Is this really a Game?!



Shadow and the others stared at the spot, some of their auras flaring up, making the soldiers, as well as the general, sweat.

"Please don't worry, the voice has taken him to some place, he will be unharmed, we merely have to wait here until the voice tells me to repeat what I previously did and bring him back." The general said, his face covered in sweat, his arms slightly shaking while he was panting.

He had used quite a lot of energy to activate whatever was found in the center of the cave. Luckily for him, the sweating, shaking and lack of breath was because his body had expended a lot of mana quickly, something he wasn't used to doing.

He needed to take a rest in order to get himself back to his peak condition, which won't be possible if Shadow and the rest continue staring at him as if they were going to rip him to shreds any moment now.

Upon hearing his words, they controlled themselves, sealing their auras inside of them and simply waiting. If Reign didn't return in a couple of hours, there would be hell to pay as they would personally slaughter everybody present, except for the general who knew how to bring him back.

They had come here voluntarily since Reign deemed the general trustworthy, but the others didn't share his feelings that much, especially Wolf who disliked trusting people he had just met.

Up till now, however, Reign had yet to be wrong when it came to judging people. Those he deemed as trustworthy usually were trustworthy, with the exception of Carlos who had managed to fool them all.

None of them knew why Reign was able to sense when people were trustworthy or not and simply believe the reason was because of his powers, which they were partly right. With the ability to sense souls, even before Reign had managed to unlock his powers, he was able to gauge people with it.

People that were not trustworthy, those that were scum, liked to scheme and the like would usually give Reign a bad vibe, which was the result of him unintentionally sensing their rotten souls, while those who were good would usually give him a warm feeling, making him trust them easier.

As for the person in question, he found himself in a cave, if one could call the place he was in as a cave.

The ceiling was god knows how high up, at the very minimum it was 1k high, perhaps even higher.

Reign could not even see the walls of the cave, but he was certain he was in one thanks to him barely being able to see the ceiling.

But what drew his attention was not the place he was in, but what he could see in its center.

A massive pillar of blue light rose to the ceiling, and from it, Reign could sense a massive amount of energy. He was certain that not even Transcendents had such power.

In front of the pillar that was actually a couple of hundred meters in front of him, Reign could see a silhouette of a person. He started walking toward the silhouette, only to find himself crossing tens of meters with a mere step.

"Spatial powers and it seems they don't come from an array." Aethion's voice echoed in his mind, calming Reign down.

He continued walking forward, each of his steps crossing tens of meters before he was about 10 meters behind the silhouette. It was a person, one that was about 2 meters tall.

A massive sword could be seen on his back, one that had many runes engraved on it while a thick fur coat was wrapped around his shoulders.

The person turned around, allowing Reign to see him. Even with the blue light shining around the person, Reign was able to easily see his face.

His hair was of medium length and was standing straight on top of his head, while the sides were cut short, with barely any hair visible. He had thick and sharp eyebrows, with eyes as sharp as they were, perhaps even a bit sharper. A normal-looking nose and average lips with a razor-sharp jawline that was cleanly shaved.

He wore a suit of armor, one that looked old by design, but seemed brand new. Fur and metal decorated his entire body as he was in the suit of armor, making his frame seem even larger than it was.

"It's truly a pleasure to finally meet you, Reign." The man suddenly said as he smiled at Reign with a friendly expression.

"I've been wanting to call you over for quite some time, alas circumstances didn't allow for it, until now." 

Reign stared at the friendly face of the man who suddenly extended his hand. Reign's eyes widened as he was about to summon his swords, only to stop as he realized the man was only extending his hand in order to have a handshake.

'Aethion, what was that, he just extended his hand, and yet, it was as if a wild animal was about to pounce on me, my instinct was screaming at me that I was about to be attacked.' Reign asked Aethion before shaking the man's hand, only for the latter to quickly scratch the back of his head.

"Apologies, I sometimes forget that each action I made can be interpreted quite … differently than it was intended to be, I've been awake for only a little bit, so I sometimes forget to control my body and aura properly, not to mention the fact that I have been alone here since the game started."

"So you're the one that was speaking to the general, the one that brought the entire city below the ground and instructed them on how to draw in mana to their body so they can become more powerful?" Reign asked with some apprehension as the man nodded.

"Correct, me bringing the cities below the ground was somewhat of an instinct as it occurred the moment I woke up, I felt the power of that damned system covering the planet, so I brought them below, in places where the system cannot reach them."

"Unfortunately, even without the system, the massive mana influx was enough to make portals appear everywhere, bringing forward monsters that weren't supposed to appear right away, so even the underground became dangerous, leaving me with no other option but to start teaching people how to use mana."

"My mind was still a bit hazy back then, so I was only able to instruct them on the basics, it took some time to remember some higher grade manuals and techniques that could allow them to draw mana into their body faster, and with  better efficiency."

"Why do that, I can see you dislike the system, that much is evident from the anger in your voice, but why?"

"And why the hell wouldn't I hate it?" The man suddenly asked with a chilling voice as Reign gulped. The negative feelings that the man had for the system flooded the entire cave with anger and killing intent, making Reign's body shiver unconditionally until the man realized what he was doing and stopped it.

"Sorry, but it's a long story, one that you are not ready to hear, not yet at least."

"But the system, although helpful to people, is not as nice and friendly as it may seem, just keep that in mind, don't let it have access to all your secrets and thoughts."

This was the second time somebody was telling Reign something like this, and the third time somebody was clearly hostile to the system. Both Raziel and the man in front of him had told him to not trust the system, while Jared, although not telling him that, was clearly not fond of the system either.

The AI had been fused with Reign and had even browsed through his memories a couple of times in order to better understand Reign, what he had gone through, and what was happening right now. Jared mostly kept to himself, not bothering Reign nor Aethion, and simply spectated what was happening, only that right now, it appeared next to Aethion, staring at the man that Reign was talking with.

"You know him?" Aethion asked Jared who shook his head.

"Negative, but he is familiar, my database has a recollection about this person, but everything seems to be sealed, not allowing me to access it until the boss is stronger."

"Who are you, why did you want to see me, after all, you are capable enough to transport whole cities down here and can even block off the system, what would a person like you want from me?" Reign asked the man who chuckled upon hearing the word 'person'.

"You still haven't figured it out, even after I brought you to the core, and have shown you what I used to look like?" The man asked Reign before pointing behind him.

"That old ghost inside of you should be familiar with this, it's not the same as it was on his planet, but it should be familiar enough, try sensing it."

Reign glanced at the man with confusion before trying to sense the energy in the pillar, only to be unable to recognize it, as for Aethion, his eyes were opened wide.

'Boy, I know who he is.'

'Yeah, I think I figured it out as well.' Reign said with a serious expression on his face as he remembered when he felt a familiar aura. It was back when Beast was injured and the remnants of the energy the Transcendent had used were around him.

"You, you're the planet, its will, aren't you?" Reign asked the man who smiled widely at him once again.