The Arcane Emperor-Chapter 100: Destination

Chapter 100: Destination

“Rainer, perhaps we should talk alone?” his Avatar started, and then quickly Void-walked out of the room.

“Talk alone?” Amer echoed everyone’s thoughts, “What in the Six-Perdition’s does that mean?” Almost everyone’s thoughts. Rainer had a feeling it translated differently for everyone.

“I don’t know. I’ll be right back,” Rainer said, “Whatever happened, I’m completely fine now,” he assured a nervous looking Kara.

The rest exchanged glances as they watched Rainer Void-walk after his Avatar. Eventually they looked towards the only ‘expert’ on the Avatar ritual in the room.

The Devil merely wriggled the tentacles on his beard in exasperation. How should he know? While no one had ever seen such a weird gesture they understood he was as lost as them.

Rainer was on guard as he entered the forest. His… something… had Void-walked too. He quickly realized that he may have walked into a trap to get him away from everyone.

A pregnant moment passed as his Avatar glared at him. The spinning Void in his eyes seemed to increase in speed and suck up the light in the area. Rainer used [Void Detection] to watch out for a [Void Call]. He dodged to the side as an [Arcane Lance] tore the air in front of him, surprising him.

And he landed right into an incredibly powerful [Void Hold]. Rainer’s eyes widened as he felt the crushing pressure. It was far stronger than anything he could manage and even stopped his magic. He was helpless.

An [Arcane Blade] extended from his clone’s hand as the figure appeared in front of him.

He barely dodged, the [Arcane Blade] breaking the [Void Hold] as his clone couldn’t use both at the same time. A [Void Call] appeared behind him and he awkwardly managed to avoid it with a strange duck and twist, though something seemed off about it.

[Arcane Awakening] flared to it’s maximum as Rainer dashed back, but before he could retaliate a chuckle broke the moment.

“There’s no need to be so tense. We were right, you know.” The Avatar was still laughing. “That wasn’t even a real [Void Call], but rather just a concentrated [Void Descent]. Scary, but relatively harmless. Watching you duck under it so awkwardly was worth the risk one of us might have gotten hurt.”

“We were right…?” Rainer asked in confusion before giving a deep sigh after a few moments. Even if it was more beneficial to him, he didn’t want such a thing. Whatever his Avatar was, it was also another life. And it didn’t deserve to be missing an important piece of itself.

“That bad?” Rainer confirmed.

“If my emotions weren't deadened by my new affinities to the Void, it’d be even worse. No wonder our beautiful and charming self could never get Aurora to stop acting like such a bitch.”

“What now?” Rainer asked, not bothering to point Aurora likely didn’t deal with deadened emotions the same way they did when influenced by the Void. She was perfectly capable of being very angry after all.

The Avatar seemed to think it over. As he had Rainer’s own memories, and was him, albeit more affected by the Void, he should know full well Rainer would never force anything. If he wanted to live as a separate being, that was fine. Of course, ‘seperate’ being the operative word.

Every second he was alive, the Avatar knew he became less and less Rainer. The idea of sharing Luna and Kara repulsed them both, not that they knew each other’s thoughts. Though it was easy for them to guess.

“Figure it out. How to keep Void and Arcane in one body. And then call me.”

“Are you sure, you don’t-”

The Avatar rubbed his chest, “You don’t understand, you can’t. We-You really made the right bet when you held on to the Soul surrounding our [Sleep Learning] space… It’s one thing knowing you are the fake. That I could live with. I mean does that even really matter? Is ‘Rainer’ the type of person to care even if he became an abomination of nature? Other than getting over Luna and Kara, it wouldn’t even be that bad… But... It’s another thing feeling the emptiness that comes with it...

“It’s like I’m coming off the greatest high I’ve ever had.”

A minute of silence passed between the two.

“Where are you going to go?” Rainer sighed despondently. It was one thing if he screwed it up for himself, yet he had ruined another person's life. His memories or not.

“Maybe I’ll enjoy our enhanced attributes for once? Whenever you figure it out, you know how to find me, our souls are still connected.Don’t keep me around longer than you have to with some sort of misconstrued pity. Besides, it’s not like I’m truly dying, you are just taking back our Soul. I’m assuming memories are a part of that.”

