Ryker had to admit that the woman was good at her job.

She was beautiful, almost too beautiful. But that was almost secondary to the fact that she had started off as a cat and somehow became a human. That was something that Ryker had never seen before.

Then, with her otherworldly beauty, any person who entered this place, whether woman or man, would immediately be starstruck. They would hang onto her every word because she didn’t even feel human. She existed on a plane that was all her own.

By the time she actually started talking, you were already willing to listen to everything she had to say. You probably wouldn’t think very critically about anything, especially when you had too little information to even begin to refute it at all.

However… Ryker was an anomaly.

The first thing he thought of when the woman suddenly went for a kitten to a fully grown woman was actually the conversation he had overheard between Garrin and Mariah. Specifically, Mariah herself.

Mariah was the large 6th Circle Talent white fox who could somehow talk like she was a normal human. That matter had confused Ryker greatly, because it didn’t make much sense.

It was a memory he had mostly suppressed… until this woman came.

This, of course, wasn’t enough to prove anything. But it was enough to put him on guard. He didn’t understand the connection at all until the woman began to explain this world and its experiments. And when she mentioned the Valorian Clan, it clicked.

This woman said that her Clan had a bleeding heart and wanted to give everyone a chance to survive… but what if Mariah was never a beast at all? And what if Garrin knew this, which was why he spoke to her like a woman he wanted to court rather than a Spirit Beast to subdue and train?

He had dismissed the idea earlier because there were some truly sick people in the world who really did marry their beasts as spouses. However, the existence of this cat lady completely re-contextualized everything.

That was when he was almost certain that let alone being a third party who felt that this entire system was wrong and oppressive, this cat lady’s Clan almost certainly took part in it.

While his Valorian Clan was stuck in another Iteration, this woman’s Clan, or rather what remained of it, was here. At the very least, there was at least one of them.

However, Ryker had yet to put this together when the woman had just begun speaking, let alone when she had a hand through his chest. Even so, it was precisely because he was on guard that he took note of every minor detail.

He had sensed her activating some of the Runes in this place, but he didn’t understand how the two could be related at all, so he was still in the dark. Instead, it had become another piece of the puzzle, a piece that fell perfectly into its place when he puzzled everything together.

As for his conclusion about there having only been one Iteration in the beginning before something went wrong and their wardens had to patchwork a solution, that was mostly just guesswork and something that he wasn’t entirely sure was true just yet. But he did have a good reason for drawing that conclusion.

First, it was the fact he was here at all. There was no reason for him to accidentally end up in another Iteration when explorers across so many generations could never fathom a way out. There had to be a coincidence here that helped him reach this place. He didn’t believe that if these wardens had been able to put the full brunt of their prowess behind these restrictions that he would have succeeded.

And second… it was the three thrones he was looking at.

The cat lady sat on the one in the middle, but there were two others, one of which was exuding an aura that he could just barely decipher.

‘These arrogant fools really couldn’t help himself.’

If he was right, the throne on the left was exuding the aura of the Valorian Clan, the one in the middle was exuding an aura very similar to this woman, and the one on the right was a Clan he didn’t recognize.

From the very beginning, she was snubbing his nose at it, thinking that he wouldn’t notice or sense the restrictions.

Even after things were out of their control, these people made no effort to change up the landscape in this region at all. They kept their mighty thrones in plain sight, thinking the pitiful laymen like Ryker would never notice.

This definitely solidified Ryker’s opinion.

Why would there be a door here, with just a single key for the entire map when you could only access it from this so-called “Iteration 002”?

Why would the throne for the Valorian Clan be here, when he was the only Valorian in this entire Iteration?

And the final nail in the coffin was the hostility Patience’s father had toward him.

Why would the man try to kill him? In fact, had he not been Patience’s man, Auberon would have likely tried to take his head off his shoulders the moment he mentioned that he was a Valorian.

And then this foolish cat lady gave him the answer on the silver platter. Just like she had said, these worlds could only exist because of the Valorians.

So how could this place both exist purely for the sake of giving them a chance to “survive”, and yet simultaneously have a beautiful throne prepared for their very oppressors?

So when Ryker said that this cat lady wasn’t very intelligent, he meant it with every fiber of his being. Though, in reality, this wasn’t a symptom of the woman being too stupid, it was rather these people being far too arrogant.

They thought so little of the people they had thrown into this prison that they hardly cared to hide themselves. Even after they had, apparently, suffered once for it before, they still hadn’t cared enough to make any large changes.

Maybe to them, even if they all someday broke out, it would all be meaningless. Compared to their strength, those trapped in here were just ants. So what if they threw a tantrum?

And that was precisely the ideal Ryker would make them pay for.

“Idiots,” Ryker spat.

The woman’s temper flared, but the runes Ryker had just activated glowed and she found herself restricted.

“Mm, I guess that works too.”

“How dare you?!” The cat lady roared.

