The Truth behind Gaia

Alice’s POV:

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It was called the Prism of Nightmare. The best was that we didn’t have to carry this around. It turned into a part of our body! Using this treasure, we could summon nightmares in the mind of our target. It might not work longer than a second before they would realize that it was just a dream. But that second was more than enough for us!

After separating, we found out that we both of us could use it. This was ridiculous in its own way because this meant that as long as we were merged when consuming a treasure, we could share any benefits! [What should we call this ability of ours?] I questioned Hiro as I turned into my battle form and swam upward.

[We could go for fancy names, but I’m too lazy for them. Let’s just call it Nightmare and done…] He answered with a shrug of his shoulders, feeling lazy. Nodding once, I continued on our way, with Hiro in tow.

Even this boss was dangerous as it was much stronger than it should have been. If there was a similar jump in strength level on the last floor as well, then we will have to advance before going at it. The Amber Compass would provide us with more than enough treasure hunting. We soon found the hole where we came down and then swam up into that sea world. But there was a problem. We had no idea where was the exit. Using our senses, we felt a distortion in space, not too far away from us.

Using our mind powers, we swam to it in just a few seconds and found a portal which was leading to the hall we descended to. After going through it, we flew out of the pyramid and teleported to Gaia’s house. The ‘clean up’ was probably a day ago so they were sitting at their places and meditating. Like usual. “I see that I’ve lost… I’m getting annoyed by you people,” Gaia said without opening her eyes or even moving at that.

“Good day to you too… and yes, you have lost. You can’t win against a dragon!” I told her jokingly, but her brows twitched. I guess she didn’t like it that much. As I crossed my arms in front of my chest, I added, “So what about you being alive?”

“Tch… I shouldn’t tell you because you didn’t take part in purging the pests… but fine, I took an oath anyway,” she said, clicking her tongue, feeling annoyed by my question. I raised my brows and sit on the grassy plain, my hands under my chin. Hiro sat down behind me and leaned on my back.

With a displeased face, Gaia started her tale. “I know that you can use Soul Eater as I’ve seen it. As you know, Cultivators at the ninth stage of the eighth level have thirty-two billion year long lifespans. I was always talented when it came to cultivation, so do you really believe that I ‘ran out of time’? Haha~”

Not feeling too surprised, I just raised my brows, waiting for her to continue. Hiro coiled his arms around my waist and rested the side of his head on my back. [So am I supposed to listen to the things related to your past while you are relaxing?] I questioned him as a smile formed on my face. “Mhm,” he gave out an agreeing sound and then closed his eyes. You are helpless… I thought, almost laughing up.

Frowning, Gaia remarked on our inattentiveness. “You aren’t even listening… Anyway, I was still only around at the half of my lifespan, so breaking through was just a joke for me, especially with the Babel in my possession.”

Raising my brows in my curiosity, I questioned her. “Then why did you lie in the message you left behind?”

“Hahaha~ if I told the truth at that time, then this whole thing wouldn’t be funny! Like now! I can enjoy your surprised faces!” She opened her eyes to look at us, but all she saw was Hiro sleeping on my back and my unbothered face. Her face turned stiff as I pointed at my face, saying. “Can you see the surprise?”

[Haha, she is done for.] Hiro chuckled in his mind while thinking of such things. Gaia massaged her temples and her eyes. She just wanted to get past the hurdles.

Raising a brow, I questioned her. “Alright, enough of joking. The first thing I really would like to know is the following. How did you separate from your world?”

Sighing loudly, she replied, “Although we couldn’t share the gained soul force as our Soul Eater was imperfect, I was able to devour other living beings’ souls. It was exactly because of this that there was an excess. A huge amount of Soul Force was left there, unused. I couldn’t pour it into our world or else it would have turned unstable. I’m sure that you believe me if I say that the monsters and people I killed at my level gave me more than enough soul force to create another world.”

“Our worlds are growing along with the strength of our bodies and souls. In your case, I’m sure that you can enlarge your own world with the excess, but we couldn’t. Our control wasn’t good enough… Once I tried doing it, our world turned unstable and almost exploded… So instead of enlarging it, I had to create another world! At first, I just left that world alone, but it turned into a very important thing later on…” Making a slightly sad face, she sighed again before continuing.

