It’s important to have a way forward. A guiding line, pulling you towards where you need to be. Jack meditated on that as the starship shuttled closer and closer to the New Cathedral.

What is my path now? he wondered. I’ve saved Earth, destroyed the Animal Kingdom, and avenged my son… Now, where is my fist aimed?

At the Immortals. That much was easy. In the previous years, Jack had matured greatly and understood many things. The reason he and Earth suffered so much was due to the Immortals. The Animal Kingdom was just a symptom—the System was the real cause. It sank the galaxies into permanent war, encouraging everyone to kill each other. It rewarded levels for blood. Of course it would create tyrants. In such an environment, any system of government not based on raw power was bound to collapse.

The Immortals and their System had made the universe suffer for a billion years now, all to create as many warriors as possible. Trillions of lives had fallen for their cause. It didn’t have to be this way. Cultivation was meant to be a slow, peaceful process. There would always be enemies and killing, even war, but the world order should try to prevent that, not actively encourage it.

Jack had attained his own freedom. He’d liberated his people. Now, he fought to save the world.

He was certainly against the Immortals. As for whether the Old Gods were a good alternative… That remained to be seen.

His rumination was interrupted by a constant whisper at the back of his mind. He sighed. Just a little bit ago, he’d made a mistake.

He’d opened his space ring to find The Stone, a blabbering pebble he’d once picked up from the corpse of Eva Solvig. He hadn’t given it much thought at the time, but The Stone was lonely. The moment he took it out, guilt-ridden into keeping it company for a while, it had launched into a ceaseless barrage of questions.

“Oh, hi!” it had said in its high-pitched voice. “Long time no see. How are you doing? All good? Where are we? Nice room, by the way. I love the window. Is that the Spiral Stair galaxy? You have a little bit of spit on you, by the way. Did you face a Spitting Salamander? Those critters are vicious!”

The Stone had just rattled out of the name of this galaxy, which it should have no way of knowing. It couldn’t overhear from inside the space ring.

“How do you know this is the Spiral Stair galaxy?” Jack asked, wiping his hair.

“Good question. I wish I knew. So, anyway, how have you been? Tell daddy everything.”

Jack had opened and closed his mouth to no effect. He’d persisted for a bit, but The Stone really seemed to not remember much. It just instinctively recognized this galaxy. Its mystery deepened with the moment. According to Eva’s notes, she’d found it on an asteroid in the Milky Way. What connection did it have to the Spiral Stair galaxy? And how did it get from here to there?

Unfortunately, he got no new information out of it. After humoring The Stone for a half-hour of ultra-high-speed chatting, he suddenly had an idea. He placed it in his inner world, where it could hang out with Copy Jack, who had nothing better to do anyway. Meanwhile, Jack could ponder on his Dao guilt-free.

That idea had backfired, since Jack had a constant awareness of his inner world. The Stone’s speech barrage reached his mind like a persistent, distant whisper, frequently breaking him out of his thoughts. It didn’t matter that Copy Jack only replied with grunts and, “Is that so?” The Stone just kept going. If there was a competitive talking league, it would have swept the trophies.

Jack took a break from meditation, massaging his temples. This can’t go on, he decided. I don’t care how lonely it is, it’s going back in the space ring.

He entered his inner world, finding the Stone flying around the head of Copy Jack. Even he seemed annoyed.

“Oh, hi real Jack,” the Stone said the moment he appeared. “We were just discussing whether you should put on both socks before both shoes, or one at a time. I support that the most organized people…”

It just kept going and going. Jack hardened his heart, and he was about to pull it away when a mighty roar blasted throughout his entire inner world. “KID!” it screamed. “For the love of Enas, make it stop!”

Jack looked up. His gaze brightened with surprise. “Turtle!” he exclaimed. “You’re awake!”

“My name is Venerable Saint Thousand Shell, and you will make that chattering thing shut up or I will break it to pieces!”

Jack raised a brow. “But you can’t exit the Life Drop.”

“Oh yeah?”

