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Chapter 460: Extraplanar Visitor - Markets and Multiverses
🕑 Added 2025-10-29 08:33:49 +0000 UTCI stared at the flying man, and my instincts started to scream at me. He hadn’t taken any hostile actions against us, and he had even been rather polite. That didn’t mean I had forgotten what had happened just a minute ago. The man was still flying in the sky as if he had been born a bird, rather than a human. Just the aftermath of his fight could have annihilated our village, and he had been so far above us during the fight that I had barely even been able to see his body. But the most dangerous aspect of his existence was the way he seemed to bend reality. Even though he didn’t seem to be trying to change the world around him, the laws of physics and reality still warped in his vicinity, like a clay sculpture being molded in the hands of a master craftsman. It also reminded me of something had seen before - the way the laws of reality had bent around the heroic-grade shooter we had fought back in the market.
However, the power of the heroic grade shooter was nowhere close to this man’s level. It was like comparing a candle to a sun. Just how powerful was this man? Did he have a skill in one of the Law grades? Or perhaps several skills at that level? Or perhaps he was a bit weaker, and the only reason I thought he was so absurdly powerful was because of my limited understanding of the true powerhouses of the multiverse. It was hard to say.
In a moment of impulse, I used my soul sight to look at him. Then, my eyes started to burn and tear up. The amount of life force in his body was ridiculous. I didn’t even have a frame of reference to estimate what his equivalent Fortitude grade would be. It must have been dozens of grades higher than the strongest creature I had ever fought, even the giant monster in our previous life. My best guess was that his Fortitude was somewhere between grade 50 and grade 100 - but with how far beyond my understanding he was, I had no idea whether he was closer to 50 or 100.
Instinctively, I knew. If this man wanted our herd of wandering towns to die, it wouldn’t take him any effort. He might be able to kill all of us with a single spell, or with a swat of his palms. He reminded me of the eye from our second world - which had killed us just by looking at us. The four of us were much stronger now than we had been back then, but compared to this man, we still had a very, very long path ahead of us - right now we were like flies that could be squeezed to death at a moment’s notice.
“Ah, my apologies,” said the man, as he gazed down at our town. Instantly, I felt some of his aura lessen. He still warped and bent reality around him, but the effects weren’t quite so obvious. More importantly, I no longer felt as if he was bending reality in a way that was fundamentally incompatible with my biology. I could probably walk closer to him without dying, at least.
“I forgot to stop flaring my domain,” said the man. He looked around the ruined, battered clearing, at the broken trees, injured village-bearing beasts, and the one village-bearing beast that had been partially obliterated during the fight.
He sighed, and shook his head.
Our ember shivered in fear and drooped like a wilted plant, while the man ignored it as if it were beneath him. He finally dropped out of the sky and landed softly on the snow in front of us, causing me to lose sight of him as our village-bearing beast blocked my vision. Then, I felt a jolt, and space warped around me. I noticed, with some amusement, that the man’s teleportation spell wasn’t very precise or complex. It felt more like he had a very rudimentary understanding of space, and had then used an absurd amount of essence to brute-force a massive teleportation spell.
A moment later, my vision blurred, and then I found myself standing in front of our village-bearing beast. I looked around, and realized that every single person from our town was standing in a crowd arrayed around the man. Not only our town - every single person from the seven wandering towns had been teleported here by the man. I resisted the urge to run up and give Felix and Sallia hugs - while I was sorely tempted, now was not the time.
A moment later, I also noticed that the living weren’t the only ones who had been summoned here by the man.
There was also a small smattering of corpses scattered throughout the living villagers. I realized that they were people who had died during the fight. There weren’t many dead - perhaps a hundred. However, that was still a big blow to a community of less than five thousand people. Not to mention, there were plenty of other people who were seriously injured.
The man waved his hand at us, and a stream of light exited his body. It reminded me of sunlight and happiness. It swept through the townsfolk, and when it touched me, I felt a wave of healing magic surge through my body. It was similar to my own renewal spell, although it was far less sophisticated and efficient. Once again, it felt like the man had a very basic healing spell that he was supercharging through sheer essence quantity.
Still, it was enough for the injured townsfolk. Most of the injured people recovered from their injuries. Limbs grew back, damaged or ruined organs repaired themselves, and even long-lost limbs quickly regrew.
The man glanced at us again, before he looked at the pile of corpses again.
“There’s nothing I can do for the dead. I apologize,” said the man.
The [Priest] of our village glanced at the [Priests] of other towns, and seemed to work up a bit of courage, before he shivered. “May I know how to address you, your… lordship? I assume you’re a planar traveller?”
The man nodded. “Indeed, I am a planar traveller. I came from the evershadow to track down a puppet that slipped past the front lines. I apologize for my negligence - it was part of my sector, but I failed to prevent it from harming your town.”
The [Priest] seemed confused.
