Truth
Truth
'Is this another world?' Alex, who had experienced such a thing in the past, immediately thought that this might be another similar thing. Well, no one could blame him for that. Instead, Alex quickly ordered Sherry. "Sherry, go inside my body again."
"Wuu!!"
But before Sherry went inside Alex's body, they heard a voice out of nowhere. At the same time, a middle-aged man appeared. The man looked like he was in his early thirties. He had fluttering red long hair, wearing something like a cosplay costume on Earth which made his appearance look gallant. He appeared so suddenly and stopped Sherry.
"Stop. You don't need to do that."
Alex raised his sword. "Who are you?"
"Alright… alright, you don't need to point your sword at me, young man. Haiz, five thousand years had passed and finally, another one with the same element appeared."
Alex frowned, but a thought flashed in his mind, "Are you the Ascender?"
"Hmm, Ascender huh… what a nostalgic name. Yes, that's true. I am the Ascender. My name is Maxwell. Would you like to be my disciple?"
"Eh? EH? EEEEEHHHHH?"
Alex was too shocked by the development of this meeting. A middle-aged man or the so-called ascender, extended his hand and asked Alex to be his student?
"Why do you give such expressions? 5000 years had passed since I ascended, and you were giving this reaction when I wanted you to be my student?" Maxwell pouted.
"No… no… it's just… I'm very surprised to hear the offer."
Maxwell nodded, "Hmm... if that's the case, I'll forgive you. Then, what is your answer? Would you like to be my student?"
Alex contemplated a bit but shook his head. "I'm sorry… I can't be your student."
"What? I heard it wrong, right?"
Alex shook his head, "I'm very sorry. But I already have a teacher."
"But I can teach you more than him, do you know that? You can ascend like me."
Alex kept shaking his head, "Once again I apologize, but I will stick with my teacher. I feel like I would betray him if I accept your offer. I am here because of my wife."
"Wife?"
"Yes. She was poisoned by an enemy. He said the poison is called Green Devil Poison."
"Green Devil Poison?" Maxwell was startled. He now looked at Alex with pity. "I'm sorry. If you want to cure her, I guess it's impossible. Even at my current level, I can't cure her nor know the antidote for the poison. Not only that, I'm just an astral body left by me from five thousand years ago. Even so, the soul is connected with my main body."
"What? There is no cure for it?" Alex suddenly kneeled, "Please. You are my last hope. It happened because of me… it was because of me… I'm the one who is going to kill her if I can't help to cure it."
Maxwell looked at him, frowning. "Sigh… young man, what I can say is that even when there is no cure, there is a temporary solution for it."
Maxwell looked at the sky, he sighed. "Green Devil Poison. What a curse. Back then, I only could temporarily cure her after she got inflicted by that poison. She passed away after around 6 months if my memory serves me right."
"Her?"
"Yes. She is my wife."
"She 'is' your wife?" Alex was surprised to hear Maxwell used present instead of past tense.
"Yes. She is my current wife. Let me tell you a story. Back in the day, an old man reincarnated after he died because he failed his ascension to godhood. That old man was reincarnated in this world. From the young days, everyone said that the young man would be a genius man. With the memory of his past life, that was to be expected. But even with such tremendous power and future, he felt empty and lonely. And time finally came. As long as you live with others, there will always be envy, jealousy, and greed. Some assassins tried to kill the young man. The young man barely escaped from those men. He collapsed on the ground near a village.
Then, a girl accidentally passed by and found the young man. She silently carried him to her home knowing that her village didn't accept an outsider. She kept it a secret for fear of being attacked by villagers. That girl was an orphan and even when she was living in poverty, she still helped that young man. She used all that she had to treat the injured young man.
Since she treated him so passionately, the young man finally woke up. Sadly, he couldn't move or even open his eyes because he had no energy left. The villagers somehow knew about it. They wanted to expel the young man. But the girl defended him and tried to explain the situation. In the end, both of them were exiled from the village. The young girl carried the young man outside her village. She even apologized to the 'unconscious' man because of what had happened. The young man was moved beyond reason. The emptiness in his heart was filled with love. Even though he couldn't move or open his eyes, tears were still flowing on his face.
After that, she continuously took care of the young man until he finally woke up. They got closer and finally, she became his wife. They lived happily in secret. But their happiness didn't last long. The previous assassin who had tried to kill the young man finally found him and his wife. This time, the assassin targeted his wife, not the young man. The wife was then poisoned with Green Devil Poison. The young man got so angry and killed all of his enemies. In the end, he was able to cure her and spent six months with her before she passed away. He promised to find her once again. And fate played its might. After traveling to many worlds for two thousand years, he finally found her. But the new her didn't have any memories between them, but the young man didn't give up. After countless efforts, the new her slowly loved him and also slowly got her previous life memories back and they live happily ever after."
