My Mission Is To Save The World…?

'The third option…' Asher sighed.

'The guide is a spy.'

That was the only point that would make sense here. The guide wasn't trying to murder Asher under Randel's orders but someone else. Not only would the figure behind the shadows profit from the death of Asher, but they would also throw the Arnhaunt's into an internal struggle.

'The royals? No. My father has been on alert against them. He won't let a spy from them have such influence and connection to the mine, or even be the assistant of an elder. The other families can't pull this off either if the royals can't. Then who?'

Asher mulled over this conundrum but was unable to get an answer. However, he managed to figure out that there was a hidden party that possessed a great amount of power, coming after him. The reason why Asher believed that the party in the shadows controlled immense power was from the fact that they could sneak in a spy who became the assistant to a yellow-robed elder of the family. No ordinary power could do this, not even the royals.

'The only ones as powerful as the royals and who could profit from an Arnhaunt internal battle would be the Kingdom of Terra. But they still aren't up to the level of sneaking in such a spy.'

After recuperating for a few minutes, Asher stood up and began his journey towards the end of the corridor he appeared in. As for the idea of the mysterious party, he decided to let it be. Without enough hints, trying to guess who they are was pointless.

After walking for less than a minute, Asher finally reached the end of the corridor. At the end of the corridor was a flight of stairs that reached down.

'Going down again.' Asher sighed.

Since they had entered the unexplored region, he had been going down slowly. Back then, at the cavern, Asher suspected that he was already almost 600 metres underground.

Taking the stairs, Asher arrived at an underground hall that was similarly white, just like the corridors he went past. There was also good lighting in the area, so he had no issue seeing the place well.

The hall Asher had appeared in turned out to be a throne room and at the other edge of the room, a throne stood an empty throne.

The empty throne exuded a powerful aura just like the door from before that had weird symbols on it. Even with the distance of over 10 metres between them, Asher could still feel a cold energy from the chair. Sacred yet mysterious, alluring yet dangerous, the throne gave off mixed signals that forced Asher to a stop.

"What the heck is this place?" Asher couldn't help but sound out his thoughts.

"Welcome, pilgrim. I've been waiting for you."

A calm voice sounded.

'Where?' Asher widened his eyes as he glanced around in search of the source.

It should be known that he had been on alert since he met up with the guide, and he kept his psychic scan field active throughout. The only exception was when he took a break to recover his energy and stamina. Right after that, he reactivated it back. In other words, even before he reached this underground hall, Asher's psychic energy had already scanned the place. Despite that, he didn't sense any presence.

"Are you looking for me?"

A bunch of light balls congregated on the throne to form a white silhouette with a humanoid shape.

"Who are you?" Asher calmly asked.

"Good." The figure seemed to be pleased.

"Most would be scared and some might even attack straight away, but you're awfully calm."

"Why wouldn't I be?" Asher replied.

"If you wanted to kill me, you would have done so long ago and not let me reach this place. Furthermore, if you want to kill me, I can do nothing about it."

The figure's facial outline became clearer a bit and Asher managed to spot a smile on its face. That smile helped him confirm his suspicions which he had just voiced out.

Yes. While it might look like the figure was some hologram or something similar, Asher's instincts warned him of incredible danger ahead. In other words, while the silhouette had managed to erase its energy and aura from Asher's psychic sense, it couldn't hide completely from Asher's honed instincts. Just from the degree of danger he felt from the figure, Asher believed that it was as strong as a seventh-stage Guardian at the very least. This was the prerequisite strength required of a marquis of the Great Dawn kingdom. In most cases, this was the power level of the top elders of a great family. Randel, who was put in charge of Vermont mine -the Arnhaunt's greatest asset-, as well as a yellow-robed elder, had barely reached this level relying on the magic crystals he embezzled. However, Asher felt that the silhouette in front of him was much stronger than Randel and might even be above the seventh-stage mark.

