Chapter 280: Return of the Sage

Twenty minutes late, agh. My perfect streak. Sorry for the delay, I'd forgotten to schedule the chapter.

Enjoy!

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Jack couldn’t believe his eyes. Before him stood a man as eccentric as he was eye-catching—a worn-out jacket, crooked yellow teeth, wild hair, a mad glint in his gaze. He didn’t smell, at least, but he seemed completely out of place surrounded by flying, robed cultivators.

Human (Earth-387), Level 170

Faction: -

“Sage!?” Jack asked. “What the—”

“Who’s that guy?” Dordok shouted, panting as he rushed into battle again. “Is he with us?”

Shol barely had time for a glance, making him furrow his brows. Immortals had excellent memory. “Is that…”

“Introductions can wait,” the Sage said with a confident, if yellow, grin. “I’m here to rescue you.”

“Someone came to save my saviors!” Dordok laughed. “Isn’t that a treat?”

“Quite.”

“Sage, what the hell,” Jack said again. “Aren’t you supposed to—”

An intense aura interrupted him. Maximus Lonihor erupted with power, releasing a supreme wind that blew both Dordok and Shol back. “No one is rescuing anyone under my watch,” he growled. The grin remained on his lips, but it had grown tighter, more thoughtful. Clearly, even he hadn’t expected the Sage to arrive.

He rushed ahead, then abruptly disappeared.

The Sage was already dodging. He smoothly glided backward, avoiding one claw swipe, then leaned down to dodge a kick. Three more strikes came, each more vicious than the last, and each was masterfully dodged.

Jack was close to the epicenter of this clash, so he got a good look at the Sage’s moves. They were almost magical. He wasn’t fast, but he predicted the leonine’s attacks before they came. His dodges looked almost choreographed.

Maximus paused. His eyes grew serious. “You people are starting to piss me off.”

“Good kitties should go to sleep,” the Sage said, pointing a finger at the leonine. Jack sensed nothing, but Maximus’s eyes turned hazy. He recovered just a fraction of a second later, but in a high-level battle, even an instant was too long.

Shol’s foot smashed into the leonine’s cheek. Jack saw his face warp almost in slow motion before their opponent was catapulted to the side, crashing through several miles of air and into the ground like a cannonball.

“Quick,” the Sage said, tossing up an object that resembled a dark sphere. “Everyone, to me!”

They obeyed—what choice did they have?—and the Sage’s sphere quickly enlarged to engulf them. Inside it, Jack saw the space under space, a place where everything was real yet not, where distance was an illusion. Staying here extensively threatened to tear the soul out of his body, but the sphere somehow protected him, adding a hint of stability to the chaos.

In the distance, Maximus Lonihor shot up from the jungle, roaring as he drove a golden punch at them. The Sage clapped—and instantly, space sucked them in. They were no longer in a jungle, but over an ocean with no hint of land in the horizon.

The dark sphere shrunk to its regular size and flew into the Sage’s hands. “Well, that’s one thing taken care of,” he said. He pocketed the sphere, then fished out what looked like a groceries list from inside his robes and crossed out one line. He put it away again before Jack could read anything.

Jack struggled to speak. His mouth moved up and down a couple of times before he made sound. “It was that simple?” was all he said. “We escaped?”

“For now,” the Sage replied.

“You can reuse that thing?” Shol asked, eyeing the pocket where the sphere had gone.

“Oh, yes. The Black Hole Church has all kinds of trinkets.”

Everyone fell quiet at the abrupt revelation. Jack remembered that he’d never told Shol about that. The silence was only broken by Dordok, who suddenly laughed uproariously. “System bless you, Jack. I don’t even need to know—I’m loving this!”

“The Black Hole Church…” Shol said. “That’s a potent statement.”

The Sage shrugged. “It is what it is. Didn’t Jack tell you he’s one of us?”

Shol had never looked at Jack with such accusation.

“I’m not,” he hurried to explain. “It was offered, but I’m still considering it.”

