The fourth day of my journey aboard the flying ship started with a lurch. My eyes opened to the endless blue of the sky, the light of the suns already heating my face. With a stretch and a groan of pleasure, I sat up, taking in the ship.

We had stopped, which is what had woken me. Besides the winged ship, an island stretched out and away, looking for all the world like any ground I had ever seen... on the ground.

Standing, I checked my Centre – it was three quarters full of Experience now, though there was still a stark lack of Praxis. Despite my determination not to worry until I spoke to Walker, it was still causing me a little anxiety. Before this trip, I had never really had time to concentrate on it, whenever I spent time refining, I inevitably ended up using it all up shortly after. But the last few days had been different – I had spent as much time cultivating and refining as possible, and while it definitely felt like there was more in my channels, from what I had been told, there should have been a ton in my centre.

Shaking my head, I dismissed the nagging worry, unable to do anything about it as I was. Instead, I rubbed my hands together and spoke Xiournal’s name, eager to see what my bonus reward would be.

Assignment Received... Difficulty E-… Time Limit: 0 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes.

Make your way into Everwood City, locate the creator of the Grand Harvest Body Refining Pill and ensure another cannot be created.

Good Luck, Alex. Make me look good.

Bonus Reward: Do Not Kill the creator, or allow his death within the Time Limit.

Status: Complete! Bonus Reward Gained!

Please chose:

1) Purchase new Red Ability.

2) Upgrade Red Ability.

3) Defer Reward.

Assignment Received... Difficulty F+ (Revised)... Time Limit: Now Would Be Great (Revised.)

Return to the world I put on you, idiot.

Bonus Reward: Do Not Die or keep making me apologise to the local gods. (Revised.)

Assignment Received... Difficulty F… Time Limit: 89 days, 18 hours, 56 minutes.

Cure the Phoenix Plague and return the Phoenix Egg to its parent.

Bonus Reward: Do Not cause a Calamity.

I stared at the smoky display. The first thing was that Ro had not been killed or kidnapped, which was good news. Second, the bonus reward seemed pretty awesome. I could upgrade my Lucky, Lesser Regeneration or Danger sense ability all of which I was sure had saved my life, or purchase a new ability. There were so many of them that there were bound to be something else I wanted – I mostly could not remember the vast list by then, but I know it had been very hard narrowing it down.

Lastly, the third option: Deferral. Reading that, I hoped that I would be able to save up for a Green, or even a Violet ability, though I had no way to be sure, and no idea precisely how many Reds equalled a Green, even if it was possible. I also had no idea if I had to wait for another bonus reward in order to access the options again.

Leaving the decision for the moment, I noted that the task I had been given upon my arrival on this world had changed. I recalled that Xiournal had mentioned that she had a contract with the gods of the other world, and realised it must be a pretty big faux pas to have an Agent just loose on a random world, given the non-interference policies the planes seemed governed by. I winced at what I imagined it must be like to be harangued by gods.

“Message received.” I spoke softly, looking up at the sky again and shrugged an apology at infinity.

My eyes drew down to my new quest, and I was glad it seemed fairly straight forward, as well as the fact that I was going to do it anyway. It was always nice when things lined up like that. Well, other than the whole meet the parents' bit, but I thought I could probably handle that, though the difficulty rating gave me a few doubts.

I tried to clear the tablet from my vision but it did not budge and I surreptitiously swiped at it for a moment before I sighed, the realisation setting in that I had to make a decision in regards to my reward before the window would vanish.

With a few moments of thought, I upgraded my Danger Sense – it had saved me a lot so far, but there had been times when I simply had not been fast enough to react. Now that I had my Focus under control – mostly – I would be faster and with this upgrade, I hoped to be able to fight above my cultivation level, without the need to self-sacrifice. Saving for a Green was tempting, but future possibilities were not going to save me from certain death today.

I felt the change settle into me, even as the grey box faded away. It was a strange feeling, like somebody was gazing at every particle in my body at once, and then doing... something... to them. I shivered, and looked up to see Inca walking towards me.

“Inca, I take it this is where this Lucas guy lives?”

“You should show more respect, Hunter. Lucas is not the Paragon most foul of temper, but he could still break you like kindling.”

“Got it, sorry. I’ll... be more respectful. Are you going to show me where he is, or should I make my own way, is it super obvious?”

“I will conduct you to his home.”

“Great. Will I be coming back with you? Do I need to say goodbye?”

“You will not be accompanying us further; we have a job to do and bringing you here has already put us behind schedule.”

“Right, I’ll go say goodbye then.”

*

***

*

Goodbyes took a little while – the crew and I had only known each other for a few days, but they were a friendly lot. There was a great deal of back slapping involved, though none of let me do it after the first – I was apparently a lot stronger than them. It seemed that the Sigils they made use of did not enhance them physically, like cultivation did me.

