As usual, the first thing I saw after I died was the boundless darkness of the ocean of souls. The four of us had debated trying to stick around a while longer in the world, to see if we got any final trickles of Influence Achievement from our influence on the world. However, we had decided against it. It was already obvious that our influence Achievement in that world had mostly dried up - it had been centuries since we last got a trickle of Achievement for our past exploits. While we had set the ball in motion when creating the artificial sun, and it had certainly been ‘our’ project, the other members of the Sanctuary had poured hundreds of thousands of hours of time, effort, and essence into it. Thus, over time our relative impact on the project had become lower and lower, until our Achievement rewards from it faded out. We hadn’t had any great ideas for what to do afterwards, so we had simply done research and improved our skills until we died of old age.

I glanced at the chaotic, shifting laws of reality behind me, and mentally bid farewell to the world of Sanctuaries, islands floating in the void, and a great, monstrous hive lurking deep below the last remnants of a long-dead civilization. I hoped that they would succeed without us. We had left the world in the best possible state we could, and we had done everything we could to help that world succeed long term. Whatever happened from now on was out of our hands - but I was proud of our influence on that world. We had left the world in a better state than we had found it. Nothing could make me happier.

After that, I turned my attention back to myself. Just like every other time I had died, we were floating back towards the Market, pulled along by lassos of golden energy. I scanned my surroundings, and confirmed that there were three other bubbles of light floating back towards the Market with me. No more, no less. No surprises - all four of us were returning, and there wasn’t anyone else who had died recently and who had obviously had unusual magical potential. That was a bit disappointing, since I wouldn’t have minded seeing a few more new transmigrators show up in the Market. However, it was far from unexpected.

There was nothing else to do, so I simply watched the scenery go by as we continued to fly towards the Market. Time became meaningless to me, since I had no way to measure it. As we continued to float along, I couldn’t help but muse that something seemed a bit different than usual. Normally, as we returned to the Market, I got a certain sense of speed. I usually felt that we were whizzing by at an incredible rate. This time, it felt slower. For some reason, I didn’t think we were passing by each dimension anywhere near as quickly as usual. That worried me. I didn’t like unusual and unpredictable changes to the Market. However, I tried to reassure myself by thinking that it might have just been my imagination. After all, the visual chaos in my surroundings made it hard to get context for anything that was happening. The layers and gaps between dimensions had never been stable or easy to understand. Still, I felt a small, twinging seed of worry that I might not be imagining things.

Finally, I couldn’t take it any more.

Are we moving more slowly than usual? I asked.

I think so, said Felix. It’s hard to tell, since what is happening around us is almost impossible to observe in any meaningful sense. There’s just too much going on. But I feel like every other time we returned to the Market, it took about this long to arrive. He sounded more than a little bit doubtful. That being said, none of us have any way to access ‘perfect memories,’ so maybe it’s just our imagination?

I also feel like we’re moving slower than usual, said Anise. Then, she hesitated for several seconds, before she spoke again. Maybe it’s because of distance?

Distance? I asked, before my eyes widened. Right, I nearly forgot. The Market isn’t some sort of omnipresent power in the multiverse. It’s a concrete place with a specific physical location, just like all of the other dimensions in the ocean of souls. It’s also constantly moving. We spent five centuries in our last world, which is several times longer than our second-longest life. The Market got much further away from us than it usually does. That might be why our speed is so slow this time. Hopefully, we’ll start to speed back up as we get closer to the Market.

That might be the reason, but we should keep our eyes peeled, said Sallia. Something about this makes me feel uneasy. I might just be overthinking things, but we’ve seen a few other anomalies while returning to the Market. For example, that giant tentacle that we saw a world or two ago. If we aren’t careful, a new threat might pop up at the market and catch us off-guard, or something else might go wrong. We need to be careful.

The four of us continued to discuss what this change might mean, but we had far too little information to work with. Eventually, we decided to simply keep an eye out. In any case, there wasn’t much we could do about any problems - at least, not yet.

Time continued to pass. Despite our slower than usual speed, after what we guessed was several months of travel we still arrived at the market again. Unfortunately, our speed did not change the entire journey - we continued to travel at the same lethargic, troubled pace, even as we approached the Market again. Fortunately, the feeling of landing in one of the Nurseries was the same as usual. We reached the Market, got a new body, and we were then dumped into the area, followed by the same message as usual. Or at least, the message was almost the same as usual.

