The Primal Hunter 15: A LitRPG Adventure, page 50
On Earth, Miranda had naturally also done all she could to prepare. With the level limitation in place, she wasn’t overly worried about people of excess power arriving, but she still remained cautious.
She and other smart heads had considered for a long time how they would approach visitors from other universes, and for a time even considered closing down the planet entirely, not allowing anyone to come... but ultimately, they decided on quite the opposite.
There would still be some restrictions, as Miranda feared the planet would be overrun without them, but in general, they would have few limitations. What they instead had were rules every visitor was expected to follow.
Was this the best approach?
Miranda had no idea. Nobody really did, though she had gotten some advice from her Patrons, most of which wasn’t that useful, as Miranda wasn’t interested in ruling the same way the Order of the Malefic Viper did.
Besides, if their approach turned out to be a bad idea... they would find out in short order, because the day was finally here. The 93rd Universe would soon be open.
Chapter 56
The Beginning of a New Multiversal Era
Scarlett couldn’t help but feel excited. This was her first official task as a member of the Order of the Malefic Viper, and it wasn’t an insignificant one.
With the opening of the 93rd Universe, many factions were naturally interested in establishing a presence on Earth. Many already had, but far more were looking for an opportunity, including those who’d never had a chance to do so.
Surprisingly, the Order of the Malefic Viper technically didn’t have a presence on the planet. They didn’t explicitly control any territories, and there weren’t any headquarters or institutions associated with the faction. Yet in the eyes of many, the entire planet already belonged to the Order, seeing as the Chosen of the Malefic Viper was the World Leader of Earth.
For the Order to expand their presence on Earth was a given, and Scarlett was all for it. One of her tasks was to escort the members of the Order to Earth and discuss with Miranda the terms of where they could settle.
Besides members of the Order, Scarlett was also to escort members of other factions, namely the Dragonflights, who had shown interest in having a more formal presence on Earth. Scarlett had been a bit surprised when she was informed they had been given permission by Miranda to travel to Earth with a fairly large delegation, but she definitely didn’t complain.
Over the last few years, she had been getting closer to members of the Dragonflights and was fully aware of why these organizations approached her. They knew getting to Lord Thayne directly was a tall order, and Meira was now the Chosen of Duskleaf and not someone they dared approach either. That left just herself, Irin, and Reika as potential targets for the Dragonflights to get an “in” with the Chosen. As a snake—a race closely related to dragons—she was the obvious target.
She had struggled with this in the beginning, but after a discussion with Draskil—the Malefic Dragonkin that some even believed to be the Chosen of the Malefic Viper for a time—she realized she should just embrace it. In his words:
“Kiss-assers are gonna try and get to you no matter what, so why not take advantage and at least get to know those trying to please you? Exploit them as much as they want to exploit you, and if you get lucky, you might even find a few people in there you genuinely get along with. Shit, I’ve expanded my harem three times over already just by not denying that the Chosen and I hung out for a while.”
Ignoring the last part, his words did carry some wisdom. Scarlett couldn’t change reality, only how she responded to it. And she had gained some actual friends during this time, having even gone to Nevermore with children of dragons.
Now, she was even getting credit from those she knew among the Dragonflights for allowing them to visit and establish a presence on Earth, and Scarlett gladly took this credit, seeing no reason not to.
“My Lady, the members of the Emberflight should be here shortly, but I was informed they were running a little late,” a succubus informed Scarlett, who sat deep in thought within her overly large training chamber.
“Did the Lumenflight reach out?” Scarlett asked.
“Yes, they showed interest in being part of a second wave if possible. For now, they have too many other areas to focus on and not enough members to confidently expand.”
“Alright,” Scarlett said, nodding as she got up. She checked a token and saw only ten short minutes remained till the universe opened up, and everyone was already meant to be gathered by now. Scarlett planned on being the last one to show up, as that was apparently what one was supposed to do, but she didn’t want to risk being late.
The succubus who had been assigned as Scarlett’s assistant for this event followed along, as she would also be one of the people going to Earth with them. The level restriction of 300 or below wasn’t very restrictive, but it was one of the reasons Scarlett had been assigned the leader.
While there were a few strong people who would go to Earth, Scarlett would be the strongest among their group. She had already reached peak C-grade and only needed to overcome the final wall before her evolution to B-grade, something she was still working on slowly and steadily.
Teleporting once with the succubus, Scarlett arrived at a massive outdoor area with around five thousand people of all races and internal factions of the Order. Vampires, dragonkin, scalekin of all sorts, humans, elves, dwarves, Risen, beastkin, and a lot of beasts or other monsters in human form. There were even a few members of the Altmar Empire and United Tribes mixed in.
Scarlett observed them and saw many were nervous about going to the planet ruled by the Chosen of the Malefic Viper. She was standing atop a raised podium overlooking the people gathered on the large teleportation circle that had been prepared, and while she couldn’t detect the person, she knew a god was hidden somewhere, in charge of the actual teleportation through the void to ensure nothing went wrong.
