Gate Culture

If someone were to ask Magnus who the most resilient people are, it would be the Otherworlders.

The moment he walked out of the Gate, he spotted a line of people, seemingly waiting for their turn to enter the Gate.

Different groups would enter and exit at different times, and Magnus was surprised that a system was already in place. Such an event told Magnus that the time difference between the Tyrm Gate and Thare was also 1:1. There was also no way to meet other people inside the Gate.

'It's like an instance dungeon...' Magnus thought as he moved.

The moment he stepped out, though, several eyes locked onto him.

'Shit,' Magnus swore to himself, 'These people are probably part of a faction, and I'm the odd one out.'

Lightly tapping the ground, Magnus acted as if his Blessing wasn't gravity-based. He whizzed past the line of people hoping to enter the Gate and rushed into the forest.

"HALT!"

A voice called out, but Magnus just pulled his hood lower as he did parkour under weakened gravity. He moved as swift as the wind and as light as a feather.

His pursuers were around the 2-star threat rating, allowing Magnus to sigh in relief.

He was going to lose them the old fashioned way through speed.

He weaved through the forest's branches and leapt over trees and rivers. Magnus descended slopes as if he did not care about sticking the landing. His flips, whether front or backflips, were beautiful to watch as he pulled himself forward.

It was through his great freerunning experience did he lose his pursuers. He did not have to use the signature disappearing act that could be tied to him.

He did not abruptly disappear with a flash of light.

And that was important, as Magnus was not sure if they saw his face under his hood.

He did not want to be associated with the main cause of the Apocalypse of Monsters. Not now, not yet.

'I'll show my face in Midseer,' Magnus thought to himself.

Perhaps that would dissuade their association of him if he had been sighted in a distant place at around the same time.

'I still have to deal with the Emerald Twilight, after all,' Magnus thought that this was a good one-stone-two-kills action.

Swiftly, Klaris appeared and stole a One-Time Transport Scroll from the Mirror World.

Magnus then filled it up with the required writings and soon, he found himself back in Midseer. He appeared where he had left, which was a pleasant surprise, as he had used another alleyway for his needs.

Walking out of the alleyway, Magnus joined the bustling crowd of Midseer and searched for a hotel to stay in.

'So expensive...' Magnus saw all the prices and was astounded.

A 1-star person would surely be unable to properly live here. Only a 2-star human would have the ability to find a job and earn enough money to just barely meet the living costs.

'So this is why Hughe mentioned that 6 thousand dollars being a few years worth of salary for a 1-star person... The monthly costs here in Midseer must be around a thousand per month.'

If 1-star humans had annual pay in the hundreds, 2-stars had an annual pay in the thousands. And 3-star humans had an annual pay in the tens of thousands.

Eventually, Magnus found the hotel he wanted to stay in.

It was a cheap place to stay, thankfully.

At only around 20 dollars a night, it was a deal comparable to Quarteridge.

Magnus was finally able to escape the chilly air and enjoy some comfortable warmth indoors.

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Magnus continued his plans over the next three days— which were many and very time-heavy.

He first sold all the loot he had accumulated from staying in the Tyrm Gate for several days. He also had to go back to Quarteridge once to sell the fruit he needed to sell to Hughe.

He emptied out three Mirror World Storage Scrolls, putting up his earnings into the 12,000 number. He was still a ways to go before being able to pay for his tuition, but now that he was stronger, surely that number would eventually be reached.

Magnus also noticed the Emerald Twilight. He was able to spot the green-haired woman he had once met out of the corner of his eyes.

Panicked, he instantly switched with Javelin at the first chance he got and disappeared from their area.

'They indeed have a way to sense me,' Magnus confirmed that fact. It was going to be hard to cover up his tracks.

Unless...

'Unless there are a bunch of people with fates tied with the undead..?' An evil thought appeared in Magnus' head at that moment.

He cackled.

"Kukuku~ I can totally steal that ring back and make everyone I see touch it."

Magnus instantly got to work as he evilly eyed the dense crowd around him. Klaris stole the ring from the Mirror World, and Magnus held it once again in his palm.

"What a beautiful ring," He admired the deep green colour of its material.

After a quick moment of admiration, Magnus got to work. He moved throughout the city, touching people with his Ring of Undead Fate.

It would surely bind a lot of people to a fate similar to his.

