Chapter 2:The Librarian

The rain that had threatened to fall since Sebastian had woken up in that new world, finally began to do so, first little by little and then unleashing a torrential downpour that soon soaked his clothes and his whole body, but, unfortunately, he was too concentrated on the creature in front of him to worry about it...

As he watched in terror from the ground, the dead tree woman uprooted herself with a crunch, while a perfidious smile adorned her disgusting mouth covered with bulbous wooden knots!

-Fufufu...-despite her horrible being, her voice sounded strangely mellow, seeming to enjoy the rain or the boy's terror, perhaps both...perhaps neither your parents nor your teachers taught you to be more careful...

-Sebastian cried out in an attempt to get up from the mud and stand up to run away, but he could not do it because of his clumsy body.

-Even the growers in the deep realm of the boom know not to approach the Forest of Perpetual Weeping...-he murmured with disdain while his yellowish eyes glowed with greed and his straw-colored hair dripped with water...as you thought that you, a small open person could live long in this place...

-No...I have no idea what you are talking about!...-the boy, who had barely managed to stand up, bursts out in response-...don't come any closer or...!

Unexpectedly, from the rotten wooden skirts of the tree woman, hundreds of fine roots sprouted with a shocking crack, something that impressed Sebastian to the core, before his eyes shrank to the size of a needle as he watched those whips fly at him!

The boy only managed to turn around with the instinct to run, when the roots clung cruelly to his neck, arms and legs, and began to pull him slowly!

Sebastian, who had never felt such a heavy grip on his body in his life, quickly knew he was pulling slowly because he wanted the panic to cloud his mind before he could stop!

He saw how it was having an effect, even though he was pushing with all his available strength without being able to get out of it by even half a centimeter! .... clearly felt the rough wood of the roots crushing his trachea...in fact, that was the only reason why he could not scream!:...every time he opened his mouth, incomprehensible babbling was all that came out!

-Why do you want to escape?...I ask languidly the tree woman-...maybe she is not so pretty as to make you stay?...how cruel you are, you hurt this little sister so much!...you must be punished!...

A burning pain spread through the torso of the boy then, who was going to scream but only managed to give a moan drowned out while his eyes reddened by the multiple blood veins, which seemed to explode!

The vicious smile on the monster's face only became more acute when he saw how the root he had used to hit Sebastian's back had made a deep cut!...and was returning to it soaked in fresh red blood!

-Aiya...you are much more fragile than I imagined!...you must excuse me, but I hadn't seen an opening in a little over three hundred years, and I really forgot how easy it is to rip them, hehehe!...-commented before throwing the root again!...

With the new blow, another torrent of burning pain sizzled over Sebastian's flesh, who still couldn't give even a miserable scream!

The whip roots did not cease to move and they threw themselves at the blows in dozens of times that were cracking in the air and in their own flesh!...

Blood spilled down his legs and soon he wet the back of his pants...

At this point and at this point of the punishment, Sebastian was not afraid for his life as he was at the beginning, but he was angry, angry with the circumstances in which he had been sent to that place and also with that abusive monster that was whipping him for fun!

Never in all his life had he been beaten without reason and for pure cruelty, by anyone!

With anger burning behind his eyes, he ignored the burning pain, turbulently as his breathing became heavy and labored, while using a blind force that burned his muscles, he turned his head just to give a baleful and cold look, refusing to utter even a gasp or a groan.

The monster woman, who possessed a twisted grimace of happiness as she beat him viciously, suddenly saw the cold and scornful look from those bloodshot eyes given by a simple openness, which saw her face of discontent a mile away... as if they had ruined her fun...

-Those eyes...-he nodded as he stopped the blows and squinted his own yellow eyes-...haven't they taught you that that disgusting look could make you lose your eyes?

The rain water was perceived then, particularly cold, making Sebastian feel as if he had been submerged in a block of ice and a million needles attacked his skin!

However, none of these sensations were enough to oppress the hatred he felt towards the creature, and therefore his hateful gaze did not cease to focus on the monster at any time!

The tree woman then snapped her tongue and two of her roots rose to the height of her face, suddenly acquiring a sharp and rigid form!

If looks could kill, then Sebastian's eyes would have opened holes in the monster when he saw how the roots were hurled towards them,...

He was looking to pluck out its eyes!

The boy, in spite of knowing it, cursed everything and everyone without stopping looking up as he resumed his struggle with the roots, he refused to even blink!

However, a rumble of thunder and water continued to fall without ceasing, but the roots never buried themselves in Sebastian's gray orbits...in fact, they had stopped just a few millimeters from his eyes!

