Series' Lindon's cunning and planning. Obviously, he'll have his moments of anger and immaturity as no one is perfect, just nowhere as bad as cannon Jason.

This Jason dropped out of his first year of college and enlisted in the Australian Defense Force (ADF) upon finding his childhood friend turned girlfriend cheating on him with his older brother. When he was 24, he ended up knocking up a random one-nightstand, Mai Rake. It wasn't until the child was born and the young lady had committed suicide from untreated postpartum depression that he knew of the child, Tyler Rake. She'd wrote in his name on the boy's birth certificate and seeing as she had no family, he was given custody. Though, as an active serviceman, he had to get his sister to take legal guardianship of him while on deployment. His son growing up mostly as a member of Erika's family, even Emi seeing him as a little brother.

After five years of active service, he applied and passed the Special Force Screen Test to join Australia Special Air Service Regiment (SASR). Once making it through all four phases of the 21-day SAS Selection Course he progressed through the 16-month reinforcement cycle. He became an official Snake eater by 26, though going back for additional courses to qualify as an officer in the regiment.

After three years of active peacekeeping missions with US Special Forces in the Middle East doing counterinsurgency, counterterrorism, reconnaissance and hostage rescue his son was diagnosed with leukemia.

Jason was granted emergency leave to take care of his son, only for him to die several months later at the tender age of six. Jason left the military upon burying his only child, guilty for not being their more, spending more time overseas than at home. Maybe 30 days a year, 8 months gone with 1 month at home before being sent off on another tour of duty.

He'll be more mature and capable with military training. Jason will have already killed and dealt with those type of horrors before arriving in Pallimustus. He won't be so naïve about death and real-world implications of his actions.

I'll be replacing/fusing some of HWFWM characters with those from the Cradle Series such as Eithan -those in the know can guess where he is- and from Bleach such as Yoruichi -those familiar with HWFWM can guess who she'll be replacing.

Don't worry, I won't make Author Notes nearly as large as this one going forward.

Chapter 1: Surviving Monsters & Cannibals in a Hege Maze

Jason woke up naked, face down in the grass. That was not how he expected to wake up, since he had gone to sleep in his own bed. From the feel of the cool grass on his groin, he had been removed from his bed and boxer shorts both. The last thing he remembered was putting away a few beers while watching a footy game with his dad and brother-in-law. They were checking up on him as they've been prone to do over the last year, after his son's death.

At first, he'd lived with his older sister Erika for a while after leaving the military and burying his barely six-year-old son, Tyler. It helped that her husband Ian Evans was a doctor and Emi, his niece ended up being a bright spot in his dark times. Jason had loved babysitting her over the years, when he could and the best memories he had with his son was times spent with Erika's family. Birthday parties he timed his leave around or just barbes. His older sister Erika had even set him up with a single bedroom apartment in Melbourne to be near her.

She was worried about him for obvious reasons as he'd left his career and was only semi-working for Erika's cooking show. He had cohosted several episodes before over the years with great success, so her producer had no issues with hiring him on. Though he was less enthusiastic and did them rarely. Erika still had him appear on a few episodes and kept on payroll as a creative advisor.

Jason knew he was struggling on deciding what to do now that his life had fallen apart. Without Erika he could very well be some homeless bloke neck-deep in drink. He had gone to sleep wondering how he could ever pay her back for all that she has done for him. Nearly a year later and he only got a job working at an office supply store and started to try living again.

Now he woke up on weirdly comfortable dense bed of lush green softness. It wasn't like any grass he had encountered before. Which was odd as his father was a landscape architect and he'd spent a lot of time helping his father on jobs for his allowance growing up. It was also a way to avoid his mother's Japanese lessons. So, Jason was familiar with various types of grass and shrubbery.

Jason rolled himself over and sat up. He was feeling odd, there was a lingering spoor, but also a feeling of refreshed energy. He ran a hand over his head, only to be startled when he realized his hair was missing.

"Uh..."

He felt about his head with both hands, but his head was balloon smooth. Which was odd for he had a full head of silky black hair when he went to sleep, cropped short, close to the head but enough to feel through his fingers.

"What the..." he let out dumbfoundedly before looking down. "Fucking hell, did someone shave off all my hair, even my pubes? That's sick. This better not be my old mates' idea of a prank."

Jason knew his men despite being absolute professionals on missions could do some really stupid shit for kicks and to decompress, but would they actually do this? Maybe a misguided attempt at making him feel better?

He let out a sigh before he started to fully examine the rest of his body. Upon which he found all his scars and tattoos were gone. A decade of active combat had left scars from knife wounds, shrapnel, burns and bullet holes along with various tats. There was one tattoo in particular he desperately tried to see: the name, date of birth and death of his son over his heart. Running his hands over his chest, even clawing at it, as if it was underneath his skin. But there wasn't even a single dot of ink or a scar from laser removal. His body was pristine now, as if it'd never been touched until now. That was until he felt the scar running down over his right eye, from above the brow down to his cheek.

He wondered why just that one was still there when everything else was gone, but then he realized what was so different from that one scar: It was the symbol of his greatest failure that ran down to his very soul. His first mission where things went FUBAR and destroyed his naivety about right and wrong, and killing in general. His first real look at true evil and his failings unleashing that evil upon innocent children.

That scar was forever branded into his very being. It was the defining moment of his life that knocked him out of his moral superiority and forced him to grow up. To see the world for what it really was. But his son's death was the same, so why wasn't the tattoo still there? Maybe because it came after the fact or the scar over his eye happened during the defining moment?

After shaking away the oddity of his scar and lack of other marks on his body, he started assessing his environment. All while trying to desperately not think about what happened to his body. Casting his gaze to the sky, he saw that the sun was high, and the air was warm. The sky was unbroken blue, the blazing orb burning away so much as the merest hint of cloud. Sunburn, more than cold, was likely to threaten his exposed extremities. He really didn't want to relive the experience of having sunburned genitals.

The pealing alone was enough not to want it. Jason shuddered and mentally repressed the experience.

Looking around, he saw that he was boxed in between two long, tall hedges. Glancing up and down the dead-straight lane, side-junctions headed off at sharp right angles in either direction. The lane itself was wide and grassy, with plenty of room for even small groups of people to comfortably walk. The hedge walls were meticulously trimmed, professionally so in fact, at least based on his experience with his father's business.

Jason glanced down at his bald, naked body, seeing his compact muscle forged through years of military training and active combat deployments held on his broad frame -that he'd inherited from his mother's side of the gene-pool, her father and brother actually.* He was an odd mix of Asian traits with rough cocky aussie frame. Jason also had long limbs that matched his tall height, ridiculously so by Asian standards, topping out at 6'3" by time he graduated high school.

He wasn't quite as cut as he once was. Months of heavy drinking, ignoring his physical conditioning and overall lack of self-care had softened him up a bit. Though he had cut back his drinking to occasional beers every now and again, started continuing his training routine and was eating healthy again. Much to his sister's pleasure. The professional chief was most irked with him when he started eating processed foods and fast-food junk.

Jason shook off his idle thoughts and set off at random to explore and hopefully find some pants. He quickly discovered he was in a hedge maze, the living walls cultivated to almost twice his height. Jason's first thought was to climb one to get a better sense of his location, but a closer examination of the hedges changed his mind. Instead of the usual boxwood, the hedges were something very prickly, and he was very naked. He'd rather put off scrapping his junk for as long as he could.

Plus, that'd leave him very exposed. He looked up and down the path he was on, with neither direction looking any better than the other.

