In the middle of sea of statues, he pressed on, moving briskly between the frozen statues, careful to keep his distance. That was when he heard it, crack.
His head snapped to the right. One of the statues, more intricately carved than the others, began to fracture. The sound spread like spiderwebs crawling across glass. With each echoing snap, the surface split apart until the whole figure crumbled.
From within emerged another figure, wax-like and limp, standing hunched as though its strings had been cut. A broken puppet. But unlike the others, its blank face was now carved. Dark and intricate. Along the edges, faint blue ethereal tentacles writhed and shimmered, squirming with anticipation.
The thing stared at him. And then the tendrils twitched.
The statue lunged forward, its speed so sharp it cut through the air.
Vikram braced himself, only for his Great Sword to cleave forward in a streak of steel. The wax-like enemy split apart with a hiss, melting like candlewax meeting fire.
[You have felled a Lesser Enemy, Withering Husk][Please obtain the Cubes that are in the body of the Dimensional Being.]
Inside the crumbling body was a single cube. The same kind of black metallic shard he had seen before. Vikram bent, retrieved it, and tucked it away.
'So Lesser Enemies always leave one cube… maybe. Too early to draw conclusions.'
Shaking his head, Vikram tightened his grip on his blade and kept moving. He couldn't afford hesitation here, not with these Husk things creeping out of statues. His eyes fixed on the white tower looming in the distance. The goal was clear.
But the path to it was another story. The tower lay across water. And in that water lurked dolphins that hunted like demons and serpents so massive they made the sea itself look small.
His jaw tightened. Two out of three of his avatars had already been thrown onto worlds that were hellscapes, statistically ridiculous.
Oh wait…
Make it three.
In the body of the [Mage], Vikram jerked to the side as an arrow sliced past his cheek. The ground where he had stood was split a heartbeat later by a Great Sword slamming down. He didn't pause.
The tome in his hand opened. His fingers wove threads of mana into the matrix etched into the pages. Spark of the Flame.
The threads aligned. A pulse of energy surged through the pattern. Fire flared to life.
One, two, three, fireballs materialized above his palm and then tore through the air toward his attackers.
Explosions cracked across the battlefield. Screams rang out as the creatures caught in the blast crumpled to the dirt, their three eyes wide with shock before fire consumed them.
[You have felled Lesser Enemy, Three-Eyed Green Skin][You have felled Lesser Enemy, Three-Eyed Green Skin][You have felled Lesser Enemy, Three-Eyed Green Skin]
Vikram exhaled, lowering his tome. The bodies of the Green Skins lay charred and broken, twitching in their death throes. Goblin-like, but uglier. He didn't care. Names, races, appearances, it was all the same in the end.
There was no discrimination in his killing.
He knelt, pulling three cubes from their scorched corpses, sliding them into his [Inventory]. His relief was brief.
A new sound cut through the air.
Clang.
Steel against steel.
It echoed, not far away.
The [Mage] found himself in a forest so lush and vibrant that even the Amazon would pale in comparison. Towering trees stretched endlessly, their leaves weaving a canopy that glittered with strange golden motes of light. Vines hung thick, and flowers of alien hues bloomed in silence. For once, Vikram almost felt like he had landed in a place that didn't hate him by default.
Almost.
He moved cautiously, mana threads tingling at his fingertips. At least here, there was hope. The good news was simple yet monumental: he had landed near a tower. And towers meant one thing, teleportation. A way out. A chance to escape to a habitable planet before this one inevitably showed its fangs.
So the [Mage] body had hope.
The sounds of steel clashing drew his attention. Clang. Clash. Whine. Instinct took over, Vikram sprinted toward the noise, leaping over roots and weaving through the dense greenery. His robes snapped behind him as he burst into a clearing.
What he saw made him pause.
Two figures fought against a swarm of creatures, goblins, but larger, nastier, with mottled green skin and three eyes glowing faintly with malicious light. And in the middle of it all, someone familiar.
Vikram's breath hitched. Recognition struck like lightning.
Without hesitation, he snapped open the Tome of Greater Golden Radiance. Mana threads spilled from his fingers, weaving themselves into a spell matrix he had drilled into muscle memory. A golden sphere of light erupted, encasing the struggling figure.
The timing was perfect. A blow meant for the man's back rebounded harmlessly, crashing against the golden ward. The figure froze for a moment, confused, but then quickly focused. His arm shimmered as metallic components shifted and locked into place.
Vikram had to admit it, this guy looked cool.
Blue energy gathered in the palm of the gauntlet, pressurized air hissing out like steam from a machine on the brink of overload. The metallic whining started to get more high pitched.
Goblins threw themselves against the golden sphere, snarling and gnawing, but Vikram could feel the mana reserve in him pulsing steady. The shield would hold.
And then it happened.
The gauntlet stopped whining. Between its two plates, an orb of shimmering violet mana crackled to life. Vikram's stomach dropped. Alarm bells rang in his acute mana sense, whatever that thing was, it wasn't something a [Pre-Existence] like him had any business dealing with. It was refined, advanced, and terrifying.
The man released it.
The purple orb streaked through the goblins like a star of death, disintegrating them in an instant. Their bodies turned to ash, their cubes dropping into the grass below. The orb returned, circling lazily around its master, a predator on a leash.
The figure stepped forward, panting, and stooped to collect the cubes. The orb whirled menacingly, a clear warning for anyone foolish enough to approach.
Vikram, however, raised his arms in surrender.
Because he recognized him.
'Who would have thought I'd meet this guy here.'
Jay.
The same Jay who, as far as Vikram remembered, was mute. Yet now...
"Who are you?" Jay's voice was sharp, demanding, the orb tightening its orbit as though ready to fire at a whim.
Vikram blinked. For a moment, he wondered if he'd misremembered. But no, Jay had definitely been mute. Then again, technology was everywhere in the Mother System. A hidden voice emulator wasn't out of the question.
He also knew why Jay didn't recognize him.
Compared to his real body, the [Mage] form looked different, matte black hair, bright brown eyes, robes that lent him a sharp and ethereal presence. Striking, almost unnaturally handsome. But still, it wasn't him. Not the real Vikram who was even more outrageously handsome.
The [Mage] coughed inwardly and side-glanced at his panel.