Right before the tidal force of energy collided with Simon’s body, he whipped out a clear jar with numerous glowing inscriptions engraved upon it.

Woosh!

The void essence which would have collided with him suddenly began flowing into the jar in his hands, immediately filling it with pure void essence.

Indeed, this energy which had shot towards him was not fatal by nature... Instead, it was pure, condensed void essence, in the proper state to be absorbed!

Simon had a glow in his eyes as he watched a fortune enter his possession, just like that.

‘Hahaha, now I’m truly rich!’

It has to be known that previously, he had only received a few drops worth of void essence from killing a void creature. However, what he was now absorbing was actually as much void essence as he would gain from killing fifty of them - or 250 drops.

In his past life, even a single drop of void essence was quite valuable, to say nothing of 250. And although it wasn’t quite at the level of Immortal Energy, he estimated that a single drop would still be worth 400 golds in this world. Assuming that he was correct… 250 drops meant 100,000 gold.

After the last drop of void essence was absorbed, Simon promptly sealed the jar and stowed it within his bag. At the same time, yet another bridge made of dark stones gradually appeared in front of him, paving the way into the endless void.

Seeing this, Simon smiled lightly. ‘Indeed, that was the solution.’

As he strode forwards, he reminisced on the nature of the void shards.

The shards of void were indeed unsurpassable if he tried to force his way through, step by step; he would unquestionably fall somewhere along the way if he attempted such a thing.

However, they had a fatal weakness…

This weakness was that these shards of void were unable to be maintained without a constant source of void essence!

Thus, when thousands of these void shards formed at the same time around Simon, the essence in the immediate surroundings naturally ran dry, thus causing the shards to be unable to maintain their structure.

As a result, a wave of harmless void essence washed over him instead of shards of void.

As it turned out, he only needed to bypass most of the platform, in doing so incurring the wrath of thousands of void shards, to be able to pass through… It was quite laughable of a strategy, but it was apparently what needed to be done.

With a determined gaze, Simon then once again forged forwards into the boundless void.

He could already tell… that this seemingly mundane journey would be a hard one.

…

A long while later…

A young man trudged upon a pathway of pitch-black rocks, surrounded entirely by a dense void - which seemed to be able to snuff out anything which entered its vast domain.

His aura was extremely weak; almost nonexistent in fact, and with every movement, one could sense… nothing. A crushing lack of substance to his actions. The man’s movements were indeed so devoid of purpose and emotion that they seemed entirely empty, not dissimilar to the void surrounding him.

And yet, he was still walking…

…

Another lengthy period passed, and the same figure still walked forwards.

Even when the void around him grew denser, the young man was seemingly unaffected and continued trudging on. If it were a normal person in his place, they would have long since gone mad.

However, for this figure, it was hard to tell. Perhaps this man had long since succumbed, or perhaps, he was still hanging on in this world of solitude and emptiness.

…

Eventually…

Time seemed inconsequential. No matter if it were months or years, time nonetheless went by, seemingly without change. At the very least, the figure paid the marching of time with practically no heed; the only sign of its passage was the gradually thickening void, which now seemed unfathomably deep and heavy surrounding the figure.

There was indeed nothing which signified the passage of time present on the walking figure. His trudging was as relentless as ever, and his expression dull as always. One might even question if he was still alive…

Suddenly, a faint glint appeared in the distance.

As if detecting the change, the figure suddenly looked up, his eyes regaining a distinct look of sharpness for the first time in a long while...

‘Finally! Took long enough, I was getting bored of hiding away within my mind.’ Simon thought with a chuckle as he gazed outwards.

But then he took a look around at the especially dense void around him, and he couldn’t help but to shudder at the sight of it.

‘Oh wow… The void here is actually this dense. If I hadn’t used that trick which my master taught me, I would have probably been unable to reach this place…’

The presence of the void around him was actually so overbearing that he felt a faint sense of crisis. The feelings of melancholy and loneliness within him were so powerful that he found it hard to resist, and he felt as if his very life could be blown away with a slight breeze in the face of this endlessness.