That was when all the unexplainable stuff came back in force. He could believe someone had kidnapped him, even shaved him bald for some reason and drop in a maze. Most likely full of horrible traps and armed killers and/or vicious man-eating beasts wandering around to hunt him. A sick revenge/thrill from many of the powerful/vile people he has pissed off over the years doing his job. But the pristine nature of his body was impossible. Even if someone went through the expense to give him plastic surgery to remove all his scars and tattoos -which he wasn't sure was even possible- there'd still be marks from the surgery. At least patches of rough or discolored skin.

It was like magic.

"What the bloody hell is going on?"

As if in response to his question, something appeared in front of him. It looked like a touch screen, floating in the air, disembodied. He reached out to touch it with an experimental finger, the screen shimmering as his finger passed straight through.

"Hologram?"

He looked at the ground and the nearby hedges for some kind of projector, but as he started moving, the screen followed. There was text on the screen, which he read.

New Quest: [Stranger in a Strange Land]

You have awoken in a place you do not know. Explore the area to discover more.

Objectives: Explore the hedge maze 0/1.

Reward: Simple pants.

"Huh?"

He looked around suspiciously. He carefully probed the pointy foliage of the hedge walls, looking for hidden cameras and projectors. Looking up at the sky, he didn't spot any camera drones. What he did notice was the moon, pale and easy to overlook in the daylight. Then he noticed another moon.

"That can't be right."

Jason looked down at the floating screen, then back up at the sky. Still two moons.

"Great. I've gone troppo."

Jason stood there, gripping the grass with his toes, relishing the sensation, unsure what to do. He kept glancing up at the sky and the extra moon. In front of him, the screen still waited patiently.

"This is crazy. I mean, a quest? I'm not a video game character."

Another screen appeared next to the first.

Jason Asano

Race: Outworlder Current rank: normal

Progression to iron rank: 0% (0/4 essences)

Attributes:

[Power] (no essence): normal

[Speed] (no essence): normal

[Spirit] (no essence): normal

[Recovery] (no essence): normal

Racial Abilities (Outworlder):

[Interface]

[Quest System]

[Inventory]

[Map]

[Astral Affinity]

[Mysterious Stranger]

Essences (0/4)

No Essence [No Attribute] (0/4)

"Is this a character sheet? Am I meant to understand any of this?"

He shook his head in bewilderment. "And my insanity chose to go with a system I'm not familiar with."

He looked over the screen again and read, "Map," latching onto something familiar. "I know what maps are. How do I see the map?"

A new screen obligingly appeared, but as it was the third screen, the space in front of him was getting crowded. He absently thought it would be convenient for the other screens to close, which they immediately did.

"What the..." Jason blew out a deep sigh at the absurdity of what was happening to him. Things were getting harder to explain away, even ignoring the extra moon and the miraculously pristine nature of his body. Some kind of voice-command hologram was implausible, but not impossible. Mental command holograms were something else entirely.

"Yup, I've definitely gone troppo."

Hoping it wouldn't work, he started experimenting. He was able to open and close any of the windows with a simple thought.

"Maybe you're unconscious," he reassured himself. "Maybe you have a brain tumor and you're in a hospital somewhere. Or passed out on the floor. Hallucinating in an asylum. A nice one, with a big hedge maze. Or you never made it back from your last deployment..." He closed his eyes with a groan. "How is any of that comforting?"

Jason took a deep breath, letting it out slowly before opening his eyes again. The screens were still there, waiting.

"Just roll with the punches," he told himself. "Reserve judgment until more information is available. That's the rational approach."

He and his team of Snake Eaters had been put through the gauntlet numerous times. They'd endured the sadistic SASR training and all sorts of hellish combat through the years. One thing Jason had learned above all else, was keeping calm and tackling whatever challenge came his way. No time to second guess the whys or how's of a situation, just reacting and making it through.

He turned his gaze back to the map floating in front of him. It looked like a map from any videogame, complete with a location listing.

Zone: Vane Estate (Hedge Maze)

Though, it was mostly obscured. The only unveiled portion was the small section of the hedge maze he had already explored. He tried moving the map with mental commands, finding he could zoom it in and out as easily as he could open and close the disembodied screens.

Zooming all the way out he reached a world map that looked both familiar and unfamiliar. Although the details were obscured, he could decipher the outline of the continents. Disturbingly, they weren't quite the same as the ones he knew. Southeast Asia was a singular landmass, pushing Australia south and east where it looked to have consumed New Zealand. The Iberian and Arabian peninsulas were missing entirely, leaving Africa wholly disconnected from Europe and Asia. Sri Lanka was further south and several times larger, making for a huge land mass in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Japan looked to have absorbed north and south Korea into a single mass while being moved further south from China, forming a small ocean on par with the Indian Ocean between them. North and South America was completely separated with a small sea between them.

"Well, that's not what the world looks like. Inaccurate cartography? An older map from earlier explorations of the world?"

According to the map, Jason was in south-west Africa, somewhere around inland Namibia. He looked at the rich, green hedges boxing him in. The lush grass felt cool under his feet. He felt the hot, but not dry, air on his skin. He gave what many had referred to as his trademark scowl that made him look like he was looking for someone to punch.

"This is most definitely not the Kalahari Desert... unless this is some ridiculously expensive private estate. Maybe I was taken for some criminal lord's elaborate revenge after all." He looked around, trying to find the cameras the prick would be watching him through. Unless he was watching through a telescope from a high vantage point with good view of the maze.

He sighed, closing the map, "This is all sorts of strange."

He pulled up the character sheet again.

Racial Abilities (Outworlder)

[Interface]

[Quest System]

[Inventory]

[Map]

[Astral Affinity]

[Mysterious Stranger]

"Shouldn't my race be human? What's an Outworlder?" Jason half expected another screen to appear, but nothing did, so he looked down the list.

"Interface seems obvious. Quest systems too, I guess. Inventory?"

A window appeared, dominated by a mostly empty grid of icon slots. There were five spaces down and eight across, for a total of forty. There was also what looked like a currency counter at the bottom, depicting six different coins. Each coin had a counter that read zero. Jason thought it held a resemblance to classic inventory systems most RPGs used.

"Can I really put stuff in here?"

There were three items in the inventory, each one occupying their own slot. One was some kind of blue icon, presumably representing an actual item, the second looked mostly the same but white, and the third icon looked like a tiny sword.

"Alright, Jason. Time to see how far gone you really are. How do I get this thing out?"

After some quick trial and error, he discovered it was as simple as plucking the icon straight out of the screen. The icon vanished and the item appeared magically in his hand. It was a medallion the size of his palm. It looked and felt like polished sapphire marble with gold engravings on both sides. It was pleasantly warm to the touch. On one side the engraving was a picture of a fire bird, while the other had symbols reading 'Authority of the Phoenix.'

"Well, that just magically appeared out of thin air," Jason grimaced in concern. "That's not possible... What is this thing?"

Item: [The Phoenix Token] (transcendent rank, legendary)

? (consumable, ?)

Effect: ?

Uses remaining: 1/1

"Question marks? That useful," he groused at the lack of information. "Wait, why can I read this?" Jason had learned a multitude of languages, from English and Japanese to Arabic and Turkish, but what he was reading was most definitely not any language he knew. "How can I read a language I've never even seen before?"

In response to his question a new prompt appeared.

Ability: [Mysterious Stranger]

Language adaptation. Essence, awakening stone and skill-book absorption. Immunity to identification and tracking effects.

"Language adaptation? Is that how I read the weird writing on the tablet?"

That must be it and immunity to identification and tracking was self-explanatory. He could also figure out skill-book absorption from video game experience when he was a kid. But there was something he had idea what it was.

"Essences and awakening stones? What's that all about?"

Help: Essences

Manifested concentration of magic that represents a single aspect that can be absorbed to imbue 1 awakened ability of the essence it represents and 4 unawakened essence abilities.

