Francis sat alone in the [Sleep Learning] space, thinking over what Rainer had asked of him. An answer to the current problem with merging: the physical body. [Arcane Awakening] controlled and handled the Arcane side, but there was no opposite.

So he was tasked to create a similar enough Void-related skill, something that didn’t exist among Void Lords. It was, in-fact, this hint that let him even think this was possible in a reasonable amount of time.

If they couldn’t accomplish it, it meant that using [Arcane Rage] - but replacing it with Void Will - was a valid starting point. A starting point Void Lords would have never had access to. He needed something to let Rainer’s physical body act as a medium between the two fighting energies the same as the small but important part of Rainer’s soul around the [Sleep Learning] space.

He tried cycling Void Will the same as he would Arcane for [Arcane Rage], but nothing came of it. Every movement, every variance, would do nothing but perhaps make him feel a bid colder or depressed.

He paused for a moment as he thought over [Arcane Rage]. If he wished for someone else to learn [Arcane Rage], how would he go about it?

He could teach them how to flow the energy, how fast to flow it, where to put it, how much of it to use, but there was one thing he could never teach, that was how to incorporate it into one's body. That was an instinctual thing he gained from buying the skill. He knew no better how to teach someone how to beat their heart.

At the end of it all, he’d only be teaching them how to destroy their bodies with Arcane in a fancy way and not how to improve their Attributes.

However this realization was exactly what he needed.

He only needed to master every part but the most important one, and then wouldn’t his [Archon] class help him cross that last, impossible step? In fact, he should just ignore the aspect of how to merge the Void Will into himself as he does with Arcane in [Arcane Rage], and just try to match everything else.

Void Will flowed through his body once more. With enough practice, he managed to copy the path that [Arcane Rage] followed, though he worried that was only due to his high Talent. Then he focused elsewhere; on its strength, on it’s evenness and unevenness, and he tried to increase the negative effect the same way he felt pain from [Arcane Rage].

The colder and more emotionless he felt, the more he’d push in that direction. But it still wasn’t enough, so he went back to thinking of [Arcane Rage].

If Arcane inflamed emotions, and Void suppressed, then would a skill of Void decrease attributes? That would be a failure…

But he soon remembered that a complete and utter failure of a skill would still be exactly what he needed so long that it was a skill.

He repeated all the previous steps except now he focused on that feeling of increasing attributes, and did the opposite. Void Will flowed and flowed, an amount that had perhaps surpassed even Talvara’s reserves went through him. All focused with the goal of suppressing his strength in every way possible.

The tiniest amount brushed under his skin, and then it snapped into place. His skin grew translucent and his body weakened, seemingly shrinking in all ways with the exception of growing a bit taller.

Looking like a gaunt mockery of a human, Francis let out a crooked smile. He had never felt so weak before. Could he even stand with this strength?

[Skill Gained: Void Suppression lvl 1/10]

But there it was. The last key needed before he could become himself again. He smiled even as several minutes of use later his heart beat for a last time and his body died.

Talvara watched from the distance, stunned. Even with the clear weakness, he suddenly vanished from her senses. Had she not been seeing him with her own two eyes she’d wouldn’t have believed him there. It was only the slightest hint of Void Will she could eventually feel that showed otherwise. What had he created?

Meeting with Rainer and Talvara, he readied himself for actual experiments. Not that they’d get a chance to test an actual merger, but a Void Will-infused Avatar was plenty enough. But before that...

“What’s a Divinity of Magic?”

Francis asked Talvara, prior to any attempts at merging themselves in [Sleep Learning]. The goal wasn’t to actually get this information, but to get to why she was opposed to them. It would be good for Rainer to hear this as well.

Contrary to his lack of fatalistic thoughts as before, Francis was more interested than before in merging back into the original. He suspected that desire suppressed his lack of completeness. He just wanted to be a single ‘Rainer’ again and not whatever he was.

The Void-being stood in thought.

“You can consider Divinites as three separate beings. Lesser beings often created from offshoots of Divinites, Divinities themselves, and Ancient Aspects. While calling himself a ‘Divinity of Magic’, Augost is nothing more than a pretender in that sense. He is a Divinity, but he is not ‘of’ something. He is only raw power and immortality, augmented by faith but not by knowledge.”