Many slaps – and a few bruises – later, Inca and I walkedacross the gangplank onto a long wooden dock that stuck out from the island about 100 feet, and after a short walk I stood once more upon solid ground. It felt good to be on the ground again, even if this ground floated thousands of feet above the... ground. I had asked what made the islands float, curious of course, but it had only earned me strange looks, like it was perfectly natural for big chunks of rock and dirt to be hovering about. Fantastical fantasy lands are pretty fantastic, it turned out.

The island seemed just like any regular island – there was green grass and trees, and dirt and flowers. I could hear birds chirping, though much like my last world, the few I caught sight of were huge. The size made more sense to me here – they would need those huge wingspans to move between islands.

Inca and I were following a winding path through the trees, all artfully maintained like a giant garden, though my companion seemed to care for the natural beauty not at all, which I found strange for an elf. Deep down I knew that the feeling came from my pre-conceived fantasy stereotypes, rather than anything real. The variel were not elves; they just looked like them.

Eventually, the trees parted and I caught my first glimpse of Lucas’ home: It was a palace, complete with wings and towers, all constructed from what looked like black fire opal, with arcs of brilliant light linking it all together.

“Which part does Lucas live in?”

“All of it. This is his home.”

I stared open mouthed at the building as we approached. It was simply the most astonishingly beautiful construction I had ever seen, almost blindingly so as the light of the twin stars above reflected about in thousands of rich, vivid shades representing every possible colour.

“He’s not poor then.” Inca looked at me like I was an idiot – a look I was growing used to, especially from her and did not say another word, rather choosing to pick up her pace. I did not bother to explain that I was being sardonic, as I doubted it would change her mind.

We came to a small flowing stream which crossed the path – rather than a bridge, a series of wide stepping stones had been set within the water – opals again by their look, though this time they were dragon’s breath rather than fire opals. I wondered where this Lucas had got such large opals, and whether the house was carved or tiled. I wondered if he would let me have some. I also wondered where the water come from and went to – I had yet to see water flowing from one of these islands, and I had assumed they did not have flowing water, but obviously there ran proof of the opposite. I shrugged the question away and hopped from stone to stone, proceeding towards the main house.

The front door, when we finally came upon it, was flanked by huge crystal columns; they looked like the light crystals I had seen aboard ship, though on a much grander scale. They were not lit, though there were obvious reasons for that, it being day.

As we came to a stop, Inca reached out and pulled on a long black rope I had not seen, and a deep ringing could be heard from within the palatial mansion, somewhere between a huge bell and a massive gong.

A minute or so passed as the two of us stood in silence – I was just about to ask Inca to ring the bell again, when the door opened, revealing a blonde teenage boy in a flowing indigo robe, his bright, golden hair pulled up into a tight bun with braids running out of it, down over his shoulders. His skin was covered in faintly glowing pearlescent lines that appeared to be Sigils, though I was no expert. The many-coloured lines leant him a strange appearance unlike anybody else I had encountered.

“Paragon, I bring you a World Walker. He claimed to have climbed out of the Black.”

Inca’s head was bowed, not meeting the young boy’s eyes. I looked back and forth between them as I tried to figure out if she was joking; the kid could have only been fifteen at the most.

“A World Walker? Unlikely. Inca, you have done well, either way. Leave this one with me, I will determine his origins.”

“Thank you, Paragon.”

With a deep bow, and without another word to either of us, the uptight officer left, her stride long and purposeful.

“So... a Paragon, huh? I have no idea what that is.”

“It is me, clearly. Come.”

The childlike Paragon stepped back, making room for me and I entered, looking around the large hall I found myself in. The inside of the mansion was also made from black fire opal, and I could see no cracks or seems, leading me to the very unlikely conclusion that this whole place had been carved from a single stone. Large windows let in the light, which scattered back at us, painting us in technicolour, as I stepped onto a long white rug, which went very well with the black floor, as well as the myriad coloured lights it was painted with.

“This is a very impressive house you have, Mr. Paragon. How many live here? I’m Hunter, by the way.”

“Thank you. It was a great deal of work, to unearth the stone from beneath the Black.”

He did not answer my second question, nor did he introduce himself. He simply continued to lead me deeper into his huge home, pace relaxed and casual.

We came to a sitting room - I presumed, based on all the chairs – overlooking a lake, through one window which occupied an entire wall. Gesturing for me to sit, my host reclined on a long white couch that sat in a beam of sunlight.

I sat down in a white armchair which was just as soft as the bed I had occupied back at the Sky Breaker palace – it felt like sitting in a cloud.

