Cedric Bumblethorpe stepped outside his courtyard and discovered a new world. Twilight painted the sky overhead, evoking a wistful melancholy upon any who looked above, reminding all that the path of cultivation was endless. It was as if the mere sight of the sky was enough to grant enlightenment.

Cultivation itself was to walk a path. If one reached a destination they were satisfied with – a realm, be that the Golden Core, an Earth Immortal, a Celestial, or even greater – then that would inherently end the path of cultivation. After all, the purpose of this ever-present, yet somehow elusive path, was not to reach any specific destination. Instead, to walk the path itself should have been the main goal – a goal that many overlooked, or forgot.

Cedric trembled, and looked down. How arrogant of him, who had not even mastered the lands beneath his feet, to look upwards. It was as if being in this very place was to touch upon the deeper, more esoteric laws of the universe.

But even when he looked towards the lands, he found a panorama no less magnificent than the sky above. Surrounding him were thousands of islands, submerged not in water or some liquid, but in thick, unbreaking clouds, forever flowing but never interrupting.

Broken bridges connected the islands, or perhaps were meant to connect the island, yet time, or neglect, had left each island isolated. Cedric trembled once more. It was as if the very lands were a commentary on the dichotomy of the human experience – yearning for connection, and yet breaking from the very thing that they craved.

Humbled. That is how he felt. He came here with such grand convictions, only to be reminded he was akin to a grain of sand in a zen garden – an insignificant, inconsequential part of a much grander design, yet valuable in his own way. As someone who had tried to steal *cough* no, to rescue those grains of sand from the garden, he could attest to the fact that even sand was valuable.

Yet even as he stood in awe of his surroundings, Cedric understood that perhaps the reason why no one else understood the magnitude of the excellence of Obsidian… was because everyone else on the island where he stood was below the immortal realm. All of them – save the mysterious workers, who hid their aura and identity behind their masks.

Through his spirit sense, Cedric could see a few people moving around the island, chatting with others, discussing quests of some kind. As someone highly sensitive to the term ‘quest’ Cedric paid close attention to any mention of the word – especially in this place.

After surveying the place for a while, and not discovering anything new, he walked on over to some of the others in Obsidian to try and learn about this place. Yet even before he arrived, the group he was approaching noticed him.

“New blood, huh? You take the oath to secrecy yet?” a small chihuahua wearing sunglasses asked, completely unbothered by Cedric’s clearly stronger cultivation realm. The glasses did not surprise Cedric. It was something that had automatically appeared on his face when he exited his courtyard – some kind of tool that hid his identity. Although Cedric tried to take the glasses off, and discovered that he easily could, his altered appearance remained, as if the effect of the glasses could not be removed while in Obsidian.

“Oath to secrecy? No, I have taken no such oath,” Cedric said. “Is that a requirement of this place? No one informed me of it.”

The dog shook his head, as if he was looking at an amateur.

“If you had tried to enter the Quest room, you would have seen the notification. Up the hill and to the stone temple. You can take the oath there, and that’ll make you an official member. Without the oath, no one here will talk to you.”

As if to emphasize exactly that, the others in the group just looked at him impassively, unimpressed and unintimidated by his stronger aura. That was a first for him. Cedric tried to engage with them a few more times, yet none of them seemed to want to bother with him.

As a gentleman, Cedric would never take to purposefully intimidating them, so he simply thanked the chihuahua for the tip, and headed on to the temple.

In truth, he already knew about the oath from the rumors. Apparently, some of the members got to meet the Sage during their oath, and some didn’t. That didn’t change the wording of the oath, though, nor the experience.

Unfortunately for Cedric, he did not get the privilege of meeting with the Sage, but took the oath just fine. This was his purpose after all – to learn the hidden truths behind Obsidian. Through them, if he could get his hands on a few ancient artifacts…

He quickly returned to the same group, and found that they seemed to be waiting for him. A couple of them were even looking at him with an odd look of excitement and anticipation.

“Glad to see you’re still with us,” the dog said casually. “Please, have a seat. Let me tell you a bit about Obsidian.”

Cedric was suspicious about how forthcoming the dog was being, but he had nothing to fear, so he took a seat.

“To start with, have you heard of the Midnight Inn?” the dog asked.

“Can’t say that I have. Why? What does that have to do with Obsidian?”

“Well, you see, Obsidian is not its own place. In fact, Obsidian is actually a ‘restricted-access tier membership’ to an organization within the Midnight Inn formed by the Obsidian Sage.”

Cedric frowned, but it made sense that the mystery went deeper.

“Why?” he asked. “What is the purpose of Obsidian?”

“The purpose is something only the Sage knows. What’s more important, however, is how members are selected. Tell me, do you think just anyone can get their hands on a black key to enter here?”

“Is that not the case?” Cedric asked, causing the dog to chuckle.

“Of course not. Getting the key itself is just the first threshold – the one that eliminates almost everyone who wants to get in. Tell me, newbie, did you find the key through some merchant? Did you buy it off someone selling it? Or did you get it through your system?”

Cedric was startled by the question, though he tried to maintain a calm and confused expression, as if he didn’t understand what the dog was talking about. Yet the others finally chuckled, as if they got the very thing they were waiting for.

Apparently ppl still don’t knw abt it: discord.gg/yqCkHedcUP