After experiencing the memory of the past, I felt pretty tired. My current body didn’t need a lot of sleep and the need for it became less and less the more I evolved. Maybe it was a side effect of having a high constitution stat, or maybe it was tied to what kind of monster I was. Whichever the case, I had been active for a few days now, and I needed to sleep.

By now I was relatively certain that the traces of this ancient civilization were protected by the system in some way or another. Which made it a perfect place to sleep. As long as I stayed inside of a building I should be fine, especially this close to the mural. Just as well, since I was looking forward to test out my new void guidance passive.

As was with all of the system-provided skills, the knowledge of how to use them was directly downloaded into my brain. I was still creeped out by the gross violation of my upstairs faculties, but it was honestly a very convenient and effective way of learning. I’ve had the void guidance skill for quite a while now, and I’ve been studying the downloaded knowledge whenever I had some spare time and felt ready to perform a live test.

I nestled myself close to the stairwell, just in case I needed a fast getaway, and relaxed. Sleep usually came pretty easy once I willed it, and this time was no different. Sleep took me away, but instead of taking me to dreamland, I entered the void.

I was greeted by the usual dark, vast, and empty expanse filled with stars that were forever out of reach. I floated around for a bit, enjoying the feeling of weightlessness and freedom from burden, although the sentiment didn’t last long. I was all too aware that there was danger here as well, remembering the first, and thankfully only time I’d been attacked. All it took was a stray voidling that chanced upon me and decided I would be a wealthy snack.

The cozy moment gone, I focused on the task at hand. I finally had the means to travel around in the void and was intent on doing so. Of course, I had no clue where anything was, so the only real option I had was the bar I had been to before. Thinking of the bar, I still remembered what the bartender told me.

“The void, despite its name, isn’t empty. Far from it even. Everything is everywhere, and because it is everywhere, it is nowhere, therefore the void looks and feels empty. But if you can see past the nothing, and glimpse the something, a path will open to the inquisitive mind.”

The knowledge I gained from the skill finally helped me to understand what he meant. The void was chock full of places. No wait, places isn’t the right word. They were concepts of places, dreamt up by the denizens of the void. Since they were only concepts, they didn’t exist in the classical sense, but they were still around. So, if you were aware of the concept of a place, it was possible to travel to it.

The countless stars in the distance were concepts, places, and they moved around at incredible speeds. It was like a galaxy on steroids. They didn’t have a physical form, so even if one hit you dead on, you wouldn’t be able to feel it. The mere presence of a voidling created something like a protected zone, a bubble if you will, a space where other concepts couldn’t intrude on. That very space could be used to create your own space even, but that was probably still a few evolutions away from me.

Incidentally, there were ways to sense empty pockets of space, like mine. Which would explain how I was attacked that one time. So, essentially, the void was not empty at all, but instead only looked empty because I was floating along in an infinite space that was moving around with me. If I could focus on a certain concept, void guidance would then show me the way to the place I wanted to visit. Every place in the void traveled at a ludicrous speed, which meant that if you just stood still in one place, the entirety of the void could pass you by in a matter of minutes.

If you let it.

I focused on the image of the bar, its tacky 80’s decoration, the weird patrons, and most importantly, the bartender. I was relatively certain that the bar was his concept made manifest, so it made sense to focus on him the most. Almost immediately I could feel my skill activate, giving me a direction to travel in.

I obliged and started moving in the direction it indicated. Curiously, it didn’t feel like I was moving at all, but now I knew that I was actually moving since the skill gave me feedback. All this time I spent floating around in the past thinking that I couldn’t move at all, I’d actually always been moving.

Not seeing myself make any visible progress kind of fucked with my sense of perception, so I retracted my eyes and just focused on the feeling of the skill. I followed my void GPS for a minute or so when it suddenly cut off. I got confused since I should not be at my destination yet. I extended my eyes again, taking a look around.

“Well, aren’t you a bold one…”

A rumbling voice came from seemingly all around me, the sound scratching at the back of my mind a little. Void Language. I went on full alert and looked all around me to see where the other voidling was, but I couldn’t see anything out of place. Not willing to be taken by complete surprise I started summoning a set of void javelins.

“And feisty too!” The voice rumbled all around me. “You got some nerves for being such a tiny little whelp.”

I felt a wave of void mana wash over me, and before I could question what was going on my entire array of javelins exploded. I took a significant amount of damage and was flung away.

“Oops, can’t have you leaving this space,” I bumped against something solid and immediately turned my eyes to look behind me. “After all, you’re the invader here, can’t just let you leave without some punishment.”

I could see nothing behind me, but there was obviously something there. I gently prodded the space with my tentacle, feeling resistance. Was this guy invisible or something?

“No, I am not invisible, you’re just failing to take in the big picture,” I heard it chuckle. “Everybody makes that mistake at first.”

The voidling gave me a little push which sent me drifting away again. I kept my eyes on a swivel, looking for any signs of whatever was here with me. I was really out of my depth here. I guess I could count myself lucky that I wasn’t devoured at first sight. The voidling seemed to be somewhat reasonable, so maybe I could talk my way out of this pickle.