“You climbed from within the Black?”

Brevity seemed to be the Paragon’s go-to, so I responded in kind.

“I did.”

“You have a substantial amount of power within you. It is too much for one who has not reached the First Height.”

“Sorry, I have no idea what these Heights are. I’m not from around here.”

Telling people I was not from around there felt almost nostalgic by that point, though I hoped I would not have to do it too often. Being ignorant was not the best look.

“The Heights are out way of measuring progress. The First Height is Engraving the Sigil Lexicon upon your mind, thus allowing for the storing of Experience.”

“I see. No, I haven’t engraved anything on my mind.”

“I believe I already said that.”

I did not bother to answer, as my immediate response was definitely on the sarcastic end of the scale and I was trying not to be an ass.

“Hmm. Inca said you claimed to be a World Walker, and yet it is not possible. You do not have the Authority to be here.”

I did not recall any “Authorised Personnel Only” signs when I had arrived, but I thought it best not to mention that either.

“I just followed some Shadow Faced Guy through a hole in reality and ended up at the bottom of that Black forest. It sucked. I don’t know how to convince you though.”

Lucas – who was yet to introduce himself – waved a hand casually, dismissing my concern.

“You speak the truth... most curious. A hole you say, not a vortex? You would appear to have broken - and are breaking - many rules, by your mere existence on this world.”

“...Sorry?”

“I will look inside you. Come here.”

“This isn’t going to involve a knife, is it?”

With a roll of his eyes and look that said I was being annoying, the reclining boy waved a hand again, sending out a strange shockwave, like the air was bending and refracting light.

I tried to move out of the way of the wave, though my Danger Sense had not trigged, but I found I was frozen in place, unable to so much as blink.

“Lucas, Paragon of Locks.” Finally introducing himself with a twitch of one neatly manicured eyebrow, he sat up and stepped towards me as I struggled to move, panic rising up in me. I reached for my Focus, but I found even that to be locked in place, beyond my ability to manipulate.

“This will not hurt.” Placing a hand upon my stomach, he closed his eyes. I remembered Walker doing something similar after I had escaped from the Risen Throne the first time and I relaxed, though I was still unhappy at being held in place.

“I see. You are from a cultivation world. This does not explain how you came to be here, against all logic, but at least confirms you are not from here.”

He stepped back, and I found I could move again. Sitting once more, he stared at me, tapping his lips with one long finger.

“But you already said I was telling the truth.”

“You could have been deceived. Your System however precludes that. A mystery indeed.”

“Well, I'm glad that’s all cleared up.”

“Yes. Tell me, how did you climb the Black? The black trees are proof against most force. Does your... cultivation... involve climbing... trees?” Lucas’ question was hesitant, and there was a little disdain mixed in there. It was evident, at least to me, that though the boy across from me was aware of cultivation, he did not know a great deal about it, and did not particularly care for what he did know.

“No... I used an axe hooked onto the bark and a dagger. The tree was too strong for the axe to cut, but the dagger cut right through.”

“Impossible. Show me this dagger.”

With a shrug, I pulled Walker’s dagger out from the ring and held it out.

“I see. Less impossible. Quite possible, it would seem. This dagger belongs to your version of a Paragon, yes? An... Apex?”

Okay, so maybe I was dumb not to realise that Paragons were this world’s Apexes, but I had been through a lot in a short space of time and which arbitrary word people used to describe themselves was not at the top of my priority list. I did decide there and then, however, to be much more polite.

“That’s right, honoured Paragon. It belongs to my mentor, Walker, Apex of the Infinite Blades.”

“Never heard of him. But there are lot of worlds and I do not Walk them often.”

“I don’t suppose you could... Walk... me home, sir?”

“There is no need.”

“But you said I was breaking all sorts of rules by being here, honoured Paragon?”

“Correct.”

“Then why-” As I began to ask why there was no need – as politely as I could – my question was rendered moot, as a spinning vortex of coruscating energy opened up beside us with a loud snap. Stepping through the vortex, my dark mentor spoke with an irritated growl.

“Hunter, in future, please do not keep my blade in a pocket dimension, as it makes it very difficult to locate. I would have been here days ago, but you put my dagger away just before I could pinpoint your location. As it is, you are lucky I was watching for it.”

I sat in shock, looking up at him and remembering what he had said in back at the Risen Throne mansion:

“Whatever is limiting my senses is too strong to be mere Spiritual Weights. I will go this way, you two go the other. Take this, my senses may be limited down here, but I will always know where this is.”

If I had only kept the dagger out a little while longer, I would have been home days earlier.

There was no way I could have known - or even guessed - that Walker was able to step between worlds but still... Maybe I should have upgraded Lucky...?