Desire: A LitRPG Adventure (Volume 3), page 5
“Understood,” Anderson responded with a salute. He turned to Ace and said, “Lead the way.”
Ace nodded and flew into the air. Anderson followed right behind him. They flew over the wall and entered the portal. They entered the channel that connected both planets. Ace looked at Anderson to see his reaction, but Anderson was completely emotionless. He realized Anderson already went through here when he tested his clone. Disappointed, he carried on and flew out the other side.
He was expecting to see at least one orc stationed outside the portal, but there were none. He connected his mind with Magtha, “Hello!”
“Ace… back so soon?” Magtha responded.
He noticed she sounded tired so he asked with concern, “Are you okay? You sound sick.”
“I’m fine. I’ve just spent the last few days in meeting after meeting,” She said without hiding anything.
“Ah… sorry about that,” Ace said with embarrassment. He figured the meetings she participating in revolved around him and Earth.
Suddenly, his face fell as he sensed something off. Aghast, he expanded his senses and instantly found the crux of the problem. He said solemnly, “Magtha… why is there no Qi?”
“Haaah… if what you said before is true, then it appears our doomsday is fast approaching,” Magtha responded sadly.
“What?” Ace exclaimed. A terrifying thought entered his mind. He muttered to himself, “How could this be? The only reason qi would disappear is if the All Devouring Demonic Chains were absorbing all of the qi emitted from the origin stones… but the chains have been focusing most of their attention on Grom, thereby allowing some of the qi to pass through the chains. There can only be one reason for the qi to disappear…”
Anderson noticed Ace’s pale complexion and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Ace flew into the air and said, “Stay here, I’ll be back in a few hours. I’ll explain when I get back!”
He flew through the air and reached the great chasm. He dove inside and traveled as fast as he could, his heart beating anxiously the entire time. When he reached the chamber in the center of the planet, he snapped his head towards the figure wrapped in chains. His eyes widened as he shouted, “GROM!”
He appeared in front of Grom and immediately noticed what had changed. The chains had completely wrapped around Grom’s entire body, not just his limbs. Thousands of small motes of light exited Grom’s body and were absorbed by the black chain. Ace perked up his ears and listened carefully. His eyes turned red and tears fell down his cheek. He whispered quietly, “Grom… why didn’t you tell us? You must have been at your limit, huh?”
Grom was dead! Anger bubbled inside of Ace as he watched the chains absorb Grom’s entire being. He clenched his hands so tightly that his nails dug into his palm, “Damn it! I said I would save you! I promised, Grom! I promised you!”
A few minutes passed in silence as Ace stood there, shaking the entire time. He turned around and closed his eyes, “Don’t worry, I’ll take revenge for you. If I can’t even do that, do I even deserve to call you teacher?”
He left the chamber and flew back towards Anderson. The entire way back he meditated to calm himself. He couldn’t just stand there and grieve, he had things to do. His entire species was counting on him! He had to discard these feelings and focus on growing stronger. Only in this way could he avenge Grom!
Chapter 113
Ace landed next to Anderson with a forlorn look. His eyes were filled with resolve, but if you looked closely you would notice a profound sadness. Anderson had never seen this look on Ace before, so he was hesitant to ask what happened. He didn’t need to because Ace said calmly, “Grom has died. The All Devouring Demon Chains are now focusing on absorbing all of the origin stones.”
Anderson was one of the few people on Earth who knew everything Ace and Vincent experienced on Rogdul. Anderson chose to stay silent. Anything he said would pass through the ears of someone grieving. Anderson had lost many comrades in the military, but this should be one of Ace’s first times losing someone close to him. Ace gave a hollow chuckle, “It’s a good thing you’re a clone. The time for when the master of the All Devouring Demon Chains comes to retrieve his weapon is close at hand. When that time comes, the complete destruction of Rogdul is imminent.”
Anderson gave a slight nod before saying, “Do you still want to go?”
Ace took a deep breath to calm his emotions before saying with a firm nod, “I must!”
He connected his mind with Magtha, “Where are the meetings taking place?”
Magtha immediately knew what Ace wanted. She had no reason to refuse, no, she couldn’t. She responded, “The meetings are taking place at Clan Baugh’s territory.”
“I’ll be there soon,” Ace said before closing the connection.
“Come, it isn’t far from here,” Ace said to Anderson as he flew into the air. Anderson followed after him, and an hour later they appeared in the skies of Clan Baugh’s city.
Ace immediately noticed something different. On the outside of the city, a plethora of orcs were sitting in circle. There were hundreds of thousands of them. He figured this must be every orc left on the planet. In the center of the circle, orcs with bent backs and gray hair were seen. He recognized a few of them as the elders who sold him and Vincent out. He figured he should feel resentment towards them, but he didn’t feel anything of the sort.