“Do you want the [Arcane Blade] enchanted hilt?” Rainer asked. Despite not having Arcane Power, it didn’t make the Avatar any weaker per say. Just less ‘stamina’. If anything, in terms of a short one on one fight, the likely Void Affinitied Avatar was stronger than the combined original. Assuming he still had his Arcane Affinity. Despite Rainer’s curiosity, he wasn’t going to ask.

“No need. My Arcane Affinity, even if it’s a bit weaker, should be enough to cover that,” The Avatar answered knowingly, “’I’ll just bother you if I piss off someone enough to fight me.”

“What about [Sleep Learning]?” Rainer cringed realizing how bad it was to ask this.

“Don’t make such a crumpled face. Yeah, it was an insensitive question, you ass,” the Avatar chuckled, “But I would like to be brought in on occasion, I have some things I’d like to test out. I’m still you after all. Just… keep me away from everyone, yeah?”

“Of course. And if you ever change your mind, at any time-”

“If you take too long, I might just take matters into my own hands. So if you value our Void Will, hurry up,” he interrupted and then vanished.

Rainer looked around the empty forest wondering just what he had done. He had used [Mana Reading] during the conversation, so he knew the Avatar wasn’t lying as he himself had no idea how to avoid the skill perfectly.

He wasn’t worried in terms of strength. While he lost the ability to use [Void Hold] and [Void Call] without mental debilitation, he still had [Void-walking]. Anyone of real power had thus far been able to avoid his [Void Call]s, so it’s usefulness was limited to killing off weaker 2nd Tier experts.

[Void Hold] was a difficult loss, but he could use gravity magic as a replacement. And his recent creation of [Arcanum] Arcane Ritual circles was still there. It may depend on Void runes, but it had little to do with Void Will.

He still had access to [Harbinger] just as the Avatar still had [Archon]. Which meant his [Void-walking] wasn’t too different than before, just a bit less power without the supplement of Void Will. His current attributes granted by [Harbinger] were enough to still reach back to the Abyssal Planes and Earth. Plus, wasn’t this a perfect chance to create spell versions of [Void Call] and [Void Hold]?

He stayed in the snow a few minutes longer, enjoying the cold winter air as he thought things over. He disappeared in a Void-walk soon after.

Rainer spent the rest of the day either with Kara and Luna, or helping the Werewolf tribe settle down. During which he thought over how to pay back the favor he owed both Furtak and Amer.

The Goblin was a bit easier. A set of enchanted cloth armor, as metal interfered with casting, for Furtak was an obvious answer. He just had to find an enchanted item that improved Fire Magic and recreate a set of it.

Amer was a bit harder. He knew the Devil wanted his runic formula for [Void-walking]. Given what the Devil had done for him, he wasn’t opposed to it in spirit. But Rainer knew full well the Devil had little chance of understanding the jumbled mess that was the runes involved in [Void-walking]. He also knew the Devil wouldn’t believe him no matter how much he gave that excuse.

“I’ll take the risk,” Amer insisted, as Rainer yet again explained that the chance of him casting it were extremely low.

“You’ll be careful?” Rainer asked, again.

“Yes!”

Rainer decided to explain the formula as best he could to the excited Devil. He even shared the fact that this wasn’t his original world and what he originally was trying to do with this formula. The Devil knew part of the story, but not the whole truth. Nor did he have the formula as context.

“Wall-walking… ?” The Devil reirated with disbelief. He now looked at the formula in his hand as a venomous snake rather than a prize. Was it any surprise this [Archon]’s personal modification to the Avatar Ritual created a sentient clone?

“Yep.”

“And you blindly cast this absurdly complicated spell fully believing this?”

“I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t.”

“Has anyone ever told you how insane you are?”

“Not directly, but I feel like everyone hints at it,” Rainer said and thought it over for a moment, “Except Luna.”

“You… fit well together,” Amer said, diplomatically saying Luna was just as crazy as him.

“Might I suggest you only try and cast [Void-walking] when I’m around?”

“Given what may happen, I would ask for it.”

Later that night, Rainer lay in bed, holding both Kara and Luna to his sides, glad to be alive. And the two by his sides had earlier shown they were just as glad.