Ryker sensed a mighty presence being exuded from her, but he was unfazed. Indeed, he was just a projection. Without being able to activate these Runes, what could she do to him? She had stupidly sat there and let him study them all to his heart’s content, she had no one but herself to blame.

‘No, she’s something more tangible than a projection, but less tangible than a real soul. She’s somewhere in between. It’s likely that there’s at least a sliver of her soul here.

‘Meaning, if I crush it, she’ll suffer greatly.’

Ryker didn’t push it so far just yet.

This wasn’t because he was afraid, he was already ready to go all out with these people, there wasn’t any other choice at the moment. No, the real reason he didn’t push it so far was because he was still lacking information and he wasn’t sure if it would even matter.

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Sure, here, within this prison, an injury to the soul was life changing. But there was no guarantee that it was the same for the woman and her Clan.

Second, if he killed this sliver of her soul, her main soul would definitely be alerted. In that case, the short time he had left would likely be even shorter.

According to his speculations, these people couldn’t handle all of their Iterations easily. But somehow, 370 years ago, they wiped out everything in this world. So at the very least, they still had the capability to do so here.

He had struggled so much against a mere Auberon, let alone whatever these people were capable of. He wasn’t ready to face such heat, and he also wasn’t sure that he could escape home just yet.

The good news was that he was almost certain he would find a path home using this place. But he wasn’t sure that he should use it immediately. There were so many secrets here that he could cobble together, and maybe that was also true for the other Iterations as well.

‘She mentioned a Dao, or an incomplete one. They’re changing the laws of the world into what I assume are bits and pieces of their own world, like tweaking experimental variables.

‘In that case, if each Iteration has a unique twist to it, they could have interesting things to glean from as well…’

Ryker wasn’t sure if he’d have the luxury to do so, but he had a feeling that he wouldn’t need to visit these worlds one by one.

This place, if he was correct… should be the hub of all the information they had managed to gather from these Iterations over the years.

He walked forward until he stood over the restricted cat lady. She glared at him like she would tear him to pieces.

“You had better kill me,” she growled. “Or else the moment you slip up, you’ll be finished. I wonder, how much energy is it taking for you to control these Runes?”

Ryker smiled. “You know what type of woman I like the most?”

The cat lady’s sneer deepened. “The likes of you will never have a chance with me.”

“I like gentle women, like my lovely Jaana. And though my Patience looks like a tomboy, she’s probably even more gentle than my Jaana. The two of them are only feisty when I annoy them. And quite frankly, they’re much better than a woman like you who only knows how to pretend to be smart, then lashes out like a wild animal when you realize you’ve been cornered.”

The cat lady almost lost her temper again, but she reined it in. This lowly ant wasn’t worthy of her rage. She could kill him with a snap of her fingers if her real body was here.

Ryker suddenly reached down toward her chest.

“How dare you—”

“Hush, woman. There’s nothing to reach for anyway, just sit there obediently.”

Ryker’s hand went right through her chest before she could have another meltdown.

Then, to the woman’s horror, she felt something touch her Spiritual Resonance. However, just when she thought Ryker would pull it out, he stopped.

“As expected. That really is your Spiritual Resonance. Fascinating…”

It was a Spiritual Resonance capable of allowing them to turn into Spirit Beasts. Suddenly, he felt that it made sense that they were the middle throne. Just what kind of power could such a Spiritual Resonance grant?

‘Is the kitten her real form, though…? Or is it just a small portion of it? Something different, maybe…?’

Regardless, it had nothing to do with Ryker. He couldn’t take this Spiritual Resonance without alerting her main body, that was impossible. And even if he could, trying to accommodate a Spiritual Resonance he had no understanding of would be nigh impossible.

Plus, he had other things to worry about.

After some thought, Ryker had an idea.

The runes shined and he used them as a conduit to look into his own body.

He couldn’t sense his Spiritual Resonance. It was buried so deep beneath the influence of his Time Type Spirit Energy that he hadn’t even known it existed at all. He had just assumed all this time that he hadn’t awakened it.

Thanks to this, he had managed to survive the assault of Phoenix’s parents. But since then, he had once again been unable to sense it at all.

Until now…

Sylas found his Spiritual Resonance buried impossibly deep within his soul, but when he was going to bring it out, he hesitated.

‘What?’

There was a second Spiritual Resonance in the same location. No, it felt inappropriate to say it was the same location because while the Divined Chains were just in a small corner, this Spiritual Resonance seemed to pervade the entirety of his soul.

‘Why couldn’t I…?’

Ryker suddenly understood.

The area this second Spiritual Resonance took up was so large that he just mistook it for being not just part of his soul, but his actual soul.

Pure Souls were incredibly rare and as far as Ryker was aware, there were no other instances of it in the history of his “Iteration”.

Normal souls were a bundle of gentle white. Ryker’s, however, was fused with what looked like a silver net. But when you looked even closer, this “net” was instead many runes of silver.

