—

But while mimicking the movement and cycles of celestial bodies was cool and all, this was far from the true potential of Cedric’s Inner World. So much so that this doesn’t even scratch the surface.

According to the book that Chancellor Igor gave him, the mere clash of the Ancients simultaneously destroyed and gave birth to worlds, planets, realms, and so on. The bloodstains they left in their wake caused new life to rise, giving birth to the myriad races within the alliance.

The Ancients were capable of doing so many things. If only they had focused on building instead of waging war against each other for the sake of claiming hegemony over the realm, they could’ve gained so much more than this.

The foundation of the alliance was proof of this. The reason why it lasted to the modern day was because of the heritage left by the ancients to their descendants. It’s also for this reason that ‘The Six’ remained the strongest creatures in the alliance to date.

Cedric himself was already absurdly strong. So much so that in his current state, he’d only need to merely lift a finger to destroy the entirety of Solaris Prime. This isn’t an exaggeration. Even though Cedric hasn’t tried anything like it, he is very aware of his current abilities, and he’s confident that he could do this.

This level of strength is something that only those at the 3rd to 4th Transition possess, yet he already had it in his 1st Transition. Moreover, Cedric has yet to include his spells, skills, and, more specifically, his sword art in this.

Truly, this unexpected miracle gave him too many surprises. Though, he supposes that it’s only normal, given how he literally fought for his life to reach this stage.

As for the matter of progressing, Cedric had a clue about it.

For normal transitioners, regular practice, accumulation, and resource consumption will do to make steady progress. But obviously, Cedric’s situation was a bit different.

Sure, doing the same might have some effect on him, but it would be very minimal. So much so that it’s just a waste of resources. Moreover, it is not guaranteed that he’d be able to grow his Inner World this way.

And so, following the way his Inner World was conceptualized in the first place, he knew he must continue refining the power of the void because that is the most suitable nourishment for his Inner World.

The process mimics the conception of the Primordial Chaos, as it was the very first entity to do it. The Primordial Chaos siphoned a great deal of the void itself to fuel its own existence and make a difference.

And since Cedric’s idea was to one day expand his Inner World and turn it into something like the Primeval Scarlet Dust Realm, following the path of the Primordial Chaos was a must for him. The records he got from Chancellor Igor supported this idea too.

When the day comes that Cedric’s Inner World becomes as vast and prosperous as the Primeval Scarlet Dust Realm, it means that he has reached the power of an entire realm within him. This also means that he had reached the summit of this realm. By that time, he no longer has to fear the void and its threats.

But of course, that day is still too far for the current him. It’s best not to fantasize too much about it. What Cedric must do now is focus on building his foundations, and just like before, he yearns for perfection at each step.

**

Time passed, and soon it would mark Cedric’s 4th year working as a Border Patrol Guardian.

A lot has happened since…

On the surface, Cedric continued working at the Occult Decoding Team. He remains their best translator, capable of understanding even the most random and confusing texts that the void creatures created. Because of his work ethic, diligence, and contribution to the team, he has been promoted as a team advisor, his position only lower than that of Chief Blackwood.

It has also been almost a year since his 1st transition. His realm has long been stabilized and has already experienced his 2nd transition recently.

Normally, this would’ve required him to visit the void, because where else could he find it other than the void itself, right? Unfortunately, for reasons that will be explained later, he couldn’t go there. And so, he could only settle for the next best thing.

With the help of Chancellor Igor, who has become his personal advisor somewhat, they located the punctures on the Scarlet Division Wall. These are small passages where the void seeps through every now and then, and depending on the level of activity on the other side, the void creatures might even make their way inside these punctures, thereby invading the realm without going through the gates.

Of course, Cedric’s goal for pursuing these punctures wasn’t to fight Void Creatures. His goal was to refine the void that’s seeping out of them and make it his own. He’d use this energy to expand his Inner World and make himself stronger.

Chancellor Igor was there to make sure that he wouldn’t be disturbed and, in case of emergency, save him if things went awry. Because even with plenty of inspirations from the ancients, Cedric’s current cultivation path is still largely a mystery that he needs to explore on his own.

Fortunately, his idea worked just fine. Though siphoning enough void to support his breakthrough through this method took more time than they initially expected.

It’s not that Cedric needed a lot of the void’s substance for his breakthrough. It’s just that the supply was weak; therefore, it took more time.

The puncture they visited was small, and thus the amount of void seeping through was obviously smaller in amounts too. It’s also due to its small size that it was relatively safe from any unexpected appearance of void creatures. It’s a form of balance, Cedric supposes.

Refining the void proves another point: Cedric indeed has some level of immunity against its infection. Obviously, he couldn’t make a breakthrough while wearing his Void Suit; he had to do it with his bare body, which meant exposure to the void was certain.

But even as he inhaled the unfiltered void, Cedric was fine. If anything, the void energy was a little too unruly to control, but once it was trapped within him, it’s a done deal; it could only allow itself to be refined because Cedric’s will and control can completely tame it. Experience tales at My Virtual Library Empire

Cedric’s breakthrough needed a full three months from start to finish. But slow as it may be, at least it’s stable. There were no unexpected surprises, and the entire process happened smoothly. Chancellor Igor’s presence wasn’t even necessary.

After his breakthrough, Cedric’s Inner World expanded to 99 miles in diameter. Its growth was astonishing, surpassing even Cedric’s expectations. The growth of his inner world elevated his physical being even further. His body was stronger, and his energy was more abundant.

With Cedric’s current level of strength, he had the confidence to confront a 5th to 6th transition level expert. And even if he couldn’t win, he could freely retreat as he pleased; they wouldn’t be able to keep him.

Cedric has stabilized his current realm since then and has been accumulating once more. The feeling of becoming stronger was very pleasing to him, as much of a mystery as his current path towards life evolution was.

Now, had the camp allowed him to use the gates leading to the void, his breakthrough could’ve finished way sooner; it wouldn’t have taken him months; days would do. He doesn’t even need to go to the other side, actually; just the amount of void energy that would seep through would be enough for him.

But obviously, that wasn’t allowed. And that’s because the void has become extremely dangerous this past year.

Thanks to Cedric’s translations and the tireless work of the guardians, they learned that the Void Prince turns out to be alive still.

Yes, Chancellor Igor didn’t succeed in killing it. They all thought they did, even the void itself thought so as well, but surprisingly, the prince survived. And once this was discovered by the Void, it immediately focused on incubating it.

It’s for this reason that the wrath of the void suddenly ended.

And to make sure that the previous incident doesn’t happen again, the void ordered its minions to secure their realm even more. If they were already hostile to any life forms of the Primordial Chaos before, they became even more so now.

Their aggression didn’t take the form of invasion. Instead, they only showed ferocious protectiveness towards their own. It was too much that it became impossible for people to visit the void unless they actually wanted to die.

The guardians couldn’t even consider plotting for the Void Prince’s death again since the void would surely retaliate at the first sign. Therefore, they could only helplessly watch as the birth of the void’s most horrible creature came closer.

And they hardly waited for it too.

Because on this day…

Whether it was the Border Patrol Guardians or the normal citizens unaware of the alliance’s existence…every living being felt a sudden threat to their lives.

This was the first sign.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep