Hidden Within The Dust

 

 

Tongqiu was non-committal to such an unexpected thing such as a... sigh... he merely felt a strange electrical-like current go through his entire body a couple of times as that sigh happened. Though it was an extremely strong sensation, it was also harmless and as such, so as to not cause an accident he simply did not made movement until it went away.

After a few seconds not getting that kind of sensation, Tongqiu stepped onto the steps of the last normal-sized stairs.

At first, when he stepped down on the beginning of the stairs, he felt as if he had returned back to the first platform. The same happened at the second, third, fourth step and so on... Reminding him of all of what he has seen so far from this strange structure.

When Tongqiu had arrived at the 3rd platform some time ago, he had once again seen Demons move about as if preparing to take the area below, the first platform. No one cared about him as he kept on advancing towards the fourth step while the 2nd platform itself seemed to be made purely for some kind of 'free time', as if they would often come to that platform to take a breather or so. Tongqiu could only think of that when he saw a meadow-like scenery all over the second platform which even had some almost dried up small rivers and ponds.

When he arrived at the 4th platform, there were already many people coming down from there and with how little space the normal-sized stairs had, he could only wait until they had all come down to keep advancing forwards. As he was in between two lines of a seemingly endless amount of military-like uniformed Demons moving in great discipline and speeds, he took his time to silently watch them as they also gave him a passing glance once or twice when running past him every 4-5 Demons.

When he finally reached the 5th platform, he saw many Demons in the not-so-long-distance already in the motions of coming down the stairs leading to the 6th platform. He silently watched them from the distance as they came closer and closer to where he was coming from, a similar scene to that of the 4th platform unfolded once again as Tongqiu this time did not stop.

Since every time he advanced a 'step' there would be an incredible reduction in diameter, then it was only natural that there wouldn't be so many Demons coming down from the probably 120-100 meters in diameter 6th platform. And it was as such, it was just that, there were only Enlightened beings coming down from there.

Tongqiu sweated a little as he realized that though he was about to reach the summit, he also sweat to the fact that he might've never had been able to do so were he tried to go at it 'Tongqiu style'. Well, just maybe.

Once Tongqiu stepped on the 6th platform, his entire surrounding and the entire world seemed to 'blink' as he suddenly saw a gorgeous, divine and prosperous gigantic city instead of the deathly and still Somber Tree region he's become familiar with in the most strangest of ways. Namely, by breaking down its 'Obelisks'.

Nevertheless, such a thing only occurred once when he stepped on the 6th platform, and even when he tried to step back down and repeat, it didn't happen again. Not knowing what to even think, Tongqiu proceeded towards the 7th platform to which he was now at the last step of the small-sized stairs, where he had long forgotten about the feeling he had the first six steps.

He was at least more than a kilometer high and was no longer able to even look down at the step he had previously stepped on just now as even at that distance seemed like the clouds or some foggy substance had taken residence for good, something he didn't realized about even with his incredible vast Mental Power.

'This place...?! It's just, so... filled with weird stuff. What the fuck.'

Tongqiu was getting somewhat negative alright, though the passive run he's been through ever since arrived at the innermost central area was nice and non-exhaustive, he was getting tired of 'nothing' already.

In any case, Tongqiu shook his head in slight dismay before continuing to take the last step, the last one to finally be setting foot on the 7th platform.

At that moment...

Sstrnnn~!

... a strange sound resembling that of the light of a magical sword being activated sounded through everywhere around Tongqiu as he now appeared to have been transported to a small platform of 33 meters in diameter with a sycamore kind of tree that was as tall as at least 300 meters long, which was the only thing he could deduce the height of as he could only look up to it where the sky seemingly ended and clouds were too terrified to get close to.

Tongqiu looked at this tree, it truly looked like a sycamore tree, only that its entire body was darker and seemed to even rival that of obsidian in both, color and substance. Even then, it looked extremely normal and common like any other tree would, only that its height was astronomical and that Tongqiu seemed to 'feel' that it had a face or something similar- somewhere and that he was being looked at by 'it' as of right now.

Feeling such, Tongqiu looked up with the intention of trying to see if he could find out that tree as he was not capable of looking at its information, for whatever reason. He was not exasperated though, and merely wished to know what the fuck to do and how to take down this tree which seemed to be his damned Special Quest, but to no avail.

After what seemed 30 minutes of being creepily peeked at by a weird uncle, Tongqiu was annoyed as he had his arms crossed in front of his chest with his eyelids arrogantly too lazy to be lifted more than half of the necessary amount to use one's eyes properly, when he finally heard something.

"Maybe this is fate..." An Ancient, worn out voice resounded from within all of what consisted the body of the tree before Tongqiu. Following that was a breeze-like sound of a sigh that seemed rather gentle and inundated by a tranquil and sorrowful spirit.

Before Tongqiu could even open his mouth to ask 'what the fuck' was up towards this development, he saw with his own very eyes how the tree was being slowly, as if falling apart piece by piece, dismantled by the soft caress of the non-existent wind and being brought to another plane by the very same type of power with the intention of giving the tree a sort of tomb.

