R-a - Volume 4 - Chapter 55 (Patreon)

R-a - Volume 4 - Chapter 55 (Next chapter ~2 days)

(Edit5: Finalized balancing of First Gate's time-rate to match timeline + for logical consistency

1 year inside the First Gate = 3 minutes 3 seconds in Reality

1 day inside = ~half a second outside)

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Micheal exhaled as he walked through the glowing portal, the world around him vanishing for a split second. A moment later, he reappeared, exiting the Third Gate into the main lobby of Tallanoran’s Inheritance.

‘Hmm… I’m first out.’ Micheal noticed, casually nodding at one of the Farian soldiers standing guard. The warriors saluted back.

‘Let’s not waste any time.’ While his memories would never slip away thanks to his Eyes of the Deep Ability granting him a perfect memory, the sensations of touching Space were still fresh in his mind, and he wanted to keep it that way when he formed his first Mana Circle.

Micheal stepped from the dais holding the Third Gate and walked over to the First Gate.

He eyed it briefly, an odd sense of nostalgia striking him.

Micheal closed his eyes for a few brief moments as old memories rose to the forefront.

Memories of when he entered the First Gate, in the first timeline, so many years ago.

‘It should be around 2 years from now, right? We’re 5 months into the 4th Wave.’ Micheal thought, comparing the timelines.

‘Or was it 3 years?’ The memories from his time on the Second Layer seemed to blend together.

In the first timeline, Micheal entered the Second Layer far later than he had in the second timeline. By the time Micheal arrived, the Great War Between Races had begun, and after he arrived, it accelerated in earnest.

The Second Layer was transformed into a horrific warzone, a literal hell on earth. Humanity conscripted every human that rose up into the Four Syndicates to concentrate their forces just to survive.

‘Those times were hard.’

When Micheal escaped from the First Layer and arrived at the trees of the Spawning Ground, he had thought, for a few brief moments, that he had returned to Earth.

That hope was squashed when one of the roving bands of recruiters picked him up and informed him that the Human Race was currently fighting a war for its very survival.

Micheal ended up joining a subsidiary group under Baron Rex, Green Shield, that had been formed upon the inception of the war.

From that point forward, he fought and trained like a madman.

After overcoming the horror of the First Layer, Micheal had done everything in his power to grow. He studied the Artifacts and Abilities in the Shop, farmed Points whenever he got time, and worked with his teammates to form cohesive strategies.

It was to his dismay, Micheal remembered, that most of his allies felt differently.

Leaving one nightmare that was the First Layer for another was enough to drive most humans into despair. The constant warfare and terror of fighting against alien Races weakened morale of the human forces. Alcoholism ran rampant, as did smoking, and a whole host of other maladies that people used as a crutch.

It was a dark time for the Human Race, and for Micheal too.

If he hadn’t been reunited with Shin on the Second Layer, Micheal wasn’t sure how long he would have lasted.

‘It’s the Purgatory Church that saved the Second Layer.’ He gave credit where credit was due.

Despite the uncomfortable fanaticism some members of the Purgatory Church professed, the stalwart warriors were responsible for many of the breakthroughs in the Great War Between Races.

‘This was where the Nirvana Saint truly shined.’

The Vile King’s actions to ignite such a devastating war brought out the best of the Nirvana Saint, giving the man an opportunity to grow and prove his worth.

'And Fortuna.'

After Baron Fortuna discovered the Soul King’s Inheritance, he immediately made great use of it by opening it up for Humans to train at. Fortuna’s efforts, before he perished in battle with the Lord Justiciar, were another of the main reasons why Humanity didn’t collapse within the first year.

‘Fortuna’s efforts were important… but so were the Vile King’s.’ Micheal frowned at the thought.

As much as he was loath to admit it, Constantine’s presence could be felt here in the Second Layer, though he was only able to see it now, after the fact.

‘The Darmaton Plague crippled the Byrens.’ It damaged Humanity too, but the impact it had on all of the other races except for the Farians was far more severe.

‘One of the main reasons the Nirvana Saint had the chance to shine is because of the failsafes Constantine setup.’

The Farian’s immunity to the disease set them up as a common enemy. The weakening of the other Races gave Humanity time to stabilize. And, perhaps, there were more even actions that had been lost to time, known only to the Vile King.

‘But at what cost?’ Micheal shook his head, focusing his attention back on the First Gate.

‘And now… I’m back here again.’

By the time Micheal reached the Soul King’s Inheritance in the first timeline, the rewards that could be obtained from it had been picked clean.

The First Gate, however, operated just as perfectly as it had before.

‘Tallanoran really is a genius.’  Micheal thought as he rested his hand on the outer edge of the portal.