A green ray of light emerged from the inactive Life Drop. Venerable Saint Thousand Shell appeared in Jack’s inner world. It was even larger than he remembered—almost a mile from head to tail. Yet, compared to the size of his inner world, it was nothing. It had a wide shell of interlocking plates, the head of a snapping turtle, and wise, beady little eyes. If not for its power and intelligence, it could have been a magnified snapping turtle.

As Jack inspected it, he realized he’d now grown to the point where he could estimate its strength. It wasn’t at the B-Grade, as he had assumed, but at the early A-Grade.

“Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do, kid!” It snorted, satisfied at Jack’s surprised expression. “I am the senior here. If I tell you to shut it up, you will…” It trailed off. It looked around, its eyes going from annoyance to wonder. “What the hell did you do, kid?” it asked in a whisper. “How large is this place?”

“Ten thousand miles,” Jack replied with a grin.

“Hi!” The Stone exclaimed. “Nice to meet you. I am The Stone! From what I understand, you are The Turtle?”

“Who— Fuck you. I am Venerable Saint Thousand Shell.”

“That is no way to speak. Politeness is the cornerstone of civilization. Let me recite you a sermon I seem to recall hearing somewhere. It all began when—”

“Just… Just stay quiet,” the turtle said, deflating. “Jack. Kid. What the hell is going on here? How long was I asleep?”

“Almost five years,” Jack replied.

“Nonsense. You’re telling me you went from a middle C-Grade to this in just five years?”

“Yeah.”

The turtle choked. “You damn monster,” it said, but Jack could hear the pride in its voice. “I’m glad I exhausted myself to save you.”

“So am I.” Jack smiled. “Did you sleep well?”

“It was okay. Just a little power nap. I can’t believe I was awoken by a prattling stone, of all things.”

“Do you know what it is?”

“Annoying.”

“But besides that?”

“No clue, kid. Do I look like an encyclopedia to you?” It snorted at its own joke. “Anyway. I’m glad I woke up. There are many things to talk about, and— Kid! What did you do to the Divine Blood? It’s empty!”

“Oh, yeah. That happened. I used all of its energy in my B-Grade breakthrough.”

The turtle seemed like it would have an aneurysm. “You used it all up?” it repeated. “A billion years of accumulation, and you used it all up? You just reached the B-Grade! This is absurd!”

“If it makes you feel better, it was very helpful.”

“Helpful? Ohh kid, I’ll fuck you up!”

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The turtle rushed Jack, who just willed it back into the Life Drop. It may be an almighty entity, but it was now inside his inner world. Here, he was a god. It couldn’t do anything to him.

Not that it really intended to harm him, anyway. It was just playing around.

“Okay, I give up!” the turtle’s voice echoed. “Bring me out again, we need to talk!”

“In a moment,” Jack said, suppressing his laughter. “Attacking me wasn’t very senior-like of you. Therefore, you should embrace your responsibilities and grace the younger generation with your knowledge. Here’s a perfect candidate.”

With a tug of will, he transported The Stone into the Life Drop.

“No!” the turtle cried out in horror. “I’ll be good, I promise! Just take this thing out of here!”

Jack could already hear The Stone’s endless chatting. “Have fun!” he said, then sealed the Life Drop. He laughed. The turtle liked to act tough, but it had a good heart. It wouldn’t actually harm The Stone. If anything, maybe a few hours of chatting would sap away The Stone’s energy so Jack could have a proper chat with it.

He also had a few things to talk about with the turtle, but they could wait. Anything for a moment of quiet.

***

The stone was inexhaustible. Even when Jack unsealed the Life Drop several hours later, he found it still chatting away. The turtle had used its own energy to seal The Stone in a bubble, effectively muting it. The Stone didn’t seem to notice.

“I’ll be good, I promise,” the turtle said as Jack pulled it out of the Life Drop. “Just, for the love of Enas, make it stop.”

Jack laughed. “Sorry about that,” he said. “The Stone is lonely. It needed some company.”

“I’m also lonely, but I would rather bury myself in an active star than stand its chattering for a single moment longer.”