“The following happened before creating Soul Eater. As you probably know it, we did many weird things… Although there was a connection between us, the threads connecting our souls were thin. It was a simple soul bond. Originally, we just wanted to turn them thicker. We poured our soul forces into those threads, turning one-half thicker than the other, depending on who was the stronger.”

“Naturally, soul bonds were never dependent on strength or soul force, so that much was fine. That little attempt of ours didn’t have any results. We created life. It was fine. Even the creator of the Abyss helped us in it for some reason. Don’t ask me why… It just appeared in a shapeless form, snapped its fingers and done. The mutating creatures turned towards the humanoid genes and after a few years, they turned into humans.”

[Few years you say…] Hiro thought with ridicule.

“But tinkering with the souls is something only the creators and the creator of the Abyss can do. I take that you know about it, right?” I nodded as an answer and told her that it even talked to us.

“It talked to you? That’s quite rare. I wonder what it gave you…” she made a curious face and sat like that for a few seconds. Seeing me staying mute, she sighed as she continued. “It can do miraculous things. No matter how dead you are, it can always bring you back to life. There are these things which you get in the dungeons, Phoenix medal, is it? You surely have one with your talent… That is made by it as well.”

“Creators can do anything with the people in their own world, but they can’t call back the dead souls. Back to topic. After doing so many things, we decided to finally not evade that single topic, which was so mysterious. The soul. We knew that it was the domain of that thing in the Abyss, but we still wished to see how much we can deviate from the normal path without repercussions…”

“It happened at that time, that we successfully fused our souls. We were very happy when we realized that it was a ‘success’... or so we thought. Our souls never really fused because our minds were never in sync. There was a natural rejection between us. We just couldn’t trust each other completely.”

“The real problem came when we started arguing and such things. Our fused bond turned unstable and the stronger soul threads, reached the weaker halves. After covering them, the weakest people among us were devoured. It all happened in just a moment. That was how the malfunction of our Soul Eater started.”

“As time passed, Soul Eater started eating away at their souls. Since I was the strongest, I’ve gained their lifespans, while everyone else turned old. So you could say that I have a monstrously long lifespan. As you know, after getting past the seventh level, our bodies don’t age since we know every law. Reversing the time of our body is as easy as breathing.”

“As years passed, the suction turned stronger and stronger, causing the demise of my loved ones. My husband’s body withered away in just a few seconds, even though he had more than fifteen eons left of his life,” a few tears appeared in her eyes, but she quickly wiped them off and looked at us with a smile. Sedna looked at Gaia’s back with a sorry look on her face.

“After losing everyone, I couldn’t stay in that world we created. So I left a piece of my soul in it as my legacy, along with this imperfect skill. And the answer to your questions is simple. Since I had another world and I had no one to restrict me, I pulled back my soul force from the world you have and poured it into the new world. I have the same world in me ever since. I could probably enter your world as well, but I’m not going to… That’s how your world turned into a ‘dead’ one, while I’ve got a brand new one.”

“After organizing that little treasure hunting in my dead world, I faked my death. Using the Babel, I reached the ninth level and increased the size of my world. I probably have a much larger world than any other person at the first stage of the ninth level, not to mention the amount of soul force I have.”

Making a fake smile, she continued with a similarly fake laugh. “Hehe, I’ve turned much stronger than other people at my level. I’m like a True Divine Beast thanks to their souls and my lifespan is at least five times as much as normal cultivators. I knew that Soul Eater was a powerful soul skill, which worked perfectly. The only problem was that none of us could control it because of our imperfect bonds. Someone always wanted to suck away more than the other…”

“Well, now that everyone died, I turned into a ‘black hole'. Anyone who touches me will be sucked dry of their lives quite quickly. I didn’t even have to fight against Shir’ Tu. I just touched his shoulders for no more than ten seconds and he died. That’s how easy it is for me.” Gaia finished her tale with a smile on her face. We felt slightly surprised upon hearing her, but there was a problem…

Hiro stood up behind me and walked towards Gaia. Grabbing the sides of her head, he looked into her eyes. “W-What are you doing? Do you want to die?” Gaia shouted, but she realized that her imperfect Soul Eater wasn’t working on Hiro. She couldn’t suck away anything from us, but we could. Still, Hiro had no such intentions. Although we could probably shoot straight to the eighth level with her soul… which would be really nice, we aren’t like that.

