The Stepping Stones

Timeskips of an Immortal

I'm the leader of an immortal sect.

I'm the hero of a mortal world.

I was an ordinary man a million years ago but now, I've met true Gods, and perhaps, I'll be a true God soon as well.

The concept of time lost meaning to me long ago but the concept of space still troubles me, albeit my ability to twist it to my will up to a certain extent.

An immortal sect is inherently different from a mortal sect. The only mortals our sect permits entry are the servants.

Those servants are stronger than the leaders of the mortal sects, but that's just how it is.

That's what makes us an immortal sect.

Other than that, we also don't need many resources to function, each of us can gather as many of them as we want.

Our intent of gathering is mainly to exchange information and knowledge from each other and seek ways to entertain the rest of us. Our attention span is already quite long, yet still there comes a time when we get bored of everything, no matter how beautiful or exciting it seems at first.

And so whenever we're not talking about the Gods that control domains and specialties and sit over us, ordering us to run errands for them, we discuss everything we know from our homeworlds. 

We discuss administration, economics, religion, dao, games, music, sports, poetry, pretty much anything and everything.

There's a supreme pleasure in that. Humans are social animals and immortals... are also humans.

There are also some squads within the sect, like the clubs in schools and colleges from the mortal world.

Some of them keep working to create new games, year after year, some of their music, some just try to recruit more immortals to join them. 

Some with unique interests as well like puppeteering, beast taming, necromancy, summoning magic, anime, and manga, novelists, newspapers enthusiasts, etc. 

We also welcome criminals that used to say, 'I'll torture you for a thousand years,' in their youth and make them... do it. 

If they can't, we just turn them around and... do them.

This time, I need to make a quick journey to the Radiant Forest, a forest with white ashes scattered across instead of the normal soil, to find a mushroom for me and my seniors. I just need to go back and forth.

It would take that much time.

So I jump onto my shuttle, grab some immortal essence stones and fly off.

In two years, I move out of the sect, it's quite big after all.

50 years later, I reach the Twin Peak mountains, hey no stupid thoughts, I could've taken a detour, but I especially came here, not because I like this place, but because it's in the way... and it's convenient.

400 years later, I reached the Fretalia Galaxy, a beautiful place, and I met a space dragon roaming there.

Looking at it, I knew, I needed this beast.

And so I chased after it.

700 years later, I finally caught up. It looked back at me and... sneezed.

Two years later, we began fighting. 

Our battle was legendary.

As in, it lasted for so long that it's enough time for mortals to call it a legend.

It lasted for 3000 years. Finally, we were tired, I convinced the dragon to submit to my power and grace.

It only took a thousand years.

So I threw my shuttle away and leaped onto my new pet.

But it didn't fly.

What the f*ck. 

Oh, it was just tired. I was tired as well.

...and so we rested.

5000 years later, we set off for our journey again.

I saw a black hole not far away from where I was passing by, and so I dived into it. 50 years later, we came out of the other side but we were in an unknown location.

So, we roamed here and there, seeking traces of people. It was a barren place. We roamed for 400 thousand years before we found another life form. Too bad it was a bug, and it couldn't speak.

So, we continued our search. 1 million years later, we found another place with life, this time human life but... the human life there had evolved from that same bug.

We were just... running around in circles it seemed.

And so, in my anger, I started slashing space around me. As I said, I could twist it to a certain extent. Unfortunately, I should've done that long ago.

Because, as soon as I did that, the space around me started folding onto itself like wet paper. This was beyond my expectations and knowledge. Perhaps, because I was still a young immortal.

A little baby.

Why is a baby sect leader then you ask? My dimwit mortal brother, think, why would anyone ever want to be the leader of a bunch of immortals. Who would ever want to manage the uncontrollable group of old lunatics? In truth, this was... ragging.

I was bullied into becoming a sect leader by my seniors. 

Too bad, I couldn't complain. Well, technically, I could cry about my plight to the Gods, but other than the Supreme Gods of life and death, that are unapproachable by meager beings such as myself, everyone else is an even bigger nutjob, than immortals. After all who are Gods but the oldest immortals.

