2] – [Forest of Gradavur]

Drifting across the void of space, colorful mists of blue and purple painting along the stars shimmering all around, a structure.

A pyramid worthy of titans, a pure white marble exterior and interior. Bland yet fabulous.

Within its depths, a plain yet majestic white hall, a wide area putting legends and myths to shame. Decorated with such simple white pillars and white statues, their presence as well as sheer size impressive, these… only a build up to what rested further beyond.

A humongous white throne up some monstrously huge stairs. Everything was the same white, a reflective sheen on all. A purity unmatched by so many worlds and eras. Upon this throne one could not miss the figure sitting there, what seemed to be a human being.

One would think as such if not for the height that this human

possessed. Carefully investigating it, one would notice that the figure appeared to have been injured. Yet, the opposite thought would also jump at one's consciousness.

Lodged inside this being's simple white robes, stabbing its pale flesh, enormous mythical-looking artifacts. Curves and vibrant glows illuminating this entity. Swords of strange sharpness, halberds of unfounded mysteries, spears lacking the reach yet gaining the opportunity. Each of these stabbed the figure's torso. However, no blood came out. The figure's peaceful face of perfection was hung low, long and straight silver hair swept back while their seemingly unobscured style held a weakness of disheveled sharp strands near the top. Somewhat long strands of silver hair resting in front of each ear. The being's complexion was pale but healthy, thin yet sturdy. A charismatic nose and charming lips. Devoid of facial hair or even bodily hair. One would believe the skin to have been polished by ancient myths.

But even this titan of uncommon flair ended in such a state. Artifacts carefully placed inside this pristine flesh.

These artifacts became even more noticeable by how much space each covered over this figure, this human

, whose height appeared to be in the millions of kilometers, at the very least.

This noble figure however, seemed to be waking up from a deep slumber…

"Huh…"

'There are better ways to wake up I'd say… If they are going to seal me, why not have the decency to give me a fucking pillow? Looking majestic makes my body stiff… not being able to move for two millions years even more so.' Awaking from his forced nap, the entity abruptly opened its silver eyes.

Taking a peek at what laid all around him, the man was baffled. Reflecting into his white sclera, strangely vibrant silver irises and black pupils of explosive tyranny were very small people. They seemed like mere particles compared to him.

'My hall is intact at least, but my soldiers… are they playing games? It's like I don't even exist…'

Alexander looked puzzled at the sight of his soldiers of varying heights, playing games in a carefree manner without paying much attention to him. Yet, he could not blame them in good conscience.

Even the best guards of this Universe would never have the drive to stand at attention without moving for two whole million years.

And as Alexander released a sliver of pressure from his body, enormous mysterious-looking arrays of esoteric drawings began to flicker a bright orange, illuminating their surroundings. They seemed to be protecting the giant infrastructure with some apparent difficulty.

But what was changing even more were the attitudes of the figures below. All were trying their very best to clean the mess they caused and stand at attention near the pillars in a straight line.

"The Lord woke up!" A soldier in silver armor was playing card prior to his current panic, his shining armor rustling loudly to his every move.

"Quick! If His Majesty gets mad we'll be in trouble!!" Shuffled a tripping soldier, running toward the pillars, his awkward movements not diminishing his golden armor's magnificence.

"What are you doing! We don't have time to pack, just throw the table in some other dimension!" Yelled a tall man in a shining azure armor, crushing a chair with his bare hand, leaving not even dust behind.

'Well… not that I expected them to stay in position for a couple million years…' His passing thought over, Alexander released even more pressure, and so to the arrays' utter despair.

Alexander could only sigh at his current situation.

'And here I thought I would know what to do after two millions years… I shouldn't expect such things, but what I expected, which didn't happen, pissing me off the most, is my cultivation base… Ascension Realm ninth layer… really now… two millions years… it's not even like I am below the second layer, I am constantly increasing my cultivation base, so why is it still stuck there!?'

After one managed to achieve greatness and enter the second layer within the Ascension Realm, their cultivation base would improve constantly without fault. This process made it impossible for them to forcefully improve their own cultivation themselves, as the automatic cultivation could not be improved further.

'At least my Inner World has grown well, so much must have happened since then, I should check it out later. But now that I think about it, I should be around sixteen millions years old now… I'm still quite young fortunately.' Stroking his soft chin, Alexander was still assessing his current situation.

Blood spurting out of his body, it could only do so as he began removing the artifacts lodged inside his chest.

