“What do you an it’s gone?”
“That it’s gone! The Animal Abyss is gone!”
“It’s a black hole, you idiot. It cannot just disappear.”
“Well, it did!”
The Animal Kingdom was shocked. When they sent one of the Ancestors to guard the Abyss, it was so he could keep intruders away, prevent them from stealing an artifact or two. The Abyss itself was a black hole—how could anyone possibly affect it?
Yet, it had happened. Not only did they lose the Abyss, one of the cornerstones of their Kingdom, but they also lost their strongest Ancestor. Adding all the other catastrophes that the Kingdom had experienced recently, their current status amongst the B-Grade factions was shaky.
However, the mysterious disappearance of the Animal Abyss rippled out further. All across the galaxy, the major factions were well aware of what such a thing signified. Everyone knew that the Abyss was a special black hole. That left three possibilities.
One, Mure Emberheart had accidentally discovered a way to destroy the Abyss, possibly reaping so great treasure from doing so. Two, an unknown cultivator possessing strength at least at the late B-Grade was the one to discover the Abyss’s secrets, sohow destroying it and also killing Mure Emberheart. Three, the Abyss for so reason imploded and the explosion disintegrated Mure.
These were all the possibilities they could co up with. Nobody in their right mind would suspect that soone had physically carried away the Animal Abyss.
As for Jack’s connection to the Abyss, not many people knew. Eva had spread the news that they’d killed Jack, not that he’d ran into the Abyss, to avoid misunderstandings.
As soon as she heard the news, a persistent worry surfaced inside her.
“Don’t worry, Commander,” Artus Emberheart said. His mood had been excellent for the past year—he was even close to repairing his Dao. “I don’t know what happened, but Jack Rust is deader than dead. Even he couldn’t survive a black hole.”
“A black hole which just up and disappeared one day. That isn’t supposed to happen.”
“The universe is full of mysteries. If escaping a black hole was so easy, Enas wouldn’t have stayed in there for a billion years. This is just an accident.”
“An accident?” Eva’s eyes flashed. “How can you say that, Artus? This is a ti of war and upheaval. A ti of change. How could there be such a coincidence that the Animal Abyss, which has remained unchanged for a million years, suddenly disappears one year after Jack Rust goes inside?”
Artus took a respectful step back. “I didn’t an to sound naive, Commander. I understand this is probably not a coincidence. All I’m saying is, the chances of Jack Rust having anything to do with this are miniscule. He died a year ago—even if he hadn’t, he would not possess the power to affect the Animal Abyss in any way. Maybe this is the result of a powerful A-Grade becoming curious about the Abyss, or a last terrorist act of the Church before they abandon this galaxy. In any case, it is not sothing which should concern us. It does not change the war situation.”
Eva mulled over these words. She knew Artus was right. Yet, she couldn’t stop worrying. The image of Jack Rust kept gnawing at the back of her mind—defiant to the end, always overcoming impossible odds to survive and grow stronger, turning danger into opportunity.
Maybe I really am affected, she thought.
“I will go into ditation for a few days,” Eva said, tacitly agreeing with Artus. “You will be in command of our forces until then. Do not disturb without reason.”
“Yes, Commander,” Artus said with the widest smile.
***
From the mont Jack had stepped out of the Black Hole World, he’d sensed sothing reappear in his soul. A connection which had been severed but never faded. A missing piece.
Brock…
Jack’s heart was filled with warmth. Of course, he’d had to put that on hold to fight Mure Emberheart, but after finishing up and flying away on his starship, he had ti to consider things again.
How are you doing, Brock? Are you okay? Did you ever believe I was dead?
There was no answer, but Jack would know soon. Brock was not like Shol. He didn’t need to gather clues and search for him. Their souls were connected; as long as Jack wanted to, he could just travel in Brock’s general direction and they would eventually et up.
At present, this would happen even quicker. The mont Jack felt the connection reappear, so did Brock. His relief and surprise were keenly sensed by Jack through their soul bond. Doubtlessly, Brock was also hurrying over.
They were two arrows shooting towards each other. Their reunion would co sooner rather than later.
Jack was nervous. It had been a year—this was his longest separation from Brock yet. In fact, the brorilla was soone he greatly worried over while in the Black Hole World—what if Brock, thinking that Jack was dead, did sothing crazy?
At least he was alive. As to his current condition…that was sothing Jack could only wait to find out.
The galaxy was a large place. eting up was not sothing which would take a day or two, so Jack had ti to relax. He spent that ti inspecting his benefits from the previous battle.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
He’d possessed the power to fight B-Grades for a while now, but this was his first ti killing one. He’d jumped directly to the middle B-Grade, too. Of course, Mure Emberheart was soone who’d reached the end of his potential, far from the talented Envoys of the Hand of God, but he remained a middle B-Grade.
How far I’ve co… Jack reminisced. I am one of the strongest cultivators in the Milky Way.
Mure Emberheart had not possessed a space ring—those things were expensive and all but unknown in this galaxy. That wasn’t a huge loss. He was soone so weak the Hand of God hadn’t even bothered recruiting him for the war—his “incalculable” wealth would have been nothing but painted stones in Jack’s eyes.
No, wealth was not the point.
Killing soone that strong in System space ca with all sorts of benefits. The first, and most obvious one, was Levels. A large influx of energy had surged into Jack’s body the mont he killed Mure—his Dao Tree had groaned by the sheer volu of it, then his fifth Dao Fruit had begun to grow. From its early stages of developnt, it had rapidly approached maturity.
