[Welcome to the realm of Mediya young adventurer, may your journey be enlightening and fantastic!]
The line of text faded, registering just a moment later in Alex's mind as consciousness came back to him. Alex frowned as he found himself standing in front of a spawning portal.
Mediya? That wasn't right. He had selected Vorcast as the realm he wanted to go to, how in the hell had he ended up on a completely different one?
Okay Alex, don't panic. It's not like you're trapped here. You can just logout and log back in to get to Vorcast, and if need be [Realm Walking (Ready)] you can just use your skill to get to where you want to go. Even so, it was unsettling that the full dive pod had brought him here without him choosing it.
Whatever, time to get out of this place and get to where he really wanted to go.
[Error! Magical interference detected, logging out is unavailable at this time.]
The game's internal system was blocking him from logging out? Okay, that's fine. Weird but fine. At least he still had-
[Error! Magical interference detected, Realm Walking skill unavailable at this time.]
[Error!]
[Error!]
[Error!]
Okay Alex, maybe panic a little.
***
"You've got to be kidding me!"
[Apologies Alexander, I am unable to detect what the issue is and as such, I can not resolve it. It is likely that someone very powerful is attempting to break through to the next rank. Usually, when beings are evolving in such a way, a massive amount of mana is collected and this disrupts the magical nature of the realm.]
So he was trapped here, at least until this person finished whatever they were up to. Not necessarily the best silver lining, but at least all he had to do was wait for them to break through and then he could leave. That shouldn't be too hard.
[While I admire your tenacity, I should warn you that most evolutions can take up to two weeks, if not longer. I am also uncertain as to whether that is the reason, it very well could be something else.]
Alex stopped his pacing in front of the spawn portal. Two weeks? Two weeks?! He couldn't waste two weeks here. He couldn't afford to stay trapped here. Any time wasted on not getting stronger would only hurt him in the long run. And Amanda. She would be waiting for him to come and find her.
Alex could only hope that she wouldn't think the worst. It wasn't like he was intentionally not being there for her, it was this stupid 'game' with its stupid rules. It could never just be easy mode for him could it? No, he had to get tossed around like a ragdoll and given the exact opposite of what he actually wanted.
It was just one thing after another. He didn't know how much longer he could take it. He didn't ask for this. He didn't beg to be reborn as some supposed hero. So then why?
Why did the universe see fit to fuck with him at every opportunity it had? He was getting really sick of being thrown curveballs that screwed him up. Weren't literal gods on his side? What were they doing? Wasn't THE Fate invested in him and counting on him getting more powerful? Why in the ever loving-
[If I may. Though this situation is quite unfortunate, you have been brought to the realm necessary to fix your cracked soul. Perhaps that would be a worthwhile adventure.]
Alex's mind stopped racing. The system was right. For once it was actually providing useful insight and not just responding to rhetorical questions with literal answers.
Fixing his damaged soul hadn't been at the top of his list of priorities and he had intended on getting to it eventually, but if he was going to be stuck here he might as well seek out a way to fix it.
As with all things though, he had no clue where to even start. He had barely started beginning to understand how Vorcast operated, and now he was in a completely different realm doing a completely separate quest for something that he knew next to nothing about. When it rains, it pours.
[Repairing the Soul: You have made it to Mediya and started the journey. Seek out the temple of Varos, God of Souls. [Reward: A stronger Soul Core.]
Alex sighed and dismissed the updated quest, at least he had a direction. He just had to figure out where that specific temple was. It was time to explore a new realm.
***
The town he had been teleported to reminded him a lot of feudal Japan with the way the buildings were designed, or at least they closely resembled the photos he had been shown by his father when he was younger.
Wooden buildings with a mix of tile and thatch covered curved roofs dominated Alex's view. Paper screening and sliding doors rounded out the relatively well built buildings.
The streets themselves were cobbled, but completely bare of any foot traffic. Lantern lights that hung on strings illuminated the surroundings and allowed Alex to gaze at everything with wonder in his eyes.
He had never seen buildings like these before and they fascinated him. Tiny cramped apartments and towering buildings of steel and concrete was all he knew, but somehow, these ancient style buildings filled him with a sense of calm and eased his racing brain.
Off in the distance a massive structure stood tall above the rest of the town's other buildings, drawing Alex's gaze towards it. It was illuminated by traces of moonlight, but it took Alex's breath away all the same. It was simply too majestic to not look at, and something in him seemed to pull him in the building's direction.
He walked down the empty streets, not a soul or a breeze accompanying him. It would be eerie, if it wasn't so… Peaceful.
He hadn't realized it until that moment, but his mind had calmed. His inner turmoil and off-balanceness had been quieted. Alex himself felt peaceful, despite his cracked soul and the fact that he was stuck here for the time being.