“Nervous about going home?” a familiar voice suddenly asked at her side. The very same dragonkin who gave advice that was sometimes good, other times questionable.
[Malefic Dragonkin – lvl 312]
“No, not really, though I am looking forward to seeing how my old subordinates are doing,” Scarlett said with a smile. “Are you nervous about going there? To the homeworld of the Chosen?”
That’s right—Draskil had also decided he wanted to tag along to Earth. In truth, his status within the Order of the Malefic Viper surpassed Scarlett’s by a fair margin, but the dragonkin had insisted she become the official leader of this little trip for a few reasons: She was a native of the planet, but more importantly, he seriously didn’t want to be in charge of anything. If a situation didn’t have to do with fighting or women, Draskil very rarely bothered getting involved.
“Depends, should I be nervous? Is it true that your planet has a lot of water?”
Scarlett, fully aware of his extreme hydrophobia, answered honestly. “The majority of the surface is covered in it.”
“Then why the fuck do you call it Earth?” the dragonkin complained. “Why not just call it Water if it has so much of it? That would be far more honest.”
“I’m not the one who named it,” Scarlett said, shrugging, “though I have heard it has many other names, such as the Blue Planet, which I guess could be described as more accurate. There are, however, planets that are effectively all water, so even that wouldn’t be very accurate.”
“Bah, such planets should be destroyed upon sight,” Draskil complained.
“Just don’t go and do something dumb on Earth,” Scarlett said with a sigh, fully aware that fighting Draskil likely wouldn’t end well for her if it came down to it. While she was many levels higher than him, he was still considered a top-tier genius by the standards of the multiverse, and thus far superior to herself. Not that she was too worried, as Earth had things that were far more threatening than she.
“I’m not an idiot,” Draskil said, scoffing. “Though I do plan on seeing if I can pay the Void Mechanist a visit...”
“Just don’t antagonize him.” Scarlett shook her head as she remembered the pamphlet about Earth that those from the Order had been handed. It had been compiled with the help of natives from the planet, and Miranda had even chipped in by including laws and norms of the planet.
One section of the information pamphlet was about notable figures on the planet. It talked about those not currently there, but also those who had stayed behind. Most notable was naturally Miranda, the Verdant Witch and de facto leader of the planet. She was the right hand of the Malefic One’s Chosen and the person he trusted the most, and that alone granted her an incredibly high status. Not to mention that she carried the Divine Blessing of the Witches of the Verdant Lagoon, with rumors that she was a Chosen candidate.
However, she was still considered a relatively approachable person, given her very public role. The same could not be said for the Void Mechanist, who had a section primarily filled with warnings to not piss him off needlessly. He was the type of person that a lot of people didn’t really understand regarding how he fit into the power structure of the planet, and Scarlett had to admit she was also perplexed.
He seemed entirely outside of the hierarchy. He had no official designations, no granted title, no nothing. By all accounts, he was just an extremely powerful guy who lived on Earth and preferred to be left alone, yet was respected by those with actual institutional power. The best way to describe him would be something like a reliable long-term contractor who wasn’t officially part of the leadership structure, yet was still often heavily involved in the matters of the planet.
But most importantly for those about to visit Earth, he was someone who could remove them from the surface of the planet if they annoyed him too much, and no one would do anything about it. In other words, he was someone to just leave the hell alone and, at most, admire from afar by gazing upon his large dome. At least for most... Scarlett had heard that a few of those from the Altmar Empire had plans to make contact with the Void Mechanist, and she could only wish them luck.
“Bets on if the Emberflight will make it?” Draskil asked after several moments of silence.
“I would assume they do, if only with a minute to spare,” Scarlett said. Sure, they’d said they would be late, but she still expected them to know that she wasn’t going to delay everyone just for one of the Dragonflights.
“Hey, you don’t know how bloody long Helen can take to get ready sometimes.” Draskil shrugged, though he did have a dumb smile when talking about the fellow dragonkin he had been aggressively pursuing for a few years. Scarlett wasn’t sure how much progress he’d actually made, but at least Helen seemed somewhat receptive.
Oh yeah, Helenstromoz, the red dragonkin that had tried to get close to Jake once upon a time, would also go to Earth. Just as they talked about them, seven people teleported onto the platform, the dragonkin in question in the middle, looking a bit frazzled. Scarlett also had to recognize that Helen was one of the more powerful people going to Earth, barely below the level 300 cutoff.
[Dragonkin – lvl 298]
“I apologize for our lateness, but there was a problem with a gift we had prepared,” Helen quickly explained by sending a telepathic message, and Scarlett just sent a quick acknowledgment in return, as she didn’t have time to engage in a conversation here and now.
She floated down and landed on the teleportation platform alongside Draskil and the succubus, then infused her voice with Willpower. “Prepare yourselves; the teleportation shall begin shortly. For those teleporting between universes for the first time, be aware that the experience can be rather uncomfortable. For those who have teleported between universes before, be aware this will be a lot rougher than what you’re used to.”
