To integrate oneself with his avatar, the two had to be at the same place.

‘I need to recall my avatar, the forum said I have to enter the dimensions window and select Universe…’ Doing as he heard, Rune opened his system and selected the Universe dimension.

Dimensions

Universe

Not able to bear ether life forms

Fully stable, dimensional anomaly impossible

No restriction on ether

The Universe Dimension is the first dimension birthed by a critically defective law, as such the ether density doesn’t allow an ether life form to survive.

This dimension is composed at more than 99% of emptiness, only the most fundamental part of the Ether Law has allowed this Dimension to birth sapient life and to exist in its current state.

Enter?

It was the same word, “enter”, but the meaning was different.

Making sure it would be his avatar that would be “teleported”, he decided to confirm.

His avatar that was in the Deep Void dimension was transported.

Normally, anyone using this way of moving between dimensions would appear in a random position, but as the two originated from the same ether soul, the avatar was inevitably attracted here, they were ultimately 2 pieces of the same thing.

Thanks to his sphere perception, Rune could see a hole appear before him, and from this hole, a seed floated out, this seed was the inactivated form of an avatar.

Activating his avatar by sending his awareness to the “other side”, he saw his avatar deploy in but a moment.

One’s avatar was fundamentally a mirror of themselves, so his avatar was identical, the hair, the eyes, the face, even the clothes were created.

Stopping his narcissist fascination, he did the instinctive thing, he touched himself, the other himself, and like water, his hand passed through.

Now he only had to will for the integration to start and it will.

A subtle ether, or something similar, was released in the surrounding, it was pure white ether, and like air, the avatar evaporated into his hand.

The integration was over in a few seconds.

‘Now I only need to wait an entire month or hope that a rift to the Deep Void appears just next to me.’

The penalty of dimension teleportation of course still applied, that was for every dimension, the universe as much as any other one.

It meant that if a Primary Ether sub-dimension became available, he would only be able to go in after 2 months.

‘I need to prepare more, the best training to do is my special shapes and colors energy training, hoping to raise the efficiency of the compression mastery, maybe I can create a new way to only practice compression.’

Rune thoughtfully stared into nothing for 10 minutes before deciding on his training plan.

‘I’ll focus only on energy compression and perception sphere, maybe the two at the same time, I don’t have to fight anymore so I only have free time.’

Rune didn’t stall for time, he immediately got outside through the airlock and began to engineer his own special compression training.

…

Manipulating pure energy directly was easy, it wasn’t just for Rune but for everyone, however, while doing it was artistic, the moment it entered the domain of the 3 advanced manipulations, everything changed.

‘Solid cube, push.’

In the end the best training for compression was to try and compress something with the most complexity possible repeatedly.

‘Explode, relax.’

The cube Rune just created exploded in a soundless cubic white explosion.

‘Solid pentagon, push.’

The more variety the easier compression became after becoming used to it.

‘Explode, relax.’

This time the pentagon just disintegrated.

Frowning, Rune ignored it and continued, ‘Solid pentagon, push.’

‘Explode, relax.’

The same result as last.

‘Solid pentagon, push.’

This time, he spent a whole 5 minutes creating it, he even colored it in red.

‘Explode, relax.'

And it did explode, creating a red explosion like a star with 5 branches.

‘Solid cross, push.’

And Rune continued this training.

Exhaustion was visible on his face, but he didn’t stop, it was like breathing in and out when running, it gave him a rhythm to follow, and when it was disturbed he felt bad.

After integrating with his avatar, he always had 100% of his awareness to control, but he couldn’t train and his awareness and his sphere, he had to choose.

He chose sphere bending, he judged his current awareness manipulation to be enough.

Like he became an addict, only the thrill of becoming stronger allowed him to stay awake and resist the exhaustion.

The mixed training he designed allowed him to have steady progress in 2 mastery knowledge.

As Rune used his time to train, he eventually came to associate training and ambitions, training was a part of realizing his ambitions, when he took a step with his training progress, he also took a step in direction of his ambitions.

