A few days later, Kaelan says goodbye to his family and leaves the world.

  When he enters the Inner Void, he spreads his senses outward. The familiar world recedes behind him, its presence thinning into a distant pressure. Within his perception, he finds Nyxarin, still at work, tirelessly pushing a massive void rock into position, aligning it within the array Kaelan had shown him. The sight lingers only for a moment. Kaelan withdraws his spirit sense and moves deeper.

  He travels until he reaches the boundary between the Inner Void and the Outer Void.

  There, he stops.

  From the world’s perspective, he is still a resident. The barrier surrounding the world appears to him like a thin film of water, transparent, trembling, alive with resistance. Kaelan steps forward and passes through it effortlessly, as though breaking the surface of a lake, and enters the true Void.

  The difference is immediate.

  Void currents slam into him from all directions, invisible yet crushing, carrying annihilating force meant to erode existence itself. His body reacts instinctively. A protective light surges outward, forming a translucent energy film around him. The void currents crash against it, tearing and grinding, but the film holds.

  More than that, it refines.

  The destructive void energy is drawn into the film, stripped of its chaos, and converted to sustain the very protection resisting it. Kaelan calculates silently, layers of thought unfolding in parallel.

  Two years.

  If he remains drifting in the Void Ocean without change, his body-protection light will no longer be sustainable beyond that point.

  He adjusts his course.

  Moving away from the world, Kaelan drifts into quieter void currents and begins to wait.

  Time in the Void has no meaning.

  He collects void rocks as he drifts, jagged, dark masses floating like dead stars, some no larger than pebbles, others the size of mountains. He draws them toward himself, stores them, studies them, discards flawed ones. Sometimes he waits in stillness. Sometimes he refines. Sometimes he simply observes the endless currents.

  Days may pass.

  Months.

  Years.

  There is no way to tell.

  Then the currents shift.

  A presence tears through the Void Ocean, a colossal disturbance, as though the Void itself is being split apart. A Void Monster, larger than an entire world, emerges from the raging currents and comes to a halt before him.

  They face each other.

  Clone and true body.

  In that instant, synchronisation occurs.

  Memories, experiences, and understanding flood into alignment. The Ether Law flows back into the main body, completing the circuit. Kaelan receives the coordinates of the world from which the Puppet Lord originated.

  His interest sharpens.

  That world, though now conquered by the Red Empire, was once a small world belonging to a World Group. Worlds in the Void are often solitary islands, drifting alone through endless darkness. But sometimes they cluster together like archipelagos, bound by hidden laws and shared origins.

  At the centre of that World Group lies a Large World.

  A large world is worth a hundred small ones.

  Devouring it could propel Kaelan several steps closer to Stage Six, perhaps even allow him to break through directly, though that remains unlikely. A void-travelling civilisation like the Red Empire would not lightly attack such a cluster. A large world can give birth to multiple Stage Five Transcendents, and the Red Empire itself would likely deploy even more.

  There is also the matter of timing.

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  The Red Empire has almost certainly already conquered the entire World Group.

  And Kaelan cannot leave this region yet.

  Not until the Sword Immortal World is finally put to rest.

  He has invested too much. Ninety per cent of the preparation is complete. Only the final ten per cent remains. To retreat now would be unthinkable.

  The exchange ends.

  Wizard Kaelan completes the sharing of memories, turns away, and departs.

  The true Void Monster Kaelan sinks deeper into the raging currents, deliberately suppressing his presence until it vanishes entirely. He has no intention of alerting the Sword Immortal World prematurely.

  Wizard Kaelan, meanwhile, gathers several more void rocks and returns toward the First World.

  The world barrier greets him again as a trembling water film. He passes through it smoothly and reenters the Inner Void.

  There, he halts.

  From his spatial storage, he draws out a massive void rock, rough, uneven, and radiating faint pressure. Suspended before him, the rock slowly rotates.

  Kaelan raises his hand.

  The Ether Law flows outward.

  Threads of pale, indefinable energy sink into the void rock, penetrating its structure. The rock begins to tremble as layers are peeled away, not by force, but by refinement. Excess void matter crumbles and flakes off, drifting away as fragments.

  Edges straighten.

  Surfaces smooth.

