While the IGS solution for clearing nests worked, the division of the loot was more complicated.

It all had to do with one event objective.

Find 10 rare resources: 1 000 000 EP

Not every nest had them, but the sharing of benefits was a big subject for when there was one.

The basic reward of a rare resource was 1 000 000 EP or 100 stat points, but it was only the basic one because there existed a superior and wanted one, the rank upgrade crystal.

An entity had a tier and an avatar had a rank, the basic rank was the rank their ‘critically defective’ dimension evaluation gave them.

The wiki clearly said that a rank was something given by the Compensation Law itself, and increasing it wasn’t something everyone thought possible.

Their avatar would disappear when they became tier 2, right? Even an announcement hinted at that, right? Right?

Only a hundred and some have been discovered after billions and billions of avatars cleared nests every day, but the reward was worth it, even if useless for the long-term future.

The rank of an avatar decided how much of its capacity it transmitted.

Those hundred and some upgraded avatars now transmitted 20% of their capacity at the “stable rank”, so as long as they didn’t encounter someone who had integrated with their avatar, they were a lot stronger than others.

Experts said that upgrading one’s rank shouldn’t be the right way, it should be an extremely lucky thing, those rank upgrade crystals clearly weren’t natives to the Deep Void dimension, and it explained their rarity.

…

Rune was once again assaulting the nest with 6 other people, they were doing what they could and killed one monster after the other.

He was now even faster in killing them than before, and that was because his yield of EP exploded, while retreating he used his amateur energy telekinesis to take the monster's cores with him.

With his affinity of 500 he could control dozens of energy threads without pushing it, as a result, he absorbed 104 cores, worth 1 157 096 EP in total, and ultimately maxed his energy regeneration.

Avatar (Basic Rank) (Tier 1)

EP: 13 052

Stats Total: 4 437

Health: 500

Health Regeneration: 500

Strength: 500

Cohesion: 500

Energy: 237

Energy Regeneration: 500

Purity: 200

Affinity: 500

Momentum: 500

Perception: 500

For 2 days straight the group continued cleaning the nest and now they were at their last assault, the majority of the whales were already dead.

Rune continued to gather and absorb cores at every retreat, so he was fast approaching the limit of tier 1.

Approaching a charging whale, he used 250 energy in a super reinforced punch, it was his most deadly technique, and after the 3rd assault, he only did variations of this punch and delay tactics.

From the persons gathered here, he clearly was the most powerful, but Rune knew that he often got hit and wasn’t bulldozing his way through, he also had to retreat.

The situation was very clear for him, when he took a hit of 100 health, he had to retreat.

Energy beams had great range, as long as your perception sphere for defective life forms and as long as their vision for ether life forms.

Was it more worth it to kill the beast and tank an additional 10 seconds of energy beams? Or regenerate everything and come back later? In that case, the whale would also have regenerated.

The more he battled, the more reality advocated that regenerating all of one’s health every minute was far from enough, by using a 250 energy punch he could empty the health of any unprotected tier 1 in one hit.

Fortunately, reinforcement could also be used for defense and blocks, they all did it in the camp, but for defense-oriented business, the energy armor spell had a lot more potential, it was really annoying that efficiency for energy needed so much practice.

As he had deactivated his galaxy wings spell to cut his energy costs as much as possible, he could kill a monster whale every 30 seconds or so.

The battle ultimately ended up with their side's overwhelming victory, to celebrate, the group finally could search the nest, see if vegetation life was here or if rare resources were present.

Vegetation was a lot more common, so one of the members sent on the forum that they found living vegetation.

Rune then went their way and a strange fluctuation entered his sphere, a light pale green ether, accumulated on a particular place, surrounded and camouflaged by the smoky grey ether of the whale, like grass amidst ash.

He always had his sphere color sense activated, and the vegetation was truly grass, green grass like it came from his home backyard.

‘Far from the most imaginative Ether Law.’

He didn’t expect anything, so he wasn’t disappointed or happy.

Find living ether vegetation life: 1 000 000 EP (COMPLETE) (Claim?)

Claiming his reward, he prepared himself for the last moment in his life where he wasn’t a peak tier 1.