All in all, he came to like training.

Like watching a video, eating something delicious, or going to bed, training became a part of his life that he liked.

He liked the feeling of always pushing without suffering any consequences apart from exhaustion.

Exhaustion that he used to refine his will.

New colored forms compressed before his eyes, some a lot more complex to realize than others.

His perception sphere fighting back.

Multiple forms he failed to create.

He couldn’t even think anymore, he just tried to fight back his sphere.

He felt his mind becoming clouded, so he willed his energy loop and nurturing reinforcement mode to keep going, as a way to confirm that he could still do what he learned during Utopia’s camp.

He then fell unconscious, happy to have fought to his limit, there was no further limit he could have pushed.

...

Rune was unconscious for 3 days and feeling well enough upon waking up, he got back to his mixed training.

He learned that it was his father who brought him back inside, so he shortly explained that he was training to his limit, and that was the reason he ended up like that.

After his spirit had time to heal from all the effort, he realized that his sphere became more moldable, his ability to cause a change increased.

He could also form complex energy forms faster, so he tackled himself to multiple layer forms, the future level of creating amazing energy fireworks.

As is usual for the spiritual path, only repetition, not comprehension, was the key, it was an accumulation that led to opening a new way, everything was natural.

The psychic union had an inkling about how to use momentum in timed bursts, but even then it needed accumulation before becoming possible.

The thing he missed the most was music, nothing could go along during dimensional teleportation by the Ether Law system, not even clothes.

Rune also reestablished that he would not need to breathe again by keeping his nurturing reinforcement on during the whole time he was unconscious or sleeping.

He wasn’t pushing boundaries, he kept his own rhythm, and his inner peace was undisturbed.

‘First time trying, 2 layers sphere, push.’

Like breathing, it was the method Rune used.

‘Explode, relax.’

Breathing out, he finally restarted his training, although it was a failure.

...

Rune approached yet again the moment he had to go to sleep.

After this rest, the 17th month would begin, and he would be going on a trip to the border of life and death for a minimum of 1 month.

He prepared himself like he had his exam, except that even for them he never studied this hard.

In this month of training, he reached 50% efficiency for energy compression, his sphere bending strength also finally allowed him a corresponding weak manipulation strength.

He could now feel his sphere deforming in real-time over one minute, it was pure garbage deforming time compared to even a commoner adventurer who practiced for 1 month leisurely, but if he was at their place, Rune was sure he would obliterate their perception sphere’s wall inadvertently.

‘I still have a day, let’s compensate for the future month or even months of abstinence in entertainment and music.’

…

Looking fondly at his new home, fondly called “home cube”, or maybe he looked fondly more at the relaxed situation than the home cube itself that he lived in for only a month and a week.

‘It’s maybe the last time I see my family, anything could really happen to me.’

Depressing thoughts were present but he only had to remember what he felt during a fight and his will to change his plan vanished silently.

‘Everything I didn’t experience in my life, getting a job, love, I’ll still have a try after coming back, but…’

Rune opened the Deep Void dimension screen.

Dimensions

Deep Void

Able to bear ether life forms

Slightly unstable, dimensional anomaly possible

Tier 1 Perception 50% restriction

Tier 1 Momentum 50% restriction

The Deep Void Dimension was birthed soon after the Void Dimension, it is only a billionth of its size but has a dimensional link to the Void Dimension allowing ether density to come in but not out, explaining its ability to produce ether life forms.

The ether life forms born in it ended up becoming ether beasts that lived off the ether density, but with every successive generation, aggressive instinct took over. This behavior ended up becoming the majority.

Enter?

‘My dreams come before my life, enter!’

The next moment, like his body, was having a seizure, he couldn’t control himself anymore.

His right arm, he couldn’t feel anymore before feeling it again suddenly, he also felt his head colliding with the sole of his feet, his blood boiling and freezing and his ears had just taken what felt like an incapacitating grenade.

