Chapter 324: Hollow Beast’s Whereabouts, Emperor-Rank, Freya: I can sense Tiamat’s aura
The island was strange and Caelus couldn’t understand why.
This was clearly an inner world, but at the same time, there was no life here at all.
Only a plain landscape stretched before them, empty and silent.
He activated his Life Bringer talent’s vision and scanned the entire area carefully.
The only life energy he could detect came from the glowing trees scattered across the terrain.
Nothing else existed here, no animals, no insects, no creatures of any kind.
It made him wonder where this place had come from.
He turned to Sylvia with a thoughtful expression.
"I think this is a fragment of the Domain," he said.
"A fragment of the Domain?" Sylvia was taken aback hearing this.
"Yep," Caelus nodded slowly. "I can feel a presence similar to the Origin Ascension Domain inside here, the energy signature is almost identical."
The crystalline fragment that had merged with him earlier materialized in his palm, glowing softly with blue and violet light.
He flicked it toward Sylvia casually.
"Try feeling it for yourself."
The moment Sylvia’s fingers touched the fragment, her eyes went wide.
A notification appeared in her vision.
[Bottleneck of Ascension Cleared]
[You have reached Master Rank]
[Level: 50 → 1]
[Combat Score: 26.11 (Elite) → 29.11 (Master)]
Both of them stared at each other in complete shock.
"It can do that?" Caelus was pleasantly surprised by this discovery.
Their previous suspicion of it being an Origin Ascension Domain fragment was now even more certain.
But how did this land on Earth?
Sylvia studied the fragment in her hand with amazement before looking back at Caelus.
"But how did a fragment of this world cross into our world?" she asked. "The Origin Ascension Domain is a virtual world, right?"
Caelus tilted his head at her question.
"Is it really a virtual world, though?"
The Origin Ascension Domain had always felt incredibly real, and the Origin Network overlooked everything within it.
On that note, he always had this one question: Was the Origin Network actually the Axiom Origin?
Before, he had assumed that was the case, but something deep inside him said that was no longer true.
He couldn’t understand it all too well.
Hence, he decided to ask the Origin Network itself.
It considered him a sugar baby after all, so maybe it would answer his questions directly.
He focused his mind and sent multiple queries toward the familiar system interface.
Nothing came back.
No response at all, just empty silence where the Origin Network’s voice should have been.
He frowned at the lack of answers.
Just then, something caught his eye in the distance.
A small stone slab sat half-buried in the ground near the center of the island.
"Sylvia, look over there."
They moved swiftly toward the slab and stood before it together.
Foreign words covered the surface of the stone, strange symbols that made no sense at first glance.
But as they watched, the symbols began shifting and rearranging themselves into readable text.
[The Hollow Beast is slumbering inside the Pocket Dimension in Antarctica.]
"What?" Caelus was taken aback by this.
"What the heck," he muttered. "Straight to the point, huh?"
More text appeared on the slab as they continued reading.
[The Hollow Beast was going to end this world 100 years ago, but a group of aliens arrived on Earth and sealed the beast in Antarctica, buying humanity more time.]
[This World Fragment is what was left behind by those aliens, and this fragment is the key to opening the pocket dimension in Antarctica.]
Caelus and Sylvia exchanged stunned glances before returning their attention to the stone.
[I am John Tutor, an Ace-Rank player. If you are seeing this message, then chances are I am already dead and the fragment fell into someone else’s hands.]
[I left this message right before I attempted my Emperor-Rank Ascension Quest, which means I most likely died while attempting it.]
[I used to be a member of the Boundless Light Faction, but with my disappearance, my followers were most likely purged by the Biblical Faction.]
[I don’t know how long the seal of the Hollow Beast will last, but once it begins loosening, according to the aliens, there will be signs. One of them is spatial rifts appearing across the world.]
[This Hollow Beast has immense power over space and is most likely at the Emperor-Rank.]
Caelus’s expression grew more serious with every line he read.
[The aliens also left a beacon to me, which I placed inside my Boundless Light Faction headquarters. But if I’m not wrong, the Biblical Faction must have already taken it for themselves.]
[Please, if you are seeing this, find the beacon and summon the aliens. They are the only ones that can deal with Hollow Beasts.]
The message shifted tone slightly.
[Unless the Enders descend onto Earth.]
[Enders are apex beings that can reach Emperor-Rank even when the world they are in is only tier 1. It’s said that if people of a tier 1 world have a success rate of 10%, an Ender or a God has 100% success rate.]
[Enders are beings of war and endless power. If you find an Ender, please ask them to reach Emperor-Rank fast, and never mess with an Ender. They are beings capable of worldly destruction.]
[When I say worldly destruction, I don’t mean a planet. Even a Peak Emperor-Rank is conditioned to be a being capable of entering the world outside the confines of our atmosphere and destroying a moon.]
[But that’s nothing compared to the world-ending powers of an Ender.]
Sylvia glanced at Caelus with complicated emotions in her crimson eyes.
The message continued.
[But I would still say use the beacon to summon the aliens. They might have ulterior motives with the Hollow Beast, but it’s better than asking an Ender for help. They are bringers of war and destruction.]
[This island is something I created after my space skill reached a certain stage at Ace-Rank, which is the Rank after King-Rank. It’s nothing much, but I am one of the best people that can use the Space Attribute.]
[Also, a word of advice: make sure to develop your Aura. It’s necessary for higher stages.]
With that, the slab went dark.
"The best Space Attribute user?" Caelus muttered thoughtfully.
It reminded him of Space King Sterling immediately.
He glanced at Sylvia with a curious expression.
"What do you think?"
"I don’t know what to say," she admitted. "This is a lot to process all at once."
Caelus nodded in agreement.
They had come here expecting answers, but instead, they had found even more questions.
The portal behind them still swirled with spatial energy, waiting to take them back to the real world.
"Let’s return for now," Caelus said. "We can figure out our next move once we’re back."
Sylvia took his hand and they stepped through the vortex together.
Light surrounded them briefly before fading away.
They reappeared inside Sterling’s penthouse, the elderly man still standing by the window where they had left him.
He turned toward them with a calm expression, though his eyes carried obvious curiosity about what they had discovered.
Caelus wasted no time.
"Elder Sterling," he said directly, "is your family name Tutor?"
Sterling froze completely at the question.
His composed demeanor cracked for just a moment, surprise flashing across his features before he regained control.
"That is indeed my family name," he confirmed.
Sylvia and Caelus both fell silent hearing this.
Is this perhaps fate?
Before anyone could speak further, Caelus’s phone suddenly rang.
He pulled it from his pocket and checked the screen.
It was Freya.
He answered quickly and brought the device to his ear.
"Big Brother Origin!" Freya’s excited voice burst through the speaker. "I can sense Tiamat’s aura now!"
Caelus’s eyes widened slightly at her words.
"Oh? And where is she?"