Welcome newly Deceased!

You have been detected to be (dead), and your soul was no longer housed inside of a physical vessel. You have been returned to the Market, and one life has been deducted to grant you a (basic) physical vessel. 

One life remains. Please visit a Renewal Center at the earliest possible convenience to stock up again! Don’t forget, because if you forget this time AND forget next time, you will permanently die.

Warning: Upon returning to the Market from another dimension, some of the ‘dimensional laws’ of your former world will remain attached to your soul. If you attempt to reincarnate before these dimensional laws are purified, you may experience severe injuries or death immediately after being born. The Market will automatically fix this problem, so long as you remain for at least 30 days. You may also pay a fee at a decontamination center to speed this process up. Or, if you have a Heroic Grade or above Ability, this time may be reduced, or removed entirely! Please consult an expert at a decontamination center for more details.

Warning

: Basic Physical vessels will begin to deteriorate within a few months. If you want a more permanent vessel, please buy or rent one. Otherwise, please enter a pool or river of reincarnation before deterioration occurs.

Unlike the usual message, this time, the message reminded me that I only had one life left, and if I forgot to buy more lives by the next time I visited the Market, I would be permanently lost. It wasn’t even a new, longer message, or a discrete message from the Market - it was more like a reminder to buy groceries than anything else. Despite the anxiety gnawing at my stomach, I laughed. I wished that things were still this simple in the Market - that I could just stroll over to a Renewal center and buy more lives. Unfortunately, every single shred of information we had about the Market indicated that wouldn’t be the case.

A few moments later, my friends maneuvered their own newly-formed bodies over to me. Sallia was sporting fiery red hair again, and Anise’s hair had a slightly brighter, more bubblegum pink color to it than usual. Otherwise, they were mostly unchanged from usual.

I used the {Brand of Miria} to immediately ‘copy’ my old runes onto my new body. I didn’t get any Achievement rewards - but having half of my abilities immediately available again was a huge relief. I didn’t have my attunement, sadly, so I was missing my more powerful alteration-based spells. However, I had the means to defend myself, at least.

“Are we ready?” asked Felix.

I nodded. “I have several abilities I want to purchase, and we only have 72 hours before we lose access to them. I have enough glut penalty to buy some of them, but not all of them. First thing I think we should do is find a shop that sells Tier 3 soul fragments. Then, all of us should push all of our stats to +60. We have the income for it. Then, I’ll finish buying my new abilities, and we should find higher Tier soul fragments.”

Felix nodded. “I agree - we should definitely start by pushing all of our stats to +60. I think we should buy abilities first, though - most of us have the glut penalty for it, and new abilities will make things even easier. In fact -”

I lost whatever Felix was going to say next, because I heard the ominous creak of bone grinding against bone in the distance, I looked up, and saw something creeping into the very sky itself.

For a long time, the skies of the Market had been dominated by a massive billboard. It had been the size of a small moon, and so bright that it had doubled as a sun for the starless nursery. I had a brief moment to glimpse the words written on it one final time - the words that had welcomed me to the Market, all those centuries ago when I had first arrived in this world.

‘Welcome to the Nurseries of the Market, Newly Deceased! Before your next life, LuxCorp strongly recommends that you purchase more Abilities, Stats and Items! Buy ten tier 1 Soul Fragments now, and get your eleventh for free (while supplies last; may not apply to all Market-Associated retailers)! Buy a generic, no keyword ability and get a free consultation on how to train and apply it to worlds with the relevant Law(s). Get consultation from a Clone of Eluxia for how to plan your build and what Abilities suit you best for only 100 Achievement! 

Don’t settle for less - get advice from the best!

Please be aware that LuxCorp takes no responsibility for your original death, soul dissipation if you run out of lives, or any incidents of permanent death if you or your comrades are attacked by something that can destroy souls. Thank you for your cooperation!’

Then, to my horror, the grinding sound of bone against bone grew larger, and then something ripped out of the depths of the city and swallowed the billboard whole. It was like a giant worm, except for the fact that it was made entirely out of bone and shadow. It swallowed the billboard in a single gulp, before puffing out of existence like a shadow flickering in and out of reality itself.

A chill went down my spine. The slowed return to the Market hadn’t been a one-off incident. Something was definitely wrong with the Nursery, and it was getting worse. We needed to get information on what was happening this return to the Market, before it was too late.