Chapter 4: Alive?
May 2nd, 2043, Jianghai City, Huaxia
In a run-down dorm room in Qing university a young man with black hair and a sharp face woke up from a restless sleep. However, when the youth opened his eyes all one could see was confusion and bewilderment, as if he couldn't understand what was in front of him. He stared at the stained ceiling of his dorm room for a minute, five minutes, half an hour. Before he started laughing.
"Ha! Hahahaha, ah hahahahha, aha, ahahahaha, hah!" The laugh was full of disbelief before a myriad of emotions started filling his voice as he started to wheeze, completely overwhelmed by his emotions.
The youth finally rolled out of his bed all emotions finally drained from him as if laughing like a mad man was cathartic. Yet instead of investigating the youth sat down in the lotus position. Centering himself he stabilized his being trying not to be overwhelmed by the endless stream of thoughts and his unstable heart. This was not a time to lose control, yet the feeling of nausea still crept up within him. With a force of will he calmed himself and his mind. After another hour the youth finally let out a sigh after completing his meditation.
"So…. Where, or should I say, when am I?" The youthful Gu Erin may have somewhat resembled the Gu Erin in the past, or future. But, at his moment he looked like a skinny malnourished college student. Although his father was a hard-working businessman, and his mother worked two jobs, it was all in order to help him pay his way through college, and it was barely enough.
Gu Erin's Dao heart hardened exponentially at the idea that he might really be in the past and his family was still alive. It made his heart beat faster and faster with expectation as he looked at his old phone. Gu Erin smiled, patting himself on the back for keeping the same pin all his life. It would have been incredibly irritating if he couldn't even unlock his phone.
However, when Gu Erin saw the date on his phone almost all of his previous work during his meditation nearly came undone. It was May 2nd, a whole day before Heaven's Mercy descended upon the world. He stared blankly at his phone till the screen turned black after being inactive for too long. Leaving Gu Erin staring at his own reflection, again Gu Erin felt his heart shake.
There was no longer the battle-hardened face he was accustomed to, no longer was his face filled with scruff or scars. His hair was short and clean, instead of his long and wild hair of the past. Gu Erin then shifted his gaze to his body, he was not surprised to see that his body was just as undeveloped as it was when he first started. Yet he already had more than five solutions to his frail body floating about his mind, as soon as he entered Heaven's Mercy he would start rebuilding his foundation. Not only that ,he would make his foundation stronger than ever, he needed the strength to change his fate and the fate of others.
Gu Erin then entered a state of recollection, he needed to remember everything within Heaven's Mercy. Although Heaven's Mercy was an opportunity for the inhabitants of the planet to grow stronger, it was also quite dangerous and ever adapting, constantly enforcing the idea of 'there was no free lunch in this world.'
Heaven's Mercy despite all this was just simply a tutorial, yes a tutorial. It was a pocket world created by the Heaven's itself, and it was constantly adapting, The form of adaptation Heaven's Mercy took on for humanity was none other than a game like setting. The heaven's wanted to instill upon the inhabitants a sense of competition for the world's limited resources. However, instead of guilds or groups, the heaven's recognized sects and factions.
You could leave the game whenever you wanted, yet you couldn't reenter. The Heaven's does not pity those who are weak of heart, it had already given Earth's inhabitants a great opportunity upon entry of the greater plane of existence. The Heaven's allowed the inhabitants of Heaven's Mercy to communicate freely no matter the distance as long as one would carry another's mark on their jade slip.
Allowing this amount of communication to flow freely was Gu Erin's greatest boon, he had collected every ounce of valuable information regarding cultivation treasures. Not only that he knew which inhabitants of Heaven's Mercy that would help him greatly along his quest of power. He also knew of a few inhabitants that needed to be eliminated before the end of Heaven's Mercy.
Thinking of this Gu Erin cleared his desk and started to take notes, fearing he would forget something. He had drawn an outline of Heaven's Mercy and all of the kingdoms and empires within them. He tried to remember all of the starter villages and their locations, yet he could only remember about half of them. Afterall most of humanity would move on from villages once they reached the bone fusion stage.
Gu Erin started marking out all of the treasures he new of and when they were generally found, this was important as most of these treasures were natural treasures, so if they were found too early or too late they would be worthless. Making a note of this he focused on magic items and soul bound artifacts.
Gu Erin finally leaned back in his chair and sighed, already having jotted down everything that had come to mind. He particularly paid attention to all the known locations of every mortal, earth, and heaven ranked sacred flames. He had an innate fire spirit root. Although it was only a mortal grade spirit root. However, with just one encounter with heavenly sacred flame of the veiled ice phoenix, his innate spirit route had increased to the mid-earth rank. This had been one of the most fortuitous encounters of his past as he was able to rise through the ranks.
Suddenly he paused, "There was always that…" Gu Erin had just remembered a certain aspect of Heaven's Mercy and that was The Stairway of the Heavenly Dao. It would allow one to temper one's Dao heart. However, it was dangerous to repeatedly use the stairway because it exuded soul pressure, anyone below the nascent soul realm would find themselves quickly overwhelmed after ten attempts. Anyone who would foolishly continue to use the stairway would only find themselves turned into human vegetables as their soul corroded away.
It was only a few weeks into Heaven's Mercy that someone reached the top, and the Heavens bestowed that person with a great opportunity. What it was, Gu Erin didn't even know, however, what he did know is that person had proceeded to dominate within Heaven's Mercy, he had then disappeared after its conclusion, presumably he found a way to leave the planet and abandoned Earth to its fate.
Gu Erin stood, he had to make a few calls and go a few places. He needed to build a faction, a group of reliable and talented followers. He had the knowledge of abundant resources yet he couldn't be everywhere at once. He had made the mistake of trusting those who had risen along with him, but had overlooked the inherent greed of man leading to countless betrayals.
He already had three places in mind, one would be an issue, but he was decently confident about the other two. But, first he had to contact a few individuals, he had to calm himself. To them everything was normal. Yet in his mind he had relived the scene of his family dying countless times. He wanted to hear the voice of his strict father, his caring yet nagging mother, and his annoying little sister.
The smile that had once filled a countless number of people with dread and fear was now gentle and somewhat sad. He had the opportunity to protect his family yet again, and this time he would not fail. He would see his family survive this tribulation, even if it meant aligning with the devils of the underworld.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone