The massive gate in front of Ekosus opened slightly, just enough for Ekosus to enter, before it stops moving.
"I'm guessing I should go in." Ekosus says before walking through the slightly opened gate.
He is greeted by a moment of complete darkness, before his eyes adjust to the light and he can take in his surroundings.
He's floating in some sort of void, and around him are countless, watermelon-sized orbs, each shining with a different color of light.
Below him is complete darkness, but above him is what looks like a river, flowing with streams of golden energy.
"That must be the barrier..." Ekosus said as he pondered for a moment, before he wills his soul to float over to the closest orb.
It's a pale green in color, and just being close to it makes Ekosus feel rejuvenated, and free from stress.
He studied the orb for a moment before he reaches his hand out and grabs it.
A stream of words enters his brain, enlightening Ekosus on what it was.
As he had guessed, it was a Dao Star. It was a 3rd Grade Mortal Dao Star called the Soothing Grass Star.
Below it's name was a description of its benefits.
"So it helps one with affinity to comprehend the Minor Dao Law of Wood?" Ekosus said after reading the words.
'That sounds cool, but I'm guessing a 3rd Grade Mortal Dao Star can only help so much..' Ekosus thought to himself.
He pulled his hand back, and turned his gaze above, staring afar at what looks like a golden river, encompassing the whole sky.
"Up we go!" Ekosus said before soaring upwards towards the shimmering river.
After a few moments of travel, he finds himself standing before the flowing golden river, and is mesmerized for a moment by the aura it exudes. It seemed so divine and mighty that he felt a strand of it could probably annihilate him.
"Well I'm here, but what do I do? Am I supposed to cross this energy?" Ekosus asked to himself while pondering.
After a few moments of silence, Ekosus musters up the courage to touch the golden energy with his finger.
~splash~
The moment he touches it, his finger is enveloped in a feeling similar to running water, and a splashing sound was heard.
"Is this actually a river of energy?" Ekosus asked astonished
How much power would it take to make pure energy turn into a liquid state?
Ekosus didn't know but he imagined that it would be an unthinkable amount.
Ekosus decided to give the river not much thought before he decided to dive right in.
The moment he does this though, his body gets heavy and feels like the river was trying to push him out of itself.
'So that's how it is.' Ekosus thought before he started swimming through the river with some difficulty.
After a few moments of swimming, his head pops out the other side of the river, and his vision is filled with many multicolored stars, about 3 meters in size.
Ekosus floats out of the river, and approaches the nearest star, which is glowing with a faint silver hue around it.
He reaches his hand out and touches the star, and words once again begin to fill his head.
Roaring Iron Dao Star was it's name, and it was a 2nd Grade Mortal Dao Star that helped increase ones ability to cultivate the Minor Dao of Metal to completion.
"Sounds okay, but it still only helps with Minor Daos." Ekosus said before beginning to fly upwards again, towards another golden river of energy.
What Ekosus doesn't know, is that most people don't ever even get to comprehend Minor Dao Laws, so a Dao Star that could help one comprehend a Minor Dao Law to completion is a very, very tempting star for most.
After a little bit of flight, Ekosus reaches the second river, and realizes that if the last river was flowing as fast as a stream, then this was was flowing like it was leading to a waterfall.
"So that's why you need to have a strong soul to pass the barriers!" Ekosus exclaimed
The stronger your soul, the easier it is to resist the flow of energy!
"Well, I'm not afraid of a challenge. " Ekosus said before diving right in.
If he felt heavy the first time, then this time he felt like he was carrying an elephant on his back while trying to swim in the energy.
However, Ekosus wasn't going to give up, so after a long while of swimming, he finally makes it to the other side, panting and gasping for his breath.
"No wonder it's rare for people to reach the 1st Grade Mortal Dao Star layer on their first try. That felt like swimming a marathon!" Ekosus muttered as he caught his breathe for a moment.
After a few moments of rest, Ekosus finally began to take in his surroundings, and wasn't surprised that it looked nothing different from the previous layers, just that the orbs were now more house-sized asteroids, than orbs.
He floated over to one of the asteroids that was a violet purple in color, with little sparks of electricity crackling out of it's surface from time to time. He places his hand upon it, and it's name and function were displayed in his mind once more.
The Violet Lightning Dao Star. It helped it's user comprehend the Minor Dao Law of Lightning, as well as increased ones chance at comprehending the Earthly Dao Law of Lightning later on.
"Being able to control lightning is badass, but I don't think this star is a good fit for me either. Maybe I can find even better ones in the Divine Mortal Stars!" Ekosus said as he turned his gaze afar, at the rumbling torrent of golden energy above him.
As soon as he says that though, the entire dimension he is located in begins to buzz and shake. If Kaiser were here, he'd notice that the very fabric of space was vibrating, and the Laws of Space in the dimension were seemingly trying to bend themselves, as if submitting to whatever was causing them to shake.
