Chapter 153: Talk in the void – 2 lofty figures, yet small figures.

As the situation at the home unfolded in an unpredictable manner, places of mortals were everchanging, filling the living with normalcy or extraordinariness. There could be some world-shattering events within some lives, or life-shattering ones when someone dear to someone died. That was an undeniable factor of the living, where the end of one's life meant the start of someone's grief. It could even be true for some Immortal, albeit to a lesser degree.

Currently, within the darkness of one peculiar void, and not that far from the situation in Allan's home. The void was the place of the Diary of the Body, home to an unnamed ship that kept drifting through the infinite void, neverending on its journey.

36 was the major part of this place, even if he didn't know it. He was currently floating beyond the door from the empty, yet bloodied hall. Glancing at the books, and scrolls on the table, his focused gaze was filled with countless thoughts and variables. He was not reading them per se, but his mind was in full of meaningful understanding. It wasn't for Allan, much to his dismay. He wasn't always like this, and he knew it. A change occurred, since he couldn't lift his motivation alone any longer. Sometimes frowning, but most often than not, a calm face revealed much to one's guess.

“Soul… They are a such mysterious object that is as unfathomable as someone's misery. I am one, for example. There is awareness within me that led me to live past the hurdles of the destroyed physical body, and for what? So I would be caged like an animal, leading a life that is unlike myself? The present is where my real body is most likely rotten or destroyed, no longer something I could hold dear to myself.” 36 talked as if he was possessed, thinking of the myriad of things but Allan.

Trying to do something for himself was his occasional breather. A time when he feels relaxed, but not so much to be free of his worries. It always turned to pessimism in the end, though. It was one of his experiments when he had time to spare. When he did not have anything to do for Allan or Sarey, he began to contemplate his living. Be it past, present, or future. Not like there were a lot of throughs around them since the past not really mattered to his future. Who knew how long he was dead for, let alone what life could he have if he haven't died? Would he die like a nasty Immortal of the devilish pathway? He did so once, ending up like this, so that may be another future. His thirst for vengeance was still fresh, after all.

36 already floated there for days, or perhaps it was a week or two? He wouldn't care, or even count the numbers, though. At some point, he became numb to the passage of time, contemplating things that no longer matter, or mattered too much. Age was less than something he cared about when he lived, let alone when he was dead. Now, that he was a ghost. A soul form of some sort. He no longer cared. Power? That was useless. Riches? That could be a momentary rise in adrenaline, but that would pass as every emotional reaction.

Though, power was always something he coveted. Next was the lifeforce, or to be exact, limits on what one had to have to keep on living.

“Time, Huh… Hmph!” Sneering, he shook his head, turning his eyes to the ceiling. “Huhehhehehhee. I have plenty of that as a soul, but death could come to me even after dying once. What a shitty, yet hilariously cruel world. It has always been like that, hasn't it? This universe that proves nothing but chaos and cruelty?” 36 couldn't help but laugh, giggling with hands across his face that didn't even hide his face.

Unknown to him, someone familiar was watching him from the ceiling.

“What is so funny here? Tell me this joke. I am all ears.” The voice that 36 knew sounded from everywhere. It echoed in this small place, ending his laughter.

“You!? You are a funny one. You! Wisher! Hmph! You nasty fellow, why are you spying on me like this?”

One who spoke was The Wisher, who showed himself once more after being silent for a long period of dull time. From the ceiling, lines of light and dark matter flickered, making a shape of a humanoid figure around 1 meter in height. The distinct mouth and round, shallow eyes within the otherwise dark body made of chaotic, overflowing matter, left this being quite sinister.

“What brings you here, Wisher? Care for some words? I don't think I do, or I do? Who knows…” 36 talked with remains of the giggling expression of a madman who did not want his good time to be over

“A joke ended, and the joke was your figurative matter of speech. It was quite shallow if I say so myself.

“What a good joke. I am all laughing over there.” 36 said, mocking himself more than anything else.

“Alright, enough chit-chat. I came here to talk business.” Wisher's tone turned serious, and so did his stoic face.

“You are that bored? For an artifact soul living within the Diary, I guess it's not an exaggeration to call you a prisoner of this place more than myself. What do you want to talk about? I am a chatty person after all.”

“I can tell, trust me. After this time… It's better than nothing though, unlike the past fellows like yourself.”

“Really? That is very nice of you to see me in the new light.” 36 smirked, taking this compliment with relative ease. “What is it about then? Some news about the message you sent for my death or is it something entirely new?”

