His first reaction was checking for a pulse and whether Maximus was still breathing. Both of those inquiries had positive results.

After checking Timothy hurriedly grabbed his radio.

“Officer Evans here, we got a 10-52, I am in need of an ambulance. The kid - Maximus Banner - I am visiting for questioning in the university dorms”

“...”

“Yeah, because his roommate is missing, just passed out and subsequently fell down. I too am feeling rather bad, I suspect some kind of gaseous issues in the apartment or the whole dorm building. He is still breathing and his heart is also beating. My own symptoms are dizziness…” he proceeded to list further minor symptoms he was noticing and giving a more complete picture of the situation. He had been told to vacate the room together with Maximus to see if it would get better and an ambulance had been dispatched.

During their wait, the boy was slowly slipping in and out of consciousness, whatever was happening to him right now was the most bizarre type of stroke Timothy had ever witnessed. At some point the boy seemed to be alright once again, he had started asking questions on what was happening and seemed lucid enough, the next second he was knocked out cold again. He had heard of many different weird medical stuff from his colleagues but this was worrying, especially since he too was having weird symptoms. Giving frequent updates as they waited he decided to move further away from the apartment towards the stairs.

After a couple of long minutes, he finally would have heard the sound of sirens had he not fallen asleep.

Max stood upon a mountain, looking down into a vast ocean of green, the trees grew into only returned to lucidity for a short moment. A deep breath calmed his mind, soul, and body. The cool air caressed his hair, and the cold stone pushed against his feet.

He gasped for air, everything was hurting, his body felt like it did back in high school after a sprint event. His whole body, not just the legs. With tearing eyes he tried to figure out what was going on. His vision was blocked by a shimmering box that flickered in and out of existence. With a shake of his head, he tried to look somewhere else.

Afflicted: Essence Decay

His body seemingly did not respond. After all the box stayed in the same place. “What is this? Why is the background changing but not the box,” but before he could finish the line thought his vision was fading again.

Max stood barefoot in front of huge stony walls, grass was snuggled up against his feet, the cool moisture having an oddly calming effect on his whole body.

“Yes, I know where that is. Second floor in the west wing, gotcha. We will be on our way. Do you have any further information for us? What will we be dealing with,” Vera said in a neutral, almost bored tone. Today had been going well so far. Someone had called the ambulance because of a nosebleed of all things and wanted to be brought into a hospital. Weird, but in the end, they had gotten paid and since they didn’t have any other actual emergencies it was fine. At least she had a good story to tell at the next medic-summer cookout.

“Alright Robert, something more exciting is going on. A kid completely spaced out in his dorm room and subsequently wiped the floor. I suspect some kinda drug-related stuff. There is an officer there already, and they said it is unlikely. So stop complaining about that old hag, and let’s get going! You are driving, by the way, you promised me yesterday that I would get to read,” Vera said jumping on the passenger seat cheekily smiling, all the while already searching for her tablet.

“Yeah, sure whatever but you remember you said you wouldn’t complain about the music remember,” the swift response came while Robert was running towards the driver's seat.

Grinning Robert started the van switching from radio to CD causing the ambulance to reverberate with loud heavy metal.

The drive went by fast, even though they forwent the usage of sirens. The situation seemed to be less severe than originally anticipated. Since a second person might have been afflicted as well, a second ambulance was dispatched as well and would arrive a bit later. Together they grabbed the ambulance bed and jogged into the dorm building. The explanation they had received was solid and led them quickly up to the second floor, where they encountered both the police officer and the patient. They were already outside of the room, which was worrying, moving a patient could have dire consequences.

“My name is Vera and this is Robert, can I assume that you are officer Evans,” the female paramedic asked the waiting officer.

“Yeah that is right, I really don’t know what is happening,” the officer responded, followed up by retelling the events of the last quarter-hour.

“When Max was lucid, he has been a couple of times already, he is describing similar symptoms to what I am experiencing. There must be an issue with gas or something in his room.”