Rumble Rumble

Suddenly, Tongqiu felt tremors all around his heart as he instinctively looked down only to see some BIG shadowy hands trying to reach the summit, only to also be completely stomped down by an invisible pull of gravity. When Tongqiu looked back at the tree, he saw nothing of a tree; and rather pure ashes that were seemingly transforming into a kind of totem yet not really into any type of structure in particular.

When the show ended, he saw what was something akin to a pile of resources piled up in a perfect jenga-fashion. Towards this bizarre development, Tongqiu got close to it and as soon as he reached a meter before that weird structure yet not a structure, the ashes that were covering over it, as if birds flapping their wings in a flurry, flied away to any angle as it finally showed what they were 'hiding' covering.

Tongqiu went ahead and fearlessly picked one of them up before receiving clear and surprising notifications from the system.

*PING*... you've obtained 5,000 'Withdrawal Somber Wood' x150.

*PING*... you've obtained 'Unknown Lifeless Tree Seed' x1.

*PING*... you've completed the Special Quest, 'Desire of Rest', main objective. You can now reclaim your rewards with the NPC, 'Fiornyo'.

To his surprise, all the rest of the materials were instantly taken and were obviously stored inside his White Space.

Cocking his head a couple of times in contemplation, to which Tongqiu took a bit of his sweet time, he ended up more or less understanding that the tree wanted no shit with him and it must have been something that, he by no fucking means could ever hope to understand now...

x5,000 [Withdrawal Somber Wood x150]: Type: Material, Grade: Formidable(Silver), Effect: Can be used for crafting any kind of tool and even buildings with extremely special characteristics. Depending on the crafter's ability and on the method implied on the process, this material can be useful up to King's grade (with your mental power, you're capable of reading into this information).

[Unknown Lifeless Tree Seed]: Type: Special Item, Grade: ???, Effect: Grants an extremely efficient healing and recovering abilities to its consumer if they are connected to nature at the level of Essence. It's from an Ancient type of tree (unknown) that has long perished and has been treated as both, a memento mori and as a priceless treasure from a never-born old friend by the Somber Tree.

'Rosey!' Once Tongqiu finished reading the Unknown Lifeless Tree Seed properties, he immediately 'ate' it himself, with the clear purpose of letting Rosey take the properties of the tree seed directly.

Thought Rosey's embryonic state as a bud had previously appeared at his White Space, she was nonetheless, fundamentally merged with Tongqiu's body and as such; provided to be the very best method when it came to administrating such 'medicine' to her.

*PING*... the strange item merged with your body has been slightly recovered, one way or another, once it has fully matured it will most likely be of a higher grade!

Having received the system's vague notification that the 'medicine' worked, Tongqiu didn't gave too much to his thoughts as he merely proceeded to step right in the middle of the 7th platform. As he did so, nothing happened for the first few seconds, but there was a sudden change...

Whiff~ Whizz~~

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Strong fluctuations occurred when Tongqiu suddenly felt himself be surrounded by some dusty-ashy substance which was adamantly trying to gobble him up completely!

"Why me- cough, COUGH... cough, cough... cough..." Amidst Tongqiu's try at speaking, some of that dusty-ashy substance entered his body through his mouth. When he started coughing though, it did not stop and instead began to enter his body through his nostrils, ears and even eyes...

It could be seen as excruciatingly painful but Tongqiu was instead getting calmer and calmer... while vehemently coughing. It was as if he couldn't feel that himself, yet at the same time, Tongqiu felt as if he was being soothed into accepting some kind of spell or mechanism, similar to when he first stepped on that teleporter which brought him to this very same region.

*PING*... host is recommended to lay down his worries and calm down as a requirement for this hidden event to take place.

Finally, being 'saved' by the bell from the system's part, Tongqiu gained a newfound calmness in himself as he 'enjoyed' being bathed or scooped into some other place, with the hopes that nothing new happens to his body; his virtual body.

Crack!-Bamf! Crack~

Tongqiu's body was completely gone right after that, and while he was gone from the innermost central area's 7th platform, he then appeared to another unknown area that somehow, resembled him of the platforms he took some time in going through all of them.

It was a kind of ceremonial focused circular platform that had some monumental, artistic murals that were so worn down, they could stumble down at any moment as they even seemed to have some imprinted imaged that were no longer discernible. After having a nice look towards his surroundings, he realized that the seemingly space behind this... 'room', was of a weird green-watery scenery that had no end to its reach, which reminded Tongqiu of the chasm he so beautifully remembers from falling down into the Mysterious Hidden Grounds, very well.

He could suddenly hear in the distance the voice of a matured, young man speak in slow verses.

"Little Tree, the most naughty and grumpy, yet you were the only one..."

"Ah, poor Little Tree, here let me just... follow you after a little while..."

"For you! Little Tree, never thought you would've commit like that to your promise...s..."

"Eh?" It was at this right moment where he noticed Tongqiu, and Tongqiu finally found out who the owner of that voice looked like, and where it came from.

With the murals being around 40 meters tall, it was truly difficult to see this 'little'-sized person moving around them with his left hand passing through. It was a young looking middle aged man, a real contrast to his wise, experienced and tired out voice.

