Lost deep into Limbo, a wandering asteroid.

Within, one would not expect life. Yet, hidden inside was Alexander.

A man currently in need of life.

His Life Wheel showed an unwelcomed change. The lime color had receded, giving way to a slight yellowish taint.

To correct this issue, Alexander figured out a way through random experimentations on wandering targets.

Flying across Limbo, a middle aged man of luscious facial hair atop a small ship, this same man protected by a white barrier.

His demeanor showed kindness, forgiveness even. A cheerful being. This man was human, and unfortunately... passed too close to an asteroid.

"Huh-?" Without the time to think, without the opportunity to dream, the man had his vessel decapitated by a wandering claw.

'Give me your life!' Alexander, now holding a head, grabbed a fading Life Wheel behind it.

'Give me your existence!!' The Life Wheel in question turning yellow, then orange, and finally red, crumbled into faint light particles in mere moments. In the meantime, a surge of green energy nourished Alexander's own, filling his exposed, bulging veins.

Some would wonder why Alexander went so far for a yellowish Life Wheel. But, when understanding how vital it truly was, one would be shocked from his unending patience.

After suffering from a grievous and rash mistake, Alexander had near crippled his Origin Core.

Thankfully, he did not. However, the damage was still present. Without the intention to temporarily fall down to the Origin Realm, Alexander acted using his Life Wheel.

Constantly feeding his Origin Core his very own life expectancy as pure restorative energy, he began using much more than first anticipated.

If not for his mobile massacre, his life expectancy would deplete much faster than one would hope, becoming unsustainable.

Without fuel from others, his Life Wheel would most likely turn orange in a mere century. But, Alexander needed more. He dared not cross paths with Valtos, and also needed to explore the Outer Territory to quench his thirst for opportunities.

But what could he do?

Going backward, yearning for Life Refining Realm food, would expose him to the risk of eternal chains. Going to the Outer Territory meant almost giving up on sustaining his plight as such a cultivation would potentially become rare.

Left with no choice, Alexander opted with a mixture of both. He would stay in the Inner Territory, near the edge, in search of populated worlds.

The previous scene was only a lucky coincidence. Alexander only chose this asteroid as a resting area while he assimilated some leftover Life Wheels.

As for a certain yellow world nearby, it was his food supply.

Halting his hopes however, was a problematic truth.

While his cultivation was still at the Nihility Realm, exercising a fraction of his strength would prove difficult. Just killing ants at the Life Refining Realm costed him agonizing pains and tremendous nausea.

Alexander fell down a dangerous hole this time.

'Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!!! I need more!! I can't survive for long like this, and there is absolutely no way I will accept a regression in Limbo! I can't let that happen!!'

After the few years spent wandering injured, Alexander suddenly felt something even more problematic.

'...'

'My...'

'No!!' Almost tearing up from rage and irritation, Alexander now noticed a domino effect! And bad one at that!

While his Celestial Heavens were intact, their influence had been overshadowed from the extreme damage. From it, the pushing force below the Celestial Realm had actually been punctured! This caused the Celestial Qi to fall down at a mind numbing rate and insane quantity!

The issue was his Universes and Origin-Tier World beneath all of it.

'What a mess! Dammit!!' Without solutions, Alexander needed to take action, and so without delay!

'I don't have time to separate my mind, but I can still use my skills to do something! Even if I have to multitask, it won't be too hard! I also have the Heavens as well!'

"Haha!! This Alexander is not yet defeated!"

Ordering the Heavens, Alexander focused on reorganizing his internal world, making sure to keep everything bundled where it belonged.

Gathering the falling Celestial Qi, Alexander forced it upward. After which, his Celestial Heavens left the life energies to their own devices and halted their repairing process, now focusing on the pushing force.

"Just keep the energies afloat! I'll do this myself!" Letting the Celestial Qi to his Heavens, he used his many Daos to reform the pushing field.

"Alright! Now go back to repairing! I'll help as well!"

Spending multiple years on it, Alexander still took time to protect his body, as it was chaotic as well. And throughout the years, his irritation only grew.

