Byron flexed his newly healed hands and fingers, he could piratically feel them bursting with newfound energy and vigor, popping sounds could be heard as he stretched and twisted his body, despite the horrible experience he just went through, he felt new and renewed; the void had broken him but it had also showed him what true power looked like, he desired such might; he craved for it, something deep down inside him ignited a fire for power and adventure, Byron had never felt so alive in his entire life, his encounter with the void had fully awakened his adventurer side, he now craved to topple and kill such powerful and unfathomable things like the void, his body glowed dark green in agreement causing Laubres to slither back a little.

The slithering caught Byron’s attention, Laubres didn’t slither the last time he looked at him, which was a few seconds ago, though he was so immersed in his thoughts it felt like hours, Byron squinted his eyes as he looked closer at the now realistic and very much alive snake, he didn’t leave him like that, the last time he saw Laubres he looked like he was on the verge of dissipating and was shifting between being real and unreal, Byron found the sudden and unexpected change alarming and suspicious, why hadn’t he done it before? The timing was too perfect, just when he recovered his strength and was in deep thought, the only few moments where he would be completely off guard, He subcutaneously took a few steps back and felt his bare back press up against the cold wet hard brick wall, only now did he realize that he was this close to it, Laubres looked at him, puzzled and confused.

“Is something wrong, Byron?”

He didn’t answer, how did He know his name? Byron was sure he hadn’t told him, not even once, he was already suspicious when the gate appeared specifically for him and not the party before.

Byron's mind spend up as infused life-force into his brain to give him a boost in thinking speed, he felt the difference immediately, thoughts came faster and everything felt smoother, with the newfound processing speed he thought long and hard about it, where were the people who came before him? Why didn’t he think of these things beforehand? Something was wrong, very wrong, it all made sense now.

Laubres was messing with his mind from the beginning, that was the only logical conclusion he could come with, Byron wasn’t the smartest person out there but he knew he would’ve put the clues together by now unless, someone wasn’t deliberately messing with his mind somehow, or it could be that Laubres pulled his attention away every time he got close to subconsciously putting the pieces together, the desperate and pitiful act, his ghostly appearance.

Byron felt the pieces slowly slipping into their places in his mind, why the void appeared so suddenly, how was Laubres even able to survive in the void that even true gods dared not step into? How was even capable of displaying the void without going mad himself? Sure, he slaughtered all the true gods, but still, it would take more power than that to circumvent the negative effects that the void smashed everyone with regardless of status, wealth, or power level, it just didn’t make sense.

Byron took a deep breath and sent almost all his life force into his brain, the world seemed to slow down in his vision as his thoughts reached unnatural speeds; he ignored his surroundings; he ignored the surprised Laubres that slithered to him faster as he watched; the world faded away as he closed his eyes, Byron began searching the far regions of his soul, which was a strange world, previously he could only sense his soul and enter it with the help of the system, more specifically, the status screen, if he willed it, the status screen would put him in a state of absolute focus, allowing him to enter his soul more easily, though he never did, it sounded boring, Byron hated boring things.

He never expected his soul to be so, manly, before the advent of the system, everyone’s soul space looked the same, Byron hadn’t heard of anyone’s soul being built based on their personality but his surly was, massive colorful dragons flew overhead, their wings blocked out the muscular sun, casting thick and unnatural darkness on the world below, equally massive and muscular men clad in full mana armor chased after them, they floated on massive runic swords that glowed dangerously, Byron watched the crazy chase with childlike curiosity, those were things he dreamed of doing, he craved it, the enthralled Byron came dangerously close to forgetting his purpose of coming here, he snapped out of it and reluctantly turned his attention back to the world around him, everything felt so, different, like an entirely new world, made just for him.

He closed his eyes once more and sank deeper into his mind, he pulled up the bits and chunks of information that were forcefully slammed into his mind during his unpleasant encounter with the void; it felt like swimming in a waterless sea while it was ablaze with unnatural fire, painful, alien, green blood soon started flowing out from his nose as he searched deeper but Byron endured and ignored it, he had to, soon he found a chunk of information that help him, he flexed his will and grabbed it, new and strangely packed information flooded into his mind, with it came new concepts and alien ideas he would have never thought about.

Byron pushed such information aside, while helpful, it wasn’t what he was looking for, he could always come back to take a look later, more information continued to pour into his mind, damaging his brain, even more, he skimmed and read them all individually, getting closer and closer the more information he read, on the last packet of information he finally found his answer, only things made in the void could live and withstand the void, so that could only mean one thing, Laubres was a void sawn.