“Oh? I didn’t know that.”

“How much clearer could I make it?”

“Not that. That you’re lonely. I didn’t know.”

The turtle fell silent for a moment. “In any case,” it changed the subject, “now that I’m awake, there are a few things to get in order. First, what the hell did you do to become so powerful so quickly?”

Jack smiled. He briefly explained everything that happened since the turtle fell asleep at the Green Dragon Realm.

“I’m sorry about your son,” it replied when Jack was done. For the first time, Jack thought he heard genuine care in its voice. It then sighed. “Maybe it’s good that this happened when it happened. Your road had been too smooth. You needed a setback. It builds character.”

Jack shook his head. “Master Boatman said the same thing, but let’s not talk about that. I have some things to ask you. You’ve been alive for a long, long time. Have you been in the Life Drop since after the First Crusade, when Enas was imprisoned?”

The turtle settled down. It rested its huge body on the fist-shaped meteor in the center of Jack’s world, then sighed deeply. “Some things are blurry,” it finally explained. Its voice had lowered to a whisper. “I was in intermittent stasis until you awakened the Life Drop. I understood it’s been a billion years, but… Mortal bodies are not meant to last that long. Not even mine. Even asleep, part of my mind has deteriorated.”

“That’s alright.” Jack placed a hand on its shell. “As much you remember. Don’t push yourself.”

“Don’t worry about me. Anyway. I wasn’t going to give you this information before, but since you’ve now reached a decent level, it’s best if you know.” It took a deep breath. “My name is Venerable Saint Thousand Shell. A space monster. I am—was—the spiritual companion of the man you call Archon Black Hole. His real name was Claude.”

Jack nodded. He’d suspected this much. Archon Black Hole wielded great power during the First Crusade and had founded the Black Hole Church. He was also the creator of the Black Hole World, where Jack had spent a year of his life. After all that, Jack had expected him to be somehow related to the Life Drop, though he didn’t expect the turtle to be that man’s spiritual companion. It was to him what Brock was to Jack.

“Claude,” he said, tasting the name. He chuckled. “That’s so normal.”

“What did you expect? It’s not like people knew he’d grow up to be an Archon when he was born. Most high-status people have normal names, which is why they prefer to use their titles. It makes them sound cooler. I think that’s stupid.”

Jack raised a brow. “Is that so, Venerable Saint Thousand Shell?”

“That’s my real name, kid!” the turtle shouted. It proudly raised its head. “It was given to me by Claude.”

“Right. So, you guys were bros?”

“Bros?”

“Friends. Sorry, boomer.”

It gave him a funny look. “We were close, yes. Of course we were. I had left my homeland and was escaping through the cosmos when I ran into Claude at the fringes of a Systemless galaxy. We fought, and he subdued me. However, surprised at my intelligence, he didn’t kill me. We talked, bonded, and decided to travel together since we were both alone in the universe.”

Jack almost thought this was touching before he realized what the turtle had just revealed. “Wait,” he said. “I know the Archon was an outlaw, or kind of, but what about you? You mentioned you were escaping from your homeland?”

“That’s not important. You’ll never get anywhere close to it, anyway. Just know that space monsters are divided into the sapient and beastly types, and the sapient ones have their own world in another galaxy. Back to the point. I met Claude while he still pretended to be allied with the Immortals. I helped him sow the seeds of an uprising, culminating into the organization now known as the Black Hole Church—a group of individuals fed up with the tyrannical and warmongering Immortals. We worshiped Enas, who, if freed from his prison, might possess the power to unite the Old Gods and once again assault the Immortals. That was the only way to bring them down—they were too powerful otherwise.”

“So you intended to launch a reverse Crusade?”

“Essentially, yes. But rescuing Enas was a long and difficult road. Bluntly put, we had no idea how to do it. All solutions we could come up with required a set of near-impossible coincidences, and the time horizon of our plans was discouragingly long. Finally, some of us couldn’t take it anymore. We broke away from the Immortals and officially formed the Black Hole Church, trying to save as many people as possible. Since we knew the plan would be inherited by our descendants, we set up various contingencies. Claude had secretly installed the Life Drop in one of the Trial Planets, placing me as its guardian spirit. His life was running out, anyway, so he was tying up loose ends. He was also working on the Black Hole World you discovered. I’m glad he succeeded, though it saddens me to hear his descendants have been trapped there ever since.”

