City of Sin

Journey Into The Void(2)

Void exploration grew more and more dangerous the further one went from Norland. The space around any primary plane was relatively stable, but that stability faded as one ventured into the distance. The energy storms of the void grew more and more violent, and several other dangerous scenarios started to rear their heads.

Richard and Apeiron were currently billions of kilometres from Norland, already able to sense the weaker planes on the edge. These were the planes that most legends explored, dangerous enough to perhaps cost them their lives.

Once they were in this zone, Richard’s superiority grew even more evident. Mana Armament and his own strong body gave him the physical defence of a higher legendary warrior, and his barriers on top left him with many layers of protection. With the power of order, chaos, and neutrality, he could charge through anything he met in the void that even someone like Apeiron would otherwise have to avoid.

The two zoomed forward like lightning, occasionally meeting beasts and other powerhouses along the way. Outside of a Daxdian legend that Richard slew instantly, they didn’t bother anyone who didn’t annoy them. Some passersby did make threatening moves, but once they felt the auras of the two they fell back. While Richard was only level 23, Apeiron was showing off full level 28 might; nobody attacked epics without reason.

Their figures constantly flickered through the void, every portal carrying them thousands of kilometres forward. Whenever they were tired, they returned to his demiplane to rest. Richard didn’t open up Sharon’s demiplane to Apeiron; in any case, his own resources were more than sufficient for energy recovery. While epic beings did consume terrifying amounts of energy, Apeiron could only swallow a few crystals before she recovered her strength. The energy of a dozen trees was enough to sustain them indefinitely.

Richard’s recovery rates were higher than Apeiron’s as well. After the first few times, he ported away from his demiplane to study in the astral library whenever she was recuperating, continuing to read the books that were already unsealed and sometimes even trying to unlock those that were a level higher. Sharon had obviously been stuck in that level, but he estimated she was close to deciphering the fourth level which had twelve books. The laws there would allow her might to skyrocket.

Day after day thus passed in monotony. The two most frightening things in the void were losing one’s sense of direction or one’s sense of time, but Richard’s internal compass remained strong and his cursory analysis of timeforce kept him grounded. As long as he was in a place that the Eternal Dragon could control, he would never need to worry about getting lost.

He found during the journey that his attempt to access the third level of the library was going slower than expected. After a few different attempts, he finally realised that the problem was his level. One needed mana and energy to keep the runes from warping, and every time he was close to decoding a book the library would change the laws protecting it and send his previous efforts down the drain. After some tests, he concluded that he would only be able to keep these changes from occurring once his mana was at level 25 or greater.

Following this line of thought, he concluded that the fourth level likely needed someone to hit level 30 to open it. He could technically brute force it— after all, there were only so many laws that these barriers could embody— but that would likely take decades on end to accomplish. He could try such a foolish thing if he was stuck at level 23, but with his current body and laws there would be no bottlenecks all the way up to hitting level 29. All he needed was to gather sufficient mana.

The average powerhouse was limited by both their body and laws. However, only the latter was truly a serious problem; while one’s body needed to be resilient enough to carry their power, there were many ways to strengthen one’s body. One determined enough could warp their body into that of an aquila bug, giving them the same bodily strength as Richard. However, laws were internal and couldn’t just be absorbed like that. One had to control that power themselves; this was why the primal celestials had constructed their barriers. If one overestimated their own capabilities and tried to pursue laws beyond their strength, they would be killed by the changes within.

The majority of books in the celestial library were about neutral laws, but some touched on order and chaos as well. Richard currently didn’t feel like he had any obstacles, his analysis rate having skyrocketed with the growth of his blessings. In fact, he found that Wisdom was being bottlenecked by his own body; whenever his body was strengthened, his blessings would be upgraded soon enough. The broodmother had shown him a feasible path to increase his analytical ability as well— he could just increase the volume of his brain or add more.

One single unit of the broodmother’s brain was equivalent to one of his at grade 4 Wisdom or so. However, she relied on her enormous volume to produce tens of thousands of them, and that number continued to go up. A hundred thousand thought centres had formed a web of thought that forced her up to maybe around a grade 10; her analytical ability was currently four times his own.

There were many times he had considered the idea of artificially enlarging his body; the many obvious benefits outweighed the slight inconveniences. However, that wasn’t the most pressing need for him right now so he could only push it back and focus on mana. Giving up on the third level of the library, he instead headed to the crystal mountain and spent his time submerged in the mana pool.

Richard could connect his mind to the energy absorbing trees that ringed his demiplane, feeling the energy they drew from the stormy void. Excess energy was currently being gathered and turned into elemental soil, but once he sank in he removed his defences and allowed the pure energy to flow into him. This attribute-less power started warping the smallest cells of his flesh, tiny crystals of energy forming within. Schloanruvendaer sent out tiny divine runes every time, branding the internal structure of these cells.

Even as his internals were starting to crystallise, he retained complete control of his body. His blood continued to flow, every pump taking some of these crystals away, either stored or used to remodel himself. The process would slowly turn him into a pseudo-elemental of some sorts, increasing both his physical and magical strength with time. It was a risky process that threatened to kill him, but his truename managed to keep things from reaching that situation.

He counted the time silently, using the rapid process to upgrade himself to level 24 before reaching the Eternal Vortex. That one level of difference would greatly increase his chances of survival. It was only when he felt Apeiron beckoning to him that he realised she was done resting, returning to her and activating a portal to continue shuttling through.

The days and nights thus continued to pass, until one day he suddenly asked, “We’re not far now, are we?”

"Only half a day."

“What will we find, outside of chaotic creatures?”

"The people that trapped Sharon."