Chapter 184: White Room

The crack led them into silence.

One moment they were pushing through bleeding wood and twitching vines. The next, the noise of the chamber vanished behind them as if a door had sealed. The three of them stumbled forward into a wide, pure white space.

The walls, floor, and ceiling were seamless and smooth, glowing with a soft, even light that had no visible source. There were no carvings, no vines, no residual blood. The air was still and clean, almost sterile after the thick scent of sap and death outside. Their boots left dark prints across the white surface as they moved farther in.

Then they saw the bodies.

Scattered across the floor were the remains of Ryzek’s attendants. All of them. Some lay in twisted positions near the far wall. Others had collapsed closer to the center. Their armor was broken. Dark blood had pooled and already begun to dry against the perfect white. None of them were breathing.

Ryzek stopped walking.

His four amber eyes moved from one body to the next without speaking. The crystalline ridges along his arms tightened. After a long moment he exhaled once through his nose and looked away.

Lian’s legs finally gave out.

He dropped to one knee, then sat heavily on the white floor. The moment the immediate danger faded, the full weight of his injuries settled in. Broken ribs, deep bruises, open cuts, and the accumulated drain from the long chase and the fight outside all hit at once. Elara lowered herself beside him, blood still running down her thigh and arm. Ryzek remained standing a few seconds longer before he too sank to the floor, resting his back against nothing, simply letting his weight fall.

For a while none of them spoke.

Lian pulled a small sealed case from his nearly empty ring and opened it. Inside were the last of the recovery pills and dense nutrient supplements Lirien had allowed them to keep. He handed two pills to Elara and took two himself. Ryzek produced his own supplies from a hidden compartment in his armor and swallowed them without comment.

The pills began working slowly. Heat spread through damaged tissue. Bleeding lessened. The sharpest edges of pain dulled, though nothing fully repaired the deeper harm. They chewed the dense supplements next, forcing their bodies to accept fuel while the medicine did what little it could.

Elara leaned her head back and closed her eyes for a moment. Lian sat with his elbows on his knees, staring at the white floor between his feet. Ryzek’s gaze remained on the bodies of his men.

After several minutes Lian lifted his head and looked around the room properly for the first time.

The white space was not empty.

Along the far wall, half-hidden by the angle of the light, stood three tall rectangular frames of the same seamless material as the rest of the room. Each frame held a dull, mirror-like surface that did not reflect anything clearly. Faint lines of silver script ran along the edges of the frames, too worn to read at a glance. Near the center of the room, a low circular platform rose only a hand’s width from the floor. Its surface was marked with a single recessed handprint, larger than a human’s and shaped differently.

Ryzek noticed the same details. He pushed himself up with visible effort and walked toward the nearest frame, leaving dark footprints behind him. Elara opened her eyes and watched him. Lian stayed seated a little longer, letting the pills continue their work, then forced himself to stand as well.

The white room held no immediate threats.

Only the dead, the three frames, the platform, and the three of them still bleeding on the perfect floor.

Power Scale / Cultivation Realms (Quick Reminder)

Foundation Realm (Layers 1–9): Body forging, no external Qi.

Circuit Awakening Realm (Early–Peak): First Qi loop, internal bursts.

Core Condensation Realm (Early–Peak): External Qi release, short flight.

Stellar Circuit Realm (1–9 Stars): True flight, Qi armor, energy projection.

Nebula Dominion Realm and higher: Domain control, galaxy-level power, etc

Power Scale Reminder

Lian Yu: Stellar Circuit Star 1.

Elara Voss: Core Condensation Peak

Keep it as reminders