Timemould Mirror Box...

The setback hadn’t hindered Skullius at all. The Warmoth’s will had resisted his use of the Conste in the Timemould Mirror Box to hasten the restrictive timer of his War Body, something he needed for his work on the Adaptor Gene, but that didn’t mean he would waste the rest of the time he had.

Skullius had devoted a chunk of his time to replenishing Apexis’ Focused Null Life Ota reserves by converting his abundant stores of Null Life Essence. All 221 quadrillion units converted to a meagre 0.229 units of Focused Null Life Ota, but it only took Skullius 14 minutes to replenish his reserves for more conversion.

Thus, after 39 hours, Apexis had about 29 units, an excess of 20 more than he had originally, and Skullius had generated several units of regular Focused Null Life Ota for himself.

’It seems like a lot, but it’s not enough for the number of Adaptor Genes I’m going to have to make for the Troops and Stars,’ Skullius thought, frowning. ’And I haven’t even created the idea behind the Gene yet. That’s probably going to cost hundreds of units of Ota or more. I can’t generate that much with conversion alone.’

Conversion was but one way of producing the kind of Ota Apexis needed. The others were...

’Primordial Mass...’ Skullius thought, scratching his nose with his thumb. ’Either from Deities or ancient landmasses.’ He clicked his tongue. ’I’m tempted to delay my siege on Deadmanland even more than I intended now.’

...But that was a problem.

Skullius suddenly turned, surprised by something only he (and Apexis) could see.

Within his Mobile Maverick Library, something churned, fidgeting restlessly. It meant to explode and find him – ravage him.

There had been no better place to keep the Treasure SoSei than within the Mobile Maverick Library. It was still connected to him because of Doom Factor 2, which got worse the longer the time passed, and one look at it, Skullius feared, would rile up the intensity of the Doom Factor, perhaps forcing it to transcend SoSei and continue its purpose: driving Skullius mad.

That was why the Hybrid didn’t dare look at it. So far, the Treasure was containing the Doom Factor, but...

’Maybe I was a bit too confident. The measures I have prepared to extend my deadline a bit more might end up being pathetic at this rate.’ Skullius sighed.

But for now, this was not his greatest concern. As it happened, the measures he had prepared against Somanda’s curse all hinged on his understanding of Conste, yet said understanding was also pivotal to his construction of the Adaptor Gene.

...And that was why Skullius needed to sort that out with the Warmoth.

He warped out of the Timemould Mirror Box and into the Bosom, where he was instantly received by Susu’k. The Strawler, more refined than the others, bright, and with ten white eyes that made a T-shape at the center of his face, bowed.

"Let’s head to the Third Layer of the Hatcher. It’s about time I meet the Warmoth – rather, his will," Skullius said. "You won’t stop me this time, right?"

Susu’k shuddered. He’d only expected this.

The first time he and Skullius met was when the Warmoth’s Progeny (as Skullius was then) was exploring the Hatcher. When Skullius had reached the Third Layer, the Strawler had banished him, deeming him unworthy of meeting the Jan`ind (one of the Warmoth’s titles), even though he was the heir to what the Colossus Warmoth had left behind.

"I wouldn’t dare!" Susu’k cried.

"Good." Skullius nodded, marching towards the Hatcher’s entrance. He suddenly hummed a note, having remembered something. "Send someone to inform Pherdanta that she’s free to conduct the Impossible Task now. She should use the exact measures of time dilation I did when I trained them all."

"I will see it done," said Susu’k, and he delegated the task to a few Strawlers. They would find someone who could leave the Bosom and head to Amanas with the instructions.

Soon, Skullius and Susu’k entered the column of light in the First Layer of the Hatcher, which pierced through all the structure’s partitions. An instant later, the stylish, welcoming aesthetic of the First Layer was gone, replaced with a vast, deep purple canvas. It almost seemed boundless, with world-sized swirls of grey, black, and red matter that teased cosmic secrets.

Deep within this space, a gargantuan mass of spinning rings, silver, and embossed with Runes that sparked with Ju`wtte, could be seen. They made it seem dangerous to approach carelessly.

...At least that’s what Skullius, as the Warmoth’s Progeny, would have thought. Now he merely found it fascinating. A glance, he absorbed everything, extracting both visual and intention.

Right in the center of the rings stood a colossal, glistening throne surrounded by smaller variants with less than half its grace. When Skullius thought about the reason behind this design, the Colossus Warmoth’s mystique lessened a great deal in his mind.

That legend had been one of the Four Authorities of the Null Verse at some point in time, revered by many, including the previous Null Devil King, Caxellac.

’Regardless of how many unique enemies spawn in the Null Verse, the power of the Four Authorities stands absolute on the whole. They often have no challengers, especially given what they are capable of with what their Dominions give them access to...’

Skullius, upon becoming an Authority himself, had only been granted half of the quirks a full Authority was meant to have, and yet even that much had allowed him to turn the tide in his battle against Fulgardt and two gifted Deities.

’For someone even stronger than the average Authority, like the Warmoth, I would imagine what he really wanted was...’

"Heirs," said Susu’k somberly. He gazed at the throne in the distance with such longing that Skullius almost felt sorry for him. "He accomplished so much in such a short amount of time, but his ambitions never wavered. He wanted to discover more, to do the impossible, but he dreaded doing it all alone."

"He carved his ambitions into material shape before he created a surefire way to achieve them, full of confidence bordering on arrogance."

Skullius nodded. "And let me guess. There was a price to pay?"

Susu’k didn’t answer immediately, but when he did...

"Price is an understatement."