A lot of time might seem to have gone by, but it was less than a minute between those three’s bodies getting snatched out of the waters and having them wiped out.
By the time Syc’closs and his other two companions realized that they had grossly underestimated Heliodor’s Raiders’ unique powers, Orr’Vekth and the other two’s names were already engraved on tombstones!
Two minutes into the game... The Drowned Court was down three members, with two of them being Tier 4 mercenaries.
As for Heliodor’s team? The viewers were left speechless at the sight of Jasmine sitting in a lady-like manner with legs tucked in next to the altar... A yellow scroll was floating in front of her while she was using a small brush, painting the island with black ink.
They thought she was fooling around with her hobby, but she was making sure that anyone daring to step inside the island would never make it out... That’s her role in this game: protecting their territory in case their strategies didn’t work out, and they had to retreat.
But, as Levi gazed at the spiritual auras of the remaining three nightcrawlers on the other side of the bridge, he could tell... the game was already over.
He switched his vision to the flying Judgement’s staff... his arm still shaking from the previous throw.
’I told you combining your powers is the key to powerful techniques with minimized energy loss.’ Ash’Kral smirked.
’I can see that... but, mastering Aether Resonance Javelin was a real pain in the ass.’ Levi replied, his mind reflecting the memories of twelve days ago... the day he created Aether Resonance Combustion System.
***
Twelve days ago...
Levi stood on top of a small mound with green prim grass... the mound was near the edge of a small floating island in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by Kleidoscopic void.
This was his own territory, which he purchased just a couple of minutes ago... Since such territory belonged to Nocturn’s Administration, Levi didn’t interact with anyone.
The moment he made his decision, he was shown a 2D map of the Boundless Expanse... with most territories split into jigsaw-like puzzle pieces (map fragments).
Then, it was split into four colors, each representing a map fragment type and its location... starting with Citadel rating fragments.
They were colored pitch-black, and there were nine major zones across the entire map, each representing a capital in a Sky Province and its surrounding towns and cities.
Provincial territories were connected to the nine major capitals and stretched around them like countries in different shapes and borders... Some Provinces were small, and some were massive enough; they were bigger than multiple provinces combined.
Though... all provinces were colored silver, differentiating between them were the floating numbers above... One to Nine.
The Nine Provinces didn’t have their borders connected... There was a separating river-like territory between each one.
This considerably small, thin-like territory was referred to as the true Borders, and was colored red... although it looked smaller than other territories, many nations were built on this long stripe.
That’s because Border-rating fragments were needed, and they were much cheaper and accessible than Province or Citadel types.
Since they were between Provinces, it gave them access to multiple Provinces at once if the borderline was connected to more than two!
In such situations, the price of those locations might be higher than in a random location inside a Province... Though... such territories were already sold and claimed.
Last but not least, the worst possible location to build a nation on... The Desolate Void.
Desolate fragments were colored white and situated at the far outer circle of the map, connecting to the borders.
It was the biggest piece of territory, with at least ten times the size of the other three types of territories combined.
In one of those white spots... if one zoomed really, really, close, they would see a jigsaw grid crafted out of an unknown amount of white fragments.
Amidst this sea of white... a hundred fragments connected were colored dark green... this was Levi’s purchased territory, as he had traded one hundred desolate fragments for this piece of Void.
The moment it was registered under his name, Nocturn’s Administration manifested a floating island out of nothingness with borders matching the size of the traded hundred fragments.
After all, not all fragments came with similar sizes... which added a Random Number Generator (RNG) into how the map fragments were awarded or purchased on the platforms.
He had chosen an area very close to Ash’Kral’s territory, making him able to see it as a tiny gray dot if he pushed his echolocation to its limit.
"You are now a proud Boundless Owner... How do you feel?" Ash’Kral asked, smirking faintly.
"Peace..." Levi smiled, "Now, I have my own personal sanctuary."
Levi understood that such a luxury wasn’t available to just anyone... even a Desolate territory was a dream of many, but none had what it took to own it.
After all, only TeraOwner rankers had the right to purchase a territory... the rest of Boundless Citizens could only rent.
