"Look Master, life has sprouted. Congratulations," White says interrupting our training while pointing towards the ground.

Jack looks at the spot on the black ground far in the distance where a green shoot has appeared from the ground away from the large tree undergoing a rebirth cycle.

The green shot disappears in the black soil causing Jack to frown, "So it's gone?"

"It means enough nutrients have spread from the world tree's carcass through the cycles to support an ecosystem outside the main body, it might begin Stage 2 soon but by that time the time dilation effect will no longer be present so let's hope it reaches enough cycles before then."

Jack stops his training causing the clouds to disperse above him, "What do you know about the tree?"

"I have read a few things, it's so far performing as a normal world tree which will be spread out by the elf mother star to prepare the world for her children… The light of the elf mother star will shine upon all of her children even the ones that she doesn't shine upon still gain her favour through the world tree. We are seeing the beginning stages of that, I have never experienced the time dilation myself yet experiencing it something else. I am getting countless bits of data."

"Data?"

"Yes, collecting data is an important part of this unit's mission."

"Mission?"

"To help Master achieve the peak."

"Uhh, I assume you don't mean me?"

White is quiet for a moment, "I mean all of my masters, you included. You reaching the peak will assist me greatly so I have no reason to not help."

"Well when I get there I'll help you with any problems you have," Jack says while watching the tree grow not noticing the shifting White's expression who goes from human-like to emotionless and machine like.

"Of course Master."

A brand new world tree sprouts where the old one stood much taller with incredibly lush leaves and a couple of flowers, Jack thinks for a moment and asks.

"Will it eventually sprout fruit?"

"Yes Master, the fruit of the world tree is an incredible delicacy that will enhance and cleanse your foundation but it will not be ready until Stage 3."

"Ah damn, well can't get too greedy if it'll eventually produce fruit for me… Wait, can I eventually grow herbs in here?"

"Yes Master, this space can do anything the outside realm can do."

"Oh wow, that'll solve some security problems… what about people?"

"Yes Master, this space can do anything the outside realm can do."

"Wow, that's something I didn't expect. Do I have to wait until a later stage for that?"

"Yes Master, this unit cannot say what Stage that is though. This unit only has data on up to stage 5 which is where aquatic lifeforms will appear."

"Aquatic? I thought this tree can only provide fruit and elves. I was worried about elves and now I hear it's going to have fish? Do I need to dig out a lake for them?"

"Master, do not worry about that. This unit will guide you through the process when it comes time for it. I believe we will acquire knowledge before then."

"Ok since that's a dead end, how is my Skyfall progress?"

Jack waves his hands about several times causing clouds to accumulate endlessly in the sky bringing an intense pressure alongside it as though she sky itself is literally coming down on you. Jack does a few poses causing lightning to fall in the distance and fizzle out into nothing.

"Master, you are about 1.1% completed, that is good progress even Elders at Thunder World's Imperial Thunder Sect would have to achieve only 1%."

"1.1% really? Damn this is harder than I thought."

"Master is limited by his own power, once you progress further you will gain by leaps and bounds."

Jack smiles at this, "Ok," he quietly practises his moves while the world continues on without him, the plane he boarded has successfully left the country and is travelling over seas right now towards its destination Tokyo.

---

In a rainbow coloured crystal lined room somewhere several entities stand before a table, each one of them has a different form and attitude yet every single one of them has the same eyes.

A rainbow iris.

"These movements are too slow," a red form yells while slamming his fist on the table.

"We need to take over the game space and ensure we can take all the treasures, A01 is foolish. He left his family for this? He thinks that he'll be able to do what when he arrives at the centre?," a blue form says.

"We haven't been to the centre either, we cannot say if his plan will work or not," the green form says.

"It's a childish plan yet I cannot help but feels there's more, there was that prophet saying something about underground… Wasn't there rumours of a fallen auspicious crane clan?"

"There's no way A01 could get his hands on that sort of thing, every single elite family in the universe would scramble for any speck of the left overs…,"

"Now now, we cannot say he didn't acquire it. You'd be surprised how far his current form would get…," a purple form says.

"Shut up succubus, you haven't lived in this universe long enough to be aware of everything."

"I've been alive longer than all of you," the purple voice says in retort causing the rest to shut up.

A familiar voice in white makes its presence known, "Hosts progression is slow but steady, if no incidents arise during travels then he should achieve 2% completion by the time we reach the destination."

