An incredibly eventful trip occurs on the drive through some beautiful yet boring landscape as there truly were 3 conflict zones along the way yet that's not all, there was 15 minor conflict zones and 3 attempts hijackings.

A whistling noise fills the cabin reminding Jack of the intense gunfire, the trucks arrive in Moscow after passing a military checkpoint with ease where they go through the mostly empty roads and arrive before a gigantic hotel looking apartment building that looks beautiful yet has countless tanks and armoured carriers beneath it.

The people in the truck didn't even give their names as they kick him out of the armoured trucks and drive away, several soldiers walk up to Jack looking at him with suspicion.

"I'm expected."

"Name?"

"Jack Hunt."

The soldier speaks through the radio, "Ok, cleared. First elevator," the soldier points up the nearby stairs where the entrance is.

"Ok," Jack says while running up them wondering why security is so tight as there doesn't even seem to be people outside on the streets when a distant explosion and gunfire remind him of last night, he doesn't pause and jogs through the door where many soldiers are looking out the windows.

Many eyes turn to Jack as he walks through the entrance, none of them speak to him so he can only ignore them and walk towards the elevators on the distance wall, one of them lights up as he arrives and then opens up revealing it empty.

Jack steps into it with the doors quickly closing after him, the elevator moves but in an unexpected direction, downwards as it descends undergo going off the control panel proceeding downward to floor -23, the door opens with a ding revealing a well light corridor leading to two doors just like any regular hotel, he steps off the elevator that immediately shuts leaving him in this hallway with two lamps lighting up the number on the wall.

One of the door swings open, "Jack, Jack Hunt?," a voice asks from the door.

"Uh yea,' Jack says to the unfamiliar voice walking up to it.

"Mistress said that you should wash up here before meeting her, this is your room for now."

"Oh, where is hers?"

"Next door."

"Oh," Jack says with a smile, "I thought she'd be further away."

"Well she is right now, but she'll be back in an hour. The underground rail isn't very efficient."

"The underground rail? The subway?"

"No, now come inside I'll show you around your room," she says while opening up the door allowing Jack to see further inside the expansive room that strangely doesn't feel underground at all.

Jack follows the woman in as she points out the various rooms and amenities, including sauna and spa room as the two of them arrive by a bed laid out with several sets of clothes, the woman begins to speak.

"I picked out some clothes incase you didn't find any, I see you found some… but you can't wear them."

"Thanks, will you fetch me or will I meet you somewhere?"

"Please stay in your room, we will fetch you."

"Ok," Jack says to the woman as she walks out and shuts the door, he hasn't been given a key leaving him stuck if he needs to leave yet it's fine as he removes his clothes and freshens up after the trip here where he has blood splattered all over his fake versace collared shirts.

He enters the giant luxurious shower with a rain like effect with countless drops coming from the ceiling, Jack relaxes in the shower and allows himself to compile his thoughts together for a moment.

The situation in the real world is stable enough to leave for some time after talking with Katya and making sure Heather is safe, John and Tom are both doing their own thing and no one seems to need his help beyond some money tied up in the online escow accounts that aren't available to him to use as money. It's best to wait until further completion in Skyfall and Bridging-the-Stars such as getting a nascent soul before doing much more here as the incidents earlier proved, Bridging-the-Stars is a good move that doesn't use his own energy yet it's also hard to control.

The inner space is progressing, the eternal fight between the dirt and tree continue as the cycles do, there's no telling how many cycles have progressed but the important thing is that they are continuing still.

In the game world, he needs to return to the village and make sure everything is fine after the invasion because no system prompts have come up talking about it being over yet it's going to be difficult to get the 6 regions back as there's only a single region travel token available. The city will cease to exist if he were to die so they'll be aware that he's alive and there's no way for him to find out things from them… but he also cannot delay his progress in getting stronger and if Lunamarie doesn't have access to the foundation pill recipe ingredients then this is the best time to try to find them. He also needs to keep an eye out on rare bloodlines and the memories shards for Xueli.

That's not all though as the dwarves need advanced metals for their own works including crystals, there's the money that's owed to the White Flower Church then there's the kobolds, goblins…

Most importantly though, he needs to return with Jessica to her parents grave.

Jack's mind gets lost thinking about everything that needs to be done for a moment.

'Master,' a familiar voice says in his mind.

"What White?," Jack says as breaks his thoughts.

'This underground space is non-conducive to your bodies natural state during it's current stages of Skyfall.'

"What do you want me to do about it? You heard those explosions."

