“So you’re really not from this place?” Rena asked as the two continued to walk about the forest.

“I haven’t heard of the town of Merkley or the Continent of the Scattered Kingdoms. And I’ve been to several continents.” Dyne answered honestly.

A large humanoid creature saw the pair and began to walk towards it. But the moment it got a certain distance near them, the humanoid creature stopped and began to move back.

Dyne looked at it and noticed that it bore a striking resemblance to the Gobu Gobu.

“Goblins.” Rena frowned.

“Don’t worry. With Gyoro and Ururun here, they won’t dare draw near.”

“What creature is that, Little Brother?”

“Big Sis! I hope you’d call me Dyne. I may be younger than you, but-but… I’m definitely stronger!” Dyne made a childish tantrum.

“I doubt anyone in the village is as strong as you. You were amazing, Little Dyne!”

“Hmph. I guess it’s progress. Anyway, no matter where I am right now, at least I have Big Sis again!” Dyne hugged Rena.

“Oh, thank you, Dyne! I’ve always wanted a Little Brother!” Rena smiled.

“When I’m older, we can get married! Big Sis told me that if she has someone she likes, she will marry him! Can’t we get married, Big Sis?”

“Oh… Big Sis can’t get married to you. I’m already engaged.” Rena laughed.

“Oh? Who is it? I’ll beat him up!”

“Little Dyne. Remember. I know how strong you are. But do not fool around or insult my fiancé. He is… complicated. But I promise to be your Big Sis and be with you forever!” Rena smiled.

“Alright! Good enough, I guess. I’ll see if this man is worthy of Big Sis!” Dyne vowed.

Strafe wanted to close his eyes inside the Imaginarium Bond.

“What is this evil that has awoken from Dyne?!” Strafe cursed out. Dyne was playing the little brother's card too well. Knowing his real mental age, Strafe felt very uncomfortable at Dyne’s actions.

“Tell me, Little Dyne… About the place you were before… Where was it?”

“Oh… Do you mean Legaia? This place is more green. More plants and animals are weird here. I did see creatures like that Goblin. But there we called them Gobu Gobu!”

Rena wore a complicated expression as they continued to walk and began to listen as Dyne detailed his adventure. The more Dyne described the place, the more confused Rena was. But then, she remembered the prophecy that their High Priestess gave a few days back.

“Could it be? This Dyne is the Hero of Light?” She wondered.

“By the way, Sis. That magic you did was amazing! Only Serus had that power in my place! Can you teach me how to do it?” Dyne asked.

“Erm… It’s tough to learn. I haven’t met anyone who could cast the healing magic I do.” Rena explained as her voice trailed off.

“So Big Sis is that amazing! Wow!” Dyne praised.

“Little Brother… Can you tell me something? What level are you in the Martial Novice realm?” Rena finally asked.

“Martial Novice? Sis is joking! I’m still in the Sixth stage of Martial Advent! I just formally started cultivating three months ago!”

Rena was so shocked that she topped.

“Three months? And already at that stage…? But you really are in the Martial Advent stage?”

“Yeah. Those Apes were weak, though. Why didn’t they use Spirit?” Dyne frowned.

“Spirit?”

“Yeah.” Dyne raised his hands and allowed Spirit to cover his entire fist.

Rena could feel a strange force in Dyne’s hands.

“Before I began cultivating as a martial artist, my master made me study this. And he said I’m like a super genius. Oh. Big Sis. Master told me to keep this a secret. But I trust Big Sis!” Dyne laughed.

Rena frowned.

“This boy is a prodigy! He can’t be normal! How can someone in the Martial Advent stage fight against those apes?! Could he be the Hero of Light?” Rena wondered.

“Big Sis. I think this place is so far away from my first home. Could Big Sis tell me all about this place?”

“Alright. This is the Fringe Forest. It is a forest that is located at the far east side of the Scattered Kingdoms. We call this the Fringe Forest because not many set out to journey eastwards. It is a land of massive monsters. No cities or kingdoms could survive there because of the cruel and desolate place.”

“Sounds awesome!”

“It is. But it's very dangerous there. Near this forest is the town where I am at. Merkley. We are a Desolate Level Town, but it's rather peaceful here. But there have been some strange things happening that are causing more strange actions, and we even had several monsters attacked our village! We were so desperate that I saw something enter this forest and wanted to get it!” Rena explained.

"What is it?"

"I don't know..." Rena sighed.

“Sis, what is a Desolate Level Town?” Dyne asked.