As these were still open, he had clearly seen this but did not understand why the monster that had tortured him had stopped before he had finished mutilating him!

At first it was subtle, but then it became clear that the tree woman had begun to tremble. Sebastian noticed the tremors that were transmitted to the roots that were holding his neck and arms.

Outside of this reaction, the monster did not speak or anything, she seemed frozen in place without more!

The boy thought that something had affected her and that this could be an opportunity to escape from those whips, but when he tried, he really couldn't move them even a little bit from their place!...he was about to yell at the monster again, when, unpredictably, the woman tree looked at him a little more softly, and loosened the ropes on his extremities...

-Hey...you...what clan of the city are you a part of?...-musician, as if he had run out of the previous brutality...what...what is your name?...

-Go to hell!...-Masculating Sebastian while I continue to struggle-...let go of me with a damn v..!...

However, before he could finish talking, the roots tensed up and threw him away from where he had been fighting, causing his body to fly into the road hard!

-Damn it...damn it!...damn it!...-he bawled while he seemed to feel an imminent danger,before he simply turned around and tried to run away!...

With Sebastian being a prey from the beginning, and with its wide roots giving it great mobility, the tree monster certainly could have escaped from whatever it was avoiding...but a calm and gentle voice, something greater was clearly heard above the rain, thunder and the monster's terrified snorts or puffs...

-If you try to escape...three steps is all you will take before you die...-I announce, as if those words were an undeniable fact...

They contained no real threat, not even the coldness of hate...it was just a warning, like the one an old man gives to the young...

Sebastian, who suddenly lost all the impetus accumulated by the anger that the monster had given him, quickly felt overwhelmed by an invisible weight that pulled his shoulders and made the itch that seized his waist feel distant. ...but he still managed to see, thrown from where he was, a pair of shoes standing on the ground, belonging to a man who was advancing from the left side forward, standing without any fear in front of the monster...who seemed more and more terrified...

He was dressed entirely in light blue and protected himself from the rain with a wide hat that protected his entire thin body from the weather... but you could still see his white hair and as he walked more and more his voice, you could really tell he was an older man...

The boy tried to warn him, but the situation soon became blurred at intervals between his eyes, and his tongue had fallen asleep.

-I cannot allow you to kill this boy..." announced the old man, while he was speaking in a really boring tone...

-Why?!...why would someone like you?!...a grower like you protect a scumbag like this?!...-vocifero the monster woman-...it's just an open rank three!...it's at most the bastard son of some lowlife clan!...like a rotating core grower, why are you even in this part of the country?!...

An exhausted sigh was heard from the old man...

That's not a topic you can discuss...but how to save a life is more valuable than building a seven-story pagoda...I won't hurt you as long as you stand back...-I announce, without any weight behind it, since that old man looked even more fragile than Sebastian himself, who had been a toy all along for the creature, while this man looked like the monster's worst nightmare!

The face of the tree woman became incomparably bitter then, as she would have had to be the object of the greatest humiliation of her life...

Rauda took a look at Sebastian's body, which remained lying but very close to unconsciousness, before mumbling something meaningless and turning around in the rain...ready to leave...

However, before she could take two steps in a row, the old man stretched out a hand...

-And of course you give me the antidote for the poison you spread on his open wounds...

The creature almost stumbles...

-Don't force my hand!...-the tree woman cried-...I am a cultivator of the deep kingdom of the boom level 10 and you are a cultivator of the deep kingdom of the rotating nucleus level 1!...if you and I fight, I fear that in spite of everything you could not kill me and leave unharmed!...let me die!...I am already giving you enough face by leaving!...

An explosion emerged from the body of the old man then, a sonic sweep that frightened the water in the nearby area and rumbled throughout the area as a small tremor ...!

It was only for an instant, but a pressure and along with it an overwhelming fear, spread throughout the body of the woman tree, as if it were in the path of a great mountain incredible!

-The antidote...-he asked again, this time with a colder voice than before, but still kind.

However, the panic that crossed the creature's face remained for a while longer...

-For a second...for a second...your base crop shot up...up...who the hell are you?!..-I bark at the creature in a frenzy as he stood upright in his full height-...I refuse to believe that someone like that is in this sewer!...

-Think, believe and observe what you like...but it is a fact that you will die if you do not give me the antidote before the next thunderclap sounds...-said the old man still calm and with his hand outstretched...

-It must be a bluff!...yes!...a deep illusionary skill!...that's what it is!...I'll check it out next!...shouted the monster as he lifted twice as many roots as he had used against Sebastian and folded them all into one massive root!...

