Chapter 32: Land of Origin - First Sight
"Easy," Tang Yue's voice came from beside him, steady and calm. "First time is always rough. Give yourself a minute."
Lin Feng blinked hard, forcing his vision to focus. The world slowly resolved itself from a blur of impossible colors into something his brain could process. What he saw made him forget all about the disorientation.
The sky was purple.
Not a sunset purple, not a trick of the light or atmospheric refraction. The actual sky—the dome stretching from horizon to horizon—was a deep, rich violet. Clouds drifted across it in shades of silver and gold, catching light from sources that weren't the sun he knew.
Two suns hung in that alien sky. One burned orange-red like Earth's sun but smaller and more intense. The other was blue-white, larger but dimmer, creating a dual-shadow effect that made everything look simultaneously familiar and wrong. Where the shadows overlapped, they created patches of deeper darkness. Where neither shadow fell, the light had a strange quality that made colors seem more vivid than they should be.
Lin Feng gasped for air and immediately noticed the difference. Each breath felt heavier, richer, like drinking instead of breathing. The air was denser—not uncomfortably so, but noticeably thicker than Earth's atmosphere. He could taste energy in it, a faint metallic-sweet flavor that coated his tongue.
Analysis Protocol: Environmental analysis in progress.
Atmospheric composition: Unknown baseline, approximately 1.12x Earth density.
Gravity: 1.08x Earth standard.
Ambient energy concentration: 4.7x Earth normal levels.
Radiation: Dual-star system, wavelengths partially outside human visual spectrum.
Dimensional stability: Fluctuating (standard for Land of Origin per database).
The scents were overwhelming. Flowers he'd never smelled mixed with something like ozone mixed with earth and growing things and underneath it all, something completely alien that his brain had no reference for. Rich, vital, almost intoxicating.
They stood on a stone platform at the center of Forward Outpost Delta. The platform was carved from a single piece of dark grey stone shot through with veins of something that glowed faintly blue. Ancient runes were etched around its edges—protection formations, Lin Feng realized, designed to stabilize the dimensional gateway and prevent beasts from using the portal to invade Earth.
Behind them, the portal shimmered—a mirror image of the gate on Earth, but here it looked different somehow. More natural, as if this dimension was where portals belonged and Earth was the aberration.
The rest of Team Seven emerged one by one. Chen Hao stumbled through and immediately fell to his knees, his face pale and sweating. Wang Min grabbed the edge of the platform to steady herself, her usual grace abandoned in favor of not collapsing. Li Xin managed to stay upright but turned slightly green, one hand pressed to his stomach. Only Tang Yue seemed relatively unaffected, having made the crossing before with her family.
"Welcome to the Land of Origin," she said with a slight smile, offering Chen Hao her hand. "It gets easier after the first few times."
"How many times did it take you?" Chen Hao groaned, accepting the help to stand.
"Three before I stopped wanting to throw up immediately." Tang Yue's smile was sympathetic. "You're doing better than I did."
Lin Feng turned his attention to the outpost itself while his team recovered. Forward Outpost Delta was a fortress, plain and simple. Walls rose twelve meters high, constructed from the same dark stone as the platform but reinforced with metal plating and energy shields that hummed with constant power. Guard towers stood at each corner, manned by serious-faced soldiers whose mechas were visible as shimmering energy fields around them—Tier 10 or higher, all of them.
Automated turrets tracked movement along the walls, their barrels following birds that flew too close, beasts that wandered within range, anything that moved. The weapons glowed with charged energy, ready to fire at a moment's notice.
Beyond the walls, Lin Feng could see Green Valley stretching out in every direction, and the name suddenly made terrible sense. It wasn't "green" like Earth's forests. The vegetation here was green in ways that didn't exist back home—emerald bleeding into jade bleeding into colors that his eyes insisted were green but his brain couldn't quite categorize.
To the east, a dense forest rose up. The trees were massive, their trunks easily five meters wide and reaching heights that made Earth's redwoods look small. The canopy was so thick that the forest floor beneath it was shrouded in perpetual twilight, broken only by patches where dual sunlight broke through. Vines hung between trees, some as thick as his torso, and flowering plants grew in impossible profusion along every branch.
To the south, rolling grasslands rippled in waves under a breeze he could feel but barely, each gust creating patterns of movement through vegetation that ranged from cyan to emerald to shades of green-blue that hurt to look at directly. The grass itself grew chest-high, swaying in rhythms that seemed almost musical.
