Cole was silent for a second.

Then he nodded. "Reasonable. But to send supplies, we need stable spatial coordinates. Ethan, find an area with less fluctuation. When you get there, we’ll try to open a one-way supply rift."

Ethan was about to ask more when the ground beneath his feet suddenly shook violently.

No warning sign.

The entire asphalt road covered in vines began to twist like a sheet of fabric pulled hard. Slabs of concrete cracked apart, then were torn into countless fragments.

Laira reacted faster than Ethan.

She immediately wrapped her arm around his waist.

Her dragon wings spread open.

Boom!

The two of them flew straight up into the air.

The very moment they left the ground, the spot where they had just stood completely transformed. The asphalt road shattered, the trees were pressed to either side, and half a castle that looked like it came from the medieval era suddenly appeared in the middle of the ruined city.

It wasn’t complete.

Only half the body of the structure, like someone had cut it straight across and thrown it into this place. The gray stone walls were covered in black moss. The windows were shattered. The spire towers leaned precariously as if about to collapse.

But the thing that sent a chill down Ethan’s spine wasn’t the castle.

It was the things pouring out from inside.

Countless bizarre tentacles crawled out of the main door, the windows, and the ventilation holes. At first Ethan thought they were vines, but when he looked closely, he realized they were formed from hundreds of pallid white arms coiling around one another. Their fingers kept twitching, their nails scraping against the stone walls, giving off a dry sound that made his scalp go numb.

Then, Ethan saw a pair of eyes.

It was hidden deep inside the castle’s main door, quietly looking up at the sky.

The instant that gaze touched Ethan, his head ached sharply.

[The Eye of Truth] almost wanted to activate on its own.

Ethan immediately shut his eyes, forcibly cutting off the sense of observation.

Laira sensed his reaction. She didn’t hesitate, immediately carrying him in flight far away from the castle. "Don’t look at it."

Ethan let out a heavy breath. "I know."

Laira flew low down among the buildings covered in trees. After a few minutes of searching, she chose a small three-story house tucked away behind a row of ruined shops. The structure here was still relatively intact, the entrance blocked by rotted wood, with no overly obvious spatial fluctuation around it.

She landed before the door.

Without Ethan needing to remind her, Laira had already raised her hand.

A thin line of fire flashed across.

The rotted wooden door and the warped metal bars were severed at the same time, but the flame didn’t spread. She controlled the temperature so precisely that it only destroyed the obstruction without collapsing the already old house.

Inside, several hoarse roars immediately rang out.

Three figures staggered out from the dark hallway.

They had shapes resembling humans, but their gray-white skin had dried and shriveled, and their bodies were covered in patches of dark red crystal like quartz. Those crystals grew out of their shoulders, backs, necks, and even eye sockets, making them look like corpses parasitized by minerals.

Ethan recognized them at a glance.

Undead corrupted by the Void.

The three monsters charged forward all at once.

Laira stepped forward one pace.

No wasted movements.

No dazzling skills.

She just raised her right hand, her fingertip lightly tracing a horizontal line in the air.

A streak of dark red flame as thin as a thread immediately swept across the room.

The three Undead froze in midair.

A second later, the dark red crystals on their bodies cracked apart. Their shriveled skin, their bones, and all the corrupted energy within were simultaneously swallowed by the flame. No explosion. No ash and dust scattering about. All of it was burned clean in a few breaths, leaving only seven small gray stones falling to the floor.

Laira lowered her hand, then looked around the room. "Nothing living left for now."

Ethan looked at the gray stones on the ground.

His gaze stirred slightly.

"Energy crystals."

He stepped over, bent down, and picked one up.

The crystal was only the size of a bean, a dull gray color, its surface with a few faint purple streaks like threads of blood. According to the knowledge Ethan had learned at the academy, energy crystals in the wild usually contained Void energy mixed in. If not purified, directly absorbing them could easily corrupt the body, ultimately turning a person into the kind of creature those three Undead had just been.

In a normal situation, no new Awakened would dare absorb this.

But right now wasn’t a normal situation.

Ethan had no supplies.

No resupply point.

No idea when the Academy would be able to send support.

If he didn’t level up, he and Laira would grow more and more passive.