While Timothy was filling both of the paramedics in with the knowledge he possessed Vera started checking over Maximus’ vitals and Robert was expanding the ambulance bed to its full size.

“Robert, be a dear and get the respirator from the car, the breathing is getting weaker quickly,” she instructed. To get her to remember the patient's current status she went further and described the symptoms while Robert was already gone.

“The pulse is still steady and constant. There is a small wound on the head which is most likely not the cause of damage, no stroke-like symptoms either. While you are on the way, let the Lincoln’s ER know that we will be arriving shortly. Officer Evens, please help me lift the patient onto the bed. You are familiar with the concept of not moving a patient, yes? You could have caused some serious harm here. Now, while I have no idea what could be the issue here, I think we shouldn’t be...”

****CRACK****

The paramedic had stopped talking after the first crack shocked them all. Luckily they had placed Max already on the bed, Timothy would have probably dropped him because of the shock. The officer’s first reaction had been to reach for his gun, a stupid instinct taught, and forced into almost all police officers. He didn’t want to reach for it as a simple movement like that could alarm people and cause escalation way too fast.

“There is no need to worry, you should just leave “ with a calm and steady voice he tried to reassure the paramedic, scanning the doors trying to figure out where the sound had originated.

The crash had to have been at least five, maybe more, doors away. Right around where Max lived. “There shouldn't be anyone there. I thought he mentioned that almost everyone was staying home for most of the semester,“ he thought.

Slowly he moved towards the direction of the sound, trying to radiate calmness. He should have told the paramedic to leave with Max, on the off-chance that someone had gotten violent he didn’t want to get either of them in harm's way, but now he had to speak quite loud if she should hear him.

Another crash resounded through the hallway, coming from just a bit further down, right around Max’s and his roommate's room.

“Could Max be involved in Nik’s disappearance? Had he been in the room the whole time, somehow hidden? No, stop thinking about that. Pay attention to your surroundings. Watch the door, watch your steps. Stay out of the line of sight from the door,” passed through his minds in seconds, all while he was still slowly approaching the door.

Two crashes followed each other quickly, glass splintered, and suddenly a door flew into the hallway. A door followed by half a bed. Blocking the path further down the hallway.

“What the fuck!” Timothy couldn’t help himself after seeing such a display. Whatever the fuck was going on, he wanted no part in that. Unluckily, there were civilians around and those had no chance against what was happening. “Could it be an explosive, no that would have been different. It just screams Hulk, doesn’t it?”

Max shook awake. Someone was shooting a gun around him. “Holy shit, what is going on,” he uttered under his irregular breathing. Panicked and only half awake he tried to orient himself. Everything was weird, he had no clue where he was and what was going on.

Shuffling of whatever he was lying upon he scrambled into a door frame to get behind cover. A quick mental check over his body made him realize that his head felt a lot better, the most brutal headache of his life - the last thing he could remember - seemed to have passed.

“You need to get back, whatever this shit is, you don't wanna engage it with a piece of the fucking door it just shattered,” a nice baritone voice shouted. A voice that sounded a lot like officer Evans.

“Ahh shit, of course, I get involved with a shooting in our dorm,” he thought, shaking all over his body, not fully realizing what had been said.

Cautiously Max looked around the corner into the hallway. Officer Evans was standing with squared shoulders and a wide stance, his back towards Max. Next to him stood a woman, dressed in a dark blue uniform carrying what Max deduced to be a piece of the fucking door that just got shattered. Also, his sleeping couch was standing in the hallway, half-torn apart, but he didn’t realize that.

“What the fuck. No shit, I don’t wanna get involved with that,” he exclaimed, preparing himself to run away.

A shoulder-high brown panther-like thing stood between the officer and his couch. Its face had several puncture wounds that excreted a violet fluid. The tail that was swirling around behind its back dragged blue light behind it that drifted off through the wall next to it. It didn’t have any vicious teeth or dropped saliva from its mouth, but a lightly glowing horn, reminiscent of unicorn depictions.