I floated around for a bit before I could finally make out something. Amidst the many stars, I finally saw two rows of incredibly long and sharp teeth. They eventually culminated where I assumed the voidlings face was since I could see four giant red eyes peering down at me.

“Yes, now you can see,” the voice said with an unmoving face. Right, void language was spoken by manipulating mana, no movement necessary. “So tell me then. What brings you here, disturbing my sleep?”

“Uhh… Ummm… He&%o” I struggled a bit with my first void words, stopped, and tried again. “Hello, my name is Gary and I’m somewhat new in the neighborhood. For what it’s worth, I am sorry for intruding and casting offensive magic. To be honest, I don’t really know what I’m doing. First time and all.”

I tried to give my all to sound sincere and apologetic. There was no way in hell that I stood any kind of chance against this dude, so if I couldn’t talk my way out, I was done for.

“Yes, I could see that you have no clue what you’re doing.” The voidlings face moved closer until one of its eyes was directly in front of me. “Saw you wandering around outside with your eyes closed. Rookie mistake.”

“Uhh… yes,” I deflated a bit, realizing just how stupid that was of me.

“But then again,” the voice intruded my mind again. “Mistake or not, you came in here uninvited, and I can’t just let that slide. It is a terribly rude thing, after all.”

“If at all possible, might I beg you to not kill me?” As soon as the words left my mouth I immediately regretted them. Oh yeah, just kindly ask the giant pissed-off voidling to not kill you. Stupid idiot.

“Hmmm,” the voidling moved another eye in front of me. “Tell you what, I am not an unreasonable being. And you’re just a tiny insignificant whelp, after all. I won’t kill you.”

“Many thanks, oh great one!” I shouted out in relief, only to tense up again at its next words.

“But as I said, punishment is in order,” I thought I detected a hint of glee in its voice. “Yes, yes, punishment. So… let’s say about half? Yes, that sounds about right. Give me half.”

“Half of what?” I asked warily.

“Well, half of your attribute points of course,” the voidlings head swayed around a bit. It was definitely enjoying this. “You have committed a crime and have been spared the death penalty, so the only thing left is a transaction. I’m sure a whelp like you hasn’t amassed a lot of points, but losing half of what little you have will hurt you quite a bit, no? Which makes it an effective punishment.”

“Uhhh…” I had half a mind to decline before remembering that I was facing certain doom if I said no. “Yes?”

“Good, you seem to have half a working brain in your tiny body,” the voidling laughed at its own joke. “Well then, let us proceed with the transaction.”

Just as he finished, a system window popped up in front of me. Unlike the last time with the bartender, this one had defined payment requirements. I was staring at a neat list of exactly half of my attribute points in each stat. Could this guy see my stats? I looked back up to see it staring back at me, patiently waiting for me to accept the trade. I hesitated only slightly before completing the transaction.

I could always recoup my losses, even if it would be a bit dangerous for a while. Well, more dangerous than usual. Gluttony would help a great deal with that.

“Excellent!” The voidling nodded slightly. “I do enjoy it when they aren’t stupid. You know, just a few hundred years ago I met this guy that just wouldn’t want to part with his precious attribute points, so I tortured him until he gave me all of them before killing him. You should have seen it, it was hilarious.”

I cringed a bit at the way it was laughing at its “funny story” feeling the need to get away from here as fast as possible. I had dodged the bullet for now, but who knows what this crazy dude would do to me if I lingered a bit too long for its liking.

“Ohhh, and would you look at that! You have luck points! How rare!” It seemed focused on its own system window as it continued talking. “Well, now I’m wondering if it was actually my decision to spare you or if you just got… lucky.”

“I actually don’t really know how the luck stat works,” I replied meekly. This wasn’t the kind of attention I wanted right now. Also, didn’t its surprise mean that it couldn’t actually see my status? How the hell did it know what points to demand in the transaction then?

“Yes, it is quite an interesting attribute. You’ll find out eventually,” the voidling was looking back at its system window. “But well, it is true that I gave my word, and far be it from me to dishonor my promise. You were quite cooperative after all. Well then, off you go, and I’d recommend not coming back.”

“Ah yes, I’ll do my best not to,” I said, happy that I wasn’t being held prisoner any longer. “You wouldn’t happen to have any tips on how to avoid that situation?”

“Oh I do,” the voidling nodded again. “But I already spared your life so don’t push your “luck”. How about I sell you the info for the rest of your luck points?”

“I’d like to hang on to what I have left, if that is agreeable with you,” I said carefully.

“Quiet alright, it is understandable, and you’re probably gonna need all the luck you can get, now that you’re significantly weaker than before,” the voidling taunted me. “Now my name is Kamleguunior, it’s the least I could tell you now that we are… business partners.

I could feel something collide with me as I got pushed away again. The voidlings face rapidly faded into the distance until it vanished out of sight.

“Good luck! You’re going to need it.”