Nulla’s head swung side to side scanning the room, finding a line of desks with what looks like receptionists behind. A few people were talking together to one, an individual was talking to another, and a third was open.

Approaching, the receptionist(?) called to Nulla, “here for a rank-up exam?”

Nodding, “Yes.”

“I need you to fill this out, then I can take you to do the test.”

Grabbing the form, Nulla filled out the details and passed it back. She quickly shelved it and took him to the area in the back. Grabbing a Warhammer, she threw off her coat and took place opposite Nulla in the arena.

“The test will be composed of combat and a dungeon delve. Now, En garde!”

Leaving no time to prepare, the examiner burst forward, swinging down the hammer. As it fell, Nulla drew his sword and parried the blade to the side, following up with a thrust. The examiner responded by turning out of the path and recovering the hammer as she circled behind Nulla, and swept horizontally.

Nulla lept forward, turning midair and landing facing the examiner.

“Excellent start. Don’t worry about killing me, or being killed yourself. The arena and the training-” the examiner cut herself off, blocking Nulla’s slash, and throwing a mana blast at him. Taking the blast, Nulla was thrown back.

“They both have revival enchantments,” the examiner pressed the advantage, coating herself in a powerful buff, and swinging the giant Warhammer with the ease of swinging a small stick. Nulla kept dodging, mainly with backsteps and the occasional duck. Hitting the wall, Nulla focused on the examiner. Her frame did not seem capable of wielding that Warhammer, much less with such ease before the buff. The lack of size led Nulla to think about how to hit her. She was going to be difficult, but Nulla was ready. He had at least 2 aces up his sleeve.

The examiner channelled mana into the hammer and suddenly, there were 2. What's more, they expanded, so Nulla had no room to dodge to either side. Swinging together, Nulla made the only move he could, and jumped off the wall over her, and struck at her back. Eyes widening, she made a mana plate behind her to stop Nulla. Nulla was not stopped so easily, however. As soon as the plate was struck, Nulla swung again, breaking the plate. Striking one last time, Nulla pierced her spine.

“Excel- Excellent,” she said in gasps. “I’ll tell you the dungeon delve details when I revive.”

As Nulla watched, he noticed a big problem.

“She’s permanently dead. Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…” Nulla rubbed his chin, thinking. After a few moments, Nulla shrugged his shoulders and unlocked his divine power. Making sure to insulate the arena so no one would notice his power, Nulla tore open reality, reaching into the afterlife, and dragging out the examiner's soul and shoving it back into her body.

∅∅∅

When the examiner woke up, she was in a white space, populated sparsely by the chair she was sitting on, the desk before her, and the angel on the chair across the desk from her.

“Hello,” the angel stared, fingers wielding a pen, weaving words onto a large piece of paper, “you’re dead. As you’ve personally experienced, you don’t come here normally when you die in the guild’s arena. But, as your opponent is a Null being, revival is disabled, so you ended up here. No need to worry,” the angel looked up from the paper into the examiner's eyes, “you’ll be revived in just a sec.”

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Exactly as the angel said, a gigantic rip in reality tore open behind her and dragged her out.

∅∅∅

Nulla looked at her body, mildly nervous that she was still dead. But, to Nulla’s great relief, she gasped and got up. Shaking herself, and stretching, she turned to face Nulla.

“So for the dungeon, you’ll be heading into the Goblin Dungeon just north of town. You have 3 days to return with the goblin king core. I’d recommend heading in after a day of prep and rest, but it’s up to you.”

Nulla nodded, heading out of the guild. Rubbing his chin, Nulla pondered on what to prepare. Food? Health potions and antidotes?

Nulla continued to walk, taking several turns into Market Street, aptly named for the abundance of shops and sellers lining the streets.

Nulla browsed the wares, buying a couple of potions. Nulla continued like this for many shops, picking up some food and temporally freezing it. Most of the shops were repetitive and generic, selling the same mass-produced healing potions, the same rations, the same cures. But as Nulla walked, he noticed a strange magic trace between two stalls. Stopping his monotonous walking to inspect, Nulla filled his eyes with mana and stared intently at the spell. The intent began to appear, and the encryption laid upon it began to unravel and dissipate. “Portal to pocket dimension, hide, inaccessible to the unaware.”

Nulla walked into the portal, finding himself in a dark shop, shelves filling the room, floor to ceiling. The counter was directly across the room, with a hooded figure behind.

“Welcome to my shop. What brings you here?”

“Just browsing.”

True to his word, Nulla inspected the wares lining the shelves and inspected all of the interesting ones. “The cursed boots of increased gravity,” “The choker of invulnerability,” “The bracelet of lifesteal,” “Fortunes coin,” “Very durable gloves,” “The heart of a God,” “A copy of the Akasha records,” “Hade’s Helm of Darkness,” “Thor’s Mjolnir,” “Sca’s blessed scales,” and many others.

Overtaken by curiousity, Nulla turned his attention to the shopkeep.

Name: Etai

Species: Human {God}

Class: Shop owner (Uncommon) {God (Divine)}

Level: 100 {1000000000}

Skills:

…

“How did you gather such powerful and diverse items? Some appear to belong to gods of different worlds, and these scales belong to Sca.”

“Perks of being a god. I got a couple advantages under my sleeves.”

Nodding, Nulla picked up the heart of a god, and Sca’s scales and brought them to the counter.

“Do you get many customers?”

“No, not particularly. Occasionally, a god hunter finds me and buys some tools to go off and fight the gods. Although, this is the first time a Null God has entered my shop. I guess it’s not too surprising that you saw through my disguise.”

“There are other Null Gods?”

“Sorta. More, every one of them dissolves back into the null, and sometime later a new one appears. As you are the Null, albeit conscious, you don’t really die. Although, it’s not like anyone dies. Their souls enter the cycle of reincarnation, and become new beings, in a pale imitation of you.”

“Imitation?”

“The first Null god made the multiverses and dissolved back into the Null. The second appeared and was quite violent, destroying many worlds. They led the Null beings attacking this world until I and the rest of the gods shoved them into the Null. The third heard of their predecessors, so they made the cycle of reincarnation. You are the fourth I know of. It’s entirely possible there were beings before the first, and many that didn’t show up here, and many just appeared and dissolved without leaving the Null Realm.”

Nodding, Nulla set their items on the counter, quickly completed the purchase and headed out. Deciding he was prepared, Nulla went to his room and slept the night. Tomorrow, he’d challenge the dungeon.