The palace:"Dad, you said we"d be going for an adventure today! Where are we going? Is it going to be fun? Are we going to beat up some bad people?"
Dahlia seemed unusually excited today. It had been another two months and everyone had met their breakthrough quotas, officially becoming ready for Simon"s next big adventure. Simon"s only task left was the ceremony he proposed a few months ago. If he could promote all of his disciples to devils, he would not have to worry about their bodily limitations as much as he would if they stayed human.
For starters, Devils are naturally stronger than humans of the same level. That is an undeniable fact, also the main reason Simon wants them to undergo the metamorphosis. Even if devils are shunned in the higher realm that he was planning on going to, he could still create random techniques to help his disciples and everyone else blend into the world as "humans".
His only worry would be what this new world is like. If not for being the author of the current realm he resided in, Simon would not have risen to power at such an exponential rate as he did. Such a feat could only be achieved by individuals that continually had lucky encounters for every single day of their lives.
He only hoped for one thing in particular.
"I really wish that I do not arrive in my new novel. If I have to go anywhere, I would hope I could travel to a land where there are unknowns. I desire mysteries and intrigue. I would rather live a life where I don"t know every single detail of the universe. That would be far too boring."
"Yes Dahlia, we will be having a lot of fun. You and the rest of the kids just have to beat up some monsters. The other kids need to do something very important so that they can become stronger. Make sure not to disturb them when we go and do that. They will require concentration." Simon warmed her.
"Yes, dad. But what are they going to do?"
"Become devils."
"Does that mean they will be part of our family?" Dahlia seemed rather curious. She only had Simon and Malece as her family for as long as she"s been alive. If the other kids were going to become devils, she wanted them as her brothers and sisters. Being alone as the only child did seem rather dull to her.
"If you want." Simon replied.
"Okay."
"By the way, dad, there was a guy at the front gates asking to meet you. He seemed like a cool uncle sort of person, he even reminds me of you. Is he my uncle?" Dahlia kept on speaking at a fast rate, not sure of when to stop.
"Just Wait here, dad is going to welcome the visitor."
Simon left and went to the front gates with a teleportation spell, quickly finding his way there. In front of him were the gates, and behind the gates was a man with blue hair and pale white skin.
"Ah, Grey. I think this is the first time we"ve met in person since the collapse." The blue haired man said before phasing through the gate.
"Oh, Blue. I take it that you have spent a considerable amount of time traveling here from the main base. Come in, we can have some snacks with my family." Simon instantly recognised the man after he called Simon "Grey".
It seemed rather sudden that a Rose Guild member had arrived at his house already, but he had a fair idea of what was going on.
"No, we need to talk now. This is so important that I think you might have to say some early goodbyes to your family for now. You can leave them the gate key for when they have finished preparing, but WE need to leave NOW!" Blue held a serious expression with shaking fists and bloodshot eyes.
"What happened?" Simon became wary as he saw this, knowing that the man before him had been through something.
"What is wrong with him? Last I checked, Rose Guild is doing just fine." Simon questioned in his mind.
"You are looking at me as if I am a weird person… a crazy person. I promise you, this is nothing short of a crisis if we do not leave now. We have updated our Guild member tracking system yesterday night. At first, everything seemed the same as it had before… but that changed when we looked into your realm and the realm you were planning to move into."
"What? Blue, just tell me what"s wrong."
"Well that"s the thing. You"re not only Grey. You had access to our guild as Grey, but it says that you have an unknown role. That means something is not right with your ident.i.ty." Blue seemed stressed as he said this.
"What is wrong then? I"m still a member right?"
"We can confirm that much, it"s just we don"t know which member. You have 3 different roles attached to you at the moment. We don"t even know the other 2."
"But why do you need me so urgently? My family and disciples are waiting for me at home, I can"t just leave without saying my goodbyes."
"We have a mere 3 minutes before you leave this realm. Before then, I will try to explain why this is happening in a fine manner."
"First of all, it turns out that this realm shelters 3 and a half souls from the Rose guild. The previous member tracking system only tracked whole ent.i.ties that bore a full guild member"s soul. The current system can now track soul count as well as fragments."
"Yesterday, we found out that one of these souls is of foreign origin, the other two are of local origin, and the fragmented soul resides in your home. But we won"t bother with that today, what we need is you! We need your help to retrieve our vice-leader before something big happens!"
"Stop eluding from the main point." Simon interrupted.
"Fine. I will say it."
"Reaper Guild found out about our guild"s resurrection. We are in a race against time to rebuild our strength. If we do not have everyone above the Established Immortal stage. Currently, only Black Rose is above Established Immortal, so we are screwed if we don"t do something soon."
"So how do you know our vice-leader is in the higher realm I"m going to?"
"He logged in. It"s just that he is in a tight spot. He is currently in the custody of an empire which we cannot deal with at the moment. Since you were the only guild member that woke up in a middle realm, we need you to rescue her."
"Aren"t you strong enough?"
"Actually, you are already on par with everyone but Black. I don"t know what you did, but you are a rocket. If you can keep this up and ascend past the Established Immortal stage, we might be able to defend the guild."
"Just tell me the deadline to get the vice-leader."
"You have 10 years. This might not seem like a lot of time, but I trust that with your abilities, anything is possible."
"For the first two year, it will just be me and you. After that, the guild will come over to help. We are just that far stretched…"
"Is there anything I should know?"
"Ah… yes! In that realm, they refer to Visionary as Qi-refining and Magician as Foundation Building. And that means that you"re considered on the same level as an inner sect elder of a medium sized sect."
"You"ve certainly done your research to make this easier to understand." Simon gave Blue a warm complement.
"And beyond is Core formation, which is your stage, then Nascent Soul, and Immortal. Immortal is equivalent to Established Immortal. We just need to get to the peak of the stage and then we can come back with Black and break through."
"So a cultivation novel? Oh please."
"Give me a moment. We have a minute left so I might as well tell my family and my disciples that I need to go now. As you said earlier, they will need a way to follow after me later, so please arrange for it now."
"No, we don"t have time for that. I will just throw a letter at the door to explain that you will be waiting for them. We really don"t have any time, Grey. Vice-leader is waiting for us and our guild is in dire-"
Simon stepped forward and placed his index finger on Blue"s lips.
"Hush. When I say I need to say goodbye to my family and disciples, I mean I will SAY GOODBYE. As much as Rose Guild is important to me, family comes first."
Simon disappeared and reappeared next to the happily chatting Malece and Dahlia.
"Darling, when did you get here?"
Simon did not respond, instead opting to embrace his family before saying a word.
"I will be going ahead of you so I can complete some very important work. I understand that we might not see each other for perhaps a month or more, but please remember that I care."
Malece did not know whether any of these kind words were meant for her or just for Dahlia. However, she did not care too much. The warmth was enough for her to feel content.
"Dad, do you have to go?" Dahlia asked.
"I have to."
"Dad will always love you, Dahlia. Remember, this will only be a month or so. Just come find me when you are ready, everything is prepared-"
Simon finally disappeared for good.
[System modifications will be implemented…]
[World selected]
[t.i.tle: Warring Immortals, by S.G]