Chapter 499: Primordial Force

Thalos Tessellate returned to his house through the Aether as fast as he could. In a flash of white flames, he materialized inside the meeting hall. His family soon followed, and by their pale faces, he could tell that they were experiencing the same thing—absolute fear.

"Just what was that thing?" Virelia Tessellate shouted.

Yet everyone just looked to the floor, unable to offer a reply. After a long, silent minute, Thalos Tessellate managed to calm his trembling hand and address the room with the truth they all knew.

"That monster... it came from the void—the great beyond that no mere cultivator can tread. A place only gods can survive."

"I didn't know void monsters besides the legendary Worldwalkers existed, let alone could be tamed like that," another elder of the family chimed in.

Thalos laughed—not because it was funny, but because it was simply unbelievable. He had just met and spoken with a monster from the void?!

"Didn't you hear what that void monster said? It could call upon a Worldwalker to answer Lady Rosalyn's questions. And in response, Lady Rosalyn had called a Worldwalker a rascal as if it were some kind of pet."

Silence fell over the room once more as everyone tried to process what had just happened. Thalos wasn't even surprised that the monster was unaware of their family's name or how powerful the defensive formation around Stella's home had been. In isolation, they were impressive things—but compared to what he had witnessed and heard from the void monster, they paled in comparison.

"I'm sure of it," Virelia Tessellate said, drawing everyone's attention. "She's the reason our pocket realm is cut off from the outside world. I mean, just think about it. To isolate an entire pocket realm is nearly impossible. But so is taming a void monster. If there are servants to this Princess—"

"Slaughter Princess," Thalos Tessellate corrected her.

"Right. Slaughter Princess. If mere servants to her can traverse the void, then who's to say that she is unable to as well? Worst of all, it seems she can call upon assistance immediately. The moment she brought out that strange fruit, the monster appeared. Such instantaneous traversal of the Nine Realms is unbelievable."

Thalos nodded in agreement. "We went hunting for a lizard and almost awakened a sleeping dragon. Lady Rosalyn isn't someone we can trouble, let alone threaten." He surveyed the group. "Unfortunately, we are going to have no choice but to bargain with her. Without the shipment of pills, our cultivation will stall, and the populace will starve. While she did mention that she may return home once she has finished her business here, I'm not sure how much longer we can hold out—nor how long she plans to stay."

Virelia Tessellate's eyes widened as she came up with an idea. "Why don't we introduce her as an honorary member of the Tessellate Council? That way, we can give her the feeling of power and respect from the Citadel while being able to bring issues to her attention that we are facing, for which she may have potential solutions."

Thalos liked the idea and grinned. "So, who will be extending the invitation to her?" Unfortunately for him, everyone simply looked to him expectantly.

Clicking his tongue, he said, "Fine. First, we'll give Lady Rosalyn some space while we carefully draft a plan on how we're supposed to deal with a runaway princess whose dad is some dimensional-destroying being and enslaver of the void."

He didn't say the quiet part out loud, but it was likely that this Slaughter Princess was either the daughter of a high god or the heavens themselves. Whatever the answer was, it didn't matter.

She stood far above them all, so they had no choice but to kneel.

Thalos was about to head to his office when he suddenly felt a chill pass by him. It was that same feeling he had gotten before that creature had emerged from the void. He quickly looked around, earning confused looks from those around him.

"Maybe I'm just too jumpy," he muttered, shaking his head as he walked off.

***

Due to the time dilation, Ashlock expected Khaos's journey into the Eternal Realm to be a short one. What he hadn't been ready for was for her trip to last only ten seconds.

[Notice: Khaos has left the Eternal Realm]

Khaos rematerialized before the Eternal Realm and bowed towards him.

"My Lord, I have completed the welfare check on the Princess as you requested."

"So how is she doing?" Ashlock asked curiously while studying the Ent's body language, which was admittedly difficult, as she was lacking a head. But the Void Ent seemed calm and collected, and he didn't see any blood dripping from her claws that would indicate a massacre.

"She is doing well, my Lord,"

Khaos said, straightening up. "Your daughter has reached the second stage of the Nascent Soul Realm and appears to have made friends with the locals."

