— Snap.

— Crackle.

— Kraaaaaa!

The ghostly presence of the hands was forcing him to face the creatures, it made Zane lock his heel in between two of a tree's roots. He breathed softly, and turned the item in his finger before he was raising his hand and whipping. It hit the Yuis’ crown and drew black blood, however, it ended up wrapping around a horn, causing his body to almost be pulled ahead from the force of the Yuis.

'This isn't good.'

The presence of hand's manhandled him to repeat the motion.

'Shit.' If this continued, the little spiritual energy would drain out of him easily. Unfortunately, neither would the Hermit let go. His hand was raised in the air, and it struck both the Yuis at once. The Yuis that were already bleeding, collapsed.

[You have killed 1 Yuis!]

[Level ?

Monster: Yuis

Grade: C—D]

—Hraaaa!

The second Yuis screeched and charged in his direction with its broken hand falling down along the way. 

— Crackle

The presence of hands raised his arms in the air. The Yuis opened its mouth, from which the carnivorous flower let out a scream. At that moment the presence brought his hands down. 

—Snap.

Wisteria struck the flower, breaking it immediately.

[You've slaughtered <Onyx Myrmidons>!]

[Level ?

Monster: <Onyx Myrmidons>

Level: A—C]

[You have killed 1 Yuis!]

[Yuis' killed: 2]

The <Onyx Myrmidons> was unfortunately more tedious to kill. The flower would easily find another Yuis to attach onto.

— Screeeeeee!

The scream was beyond what he had imagined, and due to it loud thuds echoed in his ears. It must be <Call Of Reconcile> as he saw silhouettes of huge figures begin emerging behind the few trees that still remained.

[The Hermit complains about your low spiritual energy]

'Hah. Asshole.'

[The Hermit claims: they'll manage it. But it'll take a while]

'How unfortunate.' Zane pushed away from the presence of hands and snapped Wisteria on the ground. The guidance of the hands had gotten considerably weaker, since his spiritual energy was low.

His eyes darted around and began tracing the figures.

One… Four.

There were four Yuis'.

Dryness scratched his throat, and his body ached. How was he treated as a slave anyway? The moment he asked the question, pangs of pain in his head answered him. Zane staggered a bit, catching the side of his face.

[The Hermit offers auditory guidance]

[New skill earned!]

[System is confused!]

[Skill already exists!]

[Auditory Guidance Lvl1 activated!]

"Sure." Zane murmured under his breath. This guy was offering a lot. Last time he chased after the girl. An electronic voice resounded in his ears, it felt as if someone was right behind him, whispering.

["Duck. Snap. Strike. Duck.]

[Now."]

Zane ducked. Golden sparks flew above his head.

He then snapped Wisteria. Opening his eyes and using his own judgment, he ran towards the more open land and took the situation in, he then struck Wisteria at the neck of the monster, drawing black blood at impact. The Wisteria coiled around the creature's neck. He pulled at it, before letting go.

— Grahhh! Gragg!

Zane ducked again. Thankfully the Hermit wasn't that bad. Steaming black liquid fell on the ground in front of him, burning the grass like deadly acid. He watched the creature collapse with parted lips and light pants.

[You have killed 1 Yuis]

[Yuis' killed: 3]

'Ugh.' He snapped Wisteria again. ‘Wait… why am I not getting any species?’ Zane gritted his teeth and swallowed at the sight of more Yuis’, he didn’t have time to think about money. He repeated the same motion two more times, easily killing the two Yuis, given their small size.

'3 are done.'

[Yuis' killed: 5]

[The Hermit is complaining]

The complaints were exceptionally pitiful, but he was a little thankful towards the Hermit. Blurry spots appeared in Zane's vision, he ignored them and stepped out of where he ducked, gripping Wisteria tightly in his closed hand.

Sparks of golden were aimed immediately at him.

'This will be too long.' He clenched his fists, eying the incoming shadows in his direction.

—

[Yuis' killed: 11]

[Credits will be given to ␣␣ once ␣␣ is a registered player]

[The Hermit has placed a reward for you in one of the birdbaths in <Atranochs Forest>!]

The mist was yet to clear, but Zane could see the faint sunlight peeking from the sky, or maybe it was because he was imagining it. His eyes were filled with blurriness, while his body swayed with little to no balance. But he couldn’t pass out. 'I can't pass out. Not yet. Someone's watching.'

He held onto a tree bark for support, gasping for breath and mentally begging himself to collect his thoughts. It didn't help, it only caused his vision to pitch. His body collapsed to the ground.

'How could I forget?' he grunted as he forced himself to sit up. 'I was so damn weak during this stage.' His eyes began fluttering out of his control. 'Five minutes.'

His eyes shut unwillingly.