[]

Help: Awakening Stones.

Various forms of concentrated magic that awakens unawakened essence abilities.

[]

Help: Essence Abilities

Essence abilities are personal supernatural abilities. They come in a variety of forms, including passive abilities, special attacks and spells.

Compared to time-consuming and preparation-intensive ritualized magic, most essence abilities can be used spontaneously.

"Magic... sure, why not," Jason deadpanned. "And there's a help function? Can you help me figure out what in the blood hell is going on?"

There was no response, which both disappointed him and was a relief. He'd be concerned if this weird game system stuff was sentient, possibly manipulating him. Still didn't help with the possibility that he'd gone mad. Which wasn't help when Jason tried putting the sapphire tablet back into the inventory. His first attempt was to shove it into the screen, which surprisingly worked. It vanished from his hands and reappeared as an icon.

"That defies physics," he lamented. "Bad sign for my sanity."

He repeated the process but with the white icon. It was a medallion just like the phoenix one but white with what looked like an odd techno moon on one side and 'Authority of the Creator' on the back. It also gave off a comforting feeling, like a warmth that filled his soul with life, protection, knowledge, and colder feelings like death all rolled into one.

Jason's grip on reality was feeling increasingly tenuous. The screens were odd, but could conceivably, if implausibly, be the product of hidden hologram projectors. It was when they started responding to his thoughts that he started to get worried, and now he was pulling objects out of thin air. Not to forget his hairless, fully restored body. He closed the inventory and pulled up his character sheet again. Next down the ability list was the map, which he'd already looked at, then astral affinity.

Ability: [Astral Affinity]

Increased resistance to dimension effects and astral forces. Dimension abilities have increased effect and transcendent damage is increased.

"No idea what that means."

He knew what mysterious stranger was, so he returned his attention to his inventory and pulled out the white tablet. He was surprised to find the weird screen was able to identify it.

Item: [The Creator Token] (transcendent rank, legendary)

Summons a piece of the Creator's light, that upon finding your soul to have the necessary spark, will bond with your soul, changing you on a fundamental level (consumable, summons).

Requirements: Spark of Light and Uncorrupted soul.

Effect: Summons [Ghost] that if it successfully bonds to the user's soul, will change your race to [Lightbearer] by triggering [Nirvanic Transfiguration].

Effect: Gift full essence set that can be declined.

Effect: Trigger multiple racial gift evolutions designed by the Court of Seven.

You meet the requirements to use this item.

You are able to activate [The Creator Token].

Activate Y/N?

Jason frowned at the description of the white medallion in his hands, "It'll give me a ghost that'll change my race... which is already not human. What is a nirvanic transfiguration supposed to be?"

Help: [Nirvanic Transfiguration]

Your body and soul will be combined into a gestalt entity both physical and spiritual in nature. This state will grant inherent resistance to effects that utilize the soul-body disconnect. The nature of your body will make you immune to all revival effects besides your own revival abilities and transcendent effects. Your soul will gain a significantly increased resistance to corruption.

Your aura has gained the ability to repel the negative effects of the aura of void creatures. The strength of your aura will be significantly increased.

The strength of your attributes will be significantly increased.

Your resistance to hostile dimension effects and disruptive force damage will be increased.

The effect of your dimension effects and your transcendent damage will be increased.

Physical reality around you will be more stable. You will be able to sense nearby astral space apertures and proto-astral spaces coterminous to your location.

You will be able to traverse astral space apertures, including those that are closed or have been sealed.

You will be able to directly enter proto-astral spaces coterminous with your location or directly leave a proto-astral space to a coterminous location

While within the astral, you will be able to create and maintain a small zone of physical reality around you. This does not grant the ability to enter or traverse the astral.

Ghost will have access to all your racial abilities.

Your Ghost will be able to restore large amounts of your health, stamina and mana. The cooldown between each restorative effect will shorten with each advancement in rank.

When suffering lethal damage, your Ghost will be able revive you, restoring your body to a state of full integrity. This effect cannot be triggered again until you have increased in rank from the last time it was used. This ability will change on reaching diamond rank.

You will gain a permanent transcendent shield -resistant to all damage types- that ignores rank disparity. The strength and recovery of which will be congruent with your rank.

You will gain a heal-over-time effect that recovers a small amount of health, mana and stamina. This effect's strength will be congruent to your rank.

You will gain immunity to iron rank afflictions and increased resistances to higher ranked afflictions. This effect will grow in congruent with your rank.

Jason read through the effects several times, not sure how to take it. They would definitely help him, but he wasn't sure about the whole soul thing. He was an atheist and didn't believe in the whole soul and afterlife thing.

He just sighed in defeat, not sure what to do. The whole situation was insane. Looking closer, he noticed that the question about activating the token only appeared when he looked at the tablet while holding it. Putting it down would cause the prompt to disappear. While looking away or thinking about something else when holding the token would cause the window to shrink to the side.

He panned his head around the lush green hedge maze, thinking about his situation. He was lost, naked, hairless and lost all his tattoos. He wasn't certain if he was dead, in a coma or had lost his mind and was in a delusionary state.

Would using the summoning token push him deeper into that delusion?

Jason shook away the thoughts and decided he'd not use it. Even though the essences would give him much magic powers, shields, healing and bring him back from death, he didn't like the sound some powers being crafted by the Court of Seven. Clearly, it was an organization centered around the Creator, which he assumed was some sort of a god. He wasn't the biggest fan of religious organizations, having dealt with the horrors of zealots throughout his career.

Then there was the question of why the phoenix token was unreadable? Too many unknowns for his liking.

Jason put it away with its sapphire version and pulled out the sword icon which proved to be a plain sheathed katana that had a black sageo for its grip and the tsuba was square. Its length was fitted for his height at about 2.50 Shaku or 75.8cm/29.8" and was perfectly balanced.

Item: [Asauchi] (transcendent [growth], legendary)

A spirit weapon that can bond to a user's soul to become a unique weapon and companion spirit based off the bonded soul (weapon, cleanse).

Effect: A blade capable of cutting spiritual bodies and attacking the soul directly. It does increased damage to undead entities and creatures of the Void.

Effect: This sword does transcendent damage and any entity killed by this weapon will have their soul cleansed and transitioned to the Great Astral.

Effect: Bonds to user's soul to become a unique soul weapon of their rank, growing along with them.

Requirements for soulbond: Must have an uncorrupted soul and be iron rank or above.

You do not meet the requirements to soulbond with this weapon

Jason read over the sword's description several times and was once more uncomfortable with whole soul stuff. Thankfully, he couldn't bond with it, so he put it out of his mind and focused on its other abilities. Not wanting to think about soul attacks and undead he went with the one unknown that didn't touch on spiritual ideologies.

"Transcendent damage?"

Help: Transcendent damage.

Transcendent damage ignores all forms of physical and magical defense, damage reduction and resistances.

"So, it's a super sword that can cut anything unimpeded," Jason mused while drawing it from its sheath and giving it a few practice swings. He never picked up kendo or anything that would have made his mum happy with her desire for her children to be more Japanese. Even so, he has used various bladed instruments in killing, mostly knifes, the largest being a seven-inch bowie.

"Not sure I like the Jap having a katana trope but it's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it... Why couldn't you have been a gun?"

He closed all the open windows except for the map. "Alright then," he said, looking up and down the pathway he was on. Neither offered anything to recommend it over the other. "Well, without a clear direction to go, any will have to do."

He picked a direction at random and set off... naked with a katana in one hand and its sheath in the other.

Jason was walking through the maze, the map open in front of him. It was being unveiled as he walked. His current plan was to reveal enough that he could plot a way out. He froze when he heard a rustle in the hedges, then quickly spun towards the sound. His highly trained and experienced instincts flared out.