He let his thoughts drift as he thought over his plans. During the day he’d start collecting favors and selling substandard body enchantments. It shouldn’t take long before he could establish his Enchanter’s Guild. He’d also work on getting a proper party fully filled for the level 25 Tier 2 Dungeon. A few hints from Elelaria that the members would receive far more powerful Body Enchantments should get him powerful members.

From the Guild, building an Academy would be easier. He’d start with Aura Users and Enchanters, ignoring mages entirely for the time being. Attracting Aura Users willing to share even their most secret skills would be easy with the right enchanted items, and, unlike others, the Mana-Well meant he could fund even the least Talented enchanter to study all they wished.

What he’d do during [Sleep Learning] was obvious. He hoped Talvara could simulate gifting him Void Will in the white space so that he could practice with that. Numerous ideas of how to solve the problem filled his head, all that was left was a matter of testing. He’d have an Avatar, an actual Avatar and not his sentient clone, in [Sleep Learning] to work on his progress in Arcane Magic or recreating Kara’s trial reward.

“Rainer.”

“Kara?”

“Can you promise not take in any more energies?”

“Easily. At least, so long as it’s my choice.” His plan for making Mana, Arcane Power, and Void Will work together meant that any additions might upset the balance and ruin any possible benefits.

“I’ll bet on the premise there aren’t any more pseudo-gods or goddess who want to bestow you with great power.”

“Sounds like a losing bet,” Luna mumbled into Rainer’s shoulder. She shrunk and hid as Kara attempted to pinch her side. “Luna has already gotten her promised revenge on Rainer, She-Wolf just needs to wait,” the Fairy said ominously… Ominously if it wasn’t for the fact she was hiding.

Kara had to admit a slight worry over that revenge, but sleep was far more tempting.

Separated from the rest of the group in the white void of [Sleep Learning], Rainer’s clone worked in silence. While still having access to most of his Arcane magic, though [Arcane Awakening] and [Arcane Invigoration] could only be used with Arcane Aura and were therefore far more short-term, he wanted to try and use his new Void Affinity to make some new spells or skills to make up for it.

“How fascinating.”

The Avatar looked up from his work at the source of the svelte voice that interrupted him.

“Talvara. What can I do you for you?” he said a bit cautiously, wary of the strange grin on her face. Looking into her eyes that were so similar to his he wondered why that was. After all, her form was fake. And he had always envisioned the true form of the Void Being in front of him as some mass of shadows and void. Or some sort of silhouette in the form of a woman. Not a creature with anything resembling eyes.

“Nothing. I was merely curious about Rainer’s more handsome half.”

“Should I be surprised that the pseudo-goddess is a narcissist?”

“Is it still narcissism when you know for a fact you’re the most perfect?”

“Yes.”

“Then no, you shouldn't be surprised.”

The Avatar chuckled, enjoying the distraction.

“What should I call you?”

He thought it over for a moment. He supposed his first alias was as good as any. Francis was a decent name. Though he momentarily considered the Latin Alterious, just so he could shorten it to Alt. But given that only Sarah, and maybe not even her, would ever understand the joke, he decided against it.

“Francis.”

“What is it you are working on, Francis?”

“A Void Blade,” he replied before calling forth the Void from his fingers. The Void seemed to struggle against reality as it changed shapes and elongated before it quickly distorted and took the tips of Francis’ fingers with it.

The Avatar hissed and shook his hand as he reformed it.

“I would hesitate to say it’s impossible, but wouldn’t simply elongating [Void Call] be far more effective than trying to make an actual blade of pure Void?”

“I’m going for something with staying power and control. Plus, Void Call can’t move in sync with my arm. It’d take all my focus to manage that. I don’t think even your Void Lords would let Void Call too close to their bodies.”

“Why not work on merging your bodies back together?” Talvara asked curiously. She had spied on and witnessed much of what happened earlier this day. When she felt a massive surge in the Void and used her mark on Rainer to spectate, she wasn’t sure what to expect. Him creating a sentient Avatar was definitely nowhere near her wildest guesses.

