The pinched voice belonging to the thin announcer rang through the courtyard, "Alright, everyone! Since everyone has found their partner, let's begin."
"As many of you know, portal dimensions first appeared on Ravier when the heavens descended. They connect us to smaller planets than ours to collect resources to qualify to join the Multiverse eventually!"
"I'm sure you've all heard that for the first time in over 2000 years, Ravier has someone who wants to defy fate and become an 'upgraded chosen'."
"But I want to implore that while you're on this dangerous planet, not to get greedy as there will always be other opportunities down the line."
"Today, we are going through a G-Rank portal that leads to a realm less prestigious than ours to gather resources for cultivation and enhancement."
"Our report says that this realm is void of intelligent life living. The monsters inhabiting the planet are below F rank and should be easy to deal with."
"Remember, killing these monsters isn't the same as on Ravier. On Ravier, we have our own monsters that lurk in the forgotten regions of our planet, but as local inhabitants of Ravier, we cannot gain cultivation by killing."
"In this realm, you will not have such a restriction placed upon you, so feel free to kill to your heart's content and gain the resources that fall from their bodies."
"Before you enter the portal, I will cast a "return" teleportation spell on you, so if you will it, five days from now, you'll be able to return to this exact location."
"Even though you all don't have heavenly screens, you can still see indications for these rare items for seven days after passing through a dimensional portal. The top 5 teams that get the most resources will be rewarded when they get back."
"Remember, going through a portal will teleport you to a random location. Remember to hold your partner's hand so you are teleported together."
"Ok, then," the announcer looked around, "you can leave!"
The groups of two began walking up to the portal, waiting for the thin lady to cast the spell on them, and then walked anxiously through the portal.
'I don't need a group. Better I go alone and not risk anyone seeing me use my cultivation,' Ryan thought.
Ryan and Brooke walked side by side and glanced at each other, nodding.
Letting go of her hand at the last second, Ryan walked through the portal alone.
A small ball of light appeared before him, his eyes widening as he saw the world disappear into nothingness.
He felt an instant rush of cold air hit his face, then came to stop with an audible thud on what seemed like solid ground.
Ryan stood up, feeling himself again, noticing how uncomfortable standing in a different environment made him feel.
After a few seconds, he turned to look around to scan his environment. He could see some massive trees off in the distance. 'A forest?' The trees were so large that they seemed to reach into the heavens and grab ahold of the stars.
Ryan checked his surroundings and noticed no sign of any animals besides a flock of birds flying overhead. They were chirping loudly enough for Ryan to want to cover his ears.
Looking back toward the portal entrance, he saw something that caught his eye: The portal was different from the one he saw in the courtyard.
Ryan activated energy vision and saw that the energy contained within this portal was multiple times bigger than the one in the courtyard.
Ryan got a sinking feeling in his gut when suddenly the portal disappeared, taking all traces of itself along with it.
With only being able to sense the size difference between these two portals, he couldn't tell if he had gone to another realm... or a real planet with intelligent life. All he knew was that he wasn't on the planet he was meant to go to.
Ryan shrugged his shoulders, "Whatever."
'Either way, in five days, I can go back.'
He started walking to see where he might end up.
'I guess I should try to gather resources before nightfall,' Ryan thought, 'maybe I'll even run into some monsters.'
'Hopefully, there will be some free exp,' Ryan thought, licking his lips.
===
Back on Ravier…
The Duchess reclined on her plush purple couch, slowly stroking her beloved Voolf, the pure white wolf she raised from a young pup.
On the hologram floating in front of her, she watched as the participants catapulted through the portal and landed on the new planet.
She had bribed and forced the thin announcer to put an extra spell on the students that would track and give her sight. She had switched out the portal and changed it from a G-Rank portal to an 'official' portal at the F-Rank, which she knew Emily could handle since she had received a heavenly screen thanks to Ryan.
'Although there is a chance of something going wrong… no, what are the odds of that?'
'I wish that kid wasn't a maniac that went up against a whole empire,' the Duchess thought as she lamented.
===
After a couple of hours of wandering through the woods, Ryan still hadn't found a single living soul other than himself, yet he felt like people weren't far behind him and maybe even watching him.
Even though he tried to look around for anyone else, his main focus was getting something that could help him destroy the human empire.
Although it looked like his chances of that were slim to none…
As the sun set, Ryan noticed something glowing above his head. A tree was giving off a faint glow so bright that Ryan's eyes didn't want to follow its path upward. He reached out for support, touched the base of the tree, and was surprised by how warm it was compared to the air around it.
It must have been getting closer to evening because Ryan felt a little chilly, so he leaned on it for warmth.
Looking at it closely, he saw that it seemed almost too symmetrical. Even when he looked directly up, he saw no branches or leaves… not even bark on any part of the trunk.
It looked almost manmade... but who would build an enormous tree?
Walking up to the tree, he realized it had multiple trunks instead of one. The thickest trunk had two large rings forming, each ring having two smaller circles stacked together, which gave them an odd three-ringed appearance.
Touching one of those larger, thicker rings, Ryan found it warm to touch, his finger making a dull sound against it. It didn't feel like a natural material; it felt like stone or metal.
Jumping back in surprise, Ryan received a notification.
[New Quest: Xygar Race Inheritance]
[Description: The goal is to discover the identity of your race and its legacy for the universe. To accomplish this, speak with the god known as 'The Old Man' within the ancient city ruins, and complete his test.]
[Accept / Decline]
[You accept the quest 'Xygar Race Inheritance'.]
Ryan accepted without hesitation.
With all that had happened since waking up on Ravier's planet, he needed a good distraction to keep his mind from dwelling on anything else that might be going on right now. It was worth a shot if it helped him become stronger than ever.
A roar rose from the depths of the Earth, shaking the tree so hard it broke from its base into two pieces. The top half fell towards the ground, the bottom falling on the other side; both crashed down upon the Earth. Trees toppled all around. Animals screamed and fled.
Ryan watched from a safe distance, already having headed into the forest. 'Show off,' Ryan thought, seeing the heavens show of "strength".
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel