Chương 31: B1 | Chapter 28

Aidan ◊ Seraphyne ◊ - [Accept my call.] A… call? Seconds later, a message from the System appears in my vision. ◊ Your Mentor, Seraphyne, is calling you. Will you accept her call? Yes / No ◊ I stare for a moment before going ahead and mentally selecting the yes button. Then a screen appears in my vision showing me Seraphyne as she sits on a throne with her hands on the armrests. She's still wearing the same dress she was wearing before, and I can feel the power radiating out of her even through the screen.

What surprises me the most is that I can see other voidlings in the surroundings of what clearly looks like a throne room. With the voidlings seemingly being servants of some sort, but when I look at their identify results, I can't even see their levels. And the power I sense from them is immense as well. Nowhere near as powerful as Seraphyne's power, but still immensely powerful. But it's kind of hard to feel much of any awe or anything of their power when they're all kneeling with their heads bowed.

Seemingly not even so much as thinking of lifting their heads. What feels weird to me though is that they're not just bowing towards Seraphyne. They're also bowing towards me. That makes perfect sense in hindsight, considering the hierarchy. But it still feels weird to see immensely powerful beings like them bowing to me.

"Kin, I will walk you through creating a more powerful voidling soldier," Seraphyne declares before raising her hand as the screen zooms out to show more of her surroundings.

"Watch carefully." I focus on what she's doing as she begins the process of creating a voidling soldier. And while I miss quite a few of the details, I get quite a bit of inspiration for my own voidling soldiers from what I see. She doesn't just stop at one, however, as she continues to create over a dozen more voidling soldiers one after another. Giving me enough examples to feel confident in improving my own voidling soldiers.

"Is that enough?" Seraphyne asks while lowering her hand back to the armrest of her throne.

"Yes, it is," I answer with a genuine smile, growing a bit more comfortable talking to her after seeing her helping me to this degree. And right after asking, too.

"Thank you." Seraphyne just nods her head before stating, "Contact me again if necessary." Then she ends the call, making the screen vanish. And I don't waste any time as I begin to create a new voidling with the remaining mana core from the ancient void golem. Thanks to Seraphyne's demonstrations, I manage to make a stronger voidling soldier this time around.

To the point that, by the time I finish creating the voidling and feeding it my blood, it ends up being a good bit larger than the previous voidling soldiers. With a thicker and stronger carapace, a taller height, and two additional scythes on its back. I feel satisfied after looking at the final result. Especially when I identify it to find its level above the level of the original ancient void golem whose mana core I used to make it. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road.

Report any occurrences elsewhere. [Level 40 Voidling Soldier] This makes me a lot more comfortable with challenging the boss soon. I glance at my general after this one before frowning slightly. Because the general is significantly weaker than my other voidlings at this point. Mostly because it's been badly out-leveled. Maybe I should use the Tutorial's boss as materials to bring my general up to Bronze Tier? That sounds like a good idea. Of course, I still have to beat the boss first before I can do that.

But it is a good idea. And I really want to advance my general. I might even try my hand at making a sentient voidling soul while improving the general. Just so that I can have it leading my other voidlings in battle to make them less dependent on my orders. After resting for a little bit, I proceed to the stairs leading to the fifth and final floor. But what I find on the floor isn't what I was expecting. There aren't any monsters on the floor. Instead, there are rooms branching off of a single long corridor.

With another set of stairs at the end of the corridor. I have the voidlings search through the rooms with me, but I don't find anything in them. They just look like regular rooms. Almost like a single a bedroom suite for a single person living rather luxuriously. Maybe they belong to the boss? But if the boss is a void golem like the rest of the monsters of the floor, why would they need… Wait, why am I assuming the void golems were made by the System? What if they were made by the boss of the floor instead?

That's… Hmm. I continue searching through the suite for a little bit longer before moving back to the corridor with my little army of voidlings after failing to find anything. Then I begin making my way up the stairs. But what I see at the end of the staircase doesn't exactly inspire confidence. Flashes of lightning shine in from the skies visible beyond the stairs, with turbulent clouds of darkness in the skies above the tower. And I hear crashes of thunder with each bolt of lightning.

The voidlings and I continue climbing up the stairs – a much longer staircase than the previous floors – until we arrive at the top of the tower. Which is very wide-open in space, with a single grand throne at the end of the tower. Something that's odd, though, is that this doesn't look like the void anymore up here. I can see sunlight very far in the distance, along with mountains.

Meanwhile the dark energy in the air and the clouds all seem to be forming from the one being sitting on the throne with his hand firmly on the handle of the sword implanted in the ground next to said throne. I feel a slight chill when I see the being on the throne and feel its power. But along with the faint fear, I feel my hunger grow a little. Which I'm not used to. Is it because it's strong? Very strong.

Just the feeling of its aura clashing equally with mine, which I haven't felt since getting my aura, is enough to know how powerful it is even without identifying it. Even when fighting monsters several levels above me. I would've used my aura against those monsters with weaker auras to make the fights easier, but I don't know how yet. The source mana in the boss also makes me feel vaguely thrilled at the idea of fighting. Of course, the sight of its identify result makes me keep my focus.

Because it's even more frightening than the power I sense from it. [Level 50 Void Mage] It's level fifty. Level. Fifty. Fifteen levels above me. Also, this is a mage? A being – seemingly male based on their humanoid form – wearing heavy, black metal armor, with a grand warlord-like helmet adorned with spikes on the sides and a great sword implanted into the ground. All with glowing purple eyes shining through the eye sockets of the helmet as he leisurely sits on the throne like some king. And it's a mage?

Just what sort of mage is a void mage, anyway? The void mage stands up from his throne while drawing the blade buried at his feet. Then he sweeps the blade in a horizontal arc, sweeping away a large amount of the dark mist and fog around the tower. Clearing vision all over the tower's peak and making everything perfectly clear. I guess a void mage is a swordsman. Or a knight? Either way, I swipe my claws in his direction while also using Void Tear on him.

But the void mage swipes his great sword to split the air in front of him, destroying my claw attack midair while my Void Tear skill strikes at his chest plate armor. And barely even scratches it. Well, that doesn't bode well for this battle… The void mage steps down the raised dais from the throne, meanwhile several void golems begin to form from the remaining clumps of void energy in the area. Then the void golems begin to charge down towards me and the voidlings. So I order my voidlings to charge them as well.

Beginning my battle against the final boss of the Tutorial.