Achieving second place in a high-value event has also earned you 70 Ascension Points.

  Your arena rank has increased to Bronze V!

  The normal gauntlet required fighters to earn ascension points by winning solo or team matches or performing well in events. Nil had earned nominal amounts for the independent matches when he first progressed to the Bronze Gauntlet. The numbers had increased with each tournament round afterward. Placing second in the event earned him twenty-five points and got him to Bronze-Four. The reward for placing second in the Chase surprised him. He didn’t expect it to propel him straight to Bronze-Five.

  Arena Rank: Bronze V 50%

  Placing second in two pre-Cleansing events has made you eligible for the Hunt. Please look out for sign-ups.

  It annoyed Nil that there was no automatic warning option for when sign-ups opened. When he vocalized his frustration, another Schema notification appeared.

  As a double second-place runner-up, you have earned the luxury of a warning notification.

  Take that, Adrian. Vile dickhead.

  Nil went over all the possibilities with Iris and Andrew afterward. He couldn’t figure out a solution. Lack of injuries and fatigue wouldn’t have made a difference. Fighting a cultivator with mastery over a physical force like gravity felt impossible. Absorb was ineffective against it. He couldn’t think of a way to take her down. Nil needed new weapons. He needed new Chaos weapons and projectiles. A long-range attack using crimson energy had a chance of defeating Lucy. Unfortunately, Nil believed he was a long way from achieving something of the sort.

  The loss frustrated Nil, but he didn’t feel as disappointed or let down as he had after the tournament finals. Falling to a superior, overwhelming foe didn’t sting as much as defeat caused by poisoning. Instead, he felt proud of his performance. The Chase resulted in valuable growth. Nil tested his new tools, weapons, and tactics. He now knew what worked, what didn’t, and what demanded improvement.

  I have one last chance. Brute strength and raw power isn’t enough. I need more.

  “That bit where you turned into a blade whirlwind was so fucking cool,” Andrew commented.

  “He got that from me,” Iris claimed, wearing a proud grin. “It’s effective, isn’t it?”

  Nil nodded. “I’m also going to rip off those arms of yours someday. It might take a fair deal of mastery of the Source and a shit load of practice. But I’ll pull it off someday.”

  “My family is going to go crazy and try to have you killed if you pull that off.” Iris chuckled. “They’ll think you stole one of our family manuals.”

  “Got it. I just need to make them different enough for plausible deniability. Your family can't be the only ones in the multiverse with Source Arms.”

  “There are others, but we're the ones famous for it. Most people who develop similar techniques end up getting recruited by my family, marrying into us, or getting adopted. Our name carries weight and power. More people join us willingly than you'd think. Then their knowledge gets added to the technique, and the fine-tuning continues.”

  “Are you royalty?” Andrew asked. Nil had the same query but had followed Master Seer's advice and avoided probing questions.

  “We abolished such concepts long ago,” Iris answered. She hesitated, eyes drifting to the silent, eyeless master sitting at the head of the table. “But, we would be if my people still followed the old ways. Our objective is to emulate Ashe Falls’ governance, but the resistance and pushback have been strong. One of my primary jobs before coming here was hunting down Agents of the Scourge and Void cults.”

  “In worlds with magic and Qi, they're the biggest obstacles in the way of Control World status,” Master Seer said. “Meanwhile, in barren and low-magic realms, there is impatience and inception of technology using misunderstood and unknown forces. Far too many worlds have fallen because some bright mind tried to open a link to Yggdrasil but funneled magic into the world and created a Void rift instead.”

  “Is that what happened to the Cleansing world?” Nil asked, topping up everyone's cups with fresh tea. Steamed cakes, berries, and fresh cream cheese sat on the small square table between them. The most tantalizing item on the table had to be the fresh honey. Someone had cut out a piece of the hive, and the viscous treat pooled in the hexagonal honeycombs. It was almost as if the structure carried magic. The honey stuck to the structure and refused to drip out onto the plate.

  “It's similar but not the same. The Scourge tried to increase their power with a ritual connected to their other worlds to share Cursed Energy, magic, and technology. It was preparation before an attack on a Seed World about to ascend to Control World status. Their ritual failed, and instead of connecting to a parallel universe, they created a rift to beyond time and space.” Master Seer had no eyes, but Nil was sure the man was looking at him. “It's where Void Lords like Oth are born and reside.”

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  “So they all weaponize Mind Magic?” Nil asked. “I still sometimes have nightmares of everything I heard and saw when looking into that giant ugly eye.”

  “Calling it magic would be wrong. It's a combination of natural psychic waves and your mind's inability to comprehend a form that transcends three dimensions.” Master Seer's words felt measured. Careful. It was almost as if he was hesitant and unsure of how much he could divulge. It felt like the perfect opportunity to push for more and gain more information regarding the enemy Nil’s group, with or without him, would soon face.

  “Oth’s stare almost drove me mad and ended my Summoned career before it could get started. Anything you can tell us about the Void could go a long way toward success, if not just survival.”

