“Should I lie down for this?” I asked him. “Is it going to knock me out like that vision crystal did?”

“No, to both of your questions,” he replied. “I’m not able to show you images directly like that.” He paused, as though considering something. “Not at the moment, anyway.”

“Alright. So, what did you find out?” I sat down at the end of the bed and leaned forward, resting my arms on my thighs and clasping my hands together.

“Well, as you already know from the information your ability showed you, the shard was created by the Colvoen. There were no images of them contained within the object, so I am not sure who they are.

I do know that they are unbelievably talented enchanters and artificers. The runes that covered the shard are beyond anything I have ever come across. It makes the device that inadvertently sent me here seem like a child’s toy.”

I was confused. “What runes? The entire thing was smooth.”

“They were inside,” he explained. “The entire interior of the shard was covered in intricate groupings of runes. I have no idea what most of them are for, unfortunately. I never had the chance to absorb a high-level enchanter. Based on the information contained within the shard, though, I can guess at the function of some of them.”

“Like what?” I asked, curious. I knew nothing about runes or enchantments but was fascinated by the concept.

“The most important thing is that the shard was sentient. Somehow, the enchantments the Colvoen used gave awareness to it. That’s why it had a health bar and was capable of leveling up. I could also tell that it was designed so that its intelligence and awareness would increase as it grew stronger. It is similar to your idea of self-learning AI on Earth, but so far beyond it.”

I was surprised. “Enchanting can do that?!”

“Before encountering this amazing construct, I would have said no. I never even considered that it could be possible. These Colvoen are true geniuses.” There was clear admiration in his tone.

“So, how about the skeletons?” I asked, remembering the intelligence they had shown in prioritizing the defense of the shard instead of simply charging at me. “Were they created by the Colvoen too and somehow stored inside the shard?”

“The skeletons… the capabilities the shard had make me wonder if the Colvoen captured a dungeon core and experimented on it in order to learn how to replicate its abilities. They would have difficulties controlling a core, so instead they made their own version.” His tone became thoughtful. “I wonder if whoever hired those adventurers to abduct me had a goal to create something like this?” A few seconds passed as he considered that before he got back on track.

“Just as we originally surmised, the shard created the skeletons out of pure mana, just like with your Create ability. It also contained patterns it could use to create more undead creatures. Luckily, it was still at a low level when you encountered it. It wasn’t capable yet of making the more dangerous ones. I’m not sure how well you would have fared against a wraith with just a staff, but we most likely wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

A wraith…as far as I knew, that was some kind of ghost. A staff would have done bugger all against something like that. I was glad I hadn’t taken any longer getting there than I had.

Cax carried on, drawing my attention back. “Unlike with a dungeon core’s defenders, the skeletons the shard created were also imbued with a certain level of sentience and were capable of operating independently outside their initial orders. You saw an example of that with the first one you fought that was acting as a lookout. The shard directly controlled the others during your final encounter, though, focusing on its own protection.”

Something didn’t make sense to me. We’d talked about it briefly after defeating the first skeleton. “If these Colvoen are really so advanced, why wouldn’t they level up the shard before sending it here? They must have known it wouldn’t have had much chance of surviving at such a low level.” If it had been smarter and able to create more dangerous creatures, I definitely would have been forced to retreat. If I could have, I thought darkly.

“I believe that has to do with how it arrived here. The material the shard is made of is unfamiliar to me, but it is designed to block any energy from entering or escaping.”

I interrupted him. “Are you sure? The World Spirit was able to inspect it, and even my rank 1 Analyze ability was able to get information on it.”

“It lowered its protections once it was on Earth in order to draw in energy,” Cax clarified. “Anyway, I’m fairly certain the main purpose of the material was to protect it from void energy. The shard was created and then sent into the void deliberately. It had instructions to travel through the void, seeking a rift to exit from in order to discover a planet. This is just my guess, but I believe it’s also the reason it was only level 1 when it entered Earth. If it were stronger, there would have been a chance some of its energy might have leaked out and attracted attention while it was in the void.”

He paused, and when he resumed speaking, he sounded worried. “There are things in the void. It is not complete blackness like the rifts we saw in the memories would lead you to believe. It’s more akin to perpetual dusk inside.

Since it was such a low level and trying to avoid drawing attention to itself, the shard’s senses were unable to pick up on much, but it detected movement around it while it was traveling in there. I think the planets we saw succumbing to the void energy were subjected to even more terrible things after they sent their messages.”

