“Because we’d have killed yah if you didn’t show,” laughed Dalian, whose wild hair hung down to his shoulders in a way that was almost uncomfortable to look at.

Andrus hardly recognized the rambunctious young man, who normally looked like the barbarians that birthed him.

“I almost wish you did.”

A hand clasped around his shoulder, the fingers slim like the wiry girl who’d grabbed him. “We’re glad you’re here.” Trina looked more becoming than usual, her hair curled and face powdered for the occasion. “Now come have a drink before we get started.”

A large barrel of local wine appeared above her, and with a quick exertion, so did five silver chalices. Not only that, but two hands made of golden light appeared and began to fill the cups.

“Why are all your arrayments so silly?” he asked half-jokingly, as he accepted a cup from one of the hands.

“Why should I fuss with anything more?” she winked. “I’ve got you guys for the heavy lifting.”

Andrus’s cup disappeared from his grip before he could take his first sip, something he could have prevented if he’d cared to.

“Well, you have them,” said Dalian as he took a drink from the cup that Andrus had just been holding.

The two slackers clinked glasses with twin chuckles, both equally as shameless. Despite the fact that they practiced the most superior core cultivation method in the world, they hardly gave any attention to their skills as arrayment practitioners. Instead, they poured almost all of their attention into raising their cultivations and mastering the core cultivation methods of their respective clans. Andrus didn’t understand why, since they had witnessed Actius defeat people entire stages above him solely by relying on his skills as an Arrayment Master.

If they keep acting like this, then there’s no way Master will entrust the future of the sect to them. After today’s events, it was safe to assume that he was the only reasonable candidate to inherit the sect master’s position.

“I’d like to propose a toast before the conjoiner arrives.” Andrus raised a replacement cup with well-faked sincerity. “To Actius and Dana, our cherished martial siblings. May their love live strong, and they as well.”

“To Actius and Dana,” echoed Trina and Dalian.

They drank together behind cups and smiles, though Andrus felt uneasy as he awaited their master’s intervention.

Actius eventually commanded everyone’s attention to announce that, rather than rely on a conjoiner to carry out the ceremony, Trina would oversee the proceedings. With her status as a disciple of their master, it would stand as authentic.

Dalian spoke up at the end of the explanation. “Why not just get a conjoiner?”

“Because nobody can know about this,” said Actius, “only the people in this room, whom I trust the most. Master wouldn’t like us going behind his back like this, so we can’t risk him finding out.”

Andrus felt a sting of guilt, though it disappeared as Dana gave him an affectionate pat on the arm.

Dalian nodded along. “So that’s why you made us imperceptible to everyone else in the building?”

Andrus’s entrance came to mind, and he nearly snarled. “Hundreds of people saw me because of your cancellation arrayment. Not exactly subtle, is it?”

“Don’t be such a prude,” grinned Dalian, who’d given him directions and instructions about the abrupt ceremony only hours before. “They’ll just think that even serious ol’ Andrus of the Blackstar Sect has his needs, just like any other person.”

“It actually might build their confidence,” nodded Trina, pinching her chin in mock thought.

An awkward quiet set in, which told Andrus that the others could sense his fury.

Dana looked at him apologetically. “They won’t say anything. They’d probably faint at the thought of angering you.”

“If only others felt the same way…”

Sighing away his frustration, he decided that he would wipe the memories of today’s events from the minds of those that had seen him here. He’d already memorized their auras, so it wouldn’t be a problem.

He rolled his eyes. “How much longer before we start?”

“We’re starting now.”

Actius began designing a complex arrayment diagram as if he were leisurely penning out a picture.

Those words, thought Andrus as he studied the diagram. He’s crating a doorway between dimensions?

Light flashed upon the diagram’s activation, after which a window of golden light appeared in the centre of the room. The view that it afforded wasn’t of the simple room’s interior, but of a beautiful meadow filled with daisies of every shade known to man. The small field was surrounded by a towering wall of snow-capped mountains, where crystalline mirrors reflected light from the artificial sun overhead, so that the colourful glade was bedazzled with a distant ring of rainbows.

“Despite everything,” said the bride, “I wish he was here…”

“I’m sure we all feel the same,” said Andrus.

