Victor floated to where he had left Alice, but she was missing. It was not a massive deal as she couldn't have gone far, and he could track her location via the undead dragon she was using as a mount, but it raised a valid point of concern. A part loathed his lack of control, but another part made a decision. 'I want friends, not slaves. We aren't in a relationship together, so there's no need for me to be so controlling. If she wants to leave, she is her own person. No reason for me to do anything.' Unlike Genus, with whom he had business and had somewhat submitted to his control, Alice was free-spirited and simply his pet project. He did have uses for her, but they mainly required her to stay alive.

Consulting his undead network, Victor located the dragon mount and headed an hour's flight to the west. As she came into view on the horizon, Victor was amazed.

Around two meters above a grey dune, a being of pure darkness similar to himself floated around in the air. From the beings figure and long black hair, Victor could tell the thing was Alice. A sheen of void coated her skin like a latex suit as she hurled balls of void magic at a group of sandworms below. They were hideous things, similar to Wiggles, but a dull grey in colour and far smaller. They also had a more slug-like appearance rather than armoured scales. When the void balls struck the creatures, it was like they were deleted from existence. Whatever the ball touched simply ceased to exist until it dissipated a few meters later, caving a deep tunnel into the sand that was quickly refilled, and the dune dropped in height by a little.

As Victor got closer, Alice whipped her head around and stared at him with a spear of void in one hand and a ball of nothingness in the other. She then seemed flustered and diverted her eyes, pretending something was behind him.

"You can see me?" Victor questioned. His voice was softer than usual but held a questioning tone that made Alice shiver.

Alice seized up and choked out, "Y-yes." Her hands were on her chest, and she tried to make herself look smaller by curling her legs.

"Since when?"

"Since I woke up..." Alice dispelled her magic and slowly floated to the ground; her feet lightly landed on the top of the zombie dragon, and she nervously played with her fingers and twiddled her thumbs while staring at the ground. Her mouth opened and closed a few times as if a question was on the tip of her tongue, but she failed to say it each time.

"Spit it out. I won't be mad..." Victor tried to console her, but it came out harsher than he expected. He hadn't tried to sound empathetic in months and wasn't the most social person back on earth. He could hold conversations without issue, but actually caring about the other person was a different step, and the dulled emotions that came with his new body didn't help.

"S-so... I got a new class." Alice shifted on her feet and slowly looked up. Her pink eyes gazed curiously at where Victor floated. "It's called [Servant of the Void], a legendary class. You... err... may not know, but legendary classes are only given out due to special circumstances, such as hero classes when humanity is facing a great threat that the goddess needs champions to deal with..." Alice took a deep breath and blurted out. "You are a creature from the void, aren't you? Otherwise, there's no way I would receive such a class..."

Victor cancelled out his stealth skill. To Alice, the large shadow suddenly materialized and was far more menacing than she expected. He was huge, towering over her and blocking out the fake sky. Unfortunately, she likely only reached up to his knees, so she had to strain her neck to take in his complete form. Many blue eyes shifted around within a swirling mass of darkness and looked at her from every angle. Alice gulped as her eyes traced one of Victor's arms and saw the curved claws that were meter-long blades of black metal.

Victor tilted his featureless face and peered through the rising smoke that was his body's life force battling the dense mana in the dungeon. "I never planned to hide it from you. I just felt the time to reveal myself hadn't come." Victor leaned closer, and to Alice's credit, she didn't shy away and held his gaze. "So, servant of the void, did I meet your expectations?"

"Very much so!" Alice furiously nodded. Mana crept through her veins and channelled into her eyes. Victor watched in amazement as her pupils dilated and became swirling abysses. He felt her gaze pass over him and shivered slightly as if he was naked. "What is that?" He couldn't help but ask. Nothing had ever made him feel so exposed.

"A new skill I got called [Void Eye]," Alice answered with a sweet smile. "Not sure what it does, as the system is being unhelpful as usual, but it has the word void in the name, so I thought testing it out on you would wield some results..."

"And does it?" 

"Kinda. I can see you more clearly, it gets rid of the smoke that shrouds you, but that's about it." Alice shrugged, turned the skill off, and rubbed her eyes, "Makes my eyes darn itchy, though." Alice plopped on her butt and looked up, using her hands to prop herself up. "So..."

"So indeed," Victor replied with amusement.

"Do you feel hollow inside?" Alice said and watched his featureless face for any reaction. "Like a gnawing hole eating away at you?"

"Always."

Victor had attributed that feeling to his race, but perhaps it came with being one with the void. But that raised many questions. Why would being a void creature cause a hollow feeling... a lack of emotions... a desire to kill? What does void even mean? Victor was no philosopher, but perhaps having a deeper understanding of the element that governs his life could lead to extraordinary discoveries. But as these thoughts clouded his mind... something took over and moved them aside. Victor was only half aware of what had happened but knew it had happened again. 'Something is messing with my mind. Whenever I try to think deeply about my reincarnation or identity, something diverts my thinking.'

Alice seemed to notice it and activated her [Void Eye] skill again. She traced his body and frowned. "Something just invaded and then left. It was like a wave of power washed over you and vanished as quickly as it came..."

"From which direction?" Victor asked as he looked around. His many eyes scoured the dunes in all directions.

Alice pointed upwards. "From above, for sure."

"Okay, whenever that happens, let me know and keep a tally. This is the..." Victor tried to count on his fingers, but no matter how perfect his new body's memory was, he just couldn't remember. "Alright, this is bad. I can't even remember how bad the problem is." Victor hovered closer to Alice. "Please keep track and let me know when it happens again."

Alice bobbed her head. "Will do." She put up her thumb and gave him a reassuring smile. "Master."

Victor shook his head as he loomed over the subservient girl. Although the proclamation was correct, she was far inferior to him; even her class [Servant of the Void] reflected that fact. But he didn't want any more slaves or servants. He could have hundreds, thousands, maybe even millions bow their heads and listen to his every word with fierce loyalty.

But the idea honestly scared him. He felt that feeling wash over him again, and Alice nodded to him to confirm she had noticed it. If whatever was controlling him didn't want him to make friends and instead mindlessly slaughter, he would do the exact opposite. It was time to make allies.

"No. Your class may call you a servant, but you are a potential friend to me. An ally I can depend on." In any other situation, Victor may have cringed at such words flowing out of his mouth. But the power dynamic here was far to the extreme to go about it the usual way. Even if Alice was insane enough and thought of asking to be friends with a void creature that could slay dragons with ease, she would never ask. Her class insisted she was a servant, so she would obey her destined role. Residents of this world treat the system as an all-knowledgeable entity, including Alice. She sees it as her destiny if it proclaims her as a servant.

Alice seemed stupified by his offer of friendship, but something broke her out of her stunned state. She read a screen in the air that Victor couldn't see, and a massive smile emerged on her face. She looked up at him and said words that would change her life.

XKARNATION

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