“I guessed you would talk about such things yourself, 36. A business here is more important for you since it involves you and your people. We had a proper talk last time, which leads to this conversation that can be quite important. For you, me, and who else is beyond this void in the reality.”

“Hmmm. I see and hear your sincerity. Alright. I guess I can reach the confirmation that the reward section that was unlocked all those months ago was accepted by my student.”

“R-really? That fast? Is he, or she confident?”

“Yes, I acknowledge it. What about the section on this issue? This Reward section in question, is there something special about it that I should know?”

“You did not read the rules and information about them?”

“I either forgot already or did not even read about them. I have no idea.” 36 shook his head, having no idea about some rules of this place. He wasn't one to be interested now, even though he was not that long ago. The dullness of this lonely place already changed him, which was amusing, since the emptiness of the soul that the majority of his former prisoners in the void had, was much more fast-paced than this. Calling it another form of suffering wasn't far from the truth.

“Don't know or don't care? Welp, what a teacher you are. No surprises. I wonder what your student is like since you are like this.”

“I don't deny myself, but my student is quite a lad.

“So a male? Young or older?”

“Young.”

“As usual, Alright.” Wisher nodded, understanding its the same matter as usual. Although, few female students were also in the past.

“Right, so the rewards for this opportunity are inside of this space, in this ship? Is it true?”

“Yes. I guess that is specific enough for you to remember. These sections are quite important for the students to know, as they could take all rewards back to reality and use them for getting further to these nasty challenges that The Ones made. It acts as an important threshold for getting the most out of them, forcing them to challenge themselves and overcome diffoculties and get something in return. It's the same thing as how a majority of the Immortals do their biddings.”

“That is a basic of almost all Sects within immortal planets. The trial, and so on, it's almost all the same everywhere.”

“Yes. I jsut talked about it… In fact, it is precisely what this is.”

“An Immortal Trial?”

“Yes, albeit with a different scheme, and type of things. It's not life-threatening, unlike the Examination. Your student reached the first threshold so he will have to face the beginner Trial, filled with peculiar problems. That is quite reasonable in my opinion.”

“What about the Rewards?”

“I have no access to them right now. I have no idea what will be there to offer since someone else is looking out for them.”

“Why no access? Aren't you an overlord of this place?”

“Restrictions are put to certain things. Rewards are restricted since there is a sole guardian for them. As for the Trials and Examinations, they are restricted as well, although the former can be finished in the reality, while the Trials are on this ship. Unless the teacher is willing to tell me more about the happenings of your student, I won't be able to provide any beneficial secrets. So far, you are the only one who is outside of the general rules that go against me. Do you understand how lucky this opportunity is? I can help you, and I shouldn't be able to. You are within, but outside… I had to make use of this, and so do you.”

Hearing Wisher's confidence, and pleading tone, 36 watched this creature with a serious face. “I get it. It is more of an annoying opportunity, but since you are here, these rewards are something I have to know. Unless I have absolute certainty that it is workable, and worth it for him, I would rather hesitate to let him go into this place. You know, because I almost died because of a certain woman! If something happens to him since he is still weak, I am screwed, and so are you! It would be mutual destruction!” 36 said, gritting his ghostly teeth in agitation.

“So, the student of yours is still somewhat weak that you hesitate, yet you tell him to go in… ” The Wisher rolled his eyes. “That doesn't make any sense. Immortals don't do things unless they have utmost certainty. How do you teach this one, I wonder.”

“Training still revolves around the premise of the pre-spark cultivation, so I am careful.” 36 tried some excuse.

“Careful? Well, considering the Body Forging, you must have some confidence in some other things. Alright. To call it like that, it is quite a blasphemy, but I would expect nothing else from the demonic cultivator.” Wisher talked, having his own set of expectations and things to tell.

“Hehe. What an obvious fox. He is in the dark about the possible routes of pre-spark cultivation. That serves me as a chance to get ahead. Good. GOOD.” 36 thought, his mind filled with the pieces of information he views as utmost treasures. It was a game of questions with answers which could lead to more answers or guesses, and 36 was pretty good at this. He wanted to hear, talk, and use The Wisher as a tool to get information from, and nothing else. Screw helping him. In fact, if he will be able to, 36 wasn't willing to help him at all. The Wisher had some use to him, so that was all to it for now.

“Is it true or false, though? Maybe I am trying something else.” 36 asked, shrouding his thoughts in mysteries that even Wisher didn't know. The content of 36's thoughts, secrets of reading the Diary, and so on, were all unknown to The Wisher.