“Augost?”

“That is the Divinity I assume you dealt with. He is known for both his irrational behavior and magical knowledge. The Chosen you sacrificed to me… she… something is very strange about her. His behavior may be an underreaction for once.

“An Ancient Aspect is something which has merged or is born by a fundamental law. They are augmented by faith and knowledge. It’s why many of them fight against the system and things like me which challenge laws and therefore their very existence. Some can even use their laws to control it in various ways.

“I imagine the Ancient Aspect of Death would be far more unhappy with you if you could teach everyone your [Absolute Rebirth] spell.”

Rainer glanced at Francis. What exactly had he been telling her? Francis just shrugged, uncaring.

“They can receive power from faith like any Divinity, but it is inconsequential compared to their laws. It’s likely why the World Tree didn’t even really react to you killing its Chosen. In fact it is a bit rare for an aspect that age to have a Chosen at all. It was probably more put out by her using its power to attack you and strip you of the system’s power. It likely drained it quite a bit. Assuming it thinks anything at all. The older ones… can be strange.

“The power struggles of the lesser spiritual beings mostly do not concern them. So long as the knowledge they follow is true, their power is augmented. And they seek to refine it further.

“Some merged happily with the system, becoming it’s vehicle to spread classes as the system improved their laws. Others had their very laws destroyed simply by its existence. After all, much of what Classes and Attributes do challenge fundamental truths in non-system worlds, no?”

Rainer nodded. Attribute points mocked Biology and Physics on a regular basis. His skin was mostly unchanged, yet likely bulletproof with [Arcane Awakening] and his coat increasing his Constitution.

“Some Ancient Aspects merely imploded without a chance to understand what killed them. Many Divinites that try to ascend beyond their station often die from merging with laws that are not true or are too intertwined with other aspects - which is why they are often beyond ancient before they even try to do so - however the system destroyed laws that were once true, creating an entirely different situation.”

“So what’s the truth behind your conflict with them?” Francis asked. The hints were there, along with her inability to leave the Void. And he wanted her to tell Rainer just in case his memories were not combined when they merged. If he had any attachments to life, it’d be making sure she wasn’t harmed. The strange hope Rainer would acquire his feelings for her conflicted with his own love for Kara and Luna.

Couldn’t I just merge already…

Francis thought with a sigh, no longer wishing to deal with anything more in this short life. His powerful new blade skill only further pushed Void Will into the gap of his existence, making everything worse.

Talvara frowned before staring at him for a long while.

“I… I was quite happy learning of your conflicts with Divinties. And you casually telling me about your title,” she said, looking at Rainer, “was likely the greatest stroke of luck I’ve had in millennia. But it seems my actions against Divinites are not enough to be considered as defying them. Perhaps it is related to my own strength, I would need to make an action that far surpasses myself. Like stealing from a Divinity while having just entered the 2nd Tier… with that Divinity's unwilling help if I remember correctly,” she added, laughing for a while. He had a talent for angering them beyond reason, she only wished she knew which Divinity was involved in that.

“Not even that Chosen you sent to me helped. The way you first obtained the title, I feel it was both misfortune and luck shining upon you,” she said carefully.

“And?”

“As you have seen… I do not belong. My very existence challenges several Ancient Aspects. But so long as I am confined to the Void the damage I do to them is relatively minimal. My birth had even killed an Ancient Aspect with relations to the Void from what I understand. While they cannot act directly in the physical world as easily as ordinary Divinites, they have offered to give power to any Divinity that uses an Avatar to attack my true self in the physical world…I would face an all but endless assault should I leave the safety of the Void.”

“Which is why you are trapped,” Francis filled in, wondering if he could somehow use his title to shield her. But likely the very moment she appeared it’d be too late. And she likely had already thought of and discarded this idea given that she never brought it up.

“Yes,” she answered with a long despondent sigh. Francis wasn’t the only who hoped his memories would be transferred when the two merged.

Both of them looked strangely at Rainer as he started laughing.

