The table almost devoid of Universal Crystals, the battle of attrition luckily came to an end.

Just to be sure, Alexander grabbed the very last piece off the table. The moment he did, a surge of spatial fluctuations abruptly came about, thrashing the surroundings before a hole formed in the fabric of reality. From the hole, an abundance of Universal Crystals fell onto the table.

'As expected.'

His Universe perfectly fused with his own body and under his control, Alexander only needed the last step.

On the table, apart from the replenished Universal Crystals, the leftover Universal Fragments and Universal Dusts, there was something else.

Truncated icosahedron shaped pieces were stacked on top of one another forming a small mountain. Their transparent dark blue exterior hosted a very familiar mess of colors deep inside.

Taking one of those Universal Cores, Alexander studied it carefully. Thankfully, it was based off the other materials and therefore easy to deal with.

The piece he took, like all others, resembled a miniature Universe, albeit with a much more complex form for the eye. It was not a smooth bead by any stretch of the imagination.

He now needed to perfect his own Universal Core with it.

Plunging his mind into the abysmal cultivation process, Alexander meticulously shaped his Universal Core's insides to be smooth and durable. His Daos drowned the world and the shapes of planets came about.

The word 'time' as if non-existent to him, the strangely shaped Universal Core he took from the pile had turned into dust.

'Hmm?' Spreading his fingers, the dust flowed to the ground like a sandy waterfall.

Feeling the power it contained, Alexander understood the resources' origin.

Universal Cores were probably exactly what they were called, Universal Cores directly robbed from others. While Universal Crystals, Fragments and Dusts were obtained from broken down Universal Cores.

It was both ruthless and ingenious if proven true.

'Probably something I would do...' Done with the small introspection, Alexander did not realize that the pile on the table had diminished greatly since he first began this stage.

Lei Diesto definitely took some, but not so many.

His Universal Core's frame perfected, and his internal world growing by the second, the last stage had been completed. Alexander was now half a step into the Universe Realm.

Looking over, Lei Diesto was also done and about to wait just like him.

But wait they did not, as the moment Alexander finished, Valtos' voice sounded once more. From the tone and choice of words, it clearly was a recorded message.

"Congratulations! Both of you are now fully under my, Valtos', command! You shall be transported to Limbo shortly."

The secret dungeon's roof crumbling apart, the distant sky was now visible. Dark clouds of tribulations were gathering high above, much further upward than Alexander's altitude record.

The clouds turning from dark grey to void black, a gigantic black hand grabbed toward the Earth.

The Celestial Realm shaking from the incredible power, both Alexander and Lei Diesto felt a suction force pull them into the void above them.

Feeling no malicious intentions, they did not act defensively. And even if they did, the outcome would still be the same. The difference between the hand's power and them was simply too much.

Their speed incredible, their minds turned hazy from the speed multiple times their own. Only a few minutes flying and the hand made them exit the Celestial Realm. The space around distorted, everything turned black.

When they came about, the landscape was not quite the same. Gone were the lush greenery and dense Celestial Qi.

The Origin Energy they felt when cultivating was everywhere. Just by standing there, dazed on a wasteland of dark brown full of craters, their cultivation advanced noticeably.

'The resources gifted to us were clearly not that great...' If they stayed here, the matter of cultivation resources would have been dealt with instantaneously. So why the need for such a tedious secluded cultivation?

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

The answer was all around.

Above them, the black sky devoid of clouds felt turbulent yet peaceful. The same could be said about their surroundings. The Origin Energy was running wild, rampaging everything in sight. If one was not able to see it, they would not be able to tell anything to be wrong. But when one could see it...

'What a mess...'

This was the answer to his internal question. The reason they needed this cultivation base was just to survive. The Origin Energy was unrestrained and therefore dangerous to the untrained body and mind. If their bodies were not enhanced from the Universal Dust and their own cultivation bases, the Origin Energy would have torn them both to shreds.

Dazed, they still kept some lucidity. Next to them was a man in black robes slightly taller than them. His expressionless face was a dead giveaway to his probably serious temper. His life wheel was apparent as well.

"Welcome. I was on my way to see senior Sunos, but I will have to change my plans now. I truly didn't expect you two to make it this far so quickly. Truly an eyeopener."

The identity of this man was obvious. Not only from his voice, but also his demeanor and position. There was no one around them other than him.

"This Alexander greets senior Valtos!" Cupping his fists, Alexander acted meekly. His position was still to be found in this new territory, and every enemy he made would come to bite him when least expected.

