After watching Ben go into such a bewildered state, Verda released a chuckle.

[I guess that was a bit too much information for you, I won’t go into detail but in short, I can tell you that this universe has indeed only existed for little more than 13 billion years, but before it existed, another stood in its place, though that is unimportant... We wish to see your Void Core, each core possess its own unique ability, and being the first Core to appear after so many years we would like the honour of identifying it for you]

While still in a small state of shock he realised this Verda no longer wished share information on the subject of the universe so he quickly reorganised his thoughts to focus on his current situation “See my Void Core? How am I supposed to show you it, isn’t it inside me?”

[That is a simple process. Extend your arm and face your flat palm to the sky, place your other hand onto the bottom of your rib cage, then clear your mind and simply imagine your Void Core being pulled out with your hand and then placed onto your palm, once the process is completed your Core will Appear before us]

Ben followed Verda’s instructions, placing his right hand on his body and extending his left arm with his palm flat, after completing the stance, Ben instinctively cleared his mind and simply focused on the process of pulling his Core out of his body and placing it onto his palm, although when he started to do this he became bewildered by the sight, as his hand slowly submerged into his body he felt a small smooth orb, he grabbed it and slowly pulled out, now holding it out in the open Ben found the small orb was accompanied by eight others, one sat in the centre while the other eight formed an octagon orbiting the centre orb.

Each outer orb shone with a rainbow of colours, constantly pulsating and changing its colour every second or so, the centre orb was three times larger than the other orbs, roughly the size of a bowling ball, but only possessed two colours unlike the myriad of colours projected by the other orbs. This centre orb was perfectly divided in the middle separated by the two colours, one side possessed a matte white and the other side possessed a matte black, neither side radiated any colour, it simply looked like a painted ceramic ball, but even so when Ben was holding it in his hand he felt a completely unfathomable power deep within it, a power that made his mind go numb for several seconds, almost dropping the orbs in the process.

Ben recovered himself and discovered that he could move each orb independently and pull it away from the formation without anything strange happening, but once he realised his grip on the orb, it would immediately shoot back into place like it was attached with an elastic band. Although he wished to experiment with it more, he had more important things to do first; he finally placed the central orb onto his outstretched hand, when he did so he opened his eyes and came back to reality to see his Void Core floating above his hand “This things pretty cool, what can I do with it?” Ben threw out a simple question, he was incredibly intrigued by his Void Core, he had never wanted to study and investigate into something as much as he wanted to now, so he was hoping to get more information out of these scholars.

Moving his head away from his Void Core, Ben looked towards Verda once more to see if she heard his question, but upon seeing them his mind froze.

Verda, as well as the other scholars seemed... weak? That’s the only word Ben could think to describe what he saw, all of the scholars who were previously shining with vivid light, now could be likened to a small candle flame that could be blown out with a light breath.

Ben rushed over to the scholars with a look of worry on his face “Verda? Everyone? What’s wrong? are you ok?” Ben spoke quickly while inspecting every one of the scholars only to see them become weaker and weaker. Panicked by this sudden turn of events, Ben reached out his free hand to touch Verda but as his hand approached, Verda suddenly let out a scream and tried to run away, falling out of their chair and scurrying into the farthest area of the room away from Ben.

[Get away from me you MONSTER!!]

“M-Monster?” after seeing Verda react in such a manner Ben immediately began to break out into a cold sweat, he had only tried to make sure Verda was ok, why would they call me a monster for trying to help?

Wait... unless...

Ben looked towards his right hand and watched as his Void Core continued to lightly hover above his palm... this can’t be the reason, can it? After this sudden epiphany Ben tried to put his Core back within his body and to his relief the process was the same as bringing it out, just in reverse, allowing him to quickly withdraw his Core.

The moment the Core vanished the fires of life within the scholars shone with vibrancy once more, returning them to their previous state. Verda visibly calmed down, but still remained cautious while they ventured back to their seat.

Once seated Verda spoke with a weak voice.

[I apologise for my actions... but I must have you know they were justified, if you had touched me, I would have died... it is a scary thought to think I am even able to converse with a person of your Calibre]

Once Verda finished speaking, silence descended upon the room, after a long silence, someone spoke up.

[No need for the pretence anymore, Verda, I’ll take over from here]

[Of course, your majesty]

Immediately after an unfamiliar voiced resounded, Verda and the other Glass Scholars bowed their heads and went silent, clearly someone of higher status than the scholars had made an appearance.

“Your majesty?” Ben voiced his confusion, he thought the Glass Scholars were incredibly important in the Index, such that even Merlin seemed to regard them highly, who is this person that can even make them bow their heads?

[Indeed, little one. I am the king of this place. Please, call me Allon]

The voice sounded out once again, the moment it entered Bens ears he had the sudden urge to bow and prostrate himself before this unknown being, the sheer power emanating from just his voice was enough to scare Ben witless.

After the voice resounded throughout the room, a white mist materialised out of thin air, after a substantial amount of mist appeared, it began to collapse into one point incredibly quickly, turning into a small white ball the size of a tennis ball, once all of the mist collected itself into this ball it then suddenly began to expand, slowly morphing itself into a humanoid figure, growing arms, legs, fingers and finally a head. The moment the head formed itself a small wave of air rushed outwards from the body, blowing Ben off balance and falling back onto the floor.

Ben looked on in amazement; someone calling himself the king of the index had appeared in front of him, the figure had no skin or facial features, it was simply a white glowing substance formed into the shape of a human.