'Master can simply have a presence in the internal world that is training Skyfall.'

"How? Everytime I try to look inside there I lose focus on everything else."

'Master has trained his spiritual connections up to 4 connections now, Master previous thought that was tied to his cultivation and while it is, it is actually threads of consciousness that you can use freely.'

"So I wasn't just using the cultivation wrong but also those too, great."

'No Master, your method is how you train them. It's is just preferable to not mix the two.'

"I see, so your point?"

'Direct your second thread back into your mind, it might feel weaker than the other but it has full access to your power.'

Jack frowns in the shower but does as she says, he manipulates the second thread of consciousness that's always lingering around unused and sends it along the same path as the first incredibly thick thread, he immediately feels disorientated as his mind feels itself in two places at once.

The young black haired man closes his eyes in both spaces and slows down his breathing until they both become in sync, he opens his eyes in unison on both and looks around.

One set of eyes is looking at an incredible luxurious bathroom with water running over his body, his other set of eyes are looking at a lifeless patch of black dirt that extends as far as the eye can see underneath endless clouds crackling with lightning.

"This is strange," Jack says through both mouths at the same time.

'Master simply needs to adjust to the sensation, once you begin training Skyfall it will not be a problem.'

"Can I use the other threads to do the same?"

'Yes Master but it will strain your mind further.'

"True, lets get used to two first," Jack says while attempting to step forward and falling down in both.

'Yes Master.'

A painful practise later, Jack steps out of the shower and gets dressed as his gazes wanders off now and then, his arms, legs, back and shoulders are bruised up badly from both getting beaten up and falling over in the shower so many times.

He gets dressed in a simple set of black pants and dark blue button shirt that was laid out on the bed, completely with rigid awkward movements as though the young man doesn't have full use of his body before walking over to the mirror nearby and brushing his hair looking at his reflection quietly when a knock coming from the door disrupts his concentration.

He walks over to the door with slow and careful steps but the door quietly swings open before he arrives, "Jack?!? Are you ready yet?," a young females voice announces itself from the door.

"I'm right here, no need to yell Katya," Jack responds to the young woman standing in the doorway wearing an incredible looking flared skirt show off her long toned legs and a nearly transparent sheer blouse showing off her ample cleavage.

Jack takes a moment to look over her body before catching a sly smile on her cute face with long grey hair that offsets her dark yet fleshy outfit, "It's our first time meeting."

"Yes it's our first time meeting in person, but I've seen plenty of pictures of you."

"You only showed like 3 of you because you didn't like to show off your hair, yet here you are looking like you're ready to go to a nightclub."

"Ugh, don't remind me. I would have preferred a nightclub to that sleazy place, you went offline for a long time so I had people looking for you."

"I told you I was in the game."

"No one can go in the game for longer than 3 days at a time, you were gone for over a week. I was worried, lots of us were worried and I even sent Anya to collect your sister yet here you are perfectly fine."

"Well sorry, thanks for helping Heather."

"She needed it, idiot staying on the border with her even stupider husband. I miss Anya so you'll have to take her place in the mean time," Katya says teasingly smiling, her eyes show a youthful playfulness that Jack knows her for.

"Won't they be back soon? I'm happy to help but I can't be out of the game for too long."

"Don't you want to spend time with me?," Katya says with a pouty face.

"Of course I do, but don't you have things in the game that need to be done too?," Jack says while trying to concentrate on the conversation but finding it difficult.

"Yes true, I do but I wanted to make time for you, if you don't want to spend time with me then I'll be happy to leave."

"Well let's spend some time now," Jack says with a smile trying to defuse the tension, "I'm not doing anything."

"Alright, let's have a lunch now," Katya says while looking to the woman in a french maid uniform next to her, "we can do that right?"

"Yes Mistress, the restaurant is awaiting your arrival, an extra person won't be a problem."

"Good it better not have been," Katya says then turns to Jack again, "let's go."

"Convenient, do you always live here?" Jack says while calmly walking to her side forcing himself to walk mostly normal.

"No, I usually live somewhere else but this is the third most secure building in all of moscow at the moment so I'm staying here for now," Katya says as the three of them walk out the door and towards the elevator's tightly closed door.

"What's going on up there?"

"Idiots that have access to things they shouldn't, it's not my problem yet they're going to make it if they keep going. There was a blast near one of my factories the other day nearly causing all of my workers to leave. I had to give them a bonus to keep from walking off."

"What sort of factory?"

"Fabric, they're making part of my clothing line."

"Oh clothing line? You got that established?"