"This Lei greets the master!" Lei Diesto was much more submissive in his gesture. His fists cupped, he also bowed a significant amount to the man's back.

Nodding, Valtos waved his hand dismissingly.

"You two are now members of my faction. I shall introduce myself with more clarity now."

"I am Valtos, the Fourth King. I serve Monarch Lu of the Ninth Martial Dynasty. I shall wait and see how you two handle our greatest enemy, the Frozen Dream Sect, in the near future."

Sweating, Alexander was having a headache.

'Fucking hell! I got mixed up in a damn faction war! What rotten luck!!' Luckily, this side of the war seemed more to his liking, at least Valtos' demeanor was. A man going straight to the point without exaggerated tales. Seeing him lacking in nefarious intents gave Alexander some breathing room. There was no need to run or even fight this man on the spot, for now.

"Now, you two shall follow I to meet with Sunos, the Third King."

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

Helped by Valtos, the trio sped up into the black sky before appearing in the void. Limbo was something quite similar to a Universe. It was filled with the void of space and held many worlds.

If some differences were to be pointed out, one would notice them on the spot.

For one, Limbo hosted less worlds than a typical Universe, and this specific difference was striking to knowledgeable people. It was not a matter of two or three times less. The ratio was much more extreme.

Even after travelling for so long, worlds came about fairly often, but not enough to deflect a deserved deserted title.

And when it came to one's vision, the worlds were not any different. Their size was proportionally huge, as expected. But the void was all black. There was no yellow and green, no blue, purple or even red. Black everywhere. As for the most subtle change, it was momentum.

All worlds, no matter how crowded, big or small, lacked movement. None moved, not even a bit.

All worlds were frozen in place by some invisible power. At least, Alexander guessed as such. Even the knowledge he was given did not clarify on this point. Many speculated as he did, and some thought otherwise. But in any case, no one knew the truth.

The voyage quite entertaining, it came off as boring when the next scene formed itself before their eyes.

Lei Diesto was petrified while Alexander felt his mind go numb.

Far ahead, slightly on their right, a human skull.

Both Alexander and Lei Diesto had seen countless. Out of them, many were directly obtained from their own bloody hands. But the skull into the void-like horizon was not quite the same. The shape was fairly identical to a human's, no doubt about it. Humans were evolving to higher versions of themselves, and this caused some alterations to come about from time to time. But this was not the point.

The point was the size.

'You've got to be kidding me... I'm supposed to end up like this one day?' Not even realizing to have cursed himself in his own thoughts, Alexander had his face twitch continuously from the shock.

His current body was over ten million kilometers in height, but this skull made him think otherwise. He felt like the ten million kilometers tall behemoth was not him but this skull's owner instead.

The skull, with some visible damage, had each teeth bigger than a hundred worlds crowded next to each other!

Those worlds were already big enough, but the skull was simply too much of a giant. Anything compared with it would appear dwarfed significantly no matter the efforts put against this outcome.

It was not in the realm of millions of kilometers anymore. Nor was it billions or trillions. The size was hard to grasp even for Alexander.

'Even in the Universe I wasn't so big... Some worlds could make me feel smaller than an ant, but this...'

Even the entire Celestial Realm inside Valtos' Multiverse would be called mediocre when compared in size with a small world from Limbo. So what about this skull?

Noticing their gaze, Valtos breathed in loudly.

"...This..."

"Is the skull of a Primordial Human."

Curious, Alexander interjected.

"Are Primordial Humans the peak of Limbo?"

Scoffing audibly, Valtos shook his head with a stern face.

"I have no idea. This is only the Inner Territory, and even I dream of stepping into the Core Territory. So what do I, or anybody else here, know? But some legends do claim them to be from an ancient era where the realms were once one."

"If the realms were once one... wouldn't that mean..."

With a skull this big possessing such an ancient and oppressive residual aura, Alexander's hasty remark was a bull's eye.

"Indeed. This legend would insinuate a higher world than Limbo... but..."

"But?"

Parting his lips, Valtos closed them shut right after, not saying anything.

"Thank you for your guidance." Cupping his fists, Alexander was feeling annoyed... really, really annoyed.

"A higher world? The fuck?! Again!? This better not be true! I love getting stronger, I really do... but I feel lost in a maze now... Where's the damn exit?!"

His goal was to surpass the Martial Dao, not play hide and seek with it!