How the two Supreme Gods still retain their consciousness is beyond me.

Anyway, another 100 thousand years pass as I think of this. No, I thought about a lot else but everything else is NSFW so it's all I could say here.

So, when the space folded onto itself, a new reality was revealed. We were trapped all this time by a Space Dream Eater. 

These were repugnant beasts that showed people an illusion of whatever they sought. Eh, doesn't this mean that I was seeking a longer journey?

Another 50 years pass by as I think. 

I looked sideways at my new pet dragon and smirked at him for 20 years, telling him of my intention to capture this beast as well.

This quick method was communication boggled the space dream eater, as I moved its whiskers.

30 years later, it struck me. I didn't have time to prepare for my defense. What bad luck.

I quickly retaliated, shoot my most casual strike after 20 years.

By this time, my dragon had charged as well, quickly flashing a Dragon breath after changing it for a hundred years.

After a short skirmish that lasted 50 thousand years, I set off my journey again, this time with two beasts.

Why do I remember the timing so precisely when I've already lost the concept of time you ask? I got a watch that shows dates too, my mortal brother.

2 million years later, we finally reached the place. Well, technically at least.

Because in front of me was another black hole, this was exerting enough gravitational pull that some of my hair was sucked into it as I drew close.

I was unhappy. I frowned for another 1000 years, annoyed over the fact that such exotic ecology could change in such a short amount of time.

I scratched my head for 2000 years, thinking of my future course of action. 

Helplessly, I sighed for two thousand more years.

After that, I set off for a mortal village. The nearest galaxies didn't have any life

It took us another 1.5 million years to reach our destination.

It was a common village by the side of a mountain. The planet was blue as well, with lots of beautiful scenic places present.

I enjoyed them for 99 thousand years and bought mushrooms from a vendor.

I didn't have the currency he was seeking, and so I exchanged some gold. He denied it.

And so I haggled until his body petrified into stone and the stone withered away.

Sadly, the mushroom was gone too.

I suddenly facepalmed, only for 5 years though, without my time preservation ring, how was I supposed to keep it safe?

And so I left again, to travel back home. We took a lot of detours, and my new companion loved to scam people a lot in their dreams.

I didn't stop it, it was a fun thing to watch. 

Soon, in 4 million years, we were back in my home. It was quite an adventure. 

I bought some mushroom three times, but each time, it withered before I could even look at it completely, in merely 1-5 years.

I got bored and picked all kinds of mushrooms I found, even some plants I found on the roadside, if any of them survived by the time I reached the sect, we would have a feast.

In just 500 years, I came back to the sect with everything I had gathered over the years, even though most of these were ashes, there were quite a few magic plants and mushrooms that survived.

They all looked at me with furrowed brows, unhappy with the results that I brought but before I could complain, one of them was already done with it.

"Take a deep breath, and then a puff, sect leader, it would help you relax." 

"Wha-what did you do with that plant, senior?"

I was panicking, this definitely isn't how this plant should be consumed right?

In the end, I couldn't refuse my bully senior.

I took a puff in, and suddenly, after 60 years, I coughed out. Everyone weirdly looked at me. 

I laughed awkwardly, perhaps, it just wasn't something for me, but... I wanted one more puff.

I don't remember the next 420,000 years.

It was good stuff. I needed more of that.

...and that's pretty much my first journey.

I had completed it in a much shorter time than they had anticipated, though, I didn't have the 'perfect' resolution, it was pretty good nonetheless.

I rub my eyes for 60 years, that was a good good plant.

The mushroom was good too. I was enlightened in my 'Dao'. I saw the birth and death of the universe. I saw millions of stars dying and I felt myself flying in the void, for a long long time.

A couple million years later, I opened my eyes and drank water for 400 years. It was a beautiful time.

And so just after a few hundred years of chatting, they sent me out, to find some mushrooms again.

I denied for 2000 years, but I was just acting, I really wanted it too.

...and now my second journey begins.

Author's Note:

Warning- Warning: Immortals can be junkies without health and time concerns but mortals mustn't try.