(Extra long chapter – hence the SS price – 200 word/1SS)

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Everyone in sight froze, staring at the sheer, seemingly impossible result.

Ash drifted down and into the air as the particle remnants of the two Magic Artifact Golem's collapsed, dissipating into nothingness.

"That… how…? What…?" Jiro Korc of the Axe, the great Diamond Wall of the Borrel Autarchy, one of the most elite Wizards in the entire nation, stared at Dorian in pure, unadulterated shock.

Of all the results he thought were possible, this was not one of them, not even if he considered Dorian an equal.

After all, even Jiro himself couldn't do what Dorian had just done.

Taemin's eyes flew all the way up in sheer shock. He well understood how incredibly durable the golems were, more than anyone else here. He had practiced against them before, testing the diamond half of his body. He was well aware of their incredible toughness and the difficulty required to scratch them, let alone turn them to ash.

The Golems were made of a special type of diamond known as Aether Diamond, one of the hardest known substances in the 30,000 Worlds, originally discovered by the Aethmen Race. Most of the Diamond Magic that Taemin studied focused on the manipulation of Aether Diamond.

He had even integrated half his body into a Magic network of Aether Diamond.

And now… a random Vampire with a weak, barely existent Aura had just turned two Diamond Golems, constructed from Aether Diamond, into ash with a light touch.

For the first time in a long while, Taemin felt a seed of fear plant itself in his heart.

Leader, meanwhile, was standing tall with his arms crossed, a huge, satisfied smirk on his face, Pride rolling off him in literally visible waves. He looked on this result as if it was completely expected, as if there could have been no other possibility. His eyes were full of absolute confidence, without even the slightest hint of doubt.

Aiden turned and gave Jiro a slightly consoling look, as if he understood Jiro's pain. Mira merely looked on and gave Dorian a small, grateful nod.

"Too weak." Dorian shook his head sadly, confidence flowing in his voice,

"You bore me, Department Head. I might just leave now if this is the best you have." Dorian put on his best disinterested voice as he took a step forward, standing firmly at the center of the jutting rock, within the boundaries of the entrance portal.

The more confident he sounded, the better a chance of avoiding combat, he figured, especially given the look of shock on the Department Head's face.

At that exact moment, as Dorian was grandstanding, the portal beneath him flashed.

60 seconds had passed in what felt like an eternity due to the fast-paced combat. The entrance portal had fully charged and would now automatically activate as soon as 6 people stood within it.

WHOOSH

Just as Dorian was registering this, a bright wave of light shot off from the portal. It seemed to hover around him for a brief moment and then vanish.

The entrance to the Ascension Ruins that Dorian was standing on then activated, abnormally, without waiting for the required six people. In a split instant, a pillar of warm light shot up as Dorian teleported, vanishing with the portal from the outer shell of the turtle.

Leaving behind a group of stunned onlookers.

*Hic*

"Did he..? Did he just leave..? After… All of that…?" Head Jiro's voice boomed incredulously,

"He just left?" He held his hands out at a complete loss. In the back of his eyes, however, a light tinge of relief could just barely be seen, an emotion he immediately crushed upon realizing its existence.

BOOM

A resplendent explosion shook the air as Aiden and Mira withdrew in a retreat, their Draconic bodies retreating as they backed away towards a different entrance. Leader could be seen, standing atop Mira's draconic body as he joined them in leaving the field of battle.

Taemin and Jiro just watched on, too shocked by Dorian's performance to do anything else.

As the trio fled into the distance, if one looked closely, they would just barely be able to see Leader energetically flipping off Taemin.

"…"

More than 100 meters away, the figure of a black skinned human could faintly be seen, wavering in and out of reality. This figure had been watching the entire battle without comment nodded in appreciation as everything came to an end.

"This Nameless Monk does appreciate your performance, young warrior. If Fate wills it, I shall try to aid you once. You remind me of the Great Founder himself. Kaladin would be proud." The monk's body shivered and vanished as he turned around, heading for a separate entrance as well.

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

Bright lights flashed in Dorian's eyes, blinding him, as space seemed to fold in on itself, warping him away from his previous location to an entirely new place. He felt an odd stretching sensation, as if his entire body was being pulled apart and then put back together. Energy seemed to flow around him at such a rate that he couldn't sense anything at all.

All of a sudden, everything returned to normal.

WHOOSH

Dorian fell to the ground as he gasped for breath, his heart pounding. He blinked and cleared his eyes as he looked around, instantly putting up his guard.

He was standing in a large, sparsely decorated room. The floor was made of smooth grey stone, so smooth it looked like it had been carved directly flat. Several bookshelves seemed to have been carved into the grey stone walls and were filled with sheaths of paper and books.

There was a single entrance to the room, a dozen or so meters away from Dorian, a stone door that was covered in a few random carvings. In the center of the room were several large desks, covered with neat stacks of paper.

"Cough!" Dorian's mouth sputtered as he took a deep breath and immediately inhaled a huge amount of dust. He spent the next several seconds catching his breath and gathering his bearings once more.

