Chapter 273: The Void Realm

Three days passed.

Ninety-six individuals stood before the Void Realm gateway at the IGF Central Base on Planet Verenthos.

The gateway was enormous—a crystalline arch fifty meters tall and thirty meters wide, carved from translucent stone that pulsed with inner light. Runic symbols covered every inch of its surface, spiraling inward toward the center where a curtain of swirling darkness waited. The darkness shifted constantly. The air around the gateway hummed with compressed mana so dense it pressed against the skin like static.

Vvvvrrrr.

IGF soldiers lined the perimeter in formation. Barrier arrays glowed along the walls—hummm—ready to activate at a moment’s notice.

The ninety-six cultivators stood in loose groups organized by affiliation.

Heaven’s Gate Academy. Kael stood with his arms crossed, dressed in black combat attire. Beside him: Cassian Vale, calm as ever. Rue and Sage both in their new combat outfits. Yenna Frostveil lingered near Cassian. Zara, Caelan, Marcus Croft, Isabella Vorn and Rooley Slanders.

Empyrean Celestial Academy. Michael Weston. Ravenna Silva stood beside him, her green hair cascading over her shoulders, green eyes scanning the crowd. She spotted Kael and smiled. He looked away.

Astral Zenith Academy occupied the right-center. Dean Hawthorne led them.

Iron Nexus Academy. Valerius Kaine and 11 others.

Beyond the academies, the remaining forty-eight slots belonged to other groups.

The Draven Clan sent three representatives. Cassius Draven stood front and center— Mana Heart Rank 9 now. Beside him stood two other Dravens: a tall woman with cropped dark hair and cold grey eyes—Mira Draven, Mana Heart Rank 8, and a stocky man with a shaved head and tribal tattoos covering his jaw—Gorff Draven, Mana Heart Rank 7.

The Hargrove Clan sent two representatives—both Mana Heart Rank 8.

The Everglade Clan—a powerful high elf clan from the Western Universe’s northern sectors—sent three representatives.

The Pyrebrand Clan—a clan of fire cultivators known for their aggressive conquest history—sent two representatives. Both had red hair and smoldering mana signatures.

The Vorn Family held two of the non-academy slots. Caelus Vorn—the second child of Greyson, Shadow rank 1. Beside him, Garrett De Vorn stretched his neck and yawned.

Yaaawn.

Garrett spotted Kael and grinned broadly. He walked over immediately.

"Kael!" Garrett clasped his hand. Shake. "Good to see you, brother. Ready for this?"

Kael smiled. "It seems you’ve been doing well."

Garrett clapped his shoulder. Pat. "Watch yourself in there. Word is the Dravens are looking for blood. Your blood specifically."

"I know."

Garrett returned to Caelus. Caelus caught Kael’s eye. He nodded.

Kael nodded back.

Then Kael noticed something.

Isabella Vorn stood near the Hargrove delegation, speaking quietly with a woman Kael didn’t recognize.

But she didn’t approach him.

Kael just shrugged.

Cassius Draven saw Kael.

His face contorted. Rage flooded his features.

GRRRRR.

His mana spiked. The air around him crackled.

"YOU—"

His two companions grabbed his arms immediately.

"Cassius, no," Mira Draven hissed, her grip tightening. "Not here."

Gorff Draven stepped in front of him, blocking his line of sight. "Think. Fighting in the IGF base means expulsion. Criminal charges. The family won’t protect you from that."

Cassius’s chest heaved. Hhhh-hhhh. His eyes burned into Kael from across the courtyard.

Kael felt the killing intent directed at him. He turned.

Then Kael smirked.

"Still recovering from that stomach wound, Cassius? You look like you haven’t eaten in months. I’d offer you a pill, but I’m afraid your stomach can’t handle anything solid these days."

Hahaha.

Cassius lunged forward. Mira and Gareth dragged him back.

"LET GO OF ME—"

"Cassius! You fucking bastard. Don’t let us see you in the Void realm or you’re dead." Mira snapped.

Kael shrugged.

An IGF official stepped forward. The murmuring died.

"Welcome," the official said. "You are about to enter the Verenthian Void Realm. Before you do, there are things you must understand."

He raised one finger.

"First: time. Although only two weeks will pass in the outside world, inside the Inheritance Ground, time flows much faster. Two years will pass for you inside."

The crowd erupted.

Murmur-murmur-murmur.

"Two years?!"

"That’s—"

Gasps. Gasp. Shocked whispers. Whisper-whisper. Excited laughter. Hahaha.