To be a TeraOwner meant risking one’s life in the Nocturnal Ring... such exclusivity linked to life and death had separated Nocturnal Rifters from the rest.
Nocturn’s Administration was really serious about such ownerships falling into the hands of only TeraOwners, regardless of what generation they earned the rank in.
"It might be shitty, but it’s a start." Ash’Kral nodded, "If you want to upgrade or whatnot, you can always purchase fragments from the Infinity Shop."
Levi shook his head, "This is enough for now... The Omnipotent Level increases with my rank in the platform... so, space isn’t really important unless I want to create a Boundless Nation."
Levi had no plans to commit to this piece of territory... it was a peaceful sanctuary, but it was too far from everything. Investing money in it was the same as throwing it into an ocean.
Just like the real world’s real estate... the property’s value was based mostly on the location. Thus, Levi could invest all he wanted in it; once he decided to sell or such, he would take a massive loss on it.
"Once I get my business running in a capital, I will start considering investing in a Province or Border Territory to put my warehouses and limit the transportation distance."
Levi had done some research on the business side of the Boundless Expanse... He found that he needed a warehouse for his products since he couldn’t store them in the shop.
He would barely have space for his displayed product, let alone having it as a warehouse... thus, a massive warehouse was a must, and it needed to be in the Province or at least the Borders closest to the capital for the sake of being near the transportation gates.
This piece of dirt? It was so far from civilization, Levi would drop dead from old age before crossing a tenth of the distance.
Still, it was his own piece of dirt, and Levi was proud of it.
"Now... let’s start the training." Levi cracked his knuckles, "You spoke about a method to combine abilities from different powers... How does that work exactly?"
"Well, for others with shadowlife seeds, they needed a high access above 30% to even consider visualizing a technique from two different aspects... but for you?" Ash’Kral smiled, "All you need is creativity, logic, and a decent resonance of 5%."
"I got the resonance access part handled..." Levi murmured, "So, creativity and logic."
The moment Levi got access to Aether energy, he knew it was time for some combos to emerge... he couldn’t do the same with Sunflame and Darkness Aspects since his access was still stuck at 0%, but it was different for the Nine Senses.
They were part of a single seed, which gave him the option.
"Aether, Sound, and Spiritual energy... if we consider physical as mass, spiritual as will, and Aether as the bridge... then, where can I add sound in the equation to give me the best results?"
The first idea that came to Levi was using sound waves to interact with Aether energy... he knew that sound was more than a mere echo. It was energy in motion... a wave that could push, tear, and shape matter depending on his level of control.
The power wasn’t just noise and loudness... it was precise calculation, as certain frequencies resonated with specific objects.
For example, if a sound matched the natural frequency of a glass, it could cause the glass to vibrate violently and shatter. This was called Resonance .
"I know every object and energy has a natural frequency at which it naturally likes to vibrate. A guitar string, air, or whatnot... each has its own ’preferred’ vibration."
Levi rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he gazed at the concentrated green Aether energy on his fingers.
"Doesn’t this mean Aether energy also has its natural frequency, allowing me to interact with it through sound? Just like I did with dark energy?"
Levi knew that if he were to apply sound at the same frequency as Aether energy, it would vibrate more strongly... if he were to amplify it to the point it exploded... he would have achieved Resonance through Aether energy!
"I was using echo forging on the chains and compressed air stored in the rifle’s stock to explode the air pockets within... This helped me create a combustion-like system to fire my sound and Sunflame bullets. But, if I were to include Aether energy as the target of resonance... the bullets’ speed might hit hypersonic... also, my spiritual bullets will be propelled at a similar insane speed, instead of me using my will to fire them."
Unlike Ignition marks and sound bullets, spiritual bullets weren’t affected by air resonance... they needed a medium, and at the time, Levi didn’t have decent spiritual control to pull it off with sound alone.
However, when Aether energy was involved, everything changed... Levi realized that if his theory succeeded, he would be using both sound and Aether energy as mediums for spiritual attacks and physical attacks.
"Ash’Kral... what do you think?" Levi asked his mentor.
"Not bad..." Ash’Kral smiled, "Your theory is correct... Aether energy does have a frequency, and by tapping into it, by matching it, you can interact with it at a surface level."