[RAY’S POV]
As I walked through the quiet corridors of the Transcendent Circle Headquarters, my mind wasn’t occupied by the mission Executive Kevin had just entrusted to me.
Instead...
It unconsciously drifted back through the past ten years.
Ten years.
Sometimes, even I found it difficult to believe that ten years had passed since I was nothing more than an ordinary student struggling to survive within the Academy, constantly worrying about my own future while believing that reaching the Saint Rank one day would already be the greatest achievement of my life.
Looking back now...
That version of me felt unbelievably distant.
The moment the Dimensional Crack vanished after those incomprehensible existences shifted entire worlds and fused them together, every plan I had made simply ceased to exist overnight.
I still remember the panic that spread throughout the World of Beasts as every creature, from the weakest to the strongest, instinctively sensed an invisible pressure descending upon the world, causing countless beasts to abandon their territories and flee without direction while the entire world remained shrouded beneath an oppressive atmosphere that made even breathing feel unusually difficult.
At that time, I didn’t know what had happened.
I didn’t know what those existences were.
Nor did I know whether I would ever find a way back home.
The only thing I knew...was that surviving came first.
Taking advantage of the chaos, I continuously hunted those beasts that had once hunted me, relying upon ambushes, traps, and countless underhanded methods whenever direct confrontation wasn’t possible, because in that world there was no honor, no fairness, and certainly no room for pride when a single mistake could cost me my life.
Every single day became an endless cycle of fighting, recovering, completing System Quests, becoming stronger, and throwing myself into even more dangerous battles than before, until somewhere along the way I gradually stopped noticing the passage of time altogether.
The more difficult the battles became, the more generous the System’s rewards seemed to grow.
Sometimes it rewarded me with Skills.
Sometimes with Affinities.
Sometimes with treasures that I had never even heard of before.
There were even moments when my Attributes broke beyond their supposed limits, something that shouldn’t have been possible according to everything I had learned back in Akumia, yet the System never offered any explanation, merely continuing to issue Quest after Quest as though it had expected me to walk that path from the very beginning.
Of course...
I wasn’t foolish enough to question rewards that made me stronger, but I also didn’t trust the system fully.
It was just a nagging feeling, but after Ash warned me, I also become cautious.
Three years passed in what felt like the blink of an eye.
During that time, I stepped into the Legendary Rank, crossed into the Mythical Rank, advanced through the Saint Rank, and eventually broke into the Demi-God Realm, a journey that countless geniuses would require centuries to complete, yet one that became my reality through endless battles fought upon the edge of death.
Fortunately...
I was never truly alone.
Although I had no master to guide me, Aetheris filled that role perfectly, constantly correcting my mistakes, tempering my foundation, and ensuring that my Body, Soul, Energy, and Mind advanced together instead of allowing one aspect to outpace the others.
Without him...
I probably would have died countless times over.
Even after reaching the Demi-God Realm, I never left the Region, that was previous known as the World of Beasts.
The reason was simple.
The Semi-Divine Beast.
The Rune it possessed had become my objective from the very beginning, and after surviving that place for three years, there was no way I intended to leave empty-handed.
That battle...
Lasted two entire days.
Even now, remembering it sends a chill through my body.
No matter how many wounds I inflicted upon that monstrous creature, it simply refused to fall, forcing me to push every Skill, every ounce of Mana, every drop of Willpower, and every fragment of my strength beyond their limits until, at the very end, I finally managed to bring it down.
That was also the day I obtained my first Rune.
Only after absorbing it did I finally leave the World of Beasts behind.
Soon afterward...
I encountered a member of the Transcendent Circle.
To this day, I still don’t know whether that meeting was coincidence or fate, but after witnessing my strength and talent, he brought me back to the headquarters, where my life once again changed completely.
Not long after arriving...
An opportunity that countless cultivators could only dream of was placed before me.
The Eternal Supreme himself offered to accept me as his direct disciple.
I was ready to agree.
Then...
Aetheris stopped me.
He never explained why.
Even now, I still don’t know his reason.
But I never questioned that decision.
If there was one existence whose judgment I trusted without hesitation, it was Aetheris.
Instead of becoming someone’s disciple, I remained masterless.