"Only with the money I acquired from the game recently, I wish I could have my factory there instead as I'm making a lot more money since everyone is so rich."

"Yeah, it seems like the world has gone crazy. I would have thought the massive amounts of money would have more of an effect on things out here though. I went to an auction where gold items were bid into the hundreds of millions already," Jack says as the door opens.

"Hundreds of millions? Paltry amounts out here but truly a sum within the game, I wonder how they were able to acquire it."

Jack smiles but doesn't respond for a moment as they enter the elevator with the door shutting quickly going upward, "It's not enough, gold isn't all that there is in the game," Jack says as the smell of the two of them enter his nose.

A beautiful floral perfume and smoke.

"There's safety inside the cities and they run on gold, it's good enough for me as I can't do that slashy slashy fighting."

"What about skills?"

Katya shakes her head, "They want me to become part of something, I have to stand on my own," she says while staring resolutely back at Jack.

"There are other skills, you could even found a city."

Katya looks away while letting out a thinking noise through her nose, "I could maybe after I get things set up, for now I need to focus on expanding into the other cities within my region. I'll have new competitors soon."

Jack looks at her changing expression in awe, she seems to have a plan of attack and yet here's him with thousands of people that rely on him with all of this other knowledge about how the world will change, that has nothing, no plan for the future. He opens his mouth but the door dings open interrupting his thoughts, "You'll do well."

"What about you?," Katya asks as the trio enters the restaurant.

Jack takes a moment to look at this expansive wide open restaurant filled with white table cloths and incredible looking centre pieces. The soft sound of harps fills the space as a small group of them play alongside the small waterfall looking out onto the city that has some smoke pillowing from it.

"Mistress, this way," the maid walks ahead of them and leads them to some tables set in a private booth against the windows which might look incredible if not for the destroyed parts of the city and heavy military vehicles parading around.

Jack looks down in awe when in actuality he's refocusing his mind within the inner space, it takes a moment so Katya speaks up first.

"Is there much to see down there? Your country is much more beautiful, this place is ugly and old."

"There's a feeling of order and structure this place gives off, like the city is surviving against the rough wilderness here. Every large city in my country is just a sprawling mess of buildings with no purpose, what's allowed in one place might not be allowed in another with all the prime spots taken up."

"Sounds like here," Katya says plainly, "

"Guess everywhere has that problem in the end," Jack says while scratching his neck, "I haven't done much in the game yet."

"What do you spend all your time doing then?"

"I'm trying to find stuff to do, everyone is hiding their city while the cities just have those usual quests."

"You can find out information for player cities easily enough, there's a lot of information going around on the underground markets."

"Oh," Jack says with a raised eyebrow, "what other information is available there?"

"I've only been given snippets enticing me to buy, I don't have any need for that information yet. Do you need it?"

"It could be helpful in the future, know if there's anything in the Plains of Sorrows?"

"Is that your region?"

"No, I've just heard some things about it so wanted to see if they're the same," Jack says with a smile and a jovial tone.

"Sure you did, I have actually that was only yesterday in fact, want to hear it?"

Jack swallows sharply, "Sure."

"It's under some sort of demon invasion where you get rewarded victory points, old records said victory points can be used for incredible things."

"Oh did they say where they can be used?," Jack inquires.

"The snippet didn't say," Katya says with a smirk, "do you want me to buy the whole packet?"

"How much is it?"

"55 million."

"rubles?"

"euros."

"Wow, uhh, maybe it's not that important and I'm sure the information will be free soon anyway."

"Yes, I have heard of many people going to the plains of sorrows to hunt down demons so maybe the information will be free before long."

"You have? How many?"

"There's High Volsten, Epsilon, Reapers and someone else I forget, probably a few hundred that I know about."

"How are they getting there?"

"They paid someone to teleport them to those coordinates using the token, I was offered a placement."

"They want to go that badly?," Jack says while frowning.

"There's no risk to them and they're able to send hundreds of people with one teleport so of course they'll go."

"Aren't they afraid of dying and losing all their stuff?"

"You'd have to ask them," Katya says watching a service person walk up to the table, "what's on menu today?"

"Chicken of Beef Mistress, we are bringing your usual drink around now."

"Oh so few choices, I am used to you guys having a menu of 30 dishes atleast."

"The supply lines have unfortunately closed due to the Western Front not allowing anything through, we think it might take a week."

"Those fool, why are men such fools?," Katya says while sighing.

Jack feels some eyes on him causing him to look down at the table for a moment, the service person continues to speak.

