""Yes, sir."" The three replied.

"Also, you can rest for the time being. I'm fully rested by now so I'm capable of guarding the area. I'd rather not have my officers sleep deprived. Dismissed." Kyte stated.

""Understood.""

I still can't get used to this military-like behavior. I don't know if I should be completely formal or what.

The three Gifted moved toward their respective sleeping area and laid down. Kyte created two grand formations, with the alert formation included, around the group before flying into the air. He soared above the treeline up into the night sky. Fortunately there were no clouds to block the stars' light from reaching the planet.

Kyte flew at his fastest speed into the sky. He traveled a few miles before stopping because of the low oxygen levels and silently observed space. Due to his greatly enhanced vision, he was able to see farther than a normal telescope if he focused. He observed the moon and the distant planets that shined with the reflective light of the solar system's sun.

I can just fly right out there and leave everything. I can fly out there and perish in space if I wanted to. I wonder how far I could go? How long would I last? Would the black light be able to defend against the vacuum of space? I don't have an unlimited supply but I could always create more. Could I create black light while in space? So many questions...

Kyte slightly moved higher before stopping himself. His curiosity almost drove him to fly out of the planet's atmosphere into space. He wanted to travel through space so badly yet he was incapable of doing so. His desire to gain power only grew stronger as he stared into the vast cosmos before him. The only thing he could do was fly back down into the forest.

It would be so easy to just leave these Gifted here, too. I could travel to the Core so much more quickly without them. However, I can’t leave them here. Besides, I could potentially use them for my own information network. They’re only A rankers and below but it’s always better to have more eyes and ears. Also, I don’t know who they’re related to. I could be lucky or unlucky here.

After he landed around the group, he laid down within his own area and began to research formations. Well, instead of researching, he was more like lazily studying. Since he didn’t gain any information about formations higher than the Advanced level, he was sort of stuck. He could try to further his knowledge himself but that would be incredibly inefficient. However, Kyte didn’t feel like waiting such a long time until he achieves the eighth stage; whatever that could be.

On that point, Kyte doesn’t actually know what the next significant step in understanding the black light could be. It could be anything, really. Kyte had several ideas but putting those ideas into practice is easier said than done. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have a lot of time to even experiment with his ideas. Sometimes, he just wishes he could be alone for a year to study himself. Sadly that’s not entirely possible.

At least he was able to train at all, with results. He’s seen Gifted that have trained for years without any progression. Some have trained their entire lives without being able to advance, yet Kyte had trained for about half a year and he was already an S ranker. He predicted his normal power was about the low Silver S rank level, while with all of his buffs activated he would probably be around the high Gold S rank level.

Of course, the GG system of power was quite complicated and Kyte’s power is completely different from the system anyway. It was almost wrong or inefficient to use GG’s system for himself. His power also originated from a different universe and Kyte was pretty much convinced that the black light originated from somewhere else as well.

At first the black light appeared when Kyte compressed world energy down into a very concentrated amount. It was almost out of his control that it had happened; he had no idea why the black light appeared. It’s been a mystery to him the entire time. Adding on to that the event of the cloud figure trying to suppress the black light to do something that Kyte didn’t know of. In the end, he absorbed both of them and they merged together.

However, one weird factor remained unexplained to Kyte. After the two combined, the cloud figure disappeared while there was still black light that Kyte was capable of using. Why did the black light remain while the cloud figure disappeared? It appeared in his dream when his memories were being unsealed, so it must have not disappeared entirely. If the black light was able to remain, then at least a small part of the cloud figure survived.

Also, the fact that the cloud figure had originated from within Kyte had baffled him. That means he was born a Gifted and he didn’t even know it. If that’s the case, what about his parents? It’s some-what strange for two large trucks to perfectly shred a car to pieces and for Kyte’s car to be the one caught in the accident among all those other cars only added to the strangeness.

Kyte had never really given much thought about the event. It’s kind of ridiculous to think there’s a big conspiracy surrounding his parents but he couldn’t help but conclude that that’s the case. Unfortunately, he had no idea how to gain any information on the event. It was too late to return to the city, look for a police department, search through all the files, and find the report about the crash. The mayhem brought from the Dread Ruins opening basically destroyed all normal civilization so Kyte doubts he would be able to find anything at the moment. Plus, it was mandatory for him to reach the Core so he couldn’t go back anyway.

Kyte had stopped studying formations and just gazed at the night sky. It was truly a beautiful sight to see and being able to witness such a thing was wondrous. The pollution from man’s machines caused the sky to be blocked sometimes and other times natural clouds blocked the view.

It was at rare times when the sky was clear and the light from the stars shined through the atmosphere. To know that the light from those stars traveled hundreds, thousands, or even millions of light years to reach his eyes caused Kyte to encounter a sort of other-worldly feeling. Gazing up at the stars, knowing that he’s essentially looking into the past, made him enter a strange state of enlightenment. It wasn’t an immediate transition but rather a sense of slowing becoming aware of the profundity and immenseness of the world.

Maybe it was due to the new experiences he had gone through since he encountered Sol’keer. The secrets he discovered since then have been intriguing to say the least. Also, if Kyte had never met Sol’keer, he would probably be dead right now. He doesn’t know if the cloud figure would’ve protected him when the Dread Ruins opened but he wasn’t very optimistic about it.

