Whoooooooooosh.

Wain jumped high up creating a platform of darkness beneath him to push off of it and advance further. Frigus was puzzled by Wain's last words, but he decided to wait until everyone was gathered together to ask his questions.

'Agh, I wonder what I would do if not this man had one day decided to own this Void? At best I'd be a mere monster, though more likely I'd just die like most.' Frigus muttered inwardly with a bitter smile before stepping forward.

He was a monster, so under the right circumstances, he could evolve very quickly, even faster than the humans, however, this was also the reason why for every person from the Pillars killed, there were at least a hundred monsters. Their lives were hard and dangerous, and only one in thousands could hope to be rewarded for their sacrifices.

Crackle. Crackle. Crackle.

The ice beneath him cracked as Frigus jumped high up. His physical performance was impressive, so he only had to bounce a few times off the ice crystals to reach the edge of the island where Wain was already waiting for him.

"Well, well, even though you're on the Demigod Stage, it took you three more jumps than it did me to get here." Wain smirked with his arms crossed over his chest.

Frigus just shrugged, "I'd be very surprised if I were stronger than you physically. I still need a lot of training to reach your level. Honestly, I'm amazed at how you've been able to get so strong all the time. I mean, you probably train a lot less than I do, right?"

Wain was silent until he said with a slight smile, "Well, I'm actually a bit older than you think, but that's not the point. One good fight will replace three long training sessions, and one deadly fight will replace ten training sessions. Maybe I'm wrong about the numbers, but you get my point."

Frigus nodded as he glanced at his sword, 'I've been doing a lot of training and fighting in other zones lately, but I haven't had a death fight in a while... Perhaps I'll never get stronger without it...'

Frigus didn't realize it yet, but he was already on his way to the Transcendence Stage. Even though his chances were slim, he could reach the God Stage and even go further only through his skill and his own strength. In his case it was possible because Frigus relied only on himself, believing that no followers could save him in battle.

"I feel that the Demigod Stage is not the limit for you. A few strong opponents and you'll easily reach the God Stage, I'm sure of it." Wain said calmly as if it was something obvious or inevitable.

"You actually think I have a chance to go any further? I mean... Apart from the death fights I'm definitely lacking in energy. I don't know how long it will take me to gather the right amount, but I feel like there's a real chasm between Demigod and God Stage!" Frigus exclaimed in disbelief as he waved his arms.

Frigus was one of the leaders of the territories and after Elegan, he was number two in this Void, so he had access to a huge amount of resources which helped him get a lot of energy quickly.

"Don't worry about the energy. Soon there will be a lot more of everything in this Void, from crystals to various fruits and Points of Interest." Wain spoke with a wave of his hand as he looked intently at Frigus. Wain could clearly see transparent streams of energy floating around him as they seemed to be waiting for their moment to break free.

'Hah, I have seen Frigus fight several times, once he even saved my life, but only now do I realize how lucky I am to have him as one of my main warriors. If Elegan is a brain and organization, then Frigus is strength and lethality.' Wain pondered as he inwardly chuckled.

'Energy... Does it have something to do with you being on the Absolute Stage now?" Frigus asked with a curious look.

Wain nodded, "Yeah. I'll do that right after I tell you what happened to me. By the way... I don't understand something."

"Is something wrong?" Frigus asked as he raised an eyebrow.

Wain looked around, looked down, and asked, "How will the others get here? I mean, you and I are definitely the strongest physically, and it took us a few jumps."

Frigus chuckled as if Wain had said something stupid.

"Hmm...? Something wrong?" Wain tilted his head in confusion.

"Do you really think Elegan would make the others go to this much trouble to get to the island? Just so you know, some other monsters sometimes come here that couldn't possibly have jumped as high as we did." Frigus grinned as he pointed somewhere in the direction, "Look, they're just in time."

Wain turned around and his eyes went wide at what he saw since there was an ice platform approaching the island where Edena and Lui Bu were. Beneath it was a purple magic circle that supported it.

"Shit... You couldn't have told me that before?!" Wain resented as he stared at Frigus.

"Hahaha, did you ask? Don't forget that you were the first one to jump, I didn't even have time to say anything, it all happened too fast." Frigus shrugged with a slight smile, "Well, I guess that was even better, wasn't it?"

Wain shook his head, sighed, and smiled, "You're right, it would be too boring on the platform. Well, let's meet up with our slow but clever alchemists."

Frigus nodded silently, following him to the other side of the island.

Edena and Lui Bu were almost up when suddenly two shadows appeared before them. They were puzzled, but wide smiles quickly appeared on their faces at the sight of Wain.

"Hey, it's been a while, hasn't it?" Wain waved his hand in greeting.historical