Nero was lying on his back in the empty mind space, his gaze lazily following Draven as he meticulously drew rune after rune on mana crystals for the last hour.
But then, Draven's voice cut through the silence, snapping him out of his daze, and before he knew it, he bolted upright, ears perking up to catch every syllable.
'Nero, there are a few things you need to understand before you can get the system,' Draven said, gaining his attention.
'You believe that a King or Primordial grade system picks a chosen on their own with the chosen having no say in it, but that is incorrect,' Draven said, and Nero nodded with a hesitant nod, his eyes narrowed slightly with doubt.
'While it is true that an Architect picks his own host, it's also true that a chosen picks his own Architect,' Draven said, and knowing this was contradictory, he explained further.
'Let me first explain the realm of Architect race and how they pick their host,' Draven began and followed.
'The Architects are ethereal entities residing in the Ethereal Plane, a realm distinct from our physical reality,' Draven explained briefly, dismissing the topic since it was not important for now.
'The Architects pick their host through either the System Obelisk or the Conditional Accord,' Draven said, and after a moment to let his words settle, he explained both ways he mentioned.
'The System Obelisks are the near-indestructible pillars that you can find throughout the world, created by the Architects to allow every member of their race to connect to our realm of existence,'
'The Obelisks are capable of analyzing an individual on many parameters, with there even being special Obelisks that could measure other things like mental fortitude, attitude, creativity, moral integrity, and delivering all the information to Receiver Obelisks in the Ethereal plane,'
'The information that Architects use to select their chosen and use the two obelisks as the catalyst to build a bond,' Draven said, and after a brief pause, continued.
'The Obelisks are capable of measuring one's talent to a great degree, but most King and Primordial grade systems pick their chosen through the Conditional Accord,'
'The Conditional Accords are contracts with the Laws of reality that an Architect makes by paying a certain price, and list certain conditions which when completed make the law strongly react, and the Architect feeling the unique signal will initiate the soul bond,'
'It is as broken as it sounds, but the Laws of reality follow the laws of equal exchange, so the price an Architect has to pay to find the perfect host is immense, and it only increases the more conditions he wishes to be fulfilled,'
'This method is used by strong Architects to pick the perfect host but also to avoid the competition,' Draven said, making him understand some but remain ignorant to most.
While he understood everything to some extent, he was completely unfamiliar with terms like Laws of reality and equal exchange. It was hard to wrap his head around everything on a deeper level, and he knew an explanation would not help, so he did not feel the need to ask any questions.
'Now that you know how the Architects initiate the soul bond, let me tell you what happens when they do,' Draven said, snapping Nero out of his daze.
'Once the soul bond is initiated, the chosen consciousness is pulled into the astral plane, the boundary between the two planes of existence,'
'There he could feel the presence of the Architect trying to bond with him, and there the chosen could decide to complete the bond or do nothing, and minutes later, he would return to his reality,'
'This happens to everyone who makes contact with a system obelisks or gets contacted by an Architect, and if you are wondering why this is not common knowledge, it is because most just forget about this experience, remembering it as nothing more than a blur,'
'Now, to the main point,' Draven said, going silent for a few short minutes to let Nero get comfortable with everything.
'When the chosen enters the astral state, he gets contacted by the one who initiated the soul bond, but that Architect is not alone, as there could be tens to hundreds and thousands of Architect who were all lurking in the astral place, and many of them will try to create the soul bond,'
'All those trying to learn the mysteries of a similar aspect of reality would try their luck with the chosen, especially when he is an individual picked by a high-grade Architect,'
'The chosen could easily sense the strength and even nature to some degree of all the Architect trying to make the bond, as every system will give a display of his strength through a short illusion,'
'But if he is immature, he could be hasty in his decision and pick a weaker Architect,' Draven said, his words stirring unease in Nero.
The mere thought of someone wasting their chance to secure immense power by picking a lesser Architect, all because of impatience or inexperience, sent a chill through Nero.
'I have told you all this because, while we share the same soul since you are in control, it is possible that only you will enter the astral state,'
'You will have few minutes in the astral state, and I want you to focus on the strongest links, feel their nature, that you will be able to instinctively do,'
'Find the link that reaks of Darkness, Insatiable Hunder, malevolence, and outright madness, compare it to the other strong links, and make sure it is one of the strongest before choosing it,' Draven said, and at this point, Nero just had to interrupt.
'I will be able to do it instinctively? Will I be able to sense their Rank or their abilities and what this soul bond thing, how will I do it,' Nero said, bombarding Draven with all the questions that came to his mind.,
"You can roughly estimate both their Rank and Nature from the power you feel through the link and similarly see their powers in action," Draven explained. "A link from a King-grade Architect would feel oppressive, like standing against a fierce wind, almost drowning or being torn apart,'
'In comparison, a link from a Primordial-grade Architect would feel unbearable, as if you were being engulfed by an untamed force, leaving no room for resistance.'
'As for establishing a bond, you just have to pick a link by just imagining it and then don't resist the power that will flow into your being,' Draven explained, making it all sound so simple, yet Nero still had his doubts, since the last thing he wanted was to mess this up.
'Don't worry, just don't be hasty in your decision, and you will be fine,' Draven said, fully aware of Nero's emotional turmoil.
'Let's just hope you can enter the astral state with me,' Nero said, not very comfortable with the idea of making such a big decision.
Draven was also done creating the magic array, so he stood up and began to place the mana crystal near the wall, covering the entire room in a short few minutes.
He waited for the array to create a barrier that secured every inch of the large training chamber before he removed the spider queen's corpse, which was barely contained by the massive chamber.
The walls lit up with runes as the laid-out array fought to contain the Spider Queen's presence and mana.
If Draven had not put the array in place, the entire city would have felt the presence of the spider queen, which would bring nothing but trouble.
Draven climbed atop the dead spider, took out the short sword, and began to carve runes on it. After a few minutes, he was done. The runes came alive and shone brightly, slowly covering the entire sword in a thin, white, tangible aura.
'How can you write so many runes and not get tired? But more than that, how can you create such strong arrays with so little mana,' Nero asked, finding the moment right for such a question.
'I can simply absorb mana as I use it, never really running out of it, and I can also use mana to keep the body going, but I do have to give the body rest after a certain period,' Draven answered, like being able to do it was just a minor thing.
Nero also did not think much of it when he put it lightly, but he could not be more wrong as even world ascendants could not hope to achieve such balance.
Draven retrieved a bluish-green potion and drank it swiftly. Gripping a crack in the spider's crystalline armor, he leaned to the right, steadying himself while tightening his hold on the short sword in his dominant hand.
He found the crack in the armor, and once satisfied with his position, he plunged the sword through the crystal carapace, making a shell that was harder than a diamond get sliced open without any resistance.
He moved with precise speed, carving out massive chunks of crystal carapace that crashed to the ground with heavy thuds. Streams of liquid flowed from the sliced-open crystal, filling the chamber with a terrible smell.