I Was Destined To Destroy the World But Chose to Sell Llamas Instead. (Original-Shounen Inspired.)

[TripleMRed]

Of the many bountiful lands of Terra, few were quite as captivating as the Mountains of Pink Rose Trees. A land of hills and mountains, some of them floating land-masses in the air, interconnected by massive vines and roots of equally massive pink leafed trees that dominated the landscape. In a world of adventure and turmoil, this place was among the few that could truly claim to be free of the usual chaos that enveloped much of the rest of the world. It was for this reason, as well as the generally harmonious and beautiful aesthetic, that this was the place of choice for many Heroes to retire, or to come and meditate in silent contemplation.

For one Brew Master Han, however, he just liked to use the place as a napping place to avoid being disturbed. The wizened old Wukong was massive for his species size, though whether it was because of ancestory, ascension in the rungs of Power, or some other third thing was a hotly debated topic in the Brew Master Guild he belonged to. As the pink leaves drifted down, painting the orange-purple streaked evening sky with a rain of rosamel petals, the old warrior relaxed on his back, legs crossed and arms behind his head as he lay against the root of a particularly old and venerable speciman of the hulking trees that dotted the land.

He had done this routine a thousand times in his life so far, and he planned to do this a thousand times more. So used to this simple, relaxing cycle in his life, that as his fellow Brew Master's learned, absolutely nothing could pry him from his beloved relaxation spot.

Well, almost nothing.

As he lay there, he sensed a disturbance in.....well, 'everything' was technically accurate, but it was less that something was there, and more that nothing was. In a spot not far from his prefered resting site, something stirred, unseen but not unfelt. A void began to split apart the air, something he was all to familiar with as the distinct sensation of Emptiness filled his senses. An empty Nothing, that grew and grew in its power. What would have alarmed anyone else didn't even cause Han to flinch, much less open an eye. He was all too familiar with this brand of Aetherworks for its usage to disturb him in any way.

Exactly 7 seconds after the Emptiness began to grow, just as suddenly it disappeared, the Void popping with an audible hiss as where there was once Nothing, there was now something. A letter, inacuous in its appearence, mundane in its form, and now fluttering towards him as though the very wind itself was its courier. Han neither moved nor stirred an eye as he calmly waited for the letter to find its destination, resting on his belly. It lay there for a while as he staunchly refused to acknowledge it, much less try and open it. Once again, the wind picked it up and it fluttered up to land on Han's straw hat, percariously perched on the tip but never falling off as if it was trying to catch his attention. Again, he did nothing, though by now not even he could help hide the amused smirk on his lips.

As if with a mind of its own, the letter fell and landed directly on his nose, before the wind spun it and the edge of the closed letter hit him directly in the eye lid. As a Brew Master at his level of Power, such a thing didn't even begin to hurt him, much less draw his attention. The letter stopped spinning and hitting him in the eyelid, almost as if it was contemplating its next course of action. For a long, drawn out moment, nothing seemed to happen. And then, the hollowing feeling of the Nothing returned, this time a sharp, instant increase in its presence in the span of a split second. Almost an instant later, a bolt of lightning came down from the clear sky, split off a particularly large branch from the lower rungs of the tree, and the tree limb subsequently fell unceremoniously directly on Han's head.

The bark split as it landed on him, as though hitting something harder than itself, but it didn't need to hurt him physically, for it had wounded him in a far worse way.

The Wukong's straw hat, lacking reinforcement charms and strength of its own, was torn asunder by the falling branch as it impacted it. This finally caused Han to rouse, his eyes now open in an annoyed, lidded stare as he glared down at the letter still perched on his nose.

"Really?" He asked it as if it could answer. It replied by slamming its edge into his now open eye, once again not causing him to flinch but it did cause him to sigh. "Alright, alright. My nap's ruined now, so let's see what you have to say." He grumbled as he picked up the letter, tore it open with a claw, before pulling out the paper within and giving it a read.

For all the trouble it had given him to be read, the actual message was surprisingly brisque and to the point:

'H,

Something has come up and I will be held up longer than expected. I'm calling in my favor. You know the one.

G.'

Raising a brow, Han stood up and stretched out the kinks in his back before looking the letter once over, finding no other messages, hidden or otherwise, on it, before nodding.