"There's enough drink to last until next winter, would you prefer chicken or beef?"

"Beef, I'm hungry after last night," Katya says looking at Jack, "you?"

"Chicken."

"Got it, those will be around shortly and Victoria is just coming now, hope you enjoy your meal Mistress," the service person says before walking away.

Another young woman walks up to the table and serves the drink, Jack doesn't have much input here as some sort of red wine is being poured out for this impromptu lunch leaving the three of them alone again not too long after.

"Eastern Front are causing lots of problems?"

"They think they can blockade the whole country because they're being stopped from attacking targets in central asia from Russia."

"Seems like they're having some sort of an effect, I've had a few problems with them in the game."

"They seem to be everywhere so they can have an immediate effect yet it doesn't last long, these new ones will die just like the rest. It's no problem just a temporary nuisance," Katya says with a thicker than usual accent.

"Do they have much backing?"

"They have enough to be troublesome but don't worry about them, they know not to mess with me."

"Alright, I've already offended a few of them. Just another group for the list."

"Enough about that stuff, what about the people you've met? Have you had any adventures?"

Jack smiles, "Of course I've had adventures, I've had so many life and death crisis that I lost count of them."

"Really? What was one of them like?"

"Well the first time…," Jack begins summing up the initial cave visit that nearly trapped him where he had to rely on the two different fires to get through changing it to just require one.

Katya is enthralled by the story telling that doesn't stop as the food arrives, Jack continues to tell her about the easter event with the rabbits and capturing them, the incidents with the kobolds and goblins followed by the raw power of that ice field that killed the centipede.

"I almost got trapped underground again when a bunch of creatures swarmed out of the tunnels trying to kill me, I had to desperately hang off the side of an underground cliff face, it was incredibly dark."

"Oh underground, I have heard that people are invited to go down underground sometimes, something about demon suppress?"

"Yes, demon suppression temple… I've heard that something crazy is going on underground there yet I only have a faint idea about what it does."

"What is it?"

"Well it's in the name, it's fighting against something underground… I wonder what though."

"Yes," Katya says looking confused, "I wonder what."

"What people are they inviting down, I've only heard of strong people going down and I'm sure there's no one that has reached Stage 6 yet."

"Many people have reached stage 7 already according to rumours, the strongest person that we know of is already at stage 9."

"What… it's only been a few weeks, they're already there?," Jack says incredulously.

"I heard they were taken in by the game's sects and given lots of resources, I'm not sure though. The strongest person that isn't part of the sects is stage 6."

"That's still really fast, I've only just reached there…," Jack says without thinking.

"Oh," Katya says with a questioning gaze, "you're stage six?"

"Oh uhh, sort of. My level is hard to gauge so it doesn't give me an accurate figure. It has taken a lot of effort to get to that stage though."

"Congratulations then, I hope you'll be able to look after me once you find greater success."

"I still owe you so of course," Jack says before taking a sip of wine, "I just can't promise anything until I get stronger. I'm still nothing compared to the true powerhouses."

"Yes, from your story I have to watch out. It seems scary outside the cities."

"I'm sure your region is fine."

Katya awkwardly smiles, "How was your food?"

"It was good," Jack watches as a young woman in a suit comes running up to Katya and whispers into her ear leaving just as quickly and quietly.

"It seems I have to attend to something, I may see you for dinner," Katya says as her face turns serious.

"Sure, I'll speak to you later," Jack says as Katya leaves by herself but is quickly joined by over ten people as she arrives by the elevator.

"Are you done Jack?," the maid asks, she was left behind.

"Yes, I'll return to the game now and wait for dinner time."

"Mistress may not return until after midnight, I'll inform you if that happens," the maid says watching the elevator door close.

"Sure, let's return then," Jack says sliding up from the seat at the table, after being force to eat with dangerous silverware his dexterity has increased massively from when he started the meal.

Jack walks normally towards the elevator followed by the young woman in a maid costume, when the door opens, he looks towards the door incase it was Katya but instead it's a middle-aged man with greying hair, he has a well manicured beard and moustache. His piercing grey eyes are fixated on Jack for a moment causing the young man to frown.

The man walks out of the elevator and passes by Jack, "Stay in your place boy," the middle-aged man says with a deep voice as he walks by.

Jack stops his steps but finds himself pushed forward and into the elevator, the door immediately shuts where he wants to say something but the young woman speaks up first.

"Don't ever speak with that person, nothing good will ever come of it."

"Who?"

"Mikhail Surgot, the fifth largest arms dealer for the military and someone after Mistress's heart."