The pain intensified a millionfold in an instant. Liam's eyes rolled back into his head, but for some reason, he couldn't fall unconscious. Immense amounts of knowledge wormed their way into his mind. Knowledge he couldn't fathom or comprehend, but was being forced to anyway. It was digested, processed, and forcefully inserted into his brain in a way his mortal mind could understand, even though it was something that should be infinitely above him. In short, it was a process only made possible because of the voices.
The pain only increased. His fingernails dug into his scalp, but he couldn't even feel it. Blood dripped on the ground, but he couldn't see it. His Aura burst forth, swallowing the space inside the room. It writhed and moved like a living creature, growing darker by the second. Just like before, its golden strands grew brighter and brighter.
[Do not lose yourself.]
[Wield them.]
Slowly and forcefully, Liam's eyes rolled back into focus. He narrowed them. Blood flowed from every orifice in his body, but that didn't matter. He needed to concentrate. He only had a few seconds left.
'Chaos.'
His dark Aura moved.
'Order.'
The golden lightning flashed.
He could feel it. Even if only a little bit, he was able to wield them somehow. It would take a long time for him to do so freely, but it all began here and now.
[Our… "time" has run out.]
[We must offer a parting gift. Some advice.]
[A King's Crown.]
[It is not limited to a "place."]
[A King should be a King no matter where they go.]
With those words, the voices vanished. The pain immediately started to subside, much to Liam's relief. It took some time before he was able to breathe normally, and even longer for him to stop bleeding. Still, just like before, the pain wasn't completely gone. In fact, this time it seemed to have grown a bit. Liam didn't miss this fact.
'Why is it hurting more this time around?'
He still couldn't say anything for certain, but if the voices reached out to him again and the pain increased, then he could know for sure. His thoughts turned to what he had been told. It was obvious that it was the answer to the questions he had about Kingdoms. Why had the voices chosen it to be their parting gift? Did they want him to hurry up and establish a Kingdom? Why?
'Couldn't they have been clearer?'
Liam grumbled. The message had been unnecessarily cryptic, but he had still figured it out. Managing the pain and sitting cross-legged, Liam closed his eyes and entered meditation. Silently, he pondered, paying no heed to the time spent doing so. Considering all the possibilities he could, he eventually thought of a specific one. It was as if a thunderbolt had struck his mind. If he was right, this had the potential to be game-changing.
'A King should be a King wherever they go.'
There were a few possible answers. It could mean that a Kingdom could be an object; something he would be able to carry around with him. However, not only would that be highly inconvenient, but he would also grow to be far too dependent on the object. Liam was thinking along the lines of something else.
"I'd like to establish a Kingdom."
[Designate the area. Currently, your Kingdom can only have one hundred square kilometers of area. Your Kingdom cannot be set in the area of another Kingdom.]
Liam spoke out loud, receiving a System notification in response. The window was blue, as expected. It seemed like the voices had truly been unable to completely replace the Creator's System, being solely limited to Liam's Status Window. Liam gulped. It was time to test his theory. If he were wrong, it meant that he would go back to square one on this matter. Slowly, he pointed to his own head.
"My soul. I'd like my soul to be my Kingdom."
This was the answer he'd thought of. The creatures in the dark had said that a Kingdom wasn't limited to a place and that he should be a King wherever he went. Then, could he make himself his own Kingdom? Liam initially thought of his body but remembered all the times it had been destroyed and forced to regenerate. As such, his thoughts turned to his soul, which so far had never been harmed.
Silence.
Liam opened his eyes and narrowed them. The fact that the System hadn't immediately denied him surely meant something. The response he was looking for came a few seconds afterwards.
[Your Kingdom will be successfully established.]
[You have fulfilled a hidden requirement!]
[Kingdom has become Inner World.]
A smile made its way into his face. A mysterious energy flooded his body, flowing to every corner of it. Every single one of his cells was bathed in it, changing fundamentally. Liam had never felt anything like it. It was as if his blood had been replaced by ice-cold water. Then, the energy went deeper, beyond his body. The ice-cold feeling converged, extending itself somewhere he wasn't even aware of.