"Right then, a favor's a favor." He murmured to himself as he crumpled up the paper, took a swig of one of his Brew bottles, before tossing the message up into the air and spitting forth a burning mixture that engulfed the page and the packaging it came in. So hot was the fire that the message and its letter were instantly reduced to ash and cinders, now wafting away on the wind and joining the endless cavalcade of petals that flowed through the land. Putting away his bottle and clapping his hands together, a small, fluffy looking cloud appeared before him, coming when called like a faithful companion animal. Taking his seat upon it, he gave his cloud a loving pat and a smile. "Come now, old friend. We have a little pup to train!" With that, the flying cloud buckled forth like a mighty steed.....before jetting out at a speed comparable to a bird rather than an extremely fast mode of transportation. The price of having such an old cloud, but he didn't mind. While he could reach his destination faster on his own, the slower journey would give him time to plan his regimen.

This wasn't his idea of relaxation, but damned if he wasn't going to give it his all!

 

[TripleMRed]

Entry 01

I have been within this reality for some time now, and while I do miss my home, the state it's been left in since the Devastation has yet to subside, even thousands of years later. Better I am here to make meaningful help and change compared to what limited capabilities I can offer back home.

I have already sent an in depth analysis compiled from notes from my team's experiences in this universe to our leaders back home, so I will only spare a quick summation of what we have found in this reality: This is, in my opinion, one of the most peculiar universes we have ever discovered to date. While we require more in depth tools and scientific teams that cannot be spared to research this universe further, we have found that the moons of this universe are made of cheese.

Cheese.

We had to pool our collective Aetherwork powers, my team and I, to confirm this wasn't some dream realm of a mad, sleeping god. It is not. The implications that this universe is somehow naturally occurring with such an odd feature as this is something I'm sure dimensional researchers would love to learn about once things settle down back home.

The next major point of interest is the inhabitants of this reality. Most species here are, in terms of power, Godlings, Mortal beings with power and abilities far beyond the realms of Mortal life for most universes as to be demigods either through natural process or through training and flourishing their power. Uncommon, but not unheard of, and not the first encounter we've had with such a universe. But I digress.

Having said all of this, I have been spending most of my time here on a world the locals call 'Terra', a distant backwater compared to the rest of the dominant civilizations in this reality. For the best, I say, the typical problems with a universe of Godlings plague these stars: Fighting for dominance, power, control, superiority. Compared to all that, Terra is unique in several regards. While worlds teeming with many different races are not uncommon, especially in my home universe, this world is distinct as being seemingly the only one of its kind in this one, the other worlds rarely having more than one, a maximum count of three, distinct naturally occurring species having been found.

This world also has most of its Mortals start out at a level of power most conventional universes do with theirs, 'weak' by the standards of its home universe, but with a distinct potential to grow exponentially in power as a form of self-improving Godling species'.

There are two organizations created to regulate, train, and oversee these developing Godlings who choose to increase their powers. The starting organization is 'The Adventurer's Guild', a name so common I find in my travels as to be painfully droll to my ears. Despite their lackluster name, the Guild is where most developing Godlings start out, choosing from a number of different 'paths' to which hone and develop their abilities down specific mystical routes of capabilities. The Bards, for example, can create mystical effects by playing music, their instruments becoming conduits from which they affect the world. Brewmasters, meanwhile, create enchanted brews of both impeccable taste and heartening abilities to imbue their drinkers with incredible power for short duration.

There are dozens of such Paths, each with their own unique and distinct power sets, with Adventurer parties banding together to cover each other's weaknesses in their journeys. Adventurers' have the important task of keeping 'Monsters', entities borne of Terra's magical leylines going awry to create semi-sentient masses of hostile elemental power. Low level monsters are the most common of such beasts, and the main task of Adventurer's is to keep their numbers culled and controlled. If Monsters survive too long, they can metamorphose into Divine Beasts, at which point they are too powerful for even the strongest Adventurer group to handle.

This is where the Heroes come in. On another level of power from the strongest of Adventurers, and indeed recruited from those Adventurers who breach through a set ceiling for Adventuring operations, Heroes are full on demigods, beings imbued with the divine spark that sets apart Godlings from normal Mortals. As such, with their incredible power, Heroes are ranked and judged based on the 'Level' of power they currently reside within, the highest levels of which blur the line between a Godling from an actual, proper divinity.

