Chương 46: Chapter 43: Vacuous Lessons

Even with the guidance of the stars, it was really hard for Nolotl to guide himself in the directionless void. Even the shining nebulae and quasars gave him no reference whatsoever, as if the information failed to penetrate into his skull.

"Wait…" That thought made him realize something.

"I wasn't lost when I came here with the Simulacrum and there are only two differences from back then. My physical body and my concentration." The answer instantly came after that, which forced the diviner to sigh.

"Let's hope I don't regret this…" Fortunately for him, Vacuous Filtration wasn't a binary spell so he could decide the magnitude of the information the spell filtered. Ignoring the effects of the Void had both positives and negatives. In the case of the akyromancer assassin, that allowed him to detect their presence as Voidform lost a fraction of its effectiveness. But whilst standing in the middle of the cosmos, those effects were quite different.

For better or worse, the Void Tower was trying to communicate with him, offering guidance like his Starguided did. It wasn't to the extent of a divination like Dijkstra's Routing but once he lowered the filtration of the spell's information, he was able to know where up was up and down was down. Not a lot of information, but certainly one that was appreciated as he now could locate himself in the tower.

"Ah, this is way better." Before he had felt blind, or more accurately it would be to say that his metaphorical vision was blurry. But now he was back to his pristine senses.

"It seems that actively choosing to not acknowledge the Void's existence when I'm surrounded by it can have consequences. I'll keep a note of it." After his sense had been recovered, so was his presence of mind as he recalled that the center of the Void Tower wasn't typical low gravity as he could push himself against the air and quite literally swim in it. This meant that he was no longer floating adrift, but instead with purpose as both Perfect Recollection and Dijkstra's Routing guided him to Beta's chambers.

Perhaps the Empyrean of Void was immune—or at least absurdly resistant—to divinations, but her room was not.

"Though it would be bad luck if she wasn't there…" He dismissed that thought, not wanting his whole rhapsody to have been for naught. The Simulacrum and the Void Tower Master had made it look simpler than it was, but Nolotl did have some limited experience flying and, technically speaking, he had already done this, so it was only a matter of seconds before he got a decent-ish hang of weightless three-dimensional movement.

He could feel the guidance of the stars clearer than before after toning down Vacuous Filtration but still keeping it at a high-enough level that his mind wasn't assaulted by the Void any more than this.

"Hmm, the guidance of the tower is somewhat stronger than common starlight even with Vacuous Filtration still active, but far far worse than the total celestial alignment," he mused as he slowly swam toward his fellow's room.

"If the Void Tower benefits from the cosmological event too then maybe I could just start doing any rituals here." He doubted that would be the case, but the Void Tower worked as a perfect deterrent for ambushes as not only any would-be-ambushers would need to constantly fight the status effects, but they would also get a Tower Master's attention. And if he had any luck, then maybe Tramma Dol could make short work of them. Especially the akyromancer assassin.

Nolotl's thoughts for the new and unpredictable ambush came to an end as he carefully pressed his foot back on the ground, his body becoming a bit disoriented from the sudden weight, but otherwise, he was unharmed. Void assimilation progressed by 1%.

"I'm not going to say no to that. It seems that practice will help more than theory as I've been able to experience the effects of Void in my body with this outing," the diviner was a bit sour that his week of practice with the sonomancy hadn't brought any progress, but this free percentage helped mitigate that loss of time.

"This brings me back on track. Well, even more on track." Enantyum had given him 550-ish days to completely assimilate Void, which translated into 1% of progress every 5 days. If he continued to assimilate the Alignment at that speed, then he would be in the clear. Especially now that he was one ninth of the way done with this new advancement. Hoping that Beta's workshop-bedroom wasn't deserted, Nolotl knocked where the door should be.

Of course, he could only sense infinite void, but the hollow sound that the knocking made told him that it was indeed a door. He waited for a couple of minutes before knocking again as he expected some foul play knowing how Beta behaved. His prejudices proved to be true as he had to knock a third time, and only then did the akyromancer open the door.

"I really hoped you would just forget about this apprenticeship thing," she opened the door whilst wearing the hood of her robe, only allowing him to see her hands and lower jaw as she was also hunchbacked.

"What we have here is not an apprenticeship, but I guess it technically counts as one," his innate pedantism forced him to first clarify that.

