Chapter 114: The Other Side Of Existence 

“Well, this place is a shit hole.”

My opinion was incredibly not biassed. 

Who could see such a world with no stars and think otherwise?

“This is going to create unintended problems…” I moved away from the portal and out of its view so Nina and her crew could no longer see me. I did it so they wouldn’t keep the gateway open from their end. I really didn't want them experimenting with it and having more people lost inside this place.

My plan for the dungeon marble had changed a few times. Originally, I wasn’t even going to leave with Nina, instead, I was simply going to hide it somewhere, though it wasn’t hard to understand why that plan had some major concerns. If it was found by my family if I hide it at my house, or found by anyone really if I hide it anywhere. I had no idea what skills people had that could be used to track it, but there were probably some that did have that function. So, instead of dealing with that risk, I simply handed it to Nina. 

Crunch.

The roots below the sand cracked as I unintentionally stood on them.

This world appeared as if it were a mix of a dry desert and lush forest. It wasn't like a normal desert that happened to have an oasis or two within it. From what I could see around me, it was a desert that had vibrant trees growing tall into the sky. With little leaves and foliage on the ground besides some large patches. I could see brown roots popping up through the sand in various locations.

I spent my immediate actions scouting out the nearby area. Observing the landscape and tracking down the potential dangers. Though a massive part of my toolkit was lost, an issue that was caused by a certain missing element in the sky, which had damning consequences. 

Name: Ceella Stella (Celestira Luxpoir) | Race: [Human?]
Level 264 | Awakened
Mana: 140% Starlight: 100%

At least I entered with maxed-out energy, but this adds a massive risk to this operation.

[Star Mapping] was not currently usable. The explanation I gave the others was that it used natural light to create a map of my surroundings. However, I kept what I considered my surroundings vague to others when I mentioned this skill, as its range was truly massive as I used to navigate forests, cities, and moons. In many rankings, it was my most broken skill.

Starlight was the bridge, and it easily merged nature with Light or other energies that used it as a building block was part of how the skill worked. Though the downside depending on the detail, distance, and scope of the area I wished to examine, the Mana and Starlight drain could be immense. 

Even considering all of that, it was one of my most useful skills.

But it was currently unavailable. 

I looked up at the empty sky; it was an awful sight. 

There was light in the world, as something had to be created to brighten up this place, but it wasn’t something that could interact with my skills.

The worst consequence of that was that I could not recover my Starlight while I was in this world.

“Haha… Well, Espr, I am sure you are laughing now.” My ability to use Starlight had certainly saved me before when my Soul was damaged. It being a separate energy allowed me to keep my combative abilities to an extent and not worry about damaging my Soul further by overextending my mana as I had a separate resource to use. It also had a very important use in the patch-up job I had done to myself; due to it being different enough but still being my energy, I was able to basically use it as staples as I tried to repair my soul. It didn’t do any actual healing, but it did help me make sure my Soul didn’t keep falling apart.

While it was clearly useful and an amazing ability. Espoiramissa never saw it that way.

Its most recent line–

‘ Just because it had a ‘use’ for you doesn’t mean it's not useless ’

–really cemented that fact for me. 

For a long time, I believed the reason for its dislike was due to pride, but now I don’t see it that way. No, its reason for disliking was because it believed, in its vision, it was useless. Not to an extent to match its disdain for future sight skills, but Espr believed me using Starlight and keeping it as a major part of my abilities was a waste. 

“I am surprised you didn’t tell me I wouldn’t be able to use Starlight here, or maybe you didn’t know that.” It was easier to speak aloud than in my head, and with no one around, there was no reason for me to hide it.

However, my statements were ignored.

That’s strange…

There was no way this was some connection issue. No matter how far apart we were, distance shouldn’t be a problem, as Espr was strapped to my soul. I had no clue about the specifics of its parasitical infection, but it was in my soul. Even if in the odd case where it couldn’t connect with its original self, the split in my soul should be able to communicate with me. That was information conveyed to me by Espoiramissa long ago as a ‘not to worry, you won’t escape me’ explanation.

“I don’t know if you are giving me the silent treatment or actually can’t talk, but, Espr, remember this. This little setback isn’t going to stop me.” Maybe it was my own pride, madness, or both in action, but being here now on the edge. “I am going to win our so-called unwinnable game.”

I ran from my spot. Without [Star Mapping] I had to do a lot more of my searching on foot. 

My goal hadn’t changed; I would find the dungeon core. The true one. Within this world, it should be full of mana, and maybe I could even use it to create a connection to that space that had its own supply, like a dungeon artefact.

The core would of course be hard to find, my likely guess was that it was underground somewhere, but that didn’t mean I had to dig for it. The amount of mana being spewed from the core would require a large path outwards; that was what was required of domain and portal cores. This could of course be   but I was going to explore first if I had to destroy this place from the ground up afterwards. So be it.

From the false night that plagued the world until the sky began to slowly glow with yellow. I scoured the land, finding no points of interest yet.

But the world was soon determined to show what else it had to offer.

The sky slowly brightened, and the ground began to rumble.

“Sceeeeer!” Hands of yellow degraded bones emerged from the ground, and beasts began climbing up.

Sand dripped from their body like water. 

Ashend scales covered their backs and legs while large bones arms were their limbs, and matching that, their whole head was a large bony jaw that the sand seeped out of.

“Well, I didn’t expect friends to arrive like this.” A smile formed on my face. Something about this view brought back memories—memories of foolish monsters. 

These beasts rose from the ground in all areas across the land. 

“Bones, scales, and that jaw, huh… Not sure what to call you, maybe… Bonejaws? Nah, that sounds too menacing, perhaps.” I taped my mouth, and an evil grin formed. “Morning bones? Morn-bone? MBone. You can be called MBones from now on.” 

I breathed in, and the thick mana that filled the world entered my soul.

Potentially I could properly store it with some training, but for the time being, it was best to run and find a safer spot. 

A construct of Starlight appeared in my hand, a Lance, and in the other, I pulled out the black arrow. 

My plan was to run, but it wouldn’t hurt to destroy whatever stood in my way as long as I didn’t use my mana or more than 2% of Starlight in the process. 

“Well world… no dungeon, Show me what you are made of before I hunt you down!”

Bobple

Extra sleepy this time. I just really wanted to get this chapter out on the right date... Anyway, on the other side in this filthy place with no stars. What is Ceella to do?