cerim
patreon
Chapter 736 - When the time comes
🕑 Added 2025-11-16 10:00:29 +0000 UTCIt takes a few days, but while I deal with the damn wound, I also take care of other things. I find out it really is possible to rent out a residence, and for a surprisingly high price too. I do it through the Japanese salary woman look alike realtor.
Of course, she gets a cut, but this way I don’t have to deal with people, and I would rather not think about what the residence will be used for. I just really don’t want to know.
For now, I rent the place for three months and will see what to do later. I also go through the items we looted from the hideout, picking a few to disassemble, a few to sell, and I tell the guild to keep the low pristine armor for me to examine, as I can do per our deal.
Overall, not a bad haul. But I push further and give the guild some items I looted from the Ancient Armory, combined with a few of my own, so they can sell them all at auction. Of course, they get a cut, but I am used to people stealing from me. That is how I pay for my laziness and for my mind being calm as a lake every time I do not have to deal with people.
I expect a few million shards to be added to my account before the tournament. The combination of auction earnings, rewards, rent, and my increased guild salary allows that. One of these days, I need to sit down and seriously think about what to do with all of it, and whether I really want to save for a low pristine passive, with the cheapest one around twenty million shards. But with my current almost seven… well, damn.
I glance at the scorched wound along my side and sigh, put on a new bandage so I do not bleed everywhere, then put on my clothes. A simple white shirt from Earth that I bought from Gloria. Its print says zero, under it shows a picture of a fox, and below it says given. A lovely design.
I exit my room in the guild headquarters and head toward the location written on the note I received not long ago, signed by someone calling themselves mountain man. It leads me to a small restaurant terrace. It is afternoon, but the place is mostly empty. Christoph sits there, sipping what looks like wine and staring over the Megacity.
Without asking, I take a nearby chair, pull it close, and sit down.
“You seem to have had trouble with Lyraen,” he says with a smile while gesturing at my side.
This man, over seventy now, looks even younger than before, somewhere around forty five, as well kept as ever. And behind him floats that invisible half-figure, its hands on his shoulders. One thing is different, though. It is not pale blue anymore like before, but the same pale red as the Wraith in the Ancient Armory was. But it is also just as hard to notice as before. I bet even some S ranks would not see it, though some mana-specialized A ranks might.
“Nothing serious, the man has it rough. Having thirty or so wives out of the tutorial, so I understand he might snap easily.” I say.
Christoph laughs out loud at that and raises his glass high. “Well then, to our poor little friend who has it harder than any of us can imagine.” He takes a long sip, then looks back at me. “But really, thirty?”
“Maybe even more,” I say and thank the server for the glass they brought me. I pour myself some of Christoph’s wine.
I am about to drink too, but he coughs, making me pause. In his outstretched arm, he holds his glass, waiting for me to clink it against his.
With a shrug, I do it while he asks me, “Do you want me to remove that anti healing effect left on your body?”
“You can do that?”
He snickers, “I think I might be capable of something like that.”
“Why not then,” I say.
The pale red figure behind him rises, growing a little and stretching one of its arms toward me to touch the wound. I feel a burning sensation for a few seconds and try to observe the process, though not very successfully. Then the pale red arm withdraws, and the figure shrinks, standing where it stood before.
I let thermal energy combust under my skin again, and this time the wound starts closing almost immediately, even the smaller burns disappearing at once.
“So, how did you do it?” I ask.
Christoph looks back at me, “Oh, that? The Wraith I have with me now can handle things like that. So I relied on him.”
“Are you too lazy to do it on your own, or you can’t?”
That amused expression appears on his face, and he playfully raises his glass. “That is something you can try to figure out yourself.”
I snort and take a sip as well. I decide to hold back the many questions I have and sit there quietly, replaying the way he removed the anti healing effect. Well, the little bit I was able to observe, so not much.
“I have heard a lot about you and Victoria lately,” he says.
“Anything interesting?”
“People noticed she has a skill not too different from the last Elf, and they took note of your black mana, that is what you call it, right?”
“What do you mean, what do I call it? That is its name. Do you expect trouble for us? If so, just give me the address of the people who might try something.”
“Oh, there will always be trouble, so you might as well get used to it. Though not that long ago, I dealt with some people I met who wanted to cause problems for you two.”
I try to observe his heartbeat or muscle twitches, but he notices right away, which only seems to amuse him more.
“And you did that because…?” I ask.
He sets his glass on the table and looks at the liquid spiraling under his mana. “You might still not believe it, but I am very fond of you, Gwyn siblings. In a way, you remind me of my children, though I think it is safe to say they would never have done as well as you two did in the tutorial.” Something in his words feels off for the shortest moment.
He looks back at me, as if answering the feeling I had. “Maybe I am just a silly old man, or maybe I simply wish my children were more like you two, even though a parent should probably not say such a thing.”