"But no, I won't forget about it. I really need to assimilate this element." My life literally depends on it, he didn't mention that last part. Though this arises the question if I can speak with people about the time loop. Yet another question that I need to ask Enantyum whenever I see him. The earliest would be three weeks from now at the gathering of empyreans. But also knowing him, something tells me he will just disappear without allowing me to talk with him.

"Oh, well. I guess I could use some help," Beta spoke that word with a kind of aversion that Nolotl didn't know that existed.

"Considering you've brought your actual body, I guess you will be more helpful now." Disregarding the door, the akyromancer walked away toward her workshop, leaving the gnosiamancer to close it behind him. The instant the room was sealed, Nolotl felt more comfortable, the influences of the Void suddenly muted. Well, at least that means I can practice Ode to Silence without worrying about getting my mind infiltrated by eldritch beings. … more eldritch beings.

The Ehecatl had been 'harmless' for the three weeks he had known it, but his paranoia didn't allow him to relax. He had read too many horror stories about mind possessions to not worry about it. Leaving the cognitive parasite alive was only the lesser evil. Perhaps his new mind didn't grant him a new concentration slot, but it doubled his mental capacities still. Even though a week had passed, the blackboard still remained in the workshop.

Beta took one look at the scribblings on it and without thinking twice she distorted reality, rifts in the fabric of the Physicality appearing distorting the light and creating impossible black light back, only for them to disappear the next instant, leaving the blackboard clean of chalk.

"All of that to wipe the chalk?" Nolotl incriminated her.

"To clean it up," Beta corrected.

"If I had wiped it, it would have left a mess. But with this, I've completely erased any trail."

"Yes, and that's very scary." Physics lessons told him that completely erasing matter from existence wasn't something that should be done or that should happen, but the akyromancer didn't catch the memo that they were called laws of physics and not suggestions of physics.

"What's that spell even called?"" Selective Destruction," she casually mentioned, summoning a new stick of chalk in the meantime with her Inner Abyss Boon.

"And that sounds even scarier," the diviner didn't want to know what that spell even implied. Especially after considering the Void Archmagi's claim on his fellow Empyrean power.

"So, did you manage to cast the spell?" Beta asked whilst tapping the chalk on her palm, something that seemed to come naturally to her.

"No," Nolotl shook his head in denial.

"I was able to cast—well, I'm currently casting— Vacuous Filtration because it's a first tier spell and I have a lot of bonuses to divination, but these bonuses are not enough to power through Ode to Silence which leaves me actually needing to learn akyromancy. And my understanding… well, I have proven to be shallower than I thought."

"I'm reevaluating your potential as an assistant. That affirmation lowers your usefulness by a lot."

"I can do menial work?" He offered.

"Trivial," she sighed.

"Let me ask you a question. Can you still use that Simulacrum of yours?"

"Yes, but not whilst using Vacuous Filtration or practicing Ode to Silence." Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"I know that much, but if you use it, where would it be summoned? With you?"

"Now that you ask about it…" Nolotl hadn't brought the enchanted board spellware with him as he doubted he would need it, but at the same time, he felt the connection with the item lingering. Probably because the Information Tower was a beacon of radiant light in the Cognition, which helped as a proxy to connect with the spellware.

"It would be summoned all the way back at my bedroom."

"Hmm, that's actually very good," Beta nodded pensively. Her bangs and hood were working in tandem to obscure her face.

"Really?" The miniscule hint of interest from the akyromancer's part piqued the gnosiamancer's own in return.

"Why?"

"When I said I intended to use you as cross-referencing, I was being literal. I intended you to grab some books from the Archives, but with this you can stay here and simply use the Simulacrum to grab the tidbits of information that I need."

"Do you intend me to stay the rest of the three weeks of the agreement here?" Nolotl frown at her curious choice of words.

"Sure," Beta replied without so much of a second thought.

"You're aware that the Nolotl in front of you is of flesh and blood, right? I guess I could sleep in the workshop, but I still need to eat." The Empyrean of Void raised her head and looked at him as if he were utter garbage, which nominally, wasn't that different from her usual gaze.

"I won't allow you to sleep in the same place as me."

"I get that," he nodded in understanding.

"But there's no need for such aggression. The rumors that float around the academy about me are just that: rumors."

"Rumors?" She titled her head in confusion.

"I think there has been a misunderstanding of some kind too as I don't believe I've portrayed any aggression. I simply don't want nor like to sleep with anyone on the same place than me, contiguous room or not, regardless of any gender or species."

