Chapter 26: A Strange Meeting

“You were too showy. The reason you were captured was due to your own carelessness.” Mr. Spatial Energy was talking to me while I was sitting against in a corner.

“I realize that much you know. I went against all the advice I was given. I really should have just secluded myself. Less people would be hurt that way.” I keep my eyes closed as I hug my legs.

The figure pats my shoulder, “Well. That would have been much worse for you. You would have died in three years because of your internal clock.”

I laugh slightly, “Oh yeah. Unless I can get to the ninth realm, I won’t be able to live for longer than three years. Another thing to add to the list.”

I can tell that if Mr. Spatial Energy had a face, he would be making a wry smile, “You know Ryu. Not all hope is lost. I kind of feel pity for you.”

I lean my head back slightly, “Great. Now I have an omniscient being that feel pity towards me. May the heavens strike me where I stand!”

“You do know you are sitting down, right?”

“Shut up.”

Mr. Spatial energy moves to the other side of the Starshit Galactiderp, “Hey Ryu, I have a question for you.”

I sigh, “What is it?”

“Well, actually two questions. First question. Do you not feel fear talking to an entity that could kill you without really doing much?” Mr. Spatial Energy drops a loaded question.

I slowly open my eyes and face towards him, “Why should I fear you? If you had wanted to kill me, you would have already done so without me even knowing or having the chance to even try and fight back. Also, if you wanted me to suffer, you wouldn’t be talking to me at this moment. Finally, if I did show fear, it would be your win. So I see no reason to submit.”

The figure nods, “I see, I see. So the next question then. Have you ever had a teacher?”

I tilt my head, confused at the question, “Of course I’ve had a teacher before.”

Mr. Spatial Energy waves his arms, “No, I don’t mean that kind of teacher. I mean something like master and disciple.”

I slowly shake my head, “I have never had such a thing… but you should already know that.”

The figure scratches its head, “Well, about that… I am not truly ‘Everywhere’, as there are several places throughout the universe I cannot reach. One of those would be the planet your soul was birthed on.”

I make a complicated expression, “What are the other places?”

Mr. Spatial energy laughs, “You are much too weak to know about what those areas truly are. But, I will tell you this. The ‘beings’ that live there are stronger than me.”

My jaw drops, “Stronger than you? Is that even possible!?”

The figure laughs, “Sure it is. In reality I am but a weak external cultivation method. Only weaklings up to the… Woops, almost let too much slip there. You will naturally learn more as you get stronger. How would you feel if I said I wanted to be your teacher?”

I make a complicated expression, “That’s some important information, plus a huge question. Do I get time to think?”

The figure speaks in a serious tone, “You have seven months to get strong enough to survive a crash landing. Could you do it on your own?” That is a good point. “Also, you don’t know any of the specific techniques you can use once you have acquired spatial energy. Also, you don’t even know how complex it… I truly am. Even though I am weak, I am by no means weak.”

I frown, “That last sentence made no sense.”

He sighed, “Then let me reword it. In terms of the whole universe, I am weak, but, for the strength you need right now, I am perfect.”

I nod slowly, “So you will teach me for seven months so that I can continue to survive. I see this as only beneficial for me. Why are you doing this? If you say it is just on a whim, I have no reason to trust you.”

The figure sits down in the air, “If I said I owed a favor to a friend and they asked me to nurture you during this period of time… Would you believe that?”

I sigh as I think about what has happened. This entity known as spatial energy wants to be my teacher. What is spatial energy actually? I have a feeling there are more secrets hidden in this simple phrase than there are stars in the sky. But what else can I do? I’m like a snake stuck in a deep hole. I have nowhere to run.

I shrug my shoulders with a wry smile on my face, “I have no choice but to believe you. I am really curious as to who this ‘friend’ might be, but I know you won’t tell me too easily. To throw some icing on this cake of secrets, I will become your student.”

Mr. Spatial energy stands up immediately after I finish talking, “Great! So we start right now!”

I laugh slightly, “I have nothing else to do. Let’s do this!” I stand up motivated.

“I can also tell that you still call me Mr. Spatial Energy in your head. So just give me a name or something.” The figure scratches its head.

I make a complicated expression, “My naming sense is horrible, and, it feels weird to give a name to something similar to a shadow.”

The figure raises its arm, “This should make it better.” He snaps his fingers.

The shadow like figure instantly turns into the form of an old man with long gray hair. Cleanly shaved though. His eyes were pitch black, which made me worry slightly.

The old man smiles, “Should be easier to give me a name now.”

I frown. A name… what name should I give this fool? “I got it. I will call you Spacey!”

Spacey frowns, “Why do I feel like I’ve been put at the same status as a pet?”

I shrug my shoulders, “Does it really matter Spacey? When do you start teaching me?”

He sighs and makes a gesture with his arm, “Now!”

Suddenly my body hits the ground as my feet slip out from underneath me. It felt like my body had suddenly gotten many times heavier.

The old man laughs, “Classic gravity training! How do you like it!?”

I let out some words with pain, “A warning… would be nice…. for next time.”

Spacey just laughs as I slowly breathe in order to not lose consciousness. I wish these memories would just burn already though.

The memories from my past life.

The memories of two people I once knew.

The good and bad times we had together.

The sword that stains my soul.

The demon that turned my life upside down.

The promise I made.

The reason why I became emperor.

The memories that resurfaced because of the questioning. No matter how much time passes I am still unable to forget those two.

It all started shortly after I got to the eighth realm in my previous life…

I wonder if I can eat those.

My mouth becomes wet with saliva as I stare at some monster eggs I stumbled across. They were the size of a humans head and there were six of them.

I had just run out of food the day before, and was on the hunt to replenish my stocks. These monster eggs were going to be my breakfast.

