He inspected the black pebble closely. He knew that it couldn’t just be a regular pebble. There must be something special about it. And so he turned it over in his hands as he poked it with his aura and mana senses.

He still wasn’t able to find anything, but when he examined the pouch it came from, he spotted something he had originally missed. At the bottom of the pouch was a folded-up piece of paper. He removed it and read the note.

Eat it.

~Reinera

He stared at the note blankly and then back at the pebble. Eat it? Was she serious? It was a rock, not some kind of candy.

He shook his head in disbelief and flipped the note over to see if it had anything else on it.

Why don’t you trust me? Just eat it.

~Reinera

“You can’t be serious,” he mumbled quietly, and to his shame, he actually began to consider it.

The only thing that convinced him that it wasn’t a stupid idea was the fact that she wouldn’t try to kill him. Even if it was a prank, he shouldn’t have been injured by swallowing it.

He didn't see a reason to dilly-dally any longer, not to mention this was pretty tame in comparison to some of the other things he had eaten in the past. He sighed dramatically and popped the pebble onto his tongue. He gave it an inquisitive nibble, and unsurprisingly, it felt exactly like a pebble. He grimaced and, with a brave face, swallowed the thing whole.

It wasn’t exactly the smallest of objects, nor was it very uniform. Hence, he choked a little bit and was forced to use some aura to shove the remainder of it down his gullet. When it was finally down, he took some water from his storage ring and took a big swig.

Then he waited.

And to his embarrassment, nothing happened. He let out a curse and realized he had been duped. He imagined that she was laughing to herself, knowing that he couldn’t help himself and eat the rock out of sheer curiosity.

He grumbled unhappily and went to remove the final treasure from the sack she had given him. Hopefully, this last item wasn’t some kind of prank either.

He was about to remove the item when he felt his entire body jolt from an immense surge of energy. Then he fell to his knees as a shockwave rocked through him. The source of these pulsations came from his stomach, and he sent his senses inward.

He watched with a hint of worry when he felt the pebble slowly breaking down. The surface crumbled, revealing a small, shimmering black shard. Another shockwave ripped through his body, and he suddenly coughed up a pint of blood.

His healing skill activated, but to his confusion, it didn’t work. It was almost like the healing skill didn’t recognize any damage to fix. That was slightly concerning, but not more than the sudden pressure welling up in his stomach.

The shiny black shard now floating in his stomach was releasing powerful waves of energy at an alarming rate. Even more concerning was the kind of energy it was.

It was spatial energy. Similar to the energy his void skills used, this energy was volatile, just like his skills. The energy started to spread from the shard and into his body as if it were the roots of a plant digging into his flesh.

He might have been able to stop it with his aura and other skills, but he held off. He didn’t think that Reinera would give him something that would hurt him. So he trusted her and let the shard do its job.

Sadly, that was easier said than done, and he let out a groan of pain as it carved its way through his body. If that wasn’t bad enough, once it was done infiltrating his body, he felt it reach out to his soul.

He was much more hesitant about this. He used his willpower to hold it off as he thought about what to do. Despite common sense telling him he shouldn’t allow a foreign object into his soul, he welcomed it in.

Once he did that, he collapsed from his knees and landed straight onto his face. He felt his consciousness fade in and out. Eventually, he just let the darkness take him.

When he awoke, he found himself inside his soul space. It wasn’t just him either. The shard appeared in the middle of the space as well. Furthermore, Drasil must have followed him back inside the space as well. The little guy appeared next to Julius, clearly curious about the new object residing in his home.

Seraphyne had also appeared. She must have noticed the commotion and flapped her little flippers over to them.

“What’s this thing?” She asked with narrowed eyes.

He shrugged. “I’m not sure.”

“And you just allowed it in here?” She asked with a judgmental glare.

He pointedly ignored her and focused on Drasil, who was the ever-curious one. The little spirit hopped over to the shard and gave it a once-over. He let out a small coo, and before Julius could stop him, he leaned over and tried to take a nibble of it.

However, Drasil quickly removed his mouth from it and used his tiny hands to wipe his tongue.

“Gross?” Julius asked the little guy.

Unlawfully taken from novelbuddy, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Drasil nodded furiously and shivered in disgust.

He held back a laugh and gently moved Drasil out of the way as he examined the shard. He was still able to sense the waves of spatial energy, but they were much more gentle now. It had settled down and was slowly pulsing outward.

He reached out and carefully tapped the surface of the shard with his finger. He was immediately greeted with a notification.

Would you like to assimilate Dimensional Void Shard with your soul?

Julius stared blankly at the notification and looked over at his familiars.

“Do either of you know what a dimensional void shard is?”

Seraphyne looked over at him with an intrigued look. “Not a clue.”

Drasil gave a similar answer.

Julius, on the other hand, had several hypotheses. However, he didn’t know for certain, so he decided to defer the decision until he learned more. He concentrated, and with a little more effort than usual, he was able to leave his soul space.

But upon opening his eyes, he was welcomed by the same notification. He dismissed it, but couldn’t help but notice the pressure radiating from his soul. He knew he would have to make a decision soon. He needed to talk with Cassandra as soon as he could.

