Amon, like a normal teenager from his past life, had dreams of riding atop the skies on a flying creature.
Since he was unable to realise that dream in his previous life, finally having it fulfilled here filled him with a quiet sense of accomplishnt and excitent.
He stared at the distant, endless skies drifting by, a calm smile plastered across his face.
Aegon's eyes were filled with seriousness as he flapped his wings repeatedly, his intense golden gaze locked forward as they moved.
Atop the dragon, Amon stabilised himself before slowly calming his breathing.
It was ti to create the seventh gift.
Amon knew it was the only way he could track down Helena.
Almost instantly, his thoughts began to churn, fragnts of mory and knowledge colliding until the outline of a gift took shape in his mind.
A line of runes materialised in his vision.
[Detected a new gift: Divination. Rank is set to D by default.]
[Warning: This gift violates restricted laws. Usage has been severely limited. It may only be activated once per day. The information obtained will be vague, and its accuracy will degrade rapidly with distance.]
[Creation of this gift costs 500 creation points.]
[Unable to proceed with creation. Insufficient creation points.]
As Amon read through the runes, shock flickered across his face.
He read them again, slower this ti, as if hoping the aning would change.
It didn't.
After several seconds of silence, he patted the dragon's side, his hand tapping lightly against the rough, scaly surface beneath his palm.
"Change of plans, Aegon. The new mission is to search for another floating cloud like the one we ca from."
"Okay, dad." Aegon agreed without hesitation, maintaining his pace as his eyes swept across the skies with focused attention.
Amon followed his gaze, watching as the bluish scenery shifted rapidly around them, the speed now obvious even without focusing on it.
The Divination gift was too important to ignore.
It was ant to divine Helena's location, and more importantly, help him understand why she had gone there in the first place.
If possible, it could even offer a glimpse of a way to successfully leave the star gate.
In terms of long-term value, it might surpass every gift he had created so far, aside from the healing gift that had saved his life more than once.
Amon's expression grew heavier as he continued scanning the surroundings.
With no further words exchanged, he and the dragon drifted onward in silence.
Amon didn't truly understand star gates…
Back then, he had compared them to dungeon instances from the gas and novels he read in his previous life. Now, that comparison felt shallow.
The first star gate he entered was already abnormal, forcing participants to hunt star beasts.
Those sa star beasts were trapped in a grotesque cycle of death and resurrection, endlessly repeating.
And now there was this star gate.
A completely different world, unfamiliar bodies, and secrets that felt deliberately buried beneath layers of false normalcy.
'So much…'
A dull ache ford behind Amon's temples as the scale of it all began to press down on him.
The Bermuda world was no longer hiding itself.
He could only hope he wouldn't drown before understanding it.
'Dad! I sense sothing…' Aegon's voice cut through his thoughts, snapping Amon back to the present.
He turned, scanning the distance until he spotted a floating cloud island over ten kilotres away.
At first glance it seed narrow and fragile, but as they drew closer, its size steadily expanded within his vision.
Amon stared at it for a mont before gently rubbing the dragon's side.
"Good job, big guy." With that, his hand tightened around the axe he carried.
Without his universe ring, he couldn't summon his sword.
Or even—
…his artifact.
Letting out a controlled breath, Amon adjusted his grip on the axe, a thin edge of killing intent slipping into his gaze.
As they approached, faint murmurs reached his ears, growing clearer by the second.
Aegon flapped his wings once more, accelerating, and within minutes they arrived.
Shouts erupted instantly.
"Woah… mom! What's that? It looks soo biggg!" a child cried out, pointing excitedly at the massive dragon hovering above.
The woman beside him, likely in her forties, slowly lifted her head. The mont her eyes t the dragon, all colour drained from her face.
She froze completely.
Around her, the other villagers stared in stunned silence, their expressions caught sowhere between awe and terror, as if reality itself had cracked.
From above, Amon looked down at them like a distant god and realised the cloud was ho to a group of villagers.
Most of them were clad in crude clothing, and so were thin and frail, clear signs that they hadn't eaten much.
The axe trembled slightly in Amon's grip.
A surge of killing intent flooded his chest, raw and sudden, his bloodlust spiking without warning.
For a split second, his mind supplied a terrible, effortless solution.
'Dad, they look so pitiful…' Aegon's voice broke through the darkness forming in his thoughts.
Amon's eyes widened.
'…When did that thought co so easily?'
His gaze dropped to his arm, to the Mark of the Sinner etched into his skin.
The mark had deepened, no longer a simple symbol but sothing closer to a void, pitch-black and consuming.
From his elbow to his fingertips, dark mist clung to his arm, as if his flesh itself had been condemned.
'When did it grow this far…'
Amon forced his breathing to steady and looked back at the villagers, who still stared at him with reverence and fear, mistaking silence for divinity.
He clenched his fist hard, nails digging into his palm, grounding himself against the thrill still whispering in his veins.
The excitent of battle.
The urge to kill.
The temptation to take lives simply because he could.
…Interacting with the system, Amon swiftly created several items, the cost shaving roughly 100 creation points from his reserves.
"Aegon, let's go…" As the runes faded from his vision, he spoke quietly.
Aegon nodded and beat his wings. As they departed, the skies above the villagers darkened briefly before sothing began to fall.
Food.
Grains scattered across the cloud, followed by sacks of rice and preserved at.
The impact snapped several villagers out of their stupor.
"Rice… so much rice…"
"This—is this at? It's been ages since I ate at… I feel like crying. Huhu."
"Grains…" One man collapsed to his knees, sobbing openly. "This will last us… this will last us a long ti…"
Only after taking in the mountain of food did they finally look up.
The dragon was gone.
So was the man who rode it.
"A god! Praise be to the god!!!"
"Praise be to the god!"
"Praise be to the god!!!"
Believing a god had descended to deliver them from starvation, the villagers bowed deeply, their voices echoing across the clouds.
From several tres away, Amon could still hear them faintly…
A lancholic, calculating look settled over his face.
Perhaps they were star beasts.
Perhaps they were humans trapped in this world, just like him.
Either way, Amon refused to surrender his morality in exchange for power.
At least, not yet.
Exhaling slowly, he spread his arms and let the wind rush past him.
"Walking the primordial path is truly too difficult."
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