A chill ran down my spine. Is that what’s in store for Earth? I took comfort in the fact that it wasn’t an immediate problem, since those other worlds had been completely covered in the void energy and there hadn’t been any sign of foreign entities there.

“How could these Colvoen have access to a rift without their planet being overcome?” I asked him. “And why did they deliberately send this shard into the void if it’s that dangerous in there?”

“I can’t answer the how. But I can guess as to why they would risk using the void. The World Spirit’s memories showed us that people used to travel between planets quite easily using the mana pathways between worlds. Once each World locked down those pathways, they must have looked for other methods and somehow stumbled across the void and worked out how to use it to travel vast distances.”

“Ok, but that still doesn’t explain the reason they did it,” I told him. “What was this shard supposed to accomplish once it found a planet?”

“The purpose of the shard seemed to be a combination of research vessel and colonizer. It was designed to absorb as many things as possible, presumably so the Colvoen could study them later. Another core-like capability, by the way. To do this, it was instructed to kill any lifeforms it came across. This would allow it to absorb them for later study while at the same time removing any threats.

That’s where the colonizing comes in. I wasn’t able to work out which enchantments were responsible for pushing back the void energy, but as we saw, the shard was capable of such a feat. In this way, it was reclaiming a part of the planet. That effect would presumably increase as the shard grew in level, giving them control over more and more of the planet.”

I took all that in. “So, these Colvoen are an incredibly advanced, war-like race that has decided to invade Earth.” I absently crossed my arms, unconsciously seeking some comfort.

I sensed the equivalent of a shoulder shrug from Cax. “It is not clear whether they are truly a hostile race. The fact the shard was designed to exit from a rift means the planet it found would be under attack by the void energy. They may simply assume that the world and its inhabitants are already lost. In fact, they may be in a war against the Void.”

That didn’t make me feel any better as it was irrelevant. “Since the shard was designed to attack all lifeforms, the Colvoen are pretty much our enemies now, regardless of their true intentions. And without any way to communicate with them, that’s not going to change. I’m just glad we stopped the shard before it could get stronger and kill more than just animals. With any luck, no more of these shards will find us.”

“About that,” Cax started. I immediately groaned. I knew I’d jinxed us. He continued. “There will definitely be more shards. The first shard found our planet by chance. It was in the vicinity when the rift opened, and it was like a bright beacon shone through on the other side, leading it to Earth.”

“Ok,” I said quickly, hopeful. “But that doesn’t mean any more shards are around the area. They might not come across it.”

Cax soon dashed my hopes. “I was about to say that just before entering Earth, this shard activated one of its enchantments. It sent out a signal on a specific frequency. It seems to be so that other shards can home in on it. There’s no way to know how long it will be until another shard enters Earth, but it is inevitable that more will come.”

Damn it! After seeing what the void energy was capable of doing, both with my own eyes and through the memories of the World Spirit, I had been planning on trying to come up with some way to combat it. Quest or no quest, I couldn’t sit around while something so dangerous was so close.

Now I would have to deal with another threat at the same time. An unknown number of shards arriving at unknown times.

I tried to find something positive I could hold onto to give myself some hope. “Well, at least the skeletons aren’t too dangerous. If I can get to the shards just after they arrive and before they can summon a more difficult creature, I might be ok.”

“About that,” Cax said again.

“Come on!” I exclaimed. “What now?!”

“I’m not convinced the Colvoen are a race of undead, or that every shard will be the same. The shard was identified as an Undead Shard. Why would it be that specific if there were only one kind? Also, it only contained patterns for undead minions. Such an advanced race would surely have access to more than undead lifeforms.”

“So, you think there are different kinds of shards out there that can create different kinds of creatures?” I asked, considering the idea.

“I do,” he replied firmly. “It makes a certain kind of sense. The Colvoen would have no way of knowing what kinds of inhabitants or what kinds of conditions would be present on different planets. If they sent a variety of attackers, then at least one of them should be able to establish a foothold. For example, the skeletons were easily able to handle the wildlife in the forest but did not fair very well against you.”

That reminded me. I recalled seeing one of the skeletons killing an infected koala in the memories. “Is that how the shard reached level 2 so quickly?” I asked.

