Chapter 2024 2024. Gains

Night had been ready to attack since the group stepped into the sky. Its intentions weren't casual. Its peculiar existence made it hard to notice by Heaven and Earth even in its normal form, so it was basically invisible after adding a layer of dark matter containing the dark metal.

Noah inspected the pieces of the world brought back by Night after returning inside the tunnel. The gaseous stage cultivator killed by the Pterodactyl didn't belong to Heaven and Earth's system. She was one of the privileged experts, but the abrupt attack from a being that she couldn't see had destroyed her on the spot.

Night was as deadly as always, but the surprise experienced by the expert when she noticed Noah and King Elbas had played an important part in her death. The Pterodactyl had a clear path to its target, and it exploited that chance perfectly.

The group descended through the tunnel for a while before turning their attention upward. They expected Heaven and Earth to stir a mess after what happened, but nothing moved. The sky remained still as if the rulers didn't understand that they had suffered a significant loss.

'What is happening?' King Elbas asked through his mental waves.

'Did the cultivator have her world?' Sepunia questioned.

'She did, but Night shattered it in an instant,' Noah revealed.

'Heaven and Earth might not have noticed the disappearance of that world from their system then,' Sepunia explained. 'The cultivator had retrieved it in the end.'

'Why didn't they react to the theft?' King Elbas continued.

'The item is probably incomplete,' Noah guessed.

'I know, but how does that change anything?' King Elbas wondered. 'The prism is still incredibly powerful. I expected at least some earthquakes.'

'Maybe the formation sees it as one of the inevitable failures,' Sepunia said. 'You didn't steal the cores of those laws from Heaven and Earth's system, so they might only see it as a loss of energy.'

That explanation slightly managed to quell King Elbas' doubts. His theft didn't involve Heaven and Earth's system since the laws in the prism still existed in the sky. He had stolen an item capable of harmonizing them, but the rulers could replicate it easily as long as they had time and energy.

The sky was so full of energy that Heaven and Earth probably didn't sense those small losses as long as they didn't involve actual laws in their system. Both Noah and King Elbas didn't touch that part of the rulers' power, so no reactions happened. Of course, their dormant state was to blame for that lack of control.

'Do you have enough to stabilize your existence?' Noah eventually asked.

'It might be enough,' King Elbas stated. 'The prism might be incomplete, but I've memorized the process. I can probably develop weaker versions and fill eventual gaps if necessary.'

'We can leave then,' Noah admitted before glancing at his companions.

The mission had gone flawlessly. King Elbas had obtained what he needed, and Noah had managed to kill a privileged cultivator, even if only a weak one. In theory, they had no other reason to remain in that dangerous environment, but it was evident that everyone wanted a bit more.

The past period had been tense, but the mission had been relatively easy. The group had used the right tools and had prepared thoroughly for the journey in the sky, so they felt to have earned that peaceful outcome. However, the sky seemed unresponsive, which potentially allowed them to remain there a bit longer.

Noah felt that his potential increased after every second spent in that environment. He also wanted a prism, even hundreds of them if possible. The item seized by King Elbas had almost approached the limits of the middle tier, but the sky surely had far stronger versions. They even seem to contain far more energy than other materials at the same levels, so stealing many of them sounded like a good plan.

'We aren't leaving, right?' Sepunia asked before covering her mouth to hide her giggle.

'It doesn't feel right if we don't cause a mess of some sort,' Noah revealed.

'Don't look at me,' King Elbas uttered. 'I'm with you on this one. It would be a pity to waste this chance.'

The dragon couldn't speak through mental waves since it lacked a sea of consciousness, but Noah only needed to glance at the creature to see that it agreed with the general opinion of the group. Everyone wanted to gain something out of that mission, so they would continue to explore the whiteness until problems appeared.

Noah took the group's lead while King Elbas was busy focusing on the prism inside his body. The former didn't have complicated runes at hand, but his fiendish armor had enough dark metal to cause similar effects.

The group made sure to return at the center of the sky only after they crossed the empty area robbed previously. They all wanted to see what had happened there after taking the prism, but they knew that investigating the hall would only cause problems.

The journey resumed, and the experts soon found themselves in front of another empty hall. The prism at its center appeared spherical again, but the group could see its many faces now that they paid attention to that detail. It seemed that they had encountered another imperfect item, but they only cared about the peak middle tier aura that it radiated.

The group repeated the same preparations as before. They went under the empty hall and created a tunnel that almost connected the structure with the external surface that shone on the stormy regions. Then, they barged inside the area and seized the prism before hiding deep inside the passage.

Noah took the prism for himself at that time, but everyone still did their best during the inspection. The sky didn't react to the theft again, so Noah could devour the item as the group moved toward their next target.

The unresponsiveness of the sky gave the group the chance to seize multiple prisms. Their idea of exploring the central parts of the white layer had turned out to be on point, so they met many empty areas on their path.

Noah could finally sense his body getting stronger again after devouring those powerful materials. The parasite wanted to affect the procedure, but he split the shares of energy in his favor. Also, the plant vaguely understood that it needed its host to grow if it wanted to gain access to those resources again, so it didn't oppose Noah's limitations too much.

The group continued stealing everything they found until they found something different in the empty hall that appeared in front of them. The area still contained an environment rich in dense laws, but it was far bigger at that time. Moreover, it had three prisms rotating in an elliptic orbit at its center.

The area had another peculiar feature. Fifteen avatars stood on the unique surfaces that regulated the laws and sent lightning bolts toward the prisms to enhance the harmony among their true meanings. Twelve of those puppets were in the lower tier, two in the middle tier, and one in the upper tier.

The powerful platoon followed the surfaces' orders to adjust the power of their white lightning bolts, but they didn't notice the experts inspecting the scene right outside the empty area. Noah and the others also focused on the puppets only for a short while since they soon sensed an upper tier aura flowing out of the three prisms.