Adrian floated beside Gary, the vast alien structure looming behind them.
"Elder…" Adrian began, his voice steady but curious. "How did you and the others end up so deep into the Edge?"
Gary's expression shifted, "We didn't mean to come this deep."
"We were stationed in an Edge Sector. Our mission was an exploration into the edge, mapping routes, cataloging phenomena. Standard work for those who survived long enough to be trusted with it."
Adrian listened.
"It wasn't just us," Gary continued. "We were just a small part of the fleet. The fleet even had Stellar commanders leading the expedition. We thought we were safe."
"Then one day, a void current appeared. Something none of our sensors could track or predict. It swallowed our fleet whole and threw us here."
Gary gestured toward the emptiness around them.
"By the time we stabilized, half our ships were gone. Those that survived found this structure."
Adrian's gaze drifted to the massive ruin behind them.
"We thought it was a ruin," Gary said. "So, naturally, the commanders wanted to explore. We entered… and that's when everything changed."
Adrian's brow furrowed, "What happened inside?"
Gary's expression darkened.
"The moment we stepped inside, a golden sphere appeared. It called itself the Guardian Spirit."
"It said we had entered a training program. Something designed to strengthen those who entered it. It gave each of us different conditions to leave."
Gary's voice grew quieter.
"Then, before anyone could react, each of us was thrown into what it called levels."
Adrian tilted his head, "Levels? What is that?"
Gary met his gaze.
"It's filled with what the Guardian called Essence Beasts. Creatures made entirely of elemental essence. They had no mind, no will. Just the instinct to fight and kill."
He paused, the memory clearly vivid.
"The first level alone was vast. Endless plains, floating islands, seas of essence. At first, we thought it was paradise, the perfect place to train. We fought, grew stronger, thought it would be easy to clear the levels."
His voice turned bitter.
"But it turned out to be hard. We tried to leave, but couldn't even find a way. The Guardian Spirit told us there were only two ways out: clear all levels, or meet the condition it gave you."
Adrian's expression remained calm, but his mind churned.
Gary looked away, staring into the void.
"For us six, it told us we could only leave after ascending to Stellar. Or by clearing the levels."
He shook his head.
"Ascending to Stellar felt impossible, so we tried clearing the levels. We even joined with the others in the fleet, but it was hard."
Gary's hands clenched briefly.
"To clear a level, each of us had to slay a set number of Essence Beasts. Thousands of them. Every beast fought fiercely, and the moment one of us was about to die, the Spirit ejected us to a place it called a safe zone."
His voice dropped.
"It wanted us alive. Wanted us to fight, grow, repeat."
Adrian's jaw tightened.
"The first level took us seven hundred years to clear. The second took more than a thousand. We stopped counting after a while."
Silence stretched between them.
Adrian's voice cut through it, "Two thousand years… and yet only months passed outside."
Gary nodded slowly.
"Yeah. I only realized when I came out."
He turned to Adrian, studying him with quiet seriousness.
"You shouldn't have come here alone, Adrian. This place is unknown, unstable. You're the one carrying Earth's hope and the Origin Clan. If you're trapped here, everything outside will collapse."
Adrian's expression didn't waver.
"I couldn't bring others here, Elder. That would take time. And every moment we spend here is years for those inside."
Gary stared at him for a long moment, then let out a low, rough laugh.
"Heh. You remind me of myself, back when we thought we could change everything with courage alone."
His smile faded.
"It's been five days since I came out. That means it's been at least eighty years inside by now."
Gary gestured toward the structure.
"There's a teleportation anchor near the lower ridge. Once we stand there, the Guardian does the rest."
Together, they drifted toward the alien ruin.
The symbols on its surface pulsed faintly, reacting to their approach.
They descended toward the lower ridge, where a circular platform jutted out from the ruin's base.
Intricate patterns covered its surface, glowing with soft golden light.
Gary stepped onto it first, his shadow domain retracting.
Adrian followed, his space domain folding inward.
The platform pulsed once.
Twice.
A ripple of light spread outward, washing over them both.
And they vanished.
...
They appeared in a dark chamber.
The floor and ceiling were indiscernible, just an endless black void stretching in every direction.
Only a golden sphere hovered before them, radiating faint warmth.
Then, words formed in front of them, written in the Language of Mana.
› Welcome to the Training Program. I am the Guardian Spirit. My purpose is to shape candidates into their strongest selves.
The voice was mechanical yet strangely warm, echoing from everywhere and nowhere at once.
› Two candidates detected. Commencing scan.
A golden light swept through them, scanning every cell of their bodies.
› Scan complete. Two Stellar candidates detected: one returning, one new.
The light pulsed brighter.
› New candidate: life force age less than fifty. Potential: extremely high. Probability of reaching Astral Stage confirmed.
Adrian stiffened. "Astral Stage?"
› Exit condition set: Clear all five levels.
› Returning candidate: potential stable. Exit condition adjusted: Clear third level.
Gary let out a breath. "Third level. That's where the others are."
› Teleporting candidates to their assigned levels.
Gary turned to Adrian, the faint shimmer of teleportation already forming around him.
"Looks like I'm being sent back to the third level. The others should be there too. We'll wait for you."
Adrian nodded once. "I'll catch up soon."
The light swallowed them both.
...
Adrian materialized in a vast metallic hall, the safe zone.
The architecture was alien, smooth metal and stone fused together seamlessly, floating pillars inscribed with pulsing runes.
It was advanced, beyond anything that Adrian's galaxy had.
The mana density here was overwhelming, richer than any star system he'd ever felt.
And he also sensed this place was filled with time essence. This was the first time he was sensing a strong time essence.
After entering the galaxy, it was hard for him to barely see any galactic knowledge about the time concept, so he did not even have a basic galactic understanding of it.
But this place seemed to be filled with a much stronger time concept.
And yet, what echoed in his mind wasn't the marvel of the place… but the words the Guardian had spoken.
"Astral Stage."
The Astral Stage. He'd never even heard the term in his galaxy.
"Another stage beyond Stellar…" he murmured.
Were there others who reached it? Ancient cultivators from forgotten eras? Or was it something only these civilizations from beyond their galaxy had ever attained?
His thoughts were interrupted by a gentle hum.
The golden sphere appeared again, floating before him.
› Welcome to Level One. You stand in the Safe Zone, an area protected from combat.
› Beyond this boundary lies the Trial Zone, where Essence Beasts spawn.
› To clear this level, fulfill your assigned quota and complete your exit condition.
Adrian looked toward the glowing archway at the far end of the chamber. Beyond it, he could sense the wild pulse of countless elemental essences.
He came here to save others, personal training was not something he planned for now, but this situation and the time dilation gave him a perfect opportunity to train himself now.
"Five levels…" he said softly. "Then let's begin."
And with that, he stepped toward the archway, into the first level.