To the north and west, rocky outcroppings jutted from the earth like broken teeth. The stone caught the dual sunlight and threw it back in scattered rainbows—crystals embedded in the rock face reflecting and refracting light in spectacular displays. Caves dotted the formations, dark mouths that could hide anything.
And everywhere—everywhere—Lin Feng could feel the energy. It thrummed through the ground beneath his feet, saturated the air he breathed, pressed against his consciousness like a living presence. His soul space resonated with it, Logic Frame stirring inside the dimensional overlap of his body as if waking up to something familiar, something it recognized on an instinctive level.
This was what the Land of Origin felt like. Not just a different place, but a different kind of place. A dimension where energy was as fundamental as matter, where the laws of physics bent just slightly differently, where reality itself felt more... alive.
In the distance, something roared.
The sound echoed across the valley—deep, primal, carrying undertones of rage and hunger. It was far away, probably several kilometers based on how the sound faded, but it was real. That was a living creature, something massive and dangerous, announcing its presence to the world.
Lin Feng's hand unconsciously moved to where his soul mecha resided, even though Logic Frame couldn't be manifested here—not yet, not without synchronization. But the instinct was there, the need to be ready, to be armed.
"First time hearing a real beast call?" an amused voice asked.
Lin Feng turned to find an outpost officer approaching—a stern woman with short-cropped black hair and Tier 12 visible on her identification badge. Her eyes were hard, professional, the look of someone who'd seen too much combat and survived through skill and caution.
"Yes, ma'am," Lin Feng managed, his voice steadier than he felt.
"That was a Tier 5 Stone Bear marking territory in the northern ridge," she said matter-of-factly, as if discussing the weather. "You're lucky it's far from your authorized zone. Those things can tear apart a Tier 3 pilot without effort." She pulled out a tablet. "Team Seven from National Defense Academy?"
"Yes, ma'am."
She tapped the screen, pulling up their information. "Authorization logged. You have a six-hour window starting now—0802 hours to 1402 hours. Your designated sector is eastern forest, coordinates being uploaded to your communication devices."
She handed Lin Feng a small device—a military-grade communicator with a holographic display. When he activated it, a three-dimensional map appeared showing the outpost, the surrounding terrain, and a clearly marked boundary extending three kilometers in all directions.
Their authorized zone was highlighted in green. Everything beyond it glowed red with a warning label: UNAUTHORIZED - RESCUE NOT GUARANTEED.
"Check-ins every two hours at 1000, 1200, and 1400 hours," the officer continued. "Miss a check-in, we assume hostile action and dispatch a search team. Emergency beacon on your left wrist will summon extraction if needed—" she tapped a device that had appeared on Lin Feng's wrist during the portal crossing, some kind of dimensional anchor, "—but triggering it revokes your authorization for the rest of the semester. Questions?"
"What's the recommended approach for first-time teams?" Lin Feng asked.
The officer's expression softened slightly. "Stick to the eastern forest near the boundary. Tier 1 Rabbit Beasts are common there, and they're predictable once you figure out their patterns. Avoid the rocky areas unless you've trained specifically for Scorpions—their poison is nasty and your academy healer won't have the antidotes for severe cases." She glanced at Tang Yue. "No offense."
"None taken," Tang Yue said. "We've trained for standard toxins, but I know my limits."
"Smart." The officer nodded. "Other rules: Stay within your boundaries. Don't engage anything above Tier 2 unless you have no choice. If you see other humans, identify yourselves—there are five other academy teams in your sector today. If you see other races—any other races—you retreat and report immediately. We've had Martial Artists from the Tianwu Dynasty scouting this area. They're not hostile yet, but that can change fast."
Lin Feng filed that information away. Other races. Potential contact with non-human intelligent beings. The thought was simultaneously fascinating and terrifying.
"One more thing." The officer's voice dropped. "The Land of Origin is beautiful. It's also lethal. Every year, we lose students who got distracted by the scenery or thought they were safe because they couldn't see immediate threats. This dimension wants to kill you. The beasts want to kill you. Even the plants can kill you if you're careless." She met Lin Feng's eyes. "Don't be careless."
"Understood, ma'am."
"Then you're cleared for departure. Stay within your boundaries. Don't die." She turned and walked away, already pulling out her tablet to process the next arriving team.
Lin Feng looked at his team. Chen Hao was back on his feet, though still pale. Wang Min had released her death grip on the platform's edge. Li Xin's color was returning to normal. Tang Yue looked ready to go, her earlier confidence validated by managing the crossing better than the others.
"Everyone okay?" Lin Feng asked.
