Too Stubborn to Die

Book 4: Chapter 3

“Wow, you weren’t kidding,” Aaron said, stepping out into the vibrant vegetation, following the old man.

“No, I wasn’t. Now, tell me, Aaron Dober. Will you assist me? Help me against the enemies of my people. For the sake of all this,” Jayden threw up his hands. “If the renegades are not stopped, this world will suffer greatly. A delicate balance is at risk. It cannot be threatened by the greed of the few.”

Aaron glanced back at Talia and then back to Jayden. “What do you suppose we do?”

“What do you mean, balance?” said Talia. “What exactly is at risk?”

“Everything! They threaten this very world itself!”

“Okay, calm down,” Aaron said.

Talia didn’t look impressed, but Aaron wasn’t sure about pushing the subject. Jayden hadn’t actually said anything of substance, nor had he answered the question. Instead, he just made grandiose claims without even trying to back them up. But what choice did they have? If he wasn’t going to give them a straight answer, they could just go find the answer themselves.

“Just point us in the direction we need to go, and what exactly you want us to do,” Aaron carefully said.

Jayden grinned. “Good. Here, take this. It’s a locator stone; it will lead you to my brother. If you’re smart, you shouldn’t need to deal with all of the renegades. And I would prefer it if you kept the killing to a minimum. My brother Kayden is their leader, and the one that got them into this silly rebellion. Deal with him, and the others should see reason.”

“You want us to kill your own brother?”

“Kill? I never said that. Though he might give you no other option. However, I am more than happy for him to be brought back to me alive, if possible. I leave the details to your judgment. I would also prefer it that as few of them died as possible. If I am satisfied with this, an additional reward may be provided. But what is absolutely non-negotiable is that their little operation ceases. What they are trying to achieve threatens all life in this world, and it must be stopped at all costs. Understood?”

“This world? You mean the Dungeon? They’re trying to destroy the Dungeon?”

“Not quite. This place is special. Unlike simpler Dungeons, each Floor of this Dungeon technically exists in its own spatial plane. The System has bound our worlds together through passages. All designed for your little dungeon adventure. And just like you, many denizens of the dungeons have been granted various quests by the System, the same as you. For example, some may be tasked to stop you. None of this concerns me, however. I am just here to look after my own reality. What happens on those other Floors is of no consequence to us here. And likewise, what my rebellious brother intends to do will not affect those other Floors.”

“Okay, let's get this straight. If we help you stop your brother, that will let us reach the next Floor, and you might even give us extra rewards. And if we don’t, your world stops existing?”

“Precisely. Not just rewards, though. Do this, and I’ll even provide you with some of my insights into the later floors of the Dungeon. As you know, fate isn’t sealed until it is realized. But nonetheless, knowing what might happen can still be immensely valuable.”

Aaron shared a knowing look with Talia, and they both nodded.

“Alright. Fine, we’ll look into it for you.”

“Good,” Jayden said, passing the locator stone. “This is a simple device. It has had my brother’s energy locked to it. All you need to do is sense that energy, and then hold the stone, and it will locate him for you. Then, follow the stone.”

“Sounds easy enough,” Aaron said, taking the stone. “Shall we, then?”

Talia nodded, and the trio flew up into the sky, rushing through the air toward their target.

“Good luck,” Jayden waved as they flew away.

“What do you make of that guy? Do you believe any of this?” Talia asked.

“Honestly? No. Not for a second. That bloke gives me the creeps. But who knows, maybe he’s telling the truth. Besides, it’s a lead. And that’s better than nothing. Unless we get a better one, I say we follow this. At least until we figure out what’s going on on the floor.”

“Hmph. Reasonable enough. I just don’t like feeling like I’m a pawn.”

“Yeah, I get that.”

Talia looked nervous for a moment, glancing away, and then back again.

“By the way, umm. I just wanted to say—thanks for everything, Aaron.”

“Ah, what?”

Aaron blinked. That had come out of nowhere, and he didn’t know what to think. Especially when Talia was acting unusually shy.

“It’s just… we got a moment, and I thought I’d use it. You know, it’s felt non-stop lately. And well, managing everything. The settlement. People following me. Powerful beasts. It all felt like I had to protect everyone. And quite frankly, do everything important. It was quite a burden before you arrived. And I just wanted to say thanks. Everything has felt a little less stressful and more manageable since you arrived. Even with those ants breathing down our necks.”

“Oh? Yeah, no worries. Of course. I’m always here to help. No need to be weird about it. But I had been meaning to say something. You know, about those ants… and the way we left the place.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s been on my mind too.”

Aaron sighed internally. He had wanted to keep his mind on the task ahead of them, but as he had gathered himself and recovered from the closest near-death experience he had ever had, it had started to weigh on him.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

“I didn’t know what to say. But what happens if…” Aaron drifted off.

“If we get back and Dober is flattened?”

“Yeah, that.”

“What can we do? Worry about it? Give ourselves an ulcer? This sucks, but remember, there are extraction zones on every floor. We just have to find one, and we can get out.”

“Right,” Aaron agreed. “Those royal guards are no joke. There’s no way anybody in Dober is stopping them. And I’m healed, and at D-grade. We can fight them now, but we’ll miss out on whatever rewards are in this place.”

“Yeah, I know. But they do have the System-bought defenses and a small army. There are several layers of shields and turrets. They don’t have to win, they just have to hold out.”

“Hold out?” Aaron raised a brow. “Those two are fucking strong. How long do you think they can hold out?”

