We see a man in a plain shirt with dark blue ash hair and azure eyes, moreno skin with a natural, radiant glow, walking down a crowded street in the afternoon with a deep look on his face, contemplating something.
It was Larvan, still in deep thought about his talk with Old Man Ray, acting natural while also being cautious about his surroundings.
.....
A while back, when Larvan asked the question.
"Wha-Why? Why did you retire?" -Larvan said, a little hesitant, while looking at Old Man Ray with a worried look.
There was a deafening silence in the room, and Old Man Ray's eyes were widened while lost in deep thought, his face undergoing multiple changes of emotions like going through a sped-up movie in his mind, the look of happiness, hurt, anger, sadness, happiness again, sadness again, and then finally, loneliness.
Tears slowly fell from Old Man Ray's eyes, and Larvan's eyes were wide and his mouth slightly opened in shock at what he was seeing.
The strong, reliable father figure who was always smiling and positive, no matter the hardships of life that were tossed in front of them, would one day show vulnerability in front of him.
"You know what, kid?
I'll answer your questions about my past next time." -Old Man Ray emotionally said as he turned to look at Larvan while wiping his tears.
Larvan looked at Old Man Ray with an anxious nod, allowing the old man to open up about it when he was ready.
"On that note, why don't you tell me the reason you're being tailed?" -Old Man Ray asked with a serious look.
Larvan was shocked that Old Man Ray knew that he was being followed.
"Come now, at first, I thought they were after me, but after seeing your mark as a Keyholder, I became certain that they weren't after me, they knew better than that." -Old Man Ray said with a reassuring smile.
"We-well, this is probably the reason I am being followed-" -Larvan explained and recounted what happened, with an anxious face and tense body.
Old Man Ray patiently listened to Larvan with a longing smile.
After Larvan finished recounting his story, Old Man Ray was in deep thought.
"Aaah.
I see how it is, you don't have to worry about the ones following you right now, they were probably wary of whether you were a scout or spy from other groups, like those groups of killers or cultists.
The people you saw were probably part of the group that protects our world from creatures and Keyholders with malice from the Ever Plain.
They won't take action since they've seen that you and I are close, vouching for your Identity." -Old Man Ray said with a reassuring tone and smile.
Larvan, listening to Old Man Ray, felt relief wash all over him after what was said.
"I-i see, thanks for reassuring me, old man." -Larvan said with a relieved smile, his body relaxing.
Old Man Ray smiled as he took something out of nothing, appearing in his right palm.
It was a silver cross-shaped object, shiny and overflowing with will.
Larvan, without even using his will to probe, could feel its vastness.
Old Man Ray held the Item in his open palm and held it out for Larvan as if to give it to him, Larvan still staring at the Item, eyes wide and awe struck.
"W-what do you mean by this, old man?" -Larvan asked, pointing his finger at the Item.
Old Man Ray reached his other hand and grabbed Larvan's hand, opening it and placing the Item on his palm.
"Take it.
It's my gift to you for officially becoming a Keyholder. It's the last Limited Use Item I have left.
A Mythical Ranked limited use item.
//
(Note: Artificially Created Limited Use(ACLU) item = was made.
Limited Use(LU) item = naturally made.)
LU: Item - Miracle of the Cross (Mythical ranked) = 1 time use
Ability: Choice of Miracle (Can twist the laws of the world to create a miracle, limited by rank)
//
Besides, you'll need it more than I, a retired old man, ever would." -Old Man Ray said with a melancholic voice.
Larvan stared Old Man Ray in the eyes as he listened, then looked back at the Item in his palm, clutching it as if resolving himself.
The Item vanished from his hands and entered his will, taking up space unlike a bonded item, which is like a part of his will or like a painting on air, in this case, on his will or a translucent paper that takes up nothing at all, no matter how many bonded items there are.
"Thanks, old man." -Larvan replied, smiling with sincerity, and stood up.
Old Man Ray waved his right hand as if to say it was no problem.
"I know you, kid. I hope you find a goal, and not just live to survive." -Old Man Ray said, with a fatherly smile, and snapped his fingers.
Snap!
The barrier like thing that enveloped the room slowly disappeared and returned to the Item on the table, which was a bracelet, as clear as glass
Larvan smirked and nodded as he walked outside, waving goodbye while walking to the door.
Old Man Ray looked at the door as if seeing through it.
"Hope your experience fares better than what I had gone through kid." -Old Man Ray muttered to himself with a sad and darkened look reminiscent of the past.
.....
Back to the present.
As Larvan kept walking to less and less crowded streets, he could still feel many people following him.
As he kept walking, he put his right hand in his pocket, and the tattoo on his chest swiftly moved to his palm, then transformed into a key.
Then, when he neared a corner alleyway, he swiftly entered as a dense crowd of people walked past it, momentarily shaking off his tail.