Minutes passed by before it suddenly ended and his sphere could finally see things again.

If he could vomit he would have, tears and snots were dripping from his eyes and month respectively.

He took the fastest decision of his life and created an energy platform and applied momentum towards it, creating a modicum of comfort in the vast nothingness around him.

‘Worst teleportation of my life, also the first, son of a penguin!’

His body benefited from all the stats of his avatar, so he could be considered a quarter ether life form, as he mixed a universe life form with a half Ether Law embodiment.

But even this couldn’t allow his body to feel anything at all.

Rune pulled himself together after 10 minutes of acting like he had a marathon after not running for years. If he also had an asthma crisis in between. Maybe an anxiety attack too.

The reality of the situation descended upon him, and as comic as it started, he was now in life and death training.

‘It’s not training anymore, it’s my first true adventure, my first dimensional adventure!’

Like the earlier situation didn’t happen, a smile, a true smile made its way to his face.

‘Let’s beat the shit out of monsters, let’s go!’

He first donned his energy armor, using 500 energy, all he had, to create an armor worth 250 points.

He only had to activate the galaxy wings for 5 minutes before encountering his first-ever monster of the serpent type.

They didn’t have smooth skin like the whale or the head monster, they had scales and were experts of momentum techniques.

The board said that their most dangerous attack was their tail, because once mixed with advanced momentum manipulation, they executed a whip-like attack that allowed them to reach 100% strength exertion.

Approaching it, it reacted by rushing at Rune after he entered a 200 meters radius from its head.

Rune didn’t act nervous, he prepared a whole month for this.

His first move was preparing a 40 energy reinforcement, if he couldn't evade the first attack he would use it to block what he could.

The snake engaged with trying to swallow him, just from this massive opportunity, Rune could have killed it instantly… If his goal wasn’t to see if there were differences now that he integrated with his avatar.

He dodged to the side and delivered a light kick to test things out.

After he dodged, the snake contorted and tried to suffocate him by wrapping its body around Rune.

Using a platform he jumped but as he did that, the snake tail wrapped around his left leg.

He was violently thrown back as the snake’s head approached rapidly.

Rune didn’t hesitate and abandoned any thought of freeing himself and aVoiding.

He prepared a reinforced block worth 100 energy and used it to counter the closing of the snake’s mouth, two hands at the top, two feet at the bottom.

A surreal scene that would merit a picture to immortalize it, unfortunately, the global system couldn’t take pictures, you could only draw with your thoughts to create “pictures” that could be posted on the board.

Like a hero of legend, Rune decided to go deeper, he used another 100 energy and rushed inside the snake’s mouth, through its throat, and started to hammer whatever came in contact with his skin.

Before long the snake stopped moving and Rune got out. 10 minutes later the body and the guts he brought out with him started to disintegrate

‘It’s the same.’

Rune was feeling a rush of adrenaline, even more than with his avatar, he felt rewarded and felt like he could continue forever.

‘Next one, calm and steady, the climax will come with time,’ Rune thought as he started to chase down his next prey.

…

2 weeks later, Rune felt acclimated to living in the Deep Void like it was his hometown environment.

Fighting 3 against 1 near the snake’s monster nest, he felt free and more alive than ever.

With his life on the line, he grew even faster, and to make this progression possible, blood was often spilled, and not that of monsters.

Rune tried to evade a tail whip strike but another snake disturbed him and he took it full force.

Feeling blood coming from his mouth and his nose, he knew his energy armor shattered with this strike.

But Rune didn’t retreat, he had to at least finish one-off, he dived by using a compressed energy platform and a 50 energy reinforced jump.

Following this jump, he prepared a 200 energy reinforced kick and as his targeted snake tried to evade it, he made a platform appear and used his prepared 200 energy kick to go on a collision course with the snake.

As he always kept energy for emergencies, a pure collision was all he could do to keep his remaining energy, but it was enough.