It was not an easy task to create an Inheritance. Many Inheritances broke down over time, or failed to function in the first place. Few Inheritances could withstand the test of time, especially over the course of hundreds of years. While rare, it was not uncommon to hear stories of Byrens that happened upon a failed Inheritance that turned their fate around as if they were the protagonist in a story.

‘Let’s go.’

Micheal entered the First Gate.

The first thing he did was squint as a familiar blinding white light caused the world to vanish, teleporting him away into the First Gate.

A moment later, Micheal found himself in a vast, white room that seemed to have no walls.

‘The First Gate.’

It was an imaginary landscape where you didn’t need to eat, you didn’t need to sleep, you didn’t need to do anything but train. You could unleash the full extent of your powers without worry about injury, expanding your comprehension of Concepts like Sword Mastery.

Micheal closed his eyes as soon as he arrived, tuning his consciousness to his Soul. In particular, he focused on his connection to the Conceptual Power of the Sword.

‘It’s dim, but I can feel it.’ Micheal smiled.

Normally, it was very difficult, if not impossible, to deepen one’s connection with a Conceptual Power in a place of distorted time.

In Micheal’s Temporal Bubbles, time was accelerated or decelerated, twisting the laws of reality. This, in turn, distorted any attempt at comprehending a Conceptual Power, making training anything related to them inside those Bubbles ineffective.

That wasn’t the case here inside the Soul King’s Inheritance.

‘He was known as the Soul King for good reason.’

There was no one, in the history of the Ancient World, more adept in matters of the Soul than Tallanoran. In the first place, he had been defeated by Sion Swordsoul, a Deity who had the power to kill a being’s Soul.

It was no exaggeration to say that Tallanoran was the only being to die to Sion without having his Soul suffer complete annihilation.

‘No, he’s the first of only two, actually.’ Micheal thought, correcting himself.

‘The Lich King Agenor also didn’t lose his Soul after Sion killed him, on the Fifth Layer.’

‘Anyway.' He shrugged.

‘It’s hard to believe that this entire Inheritance is actually an Artifact, on a tremendous scale. Tallanoran outdid himself.’

Micheal concentrated on the Concept of the Sword, feeling a clean, sharp sensation running up his spine.

‘It’s passable.’ It wasn’t as strong a feeling as it would be outside, but it was good enough.

The fact that one could train in a place where time was accelerated and still touch upon Conceptual Powers was a tremendous thing, virtually unheard of in the 7 Layers.

There was, however, a good reason why this place was so unique.

‘It can only be used once.’

Micheal didn’t know the specifics of how Tallanoran’s Inheritance worked, the details of such an incredibly complex Artifact were something few beings could decipher.

He did know, however, what the best and brightest of Humanity had determined.

‘The 1st, 2nd, and 4th Gates can only be entered a single time.’ It was a hard limit built into the Inheritance itself, a limit that the Soul King was unable to change.

The incredible power of the First Gate was speculated to be the origin of these limits. One’s Soul could only experience this special time-accelerated room a single time before it gained a sort of theoretical ‘tolerance’ to the First Gate, making it impossible to re-enter.

'It might be different for Dark Wraiths, but for all other species, entering once was the limit.'

‘First I shoul-’ Micheal’s thoughts cut off as he paused, staring forward.

Before his eyes, a shadowy blob of darkness gradually took shape, forming into a humanoid copy of himself.

“Oh right. I almost forgot about you.” His erstwhile trainer partner had arrived.

A Shadow Seeker.

Micheal kicked his right foot off the ground, relying on his superhuman strength to launch his body forward. He balanced his movements precisely so that he could strike the ground with his left foot, killing his momentum just a third of a meter away from the Shadow Seeker.

It was a deceptively simple looking movement technique that occupied a mere fraction of a second.

“Come try again later.”

Micheal flicked his right wrist, his arm chopping outward in a smooth, lightning fast motion. The faintest hint of Sword Energy flickered on his hand.

A second later…

The Shadow Seeker’s shadowy head fell to the ground.

The creature collapsed immediately, dissipating into black essence that vanished in a matter of seconds.

Unlike Sophia and Shin, Micheal, and to a certain extent, Serena as well, did not lack combat experience.

What they both needed the most was time to practice, not a training opponent to face. As such, Micheal hadn’t bothered to hunt his and train his own Shadow Seeker while traversing the Dark Canyon.

‘Now that I have the time…’ Micheal’s eyes glinted.

‘Let’s get to work.’

Micheal opened the Shop and purchased a journal and a pen for a total of 38 Points from the ‘Miscellaneous Earth Objects’ section found near the back of the Shop. He also opted to buy a comfortable chair and a table for 194 Points total.

If he was going to spend years here inside the First Gate, he might as well spend them in a modicum of comfort.

“The first matter of business…” Micheal muttered as he wrote on the first page of the journal,

“Which Mana Breathing Technique should I use?”

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