—

—Creak

Zane woke up with a silent gasp, his back stinging with a sharp jolt of pain as he rubbed at his eyes in hopes of getting rid of the blurriness. He lay on whatever platform he was on for at least a few moments before he looked around. He was in a familiar place. Dark structure with metal walls and golden bars. A prison cell.

He moved a bit, and banged his head into the bunk above him. ‘Ah!' His body cried in pain. With his vision still swaying, his eyes slowly registered the scene in front of him. Zane blinked a few times before gazing at his hand. A golden string was tied around his wrists, but hadn't bound his hands together.

—Crrrr. . . 

He faintly realized that most of his injuries from fighting the Yuis were healed, replaced by heavy bandages. Zane brought his feet to rest on the tiles and hissed at the cold that permeated from them. He pushed himself to sit up by forcing his uninjured elbow to prop him to sit up right. 

— Creak

Zane took a deep breath and inhaled sharply, forcing himself to stand up. The moment he did so, he had to take the support of the bunk above to keep himself from falling back down. He stood in the same place for a few moments before he willed his legs to move towards the prison bars. 

It was a typical prison cell. Most prisons did have complete metal rooms with mana dampeners, but not all prisons had the golden bars that blocked its entrance. Zane gazed at them in a daze and looked at his own hands, where golden strings moved. He looked back up and took a few steps ahead, close enough to peek through the holographic bars.

'Maybe if—'

"It's useless." A voice from the top bunk hoarsed out.

Zane glanced at the silhouette of a person on the top bunk, sitting on the edge and dangling their legs, and then glanced back at the golden bars. It wasn't useless.

He blinked slowly, 'at least, not right now.' The bars were charged with spiritual energy, and they'd easily harm anyone who touched them. But there was a crux. Zane frowned. 'Everyone the bars have guarded till now, have egos too huge.' And. . .

He closed his eyes, if only he had parchment that would help him mail talismans. He opened them and crossed his arms against his chest before an idea suddenly struck him. 'Maybe. . . '

Zane closed his eyes.

[Lowering Spiritual Energy level]

[Current level: *** --> 0]

Ten years from now he'd learn how to overcome such a situation. His mind raced back for information. Adding to said matter, he barely had any spiritual energy at the moment. 'Ah.' It shouldn't bother him really.

[Removing any magical restraints]

The man slowly lifted his arm and hesitantly inclined a finger near the bars.

—Thump.

"Are you fucking crazy?" the same voice asked.

Footsteps approached behind Zane but he could care less, he didn't have the interest in him to entertain any other prisoner. Not when he could go back to Silver Moon and get started with the seventh level. 

As he emptied his thoughts and pushed his hand through the bars, nothing happened. No electrical shock jolted through him, no sudden pain erupted through his body. 

Zane smiled. The bars were accustomed to those who took care of this place. And, despite him traveling back in time, such trivial matters were remembered. It was the case with the <Celestium>.

The <Celestium> existed in a place where time ceased to flow, it existed as the sole inhabitant in the [Horizon Of The Wintering Rose]. It was a grand building inbuilt with golden diagrams of the universe with royal blue engravings of ancient celestial maps. 

"You—" The voice from inside panicked. "How—"

Once upon a time, it was Zane, who was bewildered by such a thing. He could feel a little pity simmer inside him, but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to care about it. 'Hah.' He smiled a bit as he pushed his arm through carefully, then half his body.

"H-hey! Wait up!" The voice behind him yelled, and the sound of someone jumping and hitting the floor was heard. 

Zane pushed his whole body through and panted lightly, it didn't matter if he didn't use any of his strength, the nerves were crazy. As far as he knew from seeing it in the past, the golden bars would drain most of the soul's energy, leaving the prisoner inside incapacitated. 

Zane took a deep breath and turned around, "what?" he asked.

The person's face and body lit up by the light the bars reflected as they got closer. 'It couldn't be…'

"Help me out of here." The latter spoke.

Zane's hand trembled a bit but he stared at the person. 'Rhian Amren…'

"..."

"Just help me." 

"Why?" Zane asked. 'Why help you…'

Rhian wiped the sweat off his forehead, pushing aside the wet fringes that had clearly overgrown. "They've trapped me here for months!"

"And there's a reason for that." Zane murmured. "You look fine to me."

'Not much wounded—'

"I—I'm fine! It's just that—" Rhian shifted back from the bars, his face wasn't clean, riddled with sand and dust. His clothing seemed no better than the single piece linen Zane was wearing. The both of them truly were sights for sore eyes. 

Zane narrowed his eyes as Rhian took a step closer to the bars. "Just what?"

