Abyss Draconis

Chapter 961: What Lies Beyond

║You forgot to ask where Isha and Void are kept, along with those rifts of yours.║

║Don’t tell me you don’t want all those things back.║

The system panel blinked before Ryuk, who lay upon a rock in the garden, a leaf stalk in the corner of his mouth.

“Isha and Void, obviously.”

“But they wouldn’t have kept them in a bad place, or imprisoned them or anything.”

“Most likely, they found some place in the E.A.R., where there are more of them, or at least others familiar with both of them.

“Zaffree’s connection with me might have been severed, but she’s with her family in the Krakenoid Kingdom.”

“There’s nothing for me to worry about.

“As for the rifts… they can keep them.”

He said with an unbothered shrug.

║And why is that? You went through hell to get those things.║

“Maybe, but they’ve served their purpose.”

“I no longer cultivate the Void Asura Grimoire, so having the Void Asura Rift was just a burden.”

“The Techno Forge Ruin is great, but the Techno Forge Army’s strength is obsolete.”

“I could not use them in the battle against the Knulls as they’ll face destruction.”

“I could try to upgrade them, but who knows what that requires, and even then, they might still not be up to mark.”

“Their strength no longer serves me, so it’s not worth haggling with the Lords for.”

“The only thing I miss is perhaps the Garden of Meturasa, which I’m definitely going to take back.”

“But since Isha and Void aren’t with me per se, I don’t really need it, do I?”

“They can help me hold it for now.”

He explained with another lazy shrug, and the system was speechless.

║What’s wrong with you? Feeling like jumping off a bridge?║

It asked as Ryuk rolled his eyes.

“I wish. But you know, these things attach themselves to a part of my soul, and they obtain a part of my soul.”

“Keeping bonds with Isha, and the rest, the rifts… all of this is a fusion of souls, taking a part of me while I take a part of them.”

“But now that the connection has been severed, I get to keep my soul in its originality without carrying others’ souls with me.”

[So you feel more… free?]

It summarized, and he nodded.

“Yes. Something like that. And… I’m not in a rush to give that up.”

His brow furrowed in the next moment when he watched a streak of starlight flash through the purple sky, rapidly fading.

“Been a long time since I last saw a shooting star…” Ryuk muttered before his gaze turned to the panel blinking before him.

[You still remember your promise to Odette, right?]

“That I’ll be returning in three years?” he asked.

[You did remember.]

“Of course, I did.”

“And time here in the Upper Realm moves faster compared to the Lower Realm, remember?”

“How many years have I spent here? Less than one. In the Lower Realm, it’ll be around one-fourth. So maybe what… just three to four months or so have passed now in Ammamora?” he asked with a shrug.

[Shouldn’t be far from the exact number.]

“Funny how time works, right?” Ryuk mused quietly.

It was all just weird, this timing concept.

Ryuk himself, back on Endearth, up until now, his total age should be around, maybe, less than twenty-five or so.

Yet the Knull-Dragon War had happened half a century ago.

So technically, to the Upper Realms, Ryuk was about sixty-plus years old, but in truth, he was still in his 20s.

[If you’re not gonna be doing anything, I don’t see why you should delay until it’s three years…]

The system panel blinked, and Ryuk’s chewing paused.

“You want me to return to Ammamora?” he asked.

[If you’ve got everything done, then…Maybe?]

The panel blinked, and he resumed chewing.

“No need to rush things. Besides, I’m not really all done here.”

He sat upright, removing the stalk from his mouth, with his gaze focused.

“Let’s analyze something,” Ryuk said to the system, which blinked.

║And that is?║

“The dragons, if alive, are with the Halowyrms.”

“The Halowyrms are one of the Three Supreme Races, and the Three Supreme Races maintain order through the E.A.R.”

║I thought the maintaining order part was just a dumb bluff ║

The system blinked, and he nodded.

“Yes, it is, and that’s why I have zero interest in joining the E.A.R.”

[Noted.]

“The Three Supreme Races are the highest hierarchy that exists in this universe. Knull said they’re so powerful that we are all nothing but ants to them.”

“It makes one thing clear,” Ryuk said, pausing, but the panel continued.

[The Nihility Stage is not the peak of cultivation.]

“You nailed it!” He said, clicking his fingers.

Back on Endearth, the highest cultivation stage known was Eternity.

But he had met Aster, who had revealed to him that there were more cultivation stages, Apocrypha, Exiginis, and Nihility.

He had met Odette, who was a monster at the Nihility Stage, and succeeded in defeating her without using full power.

Then he had met Seer and Zayra, also at the Nihility Stage, and once more he had defeated them both.

He had met the Calamities, most of whom were also at the Nihility Stage, and defeated them.

He had met with the Ancient Elders, who were also all at the Nihility Stage, and he destroyed them.

So it was safe to say, he was well beyond the Nihility Stage at this point.

But if the Nihility Stage was the peak of cultivation, how could he be beyond it?

Besides, he had seen the power of Knull.

Knull was powerful, insanely so, almost as strong as Ryuk himself, if not stronger.

So obviously, Knull was also beyond Nihility.

Yet he had been tied up easily by Theth’Vorgath.

That made another thing obvious: Theth’Vorgath was beyond both Knull and him, who were beyond the Nihility Stage.

And then there were the Three Supreme Races, who, compared to them, they were all nothing but ants.

That made one thing clear:

The Nihility Stage was never the peak of cultivation, and most likely isn’t close.

But that realization also brought a question:

“If Nihility isn’t the peak of cultivation, then what stage is?”

“What stage am I now that I am beyond Nihility?”

“What stage is Theth’Vorgath who is beyond me?”

“And what stage of cultivation are the Supreme Races, who are above us all?”