“You will have to tell me what is so great about the two of us.”
“I think you know,” he says and stands, as if ready to leave.
“Not going to tell me what you called me here for?” I ask.
He pauses for a moment, studying me with a quiet sort of curiosity, “I just wanted to talk with you. If you want, take it as my whim to talk with you that ended up dragging you out of your room.”
“Well, I am the last person who would not understand doing something on a whim. But thank you for the warning and for healing the wound.”
"You are welcome, Nathaniel. I also want to tell you that if you ever want support, I can help you understand your constructs and the troubles you have with them. I am confident I can help you grow stronger as well. As full of myself as I might seem, I know there is a great deal I can do for you."
“It sounds like there is a but,” I say, leaning back as I watch him stand there.
Christoph nods, his expression turning serious. His voice takes on a tone like he is giving a vow with the system as witness. “I want to protect Earth as its Absolute, and I am certain I can. I ask you and Victoria to stand beside me as my Champions when the time comes, not as servants but as allies who understand the cost of power."
His words ring through the silence. That serious look remains as he puts his jacket back on and adds only, “Please think about it. There is no need to hurry.”
With those words, he leaves, and I am left there in deep thought.
Accept him as Absolute… that does not come out of nowhere. There is intent behind it. I feel that accepting him as someone above me would weaken my pride if facing him. A kind of acceptance of him as my better that would make it difficult to change my mind later, because I would have already placed him over me, and thus affect my pride.
The question is whether he does that because he needs a failsafe before deciding to help me, something to make sure I will not turn against him. Maybe it is something normal among Absolutes and Champions, and even expected.
I take another sip of wine.
Maybe it is a mix of all of that, or maybe it is none of it.
Or maybe I am reading too much into it. I probably am. Christoph is currently stronger than me, and his defenses are insane, to be honest. I saw him endure Lyraen’s lightning during the Armory event, and he handled it many more times than I did.
When I finish my drink, I stand up and walk back toward the guild branch, passing smaller shops. I even visit a few, checking the items they offer and buying a few interesting trinkets and a lot of food in preparation for my not so distant return to the best doggo of the ninth floor. The true future Absolute, not that hack Christoph.
When I reach the guild branch, I learn something new almost immediately.
Just a few hours ago, a man named Christoph killed two S ranks and stormed into the headquarters of one of the top ten guilds, where he wiped out its leadership and A rank elites.
***
The next day, I meet Ruby, or more accurately, she grabs me while I walk through the city and drags me onto a bench nearby. After a short conversation, I accept an S rank quest she now has the right to assign to me, even though I am only A rank.
The quest is specifically chosen by her for me, matching my abilities so well that it becomes almost laughably easy. But that does not matter, since her intention is only to stack achievements for my advancement to S rank.
My quest transports me to a planet where one of its Champions introduces me to her child, whom I am supposed to train in creating more durable mana constructs.
Simply and disappointingly put, it is not a dangerous quest.
The Champion needs someone very skilled in mana disruption, the best available for the job, and according to Ruby, with my eyes, [Mana Manipulation], [Eclipse], and if needed, black mana, I am that guy in the Beyond.
Why not find someone on her own planet? I suspect the Champion is ashamed of others learning that her child struggles so much in this way, as silly as that is.
Why not teach the child herself? Well, simply said, she is a female Jean, or as some creeps would say, muscle mommy, so her abilities in this way are very limited.
There is not much to say about the two weeks I spent on this S rank quest. The Champion is barely around, and her child is, honestly, an asshole. The kind who insults me constantly, slacks off, and cries for his mommy to erase me from the surface of the world.
Still, I do my best, and there is a clear improvement by the end. During the final presentation, I see a happy expression on the Champion’s face, and the boy almost bursts into tears at her praise and hugs me in thanks. His mom hugs me too, and breaks most of my bones. I am not even joking.
It is a short and efficient quest with nothing worth mentioning.
There is no need to bring up the assassination attempts on the boy, or the haywire mana constructs when the Champion tried to mimic me and shape on a whim during one of the lessons, which nearly wiped out the entire city because of her impressive level of incompetence with mana.
There is also no need to discuss the noble ladies and their building sized “pets” this world seems to have, or the sudden appearance of that ancient creature that everyone insists was only a large bird, even though it swallowed half a tower.
All of that is completely irrelevant. The quest itself was simple, peaceful, and absolutely uneventful.
And after that, the quest ends and I return to the Beyond.
My reward is a set of techniques from the muscle mommy Champion, and even Ruby says she is talented when it comes to using her body. I receive training exercises, some martial arts, movement techniques, and what Ruby calls a very passable body strengthening method that uses mana.
I also move one step closer to S rank, with my Handler saying that at this pace, it will not take long. Two or three proper Beyond quests, or participation on the fifth floor of the Beyond, in whatever Nyssa wants me to do.
With that, I return to the ninth floor of the tutorial for a week before the Humility Event starts.
When I appear, the first thing I see is Biscuit sitting on Noodles’ head, and I almost step on the huge pearly white snake. One thing is different about him, though. Noodle now has three eyes on each side of his head.
(Food!) rings in my mind before the corgi launches himself at me like a cannonball, knocking me down, where I am brutally assaulted.
Comments
Gwalmeich
Nath, may I have the coordinates for that muscle mommy you were talking about. It's for research purposes. Trust me bro.
Peter Smith
Agreed.
Death56
He is totally going to solo a champion from the 5 floor for his requirement
William Parker
Think Christoph is Nats grandpa and that’s why he wishes that his kids were more like them because they are actually his grandkids he likes them way more than his actual kids. Also why christoph says they remind him of his kids and why Nat recognizes him and hides the memories away
tishane Imperial MageKiller
Remember that pairing are when Absolutes try to invade other worlds with Absolutes, and I think Nats the kinda guy that if you look down on him and tell him that you cant do a thing he wants to do it more he also understands that in order to protect what cares about he's going to need power and influence and you cant really leave that up to someone else because if they dont car about what you care about then your shit outta luck.
tishane Imperial MageKiller
Nah man think about it who has the most potential to help him while still being enough of a threat to push him its those 2 for sure not down playing savant and the rest but if you need a teacher to teach you about mana and such Nats the best so far and if you need an endless kamakaize agent his sister is your Huckleberry. Hes Def a shit bag that thinks better than everyone because he probably was back in his days on earth when he was younger.
Seijax
I have yet to find a reason why Nat would want to actually become Earth's Absolute. I get the ego factor, but getting the System to acknowledge his potential and/or acquiring proof of not-inferiority towards the future Absolute should be enough. Actual Absolutes can't leave their planets without also leaving it unprotected and causing diplomatic incidents wherever they go. Plus whatever control they get on the planet's mana means nothing to someone capable of mining the local star for mana and blasting the whole dirtball with more of it than it ever held. Hell, if he gets to Absolute-tier power, he might actually be able to tap into the molten core of any planet he lands on and strip the home advantage from the local Absolute. That might be the potential Greed hinted to.
Audrey WJ
Yeah so I didn't know how I felt about Christophe until this chapter but I'm officially not on his team, I think his powers are very cool but that's about it, Nat and his paranoid thoughts about his pride and what Christophe was trying to do are probably somewhat correct, I think he just made a play at trying to control two of the strongest people earth will have but under the guise of being genuine and honest with no ulterior motives while actually having many.
Audrey WJ
Christophe is definitely a controlling personality type, even his offer to nat was nothing more than him trying to gain some amount of control over him, I don't think nat was far off in his paranoid thoughts on the matter.
Manther
He's just trying to act mysterious. He knows nothing.
Madje Tobi Marc'Avent Tchona
Names will prolly be given in the future
Madje Tobi Marc'Avent Tchona
How does Christopher know so much? He also seems to be mana focused just from what he’s shown so far. But his knowledge spans a lot considering he’s also supposed to be as fresh into the system as Nat and the rest. He knows about constructs, how to fix em (allegedly), the war, and apparently all these methods for getting stronger. Who’s his handler? (Pride?) It’s weird to make it as far as he did alone with no mentors and I doubt all the information he has acquired come from books.
Madje Tobi Marc'Avent Tchona
Why is it so important to establish roles ahead of time? That’s suspicious to me. At the time when it will matter, the strongest will be the absolute. And if the third tournament works like the second, the past tournament winner (Nat) will still be the king. So this whole talking things out thing is weird from Chris part…. Is he saying to Nat: “Get stronger, but don’t get stronger than me” or is he saying:”You’re cannot get stronger than me”? Regardless of what it is, it looks to me like a mental battle he waging.
Madje Tobi Marc'Avent Tchona
Accepting Christoph as above him…. Nat didn’t even acknowledge Lissandra as above him, (his master) because doing so, would mean only getting as far as she did…. I think Christoph is not even nearly strong enough to warrant such from Nat.
Manther
When did S-ranks become guys to be killed off without even having names?
Lance Beam
TFTC. All hail Earth's true Absolute!!
Kirin
Thank you for the chappie!
Johnny
Christoph seems hella fishy. Beat his ass already can’t have anyone else on Earth more powerful than Nat it’s unnatural
William Clark
When a muscle mommy and a mana daddy love each other very much...
Arme nd
I believe Nat chose to hide whatever he knew to make his journey more difficult, or to not influence his future decisions. You might be onto something with Christoph having some kind of knowledge skill tho.
Mathias
They probably dont because his skills wont be able to kill kindness or pride, so nurturing him would be a waste. While nats skills seems to have that potential
Morde24
OK new theory, does Christoph control the wraith, or does the wraith control Christoph?
