A handsome youth in a white robe with a glowing, golden pair of bloodshot eyes stared intently at the available options in his hands. The option on the far right was the last one that would allow him to take no damage at all but could only be used for one turn. However, he didn’t know whether his opponent would take a conservative approach and use something weak or go all out for a final attack. Should he use it now? Or save it for a stronger attack later on? He growled and bitter frustration took his mind by storm. There was no way he would lose to that slimy bastard again! He looked up sharply at his opponent.

The opponent flinched when he felt the blond’s murderous gaze lay upon him. The opponent’s pitch black body clearly outlined his human-shaped figure in the white space that surrounded them. No bodily features could be seen on him. He didn’t have a face, clothes, or nether regions. He looked like the silhouette of a grown human with pitch black arms, legs, a torso, digits, and a head.

“H-Hey Charles, I think it’s your turn?” the black figure questioned meekly.

“Shut up! I know that already!”

The one named Charles gave one last glance at the cards in his hand before picking the one on the far right and slapped it loudly on the table that was between them. There were already a few stacks of cards with illustrations of monsters, demons, heroes, and gods.

“There! You happy!”

The black figure gave a sigh of relief. With his core now taking on a new form, Tim was able to do things he couldn’t before. He felt much more comfortable being able to express his emotions this way as well.

“Yes, I’m happy,” he responded before picking his own card and placing it on the table.

On it, there was a picture of a small goblin with a “+5 Damage” below.

Charles stood up and threw his hands up in the air in anger before grabbing at his blonde hair in a frenzy. His golden eyes became even more bloodshot and he spat out a slew of unintelligible curses.

“BLOOOODY HEEEEEEEEELLLLL!” Charles howled. “I WASTED MY LAST DEFENSE CARD ON A BLOODY GOBL一”

He wasn’t able to finish his sentence as a humongous pile of cocoons wrapped in metal chains crashed down on their table. The black figure floated a distance away having already felt a spatial fluctuation. As for the blond, he had had the misfortune of being distracted by his rage and was quickly buried under the pile. Soon, however, a golden light shined from underneath and the mountain of cocoons exploded!

“BLOOOOODY COOOCOOOOONNNNNSSSSSSS!” Charles shouted, but this time out of panic instead of anger.

His particularly brutal experience with chains had instilled in him a deep-rooted phobia of them now.

Fortunately, the chains were strong enough to withstand the blast, but the poor captives were blown in all directions and their bodies rained down from above. Their bodies landed with loud thuds like hail falling to the ground. At some point, a figure dressed in an unkempt, beige cloak had appeared behind the still-panicking Charles. He raised his hand and swiftly chopped down on the blond’s head.

That little action had miraculously caused Charles’s head to explode as if a watermelon were being smashed apart by a metal bat. The brain matter flew in a grimy arc and blood spurted everywhere like a broken fountain. Charles’s white robes were stained crimson and his headless body dropped down to its knees before collapsing. Amazingly, the muscles and blood vessels on the neck where the head used to be squirmed soon afterwards. It was already starting to regenerate!

“Don’t do that to your trainees, fool,” Em scolded. “And how come you still use ‘bloody,’ dude? I thought that by now you’d overcome that habit of yours.”

“Mr. Em!” the black figure descended rapidly and gave his greeting before he started to cry out. “Where have you been!? I had to go through so much suffering with that guy while you were gone!”

“Nevermind that. At least you’re still alive, Tim, right?”

Tim shook his head, feeling betrayed and lied to.

“No! I died 1,247 times before he started calming down!”

“Oh! So you ended up finding out that those in the White Realm are essentially—”

“Immortal! How is that even possible!? I experienced my first death on the day you left me by the way. Although Charles and I have decent regenerative capabilities, we could still ‘die’ once our soul is crushed by a being of similar or superior power,” Tim explained bitterly before mumbling. “So I thought I died, but...I somehow regained consciousness somewhere else in the White Realm...I thought I wouldn’t ever have to meet him again…but I did after one year...and died again… and again…and—”

“Hold up. How long has it been since you last saw me?”

“16 years and 8 months.”

Huh, since I wasn’t here for about 2 months, the time axis deviated by around 100 times…not bad…

Em thought that before he asked another question with a mischievous tone.

“So, were you ever able to kill the blond?”

Tim’s black figure straightened and he puffed out his chest.

“Yes, actually. 352 times, too!” he boasted and his forlorn mood disappeared. “Although that golden abomination is a monstrosity when it comes to swordsmanship, once you die enough times by his sword, you can see a certain pattern! Plus, although he didn’t die after our fights, he’d sometimes incur injuries and I could finish him off when I revived!”

Although it seemed like a grand achievement after considerable work and strategy, Em summarized, “So you just took advantage of the White Realm and killed him by luck?”

At that, Tim’s haughty stance deflated and he sighed, “Yes, I know.”

Em smirked but was satisfied knowing that Tim was now able to take down the hero who he didn’t even have a chance with before. It was clear that battling with an opponent of a much higher league had strengthened Tim tremendously. The White Realm was doing its job just fine.

Em then revealed the reason he came back in the first place. He waved his hand towards the squirming cocoons scattered all over. Truly, those chains were the epitome of what one would call “durable.”