“Front lines?” He asked.
The man kneaded his forehead, and I got a sense of overwhelming exhaustion and frustration from his facial expression.
“Indeed. Don’t worry about it. I doubt such matters matter much to your town - nor should they, unless you have any unusually powerful warriors here that wish to seek broader horizons.”
I blinked in surprise, and looked more carefully at the man. Unless we had any unusually powerful warriors that wished to seek broader horizons? I quickly put together the man’s statements, as well as what information the four of us already had from the Market’s System messages. I quickly pieced together a more complete picture.
We already knew that this dimensional cluster was at war with a powerful multiversal faction. This man had just mentioned the front lines, and implied that he was some kind of warrior who probably fought to maintain them. He also mentioned that if we had any warriors who sought broader horizons, the war could be our business as well.
I suspected that the man floating in front of us was a warrior from another plane in this dimensional cluster, who was actively fighting against the external force we were at war with. Furthermore, he was actively recruiting - or at least, if someone could impress him, he would be willing to take them along.
I was tempted - going to the front lines of a multiversal war would be a good way to farm Achievement, and it would also be a great way to find more materials for more powerful items. Felix currently had a splinter of universal tree bark, and that was already quite good - but if we could get more or better materials, Felix might be able to create several high-power, incredibly impactful items for when we returned to the Market. There was no such thing as too many trump cards.
I wondered if there was a way to contact the man later, when I grew a bit stronger. I doubted he would be impressed with me now, but perhaps in the future, we could join up with the front lines, instead of wandering the frozen wasteland in search of materials on our own…
Before I could ask the question, one of the other [Priests] beat me to it.
“Do you need strong warriors? We have not heard of a summons from the higher dimensions for powerful warriors recently.”
The man shook his head. “Summons have indeed been sent out, but they were largely sent to population centers. A wandering tribe with only five thousand residents would, indeed, have missed the call for warriors.” The man frowned. “In any case, the thousand worlds are at war, and have been for several decades now. Do you have any warriors in your tribe who have reached skill Tier 6 or higher, or level 121 or higher with a reasonably strong compound spark? Meeting both conditions would be even better, but one of those two is the minimum qualification to actually participate in a proper battlefield.”
The [Priest] looked baffled. “We haven’t had someone reach level 121 with a powerful compound spark in a few generations. As for skills at Tier 6 or higher, there are none in my village.”
“I reached level 6 in my taming skill a few years ago,” said the mayor of our town. “But I want to focus on keeping my people safe.”
The powerful man’s face fell. “It seems like people with Tier 6 or higher skills are rare in your wandering tribe? Forget it then. I’m not one to take away the last defenses of a wandering tribe such as yours. Things aren’t that desperate yet.” He sighed. “What a huge loss. Nobody here, nearly a hundred dead, and a breach of the front lines under my watch. Damn.” Without another word of explanation or discussion, he shook his head, before I felt space bend again. Then, the man vanished into thin air, as if he had never been here to begin with.
Author’s Note:
Scheduling Notice for the rest of the year: Those of you who have been around for a while probably already know this, but I take the last week of each year and the first week of each new year off as vacation time. Basically, the week of Christmas and the week of New Year’s. I also need time to rest and recharge, okay XD. This year I intend to do the same thing as usual. I will also be taking the day of Thanksgiving off, since I live in the US and I’d like to spend some time with my family and eat some turkey. As a result:
On November 27th, there will be no Markets chapter. Expect two chapters for that week, not three. (Also note that time zones exist, and my sleep schedule is rather unusual, so ‘November 27th’ might be a bit wonky wherever you live. The third Markets chapter of that week is cancelled, basically).
Then, from December 19th to January 5th, I will be taking my yearly vacation. The first chapter for next year will probably be up on January 6th, unless I see a reason to make some kind of scheduling change to what days of the week I release Markets and Multiverses chapters. I currently tend to mostly release chapters on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, but I might swap these dates around if I think of a compelling reason to do so during my vacation. I’m not saying it will happen, just that it might. Vacation is a good time to look at my schedule, my plotlines for each story, and spend some time thinking about how I organize things and do things without the imminent pressure of ‘gotta release another chapter soon.’ I have no idea whether I’ll actually implement any changes, just noting that some might happen post vacation. Anyway, chapter releases will follow their usual schedule up until my vacation. I just like to give people extremely advanced forewarning when I plan to take time off. Consider yourself forewarned!
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Comments
FallenRock
At first i thouught the man wanderer was fishing for transmigrators. "Unusually powerful warrior" could be code for transmigrator. Also If Miria and co join this guy i doubt theyd be able to hide their status as from the Market. And I doubt theyd receive a warm welcome then
none listed
Mira getting very smug about how inefficient the godlike being in front of her is being. Is smugness worth achievement?
Barkeep
Shall cal him. Exposition man!