“Still! Just release me…” She shouted and wanted to push away Hiro, but before she could do so, Hiro said a few words and then teleported away, along with me.

“Masks were never there to be put on but to be taken off. Go and cry when you have some time…” he said those words. Her heart was bleeding inside. Trolls? They are laughable. They just want to hide away their pain and show their playful side. This isn’t true in every case, but mostly it is. Gaia couldn’t be touched or loved by anyone. Maybe she got used to it by now, but it was still a tragic end for her life. Eternity? Even if she could reach it, which I have no doubt of… what was she going to do all alone?

Without the feeling of anyone touching her? But luckily for her, we had a salvation. There was a problem with it, though… we had to find her other half! She could bond with him easily and it would cause great results, not to mention the transformation that would occur in their bodies. We stood in the air, not too far away from her house. Looking at her, Hiro smiled.

Gaia’s face started twitching and her eyes turned red, while her face turned into a rainy one as she huddled into a ball. Embracing Hiro’s back, standing beside him, I asked. “Shall we help her?”

He turned his head towards me with a smirk on his face. “Is that even something to ask? She gave us something wonderful. We should return the favor, shouldn’t we?”

Nodding once, I gave a kiss on his lips and then we left the place. Upon touching Gaia’s shoulders, Hiro learned what was missing. Thanks to her, we have gained complete control over Soul Eater. We can devour and suck away other’s lives, or we can also give them to anyone we touch. What did this mean? As long as we had enough years and souls, we could literally bring people back to life. Weren’t we the same as the creator of the Abyss in that case? Knowing this, we will make sure to do everything we can to find Gaia a damned boyfriend.

[We should ask about her type… it would make things easier. There shouldn’t be a huge age difference between her and her half. As long as we can find a person at the higher levels who look similar compared to what she describes… we could turn her life into a much happier one!] Hiro started thinking of ways. I’ll have to talk with Gaia… Hiro asking for her type would be a weird thing. I couldn’t help but think of such things.

“Well, time for some treasure hunting! Gaia’s tale was too sad for my taste…” Hiro said, trying to liven up the mood. It didn’t work... but feeling my embrace and my kiss, he instantly turned much happier. Naturally, this was true to me as well.

---

We took out the Amber Compass and examined it more closely. We called Poirlion and Narihi. After joining up with them, we went towards Ellery’s place since Rose was still there. She could stay in our world and train…

We felt so much better. At the Temporary Law Realm, we always felt a slight connection with the universe. As this connection grew, the range of our teleportation would also grow. This was because we could feel more and move further away in one go as a result. The star formations were like beacons. When we stood on one of them, we felt every other. There were so many of them through the universe that it felt ridiculous.

Without knowing where we wanted to go, it would be impossible to find anyone. But since we knew, we just focused on our destination and filled the formation with energy and poof! We were there. Without any procedures, we teleported into the room Rose was in. We didn’t even have to use our mind powers as we felt her through the world. Gaia probably felt numerous sectors with that soul force of hers. Now that I think about it… This means that she can peek on anyone doing it… I thought and I felt creepy as I realized this.

Shaking his head, Hiro remarked on my thoughts. [Not everyone is a pervert like us and watches other people having sex. But what I’m more curious about… if this is true, then why did Sedna not know about the conspiracy?]

Furrowing my brows, I replied. [Maybe… she just didn’t care? Could it be that she was just faking ignorance? We should be careful around her… that woman is dangerous! More so than her big sister with a broken heart!]

[Alright, let’s carve it into our minds. Sedna is dangerous!] Hiro thought, chuckling.