  The chaotic mass is carved with precise intent, each cut guided by law rather than tool. Slowly, inexorably, the void rock takes shape, compressed, stabilised, and transformed.

  What emerges is a perfectly formed structure.

  A wall, ten feet tall and ten feet wide.

  Its surface is matte-black, absorbing light rather than reflecting it, etched faintly with natural void patterns that pulse once before settling into stillness. The wall radiates stability, its internal structure harmonised by Ether Law, capable of resisting the erosion of both Void and world alike.

  Kaelan lowers his hand.

  The refinement continues.

  He gathers the fragments chipped away during the process, shards of void rock still rich with potential, and stores them carefully. Nothing here is wasted. Each fragment may serve as material, anchor, or catalyst in the future.

  Suspended in the Inner Void, the newly forged wall hangs silently before him.

  Kaelan raises his hand again, and the fragments of void rock he collected earlier respond, drifting toward the wall like iron filings drawn to a magnet. Larger slabs follow, rectangular, heavy, each already partially refined. Under the guidance of the Ether Law, the purple-black void rocks begin to assemble themselves, stacking and locking together with seamless precision.

  A foundation forms first.

  The lowest level expands outward, its walls thick and dense, reinforced by layered void matter compressed to withstand endless erosion. Above it, a second floor rises, then a third, each level smaller than the one below, tapering upward into a slender, towering structure.

  Six floors in total.

  The white ether light spills from Kaelan’s body, bathing the purple void rock in a pale glow. Where the light touches, instability vanishes. Cracks smooth out. Internal turbulence settles. The void stones hum softly as their essence is aligned and fixed.

  Once the basic structure is complete, Kaelan begins the true work.

  Arrays.

  Runes and geometric patterns form in midair, each one complex beyond mortal comprehension. He presses them into the walls, floors, and ceilings, embedding them layer by layer. These are not borrowed arrays or inherited formations; existing designs are useless at this level. Every array is constructed from first principles, shaped to harmonise with Ether Law and void matter simultaneously.

  One array stabilizes structure.

  Another redirects void currents.

  A third suppresses spatial distortion.

  Dozens more interlock, forming a living system that spans the entire tower.

  At the lowest floor, Kaelan pauses.

  Here, he refines the energy pool.

  He gathers the densest void fragments and compresses them into a basin-like formation at the centre of the floor. Ether Law pours into it, grinding down void energy, purifying it, reshaping it. Slowly, the basin becomes a reservoir capable of holding refined ether energy, calm, luminous, and obedient.

  Energy channels branch out from the pool, etched into the walls like veins, extending upward through the tower.

  When the final array is completed, Kaelan steps back.

  He then constructs a wide platform around the base of the tower, layering void rock and folding space subtly so the lower floor is hidden from external perception. From a distance, the tower appears to rise directly from the Void, its foundation concealed.

  Only then does he enter.

  Passing through the newly formed first floor, Kaelan ascends the internal staircase. The steps are carved directly from void rock, smooth beneath his feet, spiralling upward through the tower’s core.

  Second floor.

  Third.

  Fourth.

  At last, he reaches the fifth floor, now designated as the control room.

  At its centre floats the core plate, a flat disc of void crystal, etched with the master array. Kaelan places his hand upon it and releases a thin stream of Ether Law.

  The tower awakens.

  A low hum vibrates through the structure as the arrays activate one after another. Void energy from the surrounding ocean is drawn inward, guided through stabilising formations, then funnelled into the energy pool below. There, it is refined, transformed into ether energy, and redistributed through the tower’s channels.

  Soft white light pulses along the walls.

  The wizard tower is online.

  For the first time since entering the Void, Kaelan has an anchor, a place to remain without constant strain.

  He leaves the control room and descends to the main bedroom. The room is simple: bare, void stone walls, minimal furnishings, and a solid stone bed carved from a single block.

  Kaelan lies down.

  With his realm, sleep is unnecessary, but his spirit is exhausted.

  Refining void rocks, constructing arrays from nothing, and forging a divine-treasure-level wizard tower have consumed him completely. His spirit is drained to its limit, and the fastest way to recover is not meditation or technique, but rest, true, natural recovery.

  The hum of the tower steadies.

  Void currents slide harmlessly past its walls.

  And within the silent sanctuary he has forged in the emptiness, Kaelan closes his eyes and sleeps.