A hissing sound resonated throughout the hall as the wounds caused by the artifacts healed in mere instants, leaving no visible trace behind.

'They didn't lose any power, except for the sealing arrays on them…'

'Still usable!' Nodding, Alexander removed the last artifact from his chest.

"Hey! Take these artifacts and distribute them among yourselves!" His voice echoing inside the soldiers' heads, he watched them scramble hurriedly.

"Right away sir!" Yelled a bearded man, his shining azure armor even rarer than the silver and golden ones, giving away his important status.

"Alright, while you guys have fun with that, I'll go out for a bit."

Standing up, Alexander's movement sent the pyramid quaking as he walked down the white stairs before leaving the grand hall, his every steps still shaking the entire structure.

Arriving near an elegant balcony tall enough to stop even him from falling over would he be intoxicated, Alexander curiously casted a glance around.

"Nice view… we are clearly far from my territory, and this place, how deep down are we? This is clearly an average galaxy, what is this world there… Tier-4?"

Raising a brow, Alexander shook his head in disdain.

"Not in the mood to spy on them, don't want to see them masturbate to themselves even though they are what, Nascent Soul Realm dogs?" Looking at a green colored world some distance away from his balcony, Alexander did not hide his disdain.

"Look at me, Nascent Soul Realm talentless garbage, greatest in the Universe, oh yes, I love stroking to my cultivation base in the mirror…" Exaggerating with flailing arms and flowing hair, Alexander was not paying attention to the soldier behind him.

"Sir, what may you be doing?" Another soldier in azure armor present, he seemed quite intrigued by his master's strange behavior.

"I'm practicing my Nascent Soul Realm acting! Or maybe I'm just spitting at their inflated egos…" Spitting some more, Alexander did not even bother turning around.

'Aren't you the same though?' Was the first thought crossing the soldier's mind.

"You're thinking that I'm the same aren't you? Well yes, I am! But at least I have the might to back it up!" Flailing his arms even more intensely, Alexander spoke with confidence, his achievements quite remarkable for his age.

While the soldier had a shocked expression, wondering how his master had managed to read his mind with such clarity, something unexpected halted their casual conversation.

"Is that so?" A voice booming from above the balcony, its fading words drifted into space.

"Oh come on! Why are you even here?" Alexander's brows furrowed, he clearly recognized the voice's owner.

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"Are you saying that I can't even pay you a visit?" Whimpering in a sarcastic manner, the voice had already turned grave.

"How about you just fuck off? Barging in here without my invitation is quite the arrogance! Do you not take the Heavenly Way's rules to heart?!"

"I do, and that is why you are still unscathed…" The deep old voice's confidence grew a feeling of nervousness inside Alexander's heart each passing moment.

"Alright then, what do you want fuck face? Have you seen yourself in the mirror?" Repressing the nervous sensation, Alexander kept his attitude headstrong, death a distant notion.

The voice's owner clearly unhappy with what it heard, it immediately released pressure onto the surroundings, damaging the balcony, completely ignoring the futile attempts of the arrays protecting it.

"Quite the way you have with words to describe my beauty!" An obviously irritated man spoke, his short spiked hair glowing a fiery orange, dressed in a deep green robe, his height similar to Alexander's.

"Of course, I wouldn't want to anger you. I mean, what can you do? Go call for your friends, seal me again and get punished by the Heavenly Way. Or… beat me up knowing full well that I am immortal." Teasing the man, Alexander did not bother restraining his smirk from showing.

"Then I guess I'll have to beat you up!" The green robed man yelling in irritation, he rushed toward Alexander with breathtaking speed, exuding his might at the tenth layer of the Ascension Realm, revealing his identity as a true powerhouse of the Universe.

Watching the fiery fist close in, Alexander jumped from his balcony, drifting along the blue and purple void of space as his right arm bent.

"Getting cocky are we? What's the point anyway?!" Shouting at this flaming old man, his right hand palmed above, colliding with a right fist of blazing inferno.

Sparks of orange lighted the pyramid, gentle needles of stranded blue energy fading away.

"Always here to bother me! Just like all of them!" While talking brazenly, Alexander could not ignore the powerful force attempting to break his arm. Swiftly altering his palm's angle, he deflected the punch, sending its wild downpour of Dao to his right. Unfortunate in many ways, the green world taunted earlier ended as the target, exploding in a firework of meaningful clamors siphoning the myriad understandings of their Daos.