Rose was sitting on her bed, meditating. As soon as she felt us, she slowed down the rotation of her energy and jumped towards us like a hungry dragon. [Hydra,] Hiro added, but his attempt was futile. Dragons were better! [No! It’s just that people are forgetting about Hydras…] He tried to defend his race, but my next words shut him up. [Yes, because they look worse than dragons! But don’t worry. You are the best to me. Fufu~]

[Fine… but my race is still the top ranking one!] He added. Thinking about it, I couldn’t help but nod. I was born to be more popular than him, but he was slightly stronger. Not anymore, though… as our bond balanced us perfectly.

Hiro caught Rose’s right arm, while I did the left. Although she was a tiny bit smaller than me, after levitating above the ground, the problem was solved. We hung her up in the air. Looking at us with a panicked face, she said, “B-But I want a hug! I didn’t know that this is so terrible! Look! My evolution also finished and I’m craving your touch!”

“Eh? But… we are touching your wrists. Is that not enough?” I questioned her with a surprised face as she started flailing her lower body and her tail, trying to lock one of us with her legs. Unfortunately for her, she wasn’t successful at doing so.

“No! I want more!” She exclaimed. What the fuck is happening to her? She transformed completely… she is like a love-hungry child. This is entirely wrong… we should do something with her personality. I put her down and hugged her so that she would stay quiet.

Facepalming, Hiro said, “I shouldn’t have given her my blood. It’s too much for her brain. This is probably because our mixed blood is inside her. She is as powerful as a three-star divine beast… I can only wonder what will become of our child.”

“Even I’m curious of that,” Poirlion said with a loud laughter. Turning around, Hiro showed him his middle finger, which only added fuel to the fire as Poirlion started laughing even more.

“Grr… Bad dragon!” I shouted as I stomped on his feet, making him jump up and shut up.

“So? Do you have any idea how to solve this problem?” Narihi asked seriously while stopping in front of Rose to examine her body.

“I’m not a problem. This is because of the difference in our strength, which is too much! My blood is being pressured… I should get some divine blood from a dungeon. It should solve my problem.” Unexpectedly, Rose knew of a solution for her own problem. Well, it was her body. She should feel it.

“And how the hell are we supposed to get that? Ah! Wait! There was such a thing in the Abyss. Guess we just have to go and start slaughtering… the compass is probably leading us towards it anyway…” I questioned her but I also realized the answer. Nodding, Narihi also agreed with my thoughts, saying that there was indeed such a possibility.

Not wasting our times, we left towards the Abyss. Since Rose had our blood, she could enter our world. We tried putting her next to Rin, but she felt more rivalry than sisterly upon seeing Rose… Rose was literally chased out of Rin’s cave. This naturally made us laugh at her. There was no way that we could hold it back upon seeing something like that. Rose selected a place for herself, in our bed… after seeing her sniffing it, we quickly teleported her away. We really need that Divine Blood.

Not wasting any time, we took up a few quests, entered the Abyss, and quickly teleported towards the first Trading Room. Ever since they bonded, Narihi was pouring her cultivation into Poirlion, making him soar up… Only one or two years and Poirlion will probably catch up with her and then they can advance together. Since Narihi was at the seventh stage and we too were at the second stage, entering the first floor wouldn’t be a problem anymore!

“So? How does this place work? We heard of the territories and such from Galen. Anything else to know?” I questioned Narihi, while I ran down my eyes on the sexy curves of her body.

I saw a shudder run through her back before answering. “If you know about this dividing up and all, then you know almost everything. The only thing he probably didn’t tell you is that you have to wear identifiers. There are paths where you can travel as a loose cultivator or so to say. Naturally, those are more dangerous, usually. While if you have the identifier of your academy, you can travel freely in your area. The downside of this is that you can’t go to other areas or you’ll get yourself killed.”

Crossing my arms in front of my chest, I questioned her,“So if we are ‘loose cultivators’, then we can enter the territory of other groups?”

“You can, but you won’t be welcomed and the bad kind of people might pick a fight with you. Also, although you have everything in your cheating storages… we have to buy that inventory hiding thing…” She answered and then added while turning around to leave towards the nearest Trading Room.

Hiro grabbed her shoulder before she could leave, asking, “Wait. What about the living beings in our world? Can you sense them?”

Furrowing her brows, she even focused on us but found nothing. Shaking her head sideways, she shrugged her shoulders, not knowing the reason behind it.