A stab from that would blow away any human who was stupid enough to try to receive it, that was the boy's increasingly cloudy thought!...however, he didn't stop there!

The tree woman began to scream as a strange light began to pulse through her entire body, pouring a great deal of heat into the root she had prepared and which burned with an intense green light!

Ghostly lamentations began to be heard, as if all the souls of the unfortunates she had hunted had been put into incredible torment!...at the same time the ground began to vibrate under her feet!

Horror had taken over the whole area when she saw the scene, something Sebastian had never seen in his dreams, much less in person!

But it was much more absurd, to see that in response to all that, the old man just sighed and hollowed out his palm, pointing towards the monster that seemed invincible!

-I knew it!...you are not such a powerful grower!...-the creature was ecstatic as he lifted the root behind his head and prepared to stab the old man, while the air around the whip sizzled and evaporated the water that fell on him-...he died!

With his scream, the root whistled and shot out into the old man's chest, stabbing the space towards him!

Sebastian thought he was going to see the man who had wanted to help him being destroyed by the force of that blow!...however, the fall of thunder marked a before and after!

Shining with a golden light, the old man blinked indifferently under the terrifying pressure that was coming and pushed towards the tree woman as if there was nothing but air in his path...

Under this seemingly insignificant gesture, the pressure of the creature, was swept away under a force even greater and more monstrous than he could have imagined, suddenly exploding in front of the monster!

A devastating destructive wave hit the root, causing it to burst and dissipate the spectral green light and continued on its way to the creature, destroying its left arm and practically its entire torso!...and with it practically unleashing a relentless vortex on the environment!

The same storm over their heads and the ground under their feet creaked and shook incomprehensibly from such a force!

After that, as it had begun, so it ended, and the destructive force that the old man had provoked dissipated into nothingness quickly, along with the storm clouds on the heights that had been swept away along with the power of the old man!

The last image that Sebastian was able to record in his retinas was the old man standing on a channel more than 30 meters long and 2 meters deep, illuminated by the light filtered from the clouds and the pressure of the wind that he had released in a single push from his palm!

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After an undetermined time, in which he did not know if it was too much or too little... the boy opened his eyes slowly...

The sensation of burning coming from his back low almost overwhelmed him, but for a moment he was grateful to have been lying face down or the only pressure of his body would have made him scream in pain ... so the first image he had was of the place where he had been deposited ...

He was on a kind of rustic bunk, wrapped in simple cloth sheets, noticing also that he was bandaged, not only from the waist but also from the neck, arms and legs... all the places where the roots had pressed until they lacerated his skin...

A light scented mist was saturating the environment, as if they had burned aromatic plants.

Sebastian discovered that he could move, ignoring of course the burning of his wounds, completely well, so he proceeded to turn on the bed...

I was inside a humble wooden room, illuminated by candlelight on a desk in front of the bunk where I was...being that that bed and that table was all there was in that place...except for the same old man sitting in front of the entrance, very busy with his back and apparently smoking quietly...

On his fingers he held a long pipe and released rings of gray smoke into the soft drizzle outside.

Quickly Sebastian remembered what that man had done and almost felt that he would faint again, when he saw him turning gently towards him, when the boy had done nothing but sit on the bed...

-Oh?...I see that you have woken up, little friend...-I commented while dedicating a smile to him with impeccable pearly teeth...

His hair, combed in a headdress over his head and crossed by sticks leaving the rest loose, beard, moustache and eyebrows were pure white, however you could hardly see wrinkles around his eyes unexpectedly golden ... The complexion of his face was healthy and tanned, as if he had been born in a land bathed by the sun and if you add his pleasant expression, really Sebastian could not help but feel safe in the presence of that man, who was but the first person he saw and treated him kindly since he arrived in that world.

His deep and resonant voice, combined with the blue clothes he was wearing, really gave the boy the wrong impression.

-God?

-God?...who?...me?...-I ask with surprise, without the warmth in his face being erased-...little friend, I think you are confused...

Sebastian would have reacted badly to the man, however he felt ashamed when he pointed out a mistake, so much so that he blushed...

-I'm sorry...I apologize, it's just that I thought I would almost die at the hands of that monster...thank you for saving me...-thank you while you were standing up...

-There is no need to mention it...although I am intrigued by how you committed the audacity to go into a forest like that without even having entered the deep realm of the settlement...-I comment with a musical smile, as the man also stood up and held a kettle that he had been heating outside the hunt, along with two small glasses...

A light of genuine bewilderment shines in Sebastian's eyes...