“So? I just have more Divinites to kill. I wonder if Jor can fully Devour those annoying things. Aren’t you the perfect bait in that case… just wait.” Rainer himself was excited to see how Jor would change this time after he could come out again.

“You really take things personally don’t you?” Talvara asked with a laugh of her own. Why was her mood always so raised when around this man? Or currently ‘men’ she supposed.

“Their power was used to try and kill my sister and steal my best friend. And their actions in the world? Distasteful. If I don’t feed Jormungandr until he fulfills his namesake, I may as well just give up and go live as a hermit in some forsaken part of the universe.”

Talvara looked at Rainer strangely, not understanding what he meant, while Francis smiled to himself. Did he even have to worry anymore about the future after the merger?

Both Francis and Rainer put a hand on the back of the Avatar. Rainer would handle the [Soul Manipulation], Francis the [Time Manipulation], and then both would work together inside the Avatar, with Rainer using [Arcane Awakening] and Francis using [Void Suppression] in tandem.

Rainer would attempt to learn [Void Suppression] with Francis’ mind assisting inside his body. They were still closely related enough there would be no instinctive blocking from Francis’ attempts at manipulating the Void Will in Rainer’s Avatar.

With a clear bit of Soul in the center mimicking the [Sleep Learning] space, the Avatar’s Soul became split between Void and Arcane as the two energy pools moved closer to the spiritual side.

The two energies flowed into the Avatar’s as Rainer used [Arcane Energy Manipulation] to mimic [Arcane Awakening], and Francis did the same with [Void Manipulation] and [Void Suppression].

The two energies ran alongside each other, affecting the body and only barely colliding against each other, but not producing the strange grey energy. Slowly but surely, they then merged with the body.

While Rainer started learning from Francis, it wasn’t the same as himself being capable of [Void Suppression]. The three of them were quickly eliminated when things started getting out of hand, but lasted far longer than any of Rainer’s prior attempts.

“Why me too?” Francis jokingly whined at his death, inwardly wary of the impossible light that just occured.

“Because,” Talvara answered without elaboration.

More practice led to Rainer learning [Void Suppression] and then how to mimic it with manipulation, then deciding [Arcane Rage] was a far better candidate to match with it. The pain turned out hordenous with both combined, but the result was far more effective.

Hours passed and the only help the Avatar now needed was the [Soul Manipulation] from Rainer, but even that became less necessary, proving the [Sleep Learning] space would be enough of a buffer on it’s own. Only the starting [Soul Manipulation] and [Devil’s Soul Language] to break the Soul and pull the energy pools to it didn’t change, but Rainer could do it without outside help now.

Rainer looked inward at his Avatar; every second that passed with both body skills on he could feel himself changing. Not just magically, but he felt both tougher and stronger as the energies rampaged the body. But thankfully, the energy leaking from his Soul became less and less. And now, with a stronger Soul, he could safely force himself to stay asleep for longer. There would be someone to wake him up if needed.

It was time to see if there was an end to this.

Days went by in [Sleep Learning] - they invited no one else in case of catastrophic accidents - until the Avatar no longer had any more changes. Unless initiated by Rainer himself, no more energy would leak from the Soul. No amount of spellfire or combat seemed to change that as the energies in his body were beyond stable.

Not even near-death or borderline torture affected it, much to his displeasure as he found out what it was like to regrow a spine from nothing. Though it was good to know that, through his Soul, he could use skills even while his body was basically a vegetable. Reconnecting almost all of his body’s nervous system to a mangled body from scratch proved unpleasant. A million mosquitoes and maggots feasting on his flesh unpleasant.

“Are you still sure about this?” Rainer asked. It was time to do this in reality. He glanced at his Avatar, noting the minor visible physical changes. Only positives. There also seemed to be a minor increase in Void abilities; even if it couldn’t compare to the [Excellent Void Affinity] of Francis, it might in the future. The notes of the Great Sage paved a way forward for how to progress in this type of situation. And his use of [Soul Manipulation], [Devil’s Soul Language], along with his two body skills accelerated the process beyond reason.

“More sure than ever.”