Something was out there.

"Who's there?" he demanded, his body shifting into his well-practiced combat stance, sword held at the ready in a way that would insult a samurai, while trying not to think about how exposed his genitals were. He started panning his eyes around as he strained his ears for any sound of life, like a snapping twig or rustling of leaves.

There wasn't any response.

Jason has been ambushed countless times by either the SASR training secessions or actual assassins. From radicalized terrorists in cave systems or open markets, to ex-special forces turned mercenary in urban settings. His instincts had been sharpened to a razor's edge, though slightly dulled over the past year.

New Quest: [No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service]

Your immediate area has become infested with lesser monsters.

Objective: Discover the reason lesser monsters have infested the area 0/1.

Reward: Simple shirt.

Bonus Objective: Defeat ten lesser monsters 0/10.

Reward: Simple footwear.

Jason was continuing to hold a ready stance while focusing on panning his head around when something small came hurtling from the bottom of a hedge. He swung at with the sheath, having been holding it like a bat and knocked it to the ground hard, the soft grass offering little protection. It looked like a rabid hamster the size of his head. It twitched and shuddered, but he pounced on it before it could get up, stomping down on its head with a sickening crunch without thinking.

Maybe it'd have been better to cut away at it with the katana, but he wasn't well versed in sword usage and just fell back on how he'd handle a rodent.

One of its eyes popped out its socket, screeching something terrible. Adrenaline pumping and its pained wails echoed as he repeatedly stomped down on it until it went silent. Blood, bone and grey brain matter were visible around what used to be its head and his bare foot. Unfortunately, the last killing blow caused a sharpened piece of skull to slice open his foot from the pad to the ankle.

"Bugger!" Jason gritted out, seething as he hopped back on one foot, letting a few more expletives loose.

You have defeated [Potent Hamster].

Defeated lesser monsters 1/10.

Jason panned his head around for another attack encase something heard the hamster's death throng. After a few moments passed without a sound and no perceived movements, he returned his focus to the bleeding cut on the inside of his right foot. He sheathed the Asauchi blade and laid it on the ground as he sat to get a firm grip above the wound. Looking back at the dead lump of the head-sized hamster, he grumbled, "What the hell is happening? How could a hamster get that big? And why attack me? Are hamsters omnivores?"

Jason looked over the creature, its head now a pulpy mass. According to the window that popped up it was a lesser monster called a Potent Hamster. Picking up the katana with his free hand, he poked at it.

Would you like to loot [Potent Hamster]?

Jason pulled back the sheathed weapon, fearing it might trigger some sort of trap.

"What in the bloody hell is going on?"

Reading the screen again, and after cradling his wounded foot some more, uncertainly stated, "Yes?"

The body of the dead creature made a fizzing sound, like a rapid chemical reaction. The body started melting rapidly, first the flesh, then even the skeleton, all dissolving into rainbow-colored smoke. It seemed pretty until it hit Jason with a thick stench like burned hair and rotting flesh. He scrambled back while pinching his nose to escape the rancid smell, hacking out coughs. Which unfortunately didn't work as the bloody mess on his foot also dissolved. It was by far the worst thing he has ever smelled in his life, and he'd literally crawled through a tunnel of shit and piss.

The movement also had the unattended effect of agitating his injury, getting him to wince at the pain. Though, it was minor to the type of injures he has had to endure in the past and easily pushed it aside.

Looking back at where he'd killed the hamster, he saw the creature's body had vanished, as if it never existed at all. He ignored the window that popped up, looking over the, thankfully not too deep cut, but he also knew it'd hinder his movements. Feet were sensitive and pain would shoot up his leg every time he put his weight down on said foot.

"Bugger, this sucks," he told the spot where the hamster used to be. "Monster hamsters attacking out of nowhere, my foot is injured and said monster just puffs out of existence like out of a bloody video game. I can't think of any better explanation for what's happening than I've lost my damned mind."

Jason just sat there for few more moments, his foot throbbing in pain, before he took calming breaths. He was hurt. Not badly, but he was experiencing pain. So, this wasn't some elaborate dream, it was real enough to hurt him. That meant, he had to act as if he was in an active combat zone filled with unknown dangers. No more questioning his sanity or trying to rationalize it all away. He'd been bled, meaning he could die. He'd have time to analyze the absurdity of monsters, magically removed tattoos and scars once he was safe.

He straightened up but stayed seated on his rear as he read the screen waiting for him.

[Monster Core (Lesser)] has been added to your inventory.

[Healing Unguent (Iron)] has been added to your inventory.

10 [Lesser Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.

"Alright, straight into the inventory. Odd but helpful and that's all that matters right now, soldier. Focus," he told himself firmly.

Now familiar with opening and closing the screens, the inventory window appeared with a simple thought. Two more of the forty grids were now occupied with little icons, while the currency counter now had the number ten listed over the first of the six coin symbols.

Jason took out the item labelled healing unguent. It was a small, round tin reminding him of an old ointment tin his nanna would keep under the sink.

He took a closer look at the tin in his hand.

Item: [Healing Unguent (Iron)] (iron rank, common)

Topical healing ointment. Inexpensive concoction ideal for superficial injures (consumable, healing).

Effect: Apply directly to injuries to heal. Effect reduced on bronze-rank or higher individual.

Uses remaining: 5/5.

Jason pulled off the lid to discover it really did look and smell like the ointments his nanna would use when he was boy. There was a sharp, medicinal smell that cut through even the lingering stench of the dead creature. The contents were an oily substance that looked like butterscotch sauce made from dubiously sourced ingredients.

"How did I-" he cut himself off and just put the how and why aside for later. All that mattered was that he'd just got some much apricated medicine. He had languished from stab wounds and bullet holes without any aid enough to not care how, just that he had it.

Jason took a glop of the ointment and spread it on his injury. He couldn't very well walk around all that well if he didn't do something to patch up his foot. There was a tingling, burning sensation that he was familiar with, having been wounded enough times to get similar such reactions from disinfectant medical salves. Hopefully, that meant the healing unguent also disinfected the wound.

Infection was more likely to kill him from such a wound than anything else.

With relief and fascination, he watched the cut close shut, perfectly restoring his foot to normal. There wasn't even red irritated skin from the scratch left. It was like magic.

Or exactly like magic.

You have used [Healing Unguent (iron)].

Uses remaining 4/5.

Jason nodded approvingly as he placed the tin back in his inventory and pulled out the other icon. What appeared in his hand was a small, red-brown gem, in shape of a marble.

Item: [Monster Core (Lesser)] (iron rank, common)

The magic core of a lesser monster (crafting material, magic core).

Effect: Common component for ritual magic and magic item creation.

"Oh, it's for magic rituals... which is real." Jason sighed with resignation as he put the monster core back in his inventory. It was harder and harder to not question his reality, but he had to push along as if this was all real. The consequences of acting like it wasn't would be worse than if it was.

Jason looked at the coin counter in his inventory, "How do I take that out?" He tried tapping on the number.

You have 10 [Lesser Spirit Coins].

How many would you like to withdraw?

"Umm... One," he stretched out in uncertainty.

A coin appeared in Jason's hand. It was a washed-out blue color, with a metallic sheen but felt more like glass to the touch.

Item: [Lesser Spirit Coin] (iron rank, common)

An impure distillation of raw magic (currency, crafting material).

Effect: Used to fuel lesser-ranked magic items or as a ritual component.

Jason peered at the figure embossed on the coin. Looking closer, he realized it was an image of himself winking with a small smirk but unlike his current condition it had his hair and goatee.

He rubbed his chin, "I really miss my hair," as it was a bit pointy.

He turned the coin to look at the other side, which was engraved with text.

