Chapter 132

What Incarnation?

Now Entering Temple: 10020084

The system message appeared in my mind, and I instantly knew I was doing what I always do, avoid my emotions and try to hide from my responsibilities. Well I wasn’t really avoiding my responsibilities, not at the moment, seeing as my responsibilities were for me to first make a run of this temple on its hardest mode possible and then make a run as safe as possible. Then once I was done, I was to get out, rejoin others who were then going to rerun the same temple.

So why did I feel like I was missing something by doing this temple run? Did I feel guilty about purposefully doing my temple run on time, versus taking a few extra minutes to talk things out with Alternate Jess? Did I think I could have solved the problem almost immediately with a flat denial and immediate expulsion of Alternate Jess from our crew?

Well, the answers to those questions are: Guilt, Yes, and Maybe? All in that order.

Honestly, I don’t know Alternate Jess that well. Logically you see her, see the universe she is from, and think, maybe she will have the same exact morals as my Jess would. Then I realize that I don’t even know my own Jess that well. I know we had chemistry, that we had a bond, but was that forced as well? Something that was pushed upon me by my forced memories of the past?

I don’t know.

I don’t even know if she will change now once she comes back. What if she too feels like she was forced to be with me for a set of trivial circumstances that have now been made null and void by our saving the universe. They did deserve to be revived, that much was a given. But did they both deserve to be stuck with me? Would they feel obliged to be with me after I revive them?

I just don’t know. I really don’t know. Would they feel towards me, the way Alternate Jess feels about Wizard me? I don’t know that either.

In fact, all I can do is try to avoid the topic of conversation out of habit.

What was worse, I couldn’t refute her claims. She said she disliked Wizard me, because of all the reasons I found him so annoying as well. In fact, I almost feel responsible as they were all the reasons I listed to her, in mocking jest, before we parted. He had noodle arms, didn’t play the violin, and worse after my power leveling Alternate Jess, this universe’s Kyle Goldman was grossly underpowered. Basically the trifecta of being out of her league. Then to make matters worse, he rejected her.

Here she was, a knockout, a smart, powerful woman, who was gorgeous, and willing to work with him. Then he rejected her.

I don’t know, this type of move can generally go in one of two ways. Either the female in question realizes they were too harsh and attempt to tone down the way they react. Or what is also often seen is that the woman shuts down completely for a bit, and then makes everything awkward in the unit as there is yet another AIT (Advanced Initial Training) cadet relationship that failed. But what does Alternate Jess do? Does she do any of those things? No, instead she calls an audible and goes off on her own. She calls in a favor from a random stranger who gets her military contract voided.

Well, that is another thing, apparently her contract isn’t voided. Instead, she is under Día and me, consulting with us as her real world teachers in Psychic exploration and growth.

I am officially Alternate Jess’s instructor, which means under no circumstances should I even attempt to fraternize with her. As that could mean my job and my career. But wait, let’s think about this. This is a job I didn’t apply for, nor know I had. I know for damn well that I am not getting paid for this extra role. My career? HAH! I am an eighteen-year-old universal drop out. So, what if I tarnish my reputation with this universe. I have two others I can go to. Not that I want to go to 15th Jess’s universe, that place looks like a dumpster fire that was caught in the middle of a used tire lot; messy, stinky, and not much purpose for it at all. In fact, now that Alien Jess is out of there, I don’t care if I ever go back.

Still, a teacher. Me? Trying to teach a youth.

I am not thinking about Alternate Jess in a sexy school girl outfit, desperately begging me to find a way to get an ‘A’. I am not thinking about Alternate Jess…

Okay, who am I kidding, it is there. Worse, I think Día knows it is there and did so purposefully. She all but admitted to the fact that she felt sorry for doing this to me. Not sorry enough to take it back, not sorry enough to make it so I was the teacher’s assistant. No, I am straight up her teacher. Which makes me wonder about Día’s motivations in this. If she wanted me to take her seriously as a potential partner, then she would have made me a teaching assistant, right?

I don’t know.

I just don’t know.

Also, what is up with Día, our resident cougar. I would almost assume some of her moves were overt powerplays to keep Alternate Jess at bay. Which I both minded and didn’t mind. Again, this is so weird. On the one hand I appreciated Día’s help in keeping Alternate Jess at bay, as that means I might be able to fix this and get her to go with loser version of me. But I just need to make it so he no longer appears to be such a loser. How do I do this? Well, basically do the same thing we are doing with Alternate Jess right now, power level the heck out of him.

He would still have the noodle arms, and the inability to carry a tune, but he could carry a bit of the load. At least he would be attempting to bridge the power gap between the two of them. As it was, Alternate Jess would only gain more power, while he would grow further and further behind. I don’t even know who Wizard me would go for, besides Alternate Jess? I mean, other than the few train wreck relationships I had in my past memories of possible lives. Lives that were likely all meant to get me closer to my Jess, now that I think about it. Then there was the one relationship with Celestial Mel and the forced one with Rayquel and then Goldhammer, you know what I am probably the worst at relationships. In fact, right now the only reason I likely have a chance with my Jess is due to her being unconscious. If she had her soul back, who knows what would happen, but likely wouldn’t be good for me.

