Introduction

'This should be the last part of the chain quest, if it's not then I swear-' Asher's thoughts were interrupted by a shout.

"Ho adventurer! You're back. Did you collect the things I asked you to?" A handsome middle aged man, looking to be in his forties, called out to Asher and asked. He had a head full of blonde hair, with a few barely noticeable white ones hidden within.

"Lambred! Yes I collected all the things you asked for, it took a LOT of effort to get these things, brother. You better compensate me well for this." said Asher, with a tired look on his face. He had been on this chain quest for 3 weeks now, a quest that leads him to another quest that leads to another, which after you complete will allow you to complete the previous one, which would then lead you to a new one. These quests ranged from merely collecting some herbs from a mountain, to fighting dragons all by himself, just to fulfill the request that was more like a quest but wasn't actually one, from this man.

"Excellent! Don't worry, all of this is for you anyway." Lambred said with a smile on his face. He wasn't really lying about it, it was for Asher in a way.

Lambred hired Asher to help him in his research. He was researching a long forgotten tomb, the name of which he randomly found in a book. The tomb was called the Timeless Realm. From what he gathered, a mysterious entity once resided in that cave, which he found actually existed not too far away from where they were. The entity interacted with the humans of the world as well, however it slowly isolated itself from the world and the cave was closed off at some point. He hired Asher for help, as Asher is a skilled adventurer that could help him in his journey to open and explore the cave, because Lambred himself was a researcher with no strength, unlike an adventurer. He promised to give all the things they find inside the cave to Asher as his reward for helping him, why? Because his goal is to know more about what's inside the cave, that's all.

Asher and Lambred walked inside Lambred's house, which was a resident house in the city of Ironhaven, a fortress city in the borders of the Leon kingdom. Inside the house Asher waited, while Lambred prepared.

After 10-15 minutes, Lambred came back from his room, all prepared with a set of leather armor, a sword and a short sword attached to his waist strap. He looked like a real adventurer now.

"Ready?"

Asher started walking, while Lambred followed in toe.

"Yes, the preparations are done, I'll leave myself in your care now". They kept walking.

This was the world of a VRMMO fantasy game called "Realm Quest". It was a revolutionary game created by the leading game company of the world. Realm Quest was the first game to give the player full immersion in the game, imitating the five senses, and the sense of pain and hunger. What made it even more revolutionary was the fact that effects in the game would actually affect the player themselves. For example, the curse "sleep" would put the player in sleep in the game, provided the curse worked of course. It was scary to some, but exciting to most. The company didn't reveal the technology for this, and the government even helped them keep it hidden. Although some sharp minded people were suspicious of this new technology, they couldn't do much with the governments of the entire world protecting this secret.

This is what people thought for 5 years of the game, until the reveal happened. When it was found that "Realm Quest" was actually a different world. A different world that existed in reality, with the game pod allowing the consciousness of the player to transfer to that world and creating a body for them. And the NPC's are the natives of that world. Humans found out about this alternate world years ago, but kept it hidden among the upper class. That is, until they managed to create an AI that could connect the two worlds and send people's consciousness to the other world through a VR pod. When this information was released, there was an uproar in the world. How could there not be? It's an alternate world! But things calmed down eventually.

People began to really take the game even more seriously, when it was discovered how certain items and abilities could be taken to their own worlds by the player. Before this, people still took the game very seriously, as the currency of the game could be exchanged for the currency in reality, which the governments allowed. But this discovery took things to the next level, where many people even took this world as their reality.

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Asher and Lambred left the Inronhavel city, leaving the security of its 30 feet long and 6 feet wide walls to the dangerous wilderness. As Lambred already knew where the cave was, he led Asher there, while asher protected them both from monsters and any other threats on the way.

The entrance of the cave was blocked by some rocks, leaving no way for even a rat to get inside. Lambred walked to the entrance and took out all the items Asher collected. A baby dragon's heart, some leaves of an ancient oak tree, a piece of metal exuding a cold feeling, some grey colored liquid and a pot. He put the liquid in the pot, along with the heart and the leaves. Stirring them with the piece of metal, it could be seen that the heart and the leaves were actually dissolving into the liquid, along with the stirring metal piece, changing the liquid's color from grey to black. Lambred took the liquid and poured some of it into one of the rocks blocking the entrance. Upon contact, the rock dissolved, producing sizzling sounds while melting away with the black liquid.

