Walking up the strange pathway, I looked at the scenery around me.
Starting with the fact that we were walking on stairs made up of light, it felt like we were ascending to the heavens. Manually. Even though the path in front of us, or to be precise, above us was filled with clouds for at least a few kilometers, the map showed me the various structures on the so-called 'heaven' of this place.
The things in heaven were… heaven-like. You know all the white stuff and the endless grassland sort of? There was a lush forest and all the things screamed 'merry' there. Sadly the lack of any living being present there made that enthralling place equally creepy.
Polar opposite of what was above, the scene below us, as I looked through the semi-transparent staircase, was anything but lively. There was destruction as far as the eyes could see and signs of recent battles were apparent.
"It wasn't before," Michael spoke as he saw me observing the scenery. A tinge of sadness was present in his eyes as he continued speaking,
"Before the war, that lake over there was one of the most famous places in the entire world. People from all over the world would come to worship our lord and take his blessings. The water of that lake was blessed by our lord and was a major source of healing water for the entire world."
"Near the beach area, you can see the traces of our temple that boasted the best infrastructure that the world has ever seen. Its pleasant beauty was soothing to the eyes, and the common folks would usually come here to offer their tributes."
"There were houses in that district, and there was a huge market that provided all sorts of luxuries if one could afford. One of the elven foods that I was fond of was present there. It is a pity that you have to witness such a tragic state of what once was a glorious empire."
Listening to him, I could imagine the kind of place it was. And then thinking about it…
'I think I can restore the entire thing if I use all of my energy twice? It doesn't take much to restore the bare minimum but if there were anything that was graded, I guess, it would take more than that,' I wondered, and I was kind of tempted to do it.
"Something ?" I then used half of my energy to restore the temple and the marketplace to see what it would actually look like. The energy that I spent would be restored pretty soon given my high regeneration so I did not need to worry too much about it.
I saw Michael stop as he looked at me with a shocked expression. His eyes blinked a couple of times as he asked,
"Is this an illusion?"
"Nope. It's real," I smiled as I didn't use any illusion this time. I could have used it, but I shouldn't cause… my eyes turned to the other person who was with us.
"You have something to say, kiddo?" I asked that player who also joined me. I guess, as a player, he wanted to see what I was trying to do and I pondered about the pros and cons of it before deciding to let him do whatever he wanted. Well. It's not like he can do anything to me anyway.
"It's Quin," he looked at me with a narrowed gaze.
"What?" I asked again.
"My name. It's Quin Genson," he repeated.
"Sure. You can call me Crow," I spoke before looking at Michael as I added," let's go. We don't have much time to finish this job."
Hearing my words, Michael began walking again and both I and Leeroy followed behind him.
"How come you are so powerful? Just what kind of Gift do you possess?" Quin asked, getting a bit more casual than before. I pondered before asking,
"Why? So you can use your gift to change things in mine?"
"I wish. But I could only command it as long as within the system limits. I can change what your gift does after its effect takes place but I can't change the gift itself. Same goes for skills. Though honestly, it doesn't matter… or at least it never mattered before," his eyes were narrowed at me still.
He had a lot of questions, but above all, he was mostly curious about it.
"Where are you from though? What about the players who came with you?" I then changed the topic as I asked him.
"I am from Kowsawk, District-B. Was a gamer in normal life. Not exactly a professional gamer but for the most part it helped me feed myself. When the world turned upside down, I was pretty sure that it was just another game or something, though I guess, the apocalypse really did come," he answered.
Never heard of that place. Could it be another world? Or maybe some place on earth that I did not know about? Maybe.
"As for the players who were with me, they went their own way. Because I pretended to be 'weak' in the beginning, they all dumped me. It was kind of funny in its own way. Though I kind of wish at least one person would have tried to help me," a sigh escaped his mouth as he looked at me with a small smile.
"What about you?" He asked with a hint of curiosity again.
"I am from a different server. Like a totally different world from yours or this one. Well, a couple of things happened here and there, and a quest got me to where I am. As for my friends, they are doing pretty well on their own, I suppose?" I spoke honestly. Since there was little point in lying about it, I guess, I can be honest here.
"Holy shit! That's so awesome!" And Quin's eyes were glistening as he looked at me.