4] – [The Mysterious Body]

A few days later, the princess woke up to a bright light coming from the window of her tent, and as she reached for the curtains she immediately heard the bustling sound of a city coming from outside.

Confused, she stretched and dressed herself, put on her armor and went outside. The sight that greeted her was that of many tents and campfires as well as hundreds of humans, beastmen, and other races including the rare elves and even rarer dark elves, all busying themselves…

With a blank look on her face, memories started to flood her brain as the same blank look soon illuminated before darkening considerably a moment later, as she finally awoke completely from her morning haze.

Sigh~

With steady steps she marched toward the Knight Captain Zark. After arriving close enough she heard him greet her with enthusiasm.

"Good morning your highness!"

"Yes, yes… How are things going?" She could not hide her dejected voice, as every time she looked around she could see outsiders chatting and drinking while some others working, all of them trying to steal her precious benefits.

"Well there hasn't been much progress, this giant body is a mystery, but we found some clues as to what might have happened to the A-Rank and B-Rank monsters that died near it. Also, our researchers as well as court magicians are incapable of knowing if the body is alive or not, there are no breaths, no heartbeat, neither is there even movement or sound in the slightest. 'It looks like a lifelike statue

', is what they said."

After hearing the report from her trusted subordinate, the princess soon asked.

"Then tell me, how did these monsters die like this?"

"Well after some tests with tamed monsters and such, we found some sort of barrier covering the body. It is invisible to the naked eye and to be honest, even our court magicians cannot feel anything. It also appears that this barrier is retracting and expanding in a rhythmic manner, this is also what we believe is the cause of the monsters' deaths. They probably tried to bite the body, but, with their maws still wide open, they got unlucky and had the barrier expand on them. With its power, the jaws were probably snapped backwards, as the monsters could not close it anymore, their maws were forced open until it became flat, their fangs pushed inside their own maws backwards as well."

"This is the conclusion of our tests, this specific scenario appeared quite often."

The princess took some time to digest this information, turning her attention toward the body next.

"Well then, let's go. I refuse to lose this opportunity!"

As time flew by, the research about Alexander's body became so popular and intriguing that multiple kingdoms and races hoped to obtain clues toward a more efficient way to use Mana. Maybe his body even held untold secrets about the world and its mythical deities.

Like so, three centuries went by, a city emerging all around him.

'Man this seal is almost gone! Finally! Just a few tweaks… here… there… then turn this part before collapsing this one.' Alexander was ecstatic at the thought of removing this annoying array. While three hundred years might be a long time, for an Immortal that had lived for millions of years, such wait felt nothing more than instantaneous.

'Annnd~ there!!'

As the sealing array cracked and shattered, Alexander felt his senses coming back rapidly. Now free, he first started by spreading his golden Divine Sense around him, soon covering the entire planet he landed on.

Finally aware of his surroundings, he realized how remote his body's landing was compared to other parts of this world. Raising a brow, he noticed tens of thousands of people all around him, a city somehow formed with the crater as the core. His curiosity picked, he wondered whether this city had been there prior, him simply crashing onto it, or the opposite, his body recognized as esoteric, causing a city to somehow form.

His body brightly shining a white light, his giant body started to recede, stopping once he was two meters tall.

'Now that this is done, let's… wait…'

A look of surprise immediately formed on his impassive face.

'Mana? That's Mana is it not? There is no way such impure, weak and disgusting energy can be anything else. That means this is a Tier-2 World, which then means I fell down so far I reached the Lower Realms…'

The Universe was divided into multiple layers, realms of sorts, stacked on top of each other. There were many tiers, from Tier-1 to Tier-10.

Only if one was not taking into account the Origin-Tier, standing as technically the eleventh tier.

As for their worth, Tier-1 was the worst, and Origin-Tier was the best.

Inside each 'Realms', worlds were always the same tiers. If one was inside the Lower Realms for example, it would only be possible to find natural Tier-1, Tier-2 and Tier-3 Worlds.

If one wanted to leave and reach a different 'Realm' or plane, they would need to go up or down physically.

While worlds were put at random places inside their respective planes, the planes themselves were layered on top of each other, unmoving.

So understanding that he had reached the Lower Realms, Alexander could not help being slightly surprised as to how far he had been sent from the old man's punch.

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"How long was it since I last used my Divine Sense on lowly life forms such as these? I can't even tell them apart, all are bottom of the barrel weak… Luckily for them no cultivator seem present in this world."

With immortal cultivators only present in Tier-3 Worlds and above, one could immediately understand what would happen if one was stranded on a little Tier-2 World.

After his disdainful thoughts, Alexander stood up and as he was about to start walking, saw tens of what appeared to be knights and guards look at him in shock and disbelief alongside both fear and greed.

With their weapons drawn and aimed at Alexander, one knight, possessing a golden armor, began speaking in a weird language.

"You! Who are you?!" The golden armored knight was, however, interrupted by a voice some distance behind.

"Y-Your highness! Y-Yes, t-this is him! T-This is the body! It's alive!!"

A panicked voice filled the silent region of the crater as a small, poor looking man started running, falling and tumbling from time to time, constantly pointing with his finger at Alexander, as if locked onto him.

Soon after, steady steps could be heard as some members of the crowd already around Alexander started to curse heavily under their breaths.

"Shit! It's the stupid immortal princess!"

"Shhh! Do you want to die?! Stop talking!"

"Quick, call for the guild master!"

