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  At long st, finally, a civil, diplomatic talk.

  All it took was to kill the king.

  Hah, well, the Tower is full of warm worlds; should I have expected anything less?

  The only way to make your enemy sit down and talk is to beat them down first.

  Very rarely will you find people willing to sit down and talk without showing them your actual strength.

  It seems that this w remains the same even now, after being gone from Murim for so long.

  It didn’t used to be this way oh, but now that it is ected to the Tower and one hundred different worlds, most of them in stant war against each other...

  I suppose these ws were brought here as well.

  North America, and I mean the whole ti and not just the try of the Uates, was unified by Caesar when he arrived here oh was ected to the Tower.

  He saved as many civilians as his army and forces could, created safe enviros in the rgest cities, and quickly took over the gover, which had already been almost destroyed by the Gates.

  In the end, as a queror, he had it pretty easy: a giant piece of fertile nd, millions of people for the workforce, and no prover after the White House was destroyed.

  I ’t really bme him; to be ho, he took an opportunity and helped is.

  If anything, although I don’t really like to admit it, he fits the criteria of what a “righteous” man is.

  Although attag me out of nowhere... It might not have been thteous of him, but more of an act of desperation and ruthlessness, ingrained into his own head by his tyrannical family and his father.

  But well, we are here together to talk about these things, not just about Yanisse’s whole deal but about everyone else present.

  And I am especially ied in the King’s past, his inal world, and where his wife es from.

  “Thank you again fing us here,” said Elphiette, drinking some of the tea I offered her. “This tea is really good and rexing. It feels like most of the tension I felt is gone. What blend is it?”

  “Three-Thousand-Year-Old Golden Dragon Grass, finely dried in the Sunlight of the Immortal Sunshine Valley.”

  “Huh?”

  “It’s something from Murim, the world I was teleported from, and the world I came from. This entire pagoda, and perhaps everything I possess, my strength, and my riches e from that world.”

  “Murim,” said the king. “I have never heard of a world with that name iower before. Is it a world that is not ected yet?”

  “I would assume so.” I nodded. “It’s probably much farther than you imagihe very ce I was sent back to Earth through a bck hole ure luck."

  “A bck… hole? Like those that appear withier os?!” asked Caesar. “T-The stists of some of the worlds my family has quered have said that the Outer os is filled with dangerous astral forms. Bck holes are born when a star dies. If you could survive su immense pressure that bends space itself, I never had a ce against you.”

  “Well, I wahings to be as fair as possible, so I didn’t use any teique or skill, only my swordsmanship.” I smiled. “It wouldn’t have been fun otherwise, wouldn’t it?”

  “That’s... I suppose,” Caesar sighed. “The more I learn about you, the more humiliating that fight feels.”

  “Let’s leave bygones be bygones,” I said. “More importantly, let’s begin our talk. Yanisse is here after all.”

  “Right,” the king nodded. “Yanisse, you had agreed to a tract with me; my kingdom would offer your try resources, and you would offer me your loyalty and strength. And not to join any anization.”

  “Yes, I know...” nodded Yanisse. “I ended up joining Bing Xue’s sect because of how great of an opportunity it would have been. I had been growing much stronger in just a week, all thanks to her teags.”

  “Sect?” Elphiette wondered. “ht, that anization she created... But how? Have you been helping them level up?”

  “No, it’s called cultivation; there might be other methods of cultivation out there, but the ones from Murim are much different and also much stronger,” I expined. “So within a week, all my disciples have at least bee ten times as strong as before.”

  “Ten times?!” asked the King. “But their levels have barely increased.”

  “Levels are tied to the System Status, my Cultivation is the ability to grow and develop internal power, their own strength,” I expined. “It is much different, and it also works on its own rules.”

  “Incredible…” Caesar seemed rather ied. “Anyways, I suppose this breach breaks our tract, Yanisse.”

  “I uand… I will take any bme you have against me, and it’s also no longer necessary to help my people from the mothernd,” Yanisse nodded. “I will find my own ways.”

  “Very well,” the king nodded.

  It seemed he wasn’t niough to give resources to the Russians out of goodwill; it was all a tract he had made with Yanisse, and now that it was broken, both parties simply decided to go back to how they were before.

  At least he’s not being possessive over her.

  “Don’t worry, if food and money are what your people need, I will gdly help them, Yanisse,” I smiled. “As my disciple, it’s the very least I could do for you.”

  “B-Bing Xue! But you’ve done so mue already.” Yanisse sighed, feeling flustered. “Please, that’s enough. I hahis. It has been years sihe tract was made. I have a lot of money saved myself, and I’m strong; I make more money.”

  “Hah… Very well, do as you please then,” I nodded. “But if something bad happens and you ’t hahe burden, I will always be there to lend a helping hand.”

  “Thank you… I really appreciate it. She blushed, holding my hand tightly. “You don’t know how much of a help you’ve been to me.”

  “It is fine, really.”

  I felt slightly flustered; she was so beautiful, even more up close.