“Sure…”

“If I can interrupt this tender questioning,” the Sage said, “we’re still not safe. The Warden could be flying over the planet as we speak to scout us out. Follow me.”

Without another word, he flew down, diving into the blue sea with a splash.

“Oh, I’ll follow you alright,” Dordok said, clearly in a great mood. He dove down as well. Jack and Shol did the same.

Entering the water, Jack was glad that he no longer needed to breathe. His enhanced senses and Dao perception let him perfectly make out the underwater terrain, the hundreds and thousands of fish swimming around them. This was a virgin sea, untouched by garbage, chemicals, or overfishing. The sheer wealth of marine wildlife was staggering. He didn’t recognize more than a tenth of the species here.

His biologist sense tingled, but he let it wait for now.

Does the Sage know where he’s going? he wondered as they dove ever deeper, only for his worries to be proven unnecessary almost immediately. The Sage slowed down as he approached the foot of an underwater mountain, then slipped under a rock protrusion and disappeared.

Reaching that spot, Jack saw an opening inside the rock directly above his head. It led to an underwater tunnel. Following it, he watched the rock walls slowly close around him until there was barely enough room for him to stretch his arms.

Then, abruptly, the walls widened again, and Jack surfaced into an underwater cave. There was air here—though he didn’t need it—and the rock walls stretched into a wide hall more than thirty feet deep. It wasn’t spacious, but it could easily fit four people.

“We’ll be safe here,” the Sage said. “Unless the Warden inspects the bottom of this ocean himself, nobody will find us.”

While Jack was busy gawking, Shol and Dordok surfaced beside him. “How the hell do you know about this place?” Shol asked.

“Because I’m a Sage,” the Sage said as if that explained everything.

“Not convincing. Try again.”

“I just saved your life. I believe a little trust would go a long way.”

Shol snorted but did not pursue the subject.

“Now that we’re safe, can someone please explain what is going on?” Dordok asked, pointing at Jack. “How are you Level 179—no, 181 already? Shit. What are you doing with Shol Pesna? And how do we know the Black Hole Church?”

“I’d like to know that last part, too,” Shol added.

Jack sighed. “Very well. Buckle down, everyone; this will be a long story.”

He took a sit as well, since he remained injured, and began retelling. He explained about his adventures in Trial Planet, his conquering of the ninth ring, and his miraculous breakthrough. The only secret he kept was the Life Drop and its implications—besides that, he trusted these people enough to tell them everything.

He then spoke about his time in the Exploding Sun faction, and how one thing led to another, which led to him infiltrating one of the Animal Kingdom’s most well-guarded locations to hunt down and assassinate their core members.

“I know it sounds stupid when I say it like that,” he finished, “but it’s worked out pretty well so far. I’ve gained forty levels in a month.”

“And you’ve almost died at least twice,” Shol pointed out.

“Making this my safest month since the Integration.”

“Fair enough.”

“And you came to rescue me?” Dordok asked.

“Of course,” Jack replied. “You’re my captain—and you once risked your life to save me, a total stranger. What kind of man would I be if I didn’t do the same?”

Moisture welled up in the captain’s single eye. “I knew I was right about you!” he shouted, drawing Jack into a big hug. He then held him by the shoulders and asked, “What about the Ram? Is the rest of the crew safe?”

Jack bit his cheek. The captain cared about his crew and ship more than anything else. This question must have been burning his lips since the moment he was captured.

“I don’t know,” Jack finally replied. “Last I heard, they escaped from the Hounds by teleporting away. I can only hope they’re fine.”

Dordok nodded. His gaze was inscrutable. “Achilles died in the battle,” he said. “It was after you left. One of the Hounds tore him apart.”

Jack took the news like a mallet to the skull. “I see,” he replied.

“It’s devastating, I know. He was a good man.” The captain observed a few seconds of silence before continuing. “The rest of them will be okay. Bomn will take care of them. He can carry my mantle with pride.”

“Do you think Vashter managed to recover from his wounds?” Jack couldn’t help asking.