At the same time, I stepped onto the Path of Transcendence while continuing to walk the Path of Genesis, something that made cultivation significantly more difficult, yet also allowed me to build a foundation that few others could compare against.
Two more years quietly passed.
I reached the God Rank.
Another year later...
I stood at its very peak.
During that time, my Soul Flame continued evolving, my Immortal Seal advanced steadily, and I repeatedly attempted to comprehend the Rune I had obtained, only to realize just how insignificant my previous understanding had been.
Even after all these years...
Even after devoting countless days solely to comprehension...
I had only managed to understand around 0.001% of its entirety.
It was... absurd.
I didn’t know why, but I felt pity for Ash.
For the past four years, I had remained in uninterrupted seclusion, continuously polishing every aspect of my cultivation while deliberately suppressing my breakthrough into the Celestial Realm, hoping to strengthen my foundation further and deepen my understanding of the Rune before taking that next step.
If Executive Kevin hadn’t personally summoned me...
I probably wouldn’t have emerged from seclusion for several more years.
Yet...
As I continued walking through the silent corridor, one word from Executive Cael’s briefing continued echoing within my mind.
Anomaly...
Could it really be Ash...?
I honestly wasn’t sure.
After all, the only Anomaly I had ever known was Ash Burn.
Over the past few days, I had watched countless videos related to the Absolute Anomaly, studied every piece of information released by the three great organizations, and even carefully analyzed the battle of the Endless Ocean.
Yet despite all that...
I still couldn’t convince myself that the person in those recordings was truly him, because the person he saw was not the Ash he knew.
Or perhaps...
I simply didn’t want to jump to conclusions.
{What will you do... if that Anomaly really is the Ash you once knew? After all, he has Runes, changing his race and body structure would not be an impossibility for him.}
Aetheris suddenly spoke.
His voice had become much deeper than before, carrying an ancient calmness and wisdom that naturally emerged as more of the seals placed upon him gradually broke over the years, allowing fragments of his true memories and personality to slowly return.
I remained silent for a while before finally answering.
...I don’t know.
Strangely enough, I don’t think I feel anything toward him anymore.
Neither hatred... nor sympathy.
I slowly let out a quiet breath.
Back then, I was frustrated because he always seemed to stay one step ahead of me, and I constantly wondered how he kept obtaining things that should have been impossible.
Now... after walking this path myself, I finally understand just how absurd those achievements actually are.
My fingers unconsciously tightened around the hilt of Aetheris.
I know what I had to endure just to obtain a single Rune.
I know how many times I nearly died for it.
So if he truly possesses more Runes than I do... then I can only imagine what kind of path he must have walked to obtain them.
If anything... I think I respect that.
Aetheris remained silent for a brief moment before asking another question.
{Even if that path required him to kill countless people?}
My footsteps gradually slowed.
...That depends.
If he is killing innocent people without reason, then I won’t stand by and pretend not to see it.
But if those deaths are merely the result of people trying to kill him first...
I quietly shook my head.
Then I don’t think I have the right to judge him.
If someone had hunted me the way the entire Realm is hunting the Anomaly now... I honestly don’t know whether my hands would have remained any cleaner than his.
Aetheris remained silent.
Perhaps he had already obtained the answer he was looking for.
As for me, I no longer wished to dwell on a possibility that hadn’t even been confirmed.
Speculating about whether the Anomaly was Ash or not wouldn’t change anything.
If fate truly intended for our paths to cross again...
Then that day would eventually come.
Until then...the only thing I needed to do was fulfill the task entrusted to me.
Slowly raising my head, I looked through the enormous glass windows lining the corridor, my gaze falling upon the countless floating islands that formed the headquarters of the Transcendent Circle.
A faint smile unconsciously appeared on my face, as he finished thinking about those ten long years.
Without lingering any longer, I turned around and walked toward the teleportation formation prepared for long-distance deployments.
And whether the person who eventually appeared turned out to be the mysterious culprit...
Or...
The one called the Absolute Anomaly...
I intended to discover the truth with my own eyes.
Ash...
If it really is you...
Then let’s see just how far both of us have come.
As the teleportation formation slowly lit up beneath my feet, my figure quietly disappeared from the headquarters, beginning a journey that neither I nor anyone else could have predicted.
****