Asher's eyes widened at this scene. Not due to the rocks dissolving, but what was used to dissolve it. One had to know that these materials were very rare and valuable, he had wasted 3 weeks trying to get them, and here this man was dissolving rocks with it?? unbelievable!

"You might be cursing me for using such precious materials to dissolve some mere rocks right?" said Lambred, and Asher simply replied with a "Yea". Lambred laughed.

"Strike one of these rocks with your strongest attack." he said

Asher hesitated. Seeing Lambred's confidence and the fact that Lambred was no idiot, he knew something was up. But he had nothing to lose, and he was also curious.

A yellow glow appeared on Asher's hand, forming into a warhammer. This was magic, specifically Earth magic to form a heavy and sturdy warhammer, since forming a sword or spear to strike a rock would just be dumb.

Asher lifted the warhammer above his head and struck with astonishing force. The air split, creating thundering sounds and winds and blowing the nearby trees naked. Lambred was hiding from the attack, but he still felt palpitation from seeing this amount of force. "so THIS is an otherworldly adventurer" he thought, but then immediately felt like laughing his heart out.

A large crater had formed around the rock, but the rock was left unscathed. Not even a mark was left in it, nor were other rocks in the cave damaged. Asher's eyes wide open while a surprised expression hung on his face. "The Fuq??!!" He muttered. Although he wasn't in the rankings of the top players, he was still a relatively powerful player known in the city of Ironhaven. His strikes could split mountains apart, using special skills of course. Even though he only used his physical strength in this strike, a rock was supposed to turn into a million pieces by now, and from the resistance he felt, it would require almost his full power to even damage the rock, but it wasn't guaranteed it would be destroyed. And using his full power here wasn't even an option anyways, as that wouldn't be healthy for the surroundings and the cave that he had to enter.

Asher understood why Lambred was so confident.

"See? It's a special type of material that's unknown to us. It's harder than a specially reinforced wall, yet it doesn't give off any types of energy like a reinforced material, as if it's a natural rock. A special material is needed to unlock the entrance." After the explanation, Lambred got back to work dissolving the rocks. A few cursing could be heard here and there, the times when he felt on his face because of the crater Asher made.

"Done"

The darkness inside of the cave was exposed to light after who knows how long. It looked like just another cave at a mountainside, but knowing how it was closed off using such materials, Asher and Lambred both knew this cave was anything but normal.

Asher walked in, while Lambred stayed outside. This was their deal, since bringing a defenseless bystander like Lambred inside a potentially highly dangerous cave would put both their lives in even more danger.

Asher took out a glowing rock out of nowhere, but players knew that "nowhere" as an inventory.

He walked for close to 15 minutes, but no monster appeared. It was strange. Normally you would be greeted with a monster first thing after you get in a cave, but here, a dark sealed off cave that would be the perfect place for monsters to thrive in was empty of life anywhere he looked.

Walking further in, the cave became more spacious and wide. Towards the end, it became a big room enough for a house to be built there. At the other end of the room from where Asher was coming from, a person was sitting with its eyes closed. It didn't seem to have a gender. It had long blue and purple hair, flat chest, a somehow gender neutral face and wearing a loose blue robe. It emitted an otherworldly feeling. Not the kind that people say to exaggerate about someone, but really felt like this being does not belong in it's surroundings.

"Been a long time since I last saw a human, well it's been a long time since I saw ANYTHING in here. What brings you here?" the being asked, even its voice was neutral, containing no traits that could reveal its pronunciation, so it would remain as "it" for a while longer.

"Apologies if I disturbed you. We read about this place being the tomb of a mysterious entity, so I rudely barged in to explore it. I apologize if you are displeased. I will leave immediately." Asher bowed and respectfully lowered his head and said apologetically. He still had some common sense. He knew that since this being could stay inside this cave for so long, and the feeling it gave off, it must be something extraordinary. Offering sincere apology was the best way to have even a hope of getting on its good side and maybe getting out of here alive. While it wasn't anything big for Asher to die, there were many ways to make players wish they were dead.

"I don't really mind. It has been a while since I saw any living being, and who knows, I might even have some use for you." The being said, still in a neutral tone. While he was speaking, Asher examined the being with his examining ability.

[??]

Level:???

Skills:???

