Strongest Among the Heavens
Chapter 298: The Wanderer

Chapter 298: The Wanderer

?? POV

Standing on a cliffside at the edge of the world was what any studied person would call a traditional wizard. Long black robes, circular glasses, and green eyes. In his hand was a thick, multi-thousand page book. He managed to make holding it appear simple.

The Wanderer was reading when he had glanced over his book. From across the dark world, certainly hundreds of kilometers away, he saw Akihiko’s kill and whistled. "Not bad. Not bad at all."

His gaze flicked back down to the book. He smiled. "The Hidden Objectives won’t be completed this time around, it seems. That’s a shame. I liked this group. They were funny. Especially the girl with the gum."

The Wanderer hummed. "Odin’s Eye is developing far too well. Much more than in previous generation." He tilted his head. "Oh? Not only that but...the first Valknut has already manifested. Huh."

He tilted and tilted and tilted until his head was in an unnatural angle.

"Has he...Ascended? The way his mana flows within him, there is no minute mistake. No waste. Ah, but he’s freshly awakened. No wonder. His soul and mind are too far ahead of his body. The true abilities of an Ascendent has yet to be awakened, as it should be. No one has ever Ascended this quickly. Deviations from the norm are to be expected. To Ascend means to be forcibly injected with Class Nine levels of mana and not only to live, but to learn and understand. The strongest of the strongest, a power worth the universe, and for a feeble human body to comprehend it. You could a million, a billion, no, a trillion mortals and never find a human who could do it. But anamolies exist. Geniuses exist. Geniuses beyond geniuses exist."

The Wanderer stood. He stared. For once, he did not understand.

"Kazi Hossain...just who is this man? I doubt Thales intended for someone so...willed to wield it." His head returned to its normal angle. "He needs to die."

Silence.

"Or does he? He could be useful."

More silence.

"I should think on this. Yes, I should think before I do something I regret. I was here to check on the newly awakened Anti-Magic Swordsman. I should keep searching for them."

The Wanderer looked away from the efforts of man and up at the sky. He laughed. "You gods really don’t care, do you? Only watching when it amuses. Only caring for the efforts of man when it is epic and never when it’s truly hard. Even in this world, I wonder why people choose to believe in you. You are no different from the leaders of man. You can be messiac. You can be great. But you are oh-so flawed."

A loud breath that seemed happy, almost. He started walking and peered over his shoulder. His smile was wide and the brim of his black wizard hat his eyes.

"I wonder, Kazi Hossain. To change the future so much, will you be able to create a beam of light through the darkness? Will you vanquish our doomed judgement or die trying?"

A hole ripped up into the sky, and through that hole, was the world between worlds. A sky of endless letters and languages. The Wanderer entered the world and disappeared.

***

And so, the Wanderer arrived at Gate 13. Fog clouded his view. Long, tall redwood trees lay proud on the soil. The Wanderer could not see them. The fog was immensely thick.

"The Gate of Impossible Navigation. Even I cannot peer through this fog."

The Wanderer sat in a hole inside the redwood tree, relaxing. He enjoyed these times of peace. The mindless staring. The nothingness. In the Heavenly Games, that was rare.

"This is a shock. I cannot leave either. Somebody shut this gate down. Whose work could this be? Thales? Impossible." The Wandered hummed and read his thick book. "I wonder...can players leave?"

He hopped from his carved spot and began walking. Sooner or later, he would encounter someone. Sooner happened than later and he did in the form of a pretty blonde loudly counting her steps.

"Thirty-seven, thirty-eight, thirty-nine..."

"Hello!"

"The fuck-!" The blonde stopped and swung her staff toward him. She was one inch from hitting him too. "Who is that? Who goes there?"

She could not see. This close, nearly three feet away, and she could not see the face of the Wanderer. He smiled a smile that would forever be forgotten. "You are Samantha."

Samantha froze. Her grip on her staff tightened. "...no, I’m not. Who are you? A player?"

"Did you know the System does not bless you with the names of others? That is the Heavenly Tower. Why do you think you cannot see names in the White Abyss? Or in this particular gate? Or some others?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Oh goodness, I talk too much. I am the Wanderer and I do have a simple question if you don’t mind, my lady."

His jovial, gentleman tone did not reassure her. This lady was the cautious type. "What is it, friend?"

Friend. Ah, such an intimate term. This woman was a risk-taker. "Can you leave?"

"This gate? No." She did not relax as she said, "So you are a player."

"Am I?"

"Yes, obviously. We all know the people of the Heavenly Tower are NPCs."

An new term. Intriguing. "NPCs...?"

"It means..." She seemed to squint, contemplating if it was worth telling him, if this was some test. "...they’re not real people."

The Wanderer laughed. He laughed so hard that Samantha took a step back. He laughed and laughed until he decided to turn and walk away. The noise from his lips was a mystical thing and only one woman would remember it. Samantha who would recount her steps to return to her desecrated team and inform them of a man that they believed she hallucinated.

"Haahh...they still don’t know." The Wanderer calmed down his laughter. "I am glad they can be so comfortable. The truth is always frightening."

The Wanderer suddenly stopped.

"Frightening indeed. I just realized I have no idea where I’m going."

The laugh hollowed through the fog once more.

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