This room… the dust in it combined with its appearance, it felt incredibly old. As if it had laid like this, untouched, for hundreds of years.

He took a few deep breaths as he calmed down, this time making sure to not breathe in any dust.

–

Wise Jade Dragon – Growth Stage: (3/5) Young Jade Dragon –

Growth Progress – 356,112/421,881 –

–

"Nice!" Dorian fist pumped the air as he looked at the energy values for his Wise Jade Dragon form. He'd applied them immediately once he absorbed the energy from the Artifact Golems, eager to complete his first natural Dragon form.

"I must've gained at least 400,000 points in total! Those Golems are worth a ton! I should try to snag a few more if I can manage it." He smiled as he looked on, pleased. He paused immediately after, however, as he heard his words echo in the room oddly.

Bzzzzz

Dorian stepped backwards as an echoing buzz sounded off in the chamber. He looked from left to right, trying to find the source of the noises.

WHOOSH

The buzzing sound stopped, but the air around Dorian trembled with energy, replacing the noises.

A second later, a voice began to speak. A voice that Dorian just barely recognized.

"Welcome, future self."

It was the voice of Yukeli that Dorian had heard speak in his head.

But a younger, less tired version, one that didn't have the same aged feeling. It was, instead, full of energy and excitement.

His eyes were opened wide as he listened to the voice speak, looking around as he tried to find the source to it. It seemed to be coming from the air itself.

"If you are hearing this, it means at least one of my plans was successful after I Ascended. I have successfully returned to the 30,000 Worlds in a body that is no longer chained down by my race."

Dorian's eyes narrowed as he heard this.

'Not quite, Yukeli. I know you are still somewhere, lurking within my soul. But you aren't back yet, at least not from me.' He clenched his fists tightly as he heard this, a frown on his face.

"I created this Time Echo to inform you upon your arrival, on the chance that our memories are incomplete." Yukeli continued to speak,

"The Ascension Ruins, as Ausra and I chose to call this grand creation, were my first attempt at making something that has a huge, purposeful impact on Fate. My first experiment on trying to change Fate without the ineffectual crutch that is Fate Magic, an extremely difficult task. We gathered knowledge and information from all over the 30,000 Worlds, creating a type of Magic Artifact so grand and large, so vastly complex, that Artifact is too insufficient a word to describe it."

"The Ascension Ruins are planted within a Flame Empyrean Turtle I defeated, one I named Shella. By attaching the Ruins to such a powerful and impactful being, the pull on Fate should prove even larger."

"Huge stores of treasure, information and knowledge that even the mightiest Wizards would seek out, the Ascension Ruins bear within them enough Fate to draw almost anyone to them." His voice paused, a hint of hopeful excitement appearing,

"Even, I hope, myself, should I fail to return with my memories fully intact, as seems likely."

"Your appearance here, future self, means that at least part of that succeeded."

There was a brief pause.

'Not if I have anything to say about it.' Dorian mentally grumbled back.

Yukeli's voice continued, unabated,

"The Ruins are large and have many chambers within them. Apart from preparing for my future self, they were also made to help beings become closer to achieving perfection. The knowledge and treasures I left here were truly meant to raise up those that found them."

"Each item comes with a trial, to prove the worthiness of the user. The Ruins are a maze, in and of themselves."

"Of course, as the maker of that maze, there is no reason to start at the beginning of it. Thus, when you hear this message, you will find that you have been transported to the very core of the Ascension Ruins, to my own personal Drafting Room, where I left my own experiences and knowledge."

Dorian looked around the room as he heard this, the book and sheaths of paper lying about everywhere taking on new meaning.

"You are me, and I am you, so I think nothing more needs be said. Use the knowledge I have left behind to catch up and seek out that which I could never achieve." Yukeli's voice took on a passionate fervor, crazed and wild,

"That of perfection itself."

WHOOSH

The trembling air stilled and then vanished as the voice finished speaking, the energy that was flowing in the air fizzling off into nothingness.

Leaving Dorian alone in a quiet, aged room, his eyes pensive.

"Well." He muttered and took a few steps forward, rubbing his hands.

"That was a bit much, but thanks for the convenient info, Yukeli." He gave the air a thumbs up.

"I still don't appreciate the whole you trying to take over my soul and murder me thing though." He flipped his thumb over to a thumbs down.

As he walked forward, Dorian felt strangely drawn to one particular spot in the room. On the edge, near the entrance of the room, there was a large desk with a notebook on it. Nothing else was on the desk apart from that. He couldn't leave the room without walking past it, either.

"Huh." Dorian muttered as he slowly stepped up to the desk.

'Read… It…' In Dorian's head, an aged, wavering voice appeared. A voice Dorian hadn't heard in a long time.

The first voice of Yukeli that he had heard, apart from the loud message that had been yelled at him upon his rebirth.

"You finally showed up again, huh?" Dorian said aloud as he heard the voice, clenching his fists tightly. He was on full alert, not letting himself show even the tiniest opening.

'Read… it… You will finally understand the truth…' The aged voice faded away into the farthest corner of his mind as it finished speaking, slipping back into the darkest recesses.

