Then Asher stopped smiling and looked toward Aria, who was about to leave. He then asked,

"Aria, what do you think makes a living being a living being?"

Aria listened to the question and then said,

"I guess a soul, since having a living body is not really necessary. Spirits are also living beings, but they don’t really have a body of their own."

Asher looked at her and said,

"I see, but I think that the thing that makes you a real living being is simply having your own will."

Aria looked at Asher and then said,

"I guess that is also important, but why are you asking about that?"

Asher looked at her and replied,

"Nothing. I just felt like asking."

Aria looked at him for a moment and saw that his emotions were still tranquil. Then she nodded and left.

Asher looked at the sky and then said,

"Finally, at Master Rank. It’s been a long journey."

Asher then sat down on the ground and thought,

It still feels like yesterday when I was trying to find a goal for my life like everyone else. I tried to do what others were doing, but it was not for me. The answer was always right in front of me—what I truly wanted to do.

Then he paused and thought,

I just wanted to live in peace, nothing more.

Then he stopped and thought,

But, like always, my luck sucks. Then I got into an accident. I thought I would find peace in death, but nah, it was total destruction, not peace. After surviving there for who knows how long—whether it was centuries or millennia, I don’t even know—I finally managed to escape. But I felt like I lost something in that place, something that I hardly had any of left before ending up there. Yet I just can’t seem to uncover what it was.

It was the same feeling I got when I lost most of my memories when I was sixteen years old, and then others started calling me weird for something I still don’t understand.

But I guess it does not really matter now.

Then I reincarnated in this world and was even born into a rich family. I thought I would live a peaceful life, like some protagonist from a novel.

Then Asher sighed and thought,

But again, my bad luck could never let me enjoy my life in peace. Then I got the news of the death of my mother in this world, and I remembered that even this life is at the mercy of stronger people. So I tried to become strong, and I became a cockroach.

And I was right to do so. I was about to die two times and had to survive on my own, like always.

Then Asher started walking and thought,

But at the death of my mother in this world, I felt nothing. Why would I, anyway? Everyone has to die eventually, so why would I feel anything over a death that was certain to happen? Doesn’t everyone already know that death will come? They accept it and just keep living.

But people in this world started looking at me like I was something weird, just like the people from my last world did.

What was even weird about that? To me, what was weirder were those protagonists from novels who died, got reincarnated, accepted their new family, then cried when that family died, only to make a new one again.

What kind of nonsense was that?

Asher then continued heading back and muttered,

"It does not matter. I was born alone, died alone, survived alone, was reborn alone, and I am still alone."

"And now, finally, I can be defeated, but I am almost impossible to kill."

A while before Asher looked at the sky...

In an underground room, a man was sitting with his eyes closed.

That man was none other than Asher’s vessel, which was attempting to break through to Master Rank.

And then, the space within the room started to crack.

Thin fractures appeared in the air itself, spreading outward from Asher’s body like cracks on a shattered mirror. Through those cracks, faint silver light leaked into the room.

Asher remained motionless.

His consciousness was focused entirely on the laws of space surrounding him.

At that moment, the space in the room twisted and trembled as his mastery over the spatial element climbed to a higher level. There was no surge of energy rushing into his core; instead, the world around him responded to his comprehension, as if space itself was acknowledging his advancement.

The air rippled.

The walls warped.

Even the protective formations carved into the chamber began to flicker under the pressure.

The surrounding spatial fragments gradually aligned with his will.

The chaotic distortions in the room began to merge together.

Small pieces of warped space fused into a single point.

A point so dense that even light seemed to bend around it.

The distorted space around him settled.

The silver point expanded.

One meter.

Ten meters.

One hundred meters.

Not physically, but within the invisible layers of space surrounding him.

The surrounding spatial fragments were pulled toward it and absorbed.

Gradually, the point transformed into something entirely different.

A miniature space.

The moment it was formed, the room suddenly fell silent.

The violent storm disappeared.

A wave of silver light erupted from Asher’s body.

The cracks in the room instantly healed.

The distorted space stabilized.

The silver light condensed into countless runes before sinking back into his body.

Asher slowly opened his eyes.

Within them, faint spatial distortions appeared and disappeared.

The world looked different now.

He could see the invisible layers of space overlapping one another.

He could see weak points where space could be folded.

He could even sense distant locations through the fluctuations of the spatial element.

A faint smile appeared on his face.

"Master Rank In spatial element"

And then he closed his eyes once more.

Suddenly, black fog erupted from his body, spreading throughout the room.