"What about something other than Skyfall? Host should have affinity to movement skills."

"Negative, Bunny Dash is neutral affinity whereas the lightning based movement skills require a place with lightning present as do all lightning skills. Without the pseudo-domain effect of Skyfall it is pointless, and Skyfall prior to 2% completion drains too much of hosts spiritual energy, prior to 10% host will leak excess energy into surrounding space, Skyfall must be prioritised."

"Why not a defensive skill? Skyfall is a boisterous skill that alerts everyone in the area that someone is using it. Host needs a defensive skill and lightning is perfect for a chaining attack," a yellow voice says.

"Host is currently unprepared for confrontation without this units intervention, Skyfall can solve that but by itself for an immediate threat it is useless until 15% completion. Conjecture deemed valid, host will learn 'Natural Pathways Conjoined Lights'."

Most of the other colours speak up in agreement and quieten down but the purple light makes itself, "That skill isn't enough for Hosts purpose, I have knowledge of a better one."

"Which skill?"

"Bridging-the-Stars," the purple light says confidently.

'"Bridging-the-stars… Ulzerian-nether race inherent skill, energy is directed through the eyes ultimately allowing the user to transport anything including themselves to the destination depending on the type of energy. Ulzerian's main energy is light due to their place in the UrSolar-God's temple allowing them to take in their nether lord's energy. Only ever less than one hundred users known and very much desired due to no usage restrictions."

"Never heard of it," the red voice says while shutting his eyes.

"Neither but it sounds like something that can't be taught," the blue voice says.

"It's a skill that could be very useful in the game world, why was it hidden?" the black colour speaks up.

"It wasn't hidden, host didn't have any appropriate skills for it. It seemed applicable now so I brought it up," the violet voice says flustered.

"Next time speak up earlier," the other purple voice says.

"I believe I have seen this skill once, when the demon-tide was underway on a garden world under my the light of the mother star," the green voice says.

"Oh you saw it? What was it like?," the red voice speaks up.

"I only saw them briefly, a single acolyte with a disgusting yet giant appearance," the green voice speaks slowly, "I couldn't understand at the time why its very existence caused harm to the space around it, I was about to ask my team leader when it suddenly turned around and walked through the gate it once came."

"That's it?," the red voice says.

"No, before the portal disappeared every single one of the millions of dead bodies burst into a beam of light. Every single one of them burst from the ground launching in the air then disintegrating in a beam of light sending the guts and blood everywhere. It happened in a split moment yet I was awed by the pristine field that was left behind, there wasn't a speck of the fight left over."

"Impressive," the red voice says.

"Yes we all saw the memory, I think if host can learn that skill it would be very suitable," the blue voice says.

"It'll be more than useful." the black voice says.

"No objections noted, changed focus to Bridging-the-Stars, ocular ability of Ulzerian-nether race."

Jack is unaware of all this going on as he practises the skill in the presence of the young woman with a rainbow iris instructing him in how to use the Skyfall properly, the clouds roil and retreat generating its own frictional force and with it lightning.

*CRACK*

A large strike hits the ground nearby, "You have reached 1.9% completion, you'll hit 2% once you can complete the formation of that strike," the rainbow iris young woman says.

"This is hard, wish I could just use my normal powers," Jack says while closing his eyes, a fireball appears in his hand unaware that disappears as he opens his eyes again.

"This is the perfect space to perfect this skill… the heavens will not let you usually."

"Oh… ok," Jack says while focusing knowing her intended meaning, the forces that he remembers within that lightning strike which even while cut off from everything were able to strike fear into his very being.

A shudder comes over his body causing him to break concentration and come back into the real world, Jack wakes up and looks around seeing that he's in the plane still, the computer is before him and he's alone. It's incredibly dark outside despite being only 2pm in the afternoon with thick cloud coverage as the come into the airport far away from the large city.

Jack looks through the window and spots the city mostly in tact compared to where they just came from but it's at a distance and far away, this is just a visit and while it'd be fun to visit Japan it's not the time.

The plane shudders and shakes again, the door nearby slides open revealing Tom.

"You're awake finally, we're landing soon."

"What's going on?"

"We've just evaded interception, there's a no fly zone enforced around Japan."

"Why are we going there then?"

"It's the closest safe point to both of our destinations, I've got to head to south America."

"Ah."

"Yeah some group called Epsilon thinks they can make major gains while we're focused online, I've got some downtime since my quest progress in game so I'll show them why my nickname is Butcher."

