Ketovan entered the main church building on the Church of the Wizard campus. It was a soaring citadel made of sky-core dust, which gave the structure a beautiful, pale blue luminescence. He pushed the large, invisible door inward and stepped through. He took one glance at the entrance corridor, confirmed the irritating wizard clergy had finally lost interest and retreated toward the endless Catalog, and closed the door behind him.
He walked the corridor in a silent, composed manner. When he entered the main hall, the space was dazzling, shimmering under the open sky above the crystalline dome. This central chamber was designed to honor conceptual beings—entities whose power embodies fundamental ideas. Sometimes, these concepts are linked to emotions, creating Sibling Concepts, such as Rage and Warrior, Pride and Hegemon, or Innocence and Rebirth. The Wizard, whose very concept represents Magic, is intrinsically linked with Curiosity.
Ketovan moved into the center of the hall, where a sprawling circle of round carpets, all in different shades of pale blue, defined the meeting area. At the edge of the circle, a small tray rested on a pedestal. Ketovan moved toward it, took the Church of the Hegemon medallion from his inner coat, and placed it on the tray. This was a necessary formality to disable tracking and intrusive scans.
There was a blinding, yet pleasant, flash of light for a split second, and there he stood: The Wizard. Not the massive, overwhelming presence of a god, but the embodiment of the concept of magic itself. He was tall, perhaps between six and seven feet, old, and weary, with the long beard typical of ancient mages. This was not his original form, but the one he preferred on this planet. He wore a plain red and white mage robe, a sharp contrast to the pale and pleasant blue theme of his church. His hands held a sizable book, and a white and gold wand hung from his waist belt.
"What information do you seek?" the figure asked in a soothing voice.
"I need knowledge, Lord Wizard," Ketovan answered, bowing low.
"Wizard is fine, Ketovan Motsari. Your brother will be coming to the shores of the nearby port city of Gregon in a week or so, if that is the urgency in your mind," the man said, still holding his book.
"Thank you. But there is still one more thing I need to know."
"About the Domain of the Eternal Ruler? You see, I can only read your conscious mind, not your soul. I have my decency, unlike some of my clergy," The Wizard said wryly. As he spoke, two tree stumps rose smoothly from the ground to provide them seating.
They both settled down, and Ketovan looked at The Wizard for the answers.
"The Domain of the Eternal Ruler," The Wizard repeated, opening his book. A magical projection of a chaotic war instantly appeared in the air between them.
"It was first held by the Celestial General Oladi Grima in the Era of Void. I can't tell you anything more about the Era of Void, but the skill itself is elegantly simple. It makes you the strongest in your Rank within a particular area. For example, if you chose a circular area with a radius of 100 meters, and there were twenty-four Commander-Rankers other than you—some at a higher level, or with higher skill points—activating this boon overrides those disparities. You will surpass their level of skill. It's a useful skill against other core users, but not quite useful on soul-less beasts."
"Why?" Ketovan asked.
"Because it sends a signal to the soul of other Commander-Rankers, commanding them to assume they are weaker than you. Soul-less beasts have no souls. They operate only on the pure, animalistic instincts caused by mana hallucination, making them immune to the illusion of weakness."
"Can you tell me anything about the Omniarchs?" Ketovan asked.
"Rare specimen, indeed. Let me look." The Wizard turned his pages, and the mural shifted. The chaotic war scene was replaced by the silhouette of a being Ketovan had never seen before. It was covered in a dark mist, killing innumerous goblins with each slash.
"That was the first Omniarch that entered our world. He was a good man, though tragically flawed. You can see his heart in the personal collection of Deus Eterna's enemy exhibits. He gave her a tough fight; Eterna lost one of her eyes then. Guess what core he used?" The Wizard said.
"Darkness? Night?" Ketovan answered doubtfully.
"Silence," The Wizard answered.
Ketovan was stunned. "Silence!? That is the most useless core ever! It usually only provides skills to increase or decrease the frequency of sound waves, or make people temporarily unable to cast spells. Those restrictions are easily evaded by items, potions, or cores like Rune or Strength, which outright negate them."
"Yes, Silence. And he used it in such a manner that Deus Eterna, the first Almighty recognized by the world, lost her eye to him. His name was a bit too famous a million years ago. His name was Gilgamesh."
"Gilgamesh, you mean the Worldless Priest?" asked Ketovan.
"Yes. The infamous Worldless Priest," The Wizard confirmed.
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Aju Lil Mao, the recently ascended Divine Rank orc of the Forest Orc tribe, stood silently on a large, high branch of their Tree City. He looked down at the weak, scattered orcs returning from Daro. They were lost and broken, their fighting will extinguished.
The Forest Orcs had achieved a grim victory, killing 80% of the noble-rank adventurers in Daro—a loss that would take the city decades, perhaps centuries, to recover from. But the orcs paid an even heavier price, losing 3 million of their 5 million strong army.
The returning survivors spoke in hushed, frightened tones about a man quite different from the other citizens of Daro. He had red hair and striking red eyes. The most unsettling detail was his multiple eyes: four were open, and a fifth, on his forehead, remained closed.
He met them during their retreat. Four million strong initially, they were falling back toward the warped space after losing their Royal Rankers. The approximately four thousand noble-rank orcs had been whittled down to a mere twenty or thirty, desperately trying to manage the retreating army.
Then, the man appeared. He wore white armor streaked with crimson and flew using what looked like wings made of pure fire. He raised his arms and cast a potent spell. An enormous, instantaneous plant dome erupted from the earth, locking 2 million orcs inside. Before they could react, he cast a second spell. The entire dry wood dome was engulfed in flame, burning instantly to a crisp along with the 2 million orcs trapped within.
Mao took a long time to respond. He had not left the warped space for his entire life until recently, when he had declared war on Daro. He was still a budding Divine Ranker; not even a month had passed since his ascension.
He finally spoke, instructing the current acting commander to ensure the returning orcs rested and healed. It would take at least a few years for them to regain their will to fight. Until then, their numbers, too, would recover, but with a population skewed toward the Normal and Commander Ranks, rather than the heavily depleted Noble Ranks
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