An endless road stretched towards the horizon. Where did it begin? Where did it lead to? Zyrus didn’t know about either.

This was his second time coming at this place, and it was the same as the last time. A white crystalline road that showcased his past life like a memory film. He had to admit that he was awed by it the first time, but now it was just perplexing.

He had no idea about what to do in this place. He did recall some forgotten memories about the second ring, but this place was supposed to be his source of origin. There should be better things that he could do here.

Since he didn’t know how to access this place on his own, he had to use every moment here to improve his strength.

‘I don’t even know how long it’s been,’ Zyrus sighed as walked forward. As much as he wanted to practice his void skills here, he couldn’t.

This was a metaphysical world. Walking, standing, breathing, every action he performed consumed his mental energy. As a mage his mental fortitude far surpassed his current level, but still, even he had his limits.

If he did any strenuous exercise here than he would be kicked out like the last time.

‘Besides, it’s a good way to train my willpower,’

That wasn’t the only reason why he kept walking. Was this really an endless road? What if there was a destination, but it was so far that he couldn’t even see it right now?

He rarely had the leisure to think about such things. Since he had cleared the first ring, he and every player who cleared after him would receive a much-needed vacation.

It was a reward given to the victors of the first ring. For one month, they could eat, sleep, and relax as much as they wanted inside the temple of order.

The temple wasn’t a part of any ring. It was a mysterious place that rewarded players for their efforts. Bloodline evolution, Class upgrades, and many such essential services were given at that place.

‘Even in my past life, I didn’t know much about that place,’

As Zyrus walked ahead with deep thoughts, a sudden change took place in his surroundings. There was nothing but endless darkness beside the road.

But know, faint lines emerged on both sides

‘No, they’re not lines,’

Zyrus stopped moving and looked at the darkness with wide eyes. His blue scales were trembling with excitement as more and more lines appeared in his sight.

‘They are paths similar to the one I’m walking on,’

The reason he thought 'similar' was because unlike his path that stretched to the horizon, the other paths were broken in the middle.

“Hahaha.. to think that there are so many who embarked on the same journey,” Zyrus was filled with joy at this unexpected encounter.

What was the source of origin? Why did it give the power to those who walked on it? Zyrus had many such questions when he created the spatial stab.

Now, he had an answer that shouldn’t be far off from the truth.

‘At the end of my road, I’ll find the Origin of void,’

It should be the same for the other roads around him. Unfortunately, their paths were broken in the middle. Their paths should be their source of origin, the medium that connected them to the origin of void.

Countless rivers led to the same destination. And just like how many streams converged into a river, the many rivers would converge at the ocean as well.

“Huu..I have a long way to go,” Zyrus plopped down on the path with a sigh.

He knew that long was an understatement in this case. He unconsciously made a breakthrough in his last fight, but even then, he could barely use about 25% of the source of origin.

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His source, or the path he was walking on, was connected to the origin of void. How much power he could borrow from the origin depended on how far he walked on the road. Forget about reaching the end, he had to completely control the source he had before anything else.

‘That aside, could I absorb them?’ Zyrus greedily eyed the broken paths around him.

If they were going in the same direction, shouldn’t their path converge? But on the second thought, the path they took to reach the origin of void should be unique.

At least, that was the case for Zyrus. He was also aware of a grim possibility. Others more powerful than him might have the ability to plunder his source of origin.

‘Whatever, it’s not like I can do anything about it,’

Instead of worrying about others stealing his power, he might as well ste- Ahem, inherit others' sources.

‘They’re dead anyway, I will carry on their will and see the end of this road,’

As if resonating with his desire, the lines around him started to flash with milky white brilliance.

Myriad of will fragments floated towards his path. Zyrus instinctively sensed he could only select one of them. It wasn’t an easy decision as there were more than a hundred paths that responded to his will. His mental energy was limited, so he didn’t have the option to probe them one by one.

