System: Daily login!!, jackpot on the first day!!!

"Nāgāntaka, get down here. There's a Realm Gate on that island," Taufik commanded, his voice sharp with urgency.

The Garuda, Nāgāntaka, tilted his head in acknowledgement and began to descend, gliding through the mist-laced skies.

The island below them looked nothing like anything from Earth; it floated amidst an ocean of swirling aether, its jagged cliffs pulsing faintly with bioluminescent veins.

The trees resembled twisted sculptures, with leaves like glass and bark that shimmered in shifting hues.

Ethereal creatures skittered across the ground, leaving glowing trails behind them.

Everything on the island felt wrong, alien, as though nature had been rewritten by an unknown hand.

But just before they could touch down, Taufik raised his hand and gave Nāgāntaka a firm pat on the back.

"...Stop"

Nāgāntaka halted mid-flight, wings beating steadily to keep them hovering.

"...Is there a problem, Master?"

Taufik's eyes narrowed, golden irises glowing faintly as he used his All-Seeing Eyes to scan the terrain.

"I felt a presence, something unknown. It's not human, not beast... nothing I've encountered before." His gaze pierced the forest canopy below, eyes flicking toward the center of the island where the air seemed to ripple unnaturally. "Could it be a being that emerged from the Realm Gate?"

Nāgāntaka turned his head slightly, pupils narrowing.

"...Is it dangerous, Master?" He asked cautiously. He too probed the island with his senses, but came up empty. "I can't feel anything"

"That's understandable," Taufik murmured, his brow furrowed. "It seems like the creature doesn't have a physical form, or not yet… and its energy..." He paused. "That's not Mana. It's something entirely different"

"...By any chance," Nāgāntaka ventured, "is it a lesser demon? Like some ghostly being or something?"

Taufik fell silent, lost in thought for a moment.

"Similar... But not quite. Same eerie presence, same spiritual texture, but there's something odd about it. Something raw"

He smiled faintly, a glint of curiosity lighting his expression. "Well, if we just float here, we'll never find out. Nāgāntaka, land there, in the forest. That strange grove with the twisting trees"

Without hesitation, Nāgāntaka adjusted his wings and descended again, heading straight for the heart of the island where the unknown awaited them.

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"Nāgāntaka, reduce your body size. It'll be hard to move around in here with that massive form of yours, especially with all these glowing veins and strange growths around us," Taufik said as he dismounted from Nāgāntaka.

"I was thinking the same thing, Master. One moment," Nāgāntaka replied. His massive, feathery frame shimmered with pale light before shrinking down, feathers compacting and wings folding tightly.

In mere seconds, he became the size of an ordinary bird, gracefully fluttering to perch on Taufik's shoulder.

"I'm ready, Master!" He chirped with unusual excitement.

Taufik chuckled, amused by his partner's enthusiasm. "Alright, let's go see what strange surprises this Realm Gate has prepared for us"

With steady steps, he moved deeper into the surreal forest.

Each step seemed to pull him further from Earth, not just physically but spiritually.

The trees whispered in unfamiliar tones, and the air buzzed with a frequency alien to human ears.

The presence he felt earlier grew stronger, thicker, denser, like a fog curling around his senses.

"Master, I see something up ahead," Nāgāntaka said, alert but calm.

"I know... I see it too"

There, hovering just beyond the clearing, was the creature, a being that defied natural classification.

It looked like a specter woven from nightmares and ancient forest myths.

A skull-like face, resembling that of a deer or elk, stared at them with hollow sockets that glowed with eerie crimson light. Branch-like antlers of spectral energy extended upward, glowing in shades of icy blue and violet, flickering like northern lights.

Its body was semi-transparent, misty, constantly shifting in color between pale blue, faint white, and ghostly purple. Its edges dissipating into the air as if it only half-existed in this world.

Elongated limbs ended in razor-sharp, shadowy claws, streaked with black and blue, deadly, yet elegant. Ribbon-like tendrils of darkness swirled around its body, dancing as though caught in an invisible current.

It circled something at the heart of the clearing, a tear in space. The crack pulsed like a heartbeat, glowing with energy Taufik had never felt before. It wasn't Mana. It wasn't Spirit energy. It wasn't an energy that existed on Earth. It was something else.

"...What the... What kind of creature is that, Master?"

"You think I know?" Taufik replied dryly. "And since when did you start talking like that?"

"...I mean, come on! That thing's floating around like some kind of guardian, and that crack... Is that the Realm Gate? That thing is freaking amazing!"

Taufik shot him a sideways look. "Yeah, I think it is... But seriously, Nāgāntaka. Stop talking like a teenager. It's unsettling"

"So, what's the plan, Master?"

Taufik let out a long sigh, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "...Whatever. Alright. For the plan, can you distract that creature? I need time to analyze the energy radiating from the Gate"

"Leave it to me, Master!"

