Ryan Avariz, fifteen years of age, was an average rich young master. Spoiled didn’t really fit his description because his father had restricted the materials he was supposed to own. Well, here’s what happened: His father became a billionaire when he was twelve, told him if he wanted material things, he’d have to get them by himself. Now dejected, he decided to make friends online using the handle Arthur Firn.

He played online games most of his time when he came back from school. Why? Oh well, he simply decided that since his father wouldn’t buy him a Ferrari or Lamborghini or anything for that matter, he would wait until he was dead so he could get the inheritance. Most rich kids were already driving such cars so they laughed at him, and discriminated against him. That was why he decided to make friends online.

He actually made quite a few, playing games like Yesterday’s Foe, Starcraft and Hall of extra-ordinary legends. Despite living in a large mansion in Megapolis, the capital of Zimikhstan, basically he was a nerd of the first order.

One day, as usual, he got home from school and locked himself in his room, logged into Starcraft and started playing. Due to the loud noise in his room, he didn’t hear the noise going on outside. He kept playing until he started feeling hungry.

He left the room and walked down the gloomy hallway. As he neared the stairway, he ran into two men wearing ski masks, holding bloodied knives. He turned to run but was overpowered by one of them, who stabbed him in the shoulder. He screamed and shouted but no one came to his aid. Before he was sent to the underworld, a meteor crashed into the mansion, obliterating most of the house.

Ryan woke up after a few minutes, only to see debris everywhere. The entire house had been demolished! His shoulder had somehow stopped bleeding but he was afraid the wound might have been infected. As he looked around, he saw a head, sparking with electricity…

The weird thing was the head was made of some sort of metal. Ryan rubbed his eyes repeatedly, before approaching the figure buried in the debris. There was a metal hand sticking out near the figure, and it was holding a black cube with blue lines glowing brightly.

He looked around to see if his assailants were anywhere but there was piles of burning debris everywhere he looked. He walked absent-mindedly towards the figure and took the black cube from the metal hand. The cube glowed even more brightly, followed by a blinding light, and Ryan saw himself in a weird space, with glowing lines all over. In this space, there was an old man with flowing white hair, wearing a distinct robe with a drawing at the front.

The old man looked intently at Ryan and said, “So destiny falls to you? I wish we would have met under better circumstances but wishes are not horses unfortunately. Seems like you are human, no wonder the matrix opened itself for you. I am Rogarth Secretwater, a scholar of the Dao. I will impart my knowledge unto you but beware; a lot of harm might come from you learning of the Great Dao.”

Ryan looked sideways to see if there was anyone else, but the old man kept looking at him. He then pinched himself three times to see if he was not dreaming. It was confirmed, he was awake.

“If you do not want the power, I will not force the responsibility upon you. What do you say?” asked the old man.

Ryan looked confused, appeared to be thinking then finally answered, “Assume I was to agree, will I be powerful enough to rule over the entire human race?”

“That depends on how hard you work. But the possibility does exist”, answered Rogarth.

“Cool. What if I want to quit midway, would I be allowed?” asked Ryan.

“Yes, you can. But unless you reach the immortal realm, all your accumulations will be lost in a matter of years, you’d be normal again. If you want to continue, you would have to start all over again.”

“Okay. I agree. So what do I have to do in order to get started?”

“You need a very quiet place where you can absorb ki and I will impart my knowledge without disturbance. After that, you can begin your training.”

Ryan was dazzled for a moment. ‘Ki? What is that?’ he thought to himself. Before he asked another question, he realized he was back in the real world. Well, as real as his perspective was. The cube was no longer in his palm; rather, it had been engraved on the back of his right hand, like a black tattoo.

The eye sockets on the head of the metal figure started glowing with a purple color. Some strange lines appeared on the figure and they started glowing with a purple color. As he turned to flee, the figure glowed even more brightly, causing a purple light to blast off into the skies. The blast pushed Ryan so that he fell face first.

“BEEP. BEEP. Damage assessment: 30%, System repair in progress. ETA: 5 hours”, came a voice.

Ryan looked back and saw a robot, with a damaged left hand. It was sparking with electricity for a few moments, and then the sparks dissipated.

‘WHAAAATTT the hell? This is a freaking robot?? ’, he thought, ‘They shouldn’t be this advanced! Wait a minute, PI Robotics made robots but they never made one that can repair itself like this! This is ridiculous!’

“BEEP. BEEP. Identify yourself mortal, or face annihilation!” said the robot.

“My… My… name is … is… Ryan… Ryan Avariz”, stammered Ryan nervously. ‘Wait, Mortal? Annihilation?’ he thought. “Who… Who… are you and … and…where did you come from?” he asked the robot.

“BEEP. BEEP. Ryan Avariz, identity stored. Reloading communications module in progress. ETA: 35 seconds. BEEP. BEEP”, replied the voice from the robot. It continued after a brief amount of time, “BEEP. BEEP. Communications module restored. Analyzing language structure, analysis complete.”