As for why Asher was confident that the strange being wouldn't kill him, it was because he had noticed that the stone guardian in the first corridor targeted the guide more frequently than it did him. While there were a few explanations for this, like the stone guardian going after the biggest threat first, the fact that the door closed right after his passing was strange. This was because the metal wave from before had stated that passing the door was the required task, but it never mentioned that only one person could pass it. This meant that there was some unknown variable affecting the situation back then. Asher could now confirm that the unknown variable was the person before him. The question now was why.

"Good." The figure nodded.

"Worthy of the chosen pilgrim I had long waited for."

"What do you mean by 'pilgrim'?" Asher asked.

"Hehe. Aren't you the one that can answer that best?" The figure mysteriously answered.

Bang.

Asher's eyes widened abruptly, but he forcefully held back his shock almost immediately. He always thought that his transmigration to this world was bizarre and had a lot to deal with the Heavenly Tome, but it seemed like it was anticipated by some of the denizens of this world and maybe even premeditated.

"Don't think too much about it. I didn't bring you into this world, instead, it was fate." The figure seemed to see what was going on inside of Asher's head.

"Fate?" Asher asked.

"Fate, destiny, kismet, karma, or luck. Call it whatever you want to. In this world, and even far beyond it, everything operates under the wheels of fate. Every living being, every object and every event are linked by the thread of fate. As long as one can peer into the mysterious wheel of fate, seeing the future would be a piece of cake." The figure said.

"And you can do exactly that?" Asher was surprised.

It should be known that even in his past life as the Celestial Emperor, Asher couldn't see into the future. If he could, he would have discovered the Heavenly Tome earlier than he did in his past life. To find someone who could do so here was impressive, but it made Asher apprehensive about the man's true strength and identity. With his low power, Asher could only see that the man was stronger than an average seventh-stage Guardian mage, but he couldn't see more than that.

"I used to." The figure replied with a bit of melancholy.

"But I'm not here to discuss my past; I'm but a fragment of the original soul. I'm here instead, to discuss your future."

"My future?" Asher raised an eyebrow at that statement.

"I don't know why you're here, pilgrim, but I do know that we need your help. You're the only one who can help us. And by 'us', I mean the denizens of this world."

Asher narrowed his eyes as he felt the atmosphere become solemn. He didn't ask any questions as he believed that the man would explain. As expected, he did.

"Let me tell you a story. Long, long ago, more than you could imagine -maybe a thousand years or so- there were two great mages of the Upper land, both blessed with the greatest constitutions and physiques. One wielded control over light while the other reigned over the darkness. Both were very good friends and had done their best to bring peace to the entire realm.

"As they grew stronger and stronger, they touched upon the laws. However, one did so before the other, and the law he touched upon was the law of karma or fate. Having done so earlier, he was able to progress faster than his colleague, but that didn't breed envy amongst them. On a certain day, he who held fate saw fate; the fate of this world, and his friend." The man sighed.

"He discovered that everything he knew about his friend was a lie and that his friend was not a 'friend'."

'What's with all these proverbial tongues? First, you say you won't talk about your past, but then you do. Now, you're speaking in riddles.' Asher couldn't help but complain. Nonetheless, he didn't interrupt the man of light.

"If nothing out of the ordinary happens, this world would come to an end soon. However, you're the only variable in this; the 'nothing out of the ordinary' that shouldn't have happened on a normal occasion. I have a great attachment to this world and would not want to see it end. When I foresaw your coming, I made preparations to aid you in your quest. Only you can help us."

"... I'm sorry to say this, but I think you've got the wrong man; I'm just a kid." Asher replied.

Almost a kilometre beneath the ground was a hidden chamber with a fragmented soul that suddenly told him that he was the saviour of the world, and he should do as it said. And he should believe him right away? Six million years was enough to prevent Asher from falling from a random scam like that. Even if coincidences existed, this was insane. Who would entrust such a task to a twelve-year-old in some backwater place? Just from the man's backstory, Asher could see that a greater world existed out of the thirteen kingdoms, the 'Upper land'. Why didn't the man look for the saviour of the world there?

But what made Asher the most suspicious was the fact that there was no evidence to back up this claim.