Another shot erupted through the hallway and both the officer and the women slowly stepped back. The bullet only scratched the insanely fast-moving thing. It hadn't flexed as much as a muscle, but it had moved by half a meter. The reaction wasn’t a growl or a screech but a slowly louder growing humming. And oddly pleasant humming, making Max relax, after all, the police officer had it handled. Max could just go and take a nap.

“Ahh shit, is it hypnotizing me? I can’t run away in a straight line, that thing would outpace me. I managed to tear those doors apart, should I try as well?”

Moving a step away from the door he took a short deep breath and while yelling kicked at the door. Surprisingly the lock buckled letting him inside. In the process however, he had lost his balance and twisted his ankle, resulting in him being sprawled across the floor.

Admonishing himself for the reckless behavior and in retrospect silly behavior he got up and went further into the dorm room.

“Holy shit that was stupid, I should have just run. This doesn’t even make sense. It hasn’t charged them so I would have easily gotten away.”

A shot resounded throughout the hallway and Max heard some sirens approach from the distance.

Panicked, he looked around the room, went to the kitchen, and grabbed the two biggest knives he could find. After a few more shots he carefully moved back towards the hallway. The woman stood just a few meters away from the door, agitatedly he ushered her inside, handing her a few of the smaller knives he had grabbed.

She irritatedly grabbed them upon which Max yelled into the hallway.

“Quick run past the door towards the elevator, it is metal!”

Leaving a few more shots behind the officer started running backward slowly, getting no reaction from the monster he turned around and sprinted towards the stairway and elevator.

“Ahh shit, I bet the elevator is downstairs,” Max realized, “Nevermind, you need to take the staircase. I will try to injure it once it comes past here.”

The officer passed in a flash, while Max tried to gauge the distance the monster still had left until it would reach them. It approached swiftly - without moving its paws in front of each other - though not as fast as the officer had gone by.

Yelling Max rushed the monster's side as it had appeared right next to the door. Jamming each of the knives repeatedly into its hide. A few more bullets rushed at it too, however, this time the monster wasn’t evading them. Sweat dripped down Max’s forehead, and his vision grew slowly more and more violet. Then layer after layer of weird blue screens appeared in Max’s vision.

Maximus Banner - Class-Profession Selection:

Auto-assign imminent.

Tradesman

Access to five classes

Supplier

Access to four classes

Warrior

Access to zero classes

Clergy [Locked]

No access

Mage

Access to two classes

Artisan

Access to two classes

Administration [Locked]

No access

“Mage,” Max croaked barely conscious and was drifting to sleep again. He was being squished by a no longer struggling body and the pain he was under caused him to ignore the new window that popped up.

Maximus Banner - Mage Class Selection:

Auto-assign imminent.

Mage

Generalist Mage, no specialization

The [Mage] class is the plainest form of magic-user. Low tier spells of all Affinities can be learned.

Instant casting not possibles

Affinity Mage

Specialist Mage,

The [Affinity Mage] class is only limited in spell scope by the caster. Spells not part of your individual Affinities {3} are impossible to cast.

Free Class skill: [External Mana Manipulation]

Tur’Akaan looked up - not that the direction they faced mattered, eyes had long since stopped mattering - irritated to be interrupted again.

"That was the second time this decade, the hell is going on." The first time they had moved their perception only to notice that a creature had disappeared on the moon he used it as a primary essence harvest station. An odd incidence as most shouldn’t have the necessary strength to leave. The supported essence level was just that low. The lowest he dared to make it without permanently ruining the essence generation potential.

Someone new was at the fissure. At the exact same fissure.

"This could be a problem," they thought. After some observation it made sense. The creature that had left its companion behind had a strong space affinity. The power level of the second tier up must have been enough to destabilize the space to allow long-range teleportation. Some more prodding left them shocked. There was a realm fissure, not a space fissure.

