The next two rounds were similar to the first and while Owen tried his best to communicate with the bosses, neither one of them spoke back. He didn't expect them to speak back though, especially since they both were nonhumanoid. But it made him think, most of the seconds tier gate bosses were able to speak and it had ultimately been the reason why Briar was able to speak now as well.

But it made him wonder why several of the bosses had been a mixture in every gate and above. A part of him wasn't sure if there was something larger going on behind the scenes or not, but after not getting a response for a while, he killed both of the next bosses with a single resonance slash. He was hoping the floors would follow a similar pattern and that he would find someone else in the hierarchy of this lord on the sixth floor, but instead he got a system prompt.

*You have successfully cleared 5 floors and have one floor remaining.

Due to performance on the third floor, you have multiple options for the last floor.

Slay the Lord

or

Get the Lord to give up.*

Owen stared at the options and didn't honestly feel like the options were fair, but he jumped into the last portal anyways and was surprised to find himself inside of a simple throne room. Where normally you would find lavish furniture and decorations, there was only a simple table, several chairs and an old man who looked like he had both legs in the grave already. "Please come sit," the old man whispered and Owen was surprised he had even heard it.

But he moved anyways, puling out one of the chairs and sat down with a pained expression on his face. "You are the one that fought my beast tamer, what did you think?" The old man asked as he gestured into nothingness. Wine poured from something Owen couldn't see and filled both of their glasses. The lord raised a toast and Owen copied the gesture. "He was really strong and taught me a lot as well." Owen said.

"I assume Bear told you that the potential of our world was slipping and the system making its grand exit?" He asked again and Owen nodded. He wasn't sure what to say and took a sip of his wine. The taste was amazing and was better than anything he had ever been able to try on earth. He had to fight with himself not to chug down the liquid. The old man smiled. "Delicious isn't it? It's too bad I had not thought of poison, with how greedily you started drinking it, even someone at my age wouldn't have had a hard time teaching you a lesson after that."

Owen felt his face grow pale and started chastising himself, but the old man waved a hand. "I am already here to discuss my surrender, rather than aiming for victory. As we have already mentioned, my world is losing its potentiality. While that might not mean a lot to you, it doesn't mean the end of our world, but at least the end of the system in our lifetime. Without enough potential in the world anymore, the system has too back off to preserve the lives of everyone left."

"One could argue the event is a good thing, but it means that once everyone knows, then there will always be a mad dash for power at the end, in an attempt to leave before the system can." He paused to take a drink, before continuing. "I am sure you've seen tier 2 gates in your time and how they are almost exclusively monsters?" He asked and Owen nodded, so far everyone he had seen was monster dominated.

"Well, most humanoids, have the option that when the system is making its exit, they can create a tier two gate and hide inside of it. The whole point being, to move to a world that still has its potential and continue thriving inside of the system's influence. What I am asking, is that, if my people do the same, can we find sanctuary on your world?" Owen could only stare and several seconds passed as his mind raced through all of the implications of allowing a gate break.

How would they even control it, what if it didn't actually end up on earth, the whole deal wouldn't work then. He had several questions, but the one that bothered him most of all, he wasn't someone that could give them permission, right? He slapped himself and the older man didn't look surprised when it happened. Owen forced himself to think through what he did have control over. The humans of this world looked like they were a mix of humans and the fantasy race, orcs. They were several heads taller than anyone on earth, but that was about the only thing different other than their teeth.

Owen turned his attention back to the lord and was surprised that no time had ticked by on his gate timer. It was stuck, leaving him about 4 hours still. "If there was a way for me to control your gate from start to finish, then absolutely, though it would depend on who is coming. My world is still extremely fresh and even if you could end up here, if you show up with your real levels, then my world could easily be ruled by you guys." Owen started and the old man maintained a mostly neutral face throughout, only a hint of a smile mixed in.

"I can't have that, so it depends on how long you can wait before creating your gate. I also can't cover the entire world, so I just cant control whether your gate could be cleared or ignored." The old man nodded his head to all of Owen's concerns and when he was done, passed him a intricate box. "This is my people's ticket out of here, all you have to do is place it somewhere in your world and a gate will spawn and break within a single day." Owen stared at in, marveling at the item.

"For your other concerns, the limit for those able to go into a tier two gate is level 30. So, both I and several other of my staff will not be able to come. We can only hope to be reinitiated into the system if our youths come to collect us." The old man said. Owen wasn't sure how to feel, it wasn't that he felt like he was being tricked or that the lord was scheming behind the scenes, but something had felt off about the entire encounter.

"Again, I am not able to come up with any decisions myself, but I do appreciate the faith you have in me, but I need to know more specifics if I am going to take any risks." Owen said, as he stood up and began pacing. "First off, how does a world lose its potential, I don't understand how an entire planet can just lose something like that. The only instance I am familiar with potential in, is when it comes to myself, but I've never heard of it in terms of a world." Owen said as he turned his attention back to the man who nodded sagely until Owen was done speaking for the moment.

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"Potential is tricky when you begin of talking about worlds. Think of it as the system having a cups worth of water and is pouring it out all across the world. It can infinitely recycle the amount in is distributing, making it feel like the system's cup is infinite, when it is truly finite." The lord started and so far it made sense to Owen. It was weird to think about a system that wasn't somehow all powerful, but something nagged at the back of his mind, telling him there was something missing.