“RRROOOOOOOAAAAAARRR!!”

However, their mother did not appreciate the idea of me stealing her eggs. So, I am currently being chased by a ninth realm monster. I really did bring this upon myself.

I was just hungry. What’s a man got to do to eat some eggs in the morning?

“You know I will just settle for one?”

BOOOM!

The ground behind me exploded as the monster tries to jump on top of me. I guess it isn’t a monster of reason.

“Fine! Have it your way! I’ll just take them using force!”

I stop suddenly and surprise the monster.

It looked like a giant lion. Why this monster lays eggs… I don’t think I want to know.

The monster stops to try and figure me out. It stares at me with its cat eyes. If glares could kill, I would definitely be on the ground by now. This kitty is mad.

“Nice kitty. You know I don’t want anything much from you.”

“ROOOOOAAAARR!!” It starts to jump towards me.

[Endless Skills][Wind Merger][Velocity][Barrier][Hands of Steel][Speed Strike][Heavy Strike]

‘Endless skills’ allows me to continuously use skills in a split second, as normally there is a lag time between each skill. I use ‘wind merger’ in order to increase my speed and ‘velocity to give myself a bust of speed. I activate barrier and cover my body with it. Hands of steel does exactly what it advertises, and speed ‘strike’ and ‘heavy strike’ will raise both speed and power because the negative effects are outweighed by the positive effects.

I hit the lion thing at the base of its neck…

It stares at me like I was an annoying mosquito that just bit it.

“ROOOAAARR!!!”

“Plan B! RUN AWAY!”

The lion thing turns to face me again and gets ready to jump again.

“Catch me if you can!”

[Endless Skills][Velocity][Velocity] [Velocity][Velocity] [Velocity][Velocity] [Velocity][Velocity] [Velocity][Velocity] [Velocity][Velocity] [Velocity][Velocity] [Velocity][Velocity] [Velocity][Velocity] [Velocity][Velocity] [Velocity][Velocity]

BOOM!

I loud, explosion like, sound rings out behind me as I escape from the ninth realm beast in the blink of an eye.

I cough up a small amount of blood. Going from zero to faster than the speed of sound really places a large toll on the human body.

After a not so short amount of time, my speed quickly drops to normal running speed. I see that I am surrounded by monsters…

Well. It was a short life I lived.

“I don’t know where you came from, but don’t stop running if you want to live!”

I finally notice two people running beside me away from the rampaging monsters. A male and female.

“Oh, Nice to meet you. My name is Ryusei.”

“Shut up and run!” The male angrily shouts at me

“How rude, I was just trying to lighten the mood. Also, where do you plan on running, these are all eighth realm monsters, so you are evenly matched. Running away will do you no good. A monster’s stamina is much higher than the-“

“Shut up already! You think we don’t know that!” The female starts to snap.

“Hey girly mage.” I talk to the girl directly.

“What do you want!? Also, I’m not a girly! I’m thirty-five this year!”

“Okay then ma’am. What flavor of mage are you?”

“Flavor!? What are you talking about you lunatic!?”

“Ah, my mistake, what element do you practice?”

“Wind! Why do you need to know this! How can you stay calm while being chased by this many eighth realm monsters!? Aren’t you only at the C-rank of the eight realm!?”

I shrug my shoulders while still running, “Why panic when I can leave safely? How do you think I got here?”

Their faces have shocked expressions. The male talks first… well… He yells, “Can you save us. We will reward you!”

I smile gently, “No need to reward me, I am but a humble traveler. Also, if Gir- Ma’am was a fire mage it would be perfect… but I guess this’ll work. So I have a plan, you up for it?”

The both nod quickly and at the same time shout, “Of course!”

I nod happily “Good. So here’s the plan. I need miss mage to cast as many Barrier as she can on us, otherwise you both may end up dead.”

The male frowns, “What a flawed plan.”

I shrug my shoulders, “Most plans have flaws. Anyways, we will be travelling faster than the speed of sound using ‘Velocity’. You up for it?”

The male’s jaw drops, “Is that even possible!?”

I nod, “You just have to trust me. Start casting barrier ma’am.”

{-- Barrier!}{-- Barrier!}{-- Barrier!}{-- Barrier!}

After one minute the barriers all activate. I sigh, “This is why I hate normal skills. The lag is incredible.”

The both tilt their heads. I just shake my head as I suddenly grab on to both of them and stop, “Buckle up!”

[Endless Skills][Velocity][Velocity] [Velocity][Velocity] [Velocity][Velocity] [Velocity][Velocity] [Velocity][Velocity] [Velocity][Velocity] [Velocity][Velocity] [Velocity][Velocity] [Velocity][Velocity] [Velocity][Velocity] [Velocity][Velocity]

The barrier protected us from the initial shock of going from zero to faster than the speed of sound.

I give the female a thumbs up and try to get her to control our movements from here on… but I lose consciousness before we drop below the speed of sound, so I have no way to talk to her.

As my vision fades due to exhaustion of internal energy. I see a thumbs up from the male… that’s not what I wanted.

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IMPORTANT!

A little note: if you see [ ] without an ! in it, it means that the person is not saying the skill out loud, but the main character knows what the skill is. If there is a ! in the [ ] then the person is shouting the skill. (ex. [Velocity!])

Since I have yet to use spells, I have decided that I will use { } to depict spells. (ex. {Fireball})

Spells require chants. So in front of spells there will be --. Chant-less will have nothing in front of the name of the spell. (ex. {--Fireball!})

Hello readers! Welcome to the flashback arc! If anything gets too confusing, don't be afraid to ask. I will help you! (It's the least I can do)

I hope that you all continue to enjoy this story! Have a great night/day!