Product of Jason.

G'day, mate.

He ran a hand over his face, groaning out in exasperation. Somehow the coin itself was more ridiculous than the fact that he had pulled it out of thin air.

When the barb creature latched its bucked teeth onto his inner thigh, Jason yelled more out of panic than pain. He still had no pants and that was much too close to his genitals. Even though it had missed the important bits, the hedgehogs ridiculously long barbs were stabbing into is cock and balls. It'd been bad enough when it shot the barbs at him like a thrown dart -if they'd been bullet fast, he'd have died- leaving small hole in his flesh all over. Swiping projectiles from the air with a sword was a lot harder than movies made it look. He'd maybe blocked three or four of the dozen odd barbs fired at him as he closed the distance to attack.

The plan had been to stab and slash until it died but it'd gone rabid and gone for his crotch with its teeth.

He'd dropped the sword and its sheath to grab the spiked monstrosity by its head, puncturing his hands with four-inch-long barbs and ripped it off him. The hedgehog ended up taking a golf ball sized chunk of his thigh with it and if it been a bit to the side, it'd have killed him.

Despite the flaring pain in his thig and hands, Jason was unwilling to risk another attack on his junk and proceeded to slam the barbed prick's head into the ground over and over and over again until a prompt appeared.

You have defeated [Malicious Hedgehog]

Defeat lesser monsters 9/10.

Jason ripped his hands free of spike hedgehog by violently throwing it into a hedge. Dropping to the ground, he began the agonizing process of pulling out all the barbs in his hands, forearms and legs. They left him a bloody mess, but he was able to pull out a tin of healing unguent and immediately took out a large glob and pushed it into the hole in his thig, filling it. Then, taking the little bit left in the tin to rub his penis and balls thoroughly.

"God's damned ball of spikes," he groused.

Only after a careful examination of his private region did he look at the wound, high up the inside of his thigh. The sizable hole kept stinging as the wound slowly closed. Even so, the ability to watch an injury vanish in front of his eyes was amazing.

You have used [Healing Unguent (iron)]

Uses remaining: 0/5.

After nine encounters with different creatures, Jason had only now gone through one whole tin of healing unguent he'd gotten. Of the other little monsters that had attacked him only the flying eel had gotten a bite in, but it had nothing on this last one. He'd ended up going through an entire second tin to close up the rest of his wounds. Apparently, fighting a mass of spiky barbs naked was highly ill-advised.

He really wished he had a gun as he would have done better than his abysmal sword skills. He was tempted to use the token simply for the fact it'd give him essences and through them, magic powers. Then he could bond the Asauchi and hopefully it'd become something better than a sword -hopefully a gun. Hell, just the magic shield would have stopped some of those barbs from piercing his flesh.

One pleasant discovery was that he didn't have to stand in the stinking smoke that came off them after they were looted. So long as he touched the creature he could back away before accepting. Even if he was far away from the dissolving creature, the loot went straight into his inventory. The only problem was that any of the creature's blood that got on him would dissolve away as well, giving Jason a full dose of the stink. Like with the blood on hands from the malicious hedgehog did giving him even more irritation.

The little bugger.

Every creature he looted gave out one lesser monster core and exactly 10 spirit coins. Most also produced additional, often nonsensical rewards. Tins of healing ointment were mercifully common, but mostly he received animal parts. That would have been understandable enough, given that he was killing creatures, but they arrived in his inventory already cut and packaged. The meat of the tyrannical pheasant came neatly wrapped in deli paper while the bundle of spines he'd just received from the malicious hedgehog was bound with string. The animal parts were listed as crafting materials, some of which seemed to be for cooking. While he did enjoy trying new food, Jason wasn't quite ready to put monster meat in his diet.

While he waited for the newest wound to heal, he checked the map again. He had a decent-sized chunk of the hedge maze mapped out now, but it was quite large, and he'd met a lot of dead ends.

He plotted out his next pathway and set out again.

There was a flower growing in the middle of the pathway, around a meter tall. With thick, gnarled stalk and ugly brown petals on a flower head looking like a fist full of knuckles. Everywhere else Jason had been, there was only uniform hedges and neatly cut grass. He watched it from a safe distance, but to all observation it was just a plant. He moved forwards cautiously, eyes glued to the flower. He gave it as wide a berth as he could, keeping at least a meter from it. Just when he thought he had passed without incident, the flower twitched, spraying spores all over him.

He got dizzy and fell to the ground, then felt a weight on his leg. A vine with a bulbous head had grown out of the ground near the flower stem and was now winding its way around his leg. His head was swimming, but he clenched his teeth, fighting through the haze -this not being the first time he'd been dosed with something in a fight, and he wasn't going to risk anymore attack to his beans. He pulled his leg back, stretching the vine and severed it with the katana just below his foot.

There was a muffled screeching sound coming from the flower as Jason put down the sheath to yank off the remainder of the vine around his leg and regain his feet.

The ground under the flower bulged, soil spilling away as a grotesque shape emerged from the earth. It looked like a root vegetable but was the size and shape of a baby. The severed vine was attached to its stomach like an umbilical cord, while the flower grew out of its head. Oddly enough the monster baby plant had a sharp trowel in its tiny hand. The trowel looked sinister, made out of some kind of black metal with a red sheen. It carried the wear marks of having been used as a planting tool but also had a razor edge that seemed wholly unnecessary for gardening purposes.

Jason threw the wooden sheath at the trowel wielding flower monster, the end smacking into its head. More of its spores spurted out but it fell onto it back, screeching and he capitalized on it. He ran to it, standing above it, holding his breath and slashing down on the baby root creature, gouging out chunks of it. It flailed as it screeched, green like blood coming from its open gashes, little limbs being lost, including the hand holding the trowel.

With a sidestep and downward swing he removed its head, ending it wails.

You have defeated [Carnivorous Mandrake]

Quest: [No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service]

Bonus objective complete: Defeat ten lesser monsters 10/10.

[Simple Footwear] has been added to your inventory.

Primary quest objective still available.

Jason moved out of the lingering spore cloud and took deep breaths for a few seconds to calm his anger. A baby plant monster just popped out of the ground and tried to eat him. It was an unintelligent... monster -he was still adjusting to the reality of monsters- that got the drop on him.

He was better than that!

"Come on. Get it together. I'm not becoming plant food."

Taking the footwear out of his inventory he discovered it was a pair of sandals. Although the thick grass was pleasant underfoot, Jason still put them on, remembering the damage he'd done to his foot when stomping the potent hamster to death. Also, a rather unpleasant run in with glass and his bare feet years ago.

Looking down at his otherwise naked self, he sighed out, "I'd still prefer some pants..." He remembered the barbs stabbing his cock and added, "I hate this place."

He looted the carnivorous mandrake, from a distance and it proved to be the most generous monster thus far with its loot, producing not only healing unguent, but paralyzing powder. Jason then picked up trowel and frowned at the description.

Item: [Trowel of the Blood Cult] (iron rank, uncommon)

A gardening implement enchanted to affect certain kinds of plants (tool).

Effect: Improves health of carnivorous plants.

"Blood cult?" he read unhappily from the item description. "Great. Trapped in a cult's hedge maze, butt-ass naked, and they seem to be centered around blood. Nothing bad can come of that," he deadpanned.

Jason tossed the trowel into his inventory and after checking his map again, he set off clutching his weapon on the lookout for cultists.

Eventually he found a structure resembling an old European-styled well.

Jason looked at the well. It was a circle of bricks, the mortar aged and crumbling. There was a wooden bucket and crank, both weathered with age. It was a rustically picturesque feature ideal for the center of the hedge maze.

Quest: [Stranger in a Strange Land]

Objective complete: Explore the hedge maze 1/1.