‘First of all, let’s ignore the faint and short roads,’

He guessed that the intensity of light should be related to his compatibility with the source. As for those lines that were shorter than his own, there wasn’t much he could learn from them. Only a dozen wills were left after a round of elimination.

Zyrus had no choice but to approach them one by one. This was a golden opportunity to gain insights on the origin of void. Each and every one of them had their unique comprehension, and if he wanted to reach the end of his road, he couldn’t just copy them.

It was best to take reference from their insights and further improve his knowledge. In a way, this encounter was much more useful than getting skills and equipment.

He probed them one by one and saw fragments of their life. A captain who died after defeating 1000 enemies, an ascetic monk who died of old age, a demonic beast that was killed in a dimensional storm…

Zyrus was surprised by how weak some of them were. He once again realized that reaching the origin of void didn’t just depend on strength. He was sure that he could wipe out all 100 of them if he was at his peak.

‘Only these two are good enough,’

He ignored the 10 or so white fragments and held his gaze on two orbs. His mental strength was limited, and it was even more so for these remnant wills since their owners had died long ago.

They would slumber for eternity unless someone resonated with them just like Zyrus did.

‘A sky-swallowing whale and a martial arts cultivator,’

Since he focused more on the two, he could see more of their memories. The sky-swallowing whale was frightingly powerful. True to its name, it literally swallowed the sky itself.

He was awed by its fighting style. It was as if someone had used an eraser in the sky to remove a part of it.

‘But I’ll have more chances to obtain traits and skills from monsters,’

Zyrus decided to not use the sky swallowing whale. He observed the martial artists’ memory but compared to the whale, this man was much weaker in comparison.

However, Zyrus was more interested in the systematic knowledge. Monsters used their skills by instinct, whereas most humanoid creatures relied on a gradual learning process. Unless the power gap between them was too high, a human would have better comprehension then a monster of the same strength.

Of course, it was a different case for truly powerful creatures.

‘Here goes nothing,’

Zyrus clenched his fists in determination and sank his will into the last orb. His will faced an immense strain as if a whirlpool had formed inside his brain.

*Flash*

A brilliant glow erupted from his source of origin. The path glowed to provide him the energy to connect with the other source. At this moment, Zyrus realized how strong his source of origin was.

Instead of merging with the cultivator’s source, it was more like he swallowed the others’ source in a bite. The line that was glowing with brilliance lost its luster and soon enough, it turned into a small white dot.

But this wasn’t the end.

*Flutter*

‘Damn! I’m freaking amazing aren’t I?’

Zyrus would have screamed in joy if he had the control over his body. An unknown manual had appeared in front of him from the other path.

He tried to pick it up with the last bits of his mental energy, and the moment his hand landed on the cover, the manual slammed into his chest with a bang.

…

“Fuck!”

“Hmm.. it’d be difficult to find someone at this hour,”

“…”

Zyrus stared speechlessly at the one-eyed reindeer. A moment ago he was absorbing the source, and now, he was sleeping on a king sized bed.

“You alright? You fainted after the fight against that peacock,”

“Yeah, I think.” Zyrus’s claws tore through the soft mattress as he tried to sit up.

“You should learn to control your strength if you want to fu-”

“Shut up,”

“Tch tch… I’ll call the others since they’re worried sick about you,”

“How long has it been?” Zyrus asked as he removed the fluffy cotton on his scales. Apparently, Sylvarix needed more durable beds to sleep on.

“29 days to be exact,”

“What!”

“Yeah, so hurry up and wear the crown. It’s your last day to do so.”

Zyrus didn’t need to be reminded twice. He would become the joke of the century if he failed to select his variant crown skills because he was asleep.

[Congratulations! You have obtained the golden crown]

[You have fulfilled the requirements to obtain a Variant Crown.]

[Golden crown will now evolve into “Onyx Crown”]

He glossed over the other rewards and achievements and clicked on the Onyx crown.