Feeling his leg bones resisting an immense force, he persisted in maintaining a straight body and sent the flying snake bending in 2 from his middle segment flying.

He knew it was dead, but he couldn’t be bothered to recuperate its core as 2 angry snakes engaged him.

Rune distanced himself as best as he could, using full momentum to stall for time.

He wasn’t in mortal danger so he didn’t retreat, his superior momentum stat would allow him to if needed.

Fighting in the way of the Ether Law implied that at some points, in his own opinion, normal attacks would be the most important source of damage.

‘Real fighting is completely different.’

It was an eye-opener for him to use only his own 2 fists for his offensive while only using energy to evade and to create armor, not anything else.

To optimize the now impossible-to-lose fight, he focused on one of the 2 remaining snakes completely and used artificial gravity momentum to let his every punch and kick transmit all the strength he could.

The tricky positions he had to take made him learn how to fight in a changing environment.

The snake tried to grab his leg, so he changed his momentum to evade, then immediately changed it to take an opportunity that the snake strike opened.

Combo after combo, the second snake finally died, with only one snake left, Rune let his focus vacillate a bit, it cost him a bite to one of his arms.

Having cut his sense of pain he didn’t feel anything, but the red color he saw through his sphere indicated his true situation.

‘Bleeding…’

A situation he expected, but this time it provoked a strange thought to arise.

‘According to logic, as long as I generate energy and it’s used to replace what my body needs, then even if I lose all of my blood I shouldn't die… Woah.’

The blood, or any equivalent, of the Universe life forms, served to transport what the body needed to survive, but if energy took charge of it, then its loss wouldn’t even increase the energy upkeep of Rune’s body.

‘Maybe replenishing it would be a problem? Not like I can prepare for it, if it happens it happens.’

Finishing the last snake-like monster cost him all his remaining mental strength.

To keep himself sharp, he continued his sphere training, but differently.

Where before he pushed, now he only maintained, it was a constant battle between his manipulation force and his sphere battling to return to what it was originally a perfect sphere.

The consumption of what he knew was spirit was constant, as long as he didn’t decide to go bonkers and fully tried to bend his perception sphere, it was the best sustainable form of training.

He was even experimenting to do it with awareness training, but he didn’t succeed, awareness seemed to ask for more active participation, actively modifying the repartition of awareness to different senses and exploring oneself.

‘Only 2 weeks and I already need to sleep, dangerous.’

Training was something he liked, fighting he loved and traveling while rubbing shoulders with death was his new hobby.

‘I should conclude this training session with my report.’

Rune still had to say what he was doing, in case he dropped dead the next second.

[Rune: Just won a 3 versus 1, now the end of the second week of my adventure, my sphere training is bringing me to need a period of sleep or my vigilance will drop too much for my comfort, my recent insight all have to do with bringing normal punches and kicks back, juggernaut looks like a good and lovely path, over headquarter]

[Arik: Nothing to say, no signs of insanity, no signs of becoming not-you, no shocking discoveries, you can sleep easy]

[Gar: I saw no problem in your reports till now, so unless you’re hiding things you are indeed progressing a lot faster, but I have not found scientific reason to explain it, Utopia will join you in 3 weeks so I’ll have more data]

[Nelo: My sister is inspired by your reports, she’s like a little girl reading about a legendary story, she’s training like crazy and she already recalled her avatar]

[Rune: If you see any of those two, tell them that even 100% energy compression efficiency will not be enough, there's never enough of this stuff, I’m going to sleep, see you later]

[Gar: See you]

After his report, confirming nothing changed, he could finally let go of his sphere.

The sensation was like he released weights he didn’t know he had, liberating.

For a comfortable sleep, and not the kind where he just stood still with only his sphere, he used his energy manipulation to create a foamy substance, then he applied a very light and not demanding gravity momentum towards it.

With a comfortable DIY energy bed around him, his last thoughts before entering shallow and wary sleep were thought-provoking ones.

‘I’m literally a walking infinitely replenishing adventurer, so f*cking badass.’