“He told you?” Francis demanded, a bit annoyed. He didn’t want everyone to know he was fatalistic and only counting down the days till he merged with Rainer.

“I offered to sic my Void Lords on you and reabsorb and store the Void Will left over for him. I was... quite persistent,” she added, a bit sheepishly.

“That’s pretty ruthless,” he said, but his opinion of her increased a bit. No doubt the action showed quite a bit of loyalty towards Rainer, even if he wasn’t Rainer anymore.

“Is it not common sense you’d slay Rainer and take what is rightfully yours?”

“Maybe. Rainer certainly thought so when I tricked him into thinking I was going to kill him. But I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you. I have no interest in such things.

“Anyways, there’s nothing for me to do in terms of merging. The answer is obvious. Working towards it is only something Rainer could do.”

“The answer is obvious?” she asked, obviously hinting at him to elaborate.

“There’s two main ways, one with brute force and another, the far more likely route Rainer will take.

“The former, he could just use his attribute points, and gather more if needed with our unfair access to numerous rare classes, and force his Aura pool to increase. It would function as an automated buffer easily enough if there was plenty Aura to use. But…”

“But?”

“It would ruin the whole point of having both Arcane and Void in a body. It would be coexistence, addition, rather than multiplication. Even if pressed for time, I can’t imagine myself, therefore Rainer, ever taking such a boring route. It might forever bar his path from using the two energies together in synergy.

“Plus it would likely take up his Aura, stopping him from ever using it properly. He may as well abandon his Void Will rather than doing this. The potential with Arcane Aura is too great to sacrifice it for Void Will. Especially since he can still Void-walk. And I doubt mimicking [Void Call] or [Void Hold] with a spell would be too hard.

“The better answer then is to copy the universe itself. To use the [Sleep Learning] space in his Soul as the “physical world” and let the Arcane Power and the Void Will, function as “the Arcaneum” and “the Void”. Creating a balance he was in control of. Perhaps he’d even be able to use their antagonistic nature as an attack or something else in this case. Given that it could have shredded Rainer’s soul in an instant if he let go of control… that’s a pretty promising idea.”

“Have you discussed this with him?”

“No. But I have little doubt he already thought of the same thing.”

Talvara hummed in thought. The latter would be very impressive. Especially if Rainer could manage to wield the colliding forces as an outside presence. The Arcaneum and the Void colliding and destroying the world beside was an apocalyptic scenario. Even on a smaller fake scale, the result could be fantastic.

“Have you thought of where you’ll go?” Talvara was very interested in this other half. From what she understood, rather than disappearing, he’d be rejoining with Rainer. Memories and all. Isn’t this the perfect chance? After all, despite his hints and advice, Talvara has yet to gain [Divine Resistance]. She needed more help. At this point, she had little doubt the future Rainer could protect her and let her exit the Void once more after so many millennia of hiding.

“I’ll mess around," Francis said, thinking that having no responsibilities might fill the hole in his Soul at least a little bit, "maybe get some petty revenge on Rainer for creating me.” No doubt his other half would feel needlessly guilty with the memory of the women Francis planned to sleep with. His deadened emotions made the prospect less appealing, not to mention sex without the transfer of Mana or Aura would likely be boring in comparison, but he wasn’t above having fun. He’d avoid anyone they knew personally anyways.

“And then?”

“Travel to a far different world,” Francis answered with a grin. He still loved his mother and grandfather just the same, even if a bit less intensely. His [Excellent Void Affinity] meant he had enough power for the jump. That 50 years of life Rainer sacrificed was likely the cause of his Affinity being so high, along with the ritual working at all.

The 5 points of Lifespan were not a big deal, and he was well aware Rainer already had numerous ideas for how to achieve immortality. The [Sleep Learning] space was uniquely suited for testing out Lifespan related things without any consequence. If no-consequence immortality was possible, Rainer was the most suited to accomplish it.

“How different?” Talvara asked curiously. Wondering if she should spare some time to monitor Francis during the day.

“Prior to creating me, it was too far for Rainer to reach.”

Talvara raised a too-perfect eyebrow.

“How interesting.”

“Agreed.”

Given the sheer distance no doubt the world itself would be incredibly interesting. A perfect distraction to his current situation.