Nameless King

Wain spent quite a bit of time choosing to improve his skills, but he was pleased with the result. He decided which direction he would take and learned a lot.

He wanted to try different directions but not go ten ways at once. He chose some interesting options, but he tried to stick to his fighting style.

Step. Step. Step.

Suddenly there were footsteps behind him, and Wain saw Black Rabbit walking in his direction. Behind Mimic came many goblins, several ice golems, and large beasts.

While Wain was reading the skill descriptions, Black Rabbit was already ready to turn Delicate Icefruits and Ice Crystals into a kind of potion.

In fact, the most accurate definition would not be a low-quality potion but a simple concoction of the two components.

The goblins also carried a massive cauldron and other things necessary for gathering and processing the fruit.

'Looks like I trusted him for a reason. That's good, I'm lucky, I have two territories in Void and have two a person to help make this place better and stronger.' Wain thought.

Wain didn't talk to Black Rabbit, he just nodded and went on his way. His Seal of Darkness glowed brightly, and he headed for the spatial rift. It used to be quite a problem to find it even with the Seal of Darkness activated, but now the situation was different.

p Thanks to the fact that his Seal of Darkness was rank two, he could find spatial rips at great distances from himself. Now it was as visible to him as a firefly at night.

Whoooosh.

Wain walked up to the ice wall, and it turned to ink. He stepped inside and found himself in a place that was already familiar and even cozy to him. There were, as always, three doors in front of him.

One led to Sven's bar, the second was a gateway to the Frozen Land, and the third was a door of ink behind which the unknown Void was hiding.

'Hmm, by the way, Seal of Darkness of the second rank has another feature I haven't used yet. I can see the approximate Void danger level hiding behind the ink door.' Wain thought and decided to concentrate on this task.

He was curious to see what it looked like. Dungeons also had their own definition of power, indicated by crystals of different colors as well as the stripes beneath them. Wain didn't know exactly what it meant.

Whooooosh.

His Seal of Darkness glowed brightly, and a dark mist appeared over the inked door. Then it disappeared, and Wain saw a massive dial above the door.

It had a dark frame and a silver core. Various gears could be seen slowly turning and a muffled thumping sound. It looked like a costly watch created by a real master.

The hand of the clock was on the third bar and in the center of the dial was a pale blue crystal. Nothing else was visible, just the crystal and the location of the hour hand.

'Hmm, judging by the aura, it's First Chronicle Void, I can determine that unmistakably, but I still don't know what the other parameters mean. It looks like Dungeon, only in a different way.' Wain thought and headed for the wooden door.

Wain hadn't been to see Sven in a long time, and he wanted to ask him a lot of things. Also, Wain had six hundred First Chronicle Souls, which he would trade for Void Souls.

Click.

Wain opened the door and, a minute later, walked into the bar. Like before, anything could happen in the world, but this place wouldn't change. It would always be attractive and authentic.

Sven wiped down his glass as always and made sure the bar was in perfect condition. This was his little kingdom, where he was the sole ruler and owner.

"Welcome." Smiling, Sven said.

"It's always a pleasure to come back here. It's hard to find a place as safe and peaceful as this at the moment." Proclaimed Wain taking a seat behind the bar.

He slipped his hand under his raincoat and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. Wain slowly brought the engraved lighter to his mouth and, after a few seconds, exhaled a blue puff of smoke. It gradually turned into a tall glass and then dissipated.

"I see my cigarettes are to your liking."

"Yes." Slowly Wain replied, blowing out a puff of smoke. "I couldn't agree more. I can feel it trying to burn my lungs and throat. It feels good."

"In that case, I can recommend several kinds of lighters. I see you are a connoisseur and know your way around it. Your lighter is quite interesting, though, made of ordinary materials."

"No, it is not. It is a gift, and I doubt even you will have anything to replace it." Immediately Wain declined.

"I see. I didn't expect you to feel that way about gifts." Said Sven and set the crystal glass aside. "Shall we start as usual?"

"Yes." Wain nodded. "This time, I want a slightly sweet and rather strong cocktail."

"Sure, but pay it forward. One Void Soul." Sven said calmly.

Wain blew out a puff of smoke, and his palm glowed brightly. Ten white souls flew out of it and headed toward Sven the next moment. Last time Wain had found out what Sven's prices were, and to get one Void Soul, he needed ten First Chronicle Common Souls.

Given that Wain had 550 of those souls, plus he had forty Rare Ranks and ten Epic Ranks, he could get quite a few Void Souls.

"You're a pleasure to deal with." Sven said.

He headed to the counter and picked up three containers that gave off a chill. The temperature dropped immediately.

Click.

Sven opened the three containers and pulled out one fruit from each. One looked like a strawberry, only black with sparse white spots and purple leaves. The second looked like a small white fist-sized watermelon. The third looked like a nine-pointed star and was a nice yellow color.

This cocktail was much easier to make than the previous two because it only had four ingredients. In addition to fruit juice, Sven added a special blue liqueur and tossed in some spherical ice cubes.

"The cocktail, Sweet Natura, is ready." Smiling, Sven said.