"Heh! You get what you deserve! Maybe don't infuriate all of us next time!" Roaring aloud, the old man adorning green robes flung his sleeves.

"I won't let you go away scot-free from all of the trouble you gave me last time!"

Seeing a red palm to be approaching, Alexander frowned.

"So what if I accidentally destroyed a couple planets from your territory? You can't blame me for their fragility!" Barely finished making a point, a palm of a deadly red glow crashed into his cross forearms.

"Accidentally?! You mongrel! But you're right. They were fragile. But so are you!" Putting more force into it, the man's palm began to dig into Alexander's chest.

"Tsk, aren't you too old to bully juniors?"

"Most definitely not." Ignoring the old man's freezing gaze, clearly contrasting his own methods, Alexander had to give way.

"You're just lucky! If you weren't, how could you breakthrough before me?! But it's fine…" Smiling softly at the sight of a red palm growing in power by the moment, Alexander hushed to his adversary.

"Even if you can breakthrough before me, your talent ends here. I will see you beneath me. You took so long, how much longer must you wait to reach the next one?"

"Hmph! I don't need your petty taunts! I am aware of my own shortcomings, and I am aware of your own. Mind your own business!"

Rebuking the words, the supposedly old man, his hair fluttering like flames, retracted his palm before punching Alexander below with all of his might. The blow sent red shockwaves of raw energies crash into nearby worlds, splitting them in half. As for the victim, Alexander's body exploded into a mess of flesh and blood before his now naked blue soul cracked and shattered to pieces.

Gazing below, the fiery old man showed a sneaky smile amidst a fluttering heart of grief.

"Well then, enjoy this little gift you runaway bastard!" Laughing, the man wore an arrogant smirk, clearly aware that his opponent could not be killed under the Heavenly Way's rules.

Meanwhile, falling down the Universe's beautiful scenery, a lump of flesh. Suddenly, it began to violently squirm, changing shapes until it looked like the lower half of a human body.

Albeit a bit

bigger than most… It did not take long for the rest of the body to start reforming out of nothing. Following this process was Alexander's soul, invisible to the untrained eye.

A loud explosion spreading in all directions, it was swiftly ignored.

'I'm going so fast! This is a bit fun, though I won't forget about this. See how I deal with your sect later!' Having an enjoyable ride down the Universe's void, Alexander suddenly caught onto something problematic.

Another explosion heard, he ignored it once again, thinking deeply.

'Wait, this burnt head… how dare you put a seal on my body!? This old piece of absolute garbage even went through the extra trouble to carefully choose a suitable one! It's so meticulously annoying! Barely weak enough so that the Heavenly Way won't interfere…'

'This is beyond sly!'

Alexander could not help cursing in his heart as he could tell what functions this seal had. Ignoring the loud and powerful shockwaves appearing all around him every so often, his mind was at peace, but his emotions filled with painful annoyance.

'I'll have to stay as stiff as a statue until I can remove it… Also when do I even land? I already crashed into so many worlds, everything around me is getting weaker and weaker…' Noticing the now yellow and green colors to be dominating the former blue and purple void, Alexander understood his current location, crashing onto and destroying some more worlds in the process.

'I'm slow enough now, even though I am heavy. My clothes already regenerated, with their arrays they should be able to manage my weight accordingly, so I hope I land soon… It's been a few weeks already…' Bored out of his mind, the fun inside this ride had already faded, giving way to the somewhat silent wait.

Some time later, his speed had greatly reduced.

'I should be able to land on any world now, even the low tier ones! Just to be sure let's see if I can change my size…'

Alexander's body brightly shining, his previously gigantic body became smaller and smaller, and so each passing moment, only for it to stop a few minutes later.

'I did it! The seal still limited it though. I'm what? thirty meters tall now..?'

Happy about his small success, Alexander suddenly rejoiced even more at a single thought.

'Yes! I land-'

Unable to finish his thoughts however, the seal in his body began to glow an eerie purple before an obvious change could be felt.

'… I can't see… I can't hear… I can't even feel…, what kind of vicious seal did he put on me? Having a delayed system inside, I can't even use my Divine Sense…'

.

.

.

Inside a dense and ominous forest somewhere, two men in ragged clothes, a young and an old, were expertly collecting herbs.

"Hey! D-Did you see that?" Said a mudded young man.

"About that falling thing? We better leave it, probably just a rock, and we both know that something so big is not so easy to miss!" Answering was an old man with dirty rags for clothes who kept picking up some more herbs, not delaying his work.