The orcs on the ground immediately noticed Ace and Anderson. Almost every orc were trained warriors, so they all had keen senses and high stats. Hushed whispers spread like wildfire. One of the orcs said to his companion, “That’s him? The one who slew Rokka and her army?”
Another said with a quivering voice, “He’s back…”
The ones who participated in the battle were either afraid of Ace, or in awe of him. The others were only told via word of mouth, so they didn’t fully understand the terrifying strength of Ace and Vincent. An orc from the center flew up and hovered in front of Ace. It was Moggul. He said calmly, “Follow me.”
Moggul lead them towards the center of the gathering. This was where the highest elders and leaders of the orcs sat. When Ace and Anderson landed, the elders who sold out Ace looked at him with fear. They were afraid of him killing them on the spot. If he did, nobody could stop him. Ace gave them a smile and a nod. They immediately released a sigh of relief.
Ace inspected Moggul and found something off, his countenance was pale and he had trouble standing. Ace asked with concern, “What’s wrong?”
The orcs that were whispering fell silent. They watched and listened quietly. Even though some of the orcs were far away, if everyone was silent, their high stats allowed them to hear what was being said. Moggul looked straight at Ace as he said, “When you told us about the chains, we didn’t completely believe you.”
“You went down there?” Ace said with surprise. He grew worried and thought, “He didn’t see Grom did he?”
Moggul nodded solemnly, “I couldn’t reach the center. I would have died if I tried pushing my luck. I did see the chains that you spoke of, however. I’ve never seen such a terrifying thing.”
Moggul shivered as he recalled the chains absorbing every type of energy, even light itself. Ace let out an inward sigh of relief. What Grom wanted least was to be seen by his descendants. Ace came up with a quick lie and said, “I just came from the center of the planet. The chains and the origin stones were in a tug of war, but it looks like the chains won. I’m afraid there isn’t much time left.”
“We figured as much,” Goran said with a grim face from the side.
Ace clasped Anderson’s shoulder and introduced him, “This is a close friend of mine. He’s here to be the ambassador from my planet, Earth.”
Anderson performed the orc greeting. He hit his chest with his fist and said, “Hello, I’ve heard of your species strength from Ace. I greatly admire your techniques and abilities in battle.”
The elders, Moggul, and Goran responded with the same greeting. They were filled with pride at the mention of their heritage. Anderson reached into his inventory and pulled out a small orb. He held it in his hand and connected his mind with it. He looked around at the orcs and said, “I’d like to take a few minutes to explain a few things, do you mind?”
An elder said calmly, “Not at all, not at all.”
With a nod, Anderson focused his thoughts on the image of Earth from space. Amazingly, a hologram of Earth appeared above the gathering of the orcs. It was projected from the orb in his hand. It was able to project the user’s thoughts. Anderson said without any emotion as he said, “This is the planet where we come from, Earth. As you can see, it is mostly made up of water.”
The jaws of the orcs dropped as they saw the bright blue hologram of Earth. Only in the records left in their clans were they aware of what the word ‘sea’ meant. It was said they had an ocean at one point as well. Alas, all of that was in the past.
Anderson continued, “There are 7 continents on our planet and each of them have varying geography and weather patterns.”
Anderson’s thoughts changed, and the hologram honed in on a continent. He explained, “This continent is called Africa. Half of it is a desert, while the other half contains savannahs and dense jungles.”
The hologram gave a birds eye view of the continent. This was when Anderson was flying over the continent specifically for this moment. This way, the orcs got a perfect view of the different parts of Africa. Anderson glanced at Ace as he said, “Our planet has decided to gift this continent to your species.”
The orcs were silent the entire time. When they saw the continent of Africa, they were reminded of their home! The arid deserts and savannas weren’t too different from Rogdul. Moggul looked away from the hologram and focused on Ace. He said with a quivering voice, “This gift… is much too precious.”
The elders nodded and said, “That’s right, there’s no way we can accept this.”
Anderson glanced at Ace and said, “Of course, this is on the condition that you share your heritage with our planet. Since we’ll be sharing the same skies, we should grow stronger together. We don’t have much of a heritage, considering it’s only been 4 years.”
Ace glared at Anderson and said telepathically, “What are you doing!?”
“Just watch,” was his only response.
The elders looked at each other and engaged in a brief discussion through telepathy. A moment later, they said, “This is acceptable.”
“Huh?” Ace was dumbfounded. Just like that?
Anderson laughed internally and said telepathically, “You are still too naive. People would be apprehensive at receiving such a gift. They would instead feel conflicted. Instead, if you ask for something in return, they’ll accept it.”
Ace found this to be reasonable. His face lit up as he looked at Moggul, “That means…?”
Moggul’s gaze was firm as he said, “Yes, we’ll leave Rogdul.”
Chapter 114
An elder spoke calmly, “We have a duty to continue to pass on our heritage. Countless ancestors poured their tears, sweat, and blood into developing our techniques. We can’t let their efforts go to waste.”
