I sat on my throne in the village, waiting. Waiting for the rift to open. To my right stood Thener with his gadgets and scrolls, ready to study. The researcher was laser-focused. He only had a minute to get his things in order before the rift closed and he would have to wait another month. He had to do the best he could with the little time he had, without disrupting the normal operations of the villagers. It was tough work.

  To my left was Bram with Felix by his side, the kid excitedly bouncing up and down as we waited. He advanced well, all things considered, even if it was a bit slow. I could see he was putting in effort, and that was all that mattered.

  Behind me, together with Thalza, waited an army of golems, my Terracotta warriors. I held a core in my hand, carving into it with my fingernail. I was scraping off thin shavings of the hard crystal, drawing tiny sigils into its surface.

  Suddenly, the air stirred and a crack split through empty space as the rift formed. Instantly the place became filled with organized chaos, with Thener joining in the fun. I let him go and meanwhile stood up, shifting my position not too far away from the rift where a raised platform rested on the ground.

  I extended my finger and poured energy into it, and to my delight, the formation carved into the rock lit up. The energy bubbled forth, begging to be released, but I held it back and took a small piece of paper, writing a few words on it.

  I then flicked my finger and the message landed in the middle of the Formation. Releasing my grip on the energy, the runes began to glow, and then in a flash of light, the paper was gone. Soon after the rift closed, and the bustling village returned to calmness.

  “What was that? What did you do?” Thalza asked.

  I looked at her and smiled. [Just confirming my friends weren’t slacking off.]

  “Really?” She asked, skeptically. “Activating such a grand long-distance transport Formation for a simple message?” She paused. “Also, I thought we were cut from the outside world. How did you…?”

  [The rift.]

  I watched as her eyes widened. “You had this way out the entire time?!”

  I grinned widely and laughed but didn’t answer.

  “You bastard!”

  [Come now, getting angry doesn’t suit your pretty face.] I teased. The Drow simply grit her teeth and turned away, refusing to engage. That was fine by me, I had other things to do, apart from messing with her.

  [Any new discoveries?] I turned to Thener who was just returning from his short study of the rift.

  The man shook his head and sighed. “Nothing new about the rift per se, but an idea came to mind for the next time. I’ll have to think about it though. With the knowledge gained from making the Dreadstone alloy, I think I should be able to create a suitable tool to study the rift’s energy fluctuations.

  [What about your study on the stabilizers? Any progress?]

  Thener made a so-so gesture. “It is slow. I should be able to make a delay if I brute force it, but it would keep the rift open a few minutes at most. Celestial Metal is strong, but not that strong. And no, before you ask, the Dreadstone alloy would not work as a substitute. I suspect it would instantly collapse the rift instead. Which might not be a bad thing, depending on the situation...”

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  [Fair enough…] I nodded. He was the expert, and I had enough on my plate already. I was happy to leave the boring stuff to him. I could instantly learn everything after he was done, no need to burden myself while the chunks of knowledge were still all scattered around.

  [In any case, I plan on leaving this place soon.]

  “Leaving? To where?”

  I gestured with my thumb at the Formation. [Back to the real world, obviously. This place doesn’t have much left for me, unfortunately. There aren’t even any beasts left around anymore since I have pretty much killed everything in a radius of a few thousand kilometers.]

  Thener audibly gulped. “Then, what about the rift…?”

  [That’s exactly why I am still here. Knowledge of the rift and its secrets are the only things still holding me back. But everything has its limits and no matter what happens, in a year tops, I’m leaving.]

  “Oh…”

  [If you want, you can come with me, but the same time constraints will apply.] I said, giving the ultimatum.

  “Uh, yes, of course! I’ll... redouble my efforts! I’ll crack the secrets of rift formation before long, don’t you worry!” Thener enthusiastically declared. I smiled and left him to his devices. In the meantime, I moved with my stone army and left the village behind. As I sat on my throne, golem after golem came to me to be disassembled and upgraded. I already had nearly a hundred of them, all of which could rival an early Spirit Realm Cultivator in combat.

  Their agility and strength were nothing special, but they excelled in energy manipulation. The carvings I did on the cores, and the slight modifications to their Souls made it so that any energy they had could almost instantly be turned into a beam of death. They had just that one attack, but because of their specialization, they were super efficient and reliable.

  While I couldn’t exactly test such an army as there was nothing to fight against in the Ashen Wastes, I suspected its power to rival some small Sects.

  I stored the upgraded melon-sized cores in my storage space and didn’t bother powering them up again. There was nothing for them to do, and just wasting Qi, especially as I had basically no Souls left to recharge with, seemed unwise.

  “All good, boss?” Eden came by and asked. After the battleaxe was complete, he and Calla were left with nothing much to do. I considered replenishing my Dreadstone brick stores to not let the Void Stone chest sit empty.

  [As good as it could be.] I answered, not letting the eyes of my work. [Ready to dig up some more Dreadstone?]

  The man groaned but then quickly straightened his back. “That’s what I’m paid for. Should I go get Calla?”

  I nodded and let him go. Micromanaging people was not my thing, and besides… I looked at the carved beast cores. I was already busy with taking care of my army. The cores of power. My little Seeds of Freedom.

  A Formation lay dark and quiet, without a single sign of life, just like it did for countless days prior when suddenly, things changed. An energy surge came from it and went through the building as if the world itself was preparing for a big event.

  “Oh my god! Okay, It’s happening! Everyone, everyone! It’s finally happening! Get over here! Quickly!” Onyx, having been sitting in the room during his time off, pushed out a mental alert to anyone in the building willing to listen.

  Almost as soon as he called, the other members arrived. John and Alexandra were the first to burst into the room, with Adam right behind.

  “What is-” John began when a flash of light stopped his trail of thoughts and a group of people appeared on the platform.

  Everyone looked at the newcomers, but then the three humans frowned.

  “Who… Who are you people?!” Onyx demanded first.

  Adam immediately lifted his rifle, aiming it at the rugged-looking man standing at the edge of the Formation. All four of them scanned the group of a few dozen people and quickly realized many of them were in the Spirit Realm. That put them on an even higher alert.

  John frowned and released his Aura, putting immense pressure on the uninvited guests.

  “Answer the question. Who are you? How did you connect to our Anchor? How gave you permission?!”

  The man at the front, whose entire body was shaking in fear from the piercing gazes of four superior Cultivators, stumbled and fell while lifting his hands up in a desperate attempt to signal peace.

  “No… time… t-to explain.” He stammered through fear-induced chattering teeth. “Master G-Gerald… is coming!”