"This... sigh, this meeting of ours is only possible if Little Tree wanted it to happen." The 'young' man's voice traveled so softly towards Tongqiu, waking him up from his bewilderment ever since arriving to this new, unique place.

"Ah-" Tongqiu was about to speak out to him but was interrupted by the raised hand of the 'young' man, as he then spoke towards Tongqiu: "H-how... hahaha! Just.. what are the odds?! You and you... you... sigh~ really."

Shaking his head, the 'young' man had some really quick change in expressions. From indifference to shock, to incredibility and finally, to that of bitter relief.

"This may be so very much fate... so..." Finishing saying those abrupt words, Tongqiu saw the 'young' man throw at him a couple of jade pieces to which he simply looked at for a few seconds before blinking towards the 'young' man.

"Go on, take them, you may like what you find in them. Forget it, let me just tell you about something... are you interested?"

Hearing his words, Tongqiu felt another quest popping up to annoy him when the 'young' man's voice resounded once again, clearly intending on not allowing Tongqiu to speak: "It is not a... request. Hm, funny way of you, 'Journeyers'. Cough... it is only a data, it will be for whatever use you may find for it yourself, so? Nod or shake, boy."

After blinking a couple of times and tactfully choosing not to speak, Tongqiu nodded and right as he did so, the voice of the 'young' man came at him ruthlessly: "The Division you are in is quite the interesting one, I myself like it very much, but... it's been way too downgraded to such a humiliating degree that I can only grief upon the future of Main Kingdom... and the Myriad Races."

"There are many ways for one to grow stronger but... ever since this... digitalization, our world has become truly inconceivable. Anyone can grow strong yet... anyone can be easily led by others' manipulation. Whether it is one's governor with delusions of grandeur or some other outside forces, it all comes to the greed, lust and baseless ambition."

"Thanks to all those, Main Kingdom as of whole, has taken the hugest hit in the entire history of this Universe, sigh... The future is full of turbulence and is barely beginning. 'Sin' is a type of punishment and its carriers are its chosen; while only those who have sinned are worthy of achieving redemption, heh."

"In the Myriad Beast Division, there is four Sub-Divisions with cities so big that they are too much for the current population of said Sub-Divisions... Nobody remembers now, that the existences of such Sub-Divisions is not that of a mere passing down of territory. Each of these main cities from the Sub-Divisions hosts a... 'certain' guardian. I want you to find all these guardians and... do what's necessary. I'm sure you will now what to do."

"This... it has nothing to do with the prior information, I... when you see her again, please... do tell her that I witness my h- her Younger Apprentice Brother die in the hands of the strongest enemy, that lunatic fucker!!... And that's his death was pure, untouched by the greed of... 'their' race."

Waving both his arms in differently shaped 'X's, the 'young' man hinted at Tongqiu to say nothing. Meanwhile, though focusing on each of this 'young' man's words, Tongqiu had his own opinion of this man as well. Whether or not he was a scholar, poet or philosopher with all this nonsensical blabbing, it was kinda cute though, how this 'young' man suddenly became flushed when he was about to spill out 'husband', aww.

"E-ehem. Lastly..." The eyes of the old man lowered, just like those of a prisoner being suddenly given death sentence, but accepting it like that was how it always should've been, with no ifs. He looked back at Tongqiu before looking down at the jade pieces he had thrown earlier.

'Alright, alright.' With a gruesome thin grin formed at his lips, Tongqiu went from far away, all the way towards before the 'young' man as he crouched down to pick them up with his index and middle finger, putting them all in his White Space as a form of respect that; taking into consideration this man's abilities to more or less 'guess' his thoughts, he should know a bit about it, among other stuff...

Once picked up, the 'young' man rested his back on the mural behind him in deathly yet comforting quietness. Only now did Tongqiu took a good look at him.

Brown, dusty extremely short hair with an unusually overgrown fringe that if not 'touched' by the loneliness of who knows how long, would give him a tinge of elegance while lots of attractiveness. He was easily 1.91 meters tall with broad shoulders that hinted at his body being incredible well-built. His clothes were akin to that of a short-sleeved open tuxedo that gave this 'young' man a resemblance of old, damn old nobility yet exuded a sublime humble aura.

Finishing evaluating this man, Tongqiu looked straight at this 'young' man's face, still in complete silence, as the 'young' man himself barely made a silent, bitter smile in response.

"Hereby, I exile you from these lands..." His voice then reached Tongqiu's ears, akin to a God's commandment directed to a mortal.

''Ah. Fucker... wait!! Is this place... not similar to my White Space? W-w-wait!! What?! I... I can't talk?' As Tongqiu suddenly thought of something, he wanted to ask about it right away but, he didn't realize he was already in a weird kind of tunnel and totally incapable of even moving his eyelids as he could only roll his eyeballs, albeit in a limited manner. It was completely black while there were some grey colored spiral lines that he 'seemingly' went through, which was impossible to tell since not even with his Mental Power was he able to detect any kind of movement from his body nor his surroundings, and by the time Tongqiu was beginning to feel some kind of understanding...

CRACK!

 

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V1: #3 7/10

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