"What the hell?!" Ekosus yelled as he felt his surroundings start to shake, and an overwhelming amount of pressure descends upon his soul, locking him in place, rendering him immobile.
The only thing Ekosus can move is his eyes, and he frantically tries to search around, looking for answers as to what might be going on, when the golden river above his head catches his eye.
If the surrounding space was vibrating, than that river was rampaging, as if an angry beast had awoken from within it. That doesn't last long however, as an object of unimaginable size bursts from the other side, swallowing the energy into itself.
It's appearance was a dark grey, and it's size seemed to dwarf the entire dimension itself.
It didn't stop after swallowing the golden river, and continued its descent downwards, heading right for Ekosus.
"Huh, so I'm gonna die because of a huge falling star?" Ekosus thought to himself in dismay. His body was locked in place, and he could only watch as the object continued it's descent, swallowing all the Dao Stars in it's path with no resistance.
"Well, I knew it was all too good to be true anyway" Ekosus said as the object got closer and closer, seemingly almost within touching distance. He closed his eyes, and waited for death to greet him again.
Death never came however, only silence.
After a moment of silence, Ekosus slowly opens his eyes again, and wonders whether he's dreaming, because the huge object is just floating above him, as if stuck in place as well.
Ekosus then notices that the vibrating has stopped, and the overwhelming pressure he felt earlier had dissipated without a trace, and that he could move again.
Ekosus raises his head, and takes another look at the grey object before speaking aloud
"Is there somebody driving this thing? If so, I really appreciate you stopping it before it smashed me to death!" To which there was no reply, only silence
The smooth surface of the grey object begins to deform however, and a grey human-sized hand reaches out of the object, towards Ekosus.
Ekosus quickly floats backwards, keeping his distance from the hand.
"What do you want from me?" Ekosus asked, confused and a little scared.
"Master, take my hand and you shall know the truth to that question" A soft, female childlike voice resounded throughout Ekosus' mind.
"Did you just talk?!?" Ekosus said as he looked at the object astonished
"All your questions will be answered if you take my hand, Master" The voice said again as, the hand inched closer to Ekosus'.
Ekosus, although wary, sensed no hostility from the object, and decided that he should try and give it a shot. So with wariness in his heart, he reached out and grabbed the hand.
The moment he did so, large amounts of information entered his brain, and he was astonished by it's contents.
"So you're a Dao Star?!?" Ekosus asked incredulously
"That is correct, Master. You and I share our Essences, so the moment I felt your existence, I came rushing down from the Monarch's palace to meet you!" The voice answered sweetly.
"What does that mean?" Ekosus asked confused.
"You'll naturally learn after you bond with me, and become an Omega 1-Star Soul Shaman!" The voice replied.
"Wait, what laws do you help comprehend?" Ekosus asked before searching through the Dao Star information.
The Omega Void Annihilation Dao Star. It's grade of Dao Star was unknown. It helped one comprehend the Grand Dao Laws of Void and Destruction to completion.
"You can help me comprehend Grand Dao Laws?!?!" Ekosus said astonished
"That's right, Master. And our Essences are the same, so you'll have no problem progressing through the lower law levels as well. Void is like the element of space, but at a much higher level. Space came from the void, So Void laws are far stronger than space laws, and can bend space laws easily. It's also one of the few Omega type laws, and will grant you untold advantages." The voice replied innocently.
"What grade of Dao Star are you?" Ekosus asked out of curiosity
"I don't know the answer to that question, Master. All I know is that the Monarch made me by fusing many, many 1st Grade Primordial Dao Stars together, so I'm pretty sure I'm a top-grade 1st Grade Primordial Dao Star at least" The voice replied proudly.
"That's all I needed to know! How do we bond together?" Ekosus asked with excitement.
'Can't wait to see the look on that old bastards face when I bring home a Primordial Dao Star on my first try!' Ekosus thought to himself smugly
"You need to place your soul imprint on me with your hand, and then we will forever be bonded, Master!" The voice said excitedly
"Why do you call me master before we have even bonded?" Ekosus asked in confusion
"That's because you've always been my Master!" The voice said cheerfully
"Well I'm not a fan of being called Master, why not you just call me Ekosus? And I'll call you by.. Uh.. Do you have a name yet?" Ekosus asked
"My name is Asmodius, Master Ekosus!" She replied happily.
"Well, thanks for choosing me I guess, Asmodius!" Ekosus said before imprinting his soul on Asmodius through his hand.
The process only took an instant, but the moment it was over, Ekosus felt a warm pleasure seep into his soul, making him feel calm, and back to full energy.
Asmodius then began to shrink her size, and before long, she was only the size of a marble. That marble then slowly sank into Ekosus' soul body, and nine constellations formed above his head.
Eight of them were dark, lusterless, and without shape.
One of them was not lusterless though, quite the opposite. One of the constellations was brightly shinning, and was in the shape of an Omega symbol. One could faintly hear the sounds of the Grand Dao coming from the symbol, in the form of a soft buzz, like vibrating space.