Andrus lost himself for a moment as he stared at the entrance to the first pocket dimension created by someone other than their master. Aside from Halvin, there were only a dozen or so individuals that could create their own isolated space, let alone furnish it in such an appealing manner.

“Actius,” breathed Dana, “this is…”

Trina and Dalian were similarly perplexed, though Andrus was skeptical.

“Is this place stable?”

“Of course it is. We can’t go past the mountains though, since there’s nothing behind them but fake sky.” Actius led Dana through the portal by hand, followed by an eager Trina and an awestruck Dalian.

Andrus was the last to enter, his mind in turmoil as a sense of jealously battled a growing sentiment of self-depreciation. He’d only just learned how to open a door to another dimension—they all had. They hadn’t progressed any further, and wouldn’t for a while, since they first needed to understand how to recognize and seek out dimensions with similar Laws and properties to theirs. Their master was worried that they’d accidently kill themselves by stepping through an experimental portal and succumbing to one of the countless extreme environments that made up most of the chaotic dimensions that dominated their reality. Such worries were justified, since just last year an elder of one of the Hegemon Sects had died under those exact circumstances.

Actius, just how did you…? Andrus couldn’t wrap his head around it. Master said he wouldn’t teach us more about alternate dimensions for at least another decade. He stood before the portal and stared at the wonderful scenery on the other side, his friends now visible like characters in a living painting. Was he supposed to believe that Actius had actually managed to locate a livable dimension all on his own, and actually altered it enough to create Nia-like conditions?

We can’t go beyond the mountains though, since there’s nothing behind them but fake sky.

A chill went down his back as the implications of his cousin’s words hit him like an offensive martial skill. Don’t tell me...he created this entire dimensional space from scratch? Locating a dimension with specific properties was one thing, but creating one was a whole different story. In this world, only their master could do something like that, and he was thousands of years old.

Andrus stepped through the dimensional doorway with mixed feelings. On one hand, he was both astounded by and proud of his cousin’s capabilities, which were unparalleled in the modern era and unheard of in history. On the other hand...

“Oh Actius, this is just like that night.” Dana smiled up at the network of rainbows that crowned the mountaintops, with the face of the happiest woman in the world.

Andrus knew exactly which night she was referring to, the night that his cousin had comforted her along the shoreline of the lake that their master had created in the Winterlands on the day they met him, just before he had conjured up their residence.

Trina stood in place with wonder in her eyes. “Actius, this is amazing.”

“No kidding,” said Dalian. “This shames those inheritance grounds that they used to use back in the day.”

The man of the hour couldn’t help but shrug. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t inspired by the setup, but that’s not what I was going for.”

“Inheritance grounds are still used,” said Andrus as he approached the others. “Though only when a sect or some sort of secret technique is at risk of dying out.” He gave his cousin an impressed smile, despite himself. “How did you manage this?”

“I copied Master’s arrayment.”

“What?” blinked Dana. “But the arrayments he used, they were different for all of us.”

Dalian scratched his shaven chin, which was usually thick with unkempt hair. “You two talking about when Master created independent spaces for our closed-door cultivation?”

He copied those? Andrus wasn’t alone in his disbelief. While they were all aware of Actius’s natural gift of Perfect Memory, it was still absurd to think that he’d succeeded on replicating a Grand Arrayment of such a scale, with such precision. It was one thing to remember the designs of the arrayment diagram, but it was an entirely different concept to actually activate it. If that weren’t the case, then any newbie could activate advanced arrayments so long as they had enough spiritual energy. His cousin’s words implied that he understood each of the commands that were written into the design, and that he was perfectly aware of the exact proportions of energy that each section of the schematic required in order for it to stabilize. He’d also have to know how much energy to inject into which entry point, and how quickly to circulate it throughout the specified routes.

Seeing the skepticism on his friends’ faces, Actius shrugged. “A lot of it was guesswork, but with the diagram in mind, it wasn’t too much trouble. This is actually the third one that I’ve made.”

“You’re incredible, Actius.” Dana hugged him close as they stared up at the ring of rainbows as if nobody else was around. “This is just perfect!”