An awkwardly weird sound that would have qualified for a cough if it fell on deaf ears, followed from the robot. “Nice to meet you, eh, Ryan Avariz. My name is Myra, immortal guardian of the matrix. I see it has chosen you as the successor. We must depart from this place. Danger lurks in this area”, said the robot as it turned around, scanning the area.

‘EEHHHH! It even speaks in completely fluent English!! This is ridiculous!! Wait, did it just say immortal guardian?’ he thought silently. “Immortal guardian? Does that mean you cannot be killed?” asked Ryan, with great curiosity.

Before the robot answered, a man wearing black clothes rose from the debris and dusted himself. He looked around and took off his ski mask. His face was wrinkled with a scar that stretched from his left eye across to his nose. He saw Ryan and drew a gun from a pouch strapped to his waist, then fired a few rounds towards Ryan.

BANG!! BANG!! BANG!!

Time seemed to freeze as the Myra dashed in front of Ryan and collected all the bullets before they reached him.

CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.

Next, empty casings fell onto the debris, causing clanging sounds. The man in black was shocked as he saw a robot holding bullets and dropping them one by one on the floor, or rather, what was left of it.

Ryan didn’t even see what had happened. He heard some loud gunshots, followed by clanging sounds, then he saw a man wearing black pointing a smoking gun right at him. And then there was Myra. Standing right in front of him, dropping bullets on the floor, what was left of it anyways…

“Ryan, let us leave before your life really becomes in danger!” urged Myra.

“What happened?” asked Ryan.

Myra didn’t answer. He simply dashed and appeared behind the man wearing black. A human head flew up, followed by blood gushing out at unbelievable speed. The head fell and rolled down, before the body fell lifeless.

He started running towards what was left of the staircase and then towards the door. Ryan followed swiftly, and they found themselves outside, well, in the open.

“Where are we going now?” asked Ryan.

Before Myra answered, sirens started wailing in the distance.

“We need to get out of here! People should not see you! Run to the back of the forest!” instructed Ryan.

The mansion Ryan’s parents had built was at the edge of Megapolis. At the edge of Megapolis was a forest, and their house was at the edge of the forest. Myra did as instructed and dashed off to the edge of the mansion, towards the forest.

The police arrived to see Ryan holding his injured shoulder, with debris everywhere. The commissioner in charge sighed at the site he saw.

*****************

Now on another planet, the celestial emperor was sitting in his palace, with advisors standing on his sides.

“Empyrean Thunder Fury, general of the Flood Thunder regiment, what news do you bring?” asked the celestial emperor, speaking to the celestial god general who was coming in.

The general rushed in and knelt on the ground, before replying, “Thunder Fury reporting to your Excellency. The invasion of planet Khami is almost complete. We have managed to surround most of the Farron race rebels, and the alchemists have surrendered. It’s only a matter of time before we have the planet under our control.”

“I see. And what of the blue planet?” asked the emperor.

“The transmission array we set up some months ago has been functional. However, after months of surveying the planet, we have concluded that it’s not suitable for cultivators. It is much closer to the sun so the ki is too thin. Cultivators cannot survive in that environment. In addition, there are no rare herbs so making elixirs is impossible. The mortals who live on that planet are as weak as can be. They are of no threat to any of your plans, your Excellency.”

“Oh, so that’s how it is? I was told that the Farron made a machine for fighting against us as well as a device for storing all our stolen cultivation manuals. Did you retrieve the two?”

“Unfortunately, I destroyed them both your Excellency. The robot was escaping using spatial transmission, so I sent an attack that reduced both the robot and the device to ashes. My apologies your Excellency.”

“I see. Nevertheless, don’t you find it a bit curious? You are a middle Earth ranked immortal, but you reduced an early earth ranked immortal robot to ashes. Does this make sense?”

“That’s… That’s impossible, your Excellency! How was that robot an Earth ranked immortal?” asked the very shocked Thunder Fury.

“What a pity! You did not unlock the heavenly gaze when you stepped into the immortal realm. Otherwise, you would be able to see cultivation levels of others. That was your weakness. Out of the goodness of my own heart, I am giving you six months to find the robot and the device, and bring them to me. If you are unable to do so, well, I don’t need to tell you what will happen.”

Empyrean Thunder Fury shuddered when he heard the threat. Then with great composure he replied, “Thank you, your Excellency. I will not fail you this time.” He left the celestial emperor’s palace and headed for a transmission array.

“Do you think he will be able to accomplish this mission your majesty?” asked an elderly advisor, wearing a white robe with golden stripes, standing at the emperor’s left hand side.

The emperor took a brush and began his calligraphy, ignoring the advisor. After a full five minutes, he spoke, “Empyrean Flame Lily, I trust you know what to do?”

A woman, who looked like she was in her early twenties appeared before the emperor, after kneeling then spoke, “Yes your majesty, I will take care of it.”

The emperor sighed and continued with his calligraphy.