The voice doesn't appear to have any distinct direction, coming from everywhere and nowhere in a confusing fashion leading me to squint my eyes in suspicion unconsciously.

I was summoned here to judge. However, this situation is beyond my capabilities. You are not yet supposed to be here, let alone be judged by me.

The Void sounds like dozens of people speaking at once; it sounds very confusing, like everything they have done so far. Now that I listen closely. I can hear faint whispering coming from all around, which sounds like it changes based on its emotions.

"Yes, all I said was that I wanted to revisit Seraph and Orath, and then this girl stabbed me with a glowing pyramid," I say with a sigh. What a day.

The whispering around me grows slightly louder, and I could almost swear I heard the Void sigh.

Fools, they must learn to stop doing this.

Hearing the Void grumble in displeasure makes me worry about whatever Claire or their church does.

"I don't know how to leave, and since you already know what I am, could you explain things for me?" I respond with my brows raised and with the hope that I could finally understand things.

I would be honoured to explain. It is my duty to do so. What would you like to know, Arthur?

The response makes me pause. This is my chance at last. "What am I... And who are you?" Being the most profound question I have asked in a long time makes me stumble over my words just slightly while pointing in a general direction in the Void

You are what you are, a Primordial. It is your purpose to find out what that means, as it is for all life. What I am is a more straightforward question.

This guy literally explained the meaning of life instead of just telling me who I am. The fuck. The thought makes me sigh. At least I have plenty of time to ask questions at least.

You may or may not know, but all Primordials rule their respective aspect or element. Magic has many categories and types, but all eventually lead to the primal magics for the three primordials.

Interesting, I should ask more questions about this. "What is primal magic, and magic in general."

Magic has many forms and branches, but all are outclassed by primal magic. I do not know what the other primordials rule. However, I do know that you oversee the Time and Void Affinity. Magic itself, meanwhile, is what you call The Voice created in their final moments, giving our reality's beings the ability to perform their miracles. Mortals themselves only have limited access, replicating worldly elements such as fire, ice, earth, wind, and more. Meanwhile, Primordials are beings of pure mana itself, not born of the flesh, creating The Voices miracles as they see fit.

The Void says with reverence, lecturing me about the basics of magic with knowledge ordinary people would kill for.

Finally, What I am is easy. I am referred to as an Abyssal Herald, a servant of the Void. Please standby while I infuse your soul.

A sudden cold chill rushes down my spine. Yet, simultaneously, knowledge floods my mind in an incredible and terrifying wave, moving throughout my body and mind—an indescribable feeling of emptiness accompanies the freezing cold.

The Void. Where vast emptiness and expansive everything become one. A place where the heat of stars and the cold of space intertwine, where everything and nothing is possible all at the same time.

My body, mind, and soul feel like I am getting compressed deep in the ocean and constrict with the amount of knowledge and an insidious tingling feeling that spreads throughout my body. It feels both like the best and worst experience of my life, almost like getting stabbed and squished while also getting hugged by an old friend simultaneously, so very bizarre. I grit my teeth while clenching my fists until they grow white, even while I groan in discomfort.

It was at this time that the Abyssal Herald left, unbeknownst to me, before I blackout.

An undetermined amount of time passes.

I wake up with a jolt, barely noticing I fell asleep. Even though the pain I felt earlier has faded away, my mind still feels like it was bashed in by a hammer then rebuilt by someone who didn't know what they were doing, bordering on uncomfortable and painful in an expert-like fashion. However, along with the god of all headaches is a more subtle knowledge of magic, far better than when I just fumbled around doing whatever I want with it; distinct formations and puzzle-like structures fill my mind along with the how and why.

I did not know why I had to go to the literal void to get this helpful information. What I do know, however, is that I can now do magic in a far better way and more efficiently than before, along with the fact that what I did before was so far from the right way to do magic that I cringe when looking back at it. But, damn, why couldn't I know how to do it from the start.

I used to do magic by just willing it to do what I want; this, however, is inefficient and less effective. If I were to use the proper runic way by forming mana formations, It would be improved in nearly every way possible.

Exciting!

I didn't know magic could be so complex! I thought it was simple, but I can do so many things now with this knowledge, including making better cubes and spheres.

Taking a second to calm myself, I quickly notice a few new things. First, why did I get so giddy over magic? It wasn't like that before, at least I didn't think so. Second, why is there a giant clock below me now and finally, where did the void voice go?

A gigantic circular clock sits 200 meters below, probably around a good kilometre in diameter. The rim of the said clock is solid gold with silver engravings which I notice from my new magic construct knowledge. The clock has 12 hands spread around the face, made of intricate diamond and silver that make an audible Tick-Tock with various sizes and lengths while hovering just over the face, created from a marble-like steel structure with obsidian roman numerals along the side. It takes a while to notice that the runes on the edges are time magic-related, but it seems to be significantly more complex than I thought and would need a very long time to figure out, even by my standards.

More than half the hands aren't moving, with only four appear to be moving at an average pace with one for seconds, minutes and hours, with the fourth being a bit of a mystery.

Is this because of my time magic? While I didn't create this thing, it wasn't here when I first arrived. Maybe the void voice left it as a goodbye gift before they peaced out? I should probably make something to keep track of all these damn runes.

And so I did.

I know what a book is, but that doesn't change the fact that I have never seen one and why stick with something boring when you have cubes. Now you can't turn a book into a cube, and turning a cube into a book doesn't seem any easier, so how about just using the cube to keep track of the runes?

I ponder the serious question of turning a cube into a book and come up with a great idea. First, I make one of the standard perfect cubes I practised with so often and use my mana to inscribe six building block type runes into each face. After this, I implement my idea and make each face of the cube reconfigurable; small, fine lines mark the cube separating each face into 25 smaller squares. Similar to a 5 by 5 Rubiks cube, this allows me to practice runes and note down runes while also letting me experiment by changing the orientation using magic.

Having finished my most basic rune cube, I create a few more and start copying down the most critical looking runes on the cubes to practice in my own time and figure them out.

Sadly even though I am trying to figure out the most essential looking runes, this giant god damn clock is still a kilometre in diameter and will take a while unless I use one of the more exciting spells I got imprinted with. The spell is called [Infinite Recursion] and lets me duplicate myself. Thank goodness I am made of magic and not actual flesh because this would be much more difficult if I were, allowing me to cheat the process a little and make the duplicates function as an extension, not just a copy.

I quickly decide this is worth exploring and activate the spell. Once I start the spell, I feel my mana stir along with a slight chill and notice myself walking out of me to my right, taking a piece of my perception with it. It doesn't hurt or even feels uncomfortable, surprisingly, and I can use them both as I would with just one person, very similar to if someone stole a piece of my eyesight, letting me see out of the duplicate like I just added a third eye to myself. My thinking doesn't really change much either, and once my duplicate walks a meter away, I can turn and look at the original as smoothly as I would usually and take in my appearance like a mirror.

Having multiple duplicates of myself that act like extensions makes this significantly more straightforward and quicker. So, quickly making a few dozen more duplicates, I give myself each a slightly smaller 4 by 4 cube once they have finished walking out of me and send my duplicates on mapping the clock's mysterious runes, getting them to do it unconsciously to save my brainpower.

Josh is gonna freak when I show him this.

I smile mischievously while pondering, watching multiple copies of myself inscribe runes from a giant floating clock into a bunch of floating, rotating cubes before I look for my glaive I dropped somewhere.

Damn, I have so much to do all of a sudden. At least I am not bored.