The rest of the orcs grunted in agreement. Ace looked around with a smile and said, “Well, if you have any questions or concerns, ask Anderson here. He’ll take care of it.”
Ace returned to Earth not long after. The plan was for the orcs to transfer over in waves during the next week. They would then be escorted to Africa. When they settled in, Ace would send over a group of individuals he trusted from Northrock to help teach them about Earth and the solar system. In exchange, some of the orcs would live in Northrock and open up a training school. There would also be interviews on television and so forth, but that was for others to worry about, not Ace. His main priority was to get a stat to 500 as fast as possible.
A few weeks passed. Earth was now a home to another species. When the last orc passed through the portal, Ace stood before it. He was the owner of the portal, so he had access to the hologram controlling it. With a push of a button, the blue shimmering portal dissipated into nothing. All that was left were the pillars on either side. He had closed the portal for an important reason. If the master of those chains returned and found the portal on Rogdul, it would lead them to Earth. If that happened, it would be a disaster. Grom never told them who that master was, but from what that entity did to Grom, they were definitely cruel. With his promise to Grom now complete, Ace felt a heavy burden lift from his shoulders.
A few days later, a few elders stood in the middle of a savannah. Next to them was Connor. His eyes were shining brightly, and he had a wide smile on his face. Surrounding them were newly constructed buildings. Next to the developing city was a river. Small orc children were playing in the water, laughing joyfully. Magtha watched them with a smile. The elders stood in a circle in the middle of the city. Their expressions were unprecedentedly solemn. Even more so than when they fought in battles in the past. One of them took out a small object from their inventory; a seed.
This seed was passed down through generations of orc elders, all the way since the catastrophe struck Rogdul. It was a seed from a tree unique to their home. Any food placed in the inventory never grew rotten, and the same was true for seeds. They had plenty of seeds from fruits, vegetables, and plants from their planet stored in their inventories. This was due to the wise elders of the past. They knew that soon there would be no life left, and came up with a plan. This plan was finally coming to fruition.
The elder held the seed in the palm of his hand and handed it over to Connor. Connor noticed their solemn expressions and said, “Leave it to me.”
He shifted the dirt underneath him with his mind. He placed the seed in the newly made hole before covering it up. He asked one of the elders next to him, “What type of tree is this?”
An elder pondered for a moment before saying, “It should be a large one. It was called an Orde Tree.”
He didn’t know what it looked like, he had only read the texts passed down in his clan. Connor glanced at them, “I think it's best if you stand back.”
The elders looked at each other but followed his directions anyway. They took a few steps back and looked on expectantly. Connor closed his eyes and expanded his mind. He felt something pulsing underneath him, but it was small and weak. With a smile on his face, he channeled his mana through his feet and into the ground. The vast amount of mana poured into the small seed. Instantly, the seed burst apart. Thin arms tore through the ground while growing in size. In just a second, a thin trunk surfaced. The elders eyes lit up at this moment. In another second, the roots traveled deeper underground, seeking stability. In another second, the trunk grew wider and taller. Color appeared at this time, the trunk was grey like ash. In three more seconds, the trunk was taller than Connor. Connor widened his arms and laughed crazily, “Haha! Grow! Grow!”
His plant manipulation gave his mana the same effects as sunlight, water, and nutrients. When he infused his mana into a plant or tree, it grew with extreme speed. What would take a hundred years to grow would only take a minute at his level. The elders continued to raise their heads, only to find that they had to keep looking higher. Even Connor was surprised at the height of his creation. It grew, and grew, and grew. In a minute, it towered high above the city. Connor stopped and turned to look at the elders, “You said this was an Orde tree?”
“Uhh, yes,” an elder nodded.
Connor placed his hand on the trunk and exclaimed, “Amazing! What a beautiful tree. Come, give me another of your seeds!”
Connor traveled around their city with the elders following behind him. They watched as he grew plant after tree after fruit after vegetable. The elders grew more excited with each passing minute. Their culture was reviving!
Chapter 115
With Ace vouching for the orcs, the rest of the humans had to behave. Northrock was the most progressive of the cities. They followed Ace almost blindly. All of them were elite warriors and had experience fighting monsters. They could instantly tell the difference between the monsters in their challenges versus the orcs from Rogdul. Moggul and Goran were residing in Northrock, teaching qi users about their techniques. The experience was eye opening to say the least.
In a month, the orcs were producing their own food. Northrock bought their produce up and distributed it amongst the city. The residents were initially hesitant about the strange looking fruits and vegetables, but after someone who was fearless when it came to eating foods tried it, the rest followed in droves. Some were sweet, and others were like candy. They could easily compete against the produce of Earth. As a result, the orcs heavily invested in their agriculture. This allowed them to gain income for themselves.
In another month, Ace and Vincent finally got a stat to 500. They were currently in Ace’s home. Ace looked at Vincent and teased, “Finally! I finished a week ago. I’ve been anxious to leave, but I had to wait for my buddy.”