“This is a problem,” the creature muttered, turning its full attention towards the fissure.

“This could be either a great asset or a great danger," they conceptualized. Hundreds of different strings of thought helped it make a decision. The star system was large - which while offering a lot of benefits, also brought dangers with it. They had a vast amount of luck on the second 4th Tier up, allowing them to claim a system too large to effectively defend. Back then it had been recently abandoned, for whatever reason. A realm fissure would be able to supply a lot more essence and maybe even experience or deeds, but most certainly help with the skill progression.

[Epic Spatial Observation] now fully extended, not focused inwards anymore. [Second Presence] the unique skill that had helped reach such heights so early was deployed.

“Leerium,” they breathed out excitedly. So this is how this is possible. [Second Presence] was going to move the metal in just a moment, the removal would possibly disturb the realm fissure and destabilize it enough for a collapse. Though before they would take measures to initiate the process, the fissure would be observed more closely. A spatial link would have to be created at the fissure. For a second they considered whether they should build a direct temporary gate to the pathway but decided against it.

“There is no need for a gate. Maybe I should though, that would give me more essence to work with and the interactions between the fissures could be interesting. Some essence would be lost though, diffusing into the fissure,“ the being mumbled, absorbed by its task, various skills running in the background to enhance comprehension, calculation, and reaction speed.

It would take a large amount of mana and focus but this would be worth it. It could even be enough for a skill improvement, and spatial observation had been stuck at mid epic for too long. Most of the spatial skills had too high comprehension standards for it to effectively train them further, and the applications that stretched its limits, where they could gain anything new to further its skill level, were scarce at best.

The fissure was fascinating. On the other side - a surprise in itself since creating a realm fissure and actually making it function as a one-way gate was impressive - he found a new place. A full-blown solar system.

And he found three people who were just fighting against a monster with a low space affinity. It seemed to be rather low, and even worse it were humans. The general dislike for the species didn’t stop it from exploring the fissure further.

Technology inspired by the tactical employment of lightning, though be it in abysmal weak strength. They had somehow built an advanced society of about the height in this universe, possibly further advanced. While one consciousness was slowly exploring the building the other started to stabilize the fissure on the other side, a difficult and tiring task. But it would be worth it, as the amount of essence that was currently being lost to the other realm was unacceptable.

Once the pathway had been properly woven the essence exchange was reduced to a trickle. From this point onwards it would be borderline useless to invest more time into the task, he would have to spend more mana and focus than the essence that was lost if he moved on. The other consciousness had reported that the humans were suffering from what seemed like a combination of essence starvation and essence overflow. Odd, they had never observed sentients living in non-existent essence ambient levels. From all they knew that should be impossible.

Fixing the former would also fix the ladder and since Tur’Akaan guessed this would be a great chance to level his high ranking [Masterfull Spacial Transfer] they went on to spatially grasp the humans to transfer them back with him. Maybe they would even survive out in the wild, humans had a tendency to be tenacious, just like cockroaches.

The second presence meanwhile went back to Meroch, the moon, and started loosening the spatial bounds around the Leerium rock so it could be transferred to a place where it would be more useful.

The humans had entered the realmmatic pathway easily enough and further observation and manipulation decreased the transport speed to several days instead of a month. This finally pushed their [Spatial Transfer] finally up to the [Epic] grade increasing just about everything about the skill.

Just as the second presence was going to temporarily close the pathway and scramble the entrance on the other side, something reached for it, alarmed and confused it sent a stream of all its newfound knowledge back to the original and left towards the tunnel, collapsing everything behind it.

The conscience tried to, the woven structure wouldn’t budge. With a strain emptying almost the complete pool of the second presence it managed to disperse the grip for a second, destroying the gate and degrading itself. In a [Soul Feed] the presence sent everything it could analyze to the original, also noting that it had not been able to get the pursuer of its path, it would most likely move along the shattered pathway until it reached Meroch. A problem.