-I'm sorry, but...would you explain to me what is this about the deep kingdom of the settlement?...the monster kept talking about those kingdoms too and I found myself a little confused...-he said, before limiting himself even more, when he saw how the man's smile disappeared and a frowned gesture-...it's a long story and I...I...really don't know how...

-I'll explain...little friend, you may have lost your mind....... that's strange...I never knew of any poison from Cephirah that affects long term memories...I checked your body with deep energy and found no trace of it in your body after three hours...how can that be then?

The boy really wanted to lie to her, but when he saw the genuine interest in knowing why she was in the circumstances in which she was... he could not but testify as he said everything he knew.

He retained nothing, and he had been quite nervous lately, so that little bit of kindness made him throw all his experiences from the time he died to protect Marian until he woke up in that cabin.

By the time he finished speaking, it was night, the old man was getting his third cup of tea and Sebastian's had gotten cold in his hands...

The man had a solemn gesture of meditation on his face, carefully analyzing everything the young man had said in front of him...

-Young Sebastian...really, although I don't know what a "truck" or a "computer" is...I can't help but feel sorry for you...-I comment after having thought deeply about the subject...

-. I can't help but feel sorry for you," I said after thinking about it in depth.

The old man gave him such a look that he seemed to have pierced his whole body in one look...

-You suffer for the love of a woman... a woman whom you decide to save without thinking for a second, in spite of all the conflict that comes with being together... dying for your actions in a painful way, only to be expelled from everything you knew... and end up in a world in which you simply fall into the hands of a creature known not only for its cruelty but also for its danger...

-Heh...if you put it that way, the only good thing in a while has been to know you, sir...-said Sebastian while smiling at the man...

-But so far, the only thing that surprises me is that you came from a world where you don't know the profound strength...

Sebastian smiled with a complex...

-That's right...I had never heard of the deep force nor of the realms that you and the monster have mentioned...as well as I have never asked you the name...god...I reach out to sigh while covering my eyes...I don't know what to do...I was literally abandoned here...

-Hohoho...-the old man smiled as he put a hand on Sebastian's shoulder-...it is understandable that you do not know what to do, you have been removed from your element, what can you expect?...

-Lord I have depended on you to keep me alive...what can I do if not this?...-bufo defeated.

-I am a cultivator of the deep Kingdom of the Spinning Nucleus...to really thank me for such a small thing is not appropriate...

Sebastian smiled and woken up...

-Could you tell me more about these realms...why are they like this?...what is the difference between you and me?...or between you and that monster?...

The old man stood up again and extended his arms, manifesting a golden light in his body...

-The iridescence you see surrounding my body...is deep force.... the manifestation of the energy that circulates, flows and transcends our bodies...while our dominion over it ascends, we can project it, maintain it, use it to improve our bodies or simply use it to extend our logevity...

-Longevity?...as if to live forever?...-asks Sebastian in amazement...

-Hohoho...you can put it in those terms...many growers really try to live forever and isolate themselves...they lock themselves in caves and grow all their life trying to save their last breath...

-So...if no one dies...

-I have not said that no one dies...in reality no one is immortal, although if they live long hohoho...whether they can live long or not depends on their own talent, their luck and their opportunities..." he chuckled as he extinguished his aura and sat down again.

-And...the kingdoms?

-...mark the advancement you have made in your manipulation of deep force...they are 9 kingdoms of cultivation and these in turn are divided into 10 consecutive levels...at least in this world...-music below the last one...at the age of 10. ...at the age of 10, children begin to be trained in this art...when they are able to open their deep veins and meridians, when they are able to form a deep force filament and complete a cycle within them, you can be considered a cultivator in the Kingdom of Opening...

-That's what that monster said! ...that I was open, I think...

-And he wasn't lying... young Sebastian, even though you are a new being in this world, your deep strength takes you to level three of the Kingdom of Opening... something that barely separates you from an ordinary human...

-I understand...

-After breaking through 10 levels, your next realm would be the Deep Kingdom of Settlement, where the deep force expands and settles the size of your deep veins and meridians...allowing you to use more deep force, much more than your beginnings...-he said as he took a puff on the pipe he had lit again... but that will be insignificant in the face of the force that you will be able to handle in the Deep Kingdom of the Boom, which is where your interior will suffer a thundering change, since it will increase even more and with a burst of your powers... at this point you will be transformed from head to toe... your veins and meridians, your bones, muscles and organs will be refined and you will become more powerful...

And so the old man proceeded to explain all that would happen if he continued to cultivate and was given the opportunities...

