Endless Extraction in a Game-Like World

The garden gnome was packing his bags when he noticed them still standing there.

"Huh? You guys are still here?"

Caelus turned to face him with a casual smile.

"We’re just checking out the barrier before leaving to the Path to Worlds."

The garden gnome stroked his long white beard and nodded.

"Move along to the Path to Worlds fast already." He said while stuffing random items into a comically large sack. "I’m leaving too, I won’t come back till there’s a new flux of players."

He sighed dramatically.

"This Origin Expanse became pretty deserted since the distribution of the Path to Worlds tickets."

The gnome looked around at the empty landscape with a hint of nostalgia.

"But I guess it was bound to happen."

Caelus followed his gaze and observed the desolate surroundings.

The place that was once filled with players hunting beasts was now completely empty.

Not a single soul could be seen for miles.

"This place will be deserted for a while, huh?"

Caelus sighed softly.

It felt strange seeing such a vast area so lifeless.

Usually, there would be a lot of players here that would flock around this place, completing events or hunting down monsters.

WHOOSH!

A beam of light suddenly shot down from the sky and engulfed the garden gnome.

His tiny body began floating upward as the light carried him away.

"I’ll be in the Tier 2 World!" He shouted while waving his tiny hand. "See you guys around!"

Within seconds, he vanished into the sky completely.

Caelus and Sylvia turned toward the massive barrier that separated the Origin Expanse from whatever lay beyond.

The wall stretched endlessly in both directions, pulsing with strange energy that felt ancient and powerful.

"Ready?" Caelus asked.

Sylvia nodded with serious look in her crimson eyes.

She didn’t like it when Caelus put himself in danger. They almost lost their life back when they tried to enter The Middle Expanse. Hopefully nothing happens this time around.

She was excited back then, but she was serious now because to her, Caelus’s life was more dear to her than anything in this world.

"Yeah, let’s go. If anything bad happens, we are coming back to this place and entering the normal way, as promised, okay?"

"Fine." Caelus nodded.

With that affirmation, Caelus transformed into his full dragon form.

Blue scales rippled across his body as his size expanded rapidly, his massive wings unfurling with a thunderous crack.

His draconic eyes gleamed with power as he towered over the landscape.

Sylvia climbed onto his back and settled between his shoulder blades.

"Let’s see what’s on the other side."

Caelus flew toward the barrier at full speed.

The moment he made contact, the Origin Network reacted violently.

[WARNING! WARNING!]

[You cannot enter this place!]

[You do not meet the requirements!]

[You will be teleported back to the Tier 5 Regional Lord Territory!]

[WARNING! WARNING!]

[Initiating forced teleportation!]

[WARNING! WARNING!]

Caelus felt the teleportation magic trying to grab hold of him.

But then his Ender of Origin power activated on its own.

Golden light erupted from his body and clashed with the teleportation energy.

The two forces wrestled for dominance.

[ERROR! ERROR!]

[Teleportation negated by unknown authority!]

[ERROR! ERROR!]

The barrier shattered before him like glass.

Caelus burst through to the other side and found himself in a completely different space.

A path stretched forward into the distance, glowing faintly with ethereal light.

But what caught his attention was something else entirely.

It was the hundreds and thousands of Darkspawns around them!

They were shooting toward a source of light in the distance, their twisted forms moving with terrifying speed.

"What? Why are there Darkspawns here?"

Caelus and Sylvia were equally stunned.

They even saw portals scattered throughout the space, each one spewing out more Darkspawns endlessly.

"SCREEECH!"

"GRAAAAAH!"

"KIIIIIII!"

The sounds of the Darkspawns filled the air with cacophony.

Caelus activated his Chaos Perception Eyes to get a better look at the portals.

His vision pierced through one of the swirling vortexes.

What he saw made his blood run cold.

On the other side of the portal was a realm of pure darkness.

And within that darkness, something noticed him.

Two massive eyes opened and stared directly at him through the dimensional gap.

The pressure was overwhelming.

This being was insanely powerful, far beyond anything he had ever encountered.

Caelus immediately broke the connection and his face turned pale.

"We need to move, now!"

"SCREEECH!"

Several Darkspawns had noticed them.

They broke away from the main swarm and charged toward Caelus and Sylvia with murderous intent.

"Chaos Bolt!"

Caelus opened his massive draconic maw and fired a concentrated beam of Chaos energy.

The bolt tore through the first wave of Darkspawns, disintegrating them instantly.

"KIIIIIII!"

More came from behind.

"Chaos Ring!"

A ring of Chaos energy expanded outward from his body in all directions.

The shockwave obliterated every Darkspawn within a hundred meters.

But more kept coming.

"There’s too many of them!" Sylvia shouted.

She launched blood spears at the approaching horde, each one infused with corrosive acid.

"GRAAAAAH!"

The Darkspawns screamed as their bodies dissolved.

But for every one they killed, ten more emerged from the portals.

FWOOOOOM!

A terrifying beam of hollow energy shot toward them from the distance.

Something much stronger than the regular Darkspawns had taken notice.

Caelus barrel-rolled to the side, barely avoiding the attack.

The beam grazed his wing and left a smoking wound.

"Fuck!"

He pushed his speed to the absolute limit.

The source of light was getting closer.

"SCREEECH!"

"KIIIIIII!"

"GRAAAAAH!"

The Darkspawns were right behind them now.

Another hollow beam fired from somewhere in the darkness.

Caelus dove downward to dodge it.

The beam passed overhead and vaporized a cluster of Darkspawns that were unfortunate enough to be in its path.

"Almost there!" Sylvia pointed ahead.

The source of light was right in front of them now.

It was a massive portal made of pure golden energy.

Caelus flew straight into it without hesitation.

Golden light consumed them completely.

The screams of the Darkspawns faded away behind them.

[You’ve entered the Path to Worlds.]

[Unconventional entry method detected.]

[You’ve gained your first Merit Badge.]

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