[Simple Pants] have been added to your inventory.

Quest complete.

100 [Iron Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.

Jason let out a sigh of relief and took the pants out of his inventory. They were made of plain white linen, with billowy legs and a very low crotch fit, held up by a drawstring.

"It kind of looks like the pants Majin Buu wore in DBZ..." he just shook his head at yet another oddity.

Putting aside fashion concerns, Jason slipped the pants on, walking around experimentally. They were sufficiently roomy that it didn't feel much different to walking around without them.

"I don't suppose I can get a quest for some boxers?" He waited for a few moments, but no window appeared. "Worth a try."

The wounds he suffered from the hedgehog left wounds on his thigh, calf, torso, hands and arms, though they'd been healed. The pants immediately had stains of red and unguent-yellow, the one on his thigh and crotch could be misconstrued as a nasty accident involving his bladder.

"Alright," he said to himself. "What's next?"

Sooner or later, he would need to find his way out of the maze, but the fact that his quest ended on reaching the well implied there was something special about it. He started by examining the wooden frame which had a simple crank and rope to lower a bucket, along with a little wooden roof to shield the mechanism from the weather. It only seemed to have worked to a degree, with a rope and bucket both looking worse for wear. The brickwork was likewise dilapidated, with mortar crumbling at his touch. He stuck his head over the well to look down. To his surprise, iron rungs had been affixed to the inside of the well, leading into the darkness below.

Next Quest: [Secrets of the Well]

You have discovered a ladder descending into the well. Do you have the courage to explore the depths?

Objective: Explore the well 0/1.

Reward: Awakening stone.

Bonus objective: Don't die 0/1.

Reward: Awakening stone.

"Don't die? No way that's ominous," he snarked. "And why are all the rewards awakening stones. Is someone trying to tempt me into using that tablet by offering more means to unlocking the powers it'd give me."

He shook his head in resignation, sheathing his Asauchi and storing it, "In for a penny, in for pound."

Jason was going down the rung of the well, just making it deep enough not to be seen by a passerby when he heard voices coming from somewhere close within the hedge maze.

"I tracked the aura of the mandrake that took my trowel," a gravelly male voice said. "Someone had already killed it, and my trowel was nowhere to be found."

"Someone with those adventurers we caught?" another man asked.

"I don't care who they're with," the first voice said. "I'm going to kill 'em, cook 'em and eat 'em."

"I wanted to try some of that elf girl, but the mistress said we're keeping them all for the sacrifice. Bloody waste, if you ask me."

"Nah, elves ain't good eating. Not much meat on them, and what's there is all stringy. That human girl, she's the one you want. Lean and tender."

"I don't know, Dougall; she looked pretty tough to me. And we always have human. I just want a little variety, is all."

"Well, this lot is all spoken for, regardless."

Jason didn't let out a breath as he listened in a few rungs down the well until the voices faded into the distance. He ignored the fact that they were talking about elves in the face of their casual discussion on the pros and cons of eating people. Cannibals. Guess he now knows what the Blood Cult was all about. All things considered; cannibals weren't too far out the realm of what was believable. Compared to real monsters, magic, and apparently elves existing, cannibalistic cults was nothing too odd. Horrible, but realistic and historically proven. He considered it some more as he started climbing further down into the well.

"Great. This place is definitely enemy territory."

Jason wasn't exactly thrilled about his options. A quest with the explicit objective of 'don't die' wasn't great, but wandering a maze filled with cannibals seemed like the worse option. Sure, he was confident that he could take down the two men easily enough, so long as they weren't armed with something better than a knife, but they could have strange magic powers. Maybe if he took them by surprise?

Then again, he'd been horribly shredded up by a hedgehog from this place when a hedgehog back home wouldn't have done much more than having to remove a few needle-like barbs from his skin. The monster version here had thick four- to seven-inch-long barbs that it could fire from a distance and had viciously attacked his privates. Humans were bad enough back home. How much worse could they be here with magic?

Not something he wanted to find out with just a sword. A magic one but one he couldn't fully utilize yet, so it was just a basic sword that cut better than a normal one.

The best option was to hope that he could find some sort of sewer system or underground tunnel where he could hide from this Blood Cult. He was going to need to use the token to get some more options than fighting an entire cult with a katana. He wasn't sure what the spirit of the Creator would do, but it did say something about bonding to it.

Then he'd get those essences that would give him magic powers, shielding and healing. That was exactly what he needed. Though, using the token came with changing him on a fundamental level, affecting his soul by a Court of Seven -whoever they were. It sounded like a trap. He figured he could try stealth first before letting something into his soul and placing himself into someone's hands.

All he knew for certain, was that people were being held captive by cannibal cultists and were going to be sacrificed. His team had excelled at hostage rescue, though he'd prefer having some intel on the blood cult, this compound and having reconned the area first. Also, these cultists have been killing and eating humans long enough for a guy to complain about the lack of variety in their meals.

Jason wanted to save the captives and kill these monsters.

Quest: [Moved to Action]

Upon hearing cannibal cultists' plans to sacrifice adventurers you have been moved to save them and bring the blood cult to justice. Do you have what it takes?

Objective 1: Stop the sacrificial ritual and save the adventurers 0/4.

Reward: One awakening stone per rescued adventurer 0/4.

Bonus Objective: Destroy the local Blood Cult.

Reward: Awakening Stone.

That was convenient, oddly so, but he wouldn't begrudge whatever system or magic that dictated the quests he got giving him rewards for what he was going to do anyways. Though, there was something suspicious about nearly all his rewards being awakening stones. Didn't help the question of his insanity any but there were people that needed help. He wasn't some superhero chasing down villains and looking for injustice, but he would do his best to save those he could when presented with the opportunity.

He was, after all, a soldier.

So, he continued down.

The well was quite deep, judging from the diminishing light coming from above. He kept a careful grip on the cold metal rungs, not only did several rungs shift as he went, but the interior of the wall also became dank, the sides slick and wet.

The light did not penetrate far down the narrow well, and Jason was soon moving entirely by feel. He descended cautiously, each foot carefully seeking out the next rung down. He discovered he had reached the bottom when his foot met water instead of the next rung. Some experimental probing revealed it was ankle deep, enough to submerge his sandals in the icy cold. The bottom of the well was flat but, as it turned out, just as slippery as the walls. He slipped, catching the rungs to right himself and avoid falling into what he supposed was water -going off the lack of foul smells.

Unfortunately, Jason did not find an exit tunnel and it was too narrow for his liking. Though, with some patting around and his eyes adjusting to the dark, he found a hole, large enough to crawl through... barely. He didn't know if it was the source of the well's water or some kind of drainage tunnel.

Jason looked up at the bright circle of the sky, then the dark circle of the tunnel. "Uh. I'm going to have to go crawling down a tight, dank tunnel towards nowhere," he groaned out.

Jason slowly crawled his way into the dank tunnel, a circular pipe of wet and slimy brickwork. It was wide enough to barely push himself along, skin scrapping along the clammy sides. Someone even just slightly broader would never have fit. The darkness engulfed him as he moved away from the meager light that reached the bottom of the well. Edging down the tunnel, touch was the only sense with which he could navigate. The ubiquitous smell of wet rot was prevalent but nowhere near the worse thing he had ever smelled.

"This had better lead to somewhere," he grumbled to himself.

If it turned out to be a dead end, he would be forced to shimmy backwards, the tunnel far too tight to turn around. The gloom of the well had seemed stifling, but the dark of the tunnel was much deeper. The claustrophobic vibe of the tunnel didn't make the experience any more pleasant.

