Modern Awakening - A cultivation, LitRPG, apocalyptic novel

E'lemer decreed, "VSU Delegate E'livia has failed her test and will be punished upon her return to the Gardener Sect. She has already been deemed unworthy of resolving the current Void Sighting by herself but is still to complete her assignment—except not alone." He turned to Shen, and the shoe dropped. "She'll be assisted by the one who reported the Void activity.

"Outsider Shen will not be under VSU Delegate E'livia's direct command but is ordered by the Gardener Sect to assist her until the last trace of Void influence is removed from the area where he found it. Should Outsider Shen suffer permanent injuries, crippling psychological damage, or lose his life, VSU Delegate Elivia will be executed."

The first sentence E'lemer spoke wasn't as bad as Shen expected. His ending was considerably worse but still not lethal.

Shen hated it anyway.

Being conscripted for something mostly unrelated to him—despite despising the Void, he wasn't responsible for that place—went against many of his beliefs. It was one thing to show respect and even a modicum of obedience to the strong. To be forced to do their bidding just because they said so was not okay.

This simply wasn't his responsibility. He didn't belong there, as his "Outsider" title showed. Yet, they were bossing him around simply because they could.

This Gardener Sect ruled the place, which gave them some legitimacy to force their will over everyone in their land, at least in his opinion, but it still irked him.

Shen replied, "Senior, with all due respect, shouldn't you solve this quickly and return with your daughter? That would be easier for everyone. Faster, too. I'm sure you have better things to do than babysit her."

The man smiled wearily. "Her failure during the Self-Suficiency Test doesn't change the fact that she must be further trained and tested—rather, it confirms it. Forcing her to interact with you, who beat her in a straight fight despite being relatively weaker, presents too good an opportunity to pass. Personally, it also makes me more confident in her survival. Lastly, your assistance allows us to test her teamwork in advance, with fewer people, time, and resources required from us.

"As for my time, don't worry about it. I'll not watch from now on; you watch your own back." His smile faded slightly. "As I said, I'm beholden to the rules as much as you or my daughter, but remember..." His smile almost disappeared as he stared at Shen with his green eyes and warned, "...she's still my daughter. Harm her, and learn pain."

Then, he disappeared, leaving Shen and E'livia looking at each other.

Shen immediately raised his guard. He did not trust this girl. She looked the very image of a guilty-stricken girl, but she had fooled someone into believing she was ready for the so-called Self-Suficiency Test. Either they were idiots, or she was much more cunning than she let her father know.

Well, another possibility was that she might've been coddled and didn't know what to do with the freedom she had just received. She had messed up because she felt that Shen was threatening her authority in her first solo mission. As a pampered girl with little contact with reality, she hadn't known how to react. Such things were hard to predict for those in charge.

Shen would know about it, considering his time—

The lightning in his heart burned bright, blocking his memories.

He couldn't tell why he would know how a... Recruit? Warrior? How a novice warrior would behave. But he knew her stupidity was to be expected in some cases, and it had to be tested in the field—under supervision, as E'lemer had provided.

You could suspect someone would behave in such a way, but only an actual test would give you the definitive answer, and sometimes, you had to push people to see if they flew or fell.

As for whether E'lemer had lied about being around, Shen didn't think so. Instead, Shen was sure E'livia would have some treasure that would save her or summon her father if anything happened. The B-rank evidently cared too much about the girl to let her die in her first solo mission. Well, solo-ish.

"So," Shen said. "Unless you're going to kill me, remove your domain. You're making people scared."

Shen's aura had been suppressed by the B-rank's domain. That domain was gone, so E'livia's domain was back in control. Everyone inside was getting terrified of whatever feelings her domain evoked, though Shen wasn't affected.

Shen himself opted not to redeploy his aura in case Big Bad Dad was around and used it as an excuse to kill him.

E'livia actually flushed and retracted her domain. "Sorry." Then, she flushed harder at noticing she was behaving like a child caught with their hand on the cookie pot. She stood straighter and said with as much neutrality as she could. "You've been conscripted. Outsider... Shen, was it? Tell me everything you know about the Void sighting."

"I don't mean to question the Gardener Sect..." Shen began softly, not wanting to upset the girl again. Her ego had already proven to be a fragile thing. "...but if you can't even beat me, how will you deal with the accumulated Void Energy even I prefer not to touch?"

She flushed again. Being defeated by him had really affected her. "The VSU has its means. Report what you saw." She paused, then struggled to add, "Please."

Something was wrong with that girl's personality. She was too quick to change. From neutrality when they first met, to looking down on him for finding her attractive, to attacking him, and now acting somewhat pleasantly. He felt it might not be very wise to mingle with someone so unstable.

Alas, he had been ordered to stay with her and knew better than to disobey the local rulers.