Andrew Miller
Well we know Christoph has some sort of external influence that is beyond our normal players, otherwise baby secret Nat wouldn't be hiding scary secrets under the bed. But I also like the idea of nothing being off about Christoph and he possesses a skill like [Knowledge] and is trying to prevent a standoff where he/Nat/his sister might accidentally kill or do permanent damage to one another because the system creates a die trying scenario. But most likely Christoph has something to do with the early pairing.
kevin roberto calel santos
He rented his own residence to a third party, as I suppose he would not use it much.
Kenny
Why did Nat rent a residence when he already has a residence permit as part of his reward for the Fragment of the First Sun?
Daniel Golding
So Biscuit and Noodle - friends, best buds, animal comrades, what?
John
i love how sometimes time flys, also fun recap. thanks for the chapter
caeven
Christoph just sounds way too good to be true. why aren't kindness and greed constantly begging him to fulfill their wishes? on paper, he's a MUCH better bet than Nat
TheOne320
Some event announced at the party he went to with Ruby.
Darryl Williams
Wait, what was the Humility Event again?
Andrew
Thank you!
ManaJunky
because i would pay big money (~5 smackeroos) to watch it
ManaJunky
TYFTC!! also papa cerim, have you thought of who you’d want to animate this glorious story if you were to ever go down that road?
Augustus
Food!
Gwiddion
I really hope not. I hope its someone external from earth, else it would feel like Nats whole family is the chosen one and diminish his and Victorias work in getting stronger. Also how would a deadbeat drunk dad that was so beat up by his son that then couldnt kill him. Fake his death so convincingly that his daughter who decided she would kill him, goes to prison for it. Victoria would have to had helped him with this and would have had to produce enough evidence against herself that she would be convicted for his murder. My theory is a bit more out there. Christopher is a son of a absolute or absolute like being that wants his or her son to get as many advantages as possible. They found a suitable planet that was close to being integrated into the system. Placed Christopher there, who they made sure of was somehow unawakened to the system but also strong enough that he would be placed in hell or beyond. Earth gets integrated Christopher gets into the tutorial and gets all the advantages a first generation gets. This then triggered the pairing. As the system considered earth having an absolute. The person or entity placing Christopher there could probably mess only so much with the system and couldn't stop this from happening. Im not quite sure but the fact that Christopher's looks and movements remind Nat of someone, is that the person that placed Christopher on earth was the last elf. They took a human baby (Christoher) brought it outside the system taught it as much as possible for him to be insanely strong but not too strong to make the rulers suspicious and brought it back into the system for the system to integrate. That way, during Chrsitopher's process to maturity he probably copied a lot of the last elfs gestures and posture subconsciously and thus Nat was able recognize them from the last elf encounter.
Bob
[Sage] level 60
Bob
Could you quote what make you think that?
arnumart
I know people are going to argue with me but Christopher keeps saying shit and dropping things that make me think he is Nat’s dad. Saying he feels like they are his children and wants both of them by his side. It is either a red herring with Mirec messing around or he is really Nat’s dad who faked his death.
Augustus
Biscuit used lick, it was super effective.
Adrian Rake
What a charming chapter 😉 Christoph though… is a proper monster 😳
Josh Betts
Nat has to beat Christoph in the tournament lizzy will not tolerate a subpar disciple
RadiantSpren
Omg just level up already Good chapter, though.
Flo Zilla
cant wait to finally find out how christoph became so strong, how he got all the knowledge about mana he has etc.
Val the mysterious Jedi
I never keep track of that and just go with the story. Same with stats
Emmanuel Martinez
It’s good to be back
Nemesis
Also, does this mean that Ruby did end up selecting him as her participant for the Humility event? Her thoughts before seemed to suggest she had a limited number of entrants (presumed 1)
Liam Zay
Oh 100%, but I feel like it isn't meant to be. I could see them getting close and then Pride kills her giving Nat the motivation to kill Pride. Who knows though
Claro reyes
Tftc!
Seijax
Those are some really nice rewards that got downplayed there! Hope they'll see some use
Daniel Francis
The Absolute greets his Champion. Thats Biscuit to Nat, none of that Christoph bull
Liam Zay
Rip Nathaniel, sacrificed to satiate the true Absolute's gluttony. I'm still so curious and slightly peeved at how Christoph is so strong
Nemesis
I thought Nat told Lily he was planning to be back on the 9th floor in less than 2 weeks after his last quest. Did he even have an appropriate length token to extend his stay that much?
Fdrugc
Tftc does anyone else ship Nat and Ruby?
BlackRazaras
Thanks for the chapter
vikos_bog_bogdacius
Big bog
Niclas Elmers
Tftc
vEnviouz
TFTC!!!