So, despite wanting to look at the final reward, he got up and made his way toward Cassandra’s main residence.

***

The problem with trying to find Cassandra’s residence was that he didn’t know where it was. She had failed to give him directions, only stating that she would be there for the rest of the day as she handled sect business. He had tried to use the special token she had given him in the forest, but it wasn’t working.

He suspected the sect’s enchantments interfered with it, and so he had to find her the old-fashioned way. Plus, it wasn’t like he minded all that much. It gave him an excuse to explore the enormous sect.

His robes drew a little attention, but despite that earlier confrontation, nobody stopped him or made any comments. They didn’t seem to care all that much and went about their way. Still, he decided that the cool robes weren’t worth the attraction and changed back into his plain black robes before someone decided to make trouble for him.

It was a shame because he loved the robes, but sadly, sacrifices must be made.

After about half an hour of walking around aimlessly, he realized he needed to ask for some help. He spotted a large building not far away and noticed many people entering and leaving.

Hopefully, he would be able to ask someone inside if they could help him, and so he headed toward it. He spotted a sign above the massive doorway.

Mission Hall.

“Hmm.”

The large number of people started to make sense, and since he didn’t see a better option, he walked inside and hopped in line at one of the counters, waiting for his turn. While he waited, he took some time to overhear other people’s conversations. A lot of them talked about their sect points and the missions they had recently completed. Others talked about different things.

One of the more common topics discussed was the flood of disciples from the recent entrance trials or inner disciple exams. A few names were mentioned several times.

One in particular that caught his attention was someone named Zev. Apparently, it was a young man who, until recently, was a Tier 3 outer disciple. He had passed the inner disciple exam and had also advanced to Tier 4. He had become one of the sect’s top talents; there were even mentions about him being more talented than other core disciples. Disciples such as Maya or Shin.

Additionally, there were rumors suggesting that he had cleared a Tier 4 rift as a Tier 3 no less. Some people thought these were just stories and had no truth to them. But some others swore it was true.

Julius found himself interested in this and was tempted to ask someone to explain it in more detail, but reminded himself that he could ask Maya when he had more time. At the moment, he wanted to find Cassandra. Unfortunately, he had already used the one-use talisman back in the capital.

Luckily, it was his turn, and he went up to the counter, feeling an isolation bubble surround him. He admired the enchantment and the privacy it provided.

“Can I please see your badge?” The lady at the counter asked him unenthusiastically.

He didn’t mind her attitude and handed it over to her. He watched as her face scrunched up in confusion before transitioning into one of panic. She bowed her head. “My apologies, honored guest. How may I help you today?”

He smiled politely. “Actually, I am trying to find the vice sect leader. Could you please point me in the direction of her main residence?”

The lady pressed her lips together and looked conflicted. “Umm. Do you have a meeting with her?”

“Not exactly, but she won’t be surprised to see me,” he answered truthfully.

She frowned and thought for a moment before she looked over her shoulder. “Could you please give me a moment?” She looked back and asked him.

He nodded. “Sure, take your time.”

She bowed and quickly ran off somewhere in the back. A few minutes passed, and when she came back, there was an older man following her. He wore robes similar to Elder Malric's and examined Julius closely.

“Is this him?” The older man asked the lady with a confused expression.

“Yes, Elder Huan. This is him,” she said respectfully.

The elder, whose name was apparently Elder Huan, shifted his attention to Julius. “She said something about you wanting to find Vice Sect Leader Cassandra?”

“Yes, I wish to figure out where her main residence is.”

“I’m afraid I cannot do that. Honored guest or not. Is there something you need help with?”

“Yes, I need to ask her a question.”

The elder stared at Julius blankly. “You wish to disturb our vice sect leader because you need to ask a question?”

“Yes?” Julius answered hesitantly, feeling like there was something he was missing.

“With all due respect, honored guest, but the vice sect leader is a very busy woman. She only just got back from a long journey and needs time to catch up with sect matters. If you have a question, please refer to one of the elders who was assigned as your handler,” the older elder said a touch condescendingly.

He didn’t let it bother him, though. “Umm, how do I find that out?”

“You don’t know who your handler is?” Skepticism was evident in his tone. The elder was now looking at Julius like he was doing something wrong.

“Nope. I don’t think anyone told me.”

“When did you first arrive in the sect?”

“Several hours ago.”

He saw that some of the elder’s skepticism and doubt lifted away. “Did you come across any elders?”

“Elder Malric,” he replied.

“You met with Elder Malric?” Surprise showed on Elder Huan’s face, and it quickly morphed into wariness.

“Yes, he escorted me from the outer court to the inner court. Is there a problem with that?”

“No, not a problem. But it’s fairly unusual that Elder Malric was the one who escorted you. He doesn’t typically do that sort of thing anymore. Here, give me a moment. I will contact Elder Malric.”

Julius stood by and watched as the older man ran off. His attitude had changed completely. Was perhaps Elder Malric a bigger deal than he first suspected?