“That’s why this is the third one. I had to make sure it was…well, perfect.”

Andrus tore his gaze away from the betrothed, his wonder and amazement dying down by the second. It didn’t matter, however. Their master would arrive shortly and the conjoining would never take place.

Trina commenced the ceremony about twenty minutes after everybody had crossed into the independent space. Under the dazzling skyscape of a unique, architected world, Actius and Dana were conjoined without any problems.

Master Halvin never came.

Jason’s eyes flew open, his body cool with cold sweat. Andrus this time, huh?

Evidently there’d been some drama amongst Halvin’s disciples, and of course it was rooted in romance.

Andrus and Halvin had spoken later that evening, but this was a memory that Jason hadn’t received due to the botched Soul Meld that he’d suffered through.

The fact that Jason viewed such scenes while asleep meant that the scenarios he experienced were significant moments in the lives of those who made the memories. It blew his mind that all he’d witnessed through the eyes of the deceased Neomen had taken place untold millions of years in the past.

Why had he seen that memory, and just how had it affected the relationship of Halvin’s disciples? He was missing most of their memories, so he could only guess.

Actius and his companions hadn’t reached the age of thirty when they’d been forced to sacrifice themselves to save Venara from the chained woman and her accomplices, who’d appeared from somewhere else in Infinite Space. This was after Nia was met with a calamity that Halvin had anticipated, and done everything in his power to prevent. Jason wouldn’t be sure, but Halvin’s master, the founder of the Blackstar Sect, seemed directly related to the all-devouring cloud of blackness that had completely engulfed their home world. Actius had suspected the same, since they’d learned that their martial ancestor had supposedly fled to Nia after suffering a mortal wound.

Whoever the founder fought against, were they responsible for the dark cloud that devoured all life on Nia? Jason shifted in his blankets as he was lulled by a cricket’s song. According to Halvin, his master had been immortal. So, too, must have been the one responsible for his death. Although unfathomable amounts of time had passed, there existed a chance, however small, that the culprit was still alive.

Jason’s heartrate increased as he began to comprehend the gravity of the information that he held in his mind. Whatever entity the founder of the Blackstar Sect had battled had ruthlessly ended all life on a world as large and heavily populated as Nia, which had contained so many people that an accurate estimate of even vague numbers had never been a possibility. It was safe to assume that they were evil, similar to the chained woman, only more powerful. If this person was still alive, then it was possible that they were still on Nia, or somewhere nearby in the surrounding space.

Jason jolted upright. Nia and Venara might be on completely opposite ends of the universe, but they were directly connected by the archaic ring, which was currently in Nolan’s possession. If that entity happened to notice Nolan while he was visiting the Inheritance Grounds, then not only would his friend most certainly lose his life, but all of Venara would be in danger.

All of Earth’s inhabitants had been uprooted, and most of them had died long ago. Nearly all of the Neomen had perished along with their planet, the survivors soon after. Nia was directly linked with Venara, a world now at risk of meeting the same fate as its counterpart. Now, an Otherworlder like Jason was most likely the only person that had even a remote grasp of the situation. This can’t be a coincidence. Just how is everything connected?

He jumped to his feet and packed up his blankets, which he threw on Brud before summoning them back with a bubble of projected inner essence.

“What is it? Enemies?” The boy’s beady eyes began to scan the darkness.

Nolan had no way of knowing the danger that he was in, and the threat that he posed to all of Venara.

Jason pulled out the map of Hauss that Sersa had given him, which specifically detailed the northern territory. The mysterious girl had marked out every known encampment of disciples in the region.

He had no idea where Nolan was, so his only option was to make his friend notice him. To do that, he’d have to stir up something big. A commotion on such a scale that it’d prove impossible to find someone in the kingdom that didn’t know his name, or whatever alias he decided to go by.

“We’re gonna stop in a few cities to get supplies.”

“We just did…”

“Well, we’re going to do it again.” If he relied on gunpowder then there was a good chance that Nolan would be able to guess his identity so long as he happened to hear about the things that Jason was about to do.

While he was at it, he would slowly work towards ascending to the Integration stage, no matter how low he had to stoop to get there. The time for mercy and guilt was gone, now that billions of lives were at stake.