"Friends with the locals?" Ashlock repeated, a hint of skepticism in his tone. "What do you mean by that?"

"Stella appears to have found herself in a pocket realm controlled by a group of cultivators called the Tessellate family. There was also another person they called Lady Solari, though I am unaware of either family. The Princess informed me that she would return after completing some unfinished business and wanted me to send you her regards."

Ashlock was incredibly suspicious of Khaos's report. He had known Stella practically her entire life, and having spent a decade in this world, he knew how cultivators—especially those who thought they were superior—acted towards others. The fact that Stella had apparently made friends with the locals terrified him a little. Either she had grown up and actually managed to go undercover, or it was a great misunderstanding.

"Perhaps I should send in Larry or someone else to check on her," Ashlock said. "You know, just to get a second opinion."

"I don't believe that will be necessary," Khaos said, "but if you wish, I can return and commence a more thorough investigation."

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"Yes, please do—but don't let Stella know that you're there. And don't spend too long, as you will slow down the Eternal Realm's time dilation."

"As you wish, my Lord." Khaos bowed and vanished into the void.

[Notice: Khaos has entered the Eternal Realm]

Ashlock waited a few seconds. Yet Khaos didn't return, meaning she was carrying out a thorough investigation rather than a quick chat.

"That's great news," Diana said, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"What is?" he asked.

"Stella reached the Nascent Soul Realm successfully and is even in the second stage. Though I wonder what took her so long and how she isn't in a higher stage already," Diana mused, rubbing her chin.

"Perhaps it has something to do with her making friends with the locals," Ashlock said sarcastically.

Diana snorted. "Yeah, I don't believe that for one second. Speaking of which, how come Khaos is so different now? I know you mentioned that you can upgrade your Ents. Can you do that for all of them?"

"I wish I could, but I can only do it for three at the moment."

"Three? That's not many," Diana said, glancing at where Khaos had just been. "I can see why you picked Khaos as the first one. Despite her being an ally, her presence makes me break out in a cold sweat."

"Yeah. I picked Khaos as void beings typically can't surpass the Star Core Realm—yet this offered me a way to do so. She turned out better than I could have expected."

"So you have two left to pick. Why don't you choose two of the other void Ents, considering they're so impossible to upgrade?" Diana suggested.

"A good idea, but I want diversification. When I upgrade an Ent to General class, their cultivation skyrockets to match mine, and they gain the intelligence needed to lead an army. However, it comes at a great cost. While Khaos is excellent at assassinating a single target, due to how intensive void Qi is, she's not good at wiping out opposing armies. So having three generals with the same specialization wouldn't be ideal."

"I see," Diana said, nodding along with his explanation. "So, what options are you considering?"

That was a good question. Khaos had seemed like an obvious choice, but now he needed to decide who to use his last thousand sacrificial credits on. With such a high cost and the limit of having three at a time, it wasn't a choice he could make lightly.

"Let me think... the two strongest contenders I have right now are Geb and Sol. Geb, because he's basically a walking fortress, so his presence on the battlefield is inevitable, and I'm sure the Mudcloaks could make use of his heightened intelligence. And Sol, because he's been incredibly useful up until now while being at the Star Core Realm, so I can only imagine the amount of healing and firepower he could display on a battlefield when at the Nascent Soul Realm—and eventually, the Monarch Realm."

Diana bobbed her head. "Those are two great choices, as I can picture both of them dominating a battlefield. But are there really no other options to consider?"

"There are certainly other options to consider. I've been using Anubis as a mouthpiece, so promoting him to General class would give me a presence on the battlefield. However, it feels slightly wasteful, as he already has a level of intelligence and is already in the mid stages of the Nascent Soul Realm, so his cultivation wouldn't see much of a boost."

A thousand credits were enough to guarantee an S-grade draw, and with his own cultivation level rising, it was getting increasingly difficult to acquire credits. That's why he had to ensure he extracted as much value as possible from this investment.

"There's also Veylorak, one of the Primal Overlords that I turned into an Ent, but he actually has a higher cultivation than I do. So turning him into a General might make him weaker, but it would boost his intelligence, which seems surprisingly low. There are also the lunar Ents that guard the entrance to Tartarus. I could pick one of those, as lunar Qi is known to be a very diverse affinity."

