Hundreds of meters above the ground, cloaked behind the dense canopy of the forest, Alphonse's silhouette hovered in silence.
His semi-transparent form blended flawlessly with the refraction of sunlight piercing through the leaves. From that altitude, his golden eyes stared sharply downward, observing every movement of the leather-armored tracking squad that had just arrived at his slaughter ground.
He saw the man with the scarred neck—who appeared to be the squad leader—meticulously inspect the scorched crater, then order his subordinates to shoulder the remaining intact Dire Wolf carcasses.
Alphonse let out an unseen, faint smile. "Their behavior clearly displays a trained military formation. They are gathering the remnants of the battle as if investigating a crime."
He rested his chin on his hand, amused by his own situation.
"There is no way they would bother hunting me down just for this minor skirmish, right? I haven't even gone anywhere yet," he muttered. "Or perhaps... Dire Wolves hold the status of protected wildlife in this world?"
Realizing that observing soldiers would yield him no further valuable information, Alphonse decided to leave.
With a single thought, his body shot away from the area, piercing the air without leaving the slightest trace or sound.
He flew several miles to the north, ensuring his distance was safe enough from potential trackers. His eyes caught sight of a giant, ancient oak tree with massive roots protruding above the ground, creating a naturally shaded and hidden alcove.
Alphonse landed smoothly upon the mossy roots. He severed the flow of his magic.
[Tier B - Fly] [Tier C - Mirage]
The light refraction effect faded like mist swept by the wind. His pitch-black robes, his white fur collar, and his physical form returned to reality. Gravity once again seized his feet.
He closed his eyes and drew a deep breath, letting the forest air fill his lungs.
"What miraculous energy," Alphonse whispered.
Now that the tension of combat had subsided, he could truly feel the existence of mana within his body. It was no longer merely a blue number on the bar of a game interface screen.
This was a pulsating magical energy, flowing thickly through his veins, granting vitality far surpassing the biological limits of Earth's humans. Furthermore, his perception was now connected to the surrounding nature. He could sense invisible mana particles drifting in the air.
As he breathed, those particles seeped slowly through the pores of his skin, restoring his magical reserves that had slightly depleted after slaughtering the wolf pack.
Alphonse sat down, leaning against the trunk of the giant tree. He extended a finger, touching the surface of the Stella Obscura hovering before him. The fist-sized black crystal felt cold, yet emitted a familiar resonance.
"In this world, my physical strength and magical affinity as a Level 100 player have proven to be real," Alphonse said, staring at the slowly spinning miniature nebula inside the crystal. "I hope... your abilities remain unchanged as well."
His eyes flashed. He channeled a thread of intent into the crystal.
The Stella Obscura responded instantly. Its pitch-black surface radiated a brilliant starlight, illuminating the area beneath the shady tree with a silver and blue glow.
[Tier S - Gate]
The air in front of Alphonse distorted. A galactic vortex three meters in diameter tore open from empty space, emitting a low hum.
The stellar vortex spun elegantly, generating a gentle breeze carrying an alien scent from an unknown dimension.
Alphonse smiled in satisfaction. "Hoho... it worked. And my mana reserves have not depleted in the slightest."
With his magical perception, Alphonse observed the flow of energy around him. Rather than draining power from within his body, the Stella Obscura acted as an independent reactor. The crystal absorbed natural mana from the surrounding environment to stabilize the spatial structure, maintaining the Gate to stay open.
In Orion Online, Phantasmal-tier weapons were not items that could be bought with gold coins. They were rare artifacts obtainable only from conquering World Bosses with a drop probability below zero point one percent. The players dubbed them "Legal Cheats".
The Stella Obscura possessed a passive effect that broke the game's balance: this crystal could create and permanently maintain S-tier Gate magic without consuming a single drop of its user's mana.
"Let us see the extent of your limits," Alphonse challenged.
[Tier S - Gate]
[Tier S - Gate]
[Tier S - Gate]
One by one, galactic vortexes tore through the air around Alphonse. Blinding light dazzled the eyes, and the low hum now escalated into the roar of a giant engine.
The gentle breeze turned into an artificial storm that snapped small twigs and blew away dry leaves.
Ten gates now surrounded him, spinning majestically.
"Nine... ten," Alphonse counted amidst the roaring wind. "The limit remains the same. I can only create ten gates at one time."
He attempted to forge an eleventh gate. However, the magic failed to form.
Alphonse observed the Stella Obscura. The starlight inside the crystal had dimmed drastically, leaving behind a seemingly dead black stone. There was no magical energy left at its core.
Alphonse nodded in understanding, discovering the logical correlation. "So that's how it is. In the game, this limitation was merely written as a twenty-four-hour Skill Cooldown."