"Functional," Li Xin muttered, wiping sweat from his forehead. "That crossing was worse than anything they warned us about."
"Horrible," Chen Hao agreed. "But I'm good now. I think. Maybe."
"You're good," Tang Yue assured him. "The nausea fades fast once you're acclimated."
Lin Feng activated the Analysis Protocol, running a team status check.
Team status assessment:
Lin Feng: 500/500 units, optimal condition, environmental adaptation complete.
Chen Hao: 650/650 units, mild disorientation fading, recovery at 87%.
Tang Yue: 400/400 units, optimal condition, experienced with dimensional crossing.
Li Xin: 750/750 units, mild nausea subsiding, recovery at 82%.
Wang Min: 450/450 units, elevated stress hormones, recovery at 79%.
Overall team readiness: 85% and improving.
Recommendation: Five-minute acclimation period before departure.
"We'll take five minutes to adjust," Lin Feng announced. "Let everyone's system fully adapt to the environment before we head out."
They moved to the side of the platform, out of the way of other arriving teams and the constant flow of outpost personnel. Lin Feng used the time to observe more carefully, his programmer's mind cataloging details and filing them away.
The outpost wasn't just walls and weapons. There were permanent structures inside—barracks for the rotating garrison, medical facilities marked with red crosses, armories with reinforced doors, and what looked like a command center with communication arrays pointed at the sky. Personnel moved with practiced efficiency, everyone knowing their role, everyone aware that this was enemy territory maintained through constant vigilance.
A patrol was returning through the eastern gate as Lin Feng watched. Ten soldiers, all Tier 8 or higher, their mechas manifested around them in shimmering energy forms. They carried the corpse of something massive and reptilian between them—a Tier 4 beast based on its size, with scales that gleamed blue-green even in death.
That's what real combat looked like, Lin Feng realized. Veterans who'd survived years in the Land of Origin, working together to bring down threats that could kill any one of them individually. That's what Team Seven needed to aspire to.
"Lin Feng," Wang Min said quietly, drawing his attention. She was staring at the sky, her expression caught between wonder and fear. "Is it always this beautiful?"
He followed her gaze. The purple sky, the dual suns, the gold and silver clouds drifting in patterns that seemed almost intentional. Birds—or things like birds—flew in formation across the vault of heaven, their calls strange and musical. In the distance, mountains rose in shades of grey and purple, their peaks disappearing into clouds that glowed from within.
It was beautiful. Stunningly, terrifyingly beautiful. A world that didn't follow Earth's rules, where nature had been given different parameters to work with and had created something that took his breath away.
"Yeah," Tang Yue answered for him. "It is. That's part of what makes it dangerous—you can forget how deadly it is when it looks like paradise."
Another roar echoed across the valley, different from the first. This one was higher-pitched, more like a screech, coming from the southern grasslands. Something was hunting, or being hunted, or marking territory. The sound reminded them all that this wasn't a nature preserve or a park. This was a war zone where humanity had carved out small footholds in a hostile dimension.
Analysis Protocol: Environmental adaptation complete.
All team members showing stable vital signs.
Ambient energy integration successful—soul mecha resonance at optimal levels.
Recommendation: Team ready for deployment.
Lin Feng checked the time on his communicator. Five minutes had passed. His team looked steadier, the initial shock of crossing dimensions fading as their bodies and minds adjusted to the new reality.
"Time," he announced. "Everyone's stable. We proceed as planned—standard formation, eastern forest sector, conservative engagement strategy."
He pulled up the map on his communicator, highlighting their route. "We'll move along the boundary line for the first hour, staying close to the safe zone while we gather real combat data. Once we've confirmed the Analysis Protocol is functioning correctly in this environment, we'll venture deeper into the forest."
"Chen Hao on point, Li Xin and Wang Min on flanks, Tang Yue center-rear for support coverage, I'll coordinate from center-forward," Li Xin recited. They'd run through this formation hundreds of times in VR.
"Exactly." Lin Feng nodded. "We treat this like any other training exercise, except the consequences are real. Slow and careful, no unnecessary risks."
They descended from the platform and approached the eastern gate. The guards there—both Tier 14, Lin Feng noted—verified their authorization codes against the outpost database. One of them studied their faces carefully, as if memorizing them.
"National Defense Academy, Team Seven," the guard confirmed. "Five members, eastern forest authorization, six-hour window." He looked at Lin Feng, who wore the team leader designation on his badge. "First time in the Land of Origin?"
"Yes, sir."