He let out a breath of relief when his hand came down on slimy, wet wood instead of brick. There was no light, so he probed with his hands. He had reached the end of the tunnel but had no idea what kind of space it opened into. He sensed open space, but in complete darkness it could well have been his imagination. His hands felt out some kind of platform made of wooden planks. It was wet and a little slimy, although it felt reliably solid under Jason's hands. The surface of the wood was rough, like sandpaper. Some kind of long-enduring adhesive had been used to apply sand or something similar, improving friction on the wet planks. Feeling around as he crawled free of the tunnel, he felt the planks were lined up to make a walkway, a meter and half wide.

It felt like there was enough room above to stand, but even with the sand coating he didn't trust the slick wooden path in the dark. He continued forwards as he had in the tunnel, hands exploring in place of his eyes. Just a short way down the path he found a vertical metal rod sticking out of the walkway, at the edge to his left. His hands traced the shaft upwards to a hooked end, from which was hanging some kind of metal box with a loop on top.

Item: [Crude Magic Lamp] (iron rank, common)

A simple lighting device fueled by low-level magic (tool).

Effect: Cast light.

Current charge: 00%.

Requires a [Lesser Spirit Coin] to replenish.

Expend 1 [Lesser Spirit Coin]

Y/N?

"Yes."

When the lamp lit up, lighting up the surroundings, it temporarily blinded him from the drastic change. Once his vision adjusted, blinking away the spots, he recognized that he was in a natural cavern with stalagmites of various sizes scattered about with plenty of dark crevices and ominous shadows. Which was presumably why someone had put in the walkway, raised on thick wooden posts. The walkway was about an arm's length above the cave floor.

Jason removed the lamp from the rod holding it, getting a prompt about receiving the item. He hoped that the cavern led to an entrance to the building or structure the Blood Cult was stationed. Then he could hopefully sneak in and free the adventurers before having to take on the cultists. He wasn't delusional enough to believe he could beat them on his own. They obviously had the numbers to deal with a single man armed with a sword, and seeing as magic was real, they'd have powers too.

He needed backup. Hopefully the adventurers were what he thought they were and would have scouted out the Blood Cult and their area of operations. Possibly having magic powers of their own and the skills necessary to handle these types of circumstances. Unless they were green adventurers that got in over their head.

Failing that, he'd use the token, damn the consequence.

Since the beam of the lamp light lit up the cave like a lighthouse on a dark night, there was no point in being overly stealthy. He'd still stay as quiet as he could, the lamp in his left hand and the unsheathed Asauchi blade in his right, prepared for a potential attack. Hopefully the monsters that might be living down in this dark cavern would have eyesight developed for it and would be dazed by the sudden light. That'd give him an opening to cut them down. If it turned out to be a cannibal cultist, he'd go for the throat, cutting off any cries or sounding of an alarm while killing them.

Ideally, stabbing through the lung and straight into the heart with a twist. The quickest and quietest way to kill a person.

He started following the walkway, taking careful steps to avoid making noise and keeping an ear out for anything that might be out there. Also, the sand coating had worn away in a lot of places, leaving patches of the wood slick and frictionless from years in the bleak, damp cavern. The cave turned out to be something of a natural tunnel, roughly speaking, through which the walkway followed.

He made his way slowly and carefully until it came to an end at a brick wall, set into the side of the cave. In the middle of the wall was a hefty metal door with a big wheel set into it, like a bulkhead door on a submarine. Both door and wheel were rusty and didn't look to have been opened in some time.

"Now we're getting somewhere."

Setting down the lamp and katana, Jason grabbed the wheel with both hands and twisted counterclockwise. It didn't budge. He adjusted his angle, putting his full might into the twist, and his feet firmly planted on the ground for leverage.

"Come on you rusted piece of junk."

He felt a little give, then a little more, each accompanied by an unwilling metal groan. Finally, the wheel jerked loose, and Jason was able to turn the reluctant mechanism. He proceeded to pull open the now unlocked door, but just like the wheel, it resisted. Having to put his shoulders into it, he was able to finally open the door with a shriek of rusted metal. His arms and shoulder felt a little sore, and had rust caked into his palms, but he was otherwise fine.

Quest: [Secrets of the Well]

Objective complete: Explore the well 1/1.

[Awakening Stone of the Keeper] has been added to your inventory.

Bonus quest objective (don't die) still available.

"Awakening stone of the Keeper? Will it give me powers of an innkeeper?"

He retrieved the lamp from where he had set it down, pulling the new object from his inventory. It looked like a fist-sized green marble of swirling light, moving so fast that the shifting shadows and figures were barely noticeable. At times, for a brief moment, the marble shimmered into translucence, making Jason believe it didn't exist.

Item: [Awakening Stone of the Keeper] (unranked, legendary)

An awakening stone sharing affinity with time (consumable, awakening stone).

Requirements: Unawakened essence ability.

Effect: Awakens an essence ability.

You have 0 unawakened essence abilities.

You do not meet the requirements to use this item.

That seemed more complicated than Jason wanted to get into when there was a door right in front of him, and he didn't have an essence so, it was a moot point. Thus, he returned the stone to his inventory and returned his focus to what laid beyond the door.

The interior on the other side of the door was dark, so he stepped inside and started panning the light beam of the lamp. It was a room, thankfully, not just more cave. It was just like a large parlor from a stately home, but after a tornado had passed through. Furniture was upended, tapestries and paintings ripped down from the walls. Bookshelves had been toppled, their contents tossed around the room. There was an ornate chandelier that had crashed down from the ceiling, scattering shattered crystal across the polished floor.

Which reassured Jason in having put on the sandals with all the broken crystal and glass.

Searching through the mess by the light of the lamp, he found an overturned couch in the middle of the room. Under it was an unconscious man, and he placed the lamp down so that its light stayed on the downed figure. He stopped though, wondering if the man was another blood cultist and whether or not he should help him.

He'd just touched the man when a screen popped up.

[Vroshir Acolyte]

"What's a Vroshir Acolyte?"

He thought this place was filled with cannibal blood cultists. Maybe there were multiple cults in this...compound? Damn, he was too uninformed for his liking and really didn't want to end up as some cultist's next meal.

Seeing as the man wasn't a blood cultist -though he could still be a cultist, but of a differing belief that he could hopefully leverage towards helping him- he placed the sword down, but within reach if needed. Then Jason heaved the couch off of him to reveal that he was sprawled in the middle of an elaborate pentagram, set into the floor in brass or copper. The man was around his own age, maybe thirty, clean shaven with an olive complexion, dark wavy hair and a handsome face. To Jason's eyes he looked Mediterranean. Oddly, he was wearing what looked like honest-to-God wizard robes.

He checked the man to find he had a strong pulse and was breathing regularly, but was showing early signs of extensive bruising and his body temperature was high. As Jason was examining the stranger, his eyes flickered open.

"Hey there mate," Jason said. "Looks like you took quite the beating. Need any help?"

Jason offered his hand and helped the wizard-looking man to his feet. Despite having a slender frame, the wizard was surprisingly heavy for his size. Standing unsteadily on his feet, the wizard looked around at the room in disarray, then at Jason, his expression confused.

"Who are you?" the wizard asked. "How did you get here?"

"I'm Jason, and I have no idea how I got here. I went to bed only to wake up in some kind of alternate universe."

The wizard narrowed his eyes as he peered at Jason. "There's something off about your aura," the wizard analyzed. "You're not human."

"I was before getting here. Wait, auras are real?"

"You said something about an alternate universe?" the wizard asked, ignoring his question.

"That's just a guess," Jason answered. "I mean, there are monstrous version of animals, and the continents are different. Could be a crazy time travel thing. Do you know anything about continental drift?"

The wizard's gaze moved to the magic circle on the floor, then back at Jason.