They didn’t find a rare resource so the group members just went on their way, some without even saying goodbye. As for Rune, after their assault, he gathered the monster cores.

Maybe they forgot that one of the event objectives was gathering, or at least touching 10 000 monster cores, but only 2 others helped him gather them to advance their own monster cores gathering event objective.

They did a total of 6 assaults, and discounting the first one, he gathered an additional 542 cores, with 124 on the last one they just did.

With all those, he gained 5 882 868 EP, from the gain of the last assault he could already max his stats, but now he had an overflow.

Add to that the 1 000 000 EP reward from the Deep Void initiation and he was now a rich young human.

‘The maximum EP that can be stored is 100 million, stupid farmer heroes obsessed with EP.’

There was a limit to how much EP could be stored, so with nowhere to use them, they only gathered dust after reaching maximum stats.

‘The end of tier 1.’

Rune looked at his status, what he achieved was very important, now he’d only have to touch the monster’s cores and not absorb them, he could use all his time to fight, travel, and complete the other event objectives.

Completing those objectives was for a greater goal was what Rune thought, the compensation law, the law that created the events illuminated the right path, only by following it could one reach the peak sooner and start their personal journey earlier.

And a personal journey was one of the ambitions of Rune.

Avatar (Basic Rank) (Tier 1)

EP: 1 265 920

Stats Total: 5 000

Health: 500

Health Regeneration: 500

Strength: 500

Cohesion: 500

Energy: 500

Energy Regeneration: 500

Purity: 500

Affinity: 500

Momentum: 500

Perception: 500

‘I can do a world-punch every minute now, I think I’ll focus on defense for a while, maybe use monsters and block their attack so much they can do nothing against me? Sounds about right.’

It was just a single step on his plan for the Deep Void dimension, soon, probably, the Ether Law would give an announcement.

And the biggest brains of the IGS predicted the masteries window to be around the corner, the way to tier 2 would be opened systemically then.

‘Even if there’s no window, you just have to continue training and at some point, you’ll attain it.’

Now that he was freed from the task of absorbing resources and reached his maximum potential stats-wise, only the initiation events remained.

He just had to train his reinforcement, his techniques, his close combat, his body control, his awareness, his sphere, his momentum technique too. Not forgetting his energy armor and his energy manipulation.

Particularly his energy armor.

It was a very important part of his plan.

Like, a very very important part.

…

‘Armor up.’

Rune was preparing for a masochist training, he already did some and they all ended within 10 minutes without exceptions.

Rune’s ability to block health damage was lackluster at best, and non-existent for true practitioners of the blocking art.

His energy armor, covering his whole body, only had an efficiency of 10 energy for 3 damages blocked, and that was after refining his compression mastery with months of training and fighting with death by his side.

Also, as compressed energy used as defense was less resistant than health, it could be seen as a very suboptimal use of energy.

Well, in truth, his progress in this mastery was just slow. He already tried hundreds of training, searched for tips, trying to know if he did something wrong, but he ended up with the same answer.

Energy armor spells were too simple and too mastery-dependent.

There wasn’t a spell like galaxy wings for the energy armor kind, you couldn’t just pump energy and forcefully increase the efficiency.

With that method, the galaxy wings only reached a forceful 50% efficiency. With an energy armor spell, you could only cover your body with as much energy as your energy stat had, it didn’t accept any more after reaching this cap.

Spell matrices and energy efficiency, the two balanced each other, the spell matrix was the scholarly term for what a spell looked like and how it had the effect desired, it often represented a precisely streamlined spell.

To answer to the plaguing energy efficiency problem, spell creators added more quantity to replace quality, the way they did it was by adding threads and creating a “loading time”.

The “basic” version of each spell was the more direct one, it was fast, but it only depended on your own energy efficiency and nothing else to deal damages.

After that were what spellcasters separated into “variant” version and “ultimate” version, the variant still depended on the caster efficiency to deal damage but some effects were added, like a bullet that exploded or a beam that diffused in a larger zone.