"You won't find anything from your system, otherworldly human. It's too weak"it said. Asher was flabbergasted by that sentence, and for multiple reasons at that. No NPC referred to the game system as a system. They called it the watcher deity, as that's what it appeared as to the natives of the world. It could summon people from another world that do not die, but remained as an entity that only watches over everything. This being was capable of hiding his name and levels, which no other NPC was capable of. In addition, it called the game system "too weak". One had to know that the powers that the players had mostly came from the system. If it considered the game system weak, how powerful was this being?

"Show me your hands" it said, and Asher obliged. There was no use rebelling against a being that could force him to do the same thing with a thought. The being disinterestedly took out a stone from out of nowhere. The stone was unassuming, being black in color but in a perfectly oval shape. It touched Asher's hand, and the stone glowed slightly purple. The being's face flashed a surprised expression, quickly replaced by a happy smile. "Finally" it said and looked Asher in his eyes.

"Do you know what this is?" It asked Asher, to which Asher slowly shook his head to say no.

It wasn't surprised.

It said "this stone is used to measure someone's talent. Talent in time magic."

Not giving Asher the time to process the information, it continued "you have a trace amount of talent in this element. A very very low talent but talent nonetheless. It's a one in probably a trillion talent that might not be found in a world ever."

Asher continued to digest this information while it talked. The fact that time was actually an element of magic? And he had talent in it, which was a one in a trillion chance? This shocked him greatly, but he recovered from this shock quickly. He then asked "What does that imply for me?"

It replied "I will give you two choices.

1. I'll erase your memories and the memories of that guy outside of anything related to this cave. You can then go back to your lives. But you'd be missing a great opportunity."

Asher wanted to choose the first option immediately and get out of here, but the last part of the being's choice piqued his interest. A great opportunity? There's no harm in hearing it, the being could erase his memories of it anyway if he still chose the first option. And seeing how unfathomable this being was, there was little doubt in its capabilities to do what it said it could do.

Seeing how Asher was looking at it to continue, it did .

"or 2. I send you back in time using the remainder of my power. The max I can send you back is 50 years, but seeing how old you are, it's not convenient to go back to before you were even a human sperm isn't it?" It said with a relaxed smile. It knew this was a tempting offer for anyone so it wasn't worried Asher would refuse its' request, so much so that it even cracked a joke.

Hearing the second option, Asher was flabbergasted. Sending him back to the past? That might be possible seeing as they were talking about time magic, but it was still a shocking thing. And why would it even do this? He soon got his answers.

"There is of course a reason for the second option, and that is for you to meet the me from 5 years ago, and tell him a message."

Asher got his answers, to an extra question too. So the being was a he. Good to know.

"I'll even give you some extra perks too, but it's your choice at the end."

Asher had no reason to hesitate at this point. He had nothing holding him back to this world, his parents were dead, he didn't have a family, and his friends weren't even that close to him. The only thing of value to him was what he had in the game, and that could be achieved again and even surpassed if he went back to the past with his current knowledge. The only price for this, was for him to deliver a message to the past version of this being. However, that might be a little tricky.

"I want to choose the second option but we were only able to come to this world 5 years ago. I won't be able to come here immediately after I come to this world. The materials needed to bypass the entrance alone would take very long if I don't have the strength I have now." Asher's concern was valid. It took him 3 weeks to gather those materials, even when he had this much strength, no way would the him from 5 years ago be able to gather them, so the deadline of the being was very tight.

"You don't have to worry about all that. I will give you all the knowledge you need to know. Get ready." Before Asher could react, purple and blue colored mist began to ooze out of the being's body, being meticulously controlled to not disperse around. They condensed into a ball, and it began to glow brightly. The being said "this contains all the knowledge you need to know", saying that, he sent a glowing white ball flying into Asher's forehead. The ball got absorbed into Asher's head, and his eyes began to close. The glowing ball of blue and purple absorbed Asher's entire body and he vanished. Leaving behind the being, whose body was rapidly deteriorating to the point of turning into dust.

"I hope you keep your promise. If not, nothing can be done about it." with that, it completely turned into dust.

Lambred waited outside till sunset, but not seeing Asher come out, he assumed Asher met an unpleasant fate. He went to the place where the otherworldly adventurers appeared after they die, but found nothing. Thinking Asher fled, he went back home and went about his life.

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3 years later,

BOOOOM!!

A bright light, and then nothing.