It was a dilemma that didn't seem to have an obvious answer. However… Zarek's way of thinking about things had always been different from others. He had picked up on clues that most would overlook, but some would be missed only because they were so obvious that one might not even think to second guess it.
For example…
What the hell was this place in the first place?
On the surface, it seemed to be like the system's backyard or something. That made sense. After all, he had gotten here by going through a portal opened up by the Hub. Wasn't it obvious that that was what this place was, then?
But if this was just a normal place the system spawned Lurkers from, then where were the other Lurkers? And if this was the jurisdiction of the system, wouldn't that Compass have just been sending him to die?
And then there was the most obvious thing of all.
Why would his Hero Spirit be with the system in the first place?
The answer was that this wasn't the so-called system's backyard at all. This was more like a shared space, a location in the universe that… spawned things, for lack of a better way of phrasing it.
If Zarek had to guess, this was probably a place trapped in limbo. Time and space probably moved oddly here, or at least relatively compared to something else. Maybe because he was here, it was moving forward. But if he wasn't here, then it could easily be going in reverse, or something else entirely.
That was to say if Zarek was normal, and not a Rebirther, when he was trying to exit this place he could very well easily end up a thousand years in the past or ten thousand years in the future. This "Hero" really was playing with fire.
'No… the compass could probably help me out with that. But it would probably take me months to run back to the location I entered from and that would put me over my six month limit. So, no can do.'
If this place had such weird time laws and such, from what Zarek knew about time, what he could be looking for might very well be standing in the same exact location he was in right this moment, just displaced through time.
If one imagined the universe like a black sphere, all of the "stuff" that made up things or the living would only take up a tiny fraction of a fraction of it.
That was to say that space was so much wider than what actually existed to fill it that if randomly dropped somewhere, you could probably walk aimlessly forever and never run into anything.
However, even in space… you could see things. You could see stars from a distance, at the very least.
What if, though, you added a fourth dimension to that. Not just up, down, left and right, but also time itself? If you displaced things not just randomly through space, but also through time, would you even be able to see anything if everything could only exist at their instant and never at any other?
The Hero had said that he spread himself out through every instant of time. So that should be why he could speak to Zarek. But he had also said that it was a mistake for him to do this because it effectively gave the system the same abilities.
That was when the system started creating Rebirthers and such.
Obvious, that was the headliner. But how did it apply to Zarek's situation?
What if rather than looking for what he needed through space, sweeping an area he already knew had nothing at all… he should instead be looking through time?
Once again, Zarek was in luck. Someone else would be finished, not knowing what to do at this point. But Zarek… well, he was a Rebirther, granting him one of the rarest affinities in all of existence in spades.
Seeing through time was what he did best. He just had to focus his mind.
And luckily for him, he had the Charisma needed to do exactly that.
He began to change the way he looked at the world, weaving out tendrils of Harmonic Recall in a limited area.
He didn't need to go too far. If he was looking through time, why should he? It was as good as looking through infinite space.
And then he found it.
A Lurker.
It didn't even notice that he was there, its ability to see through time clearly nonexistent.
It radiated a powerful aura, one stronger than any Lurker Zarek had ever seen before.
'Too strong.'
Zarek was about to dismiss it. He couldn't take on an A Class like that right now, but then he paused.
This situation was a bit unique. Before he dismissed a chance like this one, he should be thinking about how he was actually going to make use of them first.
Now that he knew that finding them wasn't a problem, what about the next step?
What he needed to rely on was obvious: the Grafting ability of Axiograft. It was what had allowed him to reattach his own arm before, though it had likewise limited his ability.
But this time, there was obviously none of his arm to use. So what was he going to do? Graft the entire body of the Lurker?
'And give up my handsome face? Impossible.' Zarek scoffed.
No. His plan was to reconstruct his body with the Lurker as an energy source. He felt that it should be possible, especially since their Godsfall Intent should match. But…
'I'll have to forge my own Godsfall Intent Pathways first… If I can do that, then the healing process will trigger on its own even without Axiograft…'
The trouble was that the formation of Godsfall Intent Pathways was the process of an S Class breakthrough.
Theoretically, he could do it. But the body that reformed around it wouldn't be able to keep up.
He couldn't just magically progress himself through so many breakthroughs in a single bound. Charisma alone had already almost killed him.
'No, there has to be another way.'
Zarek just floated there, thinking for a moment until he noticed something.
'This barrier… is it what's keeping me alive?'
The reason Zarek couldn't just form a powerful body to match his Charisma right now was that while his Charisma was nearly at the pinnacle of the S Class right now, his soul was still very much lacking.
He had the soul of a C Class trying to wield around the consciousness of an S Class. It was worse than a baby trying to swing around a sledgehammer.
With such a weak soul, he should have already begun to dissipate. But it seemed that he hadn't because the barrier that had been around his Hero Spirit was still there, keeping him intact. But from what he could see, given enough time, it would dissipate.
Zarek suddenly grinned.
He knew exactly what to do now.
When he first unlocked S Class Scouting, he noticed that the Matrices on the aura barrier around him reminded him so much of himself, whispering Ashborn Demon to him again and again.
That was because… it was himself.This chapter was made possible by the MV_LEMPYR community.
Rather than trying to get the system to trigger the healing process for himself through Godsfall Intent Pathways, why not use his own aura instead? All of the Matrices that mapped out his body were imprinted right into the barrier.
He hadn't thought to try and use Comprehend and Imprint to trigger the healing of his body through Godsfall alone because he didn't have the skill to do that.
He could break down [Ash Reborn] into Matrices, but his own body? He didn't have the expertise, and his own body obviously wasn't here to use Harmonic Recall on to try and comprehend it.
But if he could use this aura barrier as the template of Matrices he needed instead, then he could take advantage of his new S Class Charisma and the Lurkers to power through.
Normally, he wouldn't have enough Charisma to successfully complete such a large task without passing out, nor would he have enough Godsfall.
But now… he had a nigh infinite supply of both.
The only question that remained was how he was going to snatch away the Godsfall of Lurkers so much more powerful than himself.
His grin only widened. He knew exactly how he would do that.
This aura barrier had left him completely immobilized and then it directly killed him despite it being himself.
He had a feeling that these Lurkers would fare even worse. All he had to do was move their position in the timeline with a little push and then…
BANG!
The Lurker had only just appeared in the barrier when it shattered into a rain of black blood and Godsfall.
Zarek's laughter filled the skies as he began to activate Graft.
This was it. He was going to reform his own body and no one could stop him.
When he succeeded, this new body of his would have the foundation of three lifetimes.