Nick held Rabial’s shoulder and together teleported to the Werfur Base – Anderium. As soon as they reached the base’s entrance, some guards and maids immediately took the injured Rabial for treatment. One of the guards notified Epsilon that the leader of the base, Warin, wanted to meet him.
Nick understood why Leader Warin would like to speak with him at this point, considering all the others in the Underbroom task team had died. Nick too did not know what happened after they entered. However, he followed the guard as he was escorted to Warin’s courtyard. Once he entered the courtyard, Nick smiled to himself. He was reminded once again that even though the Werfur Base was underground, its forest and greenery was similar to the surface. There was about the Werfurs that Nick did not know yet.
Warin turned to look at Nick and smiled.
“Epsilon, you are back. I would have liked to speak to you about pleasant things but you know the events. Would you tell me what happened?”
Nick understood Leader Warin’s predicament. He reported to him that after entering the ruins in the Underbroom Cave, they were all separated by some force. Nick informed Warin about his experiences and that he too was not aware of what happened to the others.
Warin was a capable leader and a Werfur mage at Magister Level or Expert Level 1 in the Void. His experience was enough to let him know that Epsilon did not hide anything in narrating any of the events and what they encountered.
After Epsilon finished speaking, Warin stated.
“The Underbroom Cave must have a dimensional entrance, leading to another dimension.”
Warin did not miss the confused expression on Nick’s face at this time. He explained.
“There are different kinds of realms and dimensions in the whole universe. Commonfolk don’t know about these. Even many mages who either do not have powerful backgrounds or have not encountered enough situations are not aware. The dimension we live in is called the ‘Ordinary Dimension – Alkernas’.
Nick let out a cold breath and thought to himself.
“It seems there is much hidden that I do not know about… dimensions, realms, and even planets that I do not know anything of.”
Warin continued his ‘education’ session like an elder.
“A dimensional entrance is a gateway to another dimension that can be used for that specific purpose. Other than these doors and entrances, crossing over to another dimension is not easy; at least, I am not capable of it.”
Nick asked.
“Is there anything dangerous about these dimensional entrances?”
Warin shook his head and answered.
“This is not exactly a direct two-way passage. As long as there is no entrance in the dimension itself, the beings on the other side have no chance to come to this place. How did you come back? The others said that you have some kind of instant movement ability.”
Nick nodded and started talking.
“I have an innate ability that lets me teleport between two places that I have been to. I used my ability to get out of the dimension and return here.”
Warin’s eyes sparkled with interest as he commented.
“I did not expect you would have an ability like this. The teleportation ability is fine. It is hard to create and find or produce a spell such as this by yourself. A teleportation ability that is capable of teleporting both soul and body between dimensions, without any harm, other than using a high amount of magical energy, is completely different.”
Nick smiled and did not respond directly to Warin’s observation. After some casual conversation, Nick went back to his room and sat on his bed. He had experienced too much in his expedition to the other dimension, and right now he felt fatigued enough to enter deep sleep. He needed to rest and regenerate his mind.
—
Nick slept for seven hours straight. When he woke up, he ate some breakfast, washed and changed into fresh clothes.
Once he finished the mundane tasks, he was back at his desk and deep in thought.
“The dimension we are in called is ‘Ordinary Dimension – Alkernas’, according to Warin. There are five continents on this planet, whose real name is ‘Alkernas-1’.”
“The commonfolk and other weak mages do not know these things. Each of the five continents is at least 10 times bigger than Earth. This means the planet should be 50 times the size of Earth.”
“Apart from Arimola, the continent we are on, the other continents are Defam, Nargier, Tather and Letivorsa. Each has strong and different kinds of organizations, empires and kingdoms with small cities of ordinary people, mages and other races such as elves and beastfolk.”
After Nick examined all this information, he understood that he has been living in a fog with a very partial view of the overall situation. The information he learned about the continent was not real at all. He did not even know the real name of the continent he had been living and breathing on so far.
“I need a domain, a territory to create a background for myself, that can even produce food and magical items. The food would help people and other races living on the land and the magical items would help me earn Ether Stones. I need to do more research to see how this would be possible. I also need to search more about magical things that have value in Ether Stones so that I can make more from the Void Dealer.”
It might not sound like the best idea for others but Nick knew that he cannot create spells and magical items every time he needed to buy or sell something. It was not efficient. He needed to find something that could be produced and sold at a profit.
His summoning ability allowed him to call on creatures that may make these things for him automatically, without Nick’s interference. Over time, it could become a consistent source of generating Ether Stones.
He needed to think of a long-term plan. The encounter with the Manifestation of Fear showed him that there were many beings around the world and in the dimension that could take his life in a split second.
If not for Ravia, the Void Hunter Rat, he would have long been consumed by the Manifestation of Fear, bringing a complete end to his story.
After his recent experiences, there was no way Nick could have continued in the same way that he was doing so far. He needed to prepare radically for his future.