“Tim, I want you and Charles to train these noobs. They’re from a world called Solvenheim. It’ll take some time, but I want them to at least reach a quarter of the power you had 16 years ago in the next… half-millenium? Yeah. Let’s do that,” the hopeless planner, Em, commanded.

“Yes, Mr. Em,” Tim sighed.

Tim complied without much thought. There were a bunch of reasons for this. One, he was a being who had crushed many existences to oblivion before. It was a nice change of pace to actually witness and contribute to how weaker beings would consolidate their inferior strengths.

Two, he wanted to understand the different ways one could cover for their faults and weaknesses when pressured by an overwhelming strength, especially because he was currently in that position himself.

Three, he was was very interested in how they would grow in the White Realm. Em claimed that inhabitants would have “infinite” potential, as absurd as it sounded. True, he had grown much in the past 16 years, but he didn’t know to what extent. Maybe observing others can yield some clues that would intimate the nature and mechanics behind the White Realm.

Four, he simply suspected Em would force him to train the beings in the cocoons anyway.

“Tsk, I wish I didn’t have to see you ever again...bloody white-masked bastard...one day, when I surpass you, I swear I’ll…” a voice grumbled.

Charles appeared besides them with his head back in one piece and voiced his grievances. Even his white robes were sparkly clean. However, he averted his gaze and looked down at the floor when Em turned his head towards him. After all, who wouldn’t be irked by someone who had easily bondaged you, turned you into meat paste, blew your head apart, and displayed exponentially greater strength?

“Nice having you back Charles! I’m guessing you already heard everything. So, you in?” Em laughed and slapped Charles’ back who flinched at his sudden touch.

Charles grumbled more before begrudgingly nodding his head. For him there were also four reasons: he was bored, he didn’t have a place to go back to, he also suspected he’d be forced to, and he wanted to beat the crap out of the masked youth one day by staying in the White Realm. The last two were self-explanatory, but the other two were reasons he had ascended the worlds in his previous realm.

He was an orphan. Charles was essentially the rags-to-riches type of a hero. He didn’t have a home he was particularly attached to. Although he was regarded as a legendary figure wherever he went, he didn’t have any friends due to his reclusive, belligerent, and snappy-old-man personality. He was a battle maniac, always wanting to beat up monsters, demons, and other strong beings. Honestly, beating up Tim was the most infuriating yet gratifying experience for him. It was difficult to battle the black being in the beginning until he got used to those endless tentacles. He was ecstatic by the end when he could beat Tim up easily.

Charles had always pursued lofty heights of technique and strength until now. He loved the exhilaration of a fight, the development of his swordsmanship, and other manly, strength-related things. Note that beating up a few weaklings to train them was also on his list of things he wanted to do for fun.

“Perfect! Remember what I said last time? You guys will be called ‘Guides’ from now on!” Em explained happily. “The first order of business is to beat some sense into those struggling noobs. You know, tell them what’s going to happen to them. Where they are, stuff like that.”

Em snapped his fingers and the cocoons gathered in one area. He snapped his fingers again and the chains disappeared, revealing a bunch of bewildered and angry Solvenheimians.

“Charles should take this. I think it will teach him to better control his strength,” Tim suggested, already floating a distance away from the disorientated bunch.

Charles sent a sharp glare towards Tim and looked down at the new inhabitants. There were over 200 of them and many were of different species, with Draconians, Dwarves, Beast Kin, Humans, Lamia, Elves, Faeries, Lycanthropes, Orcs, and Daemons amongst numerous others.

“Some fresh meat, eh?” Charles muttered and licked his lips.

Atlos and his children also happened to be there. The Human king shook his head and searched wildly for his children before quickly finding that they were alive. Although he was relieved, he was no doubt alarmed being taken to such an unfamiliar environment, as were many of the others from Solvenheim. They all looked towards the three figures in the distance.

Two were on the ground. One of them wore a beige hooded cloak that hid their face in a dark shadow. The other was a handsome, blond youth in white robes. The third figure was human-shaped but totally pitch black and lacked any distinct bodily features except for the limbs, torso, and head.

Atlos suspected that they were the ones most likely responsible for their current predicament. Those from Solvenheim realized this as well, and overwhelming hostility grew and was directed towards the trio in the distance.

“Who are you!” Atlos shouted boldly, fitting of his proactive nature.

“Oh yeah, try not to kill them, alright? I’m too lazy to search and collect them all once they revive,” the figure in beige spoke leisurely to the youth.

When Atlos and the others heard that, they quickly drew their weapons and prepared their magic for battle. They increased their murderous intent until it was suffocatingly palpable. It was obvious that the beings before them held ill intentions.

“Fine, you bastard. I’ll go reeeaaal bloody easy on them,” Charles whispered venomously before he suddenly grabbed a scabbard that appeared in the air.

He unsheathed a long, golden sword and the scabbard disappeared. The abnormal luster of the sword, the glow of the youth’s golden eyes, and the aura he released suddenly made those from Solvenheim feel as if a whole continent was placed on their blacks. What kind of pressure was this?

Charles walked towards the group slowly with a stolid look on his face. The group tensed as this being who held power never seen in Solvenheim approached them.

“I’ll go easy enough so they don’t die,” Charles smirked.