It was the longest period of peace Achilles had experienced since becoming an Advanced Human!

He spent days with his family in the Sea of Thalassara, allowing himself the luxury of simple presence.

Conversations and Cultivation with Rose that extended for hours without interruption.

Watching Arya assimilate her own smaller aspects of existence and welcoming her younger Brother, Ains!

Observing the Adrastia Emperor Kings as they adapted to glorious power.

Spending time with his mother and father.

It was…

Peace, genuine and unhurried.

But he also spent even more of these days alone, traveling through the Void with patience.

During these solitary journeys, he continued to assimilate the Aspects of Existence that comprised reality's fundamental architecture.

The Void itself…consuming more of its infinite expanse, integrating its nature so completely that distinguishing between Achilles and emptiness became increasingly difficult even for his own perception.

The Aspect of Limitations, assimilating the Chains he broke from those he helped transcend the Null Scale.

Alongside the Aspect of Quantum, Spatial Tension, and others that presented themselves during his methodical exploration.

With the ridiculously slow rise of his Existence Corruption Value, a metric that measured how much foreign authority his being had integrated without losing coherence, he had been absorbing constantly without ever stopping.

And so far, despite weeks of continuous assimilation, he hadn't even reached ten percent corruption!

His capacity was simply that vast, his foundation that stable.

It represented the most exponential rate of advancement his power had ever experienced compared to any previous period.

He didn't need to fight anyone to grow stronger, didn't require conflict or victory over enemies to fuel his development.

He simply needed to assimilate, and he continued doing so as weeks passed in patient accumulation.

As he spent more time traversing the Void's immeasurable distances, he eventually began encountering many phenomena that he observed silently while expanding his depth of knowledge about existence's hidden territories.

He began seeing other Star Seas in regions outside the influence of the Nar'Thyss…stellar clusters where different organizations held sway.

Whenever he came across any of them, he would casually observe from distances, watching different life forms moving about their existences with the calm certainty of beings who didn't know they were being studied.

He witnessed an abundance of different races as every single one existed in the Null Scale.

Occasionally, he would sense entities that had exceeded this scale of existence, beings who belonged to Existential Lineages similar to the Nar'Thyss.

One Lineage he frequently encountered was the Cyclops…massive neon-skinned one-eyed giants whose bodies pulsed with power.

They moved through the Void with ponderous grace.

Another Lineage he came across was the Magi…unique beings that appeared completely human in nature yet were adorned in robes inscribed with symbols of scholarly devotion to understanding existence's deeper mysteries.

They carried themselves with the dignity of academics.

Because they were scholars, they talked extensively…which proved immensely valuable for Achilles, as it meant listening in on information whenever he encountered them in the Void.

The Magi loved to lecture, to explain, to demonstrate their understanding through elaborate discourse that revealed far more than they likely intended about territories and powers and principles governing regions he hadn't yet explored.

At this moment, weeks after he'd begun his journey of exploration, with his power unfathomably greater than when he'd first relocated the Sea of Thalassara...

He was following a group of Magi who were crossing the Void with purpose. As if they were going somewhere specific.

One was an old man with white hair and beard, Archmagus Solleth, as his disciples called him with reverence that bordered on worship.

His presence radiated authority that marked him as significantly elevated within the Level Zero Scale.

Two others accompanied him, disciples who appeared to be his students rather than equals.

A scholarly man whose features suggested intense focus on intellectual pursuits, and a woman whose bearing conveyed similar dedication to understanding existence through systematic study.

Both operated at the Level Zero Scale but at lower tiers than their master, their power considerable yet clearly subordinate to Archmagus Solleth's tremendous capability.

Achilles had been following them for days because the old man held immensely more knowledge than his students, and through his teaching, valuable information flowed that expanded Achilles's understanding of territories and surrounding existence.

They had freely discussed the Foldless Ones over the past several days!

Each lecture provided pieces of a larger puzzle that Achilles was methodically assembling.

At this moment, as they floated in the Void seated on a vessel that resembled the wide trunk of a stellar Void Tree…Archmagus Solleth posed a question to his disciples.

"Do you know of the place that we are currently contained within? These vast stretches of the Void?"

Achilles listened with heightened attention.

The two disciples shook their heads. This was new knowledge being introduced!

Archmagus Solleth smiled with satisfaction.

"Take this with appropriate skepticism," he cautioned, "but according to Records maintained by the Legendary Archmagus Vienna…who is currently apprenticing under the Foldless Ones in pursuit of entry into the grand Primordial Civilization of Life, we are apparently residing within a Treasure Fold of Life."

BOOM!

The term hung in the emptiness with weight!

"A unique domain," Archmagus Solleth continued, his tone taking on the quality of someone explaining concepts that existed at the edge of his own comprehension, "that appears small in scale when viewed from perspectives available to those who have transcended limitations and can perceive existence's grander architecture. But for us…for entities operating at Pre-Civilizational and Level Zero Scales, this domain is unfathomably vast, containing distances and territories that would require lifetimes to fully explore."

…!

His disciples listened with rapt attention, consciousness clearly struggling to process implications about their environment being simultaneously small and vast depending on the perspective from which it was observed.

"If you ever wish to see beyond what we currently comprehend," the old Magus said, "if you desire to witness existence's true scope rather than remaining confined to this particular domain…you would need to surpass the Foldless Ones and gain entry into that grand Civilization they serve."

…!

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