"But in the real world, that rigid mechanic translates into a capacity issue: this weapon's mana storage is depleted."
He could feel the Stella Obscura now working hard like a thirsty sponge, absorbing mana in the air to gradually recharge its empty energy.
"If the mechanics have become this realistic, must I also wait a full day for this crystal to fully charge before I can open free gates again?" he murmured.
Alphonse stared at the ten galactic vortexes surrounding him with a furrowed brow. Waves of magical energy seeped from behind those gates, offering paths leading to nowhere.
In the game, if a player opened a Gate without specifying the exact coordinates of the final destination, the system would throw them to random coordinates on the world map.
Entering a spatial vortex to an unknown destination in an entirely alien world was suicide. He would not take a ridiculous risk like stepping in blindly and suddenly ending up at the bottom of the ocean, or in the middle of an ancient dragon's lair.
A few minutes passed in a silence filled with the roar of the wind.
Suddenly, one of the galactic vortexes to his right corner shuddered violently. The gate shrank rapidly before finally collapsing and vanishing into the air.
Alphonse straightened his back. His golden eyes narrowed. He immediately cast his magical perception as far as possible into the surrounding area.
A shocking new fact struck him.
The concentration of mana in the air around him, which moments ago felt so abundant and dense, had now thinned to a concerning level.
The nine remaining gates began to flicker dimly. They acted like starving parasites, fighting over the remnants of mana in the environment merely to maintain their existence.
"Of course," Alphonse sighed, massaging his temples. "Even the natural atmosphere has a capacity limit. If the energy in this area is entirely absorbed by these gates... it means I can no longer place many Gates close together like I did in the game."
One by one, the galactic vortexes lost the battle for energy. They shrank, shuddered, and then vanished. The mana in the air was too thin to support the stabilization needs of Tier S magic.
As the final gate vanished, the environment turned deathly silent.
However, Alphonse felt a profound discomfort.
His chest felt tight. The air he breathed felt hollow, like breathing at the peak of an oxygen-deprived mountain. The depletion of mana around him triggered a rejection reaction from his body, which now possessed magical energy.
He remained seated silently, regulating his breathing rhythm until several minutes passed. Natural mana flow from further regions of the forest slowly seeped in, rebalancing the energy concentration where he sat. His shortness of breath gradually faded.
Alphonse rested his head against the oak tree's bark, letting his body relax. Observing the Stella Obscura hovering calmly once more, memories of his past flooded his mind.
In the era of Orion Online, the hierarchy of power was not solely determined by who had the highest level, but rather by which guild held a monopoly over strategic resources. The dominance of the Three Emperors and the Ten Monarchs was forged thanks to the existence of Phantasmal items.
The Pioneer Guild—which lacked the massive financial backing of the Three Emperors—managed to climb the hierarchy and be recognized as the wealthiest guild among the Ten Monarchs purely due to the Stella Obscura.
Alphonse smiled faintly, recalling his past plans. While other guilds used legendary artifacts to slay World Bosses, Alphonse used the Stella Obscura to build infrastructure.
He created ten gates in the plaza of the Lamdal Capital. Those ten gates connected directly to commercial centers in ten different cities controlled by Pioneer.
Why was that important? Because the game's instant teleportation system could only be used by players, while the millions of NPC population who played a crucial role in the world's economy lacked such access.
With Pioneer's instant logistical routes, NPC merchants could move trade caravans from north to south in a matter of seconds. Even casual players chose Pioneer's routes because Alphonse set transit tolls lower than the system's teleportation fees.
It was that interdimensional toll road that transformed Pioneer's territory into the largest hub of currency circulation.
Their wealth swelled unstoppably, allowing them to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Monarchs, and slowly become a true threat to the thrones of the Three Emperors.
Alphonse opened his eyes, staring at the sky behind the leaves.
"A world without that system..." Alphonse whispered, his gaze sharpening. "...is the perfect blank canvas."
However, he knew full well that a leader could not conquer an entire continent alone. He needed his twenty-two members. He needed the Pioneer forces.
And most importantly, he needed eyes to see the entirety of this mysterious new world's boundaries.
Alphonse rose from his resting position. He brushed off the remaining dust from his robes, then stepped into a slightly more open area between the trees. The forest wind blew, parting his wolf-fur collar.
He slowly raised his left hand, letting the Stella Obscura spin rapidly around his arm.
He no longer intended to conduct small-scale experiments. If he wished to locate his subordinates and map out this land in an instant, he had to dissect the sky itself.
His golden eyes glowed brightly, radiating the dominance of a ruler.
"It is time to see how vast this new cage is," Alphonse said softly.
He began to concentrate his entire energy flow, preparing to cast the highest-tier skill he possessed: an Ultimate Skill.