What this meant for the future?

Magnus was excited to find out.

He decided to make touching people with the ring a daily routine before he eventually throws it away to some jeweller.

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"Madame!" Liam gasped as he knocked on Blaze's door, "I have sensed a sudden, massive spike in people with undead fates!"

Opening the door to her office hurriedly, Blaze pulled Liam inside.

"Tell me more. Just what happened? Don't we have the Ring of Undead Fate in our possession?" She asked with a raised brow, but the concern could be seen on her face.

"I don't know. All I know is that the destinies of many people have suddenly shifted! I can't explain the feeling, but that is what my Blessing is for, right? Silent Angel of Purification is a sensory-type."

Suddenly, Blaze felt her phone ring.

"Blaze here; what is it about?" Blaze picked up the call and asked with stitched brows.

"We have an emergency. The Ring of Undead Fate has disappeared from our very eyes. It has been stolen." A muffled voice spoke.

Blaze's eyes dilated.

"What?! How?!" She demanded.

"We don't know. If there is anything you discover, please report to us right away. We currently have zero leads and no idea of who the perp could be."

Blaze's eyes glanced over Liam who was standing in front of her.

"I have something that might help..."

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Blissfully unaware of Emerald Twilight's panic, Magnus continued doing his own thing. He frequented the Tyrm Gate but did it in secret this time. While he was there, he would have Klaris use Mirror World Thief as much as possible and steal a boatload of resources.

"I'm going to be rich," Magnus laughed to himself as he saw the Storage Scrolls, the rare lightning fruits, and the special stone material he had once found in the Ancient Era of Thare.

It turned out that it was called Illuminite, and it was an amazing material to make weapons with. It was metallic in nature, almost like steel by itself. When properly refined, it would reflect a rainbow of lights like an RGB gaming peripheral.

It was when it naturally glowed in the dark did it have the ability to cut 3-star beings. It was a rare resource and Magnus was going to have fun with his monopoly on it.

While enjoying his time selling items for a lot of money, and bumping up his savings to 20k dollars, Magnus learned about how the world was dealing with the Apocalypse of Monsters.

"It doesn't seem like an apocalypse at all..." Magnus smiled wryly as he thought about all the things that the Otherworld Trials must have thrown at everyone living in this world.

Their ability to adapt to a big change was astounding.

Factions were now fighting over control over different Pocket Worlds that had a high likelihood of creating Gates. Some also auctioned off powerful Gates that had a large chance of having a Gate Overflow if they did not have the power to deal with it.

Squads of treasure-seekers were setting off left and right to harvest what seemed to be endless treasures inside the Gates.

All in all, the likelihood that Gate Overflows was going to happen seemed to be slim.

By natural standards.

Of course, some unknown Gates were probably going to be overflowing, but without people living around them, what damage could they deal? There were some people on the MagiNet speaking about the possibility of a monster tide, and many agreed.

It was something that the factions had already taken note of, however. Their prophets and Scribes were helpful information gatherers.

Magnus was simply astonished.

If it had been an ordinary Earth, this Apocalypse of Monsters would indeed be an apocalypse. Here on Thare, it was an everyday occurrence as it seemed.

In fact, it seemed like this event was even looked upon in a positive light.

A news reporter said,

"This is an era of prosperity. We must thank our newest members, the Earthlings, for the wonderful gifts."

It left Magnus recalling why his first Trial was to cause a Gate Overflow, and why there didn't seem to be a time limit.

It was a Personal Trial, and if he never completed it, he wouldn't be able to make rapid leaps in his growth. Simple as that.

"I need to work harder," Magnus hyped himself up and dove as deep as he could into the cave-like system of Tyrm's Gate.

He started sacrificing members of the Hivemind to deal as much damage to the nests as possible.

His original body even died a few times as Magnus discovered this new way of fighting.

It was like a game and he had infinite lives.

"HAAAAAA!" Magnus roared a roar that made his vocal cords bleed as he sacrificed his body. He burst out in an explosion of flames that engulfed the snake-like monster that curled around him.

Klaris, who was meditating somewhere in the distance once again invoked Mirror World Thief, took another Magnus out of the Mirror World and then assimilated him into the Hivemind.

This repeated for several days as Magnus devoured souls to replenish his spending.

He had to put off training for the time being as he went wild and feral.