The official raised his hand. Silence returned.

Shhh.

"Second: the dangers. The Void Realm is not a garden. It contains multiple traps—ancient formations designed to kill, deceive, and imprison. Residual guardians—constructs left by the civilization that created this realm—still patrol certain ruins. They operate on directives thousands of years old and will attack anyone who violates their perceived territory."

He paused.

"Additionally, there are beasts. Ranging from Foundation Establishment to Spirit Soul realm. They roam freely. The deeper you go, the more dangerous the creatures become."

"Third: each other."

His eyes swept the crowd.

"There will be conflicts over treasures, inheritance sites, and resources. The Void Realm is lawless beyond this gateway. The IGF does not adjudicate what happens inside. Kill or be killed. Your tokens are your only method of extraction—activate them in life-threatening situations and you will be ejected. But you will forfeit all gains."

Silence.

"Finally: you will be separated upon entry. The gateway disperses individuals across the Void Realm based on token signature. You will not enter together. You will not exit together. Prepare accordingly."

He stepped back.

"The gateway activates in sixty seconds. Present your tokens when the arch stabilizes."

Vvvvrrrr... VVVVRRRR...

The gateway blazed to life.

WHOOOOSH!

The crystalline arch erupted with blinding light. The curtain of darkness within the arch fractured into swirling fragments of shadow and light. Runes blazed across the surface—fzzzt-fzzzt—each one igniting in sequence.

The ground trembled.

Rumble...

Ninety-six cultivators stepped forward.

One by one, they presented their tokens. Each token pulsed—bzzzt—and resonated with the gateway. The crystalline arch hummed in response—whirrrr—and the darkness within shifted to accept each entrant.

Kael held his token forward. Bzzzt. The arch blazed.

He stepped through.

WHOOSH.

A sensation of being pulled apart and reassembled simultaneously.

...shhhh...

Then: ground beneath his feet.

Thud.

Kael opened his eyes.

The Verenthian Void Realm.

It was enormous. The word "enormous" didn’t apply. This was a pocket dimension of impossible scale—entire continents stretching in every direction, each one hosting different biomes. Dense forests. Mountain ranges that dwarfed anything on the Thirteen Worlds. Deserts of black sand. Oceans whose depths were invisible. Frozen tundras where the temperature dropped to lethal levels within seconds of exposure.

Ancient ruins dotted the landscape. Crumbling towers rose from overgrown vegetation. Half-buried temples leaned against hillsides. Shattered arenas sat in the middle of empty plains. Underground labyrinths pulsed with faint mana beneath the surface.

The ambient mana was extremely dense—thicker than Planet Bibliotheca’s training facility, thicker than anything Kael had experienced outside of active cultivation formations. Every breath felt like swallowing a Mana Restoration Pill.

Kael stood in a dense forest region. The trees around him were massive—forty meters tall, their trunks wider than houses. Bioluminescent leaves cast the forest in soft blue-green light. The canopy above was so thick that the sky was barely visible.

Shhhh...

His soul sense swept outward in 45 meters range.

No human signatures.

He was alone.

Kael and Cassian had planned for this. Before entering, they’d agreed on predetermined directional markers. Cassian’s future sight had predicted their likely landing zones with surprising accuracy. They’d mapped the fastest route to a central rendezvous point—a landmark visible from multiple regions: a massive shattered tower that pierced the forest canopy kilometers away.

Technology didn’t work in the Void Realm. Communication tokens were dead. Runic communication arrays were inert. Only soul sense and cultivation perception functioned.

Click. Kael tested his communication token just to be sure.

He pocketed it and oriented himself. The shattered tower was northeast. He could see its broken spire above the canopy.

Kael began moving. His feet carried him swiftly through the underbrush—step-step-step—his gravity field lightening his body for faster travel.

Then the ground erupted.

POP-POP-POP-POP!

Dozens of creatures burst from the earth simultaneously. Small—half a meter each—fur matted with dirt, eyes crackling with electrical energy. Lightning rats. Hundreds of them.

KREEE-KREEE-KREEE!

Kael jumped. His gravity field reversed, launching him ten meters into the air. He floated, looking down.

The forest floor was covered in them. Foundation Establishment to Mana Heart Rank 1 through 5. Their bodies sparked with electricity—zzzt-zzzt-zzzt.

Sssss...

Kael looked down at the writhing mass of sparking rodents.

He smirked.

"What a welcome."