“Yes. The skeletons killed some creatures, but there were also several bodies that had either succumbed to the void energy or been killed by other animals just lying on the ground. They took all the corpses to the shard so it could absorb them and receive some energy. It was also drawing energy up from the earth and somehow directly converting it into experience. It wasn’t a very efficient conversion, but every little bit helps. Especially at the lower levels.”

I remembered from the vision crystal that the World Spirit hadn’t been happy about the shard taking its energy. I guess that’s what it was using it for.

“Let me make sure I’ve got this straight,” I said, rubbing at my temple tiredly. “We need to work out how to stop the void energy from spreading and we need to be prepared to deal with more shards that will probably be creating different enemies each time. Is that right?”

“I believe so,” he answered simply.

“Do we also need to be worried about the Colvoen directly attacking us if we manage to keep destroying their shards?” I asked, anxious that we could be faced with a greater threat by trying to stop the shards. Maybe it would be better to contain them somehow.

“It is possible there are some runes designed to send a distress signal all the way back to the Colvoen just before the shard is destroyed,” Cax admitted. “However, the power requirements to send a message all the way back to their home world would be quite high. Much higher than a simple beacon like it used on finding Earth. A low-level shard simply wouldn’t be capable of transmitting a message that far.

Also, there are some runes I recognized in the shard. One set is for teleporting, which explains how the shard was able to get to the surface immediately after exiting the rift. Another is for a portal. I believe that’s how the Colvoen would access any planet their creations manage to establish a foothold on.

It would take an immense amount of power to activate a portal back to their home world, much more than to send a simple signal. The shard would need to be at a very high level to do so. As long as you can stop the shards from becoming stronger, the Colvoen should never learn of Earth.”

There goes containing them, I thought. It would be safer to destroy them so they wouldn’t have any chance to reach a level where they could activate a portal or send a message. Especially if they could continue drawing energy from the world itself and using it to level up. Eventually, they would become too strong to be held.

“This is pretty bad, isn’t it?” I asked Cax, already knowing the answer.

He didn’t sugarcoat it. “Yes. But giving up isn’t an option. And I know you won’t. Continue with your plan of getting stronger and deal with each threat as it appears. That means the void energy first. And take comfort in knowing that you are not alone. The World Spirit itself is working on the problem.” His voice was filled with reverence at the end.

He was right. Yes, other worlds had succumbed to the Void. But Earth’s World Spirit had already managed to contain the rift and keep it relatively small. It had obviously learnt a few things from the information the fallen planets had shared. I would do what I could, and trust that the Spirit would take care of the rest. Somehow.

I already had an idea of how I might be able to stop the void energy from spreading. Cax had told me that no signals could penetrate a dungeon. I knew that he had been talking about the walls and rooms that made up the physical dungeon. But I was hoping that it would also apply to the aura of influence that extended out from the underground rooms and that it would also work on blocking the void energy.

With any luck, that would mean the void energy would be unable to infect the plant life surrounding my dungeon. I knew it was a big leap to assume that it would be stopped by just the aura, but I didn’t have any other ideas at the moment.

“For what it’s worth, I think that is actually a very good idea,” Cax encouraged me. “You should at least try it.”

With the expert on board, I felt much better about the chances of it working.

“I figure that if I can make the biggest room I possibly can at each of the cardinal directions, their combined aura might be enough to box the void energy in,” I explained to him. “But that means I need to reach level 5 so I can make four more rooms.”

“Before you use all your experience on leveling up, I suggest you learn Enchanting first,” he advised me. “You still have one slot available for a profession, and you should learn one before the cost increases from leveling up.”

That wasn’t a bad idea. “Why Enchanting?”

“If you can make progress in the profession, it may help us make sense of more of the enchantments that were in the shard. Knowing exactly what they are capable of will help you combat them. Also, being able to enchant your gear can give you advantages that I fear you will desperately need.”

I readily agreed. “Good point. Ok, I’ll unlock that profession with my experience first, and then level up so I can make more dungeon rooms.”

“Don’t forget you need to choose a class, too,” he reminded me.

Geez! My to-do list is getting pretty long! I took a deep breath, trying to rid myself of the feeling of being overwhelmed. One step at a time. Getting a class was a good idea. I moved that to the top of my list.

I wasn’t exactly sure what having a class meant, but I thought it might provide some benefits that could be useful in my efforts to stop the void energy and the shards. Also, I remembered that I had earned a custom class by completing the quest. I was excited to see what it was.