If it weren’t for the fact that he still had to endure a portion of the presence of the void within the recesses of his mind - where his consciousness resided for a majority of the journey - he might have found it unbearable here.

After all, despite hiding within a corner of his mind, Simon had nonetheless gone through a baptism of solitude during the trek. And though he did not display it, his will had only strengthened, and he had used this time to further reflect on his plans.

...

Soon enough, the speck in the distance grew larger and larger, until Simon could finally see what it was in detail.

‘A floating palace?’

Simon was caught off guard by what he was seeing. After all, he had previously only seen bridges and platforms in this world - a palace was not what he was expecting to see.

However, the presence of the structure most likely meant that it was either the end of the trial, or that he had reached an important area within it. As a result, he grew both excited and serious.

‘The damned place made me walk for so long to reach here, it better not disappoint me.’ he thought solemnly, with a hint of expectation in his eyes.

But when Simon gazed at the palace once again, he had a suspicion that it wouldn’t disappoint...

The towering edifice was grand and overbearing to the extreme, with sharp and extravagant looking architecture, along with rays of void energy emerging from its rooftop shooting upwards endlessly. The void energy surrounding this palace was also extremely dense, distorting the air around it.

Moreover, surrounding this floating palace was a vast stretch of land containing strange trees that seemingly shimmered in and out of existence, rocks that seemed more illusory than real, and strange creatures that seemed completely at home within this world of void. It truly was a scene which aroused his curiosity.

...

Simon slowly made his way towards the palace amidst the gradually intensifying void, and soon, he reached land. He then stepped onto the ground of the island, which seemed to be made of the same material as the bridges which he had walked upon for so long, except in the form of dirt.

Looking around, Simon was flabbergasted at the sight.

To his left, swarms of enchanting butterflies, which seemed to flutter in and out of existence along with the movements of their wings flew atop a field covered with countless illusory blades of grass and stunningly pretty flowers - the void-like nature of which only furthering their beauty.

To his right, a few large bear-like creatures lazily rested under a sparse forest of vast, void-like trunks, which bore a myriad of leaves, shimmering incessantly. There were even the occasional round fruit within these trees, which omitted an unmistakable aura of profundity and refreshingness.

And in front of him... There was a winding path of dark stones, littered by an assortment of eccentric materials and lifeforms, accompanying to the side of it, the occasional wide stretches of liquid, which seemed boundless and illusory.

It was like a paradise, if such a thing could possibly exist within this desolate void.

‘What?! There’s actually Void-Navigating Butterflies, Void Grass, Bloodthirsty Void Bears, Immortal Void trees, Immortal Void Fruit, Void…

… Void Steel, and Turbid Void Essence here?!’ Simon thought, speechless and feeling as if he had unknowingly gone crazy sometime in traversing the void.

This place was indeed beautiful and tranquil - to the point of being one of the most impressive sights that he had seen. However, that was not what warranted such shock in him.

What warranted such shock was the ludicrous value of all the resources present in this vast stretch of land!

After all, in his past life, many of these creatures, lifeforms, and materials were known, and they were all incomparably valuable at that.

Take for example, the harmless looking swarms of Void-Navigating Butterflies flying about...

They were capable of travelling through physical matter, as well as becoming completely undetectable on will. The only things capable of stopping them were spells. And even if one wanted to catch or kill one, it would be an enormously difficult task.

Yet, in his old world, they were practically extinct... Then, why was that so, despite how hard it was to catch one?

Naturally, it was because they were too valuable!

If he had to say, even one of these butterflies would be worth upwards of 10,000 golds if they were to be sold in Island Ascension Online. And though only mages of the fifth star core of stronger were capable of catching them, even veritable experts would not refuse a chance to obtain a small fortune.

Still, they were only around the middle in terms of value among the resources here, and there were even many materials and lifeforms which Simon did not recognize entirely!