Chapter 2040 2040. Probing

It felt unreal to be in front of such a massive threat. The odd nature of the blackness stopped being the main issue since the experts realized how a simple touch could destroy their entire journeys.

Noah and the others didn't need to question themselves. They knew that they had found the non-world. Nothing else could be so dangerous for their beings without even existing.

The very nature of the non-world put normal worlds in danger. That empty mass of power could annihilate opposite versions of itself, which meant that no cultivators or hybrids could resist it during regular clashes. Even King Elbas didn't know whether items that didn't rely on sharpness could be effective against that power.

'Countless years of accumulation just to end up in front of something capable of countering me so deeply,' Noah thought as a sigh escaped his mouth.

Noah knew that the non-world didn't counter only him. That peculiar power was an enemy to everything that existed, which was the very reason why he had initially planned to unleash it on Heaven and Earth. The amount of damage that something like that could inflict on the rulers was massive, and he would even be there to reap eventual benefits.

Nevertheless, seeing something so powerful with his eyes forced him to put his plans on hold. Noah wanted to do everything in his power to learn from the non-world instead of simply finding ways to throw it toward his enemies. There was so much potential in that empty form of energy, and it hurt him to be unable to approach it properly.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" King Elbas commented while approaching the mass of empty power carefully.

"Did you just read my mind?" Noah joked.

"It doesn't take much to understand what you think," King Elbas continued as he timidly raised his hand, "Especially in front of this."

"So," Noah voiced while inspecting King Elbas' actions, "Can you contain it?"

King Elbas' couldn't focus too much on Noah since he didn't understand where the non-world began. It felt hard to inspect the edges of that power since it almost matched his mind's prowess. Even his final existence couldn't completely overcome the opposite nature of the monster.

King Elbas continued to push his hand forward until a small piece of his finger started to vanish. His world did its best to oppose the opposite properties of that empty power, but it eventually gave in, forcing him to retract his arm.

"How is it?" Noah asked.

"It tried to shrink my world as a whole," King Elbas explained after a quick inspection of his injury. "Instead, the non-world didn't change at all. It might contain more non-energy than we thought."

"It must," Noah replied. "We would have seen a change otherwise. Your world isn't exactly normal."

"You can say that I'm amazing," King Elbas scoffed.

"How is the injury?" Noah asked, completely disregarding his companion's last line.

"A normal cultivator would need to spend centuries in seclusion to fix this damage," King Elbas announced before fixing his finger. "I'm not like them."

The arrogant statements didn't make Noah ignore the core of the issue. The non-world had enough power to inflict severe injuries to worlds, and its dangerousness surpassed what the experts had initially predicted. Affecting its structure appeared impossible unless they changed its nature.

"Someone needs to attack it," Noah eventually exclaimed.

"You are the brute," King Elbas stated.

"Dragon, throw yourself inside the non-world," Noah casually ordered.

"He is joking, right?" The dragon asked while moving its reptilian eyes among its companions, hoping to find someone nodding at it.

"He is joking," Sepunia giggled while covering her mouth.

"Elbas, come on," Noah sighed. "I know that you have disposable puppets ready. Try to hurt the non-world."

"You'll be lost without me," King Elbas sighed, but no one heard his statement since Noah, Sepunia, and the dragon had already begun to retreat.

King Elbas snorted, but worry appeared in his eyes when he gazed at the non-world again. He eventually decided to reach his companions and set a series of defenses that relied on sharp meanings. Noah and Sepunia helped while the dragon prepared its claws in case the attack triggered unwanted reactions.

Once the defenses were ready, King Elbas took out a simple humanoid puppet from his figure. The weapon was in the middle tier of the ninth rank, and it had blades instead of hands. Noah couldn't help but feel that his companion had taken inspiration from his fiendish armor to create that item, but he remained silent to avoid wasting more time.

The puppet flew forward and crossed its blades in front of its chest before releasing a sharp attack. A cross-shaped cut appeared among that blackness and revealed part of the real void, but everything immediately began to tremble.

Every area of the void affected by the monster shook without releasing shockwaves. Odd feelings filled Noah and King Elbas's minds, but nothing flew toward them. They only sensed that something dangerous had started to awaken.

The tremors were unclear, but Noah could sense that they changed their rhythm as the monster summoned the entirety of the void affected by its non-laws. The blackness seemed to condense around the non-world, and a strange growl resounded after the process ended.

Of course, the growl didn't actually release sounds, but Noah and King Elbas could hear them anyway. They were slowly growing used to dealing with non-energy, but that only told them how impossible a complete understanding was.

The monster condensed until it took an uneven, spherical form with multiple thick branches flowing over its surface. They resembled flares that couldn't get too far from the main structure, but no actual attacks shot out of it.

Noah and the others didn't suffer any damage during the event, but the puppet had disappeared. The non-laws that had crossed it during that gathering had turned it into nothingness.

"You are helpless," King Elbas cursed as three pairs of eyes fell on his figure.

King Elbas took out another puppet that could release sharp attacks and launched it toward the monster. The weapon crossed its blades and launched a powerful slash that dug deep marks inside the darker area, but a flare suddenly shot out of that spherical empty creature.

The puppet was a rank 9 item, so a simple flare wasn't enough to turn it into nothingness, but the monster seemed to have an endless number of non-laws at its disposal. The attack continued to engulf the disposable weapon until it disappeared without leaving any trace.

"We can survive the initial attacks then," Noah announced.

"And I had to waste two middle tier puppets to prove this," King Elbas voiced in an annoyed tone.

"I can replicate similar events with my illusions," Sepunia suggested.

"I think we know enough already," Noah stated before turning toward King Elbas. "Do you still want part of the non-world in its raw form?"

"That's impossible to contain," King Elbas admitted. "I would need to be near the peak of the ninth rank to create such a huge container. Besides, your ambition can only improve the non-world."

"Perfect," Noah uttered before expanding his dark world and filling it with his ambition.

The technique only lasted a few seconds since a series of white figures suddenly pierced it and expanded their auras to announce their presence. Noah and the others didn't need to unfold their minds to understand that one of the newcomers was Dinia.

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Author's notes: The third chapter should arrive in an hour or so.