Liam's vision changed. The training room surrounding him grew darker, his consciousness being pulled to a different place. He didn't resist. In a flash, he had entered his soul's perspective.
SPLASH
His soul looked down. Underneath his feet, there was a black ocean. Looking up, he saw a dark, empty sky. Stunned, he couldn't help but wonder.
'Is this the same place I went when I entered the Ether pond?'
Nevertheless, as his gaze analyzed his surroundings, he realized a few differences. The first and greatest difference was that the ocean was unusually small. It didn't extend beyond the horizon as before, ending in his line of sight. The second biggest difference was that the sky was cracked. The cracks were subtle, but Liam was absolutely certain that they were there. Whenever he looked at them, the pain he felt intensified. Anxiety began to pool within his chest.
'Is my soul damaged?'
Thinking about it, it wouldn't be too surprising, he realized. It had nearly been destroyed by the voices' presence several times, to the point he had acquired the Enduring Soul Skill. It wasn't far-fetched for his vessel to have been permanently damaged along the way. His incarnation furrowed its brow in worry. Then, it looked down once more. Liam attempted to see beyond the water's surface.
'Are they in there?'
The ocean was completely still, with no indication of housing anything at all. Frankly, it would be more appropriately described as a lake. Liam momentarily doubted his intuition, but then steeled his mind. The fact that his Inner World looked like the place where he had met the voices couldn't be a coincidence. They should still be in the same place as before. Liam kneeled on the water's surface, laying his hand against it. He pushed down. One eyebrow was lifted. He put more strength into his arm. Seconds later, he was using his entire might to push the surface, yet no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't pierce it and go underwater. Giving up, he stood up.
'Guess I'm gonna have to wait another month to be sure.'
Liam looked around, taking in the small sea and the empty sky.
'What a dull Inner World.'
Shaking his head, he concentrated on trying to leave. In a flash, he felt the same feeling as when his Kingdom was established: the feeling of his consciousness being pulled somewhere else. As the feeling disappeared moments later, he opened his eyes. The training room could be seen. He was back in the real world.
Afterwards, Liam entered and left his Inner World continuously until he got used to transitioning between reality and the inside of his soul. It was then that he absent-mindedly noticed that he still hadn't read some new System notifications.
[You have created an Inner World. The effectiveness of all of your stats has increased.]
[Your Inner World's existence increases your power! So long as it isn't destroyed, all of your abilities will be increased.]
[Your Inner World's abilities will develop based on your achievements and King's Crown Skill.]
Liam rubbed his chin. He still couldn't be sure of how much the Inner World affected his strength, but the System notifications had never been wrong. The increase in his stats' effectiveness alone was good enough, but it seemed like it could develop other abilities as well.
'How do I grow my King's Crown Skill?'
He opened the Skill's information, hoping to discover something.
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King's Crown
Type: Passive Skill
Rank: Unknown
* You have proven your qualifications by clearing various Ruins. Your devotion to your species has materialized in the form of a kingly mantle. May your legacy never be forgotten.
* You are a Great Sourcebearer. Your majesty rises.
* Allows one to create a Kingdom.
* Unlocks the Title system.
* This Skill will be strengthened the more Ruins you clear. As you rank it up, different bonuses will become available to you.
* You have created an Inner World. It will grow alongside the weight of your existence and your Skill Proficiency.
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It seemed that there were two things to focus on: clearing Ruins and increasing the weight of his existence.
'Finding uncleared Ruins will be difficult.'
The Convergence had been going on for an unknown amount of years, with countless species. Liam would be very surprised if there was even a single Ruin left intact, unless the System generated new ones over time. On the other hand, because of his Personal Attribute's abilities, the weight of his existence constantly increased. He didn't need to go out of his way to do so.
'No matter. I'll deal with it when the time comes.'
For now, he was still stuck in the siege against Cinzolia and the relationship with the Drakkhan Empire. It was no use thinking of how to clear Ruins when he couldn't even leave the planet of Zancorix. He should focus on the situation in front of him for the time being.
That being said, there was still one month left until he had to go back to the field. It was imperative to make good use of that time. Liam grasped his spear and immediately went back into training. He couldn't let what he had just experienced distract him from his more immediate goals.