"This story…"
"Yes. That is my love story. My wife accompanies me here and I live happily with her until now. The one who I wish to be my student also had a wife who got inflicted with the same poison that killed my wife. What a work of fate. But everything becomes the past, the most important thing now is your answer to my offer."
"I…" Alex hesitated. He recalled the time he had with Alicia. Her smile, the time with her, and his precious memories with her flashed on his mind. If he didn't meet Alicia, what would he become? But two thousand years…
"You are luckier than me. You should look around you, she is an Elemental Beast. Unlike a normal beast that possessed elements in their body. They were not qualified to be called an Elemental Beast. The Elemental Beast is the king of the element, it is ranked only under Pure Element like us. She is one of the examples, she has the Fire Elemental Beast. The other example is Water Elemental Beast. I was lucky to meet him back then. He was a shark, and just like I said, he is the king of water. They are the king of elements. The chance for them to become divine beasts is also higher. Even after my 5000 years journey, I only met one which was that Shark. There are some rumors about them too, like an almighty thunderbird or the others. So I believe you will find her faster than me."
Alex looked at Sherry who puffed her chest. He smiled a bit, he then decided. "I will choose the same path as you."
"A wise choice," Maxwell smiled. "Oh right, my offer is still the same. How about you become my disciple?"
"As I said, I already have a teacher."
"Is that your only reason?"
Alex contemplated a bit and nodded.
"Let me confirm something first. You have a teacher and you are a student? So, I can say it's only the Teacher and Student relationship, right?"
Alex nodded.
"Then, it is easy. I will become your master and you will become my disciple. So our relationship is Master and Disciple relationship."
"…" Alex was speechless. "Aren't they the same?"
"No! They are not the same. They are…"
Maxwell explained for about thirty minutes. He then concluded with one sentence. "If you accept my offer, I will give you the temporary cure."
"Please accept me as your disciple," Maxwell actually didn't need to explain that long to Alex, he only needed to say the last sentence and he would hear a 'yes' answer from Alex. Even though it was pretty shameless.
"That's good..." Maxwell nodded. "Ah, you didn't need to kneel. This is only a wisp of my will. It will disappear sooner or later. Save it for later after you meet my main body. If you didn't want to do it, I don't mind it either. I've learned about different cultures after traveling to many worlds. I also know a lot of kinds of 'master-disciple relationships'. So personally, I didn't care about it much. As long as in your heart I am your master, then it's enough."
"I understand, Master," replied Alex.
"Alright, since you are going on the same path as me, let's talk about it first," Maxwell saw the impatient look on Alex's face. He smiled, "Don't worry. After she got inflicted by that poison. She probably has one month left. I guess she will be fine for now."
Alex felt relieved a bit. If he remembered it right, from the time she got poisoned until now, less than a week had passed.
"We better move on from this now. First, I will talk about the requirements to ascend. It's cultivation. Though I see that you are on the right path, cultivation isn't actually present in this world. Even if the others want to learn this path, the energy from cultivation would only be engulfed inside their bodies. Are you perhaps a reincarnated person like me?"
"Reincarnated person?" Alex shook his head. "No, I'm not."
"You aren't? Then how can you enter this world? I tried to enter this world again but got stopped by this world's will. It rejects an outsider like us."
"But I got transported to this world along with four others," Alex was surprised. If entering this world from outside was impossible, then how could he and the other four get in?
Maxwell contemplated a bit. "Wait. Don't tell me… are you from that place? You said you were summoned to this world, right?"
"That place?"
"The Exiled World."
"The Exiled World?" Alex was confused.
"Yes. How is that world now?"
"Hmm… my world… well, civilization was advancing rapidly. We can send people to the moon… we might be able to send people to another planet soon… maybe. I'm not so sure about that one. Oh right, there are no other races, only humans live there."
"Have you ever wondered if your race is the only one living there? Have you seen any other beings? Or any other races?"
Alex thought for a moment. Alien? There are some rumors about it but no concrete proof existed, no one ever saw their body or something else. "No, I'm sure of it."
"Sigh… you really come from that place then."
"What is 'that place' you are referring to, Master? What do you mean by the 'Exiled World'?"
"This is going to be a little long and this is a taboo story, well since you are from there I will tell you about it, but don't spread it around… it was from…"