Variants were created to have more answers to one situation, the ultimate version, however, was clear and simple, pump all your energy, attain stupid efficiency by taking a whole minute to prepare it, and launch a spell charged with 500 energy at 70% efficiency, one-shotting the majority of Deep Void monsters.

‘Energy... It’s just so unstable… I train with it every day, it’s my own energy, birthed from my ether soul after refining ambient ether, why doesn’t it directly have a 100% efficiency?’

One of the reasons the energy armor did not have a more complex version despite its wide demand was that it worked with only one mastery knowledge of the energy path, energy compression.

‘Let’s just be pummeled more, it’s too important to stop its training.’

What some would have forgotten was that Rune was silently ambitious, and he also knew how to manage risk.

So his training incorporated those qualities, some kilometers from his position was a nest, its occupants were head-like monsters, they were the legendary ball monster.

The scary thing about them was their mouth, as they were just a head of some creatures with scary teeth that dealt very high damage.

Rune’s training was going against the farthest border guards of this nest, and spectators would call it a 3 against 1 pummelling.

With his regeneration of 500 energy per minute, he pumped out compressed energy armor worth 150 health every minute.

He also trained to block in the way of the Ether Law, using his health as a shield for his life, the pain of one’s avatar was reduced enormously but it could be cut off with sufficient awareness training, and he successfully cut his sense of pain recently when he was training.

Rune of course decided to cut it off when he became able to do it, there was no benefit to feeling pain, his sphere made him understand his situation better than pain could ever do.

As he repeated his training again, he was interrupted by the sound of a notification.

It belonged to the Tireless Group forum.

[Tireless Informant: Something is happening to the density progress bar!]

Opening the progress bar, Rune saw nothing.

Universe Ether (Deep Void Dimension Opening basis): +35%

‘It increased a little but I see nothing else.’

But as Rune was looking around to maybe see what deserved a notification, he saw the number jump.

Universe Ether (Deep Void Dimension Opening basis): +36%

‘Oh, that’s rare.’

And soon after this thought.

Universe Ether (Deep Void Dimension Opening basis): +37%

‘Ok, something is happening.’

Universe Ether (Deep Void Dimension Opening basis): +38%

He entered his friends' forum and saw that they were already all here and discussing what was happening.

[Adreana: Something is delivering all its ether to our Universe dimension]

[Arik: The Ether Law is not giving any announcement, so or it’s computing what’s happening or there’s an anomaly that appeared in the universe and it’s delivering unimaginable quantities of ether]

[Utopia: The wiki doesn’t respond anymore, I just tried to add easy info but it isn’t added]

[Nelo: I don’t care, be it 40% or 400%, with our minuscule ether density it’ll still not allow ether monsters to live here]

[Rune: Very reasonable, I’ll go back to training too, did you reach 50% efficiency with any mastery of the energy path Nelo? Or anyone?]

[Nelo: Grand manipulation 55%, from the moment I stopped the camp to now I bombarded monsters without stopping]

[Gar: Fine manipulation 50%, I’m trying things with it but this energy path mastery is very hard to use by itself, but my energy thread nets are coming together]

[Rune: I’m at 30% for energy compression, and what the hell, you spellcasters are masochists, there’s truly no secret?]

[Nelo: For attaining 30% I welcome you to the masochists union, the alternative name of the new energy institute]

[Adreana: Why did you branch out now? Seems strange coming from you]

[Rune: I theorized multiple training paths, the path I’m doing now is energy armor, body control, and close combat. I just let monster hit me and I recreate a 500 energy worth of armor every minute while learning how to best block damage, position, impact, counterforce, I’m trying all there is to try, I’ll share it later]

[Utopia: But why did you start it now?]

[Rune: There’s no tier 2, so what I can do to the monster, peak tier 1 monster can do to me. I saw with my own fist that dealing damage is easier than defending from damage, so in preparation for a true adventure, I need to be perfect at blocking and surviving. I at least want a permanent 500 damage blocking armor on and dampening 50% by blocking]

[Utopia: I’ll make note of it, keep me updated]

[Astryde: Very talkative today, thank for the lesson]

[Arik: It stopped at +58% and it's not moving anymore]

Rune focused on the progress bar screen he didn’t close.