Fortunately for me, I have the best type of therapy available. Sticking my mental fingers into the brains of violent sentient beasts and ripping them apart.

Nightmare Mode engaged.

That was the message I received when I asked for the hardest difficulty level. So far I have to state that there doesn’t seem to be a scaling ability for temples, as they all seem to have one threshold and that is a marker that is well below where I am currently.

Still I make sure to push myself going quickly through each level. In this one apparently there were some flying predators that were particularly devastating to the land based Beastkin tribes were nothing before my Mind Rend.

The monsters landed, and I saw long meaty tendons falling form the creature that looked to serve no real purpose, other than to be

Idly I wondered if I was going to have to perform one of those ‘Incarnation’ type events. You know that old movie where the human takes on the form of a giant blue alien with a usb type ponytail. The one where I would plug in my ponytail to the creature’s dirty mane of brain threads and brain-jack them. Still not quite certain how such a planet could evolve, nor how the blue ‘Incarnation’ creatures would evolve to be the only creatures who could brain jack other creatures, while still making it so every creature could be brain jacked. Ultimately it looked like a planet with a severe evolutionary design flaw.

Fortunately, I wasn’t on that type of planet. I was on a planet that made sense. One that didn’t require a ponytail or blue pigmentation to thrive. Instead I was on a standard jungle type world filled with monsters that didn’t listen to rock metal, and plants that didn’t send glowing dancing spores. At least I don’t think the spore danced? They might have glowed under blacklights, but I can’t tell for certain.

Anyways, the temple was simple.

Though I did notice a trend.

The temple once again started off seemingly going in the prehistoric era of the planet, with the temperature being hotter than normal. Then with each stage it slowly got colder, until about floor five where it was current tropical temperatures. Then it got colder, then warmer again, all the while I saw the level of technology slowly increase, until by layer ten we were my home planet’s pseudo industrial revolution levels and then the next few were the space age. Then finally the last level, level 22 was a battered and broken planet.

In a way, I wondered if the Temples were not meant to be conquered, but rather as a history lesson in what happened? Well, what happened and what would happen in the future.

For the human temples I knew for a fact that the last few floors were all related to an exaggerated retelling of prehistoric times with dinosaurs. Then as time went on more and more fantastical variants of monsters identified appeared. Then there were floors reminiscent of the industrial revolution. Then pre-modern times, then modern times where we first started exploring space. Then finally the final levels were of course when Artificial Intelligence took over production and began destroying the world.

Of course, they were just mockups of what happened. While I was certain dinosaurs existed on my planet a long time ago, I don’t remember seeing them with lasers. That or maybe I am just misremembering one of the possible lifetimes I lived’s memories and imposing it over my own current memories.

Needless to say, everything was going almost exactly as was planned. I was at the final level. When rather than a podium showing an exit potion which had been my standard form of reward. I made a vow to drink this concoction regardless of what it looked like, nor what I thought it would do to me. I did not want to have another potential spiritual concoction remedy slip through my fingers again. Yet rather than a pedestal with some vile concoction appearing that would change my skin oompa loompa orange, I was met with a door.

I had received three attributes a level, which again at this point I was finding that I was putting them into almost any attribute possible as I had already filled up Spirit, Intelligence, Willpower, and Perception. Now I was improving my Agility, Dexterity, Strength, and Endurance. I was even using most of my certs to improve my levels.

There were no new classes available, as all my certs were linked to Psychic or Magical classes, mainly because those were the only ways I was generating certs. Since this was my first time through, I focused primarily on killing everything with my Psychic powers, which were easily my strongest class. Still something was off.

There was no final potion offered. Instead, I was offered another door to go through.

Looking at the door I could tell that it had a creepy vibe. Or at least it was supposed to have a creepy vibe to it. The doorway itself was fine, though it radiated with a dull form of light that illuminated a passageway that denoted a mad funhouse entrance that was supposed to be scarry, but you were too old and could recognize that just going to the houses of some of the actors of the funhouse would be scarier than the actual room you were going to. It had that type of feeling.

But to my surprise, when I entered, I found something that sent a shiver of excitement down my spine. As I felt mental forms that were sadly familiar to me.

Then I saw the message that all but made a malicious smile form on my lips.

Prolaxian Herald stages unlocked. Heralds of Oblivion waiting (8 / 8).

Seeing the message a wave of hope filled me, as I knew that one of these guys should have that stupid shop that I needed to get my Spirit Healing. I felt for my violin case, and let out a sigh of relief that it was still there. Opening it, I checked the pocket, and was glad to find that the special cert that Alternate Jess gave me was still there.

With everything I needed to finally be able to be free of my imposed burden of healing the spirits of both Jesses, I smiled to myself as I moved forward, grinning as scourge of all shapes and sizes dropped easily at my wake of destruction.

Special hidden shop, here I come.