A stiff frown was frozen on Dorian's face as he looked down at the notebook, waiting a few seconds to see if the voice would return.

He slowly reached down with his hand, resting it on the notebook.

It was bound by some dark leather and seemed like a completely normal, non Magical book. As he picked it up, he noted that it had a nice weight to it, not too light nor too heavy.

He felt the world around him seem to slow as he touched the corner of the notebook, as if to open it up. The air seemed to tremble once more, energy rising, Fate rippling.

"Nah." He threw the notebook down and stepped backwards, shaking his head.

"Honestly, I don't care that much. If you want me to read it so badly, I probably shouldn't." Dorian shrugged and walked away from the notebook, ignoring it as he walked to the doorway.

thunk

When he tried to open the door, however, he found that it was sealed shut. As soon as he touched it, the door itself lit up with dark blue light.

A trail of blue energy could be seen visibly moving from the door all the way to the notebook.

Instinctively, somehow, Dorian knew that the door would only open if he actually opened and read the notebook. As if it contained some vital knowledge that the Yukeli of the past decided he needed to know.

"Really? You're going to make me do this?" Dorian frowned in consternation. He looked around the room once more.

As he looked at the walls, once more, knowledge instinctively came to Dorian.

This room was virtually indestructible to him, at his current strength. There was no chance that he could successfully break out of it using his own power. He didn't know how he knew this, but he just did.

"Fine…" He shrugged and walked back over to the desk, picking up the notebook.

"The Journal Logs of Yukeli Shorn." He opened the book to the first page, reading the title aloud.

"No way! A personal journal?" He quickly opened to the next page, feeling a strange compulsion seize over him. His earlier reticence faded as he began to look at the notebook seriously, wanting to read it.

If he could learn more about the personal life of this man, of Yukeli Shorn, Dorian felt like he would have a much better chance understanding what he was and why he was here.

He flipped the journal open, slipping past several pages. Each page was full of tons of meticulous writing, but Dorian felt drawn to some spot further in the book.

The world around him seemed to shiver as he opened to one page in particular, as if Fate itself was moving forward, as if this was an important moment. The rippling effect was beneath Dorian's notice, however, as he looked on at the paper with interest.

He read the personal entry, left behind by Yukeli himself, one that wasn't as neat as the other entries. It seemed to have been written with more emotion, more haste.

'On this day… I have failed.'

'But I have also succeeded.'

'I have failed in achieving perfection. I have realized that my goal is a worthy one. It is, in fact, the worthiest goal that exists. I was aware of this the moment I saw my brother lying dead upon that cross, so many years ago.'

'Only through perfection can this reality be saved.'

'Alas.'

'I have failed to achieve that perfection.'

'Not through any fault of my own. Merely… my body… my soul… they are not enough. This mortal, human shell of mine is insufficient. I need something else.'

'My dearest love, Ausra, has worked with me for years and years. Her desire to learn of every being has intersected with my own desire to track the traits of every creature, to find that which perfection may be found in.'

'Alas, even then, after all our efforts, we still came up short.'

'I have felt Ascension calling me. If I wanted to, I could break through to the Heavens, a goal that those around me see as the ultimate achievement.'

'I have refused to. What point is there in a life in the realm of Gods if I cannot even achieve perfection in the land of mortals.'

'4 years ago, I started to work on one of my newer projects.'

'If I cannot achieve perfection in my human frame, then what if I achieved it using another form?'

'Reincarnation. The Great Cycle of the Heavens. The circle of life and death. Legends speak that every being that dies will one day be borne anew, in a different body or different form.'

'To start life anew, as a different being.'

'Perhaps a being with a form that CAN achieve perfection.'

'Such an important draw… how could I possibly ignore it?'

'And so I began my research, using every avenue possible. Fate Scries, Time Viewing, Universal Trances. Meditation on various new, old, or distorted Laws.'

'And after all my years of effort, I achieved some small measure of success.'

'Success that left me only more disappointed.'

'When I reincarnate, despite my soul remaining the same, my entire personality itself can and will change as the memories that shaped me, the experiences that molded my heart and mind, vanish.'

'The determination I have now to become perfect and achieve the culmination of life… it is entirely possible that I will lose this.'

'I know this to be a fact.'

The next lines that Dorian read caused him to freeze, his entire body trembling as he read them over.

'For I have awoken the memories of my previous, reincarnated life.'

'I was not an elite Swordmaster, nor a godly Wizard. Not a powerful Dragon nor a terrible Phoenix.'

'I was merely a weak, worthless human that achieved no real level of strength, a human that died a shameful death, without ever knowing the love of victory.'

'In fact, I don't even think I was a native to the 30,000 Worlds.'

'My past life lived on a rather strange planet, not on any World I am familiar with.'

'In that life, I had a different name, as well.'

The journal fell from Dorian's cold fingertips as he stood frozen, his entire mind reeling as the last line in the journal burnt itself into his head.

'My name was Dorian. Dorian Wright, from an odd planet known as Earth.'

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