City of Sin (Yanyu Jiangnan)

Countless Futures

Richard called out to the broodmother twice, but she gave no reply. Instead, he saw a small silhouette rushing over from the distance at high speed. Mountainsea jumped straight into him, putting so much strength into a hug that even his bones creaked. He had spent less than half a year on his expedition to Lithgalen, but that translated to half a decade in Faelor. Having not seen him in years, the barbarian girl started sniffing him all over, enjoying his presence to the fullest.

He hugged her gently, caressing her head as he enjoyed her own faint aroma. It was only a few minutes later that he sighed softly and asked, “When will you get to level 14?”

This would have been a strange question. Mountainsea had been involved in the final battle against the reapers, where she had shown level 22 energy with the ability of someone not below level 25. Speed, toughness, strength, martial arts… she had it all from her inheritance. However, now she was being asked when she would get to level 14, and the girl’s body went rigid as she buried her face deep into Richard’s chest.

It took a long while for the barbarian to relax and pull back, gritting her teeth as she asked, “When did you find out?”

“Forever ago. You refused to leave Faelor, and your mother and father didn’t even ask. The broodmother is also connected to me by soul, you know, and you randomly appeared in my network right before that final battle. It didn’t take much of an inspection to find out.”

The outed broodmother sighed, “If not for my bloodline, there would have been no way to break the reapers’ hold on our soul. My only thought was that you couldn’t go on without us.”

Richard sighed again, caressing the girl’s braids, “I don’t care how many battles we win or lose, it’s all meaningless. As long as we’re all still alive, there’s still hope.”

An unadulterated look of joy spread across Mountainsea’s face, “Aren’t we all alive then?”

Looking at the innocent smile that was trademark of Klandor’s Princess, Richard didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t wrong, and clearly at least some personality had remained after their special fusion as well. Perhaps that was enough.

“What are your plans?” Richard asked.

Mountainsea deftly pulled on their soul connection, pointing out the numerous tunnels currently under construction, “Build a number of thought centres and focus them on law analysis. The end goal is to fuse the laws of the Beast God with the laws of the reapers, and see if that can lead to a new batch of drones. I already have an experimental set for you to take to the abyss; they might be helpful there.”

Richard nodded, suddenly wrapping his arms around Mountainsea and soaring up into the sky. He flew until he was thousands of metres up above, giving him a field of view that encompassed almost all of Faelor. As he connected to the flying scouts scattered all across the plane, he truly became omniscient.

Faelor was no longer the prosperous plane it once was. There were only a little more than two million humans left, most of them gathered in the core territories of the Crimson Empire while a minority were scattered all across the mainland. In the northeast was a sector of a hundred thousand kilometres that had been destroyed beyond immediate repaid; kilometre-deep holes riddled the earth as the war machines dug for resources, and be it on the ground or in the ocean there were no signs of life. The origin energy of the plane had been scarred as well, and that had left the plane’s foundational laws in a state of instability that halved their control. Natural disasters had popped up all around.

In the void, the divine kingdoms of the various deities were shrouded in darkness. As embodiments of the plane’s laws, the pantheon suffered with the halving of the plane’s origin energy. Even worse, the loss of almost all their worshippers left them without an adequate energy source to recover with; only the three goddesses still maintained any semblance of authority. These three would soon be considered the head of the pantheon, but that wasn’t a testament to their prowess at all.

Such was Faelor, a land full of sores. However, it was a land that had managed to survive. The plane would slowly recover its origin energy, and the population would boom faster than it ever had. Once the broodmother became a matriarch at level 16 and left the plane for the void, there would be a new golden era.

Richard lowered his head to look at Mountainsea, “I don’t know when I’ll be back from the abyss, but I hope to see you at level 16 by then. Ask the goddesses if you need any help. I want you to come with me and explore the depths of the void.”

“You’re leaving already?” Mountainsea pouted.

He sighed, “Mm, I have to go prepare.”

“You better come back alive!” she frowned, trying to struggle free of his embrace.

Richard took out his last destiny crystal and smiled, “Look, I still have one of these from Ferlyn. It’s another life, you don’t need to worry.”

The barbarian seemed unconvinced, but she sniffed the crystal and a smile soon spread across her face, “Such a strong smell! Okay, I’m not worried now. You can go, I’ll just sleep for a while.”

He sighed, blinking away and walking through the wormhole to return to Bluewater.

……

Once he was back in Norland, Richard decided that it was time for an offering ceremony. He could have conducted it on his own island, but knowing how dangerous the abyss was he chose to go to the Church of the Eternal Dragon anyway. At least this way, Noelene would get some grace.

The altar was the same as before, with even the angles of the pillars remaining constant as ever. Richard placed ten top-tier offerings upon it, exhausting the last of his reserves in his final preparations for the long expedition. They slowly turned into timeforce one by one, and the will of the Eternal Dragon descended upon the place once more.

Richard was a little surprised at this appearance, especially since he hadn’t offered anything special. Was there nothing happening across the myriad planes that the old dragon could keep an eye on him like this?

The dragon seemed unaware of his thoughts, speaking with its usual dignified tone, “This amount of ember essence is minuscule for someone who has defeated a reaper invasion.”

“I used it to repay debts,” he replied calmly.

“Repay debts?” there was some puzzlement in the dragon’s voice, “That much ember essence could earn you a rank 1 blessing.”

A rank 1 blessing! This was the highest rank, obtainable only by sacrificing something equivalent to the heart of a greater demon lord! Even rank 2 items like Nasia’s swords and the elven emperor’s blade were considered unfathomable in Norland, what would a rank 1 blessing be?

However, Richard still shook his head at the offer that was equivalent to a hundred top-tier offerings, “She can choose to do that herself when she’s back. I’m not making the decision for her.”

“Very well. Whenever it may be, I will trade for ember essence with a bonus, with a ratio of activated essence returned as well. As for now, you will receive the favour accorded to someone of your title. Any offering you bring back from Arbidis will be worth double the divine grace.”

“Hmm… I didn’t feel you trying to read my thoughts.”

“There is no need; I can see the future.”

“Then what’s the result?”

“Unknown.”

“Huh? You just said you can see the future.”

“The future is an amalgamation of possibilities, and there are few certainties. The specific outcome is determined by destiny; that is beyond my powers.”