“I tested the first shield we purchased. They’re not winning any wars, but they’re pretty strong. And Julius has been purchasing more whenever he has enough credits to trade. It’d definitely take more than a few days to beat their way through them. Probably a couple of weeks if I had to guess. Especially if people are feeding their own energy into them.”

“A couple of weeks, you think? Okay, that gives us some time. If we can smash through a few floors quickly, we might as well. Besides, the stronger we get, the easier it will be to put those two ants down.”

“Agreed. So, we keep descending then?”

“Yeah. We go as far as we can. If things are taking too long, we look for an extraction.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Talia nodded.

As they flew over the landscape, Aaron tried to clear his mind of their troubles. They had a plan now, and there was no point in fretting about Dober for now.

He looked about, scanning the forests and fields they were passing over every second, and spotted several small and rather rudimentary settlements scattered about.

It sure looks like a simple life here. In a way, I envy them.

Having a heavy heart wasn’t nice, although Aaron knew that in truth, he knew that a madman like himself would get bored of a place like this very quickly.

How the hell have they spent a thousand or so years like this? Where’s the progress?

The villages they were passing over looked like little, archaic Amazonian tribes. But it was more than a lack of technology. They were weak, pitifully so. In fact, it kind of reminded him of the trials. But back then his scope and understanding of the multiverse was so much less, and he didn’t comprehend it like he did now.

Even from far above, he sensed their power, or lack thereof. Most of the denizens of this floor were E-grade. Sure, he sensed a few D-grades, but unlike their world, this place hadn’t been integrated anytime recently.

Inhaling, he expanded his senses and used [ Gorgon’s Soul Vortex ] to get a better sense of his surroundings, and the results were undeniable. The atmospheric energy of this world was so thin. He even realized that he was breathing heavier and that his core was working harder for nothing.

What is this?

There was no doubt in his mind that this world was considerably weaker than his own. And it made him wonder about energy from the multiverse itself. After all, energy had to come from somewhere, didn’t it?

He thought back to the integration. There had been a lot of life on Earth to work with, let alone the other two worlds that were combined. And when pitted against itself, that life created a lot of opportunity for growth. But where did the initial energy come from? How did the multiverse take what Earth had and turn it into what it had become?

He assumed experience was the embodiment of energy taken from one life and given to another. But that didn’t explain everything else. Where did the energy come from that created powerful resources and dungeon entrances?

Aaron pondered this as they flew. There was no doubt some serious System shenanigans going on, but he was certain there was more to it than just that.

At that moment, he remembered something Oozagh had said back in the trials. The ogre god had mentioned Alpha and Divine worlds and had commented on needing to be stronger just to withstand their atmospheres. Perhaps that had something to do with the world’s energy?

He wondered, what if worlds themselves had different power levels? What if weaker worlds could only sustain weaker lifeforms? And that it became more difficult to ascend and grow stronger if you lived on one? That made sense, but it didn’t exactly explain dungeons. However, he had a feeling that the concepts were related somehow.

That different dungeons, or spatial planes, were imbued with different amounts of energy from the System. And it was that energy that dictated how powerful the denizens within could grow.

After all, according to Jayden, he had been reading fate for at least a thousand years. Superearth, or whatever it would eventually be known as, already had many D-grades, despite only existing within the multiverse for less than a year.

He couldn’t imagine that it would take too long for people on his world to reach C-grade, let alone have so many people stuck at E-grade.

There was no doubt that their worlds were very different, and not just because one wasn’t a real world.

And it made him wonder where his world sat in the grand scheme of it all. After all, going by what Oozagh said, it seemed highly unlikely their world was an Alpha world. If it were, E-grades, and certainly the odd F-grade, would have been suffering just trying to exist.

And if that were the case, then what were they? A Beta world, perhaps?

But more importantly, at what stage would their world, and its people, hit a wall? At what point would they look like these people to someone from a higher world?

That thought made Aaron sick.

If this was how the multiverse worked, then at some point, there was no point. It wouldn’t matter how hard or how talented they were. They simply wouldn't compete with people from more powerful worlds. Not for long, at least.

Even if he and the other elites from their world left it and grew strong traveling across the universe, it was unlikely to balance such an advantage. After all, he couldn’t imagine the people from the world being able to do anything to defeat his own world in the long run.

They might be stronger and more experienced now, but after years of fighting, momentum would go in their direction sooner or later.

What does that mean for the future? I’m not abandoning humanity… Does this mean that either I’m going to have to leave our world at some point, or…

Aaron had another thought. Perhaps he just wanted to believe it out of desperation. But he wondered, what if there were means to level up their world like he could himself?

I mean, that makes sense, doesn’t it? Why not?

He wanted to believe so desperately, and glancing across at Zero and Talia, he only reaffirmed the importance of finding a way forward for everyone.

And while such a problem might be an issue for the distant future, he believed it was wise to keep it within his thoughts. For who knew when opportunity might arise?

“I think we’re getting close,” Talia said, dragging him from his thoughts. “These guys look different,” she added, pointing ahead.

As he looked around, Aaron felt the energy signal coming from the stone. Jayden’s brother was still some distance away. But the forests and pitiful villages they had been zooming over were gradually giving way to ancient-looking stone structures and pyramids. All of which appeared to be dotted by armed individuals.

Man, bone weapons and obsidian clubs?

These people really were living in the past.

However, as they kept flying, none immediately attacked them. A moment later, several of the armed warriors dotted around the ruins activated Skills and took flight toward them. But it didn’t seem as if they were about to attack.

“These guys don’t look like they’re trying to destroy their world,” Talia said. “And even if they were, I don’t think they could succeed.”

“Yeah, agreed.”