"But… this is the middle of the forest of Gradavur! Isn't it known for its size and lack of population? There is probably no one in a ten kilometer radius! What if it's something valuable?! We could become rich! Then, we won't need to live like this anymore! All we do is search for edible plants just to survive another day, I'm sick of this!"

"And so am I! But is it worth the trouble, going so far..? Look how far it is!"

"Can't we at least try?! We don't have anything else to do!" Pleading, the young man did his best to look as pitiful as his distorted face allowed.

"Are you crazy?! It's the middle of the day! Going so far and then coming back, it will be night midway! I don't want to end up in a monster's stomach! Do you want to see a wraith?!" Staring at the old man's wide eyes, the young man almost resigned, before a burst of greed overcame his senses.

"An old thing like you… did you already give up? If you don't go, I'll go myself!"

"H…Hey! Come back young man! Ahhh… screw this!" Throwing a mushroom into the far distance in pure anger, the old man decided to follow behind, the young man simply too stubborn.

"Hey! Wait for me!"

Five hours later, the two slowed down considerably.

"We're here…" Shushing, the young man looked behind, to the old man. Both now standing near the edge of a cliff.

"Seriously… If I die tonight, I'll haunt you till' you can't fall sleep!" Words strongly said, the old man kept a minimal distance behind the youth.

The old man was already annoyed to begin with, following the young man deep into the forest of Gradavur, known for its lethal dangers at night. Especially when the distance to the rock

seemed so far away. Let alone the fact that passing through such a dangerous place meant taking detours and walking slowly, avoiding dangers. This meant it would be night by then!

"Alright we should be able to see better here." Parting some bushes aside, the excited young man took in the view hidden behind. But much to his surprise, the 'rock' was not what he remembered a rock to look like. Not even remotely close.

"Yes well, seeing a stupid rock sure is-" In the middle of his usual complaints, the old man was interrupted by the young man next to him.

"L… Loo…Look!! What in the world is this?!" The young man in shock, he did not care in the slightest about interrupting his elder, as he pointed his finger forward.

"You scared me! What's wrong with you all of a sudden? Want to give this poor old man a heart attack?!" Clutching his heart, the old man glared at the youth in irritation.

"Look! Just look!!"

Sighting, the old man gave up, following the young man's finger.

"Alright, alright, what could've made-"

"…"

"…"

The two men looked at each other speechless, as the view that unfolded was strange and unexpected to say the least…

Further down, the two men could see, in a gigantic crater, what appeared to be a young man with long silver hair, lying still on his back, his eyes closed.

How could they not be surprised, as all they expected were either treasures or… rocks…

"What do we do now? Let me tell you straight that there is simply no way for me to get closer to that!!" Pointing at Alexander's figure, the old man yelled, being the first to recover from his shock.

The old man's outburst cleared the young man from his confused blank look as he realized that there didn't seem to be any free treasures up for the taking. After some deliberation, the young man suddenly turned around, backtracking his earlier path.

"Are you going back?" Curiously asking, the old man's voice possessed a tinge of excitement and relief upon seeing the young calamity finally getting back to his senses.

Unfortunately, his fiery happiness was soon extinguished by the young man's next words.

"No? Do you really expect me to go down that cliff by jumping down? I'm just looking for a way down."

With some incredulity in his eyes, as if his soul left his body, the old man could not help roaring out loud.

"You brat! Is that not enough? I even went with you! Without me, how can you even get back?! Give some relief to my old heart and let's go back home! I refuse to stay here any longer! I'm going back and you better come with me!"

The young man's expression quickly turned sour upon hearing these remarks, or more so orders.

"Then why did you follow me here in the first place?" The young man's anger could clearly be felt in his words alongside his slight confusion.

'If you want to stay home, then stay home! Why follow me here then?! You don't make any sense you old thing!'

"Brat! Why would I let you die in this forest?! I don't want to stay alone in the forest of Gradavur, and I doubt you want to as well. Let alone how boring it would be, it would not be safe even if we were a group of fifteen, and you're already aware of it!"

"If you die I might as well be doomed even if I go back!" Pleading, the old man hoped once more… but to no avail.

"Then follow me down!" Shouted the young man further down the cliff.

Hearing this response, the old man had a look of disbelief across his face as he stared down, toward the young man's direction, only seeing dense vegetation blocking his vision.

"…"

'Screw you!'

With a red face and veins popping at the edge of his forehead, the old man simply walked back home, cursing in his heart at the young man's foolishness.