They moved past the passage location and kept moving. The shockwave didn't announce itself. No tremors, no sound. Only after Robert phased everyone into the liminal void did they look behind them and see it. The wall of obliteration that was pushing mass like dandelion seeds in the wind. The whole realm was going to shit and they with it. Worse, now that they were past their scheduled exit, all bets were off.

Despair seeped into the corners of Robert's mind. He was thankful they were all alive and unharmed but for how long would that last? Worse, they only had a few hours this time. They would leave the void, run from the shockwave for a bit, then get back. With each iteration, the time they had would become less and less until a moment of no escape. Robert wouldn't have enough time to even think about using his talent.

Wait. He felt no tremors. Despite the tunnels and curves they took, they felt no tremors. The blast surely would've sent seismic tremors through the inside of the caverns, in a straight line. What did it mean? Either the realm wasn't a solid chunk of rock, meaning nobody could dig between two tunnels, or the shockwave didn't travel through solid rock. It only moved through fluids like air and water.

"Professor," Robert called. Then he explained his theory.

"That might work. It can very well be our only chance of evading the shockwave. Amanda, how far does your sense earth spell go into solid rock?" Noah asked.

"Only about fifteen feet at best. It depends on the material. The more essence it has, its composition, and if there are any veins of minerals." She replied.

"How long do you need to dig us a hole – never mind. How long do you need to cover a hole big enough to fit the four of us?"

"A few seconds."

"Make it in five. Pump all of your essence into the spell. Overload it."

"The shell might break if I do that."

"Then you survive and make a better one. You need to trust in yourself and trust in me. Archs die when they either second-guess themselves or underestimate their challenges. We're not doing the latter, so all that's left is to take care of the former. You are stronger than you think. Spread your wings and soar."

Robert thought the speech was rather melodramatic but they needed to make Amanda do her part.

"Warn me five seconds before we return, Robert," Noah said.

"Okay," Robert slowed down to get the timepiece.

"Don't stop or slow down, though!" Noah urged.

They walked. The stress made them feel like their legs were burning, despite the peculiarities of the dimension they were in. The terrain blurred before them. Despite that, time moved on inexorably, dilated or not. The timepiece chimed. "Five seconds!" Robert shouted.

"Four," Noah chanted. "Three, Amanda ready your spell, two, to cover us! One!"

The colors returned. Noah drew a rune out of granite in the air.

"Natural Disaster: Earthquake!"

Now the ground rumbled. A crevice opened and dropped them forty feet down.

"Conjure Earth!" Amanda shouted as her legs almost broke from the fall.

The light vanished. All of them could feel Amanda's essence deplete as she filled thirty feet of crevice with her rock. Then silence.

*

*

Minutes passed as they waited for the calamity's other shoe to drop. Amanda was panting with exhaustion, eyes closed, attempting to gather and replenish her essence. Robert had healed everyone and was also trying to gather. Noah warned them to not enter the Netherecho under absolutely any circumstances.

Nothing happened. They didn't die, they didn't hear or feel a thing. It was as if the whole thing they spent days running from was only an illusion. A collective hallucination. The silence stretched on for... who knew how long. The fear of imminent death and the anticipation that some incomprehensible power would come and kill them out of nowhere wiped any notion of time from their minds.

"Professor Actus?" Amanda said in a whisper, breaking the sepulchral silence.

"Yes, Amanda?" Noah reacted.

She took a deep breath. Then she shouted, outraged, "Just how many affinities can you use?"

"Pfft!" Robert broke into a hissing fit of laughter.

"All of them?" Noah replied sheepishly.

"Don't phrase it like a question. And how the fuck can you use ALL of them?"

"Not going to tell," Noah said firmly, all aloofness gone. "It's a secret but some people who track my actions gave up at fifteen."

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"What?!?" Robert exclaimed. "No way. There's some gimmick in there because you only ever use a single spell."

Noah laughed. "Oh, but a spell can only have a single affinity, can't it? How could I use the same spell with different affinities? Maybe I have a bunch of similar spells of different affinities."

"Or your talent lets you use any affinity so long it's a natural disaster," Amanda conjectured.

A wave of Ether hit them. Robert felt his star burn and flare, the energy within no longer able to be contained. He screamed and the world faded to black. That's the only reason he didn't hear Amanda scream too. It was the aura from the fight against the centifish. Through mysterious means, it had reached them. The power that was contained all this time would no longer be released.

His star ignited, going supernova. He was forced into his Ethercosm where the bright light clouded everything. And inside the star, two eyes opened up. His Prime Vestige spoke.

"An Emperor goes wherever he wants. Dive deeper."

A second star, pale and tiny when compared to the first, appeared as his Ethercosm expanded, the shells now orbiting the twin system. It was empty. The energy burst into Robert's body, changing it fundamentally. His form became more refined, his flesh and bones slightly tougher, his muscles a little faster and stronger. The changes were noticeable but not, as in some fiction stories he read, a whole realm different. He was still mortal.

Robert groaned and opened his eyes. They were still entombed in the dark crevice so it was still dark. He was sure someone, maybe he had a light source but he didn't care.

"Congratulations. It seems you're a two-star now. So, what's your talent's evolution?" Noah said.

