Waving goodbye to his friends, who were still sitting at the dining room table, the plates were gone, and just their drinks were left on the table. Stepping through the portal, Theo saw quite a few giant ants—more than he could count with a glance. Seeing his niece jumping around and aiming for their eyes, killing each ant with a single blow, Theo summoned the chains on his arms and started bashing the remaining ants, which were around 10. With the first one, Theo killed it; it was strange: instead of the crunch of the carapace, it sounded like shearing metal. After the chain collided with the ant, it left an indentation in the ant's body, as you would see with a piece of metal. Theo used the Identify on the ant.
Cave Ant Level 15.
“Low level, but damn, they’re durable,” Theo thought.
After all 10 were smashed. Theo had the chains wrapped around his arms again, and then they faded back into his body.
Grace said with a gasping breath, “What… are you… Doing here?”
“I came here to save you,” Theo said.
“Does… it looks like… I need saving?” Grace snapped back.
Theo took in his surroundings: to give Grace a moment to catch her breath, what he could see was a fairly large plateau on the side of a mountain. Around them, a mountain range. Judging by what he could see over the edge of the plateau, they were pretty far up the mountain. On the other side of the plateau, there was a cave entrance.
“From this fight, no, but from the situation, yes, it seems like you need help,” Theo said.
Grace took a while to get her breath back, then she responded, “Who do you think you are? I am not some Damsel in distress that needs your saving.”
Theo realized that Grace didn’t recognize him, which isn’t too unbelievable, since the last time she saw him, he looked much older and out of shape. Now he looked like a man in his mid-20s, with a lean build. And he was also wearing a helmet, taking it off and putting it in his storage ring. Theo got an evil smirk, a laugh in his voice.
“I’m sorry, my lady, I did not know “Grace you with” my presence would offend you so much. I’ll have to take my leave,” Theo said.
Grace groaned, then stared at Theo, and then a light bulb went off in her mind, and her eyes widened.
“You know I hate puns, Uncle Theo, and you look a lot younger than the last time I saw you,” Grace said.
“Thank you. For the compliment, and I know you hate puns, but I think they’re pretty punny,” Theo said with a smile.
“For the love of God, stop!” Grace said.
“Okay, I will,” Theo said.
Grace went up to Theo and hugged him.
“I’m glad to see you, but my question from earlier still stands: how in the hell are you here? From the system message, it said teleporting to Earth will be random.”
“First off, I have a bloodline, and I assume you have it as well because it did not say that I’m the bloodline origin.”
“Yes, I have the Bloodline Fortitude. What does this have to do with you being here?” Grace asked.
“Well, it’s a part of it, so I’ll start from the beginning, so it makes sense. When it came to the tutorial, I chose the solo tutorial first. The system recognized that I had a bloodline and catered the tutorial to it. I fought creatures that did mental damage, physical damage, and soul damage, which freaking sucked. I reached level 25 and decided to join the group tutorial. I found out later from a system helper that the system used me to get rid of someone who had a bloodline to control people and make them into his slaves. Tim tried to do it to the system helpers, and because of that, he lost the system’s protection. I was sent to Tim’s town to deal with him, unknowingly, at the time that I was deliberately sent to Tim’s town, and I saw how evil he was and how much human trash he was. So I took him out, like the trash he is, and by doing this, as a system helper told me, I gained a favor or a boon, as you could say, from the system, so I used the favor to be teleported to you,” Theo explained.
“How do you know he was evil or that those people were being mind-controlled? They could have followed him underneath their own will, like a charismatic cult leader?” Grace asked.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“I have a skill called Warden Sight, where I can see the karma of an individual, and what I saw was a black tar substance consuming the karma of individuals, which is represented as Yin and Yang. When I saw Tim, his soul was nothing but this black tar that, when I looked at it, gave off a feeling of such malice that I swear it was almost physical,” Theo said.
“Your profession is Warden; how come you have the profession? I figured my dad would have that profession because he was an actual warden before the integration.” Grace said
“First off, I was a Warden in my old job, mostly in temporary prisons,” Theo said
“Oh, the job that you never talk about and still to this day, Mom and Dad and everyone else just say that you work for the government—that job?” Grace said with a raised eyebrow.
With a chuckle, “Yes, that job, I worked for the Domestic Security Division, my role before the system arrived was to maintain or create safe houses for DSD agents in the country, and, as I said, some of these operations needed temporary prisons. The reason why no one in our family talked about it is that your mother did not approve of what I did; she believes that someone needs to be tried and convicted before imprisonment. But when you have a known terrorist who bombed multiple cities in Europe and is now in the United States, well, some people just need to disappear,” Theo said.
“I see that makes a lot of sense. Mom is a firm believer in the judicial system. I do have another question: What is the realm of Gehenna?” Grace asked.
“You would know that if you accept the system request. Anyway, before I answer, why didn’t you accept the invitation?” Theo needled.
Grace squirmed a bit in a subdued, quiet voice, “I promised my friends that I’ll meet them there on earth, and I was tired of being cooped up in the tutorial and wanted to see what the changes on earth are, and I also didn’t want to deal with mom and dad trying to dictate what I should do.”
