Tired but wired, Kai lay in the ridiculously soft bed, staring at the glowing crystals on the ceiling.
The adrenaline from the training yard had faded, leaving a quiet hum in his veins and a deep ache in his soul that had nothing to do with his new body.
He had power. Real, tangible power that made him five times the man he used to be.
But as he lay in the silence of the grand palace, his thoughts drifted across an im
possible sea of stars, back to a small, crowded, polluted planet called Earth.
He thought of the greasy spoon diner where he'd grab coffee before his shift, the smell of burnt toast and cheap caffeine a familiar comfort.
He remembered the rumble of the subway, the press of the crowd, the feeling of being a tiny, insignificant cog in a vast, uncaring machine.
It was a hard life, a thankless one, but it was his.
Most of all, he thought of his parents.
His mother, with her perpetually worried smile and hands that were always busy, packing him lunches long after he was a grown man. His father, a quiet, stern man who showed his love not with words, but by slipping him a little extra cash when he was struggling, pretending he'd just found it on the street.
They were gone. An entire world, an entire lifetime, was gone.
He was an emperor now, a lord of a galaxy, but in the quiet of the night, he was just a lost son, mourning a life he could never return to
. A single tear traced a path from his eye into his silver hair. He wasn't just here to get stronger for himself. He was here to build something.
Something that would make the memory of that hard, beautiful life worth it.
With that final, resolute thought, he fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Kai awoke to the smell of something delicious and the cheerful voice of his brother.
"He's awake! Perfect timing. The cooks have outdone themselves this morning."
Elara was already dressed, beaming at him from the foot of the bed.
A servant was arranging a platter of steaming, fluffy bread, sizzling strips of meat, and a bowl of vibrant blue berries on a nearby table. Kai's stomach rumbled.
It seemed being a Level 3 Lord came with an enhanced appetite.
He quickly dressed in a more practical tunic and trousers than the formal attire from yesterday, his movements feeling more natural and confident after his late-night training session.
"Eat up, brother," Elara said, pushing a plate towards him. "You'll need your energy. We head for Veridia Prime as soon as we're finished."
Kai paused, a piece of the sweet bread halfway to his mouth. "Right. About that. How exactly are we getting there? I didn't see any spaceships yesterday. Is it a long trip?" Back on Earth, even getting to the moon took days. Getting to another planet would take months, if not years.
Elara looked at him with a puzzled expression, as if Kai had asked how they were going to breathe. "A long trip? Brother, it will take but a moment. We'll use the teleportation gate, of course."
Kai choked on his bread. "The what?"
"The teleportation gate," Elara repeated patiently. "In the core of the palace. It connects Caelus and Veridia Prime instantly. How else would we manage the mining colony?"
Kai stared at him, his mind struggling to process the information.
Teleportation. Real, honest-to-goodness sci-fi teleportation existed in this backwater, F-rank galaxy. "Hold on. Who… who built that? Our people can barely forge a decent sword, no offense," he said, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the village.
"Building a teleporter seems a bit out of their league."
A shadow of reverence crossed Elara's face. "It was not our people. It was built by the First Lord, our great-great-grandfather, centuries ago. The stories say he was different. That he commanded a power they called 'Aura,' and could shape rock with his will. He built the palace, the gate, everything. But the power faded with each generation. Our father had a spark of it, but… not like the stories. And now…" He trailed off, giving Kai a hopeful look.
Kai's mind raced.
An ancient, powerful ancestor? A lost power called Aura?
It sounded a lot like a higher-level player who had started this "game" and then logged off, leaving his low-level descendants to fend for themselves.
This galaxy wasn't just weak; it was a ruin, a fallen empire of one.
"I see," Kai said, his thoughts whirling. The spire suddenly felt even more important. It wasn't just a random treasure; it could be a link to that lost power.
"Well then. Lead the way."
They left Lina and Roric to prepare the expedition team, and Elara led Kai deep into the palace.
They descended a long, spiraling staircase, the air growing cooler and humming with a faint, almost imperceptible energy.
The staircase opened into a vast, circular chamber. The walls were made of a smooth, black stone that seemed to drink the light, and were covered in intricate silver runes that pulsed with a soft, blue light.
In the center of the room stood a large, freestanding ring of the same black stone, easily ten feet high.
The runes on the ring were brighter, and the air within its circumference shimmered, like heat haze on a summer road.
"This is it," Elara said, his voice hushed with awe.
Kai felt a genuine sense of wonder. As a construction worker, he'd built skyscrapers, marvels of modern engineering.
But this… this was magic.
He walked closer, reaching out a hand.
As his fingers neared the shimmering field, the hair on his arm stood on end.
He could feel the power rolling off it in palpable waves.
Using his Galactic Eye, he focused on the gate.
[Ancient Teleportation Gate]
[Status: Active]
[Energy Level: Low (2%)]
[Destination Lock: Veridia Prime]
Only 2% power?
That was a concerning thought for another time. For now, he just needed it to work once.
"Are you ready, brother?" Elara asked, stepping up beside him.
Kai nodded, a thrill of anticipation running through him. "Let's go."
They stepped through the ring together.
For an instant, the world dissolved into a blinding vortex of blue and silver light.
Kai felt a strange, twisting sensation, as if his entire body was being unspooled like thread and woven back together in a new pattern.
It was over in a heartbeat.
One moment he was in the cool, dark chamber beneath the palace.
The next, he was standing on open ground under a different sky.
The air here was thick, humid, and smelled of damp earth and strange, sweet vegetation.
The sun was the same, but the light filtering through the atmosphere had a greenish tint.
Before them lay a scene of rugged industry.
A small, ramshackle village of no more than twenty wooden huts was clustered around the gaping maw of a mine shaft.
Men and women, their faces smudged with dirt, moved about, hauling carts of reddish ore and glowing crystals.
They all stopped and stared, their eyes widening in shock before they dropped to their knees.
[Miner - Level 1]
[Miner - Level 1]
[Foreman - Level 1]
Kai barely registered them.
He was looking past the tiny settlement, towards the horizon.
Veridia Prime was a world of untamed, savage beauty.
Enormous, jungle-like forests stretched as far as the eye could see, their canopies a hundred shades of vibrant green.
Jagged, mist-shrouded mountains clawed at the sky, and the air was alive with the chittering and cries of unseen creatures.
This was a world untouched by civilization. A world with a secret.
Kai turned to Elara, a determined glint in his eye. Roric and the others would be through the gate soon. The real work was about to begin.
"Alright," he said, his voice ringing with a newfound authority."Let's find our spire."