She’d thought she did well, adding a little joke in there, but the firm nods all around suggested everyone was serious.
A few seconds passed, and despite seemingly nothing changing for Scarlett and all those standing on the platform, something did change. Only the most powerful mortals among them could detect it, but all gods knew at that moment that the veil between universes had weakened.
All at once, countless teleportation arrays activated across the first ninety-two universes. Resources capable of funding entire pantheons were expended in mere seconds as trillions upon trillions were teleported into the 93rd Universe. A new era had begun.
Some planets would find themselves conquered by forces receiving outside assistance. Others would solidify their power, while a few places would be nearly unaffected, as the natives were too powerful or had limited all incoming teleportation to avoid any problems. At least for now.
Given enough time, the factions of old would claim the 93rd Universe the same way they had the prior ninety-two. Some would struggle, but in the end, the only choices most so-called “independent” planets would have were subjugation or annihilation. The only way to survive was to either become part of a large faction... or find yourself under the influence of a faction that didn’t care to rule every planet under their purview with an iron fist.
They would all still know that this iron fist existed and had the power to smash their planet to smithereens should the “independent” faction prove themselves just a bit too problematic.
Miranda stood alongside Lillian, Arthur, the Sky Whale in humanoid form, members from the Noboru clan, and representatives from most large factions who had a presence on Earth.
The large teleportation circle, which had been prepared in the relatively empty section of the human-occupied area of the planet, lit up mere seconds after the universe opened up. This teleportation circle was on a raised stone platform inscribed with the complex runes that Neil, Scarlett’s snakes, and many others had worked on for the last few months.
All around them for thousands of kilometers was barren land, and around the teleporter itself were nothing but temporary buildings primarily constructed by earth mages. These buildings were far worse than anything an actual Builder could make, but seeing as they’d only had a hundred days to prepare everything, Miranda wasn’t particularly upset that the welcome awaiting most of those about to arrive wasn’t exactly a red-carpet one.
Indeed, the lack of carpeting was a good thing, because it would have been quite nasty after what happened next. As several thousand figures appeared on the massive teleportation platform, about four out of five began to violently throw up, a few fainted, and there were even two who started screaming loudly.
Miranda couldn’t help but nod as she remembered her first time teleporting to the First Universe. Seeing as one side of the teleporter was a lot rougher than the other—the Order’s segment had been made by a god, after all—a bumpy ride was unavoidable.
Some of the new arrivals had handled matters pretty well, though. The more powerful people were able to suppress whatever discomfort they felt, while a few had experienced this type of teleportation several times before, including the two people who were leading this expedition.
“Hello, Scarlett—long time, no see,” Miranda said as she floated over and landed on the platform while regarding the albino snake in humanoid form. On one side of her was a powerful-looking Malefic Dragonkin who observed her back, and on the other, a succubus who was down on all fours and throwing up.
Scarlett looked at Miranda for a moment, then forgot all decorum for a moment to jump forward and give the witch a big hug. “Miranda!”
Miranda could only smile and return the hug. “Silly girl... I’ve missed you too.”
She couldn’t help but remember the days of teaching the far more powerful snake how to be more human-like, and while it hadn’t been a particularly positive moment of her life back then, she now looked back at it fondly.
Also... it did help break the ice for what was about to come next, as Miranda had meetings galore prepared and more work on her plate than she could possibly finish in the short term. Not that she complained too much, as the experience points were good. They were so good, in fact, that Jake had to be wary she wouldn’t evolve to B-grade before him.
“Greetings, my lady,” the Malefic Dragonkin said to Miranda just as she and Scarlett disengaged from their hug. He held out his hand, motioning Miranda to give hers. “It would be my pleasure if Ms. Wells would join me for a one-on-one meeting to—”
“No,” Miranda said at once, knowing enough about Draskil to glean what he was after.
The dragonkin instantly retracted his hand and shrugged with a grin. “Worth a shot.”
Scarlett sighed. “It really wasn’t.”
“I would beg to differ,” Draskil said, doubling down.
“You know what? I changed my mind,” Miranda said with a big smile. “We should have a meeting, just the two of us... Have you ever gone scuba-diving? An incredible experience after the system.”
Draskil looked confused until the succubus, who only moments ago had been busy throwing up, recovered and seemingly sent him a telepathic message explaining what Miranda was talking about.
The dragonkin looked at Miranda and nodded. “Truly worthy of being called a witch in both class and temperament, and one of the only people who can handle the Chosen of the Malefic One.”
Chapter 57
Creeping Death
“Be honest here… I know it’s not ideal, but do you think that’s better or worse than expected?” Jake asked the projection of a woman in front of him.
“Slightly worse...” Miranda said with a sigh. “I underestimated the arrogance some people possess. Even if they logically know they need to rein in their egos, in the heat of the moment, they forget themselves and act based on old habits. Those from the Dragonflights are especially a handful.”
“Remember that you have my full backing to act however you see fit,” Jake said stoically.