"Why?! My fucking first true mistake in so damn long, and it's so costly?!! Why?!!! Even that slut and her stupid artifacts wasn't so annoying!"

Sighing deeply, Alexander did not even have the energy to complain anymore.

And so, deep into Limbo, above the golden bead, within the brown rocks, surrounded by nothing else... a youth in pain.

Silver illuminated the cave inside the asteroid, Limbo gained a shade of red, lives harvested across its void.

Life itself was being drained, death gaining the upper hand.

Alexander's Multiverse was regaining a proper restoration. Life itself, reduced to a liquid, was being drank by a silver being. A being of Origin Energy. Blinding the Celestial Realm, green caressed the gaping wound, mending it with vitality.

His pain receding, Alexander looked up, toward nothing.

His gaze was lost, devoid of emotions. The boredom of seated cultivation without the thrill of a growing power. Only hoping to one day retrieve his forgotten self.

With time left to himself, without the ability to accomplish anything or worry about much except bad luck, Alexander could see himself.

A maze. His life had been a maze.

Going left and right, up and down... North, east, west, south... Any direction...

Ending up in Limbo, without the true understanding of why.

His drive, his ambitions... were so full, yet so hollow.

Why reach for the peak? Did he need to do so?

But, what were humans supposed to do otherwise? What was he supposed to do otherwise?

Empty...

Empty goals... with a full dream.

But he knew. A dream was an accomplished goal.

There existed no other ends.

A power he never could imagine billions of years ago. A notion of time he could never fathom.

Sensing might course through his veins, entire worlds within his grasp.

In the past... would such a being be hailed as a god?

So why? Why was he so... proportionally weak?

In his mind, a god was something much higher... much stronger...

Lost.

A mind hazy... a dream crumbling... a devotion forever lasting. Limbo was not the end, and would said end ever appear?

How old...

How young...

How small...

How insignificant...

A small particle of silver lost in the endless void.

Ten million kilometers. A size bigger than Earth, and so countless times. Yet... he still felt so tiny.

As time flew... as space evolved...

As Alexander became older... stronger... wiser...

He felt less. Because there was much more left. No family to remember, no friends to call over. No spouse to care for, no children to teach.

Limbo, the endless void itself, felt like an extension of himself.

Lonely.

A loneliness he would never get rid of.

As the Martial Dao grew forever.

As his life would flow faster.

An ambition and a dream. A goal.

Yet nothing to call home! Nothing to call friend! Nothing to call love! Nothing to enjoy! Nothing to despise!

Pitiful attempts to protect his light...

As his own self was left hypnotized by his subconscious, Alexander felt his emotions wither away. Flowers his mind judged useless.

A being born to only thrive for true success. A man left with only a narrow tunnel to explore.

A being born only to chase the running, ghostly end.

.

.

.

A mountain he could not see anymore. A mountain range he lost sight of.

A hundred million years passed like the wind shaking the vibrant leaves. How the gale would wash over one's face.

A brown, giant piece of rock... blown apart. A golden bead of life, sent to hell with one motion.

With hollow husks of eyes, Alexander was left with even less. A mere moment of weakness robbed his magnificence, his illumination.

Devoid of a light to feel, left with a space to fill.

Awakening from his illusionary slumber, Alexander's eyes regained a long lost glow.

'Did I fall asleep? Well, my internal world is fine... so whatever.'

Noticing his surroundings to have changed greatly, he scratched the back of his head.

'Damn... where is the asteroid? Oh!'

Gazing below, Alexander stared at an asteroid sea glowing a bright yellow light.

'What is... where is everything?' Still feeling as if he had not moved, Alexander was left puzzled.

'Is this maybe... the golden world I used for Life Refining Realm nutrition?'

'Why is it like this?'

Caressing his chin, Alexander pondered deeply, but could not remember. A faint feeling left him with half given answers.

'Anyways, I still need to get myself to the Outer Territory's edge. I also have... ahh!! So much left to do! But a healed Dantian feels much better!' Almost leaving all smiles, Alexander could not get his eyes off the golden sea of rocks.

'I really can't remember, but knowing myself...'

'Did I maybe... cause this?'

'Mmh...'

'Well...'

'...does it matter?'