"Right…" Nolotl added uncertainly. Pulsars, it's so hard to judge her tone and mannerism when everything is so… dead. Alvedon is a literal undead and he's far more lifeful than her.

"So you haven't heard any rumors about me?" He was referring to the ones that called him manwhore. Which was ironic and even amusing considering his inexistent sex life.

"No, nor am I interested." For once in his life, he was glad of Beta's impassiveness.

"As for your accommodations, most of the rooms in this floor are empty. Just pick whichever and use the bed."

"Uhm, sure." That caught him by surprise as the Information Tower had the polar opposite problem. Overcrowding was very much real and the younger students that were still in probation shared communal rooms littered with bunk beds.

"And the food?"

"I've got enough to last a couple of months in isolation in my Inner Abyss. And talking about that…" Beta inspected him from toe to head, seemingly pondering something before giving it a shot.

"Do you know how to cook?"

"I can defend myself," Nolotl nodded.

"I trust my ability to follow a recipe to the letter."

"Well then, this certainly boosted your utility as an assistant," she nodded to herself in some modicum of satisfaction from having asked the question.

"You will now be in librarian and cook duty."

"Can do," he affirmed, already making several mental notes. I should read some cooking books when I'm on the Archives with the Simulacrum. Oh, and also using this tidbit of information to convince Beta in the next loop to get me as her assistant without being called a rapist… Ugh, that still hurts a bit. Rape was an awful crime and that word shouldn't be used lightly, but it was a massive sin in his own faith.

Most of the time rapists were castigated far more harshly than murderers because killing could have an excuse, but never violation. Furthermore, Nochochenca was closely related to the Life Alignment and that sin was a perversion of the very Alignment. The more he thought about the word, the worse he felt. Just ignore it, Nolotl. There's a class to be had.

"So… do we start the lesson?"

"Sure," Beta sat on a stool and continued tapping her palm with the chalk.

"It seems you will need it before you start casting anything. Let's go over the utmost basics. Tell me, what is Void?"

"Inexistence?" A legacy trait from his days of normal classes before his Empyrean investiture made him summarize his answer in a single word.

"Way better than to having answered something like 'empty space' but still a horrendous answer," and Beta promptly called him out on that.

"All Alignments are complex things and none of them can truly be summarized in a single word, but if you don't understand the true extent of Void, then you will have a hard time with akyromancy."

"What would you call Void?" Nolotl honestly asked, though his Perfect Recollection did gift him a feeling of déjà vu. Beta took a deep breath before starting.

"Void is the unpopulated vastness of the cosmos, the darkness that fills it in the absence of light and minds, the destruction of annihilation, the stillness of true nothingness as everything comes to an end, the pruning of sacrifices made that leaves us hollow, the twilight of all things yet not only an end but the liminal trickery that accompanies it, the incomprehensible abominations of a inexistence come true as it clashes with existence as both try to trump one over the other, the corruption of our reality in its perpetual clash of erasure, and the paradox of the existence of its own inexistence.

That is Void." Void assimilation progressed by 1%. Nolotl hadn't had time to process everything his fellow Empyrean had said, but he already felt his understanding of the element—of the very aspect of reality—increase inside him in an intrinsic manner. The space around him seemed less permeable yet inexplicably more real as he looked around himself, yet the feeling vanished as soon as it had appeared.

But something told him that even that description was lacking, not due to Beta's lack of skill, but rather, a mortal's inability to describe something as complex and limitless as the Alignment.

"Well," he chuckled awkwardly at the sudden passion from the woman, though it felt wrong calling that passion when she had been so monotone with her voice barring the end.

"I guess that puts it a bit more into perspective. If anything, I would say that Void is simpler than Information."

"That sounds like a challenge." Normally, those words would have been accompanied by some smugness or boldness, yet Beta failed to portray any of that. Her words indicated a challenge, yet her tone transmitted none of that. From Nolotl's perspective, the akyromancer felt as if she was reiterating words like a parrot without understanding the meaning behind them. Cleverly inferring that sentence would go well in this time and place yet failing to comprehend what the words may entail.

"It wasn't," the diviner responded plainly, even if the thought of countering with his own long description had passed through his head. Alas, he had the shallow feeling that the "Daughter of Nihilism" wouldn't actually appreciate said 'challenge'.

"I see," Beta reciprocated the lack of emotion, not being annoyed in the slightest by the treatment.