“Yes. We have several levels of town that are ranked according to power. Desolate Level is a Level 2 town. This continent ranks Kingdoms and Towns according to their power. The strongest Empires, which were the first established ones and who have grown since the founding of this place, are called Paradise. They have warriors who can kill the gigantic beasts in the Great Wilderness as if they were ants! Large kingdoms that have endured and survived over a hundred years are called Sanctuary. Then there is the Mid-level, which are mainly ranked to large cities or groups of cities. Then we have Desolate and Void towns.”

“Wow. Why are there so many weak towns? In my place, most towns were of equal power.”

“The Scattered Kingdom is a young continent. It was only two hundred years ago that many from other Kingdoms began to settle here. They were people who escaped the nearby continents when the Kingdom Wars occurred. Truthfully, we don’t know much about the outside kingdoms.”

“Why is this Continent called the Scattered Kingdom?” Dyne wondered.

“It’s because when our ancestors moved here, they were all from different continents and different kingdoms or families. So many of them didn’t get along with each other, and some were enemies. And since it was only a few hundred years ago when many races began to stay here, the problem of monsters and beasts make it difficult to reach other neighboring cities.”

“Sounds scary. I wonder if Legaia is near this Kingdom. Do you know of a place called Legaia?” Dyne asked.

“I can look for it at the town library. But information about other countries is very limited here. You see, from this town, the nearest neighboring Kingdom is somewhere past the Fringe Forest and the beyond the Great Wilderness!”

“Hm… Maybe that’s where I am from!”

“Do you want to go back?”

“No. Not really. I already have a beautiful big Sis back. Master… He had some problems... And I don’t think I can see him again.” Dyne sighed.

“I’m sorry to hear that. From now on, we are family!” Rena smiled.

“Thank you, Big Sis!”

The pair continued to walk towards the town, but Dyne was silently thinking about all the information he had received from Rena.

“So basically, this is a place which is very weak in terms of Cultivation?” Dyne asked Strafe.

“Yes. This is how I wanted to make your arrival feel a lot more like Star Ocean! You get the person from a more advanced place to reach an Undeveloped Planet Experience!” Strafe laughed.

“It’s close enough. I’m already feeling nostalgic. And wow. You sure know how to pick a planet!”

“Well, just wait a bit more. You’ll be surprised how this will remind you of that game!”

“I already have a few guesses. There is High Death energy here. The moment I got here, I could feel it in the air. And Rena and the villagers were looking for something in the forest. Rena said she saw it. I’m guessing it was a meteor. That must have been me. What else could she have seen all the way from the village? We’ve been walking for nearly an hour, and it doesn’t seem like the village is anywhere near. You said it’s like Star Ocean 2. So I conclude that I'm not the first one they saw."

"Oh? Nothing gets past you! What made you assume that you're not the first meteor on this planet?”

“When you disappeared, it will cause a lot of conflicts in the cultivation world, right? Without your Master watching guard, illegal things must have happened here.” Dyne explained.

“Like what?” Strafe asked. He was curious if Dyne could guess what was happening in this world.

“To answer that, you need to clarify something. You said that I would get the Star Ocean 2 experience. This means that you guys must have some pact or law to not interfere with planets with very limited cultivation knowledge. Am I right?”

“Yes. Only the leaders of the strongest kingdoms on this planet know of the existence of other stronger planets. But aside from them, no one else on this planet knows about the other planets in the Cultivation world.”

“Why did you make this rule in the first place?”

“Balance. My master knew that the various galaxies were at war and would plot and kill each other. It was decreed long ago that the strongest planets and galaxies would not recruit or train underdeveloped planets to preserve the balance of power. So everyone agreed to leave them alone. But even without my master, the Cultivation World has something similar to the UN of your world. This means my enemies won’t go recruiting other planets. Although I cannot fathom my enemies' plot, it will still take them long to have an edge and more forces to fight. After all, although they killed my master and her most trusted allies, the kingdoms that are loyal to my master still exist.”

“Oh, I get it. Then I guess this planet is really suffering the same fate as Planet Expel in Star Ocean 2. Your enemies couldn’t make any obvious actions like recruit or train this planet, So I’m guessing they're harvesting Death Energy.”

“Oh? Is it because of your Eyes of Destiny that you guessed this?”

“Partly. But your previous words before you sent me here helped me deduce this. The meteors were meant to change the course and the flow of souls on this planet. But just like in Star Ocean, they are planning to make this planet collide with another.”

Strafe was amazed at Dyne's deduction.

“Impressive as usual. You're right. As a god, I could easily peer into the fates of mortals and deduced that they would all die soon. And that's why I sent you here! You are someone who can change and escape fate! So what do you plan to do?”

“Easy. Whatever these meteors are, they definitely must have strong Time and Space elements or at least, Dark Elements! I’ll use it to awaken Jedo!”