“I guess people can sense only the things we brought in from the outside world,” following her example, Hiro shrugged while saying.

Although it was unnecessary, since we had enough points, we too bought them for eighteen days, spending all of our remaining points. We also wanted to see how quickly we can collect AP. “Honestly, I want to go as a loose cultivator. It’s funnier like that!” I exclaimed while stopping for a moment. Hiro nodded, agreeing with me.

“You know, unless we want to go back up and ask for a mark, we will have to go like that,” Narihi said with a smile and then added. “Not even I have it, even though I’ve been here numerous times. Many know me, so we can walk freely on Genotin Academy’s territory and we can also enter other places. Actually, the biggest group nearby is called the ‘Freerunners’. They are the people who aren’t talented enough to get into these academies. But their population is at least twenty times as much as any other group’s.”

“So actually they are the most powerful group…” I pointed out the truth, feeling slightly surprised.

“You could say that, yes,” Chuckling, Narihi agreed with me. They weren’t counted talented because they were progressing too slowly. It didn’t mean that none of them would reach the highest levels. Hard work was never something to laugh at and the people who reached the level of Sedna and Gaia with much worse talent were a clear example of that.

Feeling excited and restless at the same time, I quickly teleported to the first level of the Abyss. I wanted to find out what was there! Looking around, I saw those huge mountains, the oceans which were in place of the sky… levitating mountains and islands. It was an interesting sight. The air felt clear and pleasant, though I saw black clouds at a few places with dangerous looking bolts of lightning. They reminded us of the Heavenly Tribulations.

Below us was a ravine, which actually wasn’t too inviting… “Where does this lead?” I asked Narihi while pointing downward.

“That is leading to the second level. I could go there, but I’m not sure that you should. Usually, only cultivators at the later stages of the sixth level go there,” she answered while shaking her head upon seeing my face.

We will mess up that place as well. I thought with a smirk on my face. We left the ravine and flew towards a mountain nearby. We started a massacre. After killing hundreds of monsters at the third and fourth stage, we stopped. Status? Does it work here? I thought and lines of texts appeared in front of my eyes.

You have five hundred thousand and thirty-six AP.

You have killed:

….

Seeing the list, it indeed showed everything there was to know. Following Narihi, we went back to the nearest Trading Room where we bought a vial of divine blood. Calling out Rose, who jumped on us… Hiro grabbed her head and opened her mouth, while I poured it down her throat. Now that I think about it, Rose was turning into the kind of mindless monster, which divine beasts didn’t want to turn into. The only exception was that we were her ‘masters’. As the blood entered her body, her blood and flesh went through a mutation, strengthening her own genes, which were able to fight back her submissive feelings.

Her hazy eyes slowly cleared out and her stupid expression went away. She loosened up her arms around my waist and stepped back. After shaking her head sideways, she looked up, straight into our eyes.

“You back?” I asked her with a smile. Nodding, she replied, “Yes. I’m not saying that it was terrible… but it surely wasn’t something that should have happened to me. I do like you, but I never intended to turn into such a… thing.”

“Yes, and you would have forgotten your memories, your past, or who you were if that was to continue. It was in our best interest to return the old Rose. Hehe,” I said with a small laugh, feeling happy upon seeing her normal expressions.

“Not exactly the old one… I still want to serve you and I’m much stronger than in the past,” she added with a serious face. I waved my hand and turned around to look at Hiro, who was looking at the Amber Compass.

“Where to go?” I questioned him. He grabbed my hand and pulled on it. Rose went back to our world since she couldn’t teleport. As Hiro left, the three of us followed after him and found ourselves in front of a hundred meters tall portal. It was simply enormous! Strange intrications were covering its sides and there were huge statues standing beside it. Looking at the Amber Compass again, we saw that it was pointing towards the portal.

Feeling unsure, we made clones of ourselves and went through the gates. At first, it was still the Abyss, but after following the lead of the compass, we went up many pathways and saw that usual dark portal. This was leading out of the Abyss… but we had a strange feeling.

This portal wasn’t leading to our world! Even space felt different and it felt as if there would be something completely new!

Stepping through the portal, a window appeared in front of us, surprising us.

Welcome to the World of Ketarn!