The guard's expression softened slightly. "Stick together. Watch each other's backs. The eastern forest is relatively safe, but 'relatively safe' still means people die there." He gestured to a memorial wall visible near the gate—names carved in stone, hundreds of them, pilots who'd fallen in the Land of Origin. "We don't want to add your names to that wall."
"You won't, sir," Lin Feng said with more confidence than he felt.
The massive eastern gate began to open—not the small personnel door Lin Feng had expected, but the full gate, twelve meters tall and reinforced with layers of metal and energy shielding. The mechanism was nearly silent despite the weight, speaking to advanced engineering.
Beyond the gate, the forest waited.
"Good hunting," the guard said. "And remember—if you encounter anything you can't handle, run first, fight second. Pride isn't worth dying for."
Lin Feng nodded, throat suddenly dry. This was it. They were about to leave the safety of human civilization and step into genuinely hostile territory for the first time.
He led Team Seven through the gate.
The moment they crossed the threshold, everything changed. The outpost's energy fields—defensive formations Lin Feng hadn't consciously noticed—vanished. The sense of safety, of protection, of human authority disappeared like a soap bubble popping.
They were outside the walls. Outside the safety zone. Outside the reach of immediate help.
They were in the Land of Origin.
The forest loomed before them, massive trees rising like pillars supporting the sky. The undergrowth was dense—ferns as tall as Chen Hao, flowering plants in colors that didn't have names, vines that twisted between trunks in patterns that looked almost deliberate. The dual sunlight filtered through the canopy in dappled patches of orange and blue, creating pools of light and shadow that shifted as the suns moved across the purple sky.
Birds called from the branches—or things that sounded like birds, but might be something else entirely. Something rustled in the underbrush to their left, and Lin Feng's hand moved instinctively toward his chest before he remembered that manifesting his mecha required proper synchronization, not just reflex.
The air smelled rich with growing things and flowers and that underlying alien scent that his brain still couldn't identify. Every breath brought energy into his lungs, and he could feel his soul mecha responding, Logic Frame resonating with the ambient power of this dimension.
Analysis Protocol: Threat detection initiated.
Scanning for hostile energy signatures within 500-meter radius.
Contact detected: 340 meters northeast, Tier 1 energy signature, movement pattern consistent with database entry for Rabbit Beast.
Contact detected: 480 meters east-northeast, Tier 1 energy signature, stationary positioning suggests Scorpion Beast territorial behavior.
Contact detected: 920 meters southeast, Tier 2 energy signature, species unknown, recommend observation before approach.
Additional signatures detected beyond scan range.
Environmental assessment: High-density beast population consistent with Green Valley eastern forest designation.
So many signatures. Even in the "safe" zone, the forest was filled with threats. This wasn't Earth's wilderness where you might go days without seeing dangerous wildlife. This was a dimension where every hundred meters might hide something that wanted to kill you.
"Chen Hao, take point," Lin Feng ordered quietly. "Everyone stay alert. The Analysis Protocol is picking up multiple contacts already."
Chen Hao moved forward, his massive frame surprisingly quiet for his size. Months of training had taught him how to minimize noise despite piloting a defensive-type mecha. Li Xin and Wang Min spread to the flanks, creating a perimeter. Tang Yue stayed close to the center, her support-type mecha ready to channel energy to whoever needed it.
Lin Feng activated his communicator, setting a waypoint three hundred meters into the forest along the boundary line. They'd move slowly, carefully, gathering data and acclimating to real combat before venturing deeper.
They took their first steps into the forest, leaving the gate behind.
Behind them, Lin Feng heard the gate close with a deep, resonant boom that echoed through the trees. The sound felt final, like a door closing on their previous lives as students safe in academy training halls.
They were hunters now. Or prey. The Land of Origin would decide which.
A roar sounded in the distance—closer than before, maybe a kilometer away. Something big was moving through the forest, and the smaller creatures scattered in response. Birds took flight in a explosion of color and noise. The underbrush rustled as small beasts fled.
Lin Feng's Analysis Protocol tracked it all, cataloging threats, calculating distances, preparing tactical recommendations. But underneath the systematic data collection, his heart pounded with a mixture of fear and exhilaration.
This was real.
This was real.
They were actually here.
"Formation tight," Lin Feng said softly. "Let's go hunting."
Team Seven moved deeper into the alien forest, five eighteen-year-olds venturing into a dimension that had killed pilots far more experienced than them.
The purple sky watched overhead. The dual suns cast their strange shadows. And in the distance, beasts roared their challenges to a world that didn't care if any of them survived the next six hours.