“I get it, to answer your question, Gehenna is the offspring of the realm known as….” Theo paused. Grace gave Theo an eye roll, and with a chuckle, Theo said
“Tartarus”
Grace was stunned for a second, then said, “The Tartarus, you’re telling me that place is real? I read in the library about karma connections, even in non-integrated systems, places, and names have so much weight behind them that they resonate through the multiverse.”
“Yes, it’s real. I have not been there myself, though, but we do need to go to Gehenna,” Theo said
“And pray tell, how will we get there?” Grace said while throwing up her hands.
Theo did not speak, but he acted. All four chains appeared on his body, then unraveled and landed on the floor, moving a couple of feet away from him. They turned into a ritual circle, glowing red. Runes appeared on the chains; it looked as if fire were dancing on them. Inside the ritual circle, the air began to shimmer. In the middle of the ritual circle, a crack in reality started to form. Within a second, a portal opened inside the ritual. It was tall enough for Theo to walk into it easily, and on the other side of the portal, Theo could see his office.
“This is how,” Theo said
Walking in grace trailed behind him as they entered his office, with the wooden desk and a leather chair. Pictures of landscapes hanging on the wall, dark brown rugs on the stone floor, and the fireplace radiated warmth throughout the room, creating a cozy ambiance. And hanging on the mantel of the fireplace was a decorative sword. After both walked through the portal, it shut behind them.
“Why is it so important for me to come here any…?” Grace trailed off as she received a message
Theo saw that Grace looked like she was focused on something, probably reading the message sent from Gehenna.
“pseudo-immortality,” Grace mumbled.
“Okay, I agree with you, it was stupid of me not to come here first. I should have accepted with the rest of the family. I assumed you sent this invitation to them as well, and speaking of which, where are they?” Grace asked.
“About that, they all left to search for you, and I was busy with other things and didn’t check the system message to go to earth, so I was not aware that I could teleport to you, and they all left before I checked it,” Theo said
Grace laughed, " Well, that’s good. I get to put off dealing with mom and dad a little bit longer.”
“What’s your deal with them anyway?” Theo asked
“They’re so pushy and still act like I’m a kid that needs their direction; they were trying to dictate what colleges I should go to, what major I should have. It’s my life, I can decide for myself, that is one example I can give, plenty more,” Grace said
“Okay, I get it. Also, while I am thinking of it, hey, Gehenna, can you set a message through the bond saying Grace is fine and I found her?” Theo said
“Yes, I can do that,” Gehenna said
“Nice to meet you, Gehenna,” Grace said
“It is nice to meet you, the niece of Theo,” Gehenna said
“Out of curiosity, how do you know Uncle Theo anyway?” Grace asked
Theo was curious what Gehenna would say. He knows its situation, but not in detail about the day they meant from its point of view.
“For what I am a genius locorum, I am a God in my domain, but since I am pseudo-divine and have not stepped into being a full God, I can’t act outside my domain, but I can have a representative by binding someone to me, which so happened to be your uncle,” Gehenna said
“Could you bind with anyone, and what makes Uncle Theo so special that you bond to him?” Grace asked
In the bonding process, you have the lesser bond and the greater bond. And also a true bond. There is more to it, but I’m not going to go into depth on the classifications of bonds, but what you need to know is that Theo is my warden and acts on my behalf outside my realm,” Gehenna said
“What does it mean to be bonded exactly?” Grace asked
“To be bonded, there’s a connection between two beings' souls. Each individual is different; everyone has different beliefs and different backgrounds. And someone for what represents lesser, greater, or a true bond is the compatibility of the two beings. Your uncle and I are very compatible in our instincts and base nature. Yes, our experiences shape us, but our instincts are in alignment,” Gehenna said.
“That’s cool, but you haven’t answered how you guys met,” Grace said
Well, I was looking for someone compatible by observing beings that were teleporting through space, and then I sensed Theo, and I brought him here and tried to communicate with him, but since he was not integrated with mana, there is no way for me to communicate except for what I did earlier, a system message,” Gehenna said
Theo did not add that Gehenna basically strong-armed him into being its Warden, but it worked out in the end, so Theo asked a question instead: “I was wondering how you can do that?”
“I am a God in my own realm. I can do almost anything in here,” Gehenna said
“Theo turned to Grace, " You could get some food and get some upgrades to your gear while you’re here, and you can head back to earth if you want,” Theo said
“What, you’re not coming back with me?” Grace said.
“I wasn’t planning on it,” Theo said
Grace had a melancholy look on her face and was about to say something, but Theo saw the look and spoke first,
“If you want, I can come with you and help you get out of the mountain range,” Theo said
Grace’s face lit up. “Yes, I would like that,” Grace said
“Hey, Gehenna, could you tell the staff to make some food for Grace?” Theo said
“I can do that,” Gehenna said
“Wait, you have a staff here?” Grace said
“Yes, it was one of the system rewards that I could hire a spectral staff for 100 years.”
“That’s pretty cool,” Grace said
" While you run off and get some food, I’m going to check out one of the items I got from the system store,” Theo said
“And what’s that?” Grace asked
“A training room,” Theo said with a smile.
