Chapter 8

Caleb scrambled backward, his boots skidding through the dirt and pine needles as he let out a sharp, ragged shriek. His shoulder hit the side of the camper with a dull thud, and he nearly toppled over. The axe he'd been holding slipped from his fingers, clattering onto the gravel. Floating where he expected a person to be was a massive eye. It was larger than Caleb's entire torso, suspended in the air with a weightless, predatory grace. The sclera was a deep, void-like black, studded with pinpricks of light that shimmered like distant stars. In the center, an iris of swirling, slowly rotating cosmic clouds surrounded a pupil that looked less like an anatomical feature and more like a miniature black hole, drawing in the light around it. Purplish-tinted skin and heavy eyelids framed the orb, but there was no face, no nose, and certainly no mouth. "What are you doing?" the creature asked. The voice was pleasant, feminine, and drifted into Caleb's mind with the clarity of a bell, though the eye didn't move a muscle. Caleb stared, his breath hitching in his chest. He looked at the axe on the ground, then back at the cosmic horror hovering five feet away. "Sorry about tha..." he stammered, his voice cracking. "I... I wasn't expecting..." The eyelid narrowed slightly, a gesture of clear annoyance. "Rude. I am lucky enough to get an assignment at a newly initiated world, and I get to work with this rube." The voice shifted to a haughty mutter that echoed in his skull. "By the way, you smell." Caleb blinked, his embarrassment momentarily overriding his terror. He looked down at his blood-stained shirt and the grime under his fingernails. "I've been busy," he managed to say, straightening up slowly while keeping his back pressed against the trailer. The giant eye drifted closer, its cosmic iris spinning a fraction faster. "Oh well. It makes sense that there were no Aether-Watchers on your planet before the initiation, human. We usually only appear where the system sends us." The creature bobbed slightly in the air. "My real name is a bit tricky for you to say with vocal cords, but it sounds something like Abyssal Horror. I am here to assist you in your endeavors regarding your outpost. You are welcome." Caleb wiped his palms on his jeans, glancing at the [System] notification that still lingered in his peripheral vision. Outpost. Breach. He had clicked it, and now he had a giant eyeball for a consultant. "I am sure you have some questions," the Abyssal Horror continued, its tone dripping with a self-important patience, "though the tutorial should have explained most of what you can do." Caleb shook his head, trying to process the fact that he was talking to a floating body part. "Um... Hello, my name is Caleb Vance... Err, Caleb Vance. What do you mean assist me? And how are you talking without a mouth?" "Did you not listen to the Pixies during the tutorial?" The eye did a slow roll, the star-fields in its sclera shifting. "I am the assistant assigned to you when you assigned this... Trailer? Why did you choose a trailer? Anyway, when you chose this trailer to be your outpost when assaulting the Incursion. I will help with answers regarding the choices you make, to get the ball rolling so to say. As for how I talk, magic of course." Caleb's brow furrowed. The "Pixies" and "Incursions" were words he hadn't heard until now. "What choices? And no, I didn't listen to any Pixies or fairies because the stupid system never sent me to any tutorial. It left me in this crazy demon forest three days ago while it teleported my friends away." The giant pupil, previously the size of a basketball, suddenly constricted until it was no larger than a baseball. The purplish eyelids flew wide. "Oh, you didn't go to the tutorial," the eye pulsed with a faint light. "I guess tha... THREE DAYS? This world was initiated only three days ago? Don't you mean months?" The creature began to shake, its entire form vibrating with a mix of disbelief and sudden intensity. "Stop joking with me. How would you be able to create an outpost only after three days, even if you skipped the month-long tutorial?" Caleb pointed toward the woods where the demonling's carcass lay rotting. "I didn't skip anything. I woke up, got hunted by a shadow-dog thing, killed a few more things, and found my way back here. The system gave me the option for an outpost after I... well, after I did some things." The vibrating stopped. The eye stared at him with a new, terrifying level of interest. "Oh wow," the voice whispered, now vibrating with a high-pitched excitement. "I got assigned to a Defier. I guess I have some good karma after all! No returning in defeat for Maya Rossi!" "What's a Defier?" Caleb asked, his grip tightening on the door handle of the camper. "It doesn't sound great. And wait, Maya Rossi? Wasn't your name Veth-something? Abyssal Horror?" "Now now, don't be so formal. Just call me Maya Rossi," the eye replied, its tone suddenly mild and almost pleasant, as if she had decided Caleb was a winning lottery ticket. "And I guess some explanations are in order. As you have figured out, some people of your world have been moved to tutorial towns after your world was integrated into the multi-verse. However, some people have some sort of deficiency where they can't naturally absorb cosmic energy and the system deems them worthless." Caleb felt a cold sinkhole open in his stomach. "Worthless?" "It doesn't bother with these people and leaves them where they are," Maya Rossi continued, drifting in a slow circle around Caleb. "These people mostly die sooner or later as they are essentially defenseless at the beginning, as the system generally vastly increases the danger of the surroundings. It's a culling, of sorts." "Is it genetic?" Caleb's voice was tight, his mind racing to his parents, his sister. "Do you think my family is stuck somewhere as well?" "It's not genetic as far as I know, and no, they