Hello, Vendak here. If you enjoy my work, then please visit my Patreon where the full backlog is available for Endless! This novel will be updated less frequently after Chapter 64, Part 3 comes out. My free time is a bit more restricted than it’s been previously, and focusing on one story with a large volume of releases per week is all I can do for now. I’ll be updating ‘Endless’ as I’m inspired to write it, but content might be limited to one or two chapters per month in the future.

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"I exist in two places,

here and where you are."

― Margaret Atwood

“You need to draw in the rules that lie beneath the realm’s will,” Cain etched a complicated formation into the air, a familiar world connection but with a few twists. “After that, it’s all about your own willpower… you have to drag the laws of time forward and hold them in place, the further you can move them, the greater the time dilation effect within the realm.”

Ven squinted at the formation Cain stamped out in silver. The strength of the realm’s will, and the number of rules it contained, was far higher than before he’d taken ownership. Cain would have had a few dozen fragmented laws to deal with, with the benefit of an unconscious realm.

“I’ll give it a try, but I haven't even familiarised myself with all the new laws in here,” Ven mimicked Cain’s formation and reached out to the will. It was happy to connect, an open book that resembled a child. “There’s so much in here now…”

Each god, conceptual or religious, brought with it a series of laws that imprinted onto the greater realm. Technically, Ven could rally these laws as the highest authority within his inner world, but he’d never tried. His access to faith had been a side effect, not a goal, and his only focus had been on the law of truth.

“I can’t help you there,” Cain shrugged as he gestured to the starry skies around them. “You’ve created something impossible… maybe that woman in the star can help?”

“Probably,” Ven closed his eyes and let the countless laws tumble through him. A few steady breaths and they settled into lines under his skin. “But I can’t rely on her for everything, even if our souls are bound so tightly that we’re practically one person.”

“Then, the only advice I can give you is to familiarise yourself with the laws in here, one at a time,” Cain rolled his shoulders and slashed at the void with his knife. A part in space appeared, connected to the surface of Avalon. “I want to head back into the Labyrinth, Hive won’t be enough to hold back an incursion from above, let alone below.”

Ven nodded and his friend slipped through the gap, headed to the gate and the dangers beyond. He had too many tasks that demanded his attention. The study of Laws slipped upwards in his perceptions, until it rested with his true body. A flash and his avatar returned to Huan’s side, just in time to land on another Earth.

“I need to create multiple avatars…” If he did, then many tasks would go smoothly. He could leave a mental clone with the Giant, travel the realm with Huan, and study both laws and runes in peace. “The only question is, can my mind handle the burden?”

Even with only one avatar, his mind was often pulled back and forth. Some tasks couldn’t be done on auto-pilot, even in a simple task like touring the realm. If he multiplied the problem by two, or three, he would become thinned out, disconnected with all his different perspectives.

“Maybe I can cheat my way to what I want…” A new collection of runes formed under his  true body's hands, formed by a sudden inspiration. His Giant was akin to an autonomous avatar, it acted on its own and could follow simple orders. “If I copy the framework from my connection to the Giant and reshape it a little…”

A push of his mind shifted the completed structure inward, toward the avatar he already had. The silver orb of runes settled into his inner projection and extended tendrils through the avatar's spirit body. It acted like a mirror, an autonomous reflection of his true self that slowly took on the burden of the avatar’s operation.

“That’s better!” Ven let a smile part his lips as a mental tension vanished. The information from the avatar became odd. He was in two places at once, making two sets of memories, but the second perspective simply acted as he would without his direct input. “Now let’s try switching back and forth…”

Ven’s perception slipped from his true body and into the realm. As he settled into the skin of his remodelled avatar, the mental strain returned. This spirit body could act independently because of the new formation, but his real body lacked the same support. A flick of consciousness and he exited the realm.

“I’ll need to make a similar formation for my main body, or I’ll have to accept running at half mast whenever I’m focused on the realm,” Ven shook his head and carved more runes in the air. It was one thing to socket such a thing into his mental avatar, and something altogether different when it came to his main body. “I’ll need to create something that can handle the absorption effect of my cells, like the formation in Dante and the Giant, but under my control…”

Runes formed, only to be wiped away by Ven’s hands. Over and over he drew and erased, each new formulation a step closer to what he desired to create. A scripture that would coexist with his biology and avoid the hungry reach of his natural aura. Eyes lit by the runes of truth, Ven moved in a blur, time forgotten as he lost himself in the art of runecraft.

“You’ve certainly made yourself at home, Hive,” Cain walked from the gate of Avalon and into a changed Abyss. Vast mechanical towers rose up every hundred metres, capped with lights as bright as the sun. “Has there been any activity at the other gates?”

“Nothing so far,” Hive rose from the ground, formed by the nanomachines that made up most of this rapid construction. The A.I. collective waved to the vast plains of black fire, now illuminated by artificial means. “We have also discovered two more gates, one secreted deep below the ground and another within the deep flame of the abyssal ocean.”

“More gates?” Cain frowned. Lucifer, the former master of this plainer level, had claimed only two gateways existed. “What did the Devil have to say about that?”

“I was more surprised than either of you,” Lucifer appeared in a swirl of shadowed flame, face set in a disgruntled frown. “Not only did this… machine god… find something that remained hidden from me for years, but I cannot identify the Halfling’s condition.”

“None of us can,” Hive let out a frustrated sigh. “Lady Min and Master Ooulin have exhausted themselves to no avail, and my technology is useless against the orb within Rafe’s mind…”

“Some things can’t be done,” Cain shrugged. “Now, tell me more about these mystery gates…”