(A few days ago, the real universe, Planet Radiance)
Karl was living his undercover life as a simple Universal Government Clerk on Planet Radiance, when suddenly one day, he received a sealed package from the cult— sent personally by the Eleventh Elder.
He immediately locked his doors, activated his privacy seals, and turned off the surveillance nodes scattered around his unit, before unwrapping the obsidian-threaded parchment with trembling hands.
Inside was a single note.
"Infiltrate the Black Serpents as an external help, enter the time-stilled world and retrieve what Dupravel seeks."
Attached beneath it was a secondary fold, bearing a full mission briefing: forged identity papers, a purchase bill for an aura suppressing tool, and a fabricated combat record labeling him as a Master-tier culinary support specialist with mild healing capabilities.
His new name?
Karl Maxtern. Age 31, Master-tier, Field chef.
For a moment, Karl simply stared at the papers, eyes narrowing in disbelief.
"A Time-Stilled World?" he muttered, the words tasting like ash on his tongue.
Everyone knew what it meant to enter such a place. A slow death. A distortion of time. A trial of the mind.
And yet, as he read the next paragraph, his heart began to beat harder.
– Dupravel Nuna has entered the Time-Stilled World of Sector 12. After his alleged communion with the Deceiver Mauriss, he now seeks an item of critical importance.
We do not know what it is. Only that it holds enough value for Dupravel to risk his life.
And hence we must acquire it first.
That last paragraph changed everything for Karl, as If Dupravel, the very spine of the Black Serpents, had gone personally to retrieve something, it could only mean that the item hidden inside that world wasn't just valuable….. It was game-changing.
Perhaps a divine artefact. Perhaps a remnant from a past age. Perhaps something even Mauriss himself wanted desperately.
And whatever it could be, it was surely better in the hands of the cult, rather than the enemy, and hence it was important that Karl retrieved it first.
*Gulp*
Swallowing hard, he first pulled out the payment slips to a local blacksmith shop— documents provided by the guild— showing that he had already purchased a full set of aura-suppressing artifacts, as without delay, he began walking toward the designated store to retrieve them.
Upon arrival, the shopkeeper— himself a Cult sympathizer— recognized the code on the envelope and immediately assisted him, helping secure each piece of the relic set onto his body with practiced efficiency, as the transformation began the moment the final clasp clicked into place.
His once overwhelming, transcendent-level aura began to fade, swallowed beneath the web of suppression artifacts until what remained was the quiet, unassuming presence of a mere master-tier warrior, as even those sensitive to mana would now see nothing more than a forgettable field cook.
But concealment required more than relics, as he hunched his posture slightly, rounded his shoulders with the tired curve of a man who lacked pride, widened his eyes to appear constantly nervous, and adopted a shrill, almost childlike tone— one that made him sound younger, less experienced, and completely unthreatening, the kind of man who wouldn't survive a real battlefield even if his life depended on it.
—--------
A couple days after that, Karl met the team for the first time on Planet Twin Fang, and from there onwards, he played his part flawlessly.
He adopted a Timid, fidgety, stammering personality, whereby he clutched his culinary satchel close at all times like it was his lifeline.
He bowed too often, lowering his gaze whenever someone looked his way, and spoke with a stammering accent, which conveyed to others that he was not the most confident kind of kid.
However, behind those veiled eyes, he studied each member and carefully profiled them.
Raiden: Calm, disciplined, predictable.
Cipher : Quiet, sharp.
Patricia : Dangerous and narcissistic.
Bob : Cold, analytical, not one to underestimate.
Leo : The enemy of the Cult who led to one of his brothers dying…. He was smart, however, Karl resolved to kill him in a special way once they were alone inside the time-stilled world.
—----------
A few days after his first meeting with the team, when they finally did enter the time-stilled world, Karl already saw the mutated lizard ambush coming five minutes before Leo was alerted, as he saw the shadows moving near the ridge far before he did.
If he wanted to, he could have warned the team about it.
But he didn't.
Instead, he let the beasts arrive. He shrieked when they lunged. He soiled himself with a simple water spell to add authenticity, and by the end, he played the part of a timid and scaredy master tier warrior to perfection, as everyone grew even more assured of his weakness.
Their eyes revealed that they saw him nothing more than a harmless, unfortunate cook caught in the middle of chaos.
Which was exactly what he wanted them to believe.
—-----------
Even inside the forest, Karl's act remained consistent, as he did not let anyone find out that he did not actually need the night vision goggles to see in this dark terrain.
He trembled when holding hands, flinched at every sound, and kept his actions consistent.
But when the tree nymph eventually linked with him and Raiden and Cipher failed to catch the deception, he finally knew that he had to act.
The texture of her hand was wrong and felt too dry to be that of a human.
And even the mana in her body was too still to belong to a living person.
Hence, he knew it was a monster and could have easily severed the arm on instinct. But he waited.
Waited until a couple minutes passed, and Raiden and Cipher also dropped their guard, before tripping and pulling its arm off, as he exposed the fraud in front of them.
He did so, because he wanted to make the reveal seem like an accident, rather than him picking on information that the others missed, which was why he waited as long as he did for the 'accident' to take place.
For Raiden and Cipher, he was nothing more than a foolish and timid chef.
However, the truth of the matter was that he wasn't a fool.
He was a Transcendent-tier agent working under the Eleventh Elder of the Cult Of Ascension.
And his hunt inside this cursed world had only just begun.