Wain nodded and brought the glass to his mouth. He took a sip and felt a slight and barely perceptible but pleasant sweetness in his mouth. Then the strong liquor made his body feel hot.

"Huh, I never thought liquor could be so potent."

"It's not." Sven shook his head. "It's all about the nine-pointed star fruit I added. The rest of the fruit and the liqueur softened the drink."

"I see, good, then let's get down to business. Recently I wanted to improve one of my skills, and as usual, I saw what souls I needed. However, this time, I will also need Essence in addition to the souls. What is that, and how do I get it?"

"Sure, but five Void Souls first."

"The prices are gradually increasing..." Mumbled Wain, and fifty white souls flew out of his palm.

"I am one of the most honest merchants, I assure you. However, cheating and overpricing are indeed profitable, but I value my reputation." Sven said.

"Begin."

"That's a good question, and the answer is pretty simple. When you kill a monster with the ice attribute, then you get a soul with the same attribute, you know that. Essence can be extracted from creature souls as well as from various items. I see that you have one Void. Tell me, do you grow energy crystals there?"

Wain was a little surprised that Sven had brought up that he was the owner of a Void, but then realized that it was no surprise. Sven understood how the World of Darkness worked a hundred times better than he did. Anyone could learn such information.

"Yes, energy crystals with the ice attribute. I can use them to get Essence?"

"Exactly, all you have to do is extract energy from these crystals, and after a while, you get one Essence with the ice attribute. The same goes for souls, but in this case, you won't get Soul Essence and other bonuses since all the energy will be converted into Essence and attribute." Said Sven.

"Hmm, that turned out to be a lot easier than I thought." Said Wain, but suddenly he thought something was wrong.

Sven's face was strange. It was as if he was facing some problem he didn't want to talk about.

Sven sighed and said, "It's simple, but not in this case... There's one big issue..."

Wain was surprised. He had never seen Sven stammer or be unsure of his words before. Wain looked at him puzzled, waiting for an answer.

"As you know, I am a representative of the neutral zone, and I won't lie, I am as powerful and authoritative a person in the World of Darkness as any other representative of the neutral zone. Moreover, I am first of all an informer, then a bartender, and only then a merchant. So I know that you're human and why your race is unique."

After Sven's words, there was silence in the bar for a while. Wain was silent and pondered what he heard while Sven oversaw Wain's reaction.

"How much do you know about humans?" Wain asked.

Instead of an answer, however, he saw Sven's puzzled face.

'Wait... Doesn't Wain know anything about his race? Why is he asking me that? And why does he have such a confused expression on his face?'

When Sven first met Wain, he knew immediately that Wain was human. Sven was surprised but didn't show it since he had met and heard about them several times before.

He decided that Wain was one of the remaining humans and lived in the far corners of the universe where there were only lifeless lands.

Sven drew this conclusion because when Wain came to him, he was a Primary Chronicle creature and knew nothing of this world.

Sven decided that Wain was just lucky enough to stumble upon a test of the World of Darkness and begin his journey of conquering Voids and exploring spaces.

On their first meeting, Sven was surprised that Wain could single-handedly clear the Dungeon when less than a month had passed since the apocalypse began. However, Sven and Wain talked in slightly different terms even though they used the same word.

Since for Wain, the apocalypse was the destruction of the world he lived in, and that world was the only one. On the other hand, Sven knew that there were many dimensions, and they were all one big world.

For Sven, the apocalypse it was when Soul Essence appeared in a place where it had never been before. It was very rare and usually the beginning of something new.

Sven realized that it had happened recently because he could sense how much time had passed since Wain had received Soul Altar. It was the hallmark of all creatures in this world.

Everyone had Soul Altar from birth. Only exceptionally did creatures get Soul Altar while alive, and it only happened if the place they lived in for some reason didn't have Soul Essence yet.

This was only possible under one condition. The area had to fall into a spatial hole and be stuck at the border between time and space. It was possible to live on this land, but without Soul Essence.

However, Soul Essence was in every corner of the world and eventually got even into such places bringing them back in line with other spaces and giving creatures Soul Altars and unique powers. At least that was what Sven knew.

That's roughly what Ria thought when she saw Wain in the Purgatory zone. She decided that Wain had accidentally entered such a place when the rest of his race had disappeared without a trace and was considered extinct.

Even in the World of Darkness, few knew of this, but Sven was an informant and held the high ground. He knew that such precedents were theoretically possible, moreover, Wain was human, the most mysterious race that had long since disappeared.

So he accepted that Wain did not immediately receive Soul Altar because of the unique conditions.

"Well... this I did not expect, but since you paid me, I will try to tell you everything I know about humans."

It was surprising to Sven that Wain knew nothing about his race. His theory was that Wain had only recently escaped his spatial confinement because of the appearance of Soul Essence, but he was certain that even in that place, the other humans must have kept in contact with him.

So earlier, he would not ask Wain any questions even if he knew that Wain was human.

Sven did not want to allow even the slightest possibility of somehow spoiling his relationship with this problematic and mysterious race without getting almost anything in return. Even he knew rather little about humans.

"All right. I'm listening to you carefully. It's not very nice not even knowing who you are and who you were born into." Said Wain looking intently at Sven.