Eventually the building in the distance drew close, its magnanimity increasing the closer he got. It became apparent to Alex as he approached that it wasn't a standard building, and was a temple instead.
A three story wooden pagoda, supported by columns, and topped by a curved tile roof rose up before Alex. Its red paint was somewhat chipped and dull, but that didn't take away from its grandeur.
Before he could even get to the temple, he had to cross a small wooden bridge that had been built over crystal clear water that reflected the moon's surface. Once more, Alex felt a sense of inner peace within himself.
Something he hadn't felt since being reborn.
After crossing the bridge Alex was greeted by two giant stone statues that acted as guardians of the temple. He couldn't be sure, but they kind of resembled angels. Or at least, what he expected angels to look like.
Their pristine nature had been captured, even in stone. Nearly every detail of their faces was perfect and flawless. A pair of wings spread from each statue's back, flared wide as if they were flying to the heavens.
Each stature wore a set of robes and held a spear in their hands, pointed upright towards the sky. Two angels guarding a temple and upholding the duty they had been charged with for all of eternity. It was quite a sight to behold.
Alex had half expected the statues to come to life in an attempt to stop him from crossing the bridge, but he did so without incident and he was able to pass under their watchful gaze.
Beyond the statues was the temple's courtyard, surrounded by a wall of stone. The only thing acting as a gate was a curved wooden archway that Alex had to pass under.
As he did so he felt his body shiver, and an intense feeling of dread settled into him. He couldn't be sure, but it was like something had scanned him the second he walked under the archway and into the courtyard. He held his breath, expecting to get attacked or something, but nothing came his way. The courtyard, much like the rest of the village it was surrounded by, was eerily quiet.
It was also severely ruined.
Overgrown weeds, cracked stones and crumbling sections of the wall did no justice to the majestic feeling that Alex felt gazing upon the temple that had been built inside of the courtyard.
It also meant that no one had been attending or taking care of the grounds, was this place abandoned? Surely not. A place like this felt too important to be left unprotected. It felt too grand.
[DING]
[Congratulations! You are the first player to set foot inside the Temple of the Celestials built on Mediya. "God-Seeker" title has been acquired.]
The in-game notification scared the hell out of Alex when it popped up, disturbing the peaceful quiet of the courtyard, but his fear was quickly replaced by shock and joy. A new title?
So far, he only had two titles. The first was one he wished he could get rid of, but unfortunately it seemed like the universe itself would never let him forget that he was trash. The second he had acquired from having two extremely close calls with death back to back.
A third title being added to his collection was a welcome one, and he eagerly opened his status screen to see what benefits it provided.
Titles: Lesser than Trash, Death Dancer, God-Seeker
God-Seeker: Seeking out the gods and the gifts they offer is often a dangerous journey fraught with peril, but that didn't stop you from seeking them out and calling on their mighty power. Your persistence has been rewarded. +3 to Intelligence, Wisdom and Luck.
Alex closed the menu, happy at the slight buff he acquired from the new title. It wasn't anything insane, but small boosts always added up. Getting nine free skill points given to him was no joke, especially considering he didn't even get that many per level up. If he thought about it that way, it was actually a major boost in power.
He also pondered what exactly the qualifications for obtaining titles were. It seemed like some of them were given for arbitrary reasons, such as him being the first player to set foot here. While the other was given to him because he had almost died two times, a feat that was extremely specific.
Maybe there were other titles he could get by being the first to do something. Or maybe he could obtain a title by jumping off of a cliff a hundred feet in the air and landing on the back of some monster. There didn't seem to be any parameters that the titles themselves were set in.
Alex shrugged to himself, it was something he could ponder and try to figure out another time.
He had stopped in the middle of the courtyard when the notification showed up, and as he made to keep moving forward towards the pagoda he came to a halt.
A light-skinned figure was standing in an open doorway, suddenly appearing where there hadn't been one before. They wore flowing robes that Alex could only say made them look like a monk. Several black-inked tattoos flowed over the bits of skin that he could see, namely on their bald head.
They weren't threatening Alex, just simply standing there, gazing at him with piercing green eyes. Even so, Alex felt like he was in danger. It felt like this person could easily overwhelm him with but a thought.
But Alex couldn't even move, no matter how hard he tried. He was frozen in place by this person's very presence. His own body wouldn't listen to his command to move itself. Who was this person?
"Young Hero." A gentle voice floated over to Alex, but the person didn't move their mouth to speak. "It would seem the tale of your demise was greatly exaggerated." The voice was ever fluid and changing, never keeping the same tone or pitch as each word was spoken.
"I'm glad you made it here. I've been waiting for you."