Natural disasters, Divine Beasts, and on rare occasions hostile invasions from foreign entities and powers are what Heroes are expected to deal with. A heft responsibility, not all Heroes can take the pressure and it is not unheard of for mental breaks to occur, which is often grounds for retirement and power restrictions to be placed upon them to avoid them accidentally destroying the very lands and peoples they are meant to protect. Some rare instances occur, however, of Heroes 'falling', becoming part of the menagerie of threats their kind are expected to deal with in order to protect their world against devastation.

There is an ranking system in place that separates the different tiers of Adventurers and Heroes of their capabilities, but that is for another time. I am due for a regular update meeting with my team soon so I will have to end my notes here for now. I will leave on this note, however, that for all its dangers, this Terra is a world of beauty and wonder. In fact, I am hoping to convince my sister to allow me to take my nephew here for his training. Even with the perils, it is still in a better, safer state than back home for young Gamil.

 

[TripleMRed]

Entry 02

I am no stranger to esoterica being ranked on a scale for easy identification and cataloging. Even for myself who is one, it is difficult to comprehend the gulf in scale of the lowliest of the Magi Order to those at the top of our ranks without giving name to each magnitude of ability. This is the same across all areas where the mystic arts or divine heritage runs, as without a way to give name to such scales, we would not know who we can win against and who we should seek to escape.

This is true even here on Terra. As I noted to my colleagues back home, the locals here have an enormous potential to reach incredible heights of power if fostered and nourished by going down distinct specializations and paths. This begins with the Adventurer's Guild, where those seeking to protect their world begin their journey of ascension at scales within the realms of comprehension of normal individuals. All other factors being equal, what the Adventurer's Guild is sent to deal with is within the realms of being handled by the lower ranks of my own Order for a comparison.

The Adventurer's Guild divides its ranks between two primary categories: Experience, and level of power. Power is measured in ranks dictated by a type of metal, the more precious the more powerful. Again, as with the name, it is such a droll system that I only bring it up for the sake of posterity in my note taking. However, those who display leadership abilities earn a distinct secondary rank to go along with it. The lowest of the low in the Adventurer's Guild, the freshest and rawest of recruits to pass their Trade's training, begins at Private Copper. In comparison to normal, day to day people within the world of Terra, they are on the level of normal people, little more than specialized soldiers in military terms., and indeed their experience ranks reflect this However, as they grow in power, the scale goes further and further higher.

In simple presentation, in increasing order of power/experience:

Copper/Private-->Bronze/Corporal-->Iron/Sergeant-->Silver/Lieutenant-->Gold/Captain-->Platinum/Major-->Rhodium/Colonel.

At the rank of power of Rhodium, an Adventurer is at the entry level of the Hero's ranks of power, which they are then given the opportunity to join the Heroes ranks at the start of their ranking system. As Heroes rarely form permanent teams or groups and are often sent out on solitary missions, Experience in command and leadership is less valuable among them in comparison to the Adventurer's. As such, those Adventurers who reach a high Experience rank are also given a secondary option to remain with the Adventurer's rather than continue their ascent of power, becoming a high ranking coordinator, logistical, strategist, and all round leader within the Guild's military based command system. Both Adventurer's and Heroes make use of ID tags in the form of pocket watches made of the material they are currently ranked at.

Those that enter to become a Hero have their Rhodium rank be renamed to the starting rank among the Heroes own as a 'Turquoise', the Heroes using there name of precious gems in place of metals for their ranking system. Instead of an experience rank being attached, a 'sublevel' rank is attached, ranging from Brittle-Hardened-Perfected, which measures the increase of power within a given rank before reaching the next order of magnitude.

Hero Ranks, from lowest to highest, therefore go as:

Turquoise-->Zircon-->Topaz-->Saphire-->Ruby-->Emerald-->Diamond.

What I find the most intriguing, and somewhat alarming, is that each increase of power is exponential. Indeed, it is said that those Heros who reach the level of Perfected Diamond are unto gods themselves, though none have managed to reach this rank in centuries as of the time of my writing these entries. As such, what truly happens to those who reach this rank-whether they ascend to true godhood or otherwise-is left to the realms of legend and myth. If they truly are that powerful, I can only hope that such power is not so corrupting. I've fought gods before. I do not wish to do so here.

 

[TripleMRed]

Entry 03.

'Monster' is a term used by countless people across countless worlds across countless realities. What it means, exactly, changes from place to place and context to context. In some, it is a generic term for anything 'not natural' to a given world's ecosystem. In others, it is the official terminology for a specific kind of sapient peoples, if often with an undertone of negativity. Here on Terra, however, 'Monster' has a very specific meaning.