Robert was about to say it out loud but then he got embarrassed. He wouldn't call himself an Emperor, nor give away any hints that might make people get the wrong idea.

"I can dive deeper, whatever that means," Robert said.

"Oh. As in deeper into the void?" Noah suggested.

Robert slapped his own forehead. Freddy licked him. Okay. That made sense. He had to test it but not now and definitely, not here.

"What about Amanda?" Robert asked.

"She's still out. If we compare the power scale of your talents, hers is weaker than yours. She would need less aura to evolve it into something good. We need to wait and see." Noah said.

So they waited. A few minutes later, Amanda groaned and grunted. "Shut up, you bloody motherfucker!" She shouted. Flaying around, she struck Robert with an elbow. "Nobody is plowing my fields!"

"Watch out!" Robert grasped both of her arms near the elbows and held them. "You'll kill someone."

"Robert?" She asked, her fearful voice croaking with vocal fry.

"Yes, me. What is it about plowing fields? Did your talent give you a subspace where you can grow plants?" Robert asked.

"Oh, that one would be really good. Can you imagine? Going from a farming talent to a storage one?" Noah mused.

"Shut up, both of you. Shut up." Amanda grunted.

*

*

Enraptured, Amanda watched as her star went supernova. A green ball with a scruffy face and a cantankerous nature appeared inside of her soul.

"You look better than the loser who manifested me," it said.

Amanda was shocked. "Is this my talent's evolution? Looking better than some random loser?"

~~~~~

A random "loser" (according to the Prime Vestige) with a bleeding leg was alone in a farmland somewhere in the mid-eastern green belt when he sneezed.

~~~~~

"Of course not, you dimwitted dolt!" The ball said. "I'm just stating the facts, despite looking better than that idiot isn't any accomplishment worthy of note. But at least I bet you have plenty of farmhands willing to plow your fields!"

For some reason, that last sentence didn't seem to relate to farming at all. Amanda felt offended by it, actually.

"Good grief, I thought I would never again have to hear your heinous curses! What is my talent evolution, then?"

The Prime Vestige spoke true.

"Ultimate farming! Absolute farming! Midas touch if all your gold is wheat! Your crops do HARDER! BETTER! FASTER! STRONGER! Put those Hoes to work! Make it! Do it! Huh! Huff! Hump!"

She got the impression that if the balls had hips, her Prime Vestige would be swinging it right now. If her Ether construct was actually a hoe, the farming implements. Amanda would probably feel less offended by the Prime her family made her use.

*

*

"It went from supreme farming to absolute farming," Amanda said tersely. "It will make the plants grow faster, better, harder, and stronger." She messed up the order.

The girl huffed and slumped in Robert's direction. It was probably for the best that nobody lit up a light. Because she was practically on his lap right now. He was sure it was not intentional but... Robert wasn't carved out of steel. Amanda's careless behavior was messing with his head.

"Your plants are already pretty effective in combat. It seems this is a straight upgrade in all aspects. I believe it will be a good one." Noah said. "Do not dismay. It was because of your talent that we could plan provisions for all the six months of this expedition with room to spare. Combined with your family's ability to source rare plant species from dozens of realms, you will become one of the strongest Archs in the whole Empire in the future."

Amanda chuckled ruefully. "Thank you, Noah. I really appreciate it."

"I'm not blowing steam up..." Noah defended himself. "My feedback is entirely honest."

"Between the two of us," Robert said. "You're the only one who killed a giant monster."

"And the last, too," Noah said. "I don't sense any creatures for at least a dozen miles. Not even slimes."

Those weren't good news. Everyone looked concerned. What just happened and, more importantly, where was the Eidolon who caused this?

"The stone I conjured will vanish in around ten minutes," Amanda said after a while.

"Let's see what happens," Noah said. "Get ready to fight."

The conjured rock vanished and a shower of hot mud and plumes of steam wafted down. No light reached them, though. No sounds came from the surface.

"Eww. I'm conjuring some vines so we can climb out of this place," Amanda said

She used her plant growth spell in tandem with her talent. The vines grew in a matter of seconds, climbing up the forty feet of crevice Noah had carved with his spell. They climbed out. The whole tunnel was silent except for the wind howling through it. No sound of gurgling rivers or swaying vegetation. It was hot and damp, like a sauna. The glow that came from the river was entirely gone.

"There's no creatures around," Noah said. "We should go back and leave through the passage."

Now they turned on some lights. Robert was surprised at how gorgeous Amanda looked. Not that she was ugly to begin with but now he found it hard to not stare at her. Her face looked more mature but still jovial and innocent. Her figure became slimmer and with more... accentuated curves. Yes... Back to the face, Robert.

Amanda stared back at him, then bit her lower lip and looked away. Robert had no idea what that reaction was supposed to mean. He asked Freddy telepathically but the Taulusian only said he looked normal. He decided to not dwell on it and move on.

They tracked back to the passage but the tunnel had changed somehow. It seemed wider, more oppressive. The steam was pervasive and insidious. They were drenched after hiking for only half a mile.

"Still nothing alive. Or undead," Noah reported.

They reached the spot where the passage should've been. Should. Everything changed.

Were they lost?