  The King and Queen smiled slightly as they saw Yanisse holding my hand.

  “It seems Yanisse is much happier with her now,” the king sighed.

  “I’m gd that girl has gohrough so much.” Elphiette nodded.

  “Yeah… Let’s leave her be,” the King nodded. “What happens with my father... It is something I will take care of on my own.”

  So that problem is solved, but a new problem arises, and I am quite curious about a few other things too.

  “You called Yahe Vessel of the Void, and your father is also a ght?” I asked. “You said she was someone incredibly powerful and the key to attaining power beyond the tower’s limitations.”

  “Indeed,” he nodded. “Or well, that is what my father believes. The power of the Void is elusive, and beyond any world of the Tower, it is something that exists outside of it withier os. All worlds iower are ected and protected by the Tower Walls, so it isotes us from the Outer os, unlike Earth and other worlds it had just retly anchored into.”

  “Anchored…” I muttered. “This starts to sound weirder the more I hear about it. But let us go back to the topic first. Yanisse is indeed incredible; even for someone who spent eleven thousand years in Murim, her abilities are incredible and capable of ign her foe’s defenses entirely. Her void simply pierce through almost everything. The only way I’ve discovered to ter it is by wielding Void myself.”

  “S-So you’re also a wielder of the Void?” wohe King.

  “Yes, I’ve been learning and prehending the Dao of the Void for a while now, but I am nowhere he level of mastery that Yanisse has achieved since her awakening,” I ughed. “She’s incredible, without a doubt.”

  “I-I am not that amazing... My power only harm others; it is too dangerous. I always have to be careful. she sighed. “I still remember harming others by act because I didn’t know how to properly use this. But you proted heal others, even give them strength; you’re much more incredible, Bing Xue.”

  “Oh my, you’re fttering me so much! Are you in love with me or something?” I giggled.

  “E-Eh? W-Well… I-I wouldn’t deny I- Ah, right, we shouldn’t be talking about this. She muttered, quickly regaining her posure.

  “Ahem!” the King said. “Yes, she is truly powerful. Vessels of the Void are incredibly rare occurrehere’s only... a handful of gods that have a Divinity of the Void, and they’re all oop floors. They’re unreachable for my father. As he wants to attain the power of the Void, he pns to use Yanisse, once she grows strong enough, as his on.”

  “I k... So he really wanted her?” I nodded. “And a on? Yanisse is a person. Your father is quite fucked in the head.”

  “He indeed is,” the king admitted. “Father is a madman, a warm tyrant that only cares about waging war against worlds and abs their resources and people tthen our own. He always says this is “the tower’s way," but I’ve always thought his methods are too excessive.”

  “pared to his father, my husband’s quest was much gentler; he has been proteg the people, giving them new opportunities, and has not ensved anybody either,” said Elphiette. “He became the King of North America, but by helping the people that had already lost everything.”

  “I suppose, yes... I don’t like querors, though; I would rather leave the people of their worlds to govern themselves and decide their own fate rather than bee some kind of empress that ands everyone,” I sighed. “But it could be said he’s too good to only be called a lesser of two evils... I suppose he’s okay in my book.”

  “Now what is going to happen with your father, though?” wondered my mother, finally entering the versation. “Caesar, if you defied him now by giving away Yanisse, he wouldn’t take it kindly, I imagine.”

  “He won’t… But I don’t know what he would do,” said Caesar. “Father is very far away and busy. He sent all of his children to different worlds to... Well, quer them in his stead. I am one of the stro children he has, but I’ve also advanced my quest fairly slowly because I do not wish to kill is. I’ve promised my wife I won’t.”

  “I suppose he’s not an immediate dahen,” said Yanisse.

  “Hm…” Seth remained silent through the whole thing, but he clearly looked ed about something.

  “Seth?” I asked him through telepathic messages. “What’s wrong?”

  “Iimeline I e from, none of these things happened. After all, you weren’t there,” he told me through telepathy. “King Caesar and his entire family were killed by Raid, and so was almost the ey of North America. Only New York and two other cities were left; this pce will bee a wastend in one year.”

  “One year from now... a raid that powerful that could kill this man?” I asked him.

  “Yes… There’s still time to prepare, I hope,” he sighed. “The raid was from the Pantheon of the Gods on Floor 80.”

  “What happened after that?” I asked.

  “They begara of Earth’s resources; all the ores we had, which turned magical after the apocalypse due to the levels of mana transf our p, were precious. Large towers were also pnted, ied into the depths of the p’s core, abs its essence,” sighed Seth.

  “Floor 80, is it...?” I wondered. “Do you know anything about the Pantheon of Gods there?”

  “Very little… I never reached so far,” he sighed. “I was only able to climb to Floor 75. I visited the King’s inal world; his father didn’t even care that his son died. Irial, there was a tour against his knights; winning the tour allowed you to move on.”

  “Iing… I suppose I’ll have to ask Caesar here after all.”

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  Pach