"So, that cup is what a world's potential can be considered. The more people power up and get stronger the more potential is consumed." The lord continued to explain several aspects of potential and worlds, but Owen had finally realized what had been nudging him from the back of his mind. The farseeing skill was making him realize something was wrong, but Owen still couldn't tell what, but he knew for sure now that something was wrong, because he had gotten a system notification that his farseeing skill had leveled up.

*Farseeing has leveled to Farseeing: Level 13*

Owen had also started to remember some of the information he had learned from Xerxes, when asking about how realms worked. Xerxes hadn't ever mentioned potential, but he had mentioned that when creating a realm, it wasn't immediately part of the system. A realm didn't have an induction period either, Xerxes had needed to gather dozens of volunteers as well as capture some monsters, in order to fill the world with enough of the system's energy, for long enough, that the system eventually began working there as well.

If worlds were supposed to work the same, then it should be impossible to lose a worlds potential, because as long as enough people with access to the system were present, then the system would be present. Which meant that the Lord was lying about something, but Owen couldn't quite figure out why. He listened patiently for a while longer as the lord went on to explain more lies. Owen used keen eye on the box that was supposed to contain his people and frowned at the identification he had gotten.

*System Tier 2 Gate Box

This item allows the holder to create a tier 2 gate that contains their own troops. If energy is stored inside of this box, it grants the user control of it and when they sever their connection, it will create a single day gate that spawns where ever the owner chooses.*

The item somewhat made sense, but Owen felt like something was wrong with the item, almost as if it had been lying. He was even more certain when his farseeing skill gained another level. The whole room seemed to shimmer as his skill leveled up and Owen realized it looked remarkably similar to when the testing hall he had been inside of had been false. He could now see faint outlines of people gathering inside of the room he was standing in, with the lord sitting across from him, but now the lord also seemed to be shimmering.

*Echo of the Lord of Undeath

This echo is an illusion based power of the Lord of Undeath. It has the ability to further establish itself in reality by consuming the blood of any living entity.*

Owen ignored the notification of his farseeing skill leveling up again and cursed when the veil around him finally fell and he was surrounded by more than a dozen warriors, their average level being 65. His eyes finally landed on the real lord and he sighed at how easily he had been tricked. The old man had looked similar to any old person from earth, but the actual lord looked like a young man no older than his early twenties. He was similarly built to the beast tamer he had met before, btu Owen had felt like the beast tamer hadn't lied about their world ending, so he was curious as to if he had actually lied and Owen didn't pick up on it, or if Bear had been lied too as well.

Owen thought about attacking, since they clearly hadn't noticed their illusion failing, but he also wanted some answers, since the box hadn't changed even after their illusion failed. "So, I have to ask." Owen said, interrupting the illusory old man. The man paused and nodded with a warm smiled on his face. "How would this box work, would you want to send all of your people in here and have me bring it back to earth?" Owen asked, watching the real lord out of the corner of his eyes, but the neither the illusory version or the real one gave any reaction, other than a simple nod.

Owen sighed, apparently he wasn't going to get real answers easily, especially since he still wasn't certain how they were trying to trick him. Even if the plan was as simple as had been stated, Owen was strong enough to defeat an entire tier 2 gate by himself, before even needing to blink. Which made him certain there was something he was missing.

Since he was surrounded, Owen pretended like he was deep in thought as he started running his boosting skill. The old man just stared with the same warm smile and Owen realized that the illusion wasn't even truly that good. More than likely, the effect had felt more real because of the wine. In a burst of speed, Owen surprised everyone, by rushing out of the illusion field, his sword tearing through have of the warriors that had waited outside. A quick half turn and another burst of speed had him slicing through the rest of the warriors and Owen turned his full attention to the true lord that sat on a throne in front of him.

*Lord of Undeath: Moxius - Level 100

This is a true vampire lord. Each wound they inflict heals them ever so slightly and inflicts them with blood rot. Blood rot causes blood to pour out of wounds with an unmatched pace, leaving the wounded dead in a matter of seconds.*

Don't get hit, was all Owen thought, before he turned to see the real lord sneering. "It took you long enough to break through this simple illusion, though I have to ask, how did you see through it?" The lord asked and Owen shrugged. "You gave me some bullshit reasoning for your world ending and I had a skill that helped make the difference." The lord just stared slack jawed and Owen finally put two and two together. "Your world is ending isn't it?" He asked and the lord shrugged. "So what," The lord scoffed and Owen felt like his thoughts were racing.

He had been given the half truth, just as he knew that a realm was created by forcing the system to deem it a real world because of the presence of enough people using it. This lord's world was the opposite, being basically a vampire, more than likely they had ran out of people or things that could give blood and now they were down to the last of the vampires, which was only barely enough to keep the system present, but they were dying, so the system was slowly leaving.

He was already 90% confident that he was right as he scanned the Lord's face for anything to give their plan away. It also made it make more sense as to why Bear had been fooled, because as far as Owen could tell, he wasn't a vampire or anything. "Your kind is dying out aren't they?" Owen asked as he began to rethink through their plans. The lord cursed under his breath but nodded and his eyes gained an unfamiliar glint to them.

Owen nodded and continued with his own thought process out loud. "You wanted me to bring back a portion of your people back to my world, so that they could survive, but you didn't want me to know you were vampires." Owen said and the Lord scoffed once more. "I don't feed off of blood you moron, I feed off of life energy." Owen's thoughts paused and he stared at the lord for a moment. "So, why is the system leaving then? I thought that you were trying to make it to my planet because there were few enough of you that the system's presence was receding."

The lord nodded his head in agreement, but seemed to waver, before speaking. "True, though I am surprised you even know about that, but most people in my world died, because of a system event between galaxies."