The light lit part of Rhian's shoulder. The dark marks on his neck and back, the tears on his shirt—barely a shirt, hanging from one shoulder. This was the same guy who would kill two of his colleagues in the future while smiling. He would become a psychopath and the System would prepare an independent level just to defeat him. 

'This…' Rhian was a stuck-up arrogant man who could care less about the lives he took. But, why was he here? If he was sure, he was being transported at around the start of the fourth main level. Zane winced suddenly, a memory returning to him.

"Ey! Are you okay?" Rhian called from inside, he seemed on the point of hysterics. 'There was no way.' Zane cleared his throat. "Lower your pride," he murmured, "If you're not out by the time I come back, you're ditched."

'Least I can do.'

Besides, he didn't know much about Rhian other than the person he'd become in the future—if he made changes at the moment, would he be able to stop this man from turning evil and indirectly save his colleagues from dying? 

Zane swallowed and turned on his heels, a sharp but bearable pain gushing down his body. He glanced up. Unlike the main ceilings of the Celestium that were filled with celestial markings of constellations and locations of dead stars. The current ceiling was a dull black sky filled with small specs of white. This was the <Celestium's Eternal Hell Lvl 0>.

Now, it was time to find them. Not 'find', perhaps… but just know that they were alive. It was selfish of him at best. 

—

"Massacre of Yuis?"

"Yes."

"That's interesting."

Caue clicked his tongue, he fidgeted with a beaded bracelet that he had taken off a few minutes back to digest the information that Morgan had relayed to him. Morgan leaned on the table in front of Caue. "Sixty-five people were dragged in. Two of our own." he said, his voice was quieter, partially because he knew better than to hear the never ending echo of it in the Celestium's too big interior. 

"Mn."

Morgan slowly raised himself to stand up. "You're not concerned?"

"No… Rynn and Adrian are fine."

"No, I meant the person who the Hermit helped."

"Him?"

Morgan placed his hands on the table and gestured in the direction of the prison. 

"Yes."

"The Hermit is a bored person." Caue replied. But he also knew that such bored people were often too lazy to even lift a finger. He had expected nothing out of this sudden hidden level that was thrown their way, but it turned out that things were planned differently. 

[<Watcher>, Blue Neck Serpent is curious about the censorship in the <Celestium>] 

Caue knew better than to make a face that could possibly trigger something in the people that were watching him. There weren't many <Watchers> at the moment given that the Celestium worked on high censorship that restricted their words or visuals from being heard or seen.

[␣␣␣␣␣␣␣]

"Is he really?" Morgan scowled, the lantern in the middle of the table casting a blue glow that illuminated the both of them. The years that Morgan had spent with Caue were really starting to pay off. 

Caue sighed. "I'll give him that, he knows about the give and take."

Morgan said nothing, but Caue guessed, walking over to where Morgan stood and before he could say anything, a voice spoke up. "What? You plan on torturing him or something?" Morgan looked past Caue and at the silhouette in the archway.

The silhouette made its way into the room and scoffed, a holographic blue whip coiled around his finger. Adrian murmured something under his breath, voice gruff as he walked towards them.

Caue frowned. "The elders will be against it."

"I'm not serious." Adrian assured, walking towards them.

Morgan sighed. "He knew about something, the Hermit must have seen something in him that they didn't in Adrian. Meaning he's an interesting deal."

"You're gonna question him?" Adrian asked curiously, completely ignoring Morgan's previous jab. "Master Khan isn't here yet. He'll be disappointed to see that his subject of interest is gone."

"He doesn't have to know." Morgan asked, but he was reaching into his pocket and retrieving a sharp pointed syringe. "What, Adrian, you just want to ask for some basic information, don't you? Only this much should be fine."

[<Watcher> The Doctor of Seven Deaths is asking what the syringe is for]

—

Zane shuddered unwillingly. His mind steady, while his body trembled furiously. Sure, even when they were forced to dorm together, they were far from normal, but to see them at the current moment, already acting like psychopaths before the eighth level? These people were really something. He smiled a bit. Too bad he didn't directly meet Adrian.

But… should they already be calling out the threats?

He glanced at the ceiling and then at the three people.

The Celestium had three exits. There was one behind the men in the room, there were the sewers, then there was the Window in the awning of the Celestium's prison. 'Maybe it's best to get out as soon as possible.' Zane admittedly glared at the people. These were people on the line of good and bad.

These were the people who accompanied Zane in his past life.

Caue, Morgan, Adrian, and Rynn.

He swallowed the bittersweet feeling in his throat and turned around, making his way back to the prison cell. Stepping carefully to avoid echoes. He continued to take the support of the wall as he descended down the stairs, and reached the great open hall of the Celestium. 

Albeit, when he arrived, he wasn't expecting Rhian to be waiting for him outside.

Chapter 2: <Vasten Plains> (2) > Fin.