"What about Bob?" Diana asked.

"Bob? Who is that?"

Diana blinked as if in disbelief at his ignorance. "One of the first Ents you ever created. Remember that slime that we fought in the cavern below Red Vine Peak? It also saved me from being consumed by demonic Qi. If not for Bob, I'd have been consumed by my heart demons and possibly be dead." After not receiving a response from Ashlock, who was deep in thought, she added, "You know, the one that is now serving as the doorway between the Mudcloak Citadel and Stella's alchemy cave?"

It all came rushing back to him.

"I remember now! How could I have forgotten about Bob?"

Tearing open a spatial rift, he summoned Bob through to get a better look at the slime. The portal was apparently not large enough, and he had to widen it for the five-meter-tall monstrosity to lurch its way through.

"I didn't remember it being so big and um, terrifying," Diana admitted as she slowly stepped back.

Bob looked like a grotesque abomination that was desperately trying to break free of the underworld. It was a smooth, grey thing resembling an Ent, but it was faceless and constantly appeared to be melting into the floor. In truth, this was because Bob required a constant, immense upkeep of Qi to retain its size and shape. Right now, it had a faint brown hue, likely from the vast amount of earth Qi it had absorbed from the mountain. Yet the hue was dimming fast.

"Hello Bob," Ashlock said, and as expected, the Ent didn't reply.

Ashlock estimated that Bob was around the peak of the Soul Fire Realm in terms of strength, though it had no Soul Core. Instead, Bob was a cloud of affinityless nodes serving as its consciousness that made up its being. Most importantly, Bob became immune to a Qi type after absorbing enough of it, making Bob the enemy of noble families or armies that relied on a single Qi type.

"Well, Bob is certainly an Ent I didn't consider but am now," Ashlock said. Similar to Khaos, Bob was a unique entity that would need the system's heaven-defying power to become something much more. Bob wasn't supposed to be able to ascend to a higher realm, given its lack of a Soul Core, nor was it supposed to possess any intelligence as a brainless blob of slime.

Yet if Ashlock made Bob a General, the monster would rise to the Nascent Soul Realm and gain the ability to think and speak. Ashlock tried to picture Bob on the battlefield and how enemies would deal with Bob. Upgrading to Necroflora Overlord [SSS] added many features that greatly benefited Bob, such as rapidly absorbing nearby Qi to regenerate if killed and being entirely self-sufficient.

Bob would be a black hole on the battlefield. An unstoppable being that could surge forward, and if somehow slain, would rapidly drain the entire area of the Qi type the cultivators were trying to use, becoming immune to the enemy in the process.

If Khaos was an assassin who could traverse the void and eliminate the enemy's leader, Bob would be the vanguard of the army, whose job was to break into the enemy's lines and wipe out any defenses in its wake.

A being that defied logic and shouldn't exist.

"System, I want to upgrade Bob."

[Upgrading the Ent {Bob} to General class will cost 1000 SC. Are you sure?]

"Yes."

[Warning: the Ent {Bob} is not a conscious being, but rather a Primordial Force. It is not known what giving a consciousness to a Primordial Force will cause. Do you still wish to proceed?]

"Hold on, what do you mean by a Primordial Force?"

[Bob is the physical manifestation of an unknown Primordial Force. Similar to Origins, primordial forces existed before the heavens took control over all Qi and constructed a rigid reality. However, unlike an Origin, Primordial Forces simply exist—they do not have thoughts or memories]

"So I would effectively be creating an Origin?"

[That is correct]

Somehow, this was even more heaven-defying than having Khaos, a void entity, surpass the Star Core Realm. Honestly, the fact that the system could pull something like this off simply because he gave it enough Sacrificial Credits to get an SSS-grade skill terrified him.

"I... think it will be fine?" he said, not entirely sure as he looked at the five-meter all-abomination.

[Understood. Upgrading Bob now...]

"Diana," Ashlock said through Anubis. "You might want to step back. Actually, can you call Maple here?"

That caused Diana to raise a brow. "Can I ask why?"

"You know, just in case a Nascent Soul Realm Primordial Force dislikes taking orders. Nothing too serious."