Online Game: Starting With SSS-Ranked Summons-Chapter 566: Aether’s Space Domain [2]

"When Aether teleports, Aether isn’t really moving at all!" The small dragon’s excitement grew as pieces clicked together. "Aether is just... unfolding one part of space and refolding it somewhere else! Because distance is just how much space is folded between two places!"

He tested the theory, focusing on two distant points in the cosmic expanse. With his enhanced perception, Aether could see the dimensional threads connecting them—countless folds and curves of space stretched between the locations. When he teleported, he wasn’t traversing that distance. He was temporarily smoothing out those folds, bringing the two points together, then stepping across before allowing space to return to its normal configuration.

[Space Talent: 7%]

A dying star nearby caught Aether’s attention—a red supergiant approaching the end of its lifecycle. He watched as its core collapsed, space-time warping severely around the compressing mass. The star’s outer layers exploded outward in a brilliant supernova, but Aether’s focus remained on the core.

The spatial distortion intensified as matter compressed beyond normal limits, creating curves so severe they approached infinite steepness. And then, suddenly, space itself tore.

A black hole formed—not through some mystical process, but through pure geometric inevitability. Space had curved so severely that it created a boundary where the dimensional fabric literally folded back on itself, creating a region where the normal rules of spatial connection broke down completely.

"Space can break!" Aether realized with awe. "If you bend it too much, it makes holes that don’t connect to anywhere normal!"

[Space Talent: 8%]

The understanding flowed faster now, each revelation building on the previous ones. Aether observed quantum fluctuations in the void—tiny perturbations where space briefly folded and unfolded on scales so small they barely registered. Even in regions that appeared empty, space constantly vibrated with potential, every point connected to every other through networks of possibility.

"Master uses space for fighting and moving, but space is so much more!" Aether chirped excitedly. "Space is everything! It’s what makes things real and lets them exist!"

His perception expanded further, encompassing larger cosmic structures. He saw how galaxies formed along filaments of dark matter—invisible scaffolding where space had folded in specific patterns during the universe’s early expansion. The cosmic web wasn’t random; it reflected the fundamental geometry of how space preferred to organize itself when given the chance.

[Space Talent: 9%]

So close now.

Aether could feel the threshold approaching, one final piece of understanding needed to push him over the edge into true comprehension.

He turned his attention inward, examining his own nature with the enhanced perception the trial had granted. His void dragon physiology wasn’t just attuned to space—it was fundamentally constructed from spatial principles. His scales existed partially outside normal dimensional frameworks. His ability to phase between existence and non-existence reflected his body’s capacity to fold itself through higher dimensions.

"Aether is made of space-magic!" the small dragon announced with delight. "That’s why Aether can do space things so easily! It’s like... Aether is space that learned to think and fly and be cute!"

And then the final piece clicked into place.

Space wasn’t separate from existence—it was the foundation of their existence itself. Every talent, every skill, every ability ultimately operated by manipulating spatial relationships in different ways. Fire magic compressed space around molecules to increase their kinetic energy. Summoning folded space to bridge dimensional gaps. Even time was just another dimension of space, perpendicular to the three everyone perceived normally.

Understanding space meant understanding the fundamental framework upon which all reality was built.

[Space Talent: 10%]

[Domain Awakening: SUCCESS]

[You have comprehended the fundamental truth of Space]

[Your domain is now forming...]

The cosmos exploded with brilliance as Aether’s understanding reached critical mass. The trial dissolved around him, stars and galaxies fading as something new took their place—a personal domain space that reflected his comprehension of spatial principles.

Then reality snapped back, and Aether found himself floating beside Arthur once more.

"Aether!" Arthur’s voice carried obvious relief as his void dragon companion materialized.

"How did your trial go?"

"It was AMAZING, Master!" Aether immediately began narrating with characteristic enthusiasm, his small form bouncing excitedly in the air.

"Aether was in this big empty nothing-place at first, super boring with no things anywhere! But then Aether saw a tiny dot, and the dot got bigger and BIGGER and then it went BOOM and made everything!"

Arthur listened with growing interest as Aether described witnessing what sounded remarkably like a cosmic creation event—a localized big bang that demonstrated the fundamental principles of spatial expansion and matter formation.

"And then—and this is the really cool part, Master—a HUGE dragon came out of Aether’s tummy!" The small dragon’s eyes grew wide with remembered awe.

"Like, super super SUPER big, way bigger than Master or Winter Beast or anybody! With scales that were all sparkly and weird, like they were there and not-there at the same time!"

Arthur’s eyebrows rose sharply. "A dragon... came out of you?"

"Yeah! Well, it was made from Aether’s energy, but it looked like a really old, really powerful dragon!" Aether continued excitedly.

"At first it was kinda mean and didn’t answer Aether’s questions, just said confusing things like ’the cycle approaches completion’ and ’fragments seeking unity’ and stuff Aether didn’t understand at all!"

The small dragon paused for breath before continuing his story.

"But then the big dragon started being nice! It showed Aether how to see space better, like really truly see it instead of just looking at it!

The big dragon helped Aether understand that space is bendy and twisty and everything is connected by invisible space-strings, and that’s how teleporting works, and—"

Arthur felt an unexpected pang of jealousy cut through his satisfaction at Aether’s successful trial.

His own trial had been brutal—fighting endless beasts in complete darkness, struggling for what felt like hours to understand the fundamental nature of summoning through pure trial and error.

Meanwhile, Aether had received direct guidance from some mysterious ancient entity that had apparently emerged from the void dragon’s own essence.

Of course he gets a helpful mentor figure while I have to figure everything out by nearly dying repeatedly, Arthur thought with mild exasperation before catching himself.

But the jealousy faded quickly, replaced by more pressing concerns and curiosity.