"It was you," he accused angrily. "You're what went wrong with the summoning."

"Why are you mad? Do you have any idea how much your summons messed me up? I have no idea where I am, what's going on, what was done to my body, and I have had my cock stabbed by a hedgehog's barbs."

The wizard had a combined look of confused and angry, but as he was about to retort he went pale and stumbled in place.

"Crap, hold on," Jason said, moving to support him.

"GET OFF ME!"

The wizard staggered in the direction of a heavy writing desk. It seemed to have escaped major displacement by being the heaviest piece of furniture in the room. He almost tripped, still weak from whatever happened prior to Jason's arrival. The wizard opened a drawer, took out a small bottle and drained the contents.

"I could go for a stiff drink myself," Jason stated. "Any left of me, mate?"

"It was a recovery potion, fool," the man snapped, then winced with pain. "It seems the backlash will take more than a potion to fix."

He gave Jason a smile that hardened his own face into stoney resolve, bending down and picking up the katana.

He proceeded to pull a knife out of the drawer, "Since I can't recover mana right now, I'll have to do things the old-fashioned way. I've never tasted an outworlder before."

Jason didn't need any more evidence to indicate that the wizard was an enemy and ran him through with the blade, blindsiding the weakened cannibal. The long-curved blade sunk through his chest and into his heart with no resistance.

The wizard was shocked, "Wha..." he coughed up blood and dropped his knife as Jason twisted the sword, his eyes frigidly staring into the dilating pupils of the dying cannibal.

The last dwindling light left his eyes, and he went limp, sliding of Jason's blade.

You have defeated [Vroshir Acolyte]

"Poor choice, mate," Jason said coldly.

Jason turned his focus to the wizard's knife on the ground and picked it up.

Item: [Seal Knife] (bronze rank, common)

A dagger with the Vane family seal on the pommel (weapon, tool).

Requirements: Bronze rank [Speed, bronze rank [Spirit]

Effect: When used to imprint a wax seal on a letter, the letter will be destroyed if opened by anyone other than the addressee.

After a few moments the knife started tingling before slowly becoming painful. He tightened his grip until the pain became too much and the dagger clattered to the floor.

You do not meet the requirements to use this item.

Jason found it odd but simply shrugged and returned his focus to the body. Eyes wide open, face frozen in a final expression of surprise. The room was still and silent, Jason's eyes locked on the corpse.

He'd killed plenty during his years of service, avoided it when he could but also realized that some people had to die. Like a cannibal wizard that was trying to kill and eat him. He was long past the point where killing such a man would keep him up at night. That didn't make it any easier, but there was no point in letting it drag him down. Still, after his son died, he'd decided that he had enough of death and left the military.

Yet, here he was, killing once again...

He shook away the depressing thoughts, reaffirming the fact the man deserved it and needed to die. The only real downside was that he'd just killed his only source of intel. It was often what you didn't know and didn't see coming that killed you.

A new sound broke him out of his thoughts. The sound came from above, a metal ventilation pipe in the ceiling. There was a hollow, echoing timbre to the sound and it took Jason a moment to recognize it as a hissing noise.

It was coming from the hole.

He watched the hole cautiously while walking backwards to the magic lamp. Either poisonous gas was going to start pouring out of that pipe, which he'd need to run out back into the cave. Or some kind of snake or wild animal was coming to the wizard's aid. His gaze sharpened when something came out of the hole in the ceiling as he gripped the katana in his hands all the tighter. It was an enormous, pitch-black snake, head barely small enough to pass through the aperture.

"Aww crap."

Jason and the snake looked at each other, frozen for a moment. He could sense intelligence in its eyes, although he may well have been imagining it. Then the snake hissed at him and continued emerging from the vent shaft, body dangling down from the ceiling.

Jason sprinted for the door back to the cave, reversing the katana into a downward grip in his right hand.

New Quest: [Time to Run]

The familiar of the Vroshir Acolyte sensed its master's death and has come to investigate.

Objective: Escape [Umbral Mountain Snake] 0/1.

Reward: Awakening Stone.

He almost stumbled as the window popped up, having to will it closed. He bolted through the metal door and grabbed onto the wheeled handle, pushing the door closed, the rusty hinges groaned, reluctant to close. He had the left side of his body leaning into the thick metal door, trying to force the heavy door closed.

Jason heard the increasing sound of hissing and scales scrapping against the ground. Just as the snake's head popped out of the gap, he full bodily slammed into the door, pinning the snake between the door and the frame. It immediately started hissing, thrashing, and snapping its jaws at him. He could already feel the monstrous strength of the snake pushing through the gap. Not wasting anytime, Jason rammed the katana's point down into the snake's head with as much force as he could muster without letting off the door, aiming for its eyes as best he could in the dark.

Its screeching increased as he felt the katana's point dig into flesh, sometimes scrapping across scales as he continuously stabbed down with his right hand. It'd cause the snake to freeze up for a second before hissing out in agonized rage.

He was desperately putting all his weight into the door as he just kept on stabbing into the black snake's head over and over again.

One overly powerful slam by the snake caused the door to ram into his left shoulder with a sickening snap. Jason screamed in pain as he forcefully pushed through what must have been a shattered clavicle and dislocated shoulder to keep the snake from escaping the doorway. Every passing second as the snake struggled against the door, slithering its way out, it felt like searing pain was shooting through his entire left side, but he never stopped stabbing.

It wasn't until he was finally able to hit it right in the eye that the blade finally felt like it did any real damage. A squelch sound and pained hiss came from the snake as the katana punctured its brain. It slowed and weakened but still trashed. So, Jason twisted the sword and wrenched it around the snake's eye socket.

Then, after several moments of ravaging its brain, it went still, ending Jason's struggle against the heavy metal door. With a sigh of relief, he slid down the door until he was seated on the floor. His shattered left shoulder and clavicle screamed even with the lack of the slamming pressure of holding down a snake that could have eaten a large dog.

You have defeated [Umbral Mountain Snake]

Would you like to loot [Umbral Mountain Snake]?

"Sure," he said wearily while pulling the katana's tip from the dead snake's eye socket, then froze. Belatedly, he remembered that monsters dissolved into stinking smoke when they were looted. To his relief and surprise, that didn't happen. All he felt was the snake shift against the door with a cracking sound. He looked over the list of items he got from the snake.

[Night-Scale Leather] has been added to your inventory.

[Umbral Mountain Snake Meat] has been added to your inventory.

2 [Night-Fangs] have been added to your inventory.

2 [Night-Venom Glands] have been added to your inventory.

30 [Dark Quintessence Gems (Bronze)] have been added to your inventory.

10 [Bronze Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.

100 [Iron Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.

Unlike every other monster he'd killed, the snake didn't turn into a stench cloud and didn't produce a monster core.

"I need to learn the rules of this crazy-ass place."

He took a look at the next screen.

Quest: [Time to Run]

Hidden objective discovered: Kill [Umbral Mountain Snake] 0/1.

Hidden objective complete: Kill [Umbral Mountain Snake] 1/1.

Main objective reward increased from one awakening stone to two.

Objective complete: Escape [Umbral Mountain Snake] 1/1.

[Awakening Stone of the Builder] has been added to your inventory.

[Awakening Stone of the Spider] has been added to your inventory.

Quest complete.

100 [Bronze Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.

1000 [Iron Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.

"Hidden objective? Ugg... whatever."

Another window popped up.

Quest: [Secrets of the Well]

Bonus objective complete: Don't die 1/1.

[Awakening Stone of the Titan] has been added to your inventory.

Quest complete.

100 [Bronze Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.

1000 [Iron Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.

"Well, if you're going to complete one bonus quest objective, 'don't die' is a definite must."

*A typical male Titan build from Destiny.