“Certainly. That is one resilient sailor. I’m sure they found a way.”

“Then, I’m glad…” Jack said, releasing a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. Meeting the captain again brought back memories—and seeing that they shared the same certainty of the crewmembers surviving relieved him.

Jack hadn’t spent much time in the Trampling Ram, but he remembered it fondly.

Seeing that Jack and Dordok were done for now, Shol spoke up. “What are you doing in Hell, Sage?” he asked. “And don’t tell me you’re only here for Jack.”

“You’re contradicting yourself. How can I answer your question without saying the answer?”

“What?”

“What?”

Shol took a moment to parse through this. “Are you saying you’re only here for Jack?”

“That’s what I would say, if you hadn’t told me not to say it.”

Jack could see the monk’s temperature rising, so he quickly butted in to say, “Don’t test his patience, Sage. He has the fuse of a fuseless candle.”

“Right. I apologize,” the Sage said, laughing lightly. “Jack is a very promising prospect. He is worth the risk of me coming here. Plus, I can divine that things will probably be okay.”

Shol narrowed his eyes. “Say I believe you. How did you find us?”

“Because I am a sage.”

“Hmph. I’m not like the idiots you’re used to dealing with. I’ve lived for centuries and dealt with all sorts of prophets. Even the Barren High cannot divine things like that.”

“I know they can’t, but I can.”

“You are testing my limits.”

A hint of Shol’s aura leaked out, soaking the cave in faint sunlight. Jack raised his hands. “Can we all calm down, please?”

“This is important, Jack,” Shol said. “If this man has a way to track our location, I would like to know.”

“He saved our lives. Give him the benefit of the doubt for now. Besides, if he has a way to track anyone’s location, that’s me—or the captain, actually.”

“How did you all find me, anyway?” Dordok asked.

“I assaulted a late immortal, stole his prisoner scanner, tracked down every prisoner and confirmed your identity from a distance, then followed your dot on my scanner,” Shol explained, “but that’s not important right now.”

“Right,” the Sage said. “You know what is? Coming up with a plan.”

“We don’t need one,” Shol shot him down. “Jack, do you guarantee for this guy?”

Jack considered it. The truth was, he knew almost nothing about the Sage. He shouldn’t guarantee for him, but the man had helped him on so many occasions that he deserved at least this little bit of trust. “Yes,” he replied.

“Good. Then, Sage, I should let you know we only followed you here to learn about your identity and goals—which we didn’t, but Jack’s guarantee is good enough for me. Here’s the plan: we go back outside, board Jack’s starship, and teleport to a nearby planet, where an accomplice of ours is waiting to take us away.”

“That’s an excellent plan,” the Sage said, “except your accomplice has already been apprehended by the enemy.”

Shol’s eyes narrowed. “Impossible. I contacted them only a few minutes ago.”

“They’re blackmailed to reply normally, but I assure you, they’re under enemy custody.”

“Oh yeah? And how would you know? Because you’re a Sage?”

“That, too, but also because one of our members works as an undercover guard. Your accomplish is Vegna, right? The feshkur merchant captain?”

Shol was visibly surprised. “How could she have been caught?” he asked. “She knew the Kingdom’s patrol patterns inside out.”

“It wasn’t the Kingdom. The Hand of God tracked you down to the Eternal Gate, then performed a background check on every person on the planet when they lost your trail. You and Vegna have worked together before—she was one of the first they interrogated, and nobody can lie to the Inquisitors.”

“Wait. Why would the Hand of God be after us?”

“Not after you,” the Sage corrected him. “After Jack.”

Shol turned an increasingly furious glare at Jack. “And why, pray tell,” he said slowly, “would the Hand of God be after my honest little brother?”

Jack, in turn, glared at the Sage. He hadn’t told them about the Life Drop before, so naturally, he also hadn’t mentioned anything about the Hand of God chasing him. Shol had no idea.

“Start talking, Jack,” Shol said heavily, “and this time, you damn better stop hiding things or I’ll whoop your ass so hard you’ll shit yourself.”