Young men and women in guard attires kept hushing each others, unwilling to lose their heads because of association.

"What are you doing, go tell the Queen!" A dark skinned man with pointy ears shouted to another young woman, with the same skin color, her ears in possession of the same peculiarity.

"Hey sister, go report to her majesty!" The voice of a middle aged woman resounded in the ears of a young woman, both of them with light skin and pointy ears.

Alexander was confused by the sudden outbursts all around him.

"What the fuck is going on? I know I'm amazing and all but how about you all-"

Before he could finish his narcissistic words however, Alexander heard a voice scream at him.

"You! Are you the giant body that was in the crater?! What is going on here?!"

Turning his head around, he saw the owner of this loud voice, a middle aged woman with long, blonde, curly hair and sky-blue eyes.

Alexander, not paying her words any mind, had started to figure out the situation.

'Since I was in that crater for quite a while, I guess I became famous. After all, a gigantic body falling from the sky is probably not very discreet. Maybe they wanted to search for treasures or something…' Done with his analysis, Alexander opened his mouth, his loud voice booming inside the ears of every being within a ten kilometers radius.

"Who is the one with the highest authority in this place? Get down here right now!!"

Everyone inside the radius felt his voice speak loudly inside their mind, this experience creeped out almost all of them, as some even fainted.

The princess was shocked by such means, but before she could approach him to introduce herself, hoping to gain benefits from her status, multiple voices came out from behind her as three figures shot forward, landing in front of Alexander.

"I am one of the leaders of this place, Guild Leader Vohrn of the Guild of Gradavur. Who are you sir?" A tall middle aged man spoke confidently, his short, brown, disheveled hair and brown beard fluttering from his overwhelming Mana. His sharp black eyes and sturdy scar-filled body gave him an oppressive look.

"My name is Vanessa Letheria, kind sir. Are you the one who just shouted earlier?" Asked a beautiful young woman with light skin, blonde hair and pointy ears, her green emerald eyes charming the young men present near her.

"I'm Melissa, who are you? You better have a nice explanation, my dark elf race is not known for its patience!" Grunting, a young woman with dark skin, black hair and fiery eyes accenting her pointy ears cried in irritation.

Alexander looked at each of them for a moment, and as he was about to speak, a woman's voice resounded behind the three leaders as a blonde haired woman stepped forward.

"I am the first princess of the Golden Sky Kingdom, Marie Sky-Crown!"

Her voice filled with confidence was soon overpowered by Alexander's annoyed voice.

"Are you also a leader of this shithole? Took you long enough!"

As these words sounded in the ears of everyone, not only Marie, but also Melissa, Vohrn and Vanessa narrowed their eyes at Alexander.

While they understood that he could pose a threat to them, as leaders and known influential people, they obviously did not enjoy being looked down upon, especially by someone coming out of nowhere.

"Alright, alright, no need to look at me like that. I had a great idea when I saw all of this around me!" Alexander took another look to his surroundings, with his eyes this time, taking in the scenery of the bustling city all around.

"I will give you all a chance! I will create, here and now, a trial ground. The ones that make it to the end alive will be gifted incredible opportunities!!" With a smile on his face, Alexander turned his eyes away from the city, gazing at the crowd in front. The reactions he expected however, were not often visible, as the blonde Elf Queen Vanessa's voice turned annoyed.

"Brat, are you joking with us? Why did I waste almost three hundred years in this place?! I expected treasures, but it turned out to be a lowly human with some gigantification magic!"

Veins could be seen appearing on her forehead as her previously enchanting eyes narrowed in a wrathful expression.

And as the Dark Elf Queen and the Guild Leader were also about to lash out on Alexander, they saw him frown before his impassive eyes suddenly turned extremely cold, drenching their backs in cold sweat.

Before the Elf Queen could speak any further, realizing her mistake, she could only see what appeared to be a giant translucent red palm print rushing at her from above. She could not utter a single word as she was crushed, her eyes filled with terror until her last moments, her body turned into a gruesome pool of blood and messy wet hair.

Seeing the scene that unfolded right next to them, both the Guild Leader and Dark Elf Queen had fear overwhelm their thoughts. In contrast to their expressions, Alexander could see the princess Marie's look of greed within her blue eyes.

'Heh! That's better! That's the look one must have! Greed, get greedy, let me see how far you can go before you die a miserable death filled with regrets!' Alexander could not help but praise Marie's delusions in his heart.

As for the other three fools that tried to berate him, Alexander did not waste his time, killing one to set the example.

'Maybe I should've tortured her a bit? She dared to insult my mighty Human Race, quite daring I see! I guess I was a bit impulsive, well whatever…'

"Alright let's not waste any more time…"

As Alexander finished his words, he then put his palms together as a bright golden light illuminated the entire city.

Before anyone could say anything, the light started to fade.

The sight that appeared before their eyes was breathtaking to say the least.

As every single person present inside the city had their mouth and eyes wide open, seeing a gigantic building, its exterior sharp, a golden color.

The structure was rectangular, like a gigantic pillar reaching over a hundred and fifty meters in height. On its front, two gigantic golden doors over fifty meters tall.

Before any of them could recover from their shock, Alexander's booming voice resounded in their ears once again.

"For those who are not afraid of death, possess determination and are greedy for peerless treasures and opportunities, enter!"

As his words faded, the two giant doors slowly opened wide, leaving behind a thunderous rumble.

Inside, all that could be seen was a blinding golden light.