“Where am I?” Han Ling was in a dark space, his mask was gone and his weapons missing. “What is this place?” It was a deep eerie silence, the only things Han Ling could hear was his heartbeat and his breathing.

“This is the void in your mind, master.” Han Ling froze, this voice…

He turned around and sure enough, a beautiful pale-skinned, black-haired girl stood smiling behind him. “Hollow?” The girl smiled widely, “It is an honour to finally meet master.”

“This is the void in my mind? What does that mean?” Han Ling reached a hand on the ground, finding nothing beneath him, yet he was standing up on something solid. “How does this place –”

SHUWOH

The space trembled violently, shaking the teen quite vigorously. “What was that?”

Hollow’s smile disappeared from her face, replaced with a solemn look. “Master, the Void Speck you kept has integrated inside you the moment Sora Ga Maiagaru was completed. It created a space in your mind to communicate…”

Han Ling frowned, “Communicate? Who?” Hollow then vanished, fading away from the space. Just as Han Ling had question marks around his head, a man emerged from the ground, born out of black liquid as an adult. Han Ling immediately felt a burst of cold sweat on his back. This person was strong… very very strong. A spotless white robe, with a gold bird embroidered on the front, a stoic face with a long white beard, piercing blue eyes and a joyous expression on his face.

“Hahahaha! Not bad at all! Not bad at all!” the old man threw his head back and laughed a loud, great laugh, those that are borderline on mad. “The void has chosen an interesting one! Hahahaha!” Han Ling stared at the man with confused eyes, his expression calm on the surface but he had to steel himself from running away from the sheer pressure the man emitted.

Extremely dense waves of mana burst out from the man, washing over Han Ling like a wave of burning hot magma. “This sir, who are you?” The man’s laugh stopped and he looked at Han Ling, a grin spreading on his face. Han Ling gulped unconsciously, feeling a deep fear crawl in his gut. “To put it simply, I am the void. The void is me. I am the being that lives as the void. Make sense?”

Han Ling only tilted his head with eyes squinted, “I’m afraid not, sir.” The man laughed again, “No matter, I’m not important here. Do you know why you’re here?” Han Ling shook his head, “This is the void of your mind, a sub space in your mind. Currently, your body is now in a trance like state until you master what I’m about to teach you.”

Han Ling frowned, “Teach me?” the man’s grin widened, “The reason you are here now is because you absorbed the void speck that I created. The void specks are created for the sole purpose of training the next Void Sovereign.”

“Training? Void Sovereign?” Han Ling’s head grew numb at the ‘void sovereign’ part. “I can be a Void Sovereign?” Sovereign’s were beings even gods can’t touch, the highest point of divinity. The man’s grin widened yet again, his face nearly forming a perfect crescent moon, “It will all depend if you survive… But first!” the man appeared behind Han Ling, and the teen felt a hand on his chest.

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DA-DUM

“Survive this.”

KUAHHHH!! AHHH!!!

Before he even realized anything, Han Ling was throwing his head back, screaming his lungs out. His blood vessels turned purple, glowing a bright white before darkening to a pitch-black. His skin turned translucent, eyes turning black with his brain electrocuted.

Even if I lived 20 years, this is the worst thing I have ever felt…

Then…

The pain disappeared and Han Ling fell to the ground, gasping and trembling as if at the edge of death. The old man leaned forward, inspecting Han Ling’s body, “Hmm… good you survived, now the hard part.”

The man pressed his hand on Han Ling back again, at the exact same spot. Han Ling unconsciously tensed up, but the pain never came, instead it was an uncomfortable feeling of gas gather in his chest.

“Divert all that void energy throughout your body, you need to strengthen yourself to be able to learn the technique.” As he spoke he calmly injected more of that gas into Han Ling’s body. The teen took a deep breath, trying as hard as he can to push that pain at the back of his mind. As soon as that was done, Han Ling breathed slowly, diverting the energy in his body like playing a pinball machine.

The pinball was the gas, and it was his job to keep the pinball up until it went in the correct area. But if the pinball falls to the wrong place…

GURK!

Han Ling his mouth fill with blood, forcing himself to swallow it as he focused on the next batch of gas. The man behind him had a small smile etched on his face, a flicker in his eyes.

He didn’t know how long he spent there, but he could start to feel the void energy spread in his body, like opening new blood vessels from nothing. Before long, he had created an entire new system of vessels, hidden right between the arteries and veins. Now whenever the void energy pulsed in his body, they would automatically divert all around his body.

Then the man spoke, “Good! Good! You have learnt the basics and can now move on to the next part.”

The man’s smile vanished, “This will be the most important part, you would have to take a risk that would mean death. Would you still continue?” Han Ling stared at the old man with wide eyes, “I’ve already come this far… lets go till the end.” The old man’s wickedly smile returned and he laughed a loud hearty laugh.

“Excellent! Then I shall only explain once, I inject my power into you, push them all out from your back. They will form the wings that will guide you to a higher realm…”

Han Ling nodded, I wonder what kind of power this would give me.

But before he even got time to think…

“GET READY!”

Han Ling immediately steeled himself and sure enough the void gas returned, but this time it was in multiple batches at once. The pin ball game now had a dozen pins. It was lucky that the gas only needed to be transported to aa single place, making it manageable.

He sat there in a cross-legged position for God-knows how long, but when he finally felt the wave of energy slow, he breathed out a sigh of relief. He unconsciously diverted the last of the energy to his back and started to stand. Han Ling turned, intending to thank the old man, only to find him nowhere to be seen.

After scanning the space and finding nothing, a white door appeared in front of him, kind of like the gates of a castle.

Han Ling didn’t hesitate, pushing against the door to find it opening easily. A bright light flashed, and Han Ling disappeared from his void.

As the door faded into inexistence, the old man reappeared, smiling gently at that direction. “To think a genius like him would appear in the Battleground… those wings of his would be quite the treasure. Hahahahaha!”