"Very well," he replied and reported everything to her.

He was surprised by how she paid attention to everything he said and even asked questions to clarify some points. She might not be completely useless, after all.

After he was done, she nodded and said, "It's a D-Tier Void Phenomenon for sure. Even if it tiered up while we were here, I can deal with it. Lead the way... Please."

Shen nodded. The faster he was done, the faster he could get away from her. He turned toward the Void town and flew as fast as he could toward it.

E'livia flew beside him, keeping up with his pace with ease. She had a domain, so her agility didn't surprise him. Usually, domains were only developed at late C-rank, so she should have C+ agility—

He frowned. That knowledge about C+ agility was linked to... Something. Something the Tribulation Lightning didn't want him to know about. It was just there, on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't access the knowledge.

He knew his stats were C, though. How? He had no idea. He just knew.

He would deal with that knowledge gap and its implications after he got away from a girl who might still harbor lethal feelings toward him.

Speaking of him being C-rank, though, he wondered if she would know anything about the Gardener being aware of him. "Does the Gardener pay attention to everyone in the Myriad Worlds?" he asked.

"Of course," E'livia replied. "He's the Gardener," she stated simply as if that was supposed to mean anything.

"And he always sends messages through B-ranks to a lot of C-ranks?" he insisted.

"Why wouldn't he?" She seemed legitimately confused.

Shen frowned. They had a cultural gap that his questions were having trouble bridging. He corrected his approach. "The Gardener is S-rank, right?"

"He's in the Law Elevation realm, yes," she said.

Shen had noticed people didn't like the power classification system he was used to for some reason. It was still the first time he was corrected. It was evidently more personal for her. At least he found out the name of the realm after Destiny Realization.

He ignored her impoliteness and continued his investigation. "Why would an S-rank waste time with C-ranks?"

"He's the Gardener," she repeated, slowly this time. She genuinely didn't understand his question.

"Think of it like this," Shen said, "the Gardener Sect is above everyone in the Myriad Worlds, right?"

"Of course."

"And you don't expect your father, a B-rank of the almighty Gardener Sect, to go around sending messages to people like me."

"Of course not."

"Because his time is valuable."

"Yes...? Is there a point to these questions?" She demanded as they reached the halfway point to the Void-infested town.

"Why would the Gardener waste time with C-ranks?" He repeated the question and added, "His time is even more valuable than your father's."

She thought for a moment, then smiled—which made her even more attractive—and said, "Oh! I studied this!" She put up a serious face and explained, more or less like a committed teacher, "Law Elevation cultivators from the @#!@&# are slightly different because of the &%##$@." The Heavenly Lightning prevented Shen from hearing the place's name, and also that thing connected to stats. "A Law Elevation cultivator is their very Path, except their Path turned into or merged with an Axiom and became part of the Universe's Axioms. The cultivators themselves become their Path in multiple ways, much more than even someone with a True Path. More than they do in the @#!@&#, or so I'm told.

"When I say the Gardener is the Gardener, I'm talking about his existence, his very essence. A Gardener will care for every detail of their garden. It's not that strange for them to interfere here and there."

That tidbit was interesting. Shen still didn't get one thing. "What about the Void?"

"What about it?"

"Why doesn't the Gardener get rid of it whenever it's found in his big World Tree?"

"How could we grow if he did everything for us? He's a Gardener, not a... Greenhouser? Does that word exist in Stangue?"

Shen shook his head. "I don't think so."

"Stangue stinks," she said playfully, even showing him the tongue. "A garden is subject to the elements, not completely protected from it. The Gardener protects the garden from the worst of external factors, but withstanding trials will strengthen every living being in the garden. The Gardener craves to see everyone in the Myriad Worlds thrive."

That made some sense. It still felt too altruistic to Shen. Sure, the man's own Path forced him to behave like that, but he had developed his Path. Why would anyone define themselves as someone who cared for others on that level?

Shen had a feeling he had had friends he liked, and he might fight to the death for them, but genuinely cultivate unknown people for their good? No, thank you.

That was all E'livia had to say on the subject, so he veered it a little. "Is that why no one cared about your father saying the Gardener forbade him from helping me?"

She still struggled with the concept of strong people not being that interested in weaklings' lives, much less sending direct messages to said weaklings. "Huh... Sure, I guess...?"

Shen chuckled. He found the Gardener Sect's definition of politics a bit stupid, and E'livia's fluid personality was a little weird, but he found her honesty refreshing.

Oh, sure, not recalling why that would be refreshing was frustrating, but he could guess from how his slightly paranoid mind worked that he hadn't trusted too many people in his life—and likely for good reason.

They arrived at their destination at last, and it was obvious at first glance that someone had cleared the scene.