With that, Nāgāntaka leapt from Taufik's shoulder, wings snapping open as he soared toward the spectral guardian. Mid-air, his body expanded again, growing rapidly until he matched the creature in size.

The ghostly being barely had time to react before Nāgāntaka's talons gripped it tightly, pinning it midair. It thrashed and screeched, its voice a chorus of distant whispers.

"...MASTER! WHAT DO I DO NOW?!" Nāgāntaka shouted, wrestling with the creature.

Taufik stepped out from the shadows, eyes focused on the crack pulsing in front of him.

"...Take it far from here"

"Understood!" Nāgāntaka flapped his wings with a powerful gust, lifting the creature into the air and dragging it away from the Realm Gate.

The ghostly guardian twisted and wailed, but Nāgāntaka's grip held firm as they disappeared into the sky above the strange forest.

Taufik, now alone, turned toward the crack in reality, his curiosity ignited, and the unknown beckoning.

He stepped closer, the pulsing light of the Realm Gate washing over his face with a rhythmic glow like the steady beat of a heart echoing through space itself.

"System, can you analyze this thing for me? And why is it pulsing like a heartbeat? Is there a possibility that this thing is... alive?"

[DING]

[Starting Analysis... Please Wait a Moment, Master]

"Hmm~ Take your time," Taufik muttered, narrowing his eyes as he extended his hand toward the Gate.

Instinctively, he tried to gather the strange energy the way he would draw in Mana, concentrating, pulling, forming a flow between himself and the source. But nothing happened. Not even a flicker.

"Strange… If this were some kind of energy, even if unfamiliar, it should've reacted somehow. Even a flicker of resonance. So... Can I assume this isn't energy at all?"

His fingers twitched as he stepped closer, still staring at the pulsing rift.

"Then what is it?"

[DING]

[Analysis successful...]

"Oh? Just in time. So, what can you tell me about this Realm Gate?"

[First, this 'energy' doesn't have the same structure as Mana, then, the h-]

"Wait. Slow down, System. Explain that first. What do you mean by 'doesn't share the same structure'?"

[Simple, this energy is linked directly to the soul; we can call it Soul Essence]

Taufik's eyes widened slightly, his tone turning thoughtful.

"...Soul Essence... Then, theoretically, if it's soul-based, any being with a soul could use it? Even humans? Am I right?"

[Yes, Master... But there is currently no known method for controlling or harnessing this Soul Essence]

Taufik fell silent, the pulsing light of the Gate reflected in his eyes. A power beyond Mana, beyond Spirit Energy.

A raw force drawn from the very core of existence.

"Interesting... Soul, huh?" Taufik muttered, his eyes narrowing in thought. From what he could recall, the only time he'd ever dealt with Souls was during that incident with the Dai-Yak Tribe Princess. Since then, he hadn't encountered anything quite like it.

"But if we're talking about the Soul," He continued, more to himself than anyone else, "There's that old saying, the soul is the deeper source from which the will originates... So what? If someone has a strong enough will, could they control Soul Essence? Or even reshape it?" (v:)

[There is a possibility that what you said might work, Master]

"I see... That's worth testing later," Taufik nodded, filing the thought away. "Now, tell me what you found after analyzing this Realm Gate"

[Yes, Master. From my analysis, each pulse emitted by this Realm Gate releases a substantial amount of Soul Essence. This Essence seems to seep into the surrounding environment, and it's the reason why the terrain around the gate is changing, shifting to mirror the world that exists beyond the gate]

Taufik frowned, his gaze shifting to the warped landscape around them. Twisted trees, alien rock formations, a sky that flickered between hues like a broken screen, none of this belonged to Earth.

"...That sounds incredibly dangerous"

[It is, Master. I've detected hundreds of Realm Gates currently open across Earth, and that number is increasing by the minute. Each one functions the same way, emitting raw, primal energy from the world beyond and warping the land around it. What you see now is only the beginning. If these gates remain unchecked, if they fully open, Earth will cease to be Earth. It will become a patchwork of foreign worlds, a fractured reflection of alien realms]

Taufik clenched his fists, the weight of the revelation settling like stone across his shoulders.

He wasn't just facing a threat, this was the slow unraveling of the world itself.

A silent invasion not by armies, but by the essence of other realms bleeding into his own.

"*Sigh*... This is getting dangerous," He muttered, his voice low, almost drowned out by the hum of the still-pulsing Realm Gate.

Then he paused.

A flicker of something crossed his expression, anticipation. A slow smirk curved his lips, eyes gleaming not with fear, but hunger.

"But I can smell an opportunity here… So strong~"

The distorted wind from the gate stirred around him, whispering alien sounds into the air. But Taufik no longer heard it as a warning. To him, it was a challenge. A promise.

Where others saw the end, he saw a beginning.

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