He had always assumed that this was just the appearance of a Pure Soul. After all, it wasn’t unheard of for different soul grades to have different appearances, though they were mostly just different shades of white.

Of course, he also wasn’t a fool. He had probed around but he hadn’t sensed anything special.

‘The only other family could get my Spiritual Resonance from is my mother’s Clan…’ Ryker thought to himself. ‘But it doesn’t listen to me? If not for these Runes, I wouldn’t have even realized that it was a Spiritual Resonance in the first place.

‘Wait… then where’s the Time Type Spirit Energy?’

Ryker’s eyes widened. He used the runes to nudge at the net of runes and he was taken aback.

The moment he nudged at it, his Divined Chains rippled and they shot out of his body in all directions.

The cat lady's eyes widened in horror.

Ryker was too close to her and one of the chains pierced right through her chest. And unfortunately for the both of them, the chains didn’t seem to care that she was incorporeal.

‘Shit.’

Ryker’s eyes widened. He couldn’t let her soul sliver die here.

He hurriedly pushed and used his chains to wrap the woman up. Then, in a state of half-panic, he threw her into the Dream Cloud Clam box.

‘Dammit,’ Ryker cursed. He had no idea whether she would die or not if he left her out, so he had no choice but to throw her into a state of suspended animation.

This wasn’t the worst case scenario, but it wasn’t great either. He couldn’t fish for information from her anymore. But then again, the odds he could con her into giving up more information was slim anyway.

‘But this…’

Ryker was confused. He had only nudged at the net of runes a little, but his Divined Chains went absolutely wild. What was going on here?

Also, why was it that when his Divined Chains activated, he felt some physical fatigue… but not nearly as much as he should? In fact, he felt a slight tug on his soul strength instead… But that didn’t make any sense?

‘What’s going on here?’

He frowned, not understanding.

This mysterious second Spiritual Resonance wasn’t listening to his commands at all and only seemed to react when he pulled at it with the Runes. But every time he did that, his Divined Chains would go wild.

Was he wrong about his earlier assumption? Was it not Time Type Spirit Energy that made his Spiritual Resonance react like this?

‘Wait… the Silver Mirror was also an heirloom of mother’s…’

Were they connected? Was this Spiritual Resonance related to Time Type Spirit Energy? Was he correct, then, but instead in a way he had never considered before?

‘Maybe I can find something in here…’

After some hesitation, Ryker picked a path and began to walk down it. He wasn’t foolish enough to be entirely casual. He kept his head on a swivel and was looking out for any extra failsafes and traps there might be.

But the more he walked, the more he realized that he had still somehow severely underestimated just how cavalier and careless these people were.

There was legitimately nothing.

‘It’s not that there’s nothing, but it seems the runes here all have to be manually activated…’

Ryker continued to move until he found his first wall of text and booked.

His eyes narrowed. He just didn’t have the time to do all of this. He couldn’t keep the woman forever. Eventually, the fact her soul sliver had spent so long on this side would elicit suspicion.

He was between a rock and a hard place right now, but he had a single light of hope to hold on to.

That woman mentioned that he could only enter once a year and take the trials once every ten years. He was hoping that that wasn’t just her pulling his leg, but also a limit on how often they could send people in to oversee these matters.

If that was the case, then that meant he had exactly one year before the shit truly hit the fan.

‘How long would it take me to go through all of this… They should have a way of organizing all of this, I should find that first.’

Ryker walked around, coming across library after library until he finally found what he was looking for.

The room was so black that it felt like he was walking in the midst of space. In fact, the only light sources were the points of light that seemed to maximize that illusion.

In the center of the room, there was a control tower of sorts that played the role of catalog as well.

Soon, he gained a systematic breakdown of everything in this place.

The libraries were divided into iterations and eras, and then based on experimental variables.

As expected, those three Clans weren’t bringing their hard earned techniques here. Rather, all that was here was the breakthroughs they had found worth documenting from their little lab rats.

However, Ryker wasn’t disappointed in the slightest. In fact, he felt that there might very well be more to learn here than if he was just plopped in the middle of the Main Valorian Clan’s library.

What Ryker was trying to find was information on his mother’s Clan. He hoped that with such a unique Spiritual Resonance that it would be among the things these people took note of.

He was more right than he knew.

The Adonis Clan wasn’t just taken note of, they were the owners of the third throne.

Ryker chuckled and shook his head. It seemed that he was either very lucky or very unlucky.

On the one hand, he seemed to be related to two Clans of exceptional power.

But on the other hand, if he ever made it out, he would have two behemoths intent on seeing him dead.

“Lovely.”

He smiled and shook his head. He didn’t feel trepidation, he felt excitement.

If he crushed these two… no, these three Clans, would he finally be able to ascend to the throne he had lusted over his entire life?

He pushed those thoughts down and focused on the literature and experiments he found related to the Adonis Clan.

But the more he read, the colder his expression became.

‘My mother’s sickness… is the fault of these bastards?’

His blue irises exuded an impossibly chilly gaze.