Deep Kingdom of the Spinning Nucleus: A vast reservoir of refined power from your previous kingdom will be channeled into a single solid core, here you will lose the ability to sleep and eat, without ever needing it.

Deep Ascension Realm: The core, overflowing with refined power, will be powerful enough to constantly nourish your body and make it capable of flying through the heavens.

Deep Golden Core Kingdom: The superficial core cascade will be released and your deep channeled strength will have pure heavenly essence, which will further extend your logevity...

Deep Kingdom of the Nascent Spirit: The heavenly essence will be amplified and allow your spirit to become independent of your powerful body...

Deep Kingdom of the High: Your will will fill the heavens and allow you to become master of all that surrounds you, you will command the most primitive aspects of the world...

Deep Kingdom of the Golden Summit: You will be one under heaven...

-Hup...lord...what about the last kingdom?...-asked Sebastian after the old man finished explaining...

-The last kingdom?...you really don't need to know, at least not at the moment...to ascend each kingdom is a monumental work, because to cultivate is to challenge the heavens!...-he announced while smiling again-...it goes without saying that for each kingdom not only will you become more capable of manipulating the deep force that surrounds you, but your body will gain incredible power and resistance...

-Well...if you ask me it sounds like magic...

-You can see it like this if you want to..." said the old man comically as he closed his eyes... but he opened them again in disbelief as he saw the boy, despite hearing something he had never heard before and clearly unique, just looking at the ground in a meditative gesture

All this information, as wonderful as it sounded, really didn't make much of an impact on Sebastian...

-Young man...it doesn't surprise you one bit even though you said you had never heard of deep strength...

-No sir...not really...

A light of curiosity shone in the old man's eyes as he stroked his beard and released a ring of gray smoke...

-Why is it like that?...

-First and foremost, that monster knew my level of power just by looking at me a little bit...I am not strong...nor do I have the talent, because if I was put into a body that was my age, going up just three levels from the first kingdom to eighteen really makes me a piece of garbage. ..secondly because I am alone in this world...I don't know if my body had a family or not...but if it doesn't, which is the most probable, I am really bad...-he said as he touched his face and looked at himself in the tea cup in his hand, which was half finished...

The truth is that his body was no longer the one he had when he died, now, when he looked at a reflective surface, what he saw was a young boy, with black hair, somewhat pale and thin skin, very thin, almost sick...

It didn't take a genius to guess that he was no longer the same Sebastian he was when he died, tall and stocky, healthy looking, but had been introduced to a thin and sickly body of some poor devil...

I could not imagine the circumstances in which the previous owner of his body had died...but for sure from illness or famine...in fact I did not know how he had survived the blows of Cephirah!

-There is truth in your words when you say you are in doubt if there is family waiting for you somewhere, but I am a little offended that you say that you are alone...after all I have not helped you...-I ask with half a smile the old man...

Before the question, Sebastian undoes the pitiful gesture he had about himself...

-I didn't mean to offend him! I just meant that sooner or later I will have to come out from under his protection.

-Then there is no need for you to worry about leaving...you can stay here and be my assistant at my job....-relief the man...

At this point it was the first time that Sebastian distrusted man...in a world where people despise the weak, because a strong man would help someone who was practically a liability...

The look of the young man changed for a few moments, but still, the old man noticed it...

-Is it strange that he wants to help you?

-It's just that...why?...why would a cultivator in the realm of the rotating nucleus help me, a simple open one?...-I ask, repeating the question Cephirah asked before she died-...why do you believe in everything I tell you?...isn't it a little bit strange to you?...

Something incipiently painful blossomed in the eyes of the man, something that lasted a few seconds but was still perceptible by the boy...

-The wind does not blow from an empty cave...there must be truth in your story, besides, let's say that you have an incredible resemblance to a person I knew long ago...I want to give him back at least a little of the good karma he had for me and relieve a little of the weight of my sins...-said melancholic while looking outside, into the night-...you can stay here as long as you want...you have my word that I will not do you any harm...

Sebastian had the impression that if he pressed a little more, the old man would burst into tears without being able to contain himself, so he refrained from asking and decided to trust, under the premise that if I wanted him dead, I would have left him to die on that filthy road...

-All right then... I will stay with you for a while, sir, and learn from this world as much as I can... I will help you, of course, in whatever you ask me..." he said, extending his hand to the old man.

The white-haired man looked at him for a few seconds and then smiled once more.

-Perfect... you can stay as long as you want..." he said as he closed his eyes in a radiant smile... and my name is Zhou Xuzi... I am a librarian...