  The blind man picked up a skewer and removed the fruit from it before pointing at the picture-perfect honeycomb. “Think of this structure as the multiverse. The beeswax is the Source, containing the hexagons, which are individual universes. It gives the boundaries structure and separates them. Meanwhile, the honey is the energy you might call Qi, magic, mana, aether, or whatever you please.

  “Note its distribution,” Master Seer continued, highlighting full hexagons and those that were mostly empty, if not completely dry. “I’m going off-topic, but this is a perfect visual representation of prosperous, stable, poor, and barren worlds. Of course, instead of an external substance, the energy comes from within, with the power and quantity of Wells of Power being the deciding factor. But you’ll generally find rich worlds in close proximity to each other. It's almost as if the wells spawn in clusters.”

  “What about universes that drain magic from their neighbors?” Andrew asked. “That’s what happened to Samara’s original world, right? It turned barren because a neighboring Beacon World’s magic and rituals bled the neighbors dry.”

  “Anomalies,” Master Seer answered. “Typically, it is the Void’s influence and power that causes such incidents, and even then, it's rare and near impossible to pull off. Let’s get back on topic.”

  Master Seer drew a circle around the honeycomb. “Despite how it might seem to those of us inside, the multiverse is finite but not the end of all. Dimensions and entities exist in the space beyond it. They transcend what mortal minds can perceive and consider possible. And then, when they encounter the impossible, their sanity comes into question. The psychic waves emitted by Void Lords like Oth exacerbate the situation and breed madness.”

  “So, I should learn a mental fortification technique or two before the Cleansing,” Iris commented.

  “And I’ll need to get used to supercharging Psychic Fortitude,” Nil added. “What does the Void want, though? I understand the Scourge. They were colonizers, conquerors, and general expansionists. Is feeding the Void’s only motivation?”

  “Every Void Lord’s motivation is different,” Master Seer answered. “Oth is also known as the Devourer. He is eternally hungry. Seeking out Yggdrasil’s children and worlds with Well of Power for devouring is what he does. It's the purpose of his existence.” That’s not necessarily true for the others. “You’ll find several texts and reputed scholars referred to the Void Lords as truly eternal. It's not because they exist in the Void that’s beyond time and space but also because there is evidence of them existing before our multiverse came to be.”

  “How’s that even possible?” Andrew frowned. A half-eaten piece of cake sat in his hand, forgotten. Nil hadn’t seen his buddy take a bite since the honeycomb allegory began. “I don’t understand how you could date something to before the universes began.”

  “That’s because there is evidence of multiverses before ours. Brave and foolish explorers who’ve dared to venture into the Void have returned with relics, fossils, and traces of life that predate this multiverse by several billion years. The Void Lords are so old that the few willing to converse with mortal kind don’t remember when they were born or came to be. Some claim they’ve always been. In the context of the Void and Void Lords, the multiverses are mayflies in the eternal weave. Oth doesn’t need to consume us to survive but does it for entertainment. They seek out the light because it's beyond them. Think of them as curious children poking at an anthill with a stick and burning the inhabitants with a magnifying glass.”

  The conversation went on for hours. They discussed the Void, different Void Lords, approaches to dealing with them, and the philosophy on the matter. Watcher’s insightfulness and openness surprised Nil. At first, he assumed that the entity wanted to prepare him since the Source Gauntlets housed a fragment, but then it felt like more. He didn’t have much time left before the quest’s end and wondered whether pushing the matter in private was a good idea.

  Watcher had taught him plenty over the past year, and the service Nil provided in return felt like insufficient payment. Given his powers, the entity could’ve done it all without assistance. In fact, his position and role as a teacher also felt unnecessary. It all seemed beyond him.

  Is he bored? Are we keeping him entertained and busy? Is this what all Primordials are like?

  When Nil returned to his room, he found a beautiful woman in his bed and couldn’t be happier with her presence. He crawled in next to her, and the warmth temporarily pushed all the concerning knowledge aside. Selia had changed since their last meeting. All the after-effects of Symbiotech’s experiments and living with a supercharged ability seed in a weak body had faded after she ascended to the Bronze Realm. Now, her Body of Silver made her look and feel like a goddess. She looked airbrushed; every movement carried an almost alien elegance, and Nil couldn’t imagine someone more perfect.

  The Immortal he had met was something else and felt beyond the realms of comprehensible existence, but Nil didn’t draw comparisons. Besides, Selia declared herself his during their last meeting, and he reciprocated the sentiment. It wasn’t about owning each other but felt like a bond much deeper than that of merely boyfriend and girlfriend.

  “You did brilliantly,” Selia told him after their mostly wordless reunion. “I watched every second of it. You were flawless right up to the end.”

  “It didn’t make a difference, though.” Nil sighed, feeling content with her in his arms. “I was outclassed.”

  “There will always be someone with an unfair advantage. What was it that Layla said? No two power seeds are made equal, and even the most seemingly overpowered ones have their limits and counters. Given my new upgrades, Lucy has no chance against me. If we bump into her in the Cleansing, I’ll take her on.”

  “If you bump into her in the Cleansing,” Nil commented. “I don’t have a ticket.”

  “You don’t have a ticket yet,” Selia corrected. “You’re going to win the Hunt. I believe in you, Nil Roy.”

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