Universe Ether (Deep Void Dimension Opening basis): +58%

[Utopia: Who thinks Ether will make an announcement soon?]

[Nelo: Me!]

[Rune: 100%]

[Arik: Me]

[Adreana: Third announcement incoming]

[Astryde: Yup it’s coming]

[Gar: You’re all too fast, me!]

[Utopia: Then let’s wait for Ether to make it]

After this conversation, Rune reengaged the head-like monster trio, to be pummeled to misery, for his dreams of course.

…

And after being pummeled for what Rune estimated to be the 70th time, he felt satisfied, he attained 35% efficiency on the 50th and he blocked better than he ever thought possible.

The Ether Law also seemed to have finished processing everything as Rune heard the notification from every forum he allowed to send notifications.

Without searching, he saw the prominent announcement, it was the only one that wasn’t on a forum, it just existed.

Compensation Law Quota Announcement

Progress bar “Universe Ether (Deep Void Dimension Opening basis): +58%” will be updated to “Universe Ether (Primary Ether Sub-Dimension Opening basis): +0%”.

Universe Information Board Sectors will be gathered following increased Ether Law power capacity.

The Information Board will now allow picture information form.

Rifts leading from the Universe Dimensions to the Deep Void Dimension will start to appear, ether density cannot increase by dimensional rift way, the Universe Dimension still doesn’t allow ether resources or life form.

Primary Ether Sub-Dimension can now be accessed, visit the Dimensions window to know more.

Event “Soul Awakening” has been created.

Ether Law activation imminent.

Masteries window added to Global System Law, only accessible after becoming independent from the Ether Law.

The Compensation Law has used every compensation quota and will henceforth be rendered inactive, no further help such as events will be created.

After every announcement, there was so much to discuss but only so much that could be answered, so Rune prepared a plan that he kept in a corner of his head for today.

[Rune: I need to train, I’ll come back in two weeks at the end of the 15th month, as my friends I hope you can ready a synthesis for me, bye]

He then proceeded to ignore the following message that despised him as they started their storm of discussion and theories, with Gar and Arik getting information from their etherly arse.

‘I’m only interested in three things, the new dimension, the new event, and the masteries window.’

He first started with the new dimension.

Dimensions

Primary Ether Sub-Dimension

Able to bear ether life forms

Completely unstable, dimensional anomaly impossible

Only open to peak tier 1 dependent entities

No restriction on ether

The primary form of an anomaly for a nascent ether dimension, as a sub-dimension it only exists for a moment and will collapse soon after its creation. Its collapse will cause its contained ether to be released in its origin dimension.

Only entities with a complete ether soul and at peak tier 1 can aVoid being pulverized by the primary ether contained inside.

The primary ether contained inside can be used to awaken one’s ether soul.

Impossible to enter currently

You must fuse your avatar with your original body to be able to enter

‘I think I’ll train my sphere bending a bit… A lot more! To be on the safe side, I can never be too prepared after all, now for the new event.’

Event

Soul Awakening

Awaken your soul and become independent: 1 000 000 EP

Completion Bonus: 10 000 000 EP

‘So events are really the tutorials,’ thinking that it was the last time the compensation law activated, he felt a little bit of poetic sadness.

‘Thank you compensation law, your events will help every generation to come, I’ll never forget that it was the Void initiation event that allowed me to be a step ahead of others.’

‘Will future generations get those events? Ah, that’s not a question for me!’

That was the last compensation that life from the Universe dimension received.

Observing 10 seconds of silence, Rune focused on the last part that interested him, the rest would be managed by the IGS, the masteries window, but he also understood that he had to plan around it.

‘I need to awaken my ether soul, but before that, I need to train in sphere bending in case it awakens and becomes too hard to even train with it.’

In conclusion, Rune was cut from accessing the masteries window, but he easily comforted himself, ‘Even if I could awaken my soul now, I would still wait for the first wave to say what they experienced, so no loss for me.’

With this, Rune could begin his beating training again, but he also had to accelerate his plan for sphere training.

He didn’t care about integrating his avatar with his original body as he had to wait anyway.

So he just had training to do, the same as ever.