The people following Larvan looked at the corner alleyway and found that he had disappeared.
At that moment, they had concluded two things, either he had entered The Ever Plain's/Ever Halls or Teleported using an Item.
Either way, they no longer pursued or concerned themselves with Larvan as they saw him being acquainted with the retired Ray The Star Chaser, once a rising star whose name was heard throughout The Ever Plains till this day with his group that was known as The Eternal Constellations, who came closest to becoming a Divine Rank Item wielder.
So all of them left and reported to their respective factions, not wishing to antagonize someone connected to The Star Chaser.
Meanwhile, Larvan was once again standing in The Ever Halls corridors as the door disappeared, leaving a key that became a tattoo on Larvan's palm, and it swiftly moved from his palm up to where it used to be.
Haaaa.
Larvan lets out a breath to relieve his tension and proceeds to look around his surroundings.
He used his sixth sense as he explored The Ever Halls to find items, a little confident in his item that it wouldn't lead him to dangers that he couldn't handle.
Larvan walked the halls with measured steps, cautious of his surroundings.
He entered a door near him that his Item pointed to, this door was dim like the others around the halls near him, but for some reason his Item pointed to this door specifically with a dim yellow color arrow.
Land - Fields of Stone Pillars
When Larvan opened the door and saw the view as he entered, he was shocked by the scenery of stone pillars that was spread throughout the Land, some pillars were right next to each other, while some formed a pathway.
It felt artificially made yet so natural, you could see patterns, yet random ones. Some pillars were as tall as the sky, while some were as small as trees.
Larvan navigated the Land and walked through the countless stone pillars, following the direction his item was pointing without letting his guard down.
Larvan learned from his mistake last time and used his other senses, although doing so increased the burden of consumption on his will a little, he still did so for safety.
Projecting his sense of smell, arrows pointed all around him, so he mentally filtered the ones that differed from the natural surrounding smell, although doing so increased the burden of consumption on his will again more than before, but enough not to cause a problem for him.
Projecting his sense of hearing, arrows pointed all around him, again, he mentally filtered the ones that differed from the natural surrounding sound, again increasing the burden of consumption on his will more than before, and this time his will that he constantly flowed around him for protection lessened, to create a constant flow of will for his item.
This time, it caused a bit of a problem for Larvan's mentality, for he had to follow the arrow by his sixth sense and constantly be vigilant of various distinct arrows pointing everywhere around him.
A considerable amount of time passed as Larvan walked through the stone pillars, he reached the place where the arrow pointed at an inconspicuously large pillar, like an apartment building, like the other pillars like it.
At first, Larvan didn't know why his sixth sense pointed to this specific stone pillar.
It was as huge as a skyscraper. At the highest point of the pillar, it looked as if it curved to form a cane like structure.
He drew near the pillar, touched it, and inspected the pillar with a scrutinizing gaze, trying to find something, anything that triggered his senses.
After an hour of inspecting, Larvan finally found something that might be able to satiate his curiosity.
A hole that could not be seen on the side because of the shadows emitted by the stone pillars that hid it, unless felt by touch, this would not have been found.
"Surprisingly, I could fit in" -Larvan thought as he crawled in to enter the hole.
As Larvan crawled in and entered the stone pillar, it opened up to the point that he could stand, the inside was quite spacious.
As he scoured the surroundings, he noticed a pile that looked familiar to him.
It was a pile of Source Fragments, Larvan was shocked at the quantity and quickly stored it within his will.
As he did so, he counted 100,000 Source Fragments, it was a lot.
Larvan's face was still in shock as he could not believe that his first time adventuring on his own would yield such an amount.
But he wasn't letting his guard down, still maintaining his item active, not letting a moment of good fortune be the reason he died here.
As he continued to look around and found nothing, not even with his item.
Larvan got out of there quickly, for he feared his newfound wealth.
He started to head out of the Land through another door, then, as he exited the Land, he randomly selected another door this time without using his item, as he mainly focused on dangers instead of the profits, and entered the door.
Land - Thousand Mountain Range
As Larvan entered the Land standing atop a mountain, he saw mountains as far as the eye could see, and note that Larvan is a Keyholder, no longer a regular human.
Larvan remembered one of the questions he asked The Guide before.
It was that, Lands, have different sizes as well, and depending on the size of the Land, the stronger the item, the more doors it connects to, mainly from smallest to biggest,
Small = Continent
Medium = Planet
Large = Solar System
Huge = Galaxy
The small Lands are housed by Source level Items, above those Lands are the Ranked Items, although equal to continents, the size of the continent still depends on how many or how close the Source level Items it houses are to becoming Ranked Items.
Almost the same principles are applied to bigger Lands, but I won't delve into it right now, for The Ever Halls, few and far between, have Lands that house Ranked Items.
Continue...