“They’ll be free soon,” Jack replied. “As for that set of coincidences you mentioned… I believe they’ve finally occurred. The Church is close to rescuing Enas, though I don’t know the specifics.”

“WHAT!?”

The shout was so loud and so sudden Jack was flung back. The resting turtle broke away from its reminiscence and jumped to its feet, regarding him with almost dog-like excitement. “Start with that next time, kid! That’s amazing! It’s the best news ever!”

“I sure hope so,” Jack replied, holding his ear.

“It is! I won’t ask if you won’t say, but ohhh kid, how my old bones are tingling for a fight. I’m so glad I slept for a billion years. I get to carry out Claude’s last wish! This is great!”

“Yeah, I’m happy for you,” Jack said. The turtle was even wagging its tail. “So, uh, is there anything you want to tell me? Some instructions on how to use the Life Drop? And with less shouting, please.”

“Hmph. If I want to shout, kid, then I will shout. And, oh, now you care about the Life Drop? After you wrung it dry of its billion years of accumulation?”

“What else was I supposed to do? You were asleep.”

“Hmph. I seem to recall, kid, that you owed me some life energy from before I fell asleep. You’d borrowed some to create your silly little life stones or whatever and we’d agreed you’d return it.”

“I would, but again, you were asleep.”

“Well, I’m here now. Hand it over. And with proper dues—it’s been four years since your deadline to pay me back, so let’s just say you owe me double.”

Jack didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. “I don’t have any life treasures at hand,” he said. “How about I help you fulfill Claude’s last wish and destroy the Immortals? Would that be payment enough?”

The turtle considered it. “I’ll allow it.”

“Deal.”

“There are a few advanced ways to utilize the Divine Blood,” the turtle began, instantly launching into an explanation, “but they’re useless when it’s empty. You should try to refill it. It can be very useful, even to B and A-Grades.”

“I’ll give it a shot.”

“Good.” The turtle stood to its full height. “It was nice catching up. Now go meditate on your Daos, or play ball, or whatever it is you youngsters do. I will relax. And no matter what you do, kid, don’t ever put that stone in my territory again. I will break it.”

Jack sighed. “Alright.”

He’d actually been planning to leave The Stone with the turtle, given that they were both immortals, lonely existences. But he couldn’t force it. He’d just need to find a better candidate. Copy Jack wasn’t suitable either, as he was in Jack’s inner world, and the endless chattering there reached his ears as an annoying whisper.

Hmm. If I create a separate place in my inner world, however…

It was an interesting idea, though not for right now. Jack summoned The Stone from inside the Life Drop, cutting it off in the middle of a sentence. “Oh,” it said, looking around despite its lack of eyes. All it had was a mouth. “Hi Jack. What’s up? Did you know that embroidery was considered a rebellious act in ancient times?”

“That’s very interesting. Listen. I will need to put you back in my space ring for a few days, but then I promise I’ll find you some company, okay? It’s just that I’m working on something right now and I need some silence.”

“I can be silent.”

“Can you?”

The Stone shook from side to side. “Okay, I can’t. But promise you’ll take me out again, okay? Don’t just throw away the space ring. I don’t want to be alone again. Please?”

His heart was touched. “I promise,” he said. The Stone nodded, uncharacteristically quiet. Jack took it out of his inner world and into his space ring.

I’m carrying so many different dimensions right now.

“It’s not bad,” said the turtle. “That talking stone. I don’t know what it is, but I can sense its pain and kindness. You really should find it some company. Just not me.”

“I will,” Jack replied. Copy Jack just watched from the side, silently, like a ghost.

Jack returned to the real world and meditated, slowly advancing his Dao. The hours turned into days until, without incident, they arrived at the New Cathedral.