In that serene village of less than a hundred people, the white haired girl with glistening blue eyes was doing her daily routine. Currently, she was combining a white flour mix and milk in preparation of a cake for one the kids' birthdays
She was humming a tune as she moved back and forth, her hair sparkling in the bright sunlight that passed through the windows. She was absorbed in her work as she abruptly looked up and felt something, standing up and cleaning herself up before she moved out of the small house
She smiled at the kids that were already running about early in the morning and the old ladies that were rocking on their chairs. She made her way from the collection of houses in the small village and neared the blue transparent barrier that was surrounding it
With a movement of her hand, the blue barrier opened up a wide area, and a dark haired man with a calm expression could be seen standing outside.
---
I finished all my preparations and goodbyes in the Empire, and I soon arrived at the specified coordinates given by the System. It wasn't like I was leaving this place forever, so I didn't feel a huge sense of loss as I knew I would be coming back
As for why I came to this specific location, it was because this was one of the most important places on this planet with a congregation of essence where a transfer to another world could be done most efficiently
I twirled the [Plane Crystal]s I had in hand as I flew down towards an empty clearing that only seemed to hold trees. There was a specific way these crystals could be used, so no matter how hunters played around with them, they wouldn't find any results
From the words of the System, specific regulation of essence was required to send anything across worlds, and the people on this planet were nowhere close to having that level of control to allow them to do this without the help of something else
Beings that were born in larger worlds that had more experience with mana had much better ways to utilize it, with them requiring only a large amount of essence to be expanded before they sent down hundreds of thousands of beasts across worlds
I reached the ground of the forest clearing and waited a few seconds before a wondrous sight opened itself in front of me. A few feet away, I saw the appearance and dissolution of a transparent dome as a small pathway opened up, showing the figure of one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen
Glowing white hair and striking blue eyes, the figure sweetly smiled at me and said
"Come in!"
I shook myself and walked through the pathways as the dome began to close, following behind the figure that was skipping towards the center of what seemed like a village. Small houses that you would see in olden times were widespread, with plots of land growing a multitude of crops and a few barns present here and there
My entrance was garnering attention from the people in this village, but the moment they saw the girl walking with me, their apprehensions seemed to have faded and they went back to their work
I followed the figure of the girl while looking curiously around this new place that seemed like a mini paradise that would forever remain untainted. We arrived at a small house that we went into, and passed the simple rooms while heading out to a small courtyard behind the house
The place seemed to emanate peace as the girl sat herself down on the green grass in the courtyard and looked towards me.
"Big brother, do you have everything prepared?"
I nodded at this girl as I thought about all the foods and essentials I had packed into my rings after I reduced the number of skill books in it. I had learned so many skills that my panel was a pain to look at. I only chose to learn lower ranking skills that I could keep active at all times to build up the proficiency, as too much time would have to be put in to bring them up
The goal was to combine these many lower ranking skills and slowly advance them to higher grades until I had many high ranking skills that were compatible to work with. A few of my rank A skills were only a few points from reaching 100 as it took a longer period of time for higher ranking skills to rise in proficiency. I was excited to combine some of them when the time came
I pulled out one of the [Plane Crystal]s I held and transferred it to the girl while asking
"Who are you?"
She smiled sweetly as she twirled with the crystal in her hands and replied
"You can call me Sophia. I am...a sort of a Guide I guess?"
Laughter came out of her fair lips as she hesitatingly said this. She was one of the figures I saw in the attached rooms that were present when I talked to the planetary core. She had her own part to play in this, the same as Mikhail and Kazuhiko. I had my own, much important part that would start right now.
I nodded to the girl as the crystal in her hands shone a blinding blue light. I couldn't activate it no matter how much I tried before, but a simple touch from her had done something to it.
"Big brother, are you ready?"
I rose up while looking at the surroundings of the courtyard and the blue skies all around us. I enjoyed the surroundings around me as I could feel my heartbeat increasing as the time neared. I nodded at the girl whose body began shining blue just like the crystal in her hands
The blue light expanded and became a square box as it covered the area I was standing on and became brighter. I could feel transparent lines of energy wrapping around me as the light became more and more condensed.
After it wrapped all around me, a blue beam that seemed to reach the ends of the sky shot out, and I...disappeared.
---
The white haired girl watched the energy settling down as a wide sqaure crystal materialized near her at a high speed. She grabbed the crystal the moment it finished forming and took it with her into the small house
She placed it on top of the table as she looked at the complex lines of data that began showing. Her crystal blue eyes changed to become blank for a few seconds as a blank voice escaped her lips
[Just like they brought the apocalypse to us, rain down decimation and destruction upon them.]
There was no one to reply or hear this voice, and the girl's eyes quickly changed to become clear blue again. She kept her attention on the square crystal as she washed her hands and continued to mix the milk into the floury mix, a sweet smile settling back on her face as she hummed back and forth