Online Game: Starting With SSS-Ranked Summons-Chapter 567: Aether’s Space Domain [3]

Who or what was that ancient dragon? The description Aether provided suggested something impossibly powerful, existing on scales that transcended normal beasts or even second order beasts at that.

An entity that could manifest within a domain trial, a separate dimensional space supposedly isolated from external influence.

Is the ancient dragon perhaps Aether’s father? Or some other relative?

Arthur’s mind raced through possibilities. Aether was a primordial void dragon, which implied lineage from truly ancient and powerful beings. If that manifestation was a parent or ancestor, where were they normally? Why hadn’t they appeared before? And how powerful would something need to be to actually project influence into a domain trial?

The implications were staggering. Domain trials existed in separate dimensional spaces, isolated by cosmic law to ensure each participant faced their own personal journey of comprehension. For an external entity to penetrate that isolation and provide guidance suggested power that operated on fundamental universal scales.

Unless...

Another possibility occurred to Arthur. Perhaps the ancient dragon wasn’t external at all. Maybe it was something already inside Aether—inherited memories, ancestral knowledge encoded into his primordial bloodline, manifesting during the trial to guide him toward proper comprehension of his spatial talents.

That would explain how it could appear without violating the trial’s isolation. It wasn’t an outside force interfering; it was part of Aether’s own nature revealing itself when the conditions were right.

This is the benefit of being a primordial beast, I suppose, Arthur concluded with a mixture of understanding and resignation.

Primordial creatures carried lineages that connected them to the fundamental forces of reality itself. They weren’t just powerful individuals—they were living manifestations of cosmic principles, with ancestral wisdom literally embedded in their essence. When Aether reached the threshold for domain awakening, that inherited knowledge had surfaced to help guide him.

Meanwhile, Arthur was just a human with extraordinary talents, but no ancient bloodline to draw upon. He had to earn his understanding through personal struggle, without ancestral guidance or inherited wisdom to smooth the path.

"Master? Master, are you listening?" Aether’s voice pulled Arthur from his contemplation. "Aether was telling you about the space-strings and the bendy-fabric and why black holes are actually just space that got folded too much!"

Arthur smiled despite his complex feelings, reaching up to gently scratch behind Aether’s horns. "I heard you, Aether. It sounds like you had a much more educational trial than I did. Congratulations on awakening your domain."

"Did Master awaken domain too?" Aether asked with bright-eyed curiosity. "What was Master’s trial like? Did Master get a helpful big dragon too?"

"No helpful dragons for me," Arthur replied with dry amusement. "Just endless darkness, hostile beasts, and rivers of blood while I tried to figure out what summoning actually means."

"That sounds way scarier than Aether’s trial!" the small dragon chirped sympathetically. "But Master is super smart, so of course Master figured it out anyway!"

Arthur chuckled at his companion’s unwavering confidence. "Thanks, Aether. Now let’s see what our new domains can actually do."

*** 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Neko was lying down in her usual lazy sprawl, golden eyes half-lidded as she watched Jasmine work. The healer’s hands glowed with sustained magical energy as she continued Charlotte’s treatment, sweat beading on her forehead from the extended concentration required.

How much longer will this take? Neko thought with typical feline impatience. Humans are so fragile. If they were cats, they’d simply sleep it off.

Then, without warning, energy suddenly engulfed her.

Neko’s eyes snapped fully open as translucent light wrapped around her body, lifting her from the floor. Reality rippled like disturbed water, and before she could do anything about it, the world dissolved.

When existence reasserted itself, Neko found herself somewhere else entirely.

She landed gracefully on all four paws—because of course she did, cats always landed on their feet—and looked around with curious golden eyes. The space surrounding her was peculiar, to say the least.

Everything shimmered with probability. That was the only way her feline mind could describe it.

The environment kept shifting between different potential states—sometimes a lush forest, sometimes a barren desert, sometimes an elegant palace, sometimes a simple meadow. Each possibility existed simultaneously, overlapping and interweaving in ways that should have been disorienting but somehow felt natural.

Ah. The trial Master mentioned, Neko thought calmly, settling into a sitting position and curling her tail around her paws. How inconvenient. I was rather comfortable.

Fortunately, Arthur had warned her this might happen when she reached level 25. The trial of comprehension, necessary for awakening one’s domain. She’d paid attention to his explanation with the minimal effort required, which for a cat meant she’d heard every word while appearing completely disinterested.

A translucent screen materialised before her, rippling into clarity.

[Domain Awakening Trial Initiated]

[Lucky (SSS-Rank)]

Neko stared at the notification with her typical aloof expression. Unlike Arthur, who’d needed to choose between multiple powerful talents, her path was obvious. She possessed only one talent of significance, inherited from her nature as a primordial lucky cat.

She reached out one dainty paw and tapped the screen with deliberate feline grace.

[Domain Confirmed: Lucky (SSS-Rank)]

[Beginning domain formation process...]

The shifting environment around her stabilized slightly, settling into a space that felt somehow more real than the overlapping possibilities. Neko waited patiently for whatever challenge the trial would present, her tail swishing once in mild anticipation.

Then understanding simply... arrived.

Not through struggle or revelation earned through hardship, but as if it had always been there, waiting for her to notice it. Like a sunbeam that had existed all along, finally falling across her favourite napping spot.

Oh, Neko thought with characteristic feline nonchalance. Luck isn’t about chance at all. How obvious.

The fundamental truth crystallised in her consciousness with shocking ease. Luck—true luck, the kind encoded in her primordial nature—wasn’t random probability or fortunate accidents. It was reality itself expressing preference.

Every moment contained infinite potential outcomes, countless branching paths the universe could follow. Most beings experienced whichever path coincidentally manifested, subject to the chaos of true randomness.