Zen's body continued to grow.
From one hundred meters… to one hundred five… one hundred ten…
Until it finally stopped at one hundred fifty.
Seeing this, Zen gave a small nod to himself and resumed purifying his golden veins.
Time lost meaning again.
When he next opened his eyes, the void was unchanged—but he was not.
He examined himself quietly.
His body had reached five hundred forty meters in length.
"If my estimation is correct… I have been refining my veins for over a thousand years."
There was no excitement in his voice.
Only observation.
"Time passes quickly when one cultivates."
Zen looked around him.
The void was still the same silent, endless darkness he had known for centuries.
Calm.
Lonely.
Peaceful.
He decided it was time to move.
After traveling for several years, Zen finally encountered something different.
A spherical mass of stone floated quietly in the void.
A planet.
He circled it once.
Twice.
There was no visible life, and he was not disappointed. He already understood that life required time—far more time than had passed since the universe's birth.
Zen descended and landed on the surface.
The moment his claws touched the ground, he felt something familiar.
A faint, steady energy.
He closed his eyes.
"…This aura."
Realization dawned.
"Was this created by the Titan?"
A calm understanding followed.
"So he has already begun."
Upon closer observation, Zen discovered that the planet was not truly lifeless.
It was simply… young.
Like a newborn child, it was quietly absorbing energy from the universe.
More precisely—
It was absorbing the Law of Creation itself.
"With this rate of growth, it will take only a few hundred thousand years before life can form here."
Satisfied, Zen left the planet and returned to the void.
He flew leisurely, observing the emptiness around him.
Then—
A strange sensation struck him.
His strength faltered slightly.
A ringing filled his mind.
An instinct screamed at him.
Dodge.
Run.