"Does this help you understand all of the contents you have read a bit better?"

"Yes, I would say so," Nolotl replied professionally.

"No matter how much I've read about Void, it's hard to shed the preconceptions one has. In my mind, it's still is just about lack of matter, emptiness, and destruction of things, even if I'm doing my best to rewrite that."

"I've heard about that," she mused softly.

"Gnosiamancers can learn new things faster, but it's hard for them to correct any misplaced knowledge."

"I can corroborate that," he smirked.

"I feel like I'm going to be hitting my head against that factoid for the foreseeable future. In a way, it's not that different from how biomancers have difficulties changing their original bodies, or the idea of what their bodies should be. Isn't it curious how much effect can starter Boons have on a person?"

"Truly." Yet again, Beta's words were deprived of the curiosity one might have expected. Nolotl wanted to blame Lesser Read Thoughts on it, because even if he couldn't read actual thoughts with the Boon, it had helped him greatly to approximate and appreciate the emotions of people as he wasn't the most empathetic of people. The rift of that deficiency only grew further open when faced with a black box like Beta Methasome, both from her emotional and non-gnosiamancer state.

"Now, if you don't mind, it's time to start with the real lessons," the akyromancer said impassively as she stood up. She at least pulled out her hood and fixed her hair before starting to write several important facts on the blackboard. Inexistence. Erasure. Oblivion. Presence. Matter. Liminality. Madness. She wrote many words on the blackboard with a kind of unnatural presence that didn't come from bare chalk. If anything, those simple words carried the strength of a runamancer and their runes.

Once again, that ephemeral feeling—presence even—caressed Nolotl's mind and body. Unfortunately, it was hard for him to speak about the soul. Yet of the many words of power that she wrote, one prevailed in his mind.

"Oblivion," his voice echoed his thoughts.

"I've heard that term a lot, but I must say that its true meaning escapes me. Avoids me, even."

"Oblivion is a term with nearly as much nuance as Void, such is the issue with these meaningful words charged with power."

"Xenoglossia," Nolotl added and Beta nodded. Lots of mages just used xenoglossia, considering it only the verbal component of some spells, without knowing the true meaning of the word. Xenoglossia, or the tongue of the stranger, was the name given to words or sentences charged with power that mortal couldn't fully comprehend, whether because it was a lack of knowledge or compatibility. That was also the reason why most chants for certain spells—especially the ritualistic kind—could seem nonsensical.

Because they were foreignisms in the utmost literal sense of the word, stolen and adapted terms into a language that didn't pertain them. Some of these terms couldn't even exist in a language without incurring great losses of meaning, the Alignments being clear representations of such meaning. That was the true meaning and weight of the words of power. Void assimilation progressed by 1%.

"Heh," Nolotl let out a soft chuckle.

"Something wrong?" The sudden laughter didn't annoy his teacher, only confounding her. Her tilt of her at least told him that because her face failed to portray that.

"Nothing," he swayed his head.

"Only that thinking about xenoglossia in its purest ramifications has helped with my assimilation."

"It makes sense, Void is partially the Alignment of all that is foreign, whether it is the unknown or the distant. Xenoglossia certainly covers that aspect considering it's the language of the foreign." Nolotl couldn't nod more to her words. It was refreshing finding someone that was more knowledgeable than him but still at his level.

"So, what about Oblivion?"

"Oblivion has mainly one popular meaning associated with it," Beta put away her chalk, opting for a more oral exchange.

"Whilst it's not wrong and it has more, this meaning is that of the ultimate end. When people colloquially talk about Void, they tend to refer to the barren liminality of the cosmos or even that of matter in a vacuum, but Oblivion goes beyond that. That would be the 'place' where all the annihilated matter goes to, and depending on some cultures, also were souls end if they haven't found an afterlife or reincarnated." Void assimilation progressed by 1%.

"Mhmm?" Nolotl nodded enthusiastically with a hand pressed against his chin as he listened to the vacuous lessons of the pale woman in front of him. Such epithet was loaded with double meaning, for not only were there seminars on the Void but the calm voice that taught them was empty as the lesson she uttered. It seems I will have many loops dedicated to myself, if things continue progressing at these speeds, though maybe Beta's pedagogy needs a bit of improvement.

Whatever the case was, the diviner couldn't deny that the chronomancer had been correct by leading him to make the akyromancer his teacher.