While Kyte was completely focused on gazing into space, far away into the deepest reaches of the cosmos were three gigantic black holes. They had been drifting for hundreds of millions of years on a collision course toward one point of space. Time and space around these three black holes had been destroyed and warped to such a degree that it was almost unfeasible to witness. The three had reached a point where their effects on the fabric of spacetime began to fuse. They inched closer and closer together until finally…

They collided.

The three black holes ripped each other apart. The unfathomable strength of gravity instantly escalated over a type of universal barrier. The gravity was so intense that it completely extinguished the fabric of spacetime. However, the area that was destroyed was so small that you would need a magnifying glass to see. If you could see what was beyond that hole in the universe, you wouldn’t be able to believe your eyes.

That hole was instantly repaired, however, the effects of the collision spread out through the universe. The fabric of spacetime rippled with great intensity for an uncountable distance. The ripples traveled through galaxies, solar systems, stars, and planets. Everything that was capable of observing such a phenomenon, did. None of them were able to detect the adverse effects of the result of space being destroyed.

That is because, after the hole in the universe had repaired, the destroyed spacetime around it had not. This created an opportunity unlike any other. What came of that opportunity may not been seen by most of the life existent throughout the universe.

Kyte was still gazing up into space as this all occurred. The ripples passed through the planet unimpeded. Due to Kyte’s unusual and profound mental state, maybe even because of the mysterious energy within him, he noticed these ripples. However, he was not the only one. There were a few others on the planet that observed these ripples, though whether or not they were capable of discovering something because of them was unknown. There was one other being that had been in the process of gaining enlightenment about space and its mysteries, just like Kyte, as the ripples spread through the planet.

The ripples passed straight through Kyte’s body. Because his mind was fully in tune with the space around him, he felt the spatial ripples as they slightly distorted space around him. He felt the ripples pass through his mind, his energy, his everything. That tangible feeling of space within and around him was branded within his mind. He unconsciously closed his eyes to fully experience the extremely rare event.

In his mind he could still feel those ripples reverberate inside and around him. A small image of the fabric of spacetime being shaken began to form. He started to dissect the event and information he obtained. His abnormal state of mind consisted throughout the process, allowing him to naturally proceed without interruption.

Space isn't something that can't be manipulated. Actually, there are several different ways to wield the power of spacetime. For the White family to be naturally gifted with controlling space is a miracle and a wonder at the same time. I wonder how their brains are wired to allow something like that to happen...

Anyway, it seems like my original understanding of space is wrong. I thought space had to be forcefully manipulated by using unfathomably large quantities of energy. However, now I see there's other ways. Not only can space be warped but also time.

These two concepts naturally coexist with each other. Without time, space is frozen and unable to expand, thus rendering its existence a waste. Without space, time has nowhere to exist. When one manipulates space they also manipulate time, and vice-versa.

Slowing or stopping time is equivalent to locking space. Expanding, contracting, and warping space also distorts time. I'm not exactly sure how I'll be able to wield this knowledge, but...wait.

I'm already able to slightly manipulate the space within the black light domain. But the space created by the black light is different than the space in this reality. Would it be possible for me to influence space with black light?

At this moment, the small light submerged in the black light sea within Kyte instantly expanded. It started to unceasingly absorb black light, making it grow larger and larger. Naturally, Kyte noticed this event occurring. He was extremely surprised at the suddenness of the event and he had no idea what to do about it. He decided to leave it alone for the moment and went back to contemplating his enlightenment.

A few seconds later, the light had completely devoured the sea of black light. It glowed brilliantly within that empty space, awaiting its creator to choose the next step.

I see now...I know what that light is. It's not something weird or abnormal to only me. This light has appeared before, but I don't know how when or how many times. I understand this light to be an Origin Point, the object that creates space. But if this only creates space, where does all the matter come from? Is time naturally included as well?

Kyte observed the light and noticed that time did not exist within it.. Only the fabric of space was contained inside the light.

Wait, but...space can't exist without time though?...Unless I'm wrong once again. If space can exist without time, then what use would it...Oh, I get it now. This is just like the storage necklace. The storage necklace is a separate space without the laws of time applied to it. This is the same exact concept, though the Origin Point is on a different level.

If I create a space within myself, what would that do? I already have the storage necklace, so I'm not quite sure what the capabilities of the space would be. However, if I instead merge the light with my own body, what would that create? Would my body become a separate entity altogether? That would only be my physical self, so my soul would stay the same. But if I merged it with my soul...

What should I do? Create an entire space within myself, merge it with my body, or merge it with my soul?

This chapter is a bit longer than usual. I was going to release this yesterday but I fell asleep for a few hours. Oh well.

So? What do you think would happen to Kyte if chose whichever option? Would he destroy himself in the process? Who knows...

You don't have to answer. My question was some-what rhetorical. You can if you want, though.

SUPER IMPORTANT!! I completely rewrote and revised the first chapter + prologue. Check it out if you want a high quality and MUCH better version of the beginning prologue and chapter! I guarantee it's significantly better than before.