Just as Ethan was still considering, the Heaven’s Gate within his body suddenly trembled faintly.

That feeling was very strange.

Like a starving wolf catching the scent of blood.

The gray crystal in his hand clearly contained corrupted energy, but the instinct within his body told Ethan that this thing could be absorbed.

Not only could it be absorbed.

It was even like a delicacy.

Ethan was silent for a few seconds, then said: "Laira, keep watch on the surroundings."

Laira immediately looked at him. "You want to absorb them?"

Ethan nodded. "I’ll try one first. If there’s a problem, wake me immediately."

Laira frowned slightly, but didn’t stop him. She understood the current situation clearly. To survive at Anomalous Coordinates, Ethan couldn’t keep standing behind her with the body of someone who had only just opened his Heaven’s Gate.

She stepped over to the broken window, her dragon wings spreading slightly, her amber-red eyes sweeping across the neighborhood swallowed by the forest. "I’ll protect you. Go ahead and do it."

Ethan sat down in the middle of the room.

He placed the three energy crystals before him, then picked one up.

The rank S Heaven’s Gate within his body slowly opened.

The very moment Ethan actively channeled the Absorption Art, the gray crystal in his hand immediately trembled. The energy within was drawn out, broken down into a stream of purple-gray gas, then quickly flowing into his body.

Ethan had been prepared to endure the pain of Void corruption.

But that didn’t happen.

The stream of purple-gray energy had barely entered his body before it was crushed by the Heaven’s Gate. The impurities weren’t eliminated; on the contrary, his body regarded those impurities as the finest nutrients. The energy flowed along the energy channels within Ethan’s body, finally merging into the Heaven’s Gate.

Ethan opened his eyes wide.

Not because of pain.

But because the sensation was too clear.

His Heaven’s Gate was being pushed out a little further.

Very slightly.

But it truly existed.

Like the gate that had just cracked open was being slowly pushed wider by an invisible hand.

Ethan didn’t hesitate any longer.

He picked up the second crystal.

Then the third.

Energy kept pouring into his body. The rank S Heaven’s Gate displayed its terrifying advantage. The unpurified crystals that would normally have been enough to corrupt a low-tier Awakened were quickly broken down within Ethan’s body. The Void impurities, rather than vanishing, were completely absorbed by his body as if it were entirely normal.

Laira stood at the window.

She sensed a portion of the energy being transmitted toward her through the Partner bond.

But she didn’t absorb it right away.

Her amber-red eyes still watched the surroundings warily.

Outside the house, the abandoned city was frighteningly silent. In the distance, the half castle that had just appeared still stood amid the forest, pallid white arms crawling out of the windows like living vines. Now and then, the space on a few streets would warp, revealing fragments of scenes that didn’t belong to this place at all.

A stretch of black sand.

A length of rusted railroad track.

A lake reflecting a red sky.

Anomalous Coordinates were constantly changing.

Laira lightly clenched her hand.

If anything entered this house, she would burn it to ash before it could reach Ethan.

Inside the room, the three energy crystals vanished one after another.

The last one shattered in Ethan’s palm, turning into a small stream of energy pouring into his body.

A brief beat of silence appeared.

Then —

Boom!

A small burst of air pressure exploded around Ethan.

The dust on the floor was blown out in all directions. The fragments of broken glass nearby trembled slightly. Ethan opened his eyes, clearly sensing that his body had just been strengthened once.

Not too much.

But the difference was very real.

His breathing was steadier.

His muscles were lighter.

His vision was clearer.

Most importantly, the Heaven’s Gate within his body had expanded a little further.

A notification panel appeared before Ethan.

[Congratulations on leveling up successfully.]

[Level: Black Iron tier 2.]

Right after, another notification appeared.

[Congratulations to Laira on leveling up successfully.]

[Level: Black Iron tier 2.]

Laira turned her head back.

Her amber-red eyes looked at Ethan, then slowly curved up.

"Looks like this stuff works."

Ethan looked at the crystal fragments that had vanished in his palm, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly.

"Not only does it work."

He stood up, his gaze looking toward the city swallowed by the forest outside the window.

"For us, this place may be dangerous."

Ethan paused for a moment.

Then calmly continued:

"But it’s also an opportunity."