A Monster is any naturally occurring instance of an aggressive, self-sustaining mystical life form formed from the ebbing and flowing of Terra's magical leylines. While what a specific monster is varies from instance to instance-some are whole magical phenomena that attain some level of low animal cunning while others are in fact ordinary animals that have been mutated from a mystical surge-in the end the thing that unified the Monsters of Terra is that they are dangerous for Mortals below a certain level of power to be around. In some cases, this is due to the creatures actively being a threat, hunting people that catch their attention, while others are dangerous as a direct result of their very existence being lethal to be near by due to being made of volatile elemental material.

Regardless of the specific 'why', Monsters often have to be hunted down and destroyed or captured when discovered to avoid loss of life if allowed to remain in the wild. As such, the Adventurer's Guild and Heroes were, at least in the official record, founded to keep Monster populations in check.

Similar to their hunters, Monsters are graded with a ranking system, though theirs is far more straight forward and simple. The weakest and most common level of Monster is the Category 3, which is where most Monsters begin their life cycle. Handled by low level Adventurers, these Monsters are often dangerous due to numbers rather than raw power. Category 2, meanwhile, is categorized by a notable increase in power on an individual level that is also marked by increased intelligence. These Monsters have managed to, for any number of reasons, survive long enough to adapt and grow. Just as how their origin and reason for danger varies, so to does the method in which they acquire their power. The most common is simply finding and feeding from Mana rich active Leyline spots, which more often than not are located in inhabited areas due to the infrastructure created to make use of these locations.

The threat level for Monsters rises exponentially, however, if they managed to reach Category 1 Status. Category 1 Monsters are characterized by a massive increase in power and intellect, often as a result of feeding off of other, similarly powerful beings, whether fellow Cat 2 Monsters or even the very Adventurer's sent out to hunt them down. While the latter is thankfully rare due to the training and coordination of experienced Adventurer teams, savvy Monsters more often than now make a habit of hunting down their own kind to increase their power, with their intelligence allowing them to recognize that stealth is their best option for long term survival against their Adventurer foes. This not-so-coincidentally directly coincides with them learning to minimize or mask their power signatures, allowing them to blend in and hide amongst the background mystical readings in the wild without drawing attention.

The most dangerous Monster breeds, however, are those that against all odds manage to break the ceiling for Category 1 and enter the rare but highly feared Category 0. Cat-0 Monsters are those who have managed to acquire enough power and intelligence to become fully sapient and begin apotheosis into a Divine Beast. At this stage, they are unable to hide their power signatures any longer, and have gone beyond what even the most powerful of Adventurer's can fight. Heroes are sent in to deal with such creatures, for if not stopped quickly and if allowed to finish their transformation, the Monster ascends to become a Divine Beast.

In the simplest, most blunt of terms, a Divine Beast is a god, a divine being that has transcended mortal limits to immortality and a realm of power most cannot grasp. While the actual level of capability for these newborn divinities range wildly, for no two gods are at the same exact level of power, these newborn deities can no longer be simply slain. While this is not to say it is impossible to kill a god, much less one of Mortal origin, the nature of the Divine Beasts as borne from the magic of Terra itself intrinsically links them to it and its nature. To destroy one is to risk irrecoverable damage to the world of Terra itself, with potentially dire and long lasting consequences as a result.

Divine Beasts can only be stopped by mid level Heroes or higher, as they are the only ones with the Metaphysical Weight needed to actually battle one into submission without being swept aside by their newfound divine power. At the time of writing, the last known Divine Beast to successfully ascend was some few hundred years ago before my arrival to this world. This creature, code named 'Gaia', is said to be the most powerful Divine Beast in all of known Terra History, to the point where it is said that she conquered and become the Queen of All Monsters, if folk-lore is to be believed.

Despite my best efforts, I could not find more than folk-lore and hear-say on Gaia, as the leadership of the Hero Order stubbornly refuse to reveal any concrete information to an 'outsider' such as myself or my colleagues. However, I often find that such legends have some kernel of truth to them if one digs deep enough, and from what little I could find that was consistently repeated among the far-flung legends of the world is two recurring factors: This 'Queen of All Monsters' willingly left to her own domain of her own free will, and that she chose her own name to call herself: Inanna, or as some ancient stories say, 'Ishtar'.