Jack had earned fifteen Levels in the blink of an eye.
Since every level in the C-Grade gave twenty stat points, that left him with three hundred free points which he invested evenly into Physical. The round thousands he had in ntal and Will were too nice to break.
Level: 318
Strength: 6340 ( )
Dexterity: 6340 ( )
Constitution: 6340 ( )
ntal: 1000
Will: 1000
Free sub-points: 1
Even after all this ti, three hundred points were a five percent overall increase. Jack felt his body grow more compact, his muscles tighten, his bones harden. His already titanic physicality had taken another step forward.
Unlike other tis, however, the change took longer. Even an hour after Jack invested the stat points, the transformation was not done. It was clear that, after so point, even the System struggled to fit more energy into him. It was the sa barrier he’d run into when body-tempering. This forced density increase was painful, too, but that was sothing Jack had long grown accustod to. If anything, he’d learned to enjoy the pain because he knew it brought good things.
When he was finally done, he groaned, stretching his body as his bones made popping noises. He clenched his fist, feeling the strength contained inside. He smiled.
“Nice.”
Next ca another interesting notification.
Congratulations! Titan Taunt I → Titan Taunt II
Titan Taunt II: A titan’s existence is so dominant it constitutes a challenge. Your extre physicality and domineering stance not only intimidate enemies, but also provoke them. They will either fight you or cower away, losing in both cases.
This was a complete change in the skill. Jack rembered that the previous description was sothing silly about “channeling his inner punchability” and jokes about his opponent’s mother. Now, it had suddenly swapped to sothing serious and, if Jack was being honest, kinda cool.
Such a change feels unnatural, he couldn’t help thinking. I’m not opposed, but why? Could it be that the skill adjusts to its user? When I was sparring others on the Cathedral, that silly, crowd-riling version was exactly what I needed. Now that I’m out for blood, this one suits better.
Well, it doesn’t matter. Thanks.
With all his skills having risen lately, Jack no longer had any skill at the first tier. Even in the second tier, he only had Titan Taunt. Almost everything else was at the third tier.
Dao Skills: teor Punch IV, Iron Fist Style III, Brutalizing Aura III, Neutron Star Body III, Supernova III, Space Mastery III, Death Mastery III, Fist of Mortality III, Titan Taunt II
That third tier, however, seed like a massive moat. Reaching it wasn’t too difficult, but almost all of his skills had been stranded there afterward. The only exception was teor Punch, which he’d used since the Forest of the Strong. It was by far his most intimate skill.
Even Space and Death Mastery, where he was confident he easily outclassed almost everyone at his Grade, remained at the third tier.
Why?
Is sothing missing? Or does the fourth tier require so sort of transformation?
teor Punch had reached the fourth tier during his battle with the planetary overseer, when he’d achieved a preliminary fusion between this skill and the power of a supernova, essentially taking it to the next level. Maybe this was the key—reaching the next level.
It made sense, too. Since there were only five tiers, the higher ones had to represent understanding at the A-Grade level. It wasn’t weird for him to be unable to advance.
But how? he wondered, coming short of a solution. He eventually put the issue to rest. The System’s classifications were nothing but a guideline—as long as he put in the effort and consistently bettered himself, he would achieve greater strength, and the skill tiers would co by themselves.
Which left one thing.
Jack reached into his space ring, fishing out the Animal Abyss—a smooth, fist-sized, dark orb.
In truth, this wasn’t the Black Hole World. Shrinking an entire world and carrying it around was impossible even for Archons—even it if it wasn’t, there was no way the Black Hole People would be able to survive that.
The Black Hole World was a stable island in the interdinsional sea. As for the black orb Jack was holding, it was nothing but an inactive portal. Similar to how every teleporter had its own frequency and could use it to connect with others, this black orb had internalized the exact coordinates of the Black Hole World and could connect to it. The Vortex in the Black Hole World could also open a wormhole to this orb.
In essence, this was nothing but the connecting point between the universe and the Black Hole World.
It remained an extraordinary device. This little orb, by itself, had acted as the center of a black hole-like field dubbed the Animal Abyss. Given enough energy, it could reach through the folds of space and form a stable connection to a different place in the interdinsional sea. The Dao patterns contained inside it were nothing short of profound.
Unfortunately, it was difficult for Jack to study them. This orb was not ant to serve as a cultivation tool. Its patterns were convoluted, unclear, and all over the place—the kind that seed clear if you already understood its principles but wouldn’t help if you didn’t.
In that sense, the Vortex was a much more suitable cultivation area, but Jack wouldn’t just open a portal to another dinsion so he could go study. Not to ntion that he already possessed the realm heart of Archon Green Dragon—if he wanted to sharpen his understandings of spaceti, he could focus on that.
However, spaceti had always been his secondary Dao. His main focus was the Fist, and by extension, the duality of Life and Death. This was exactly what Jack would practice now. His revenge would be the perfect learning ground.
Jack had only been traveling for a few hours, lost in his thoughts, when he felt his connection to Brock grow abruptly stronger. He looked up. Space was torn ahead of him like paper, and a black starship covered in glass walls flew out. Several figures gazed at him from the windows. Jack’s breath caught to his throat. He recognized them all.
And at the very front stood a brorilla shaking with excitent.
“BIG BRO!”
Reviews
All reviews (0)