20 A new world
Alain awoke before what he supposed to be dawn - his surroundings not allowing him a glimpse of any sun - his body still cold and heavy. Soon, his eyes began to search every corner of his surroundings, whether it was the ground or the sky. But when he looked at the sky again, he was shocked.
The sky was deep red - a setting that only comes around once every ten years - but right in the middle, seemingly perforating that sky, was a gigantic purple inverted rift illuminated in every color by dots that seemed unreal.
He stood for a moment, gazing up at the sky in wonder, forgetting his task before resuming it.
Phew!
Fortunately, there wasn't any enemy.
Otherwise, given his condition - a missing arm coupled with an extremely tired body - he wouldn't last long.
His eyes darted around, looking at the landscape while he seemed to be thinking about something without expression. Then, after a few minutes, he sighed and accepted his uncertainties and worries, setting himself in motion.
'What to do?'
He tried to access his energy at first, but soon noticed that his energy center was perhaps the organ that had suffered the most from his fight - and even if it wasn't, its condition still left him with no possibility to use it in the short term.
He didn't even know if he would be able to use it in the future.
'Well, let's find out about this world.'
Other than the sky, his surroundings seemed pretty normal - if one could forget the fact that no life seemed to be present here. He wasn't in his village or an area he knew, nor was he in a forest.
There were no ruins and no presence of humans or even animals that had ever lived here. There was only one thing: a plain in which there was a rift a few dozen meters from him.
[New quest: Found your village!
Please execute your rights as the evolving lord and create your village. Time limit: one hour. At the end of which you'll lose all your rights.
Read the description for more details]
Alain may not know the situation he was in, but it didn't matter. He knew that his artifact had allowed him to survive and saved his villagers. From then on, whether it was good or bad, he couldn't care less. These were philosophers' thoughts, and certainly not his. In any case, between good and evil was only one word: sophistry. Perhaps beautiful, with a semblance of truth, easy to believe, but false.
He wasn't interested in that kind of life. All he was interested in was living his life as he wished - a peaceful life in his village. it didn't need to be a rich life, either in material wealth or in experience; it just needed to fit him - and it did.
...
Alain searched for the best spot during the whole hour and decided to opt for an area where a small river ran. Not only would the water supply not be a problem, but for the predators that would exist in this world, a natural barrier would not be out of place.
'A chance'
Looking at the place he had found, Alain felt appeased, and even a little excited - an emotion he only dared to show because he hadn't detected any enemies.
It should be noted that owning a river was a kind of luxury, the best spaces being taken by the strongest.
Rivers all had the above-mentioned advantages, but could also increase the energy level of a zone.
All cities have first been built next to a river. That was because, in the past, humans weren't as technologically developed as they were now. When these cities grew, becoming big cities, they began to welcome a huge number of cultivators.
These large cities, like a kind of natural lung, took impure energy and transformed it into pure energy. And since the body could not absorb it all, much of this energy was returned to the heavens.
But on their way, some of the energy passed through the rivers, greatly increasing their energy level in all of their superficies. Sometimes, in rare cases, a river could even develop a consciousness. This was one of the requirements for a country to be recognized as an empire.
And yes, this simple condition had caused many wars.
---
Alain reread the instructions before placing the 'village seed' in the ground, carefully measuring all the dimensions. At that moment, the seed lit up and a building was being built.
Alain was astonished.
'How does it works ?'
He hurried tried to feel the energy in his surroundings, getting closer to the plant. There, he understood that this construction was nothing ordinary. He couldn't feel the energy being used, or even any variation in the energy concentration of the area. It was as if there was no cost involved in the construction.
'Could it be some other kind of energy?' Alain pondered
Yet, he could only get questions and no answers.
....
Seeing that the construction would take up some time and that he wasn't getting much out of it anyway, he decided to look towards the rift he had seen before.
It was oddly shaped. He couldn't say why, but it seemed artificial.
Alain moved slowly so as not to damage his body further. Soon, he stood at the edge of the abyss. There, he bent down to look at its depth. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find out how deep the rift went into the ground.
But he did notice the energy fluctuations. In this area, the energy was particularly restless, impure, and unstable. On the other hand, however, it seemed to be of high quality, easy to absorb and was in great quantity.
It was a strange sensation that Alain had never experienced or heard of before.
But although Alain could feel the fluctuations of the energy - his body has become accustomed to its near-constant use - he didn't dare use his energy center, fearing of damaging it further.
Soon he returned to the place where the village would be formed.