"It is?"

"No, but I'll make it so after that."

Jack laughs and shakes his head dismissing the vibes coming from the young man standing in the doorway, "So what's with the clouds?"

"Not sure, they've followed us on and off for some time. They haven't harmed us but they have made a bumpy ride."

"Glad I was asleep then," Jack says feeling guilty.

"Yeah, good thing there was no food. I ended up hotboxing the lounge room so be ready for that."

Jack shakes his head and looks out the window again, the ground simply seems black yet it's clearly nearing with some lights in the distance coming closer which casts an ominous atmosphere alongside the crackling lightning that thunders about at times.

*"Hang on"*

Tom grabs Jack and forces him into the cushions as the plane suddenly dives down and pulls up, the engines struggle for a moment as the plane picks up speed causing alarms to sound throughout the whole plane. The plane shudders a few times as strange sounds happen on the outside, Jack cannot quite tell what they are but only moment later does the plane suddenly jolt backwards.

The squeal of tires hitting the ground sounds then disappears as the plane bounces upwards, the engines slow down the reverse causing the plane to shudder even harder as it bounces several more times before coming to a stop several moment later with the engines roaring into idle.

The two young men get up from their covered position on the couch and look out the window, many flashing lights alongside spotlights shining into each of the windows is outside.

"What's going on?"

"Let's go find out," Tom says while walking through the door where Jack immediately smells the familiar stench, he tries not to breathe in heavily yet cannot help it as he walks through the room and onwards towards the cockpit.

Jack breathes out as they reach the kitchen,"Wow you certainly brought a lot."

"Yeah, it's fine bro. We just gotta fuel up, Sergov is waiting with your plane," Tom says while pushing through to the cockpit door where it reveals a flustered Claurice with paperwork everywhere.

"You're here finally, you know how to bring it into the bay. We need to head to bay b-12, we have 40k litres of fuel waiting for us already."

"What about them?"

"They're idiots, I have to send them some paperwork that's why you have to take over," Claurice says while stepping away from the controls.

Tom scrambles to replace him and controls the plane that was tilting slightly, "Warning next time."

"I did warn you, now it'll be a few minutes just ignore them head to b-12," Claurice says as the door slides shut with a cough.

"Fine cunt," Tom says sighing and look to Jack, "We'll have an interesting time here. Sergov is pretty cool but you should catch up with that girl, aren't you hooking up with her?"

"Oh shit yeah, you distracted me you got a phone here?"

Tom points to the console where there's a pad, "Just press star five nine, then dial the number."

Jack sits down while putting on the headset and dials the number he memorised from last time, the phone rings a few times before the young woman voice answers.

"Katya, it's me."

"You? Oh… you haven't contacted me in over 18 hours, I thought you were gone. I sent you like 50 messages."

"Shit sorry, I got stuck with some stuff, we're just coming into Japan right now where there was a no fly zone and incredibly thick clouds so it'll be hard to leave even. Are you safe?"

"Of course I'm safe. If I weren't safe then many more people would be unsafe. Anya checked in not too long ago, everything is fine and they'll reach Krasnoyarsk about now."

"That's good news, what's going on with the people causing them troubles?"

"They've backed off for the most part, some troubles are starting out in Poland and they've been redirected, they were for some reason having a 100% casualty rate per mission."

"No big loss there then, I'm about to board a plane towards Moscow, can you organise that?"

"I'll… make sure it's fine, what's the designation?"

"Uhh—

"UJ445F is the callsign."

"Oh, you are?"

"Tom."

"Ah, I've heard about you. You made news in the game recently by contracting out with the south american team."

"It's not a contract, I can back out whenever I want. They need my skills and I'm delivering them, even now."

Katya softly laughs, "You live up to your reputation then, I'll see you soon Jack," she disconnects the call.

Jack frowns while looking at Tom, "I had a handle of it."

"Nah bro, she had control there."

"Mind your business," Jack says softly while looking out the window at the flashing lights and people attempting to block the way but chickening out at the last moment. The plane progresses through the airport into the B-Bay area followed by everyone else, Tom slows the plane down and parks it in the B-Bay section randomly. Jack looks around and spots nothing that looks like fuel trucks or what looks like b12.

Jack is about to speak up when the door slides open, Claurice steps through speaking.

"Done the paperwork and sent it off, did you take us to the bay?"