aren't the Renegades," Maya said, her voice turning patient. "These people are generally called mortals. Please let me finish, we have limited time. As far as research shows, it is random who can take in cosmic energy and who can't. However, in worlds with lower class energy, mortals are more common. The higher the energy, the more common it is to be able to absorb the energy. On B rank planets and above, almost everyone can absorb cosmic energy naturally." Caleb leaned his head back against the camper's siding, exhaling a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "Well, class F is the lowest of the low. I doubt there were people who could fly or use magic before the merge, right?" "From what I've heard only five to ten percent of the population turn out to be cultivators in an F-energy world," Maya Rossi explained. "And most of those people are younger, as their minds haven't turned too rigid yet. Of course, this is for you humans. The Multi-verse consists of myriad races and civilizations and many races have natural advantages compared to you humans, who are notoriously average." Caleb ignored the insult to his species, focusing on the numbers. "Cultivators. Like in the movies?" "Harvesters are what they call those who can naturally draw the cosmic energies into themselves, by the way," Maya corrected. "Harvesters can be divided further into many types depending on class and skills, but that's for later. D-class energy is pretty good for a new world, most are E classed. Terra was F, but the merge bumped it up. So to recap, the world is populated by mortals and cultivators. This might mean your family is safe for now." Caleb looked at her suspiciously. "Lucky how? It sounds pretty bad to me that my family are probably stranded somewhere with monsters spawning just like me, but without the Titles." "Well, if they all are mortals, they haven't been split up," Maya Rossi said, her eyelid dipping in a reassuring manner. "They are probably together in the city you lived in. Also, even if they are mortals, there is strength in numbers. Even if the monsters are normally impossible to kill one on one, they should be able to kill the easier monsters using teamwork. And while they can't just get continuously stronger through cultivating, they still get stronger from killing monsters and leveling up like you did." Caleb processed that. If the system hadn't snatched them away to some "tutorial town," they might still be in the suburbs. Scared, sure, but together. It was the first piece of news that didn't make him want to crawl into a hole and die. "Anyway," Maya Rossi said, her iris flaring with renewed energy, "that brings us to Renegades like you. In extremely rare cases, a mortal gains power far above what's expected, either through luck, talent, or hard work. There is no strict definition of them, rather a 'You know it when you see it' attitude. The name comes from the fact that The Network essentially has deemed you trash, but you defy the system and fate and become strong." She leaned in, the black-hole pupil enlarging until Caleb could see his own reflection in the cosmic swirl. "Your situation is extreme even for Renegades. I mean, a Shadow-Hound spawning on top of you and you survive? Stealing a bunch of exclusive titles? Crazy. I think it has only happened a few thousand times in the multi-verse." "So it's not that rare?" Caleb interjected, feeling a strange mix of pride and annoyance. "There might be even more on earth?" Maya Rossi did another slow, dramatic eye roll. "I think you misunderstand, Caleb Vance. A few thousand times in the multi-verse. Oh right, you missed the tutorial. Suffice to say the multi-verse is almost infinite, with endless worlds with life on them, most far larger and more populated than your earth. It has existed for at least hundreds of millions of years. And during all that time, it has only happened a few thousand times. Which makes you an aberrant even among Renegades. You, and by extension me, have truly hit the jackpot." Caleb sat down on the metal step of the camper, his legs feeling heavy. An aberrant. A few thousand in hundreds of millions of years. He looked at his hands, which were still stained with the ichor of the demonling. "So how does it help me?" he questioned, looking up at the eye. "I understand that I have a leg up on others with all these strong titles, but I still can't absorb that cosmic energy you mentioned. What is that, anyway?" Maya Rossi's voice took on a reverent tone, the stars in her sclera pulsing in a slow rhythm. "Cosmic energy is the building block of the multi-verse. It is energy, it is magic, and it is life. It is everything. You couldn't really see the effects of it earlier as your world had so little of it, but you will soon see the effects of it on everything around you." "See how?" Caleb asked. "Some things in nature will be unable to take in the stronger energy and die out," Maya explained, her gaze drifting toward the dense tree line. "But many things will be like the cultivators, naturally absorbing the energy. Essentially, things will grow big. Both the beasts and nature itself. Many things will also change in unpredictable ways. A tree might gain the properties of metal and be almost unbreakable, a mouse might grow wings and fly, or suddenly be able to spit thunder. It's quite spectacular." She turned back to him, her cosmic iris shimmering. "Not being able to cultivate will impede you somewhat, but not as much as you think. You have a massive advantage in the form of titles, strength, and your newly created outpost. In any case, there are so many things to go over, but unfortunately, we are running out of time." Caleb stood up quickly. "Running out of time? Where are you going?" The eye bobbed downward, a gesture of apology. "The summoning for an initial outpost administrator is temporary. I'm being pulled back to the hub shortly." ════════════════════════════════════════