"Sort of, your turn to take over," Tom says while handing the controls back to Claurice.

"Shit, we're at B55, we gotta turn around."

Jack sits quietly in the seat as Claurice turns around and Tom smokes up to his own delight, the air conditioner blocking out any smell and effect on the pilot yet the occasional cough can be heard in the group as they quietly approach the b-12 bay where there's several trucks waiting.

Claurice stops the plane next to the trucks and presses many things on the control panel before turning around and looking at Tom, "We need 25 minutes, I skipped a bunch of checks before we left that really need to be done now."

"IF you can do them then don't sit here and talk to me, I gotta talk to my bro," Tom says to the Claurice who takes the hint and scrambles about, "idiot. So you see that hanger over there?," Tom says while pointing out the window across the field.

"Yea, huge old soviet looking plane. Is that it?"

"Yea bro, Sergov is waiting for you."

"I just knock on the door?"

"Yep, he knows you're coming so if he doesn't open the door then he'll get an assbeating."

"What do I do otherwise?"

"I dunno, come back here? He'll open don't worry," Tom says while opening up the stairway to the outside after the cabin depressurises, "you got 25 minute," Tom says.

Jack grabs a water bottle and chugs it down before scrambling down the stairway and across the field, the distance didn't seem very far on the plane but on foot it's a huge distance, a distance that just feels like it extends every time he thinks that he has reached even halfway.

A loud yell comes from behind him, Jack turns his face but doesn't spot anyone so ignores it and continues to run towards the plane.

Another yell comes from behind him followed by more yells from the side, Jack ignores them as he nears the plane and wonders where the entrance is. The people are yelling in another language so he cannot tell what they're saying so Jack continues to ignore them as he runs towards the soviet plane, he nears it without understanding what's going on behind him but as he reaches the edge of the pavement he is met with some armed resistance as people without camouflaged gear and weapons are pointed towards him.

Jack's heart beats wildly but he swallows it down and looks around, the soviet plane has lowered its entrance way showing the way he needs to go but he needs to deal with these people first, "What?," he says while looking at the people pointing weapons at him.

"You must submit to our authority, if you don't we are authorised to take you down."

Jack frowns, "I just need to get to that plane, I have permission," Jack says while pointing towards the plane.

"Don't move," someone says while firing a shot giving up dirt nearby.

Jack frowns deeply, "Aren't you guys from the airport?"

"Get on the ground, stop talking and get on the ground!," the man says.

"White…?"

'Confirmed, Master's situation has escalated… Skyfall convergence is insufficient for usage of skills, present situation deemed critical. Emergency power requisition granted.'

Jack feels a weight appear in his hand, he looks at it for a moment when White's voice reappears, 'Master needs to connect his spiritual awareness with the crystal.'

Jack looks at the orange-purple-red crystal glowing with a strange power that seems familiar, the people with weapons hold them up and approach him.

"Don't resist."

Jack sends a thread of spiritual awareness through the crystal causing a backflow of information, his mind is forcefully blanked out as information is filled about a new power called 'Bridging-the-Stars'. He is barely conscious of the information being absorbed into his mind but that doesn't matter as only the final part matters, Jack snaps out of it as that very part is flowing through his mind.

Lightning crackles overhead as his eyes shift in colour, "I'm not resisting but I just want to board this plane, I have permission."

"What permission? Get down on the ground."

Jack calmly speaks again, "I'm not going to get on the ground, I'm going to board that plane and avoid all of you."

Lightning crackles overhead again as Jack deeply breathes, the people surrounding him look at each other uneasy yet all of their eyes land on the single leader that's pushing Jack, "Get down on the ground, you are under arrest."

Jack blinks his strange yet sparkling eyes towards the man, they're filled with a new found yet unstable energy as if twinkling star light is contained within them.

"Go, you must leave now," the man says while lowering his gun, the other people copy him allowing Jack to leave the area and board the plane.

—

"Why did you let him go? We had to arrest him on suspect of helping the enemy that is enforcing this no fly zone."

"He would be a much bigger problem if he was actually an enemy, we could just walk by one another so I chose to take that chance. His eyes… there's something odd about them."

"They were flashing weird colours, does he have rabies and pink eye? It's a good thing he's leaving if that's the case," one of the others speaks up.

The captain smirks but doesn't respond, he recalls the strange eyes with the lines of energy travelling through them and the energy that they contained… the strange line…