“Truth is subjective, while lies can be sometimes half-truths. I am yet to see which are you, but I am certain you seek nothing but advantages for yourself.” The wisher said in surprising seriousness, befitting an old soul such as himself. “What is even your student doing with the Unmoving technique? I can't imagine it having a good end result if he awakens his Spark. Are you perhaps doubtful about him that he will even manage to awaken it?” Wisher went straight to his point.

“He will. I am sure of it.”

“Be my guess then. I can answer a lot of things, but what is hidden behind The Ones, is out of my reach. Rewards? From my memory, there are as many of them as the amount of suffering that you went through. The Ones took a lot of treasures to this place. I can't fathom, or remember them all, even if I saw a few taken in the past. Oh, wait. There is one fact.”

“What? Which?”

“When a reward is taken, it is a one-time thing. It won't appear here ever again.”

“So a scarcity of rewards… Some more valuable ones may have long disappeared. The Ones. They are a bunch of cowards of high standing what is doing nothing for the society of immortals.”

“Who knows? Maybe there is a reason they didn't disappear at all. Hehehe.” The wisher giggled.

“Fuck you! Do you think those shameless assholes – The Ones – wouldn't make it like that? What good they ever thought of?”

“You think so? I think they did plenty of good for imprisoning you. Heheheh.” Wisher joked, using his own words to go against 36.

Frowning, he got a bit upset but thought little of Wisher's comments in the next moment. Floating down to the floor, he sat right across the Wisher and since he had not much of a torso, they both were equal in their height.

“Nevermind, I will let the jokes aside.” 36's face turned serene and the anger and ploy disappeared from there as well. “I plan to make my student the very best of The Ones. Who says I won't, is sitting on their own tongue. I swear on my soul.” 36 seriously said, looking at the Wisher with a gaze of confidence and radiating intent.

“These are some harsh, and lofty manners.” The Wisher said. “Or they are just empty words of someone who did not manage to reach the rank of Lords? One was able to reach freedom, while the rest below failed every single time. Why do you think so?”

“Because they were all dumb and stupid.” 36 bluntly answered, ignoring the fact that The wisher revealed quite interesting information.

“Calling yourself dumb is quite a nice thing to do, but I am stating the facts that I've seen with my own eyes.”

“Screw your play with words. I will have my way with this misery. Your help… whatever it is, I won't deny its importance, but a proper understanding is just proper.”

“Unfortunately, this is not about you at all, 36. Your student has your destiny at his fingertips for the rest of your time, and even death itself may be there for the one you, or both.”

36 furrowed his ghostly brows, pondering the truth of his own vies. It was true what The Wisher said, and he couldn't condemn him for it.

“Nothing to add more? I know I am right.” Wisher said in confidence.

“Fine by me. Since you are not even trying to be resourceful with this talk, I will. The reward, the thing that is the most questionable is the involvement of a student reaching the book. Does it mean some part of this ship? If so, which?”

“This ship is the whole what makes this place. Of course, the trial is done in here as well. Parts of the Trial are scattered throughout the place, the deck involved, of course.”

“Finally, at least some information is getting out of the hole that you call a mouth.”

“Sure, As you said. Are you perhaps fearful of the possibility of your student, that you ask like that?”

“He will reach with the real body, like the woman I faced a while back. Is it not wrong to not be careful?”

“Is it not, but I will try my best to not endanger him since your student is also my possible benefactor.”

“Him? Heh. I wonder about that.” 36 joked, believing in his words. He knew also that Allan was a good kid. Although not the brightest or strongest that he ever met. One thing was clear, and that was that he was a kind soul, unlike himself. That, in itself, did not bother him at all, leaving him in a situation where he have to teach someone like that. With each passing meeting between everyone, his view over these mortals became all twisted and firmer than ever. Hell, even Sarey's involvement left some joy in him, as she was a clear star in Allan's life.

“Something else that you are leaving out, 36?” The Wisher stopped the momentary silence.

“I do, and so do you. We are even in our discussions. My way of teaching or materials I have, won't change anything with our exchanges, so there are not a whole lot of benefits in doing them anyway.”

“My help is just a talk for now. I need to see the full picture before I am all crazy with this whole "help" thing. When it comes to things I could give, tell, and hint you about? They are too many of them, but it's too early to even talk about them. I need to see the truth first. Your student is a key for that, 36.”

“Ugh…” 36 mentally struggled, unwilling to end things like this. “Fine, So there are some things? Some examples?”

“Yes, curiosity killed the cat, I suppose. Do you think teachers are left without anything in this place? One of the teachers of the two successors was an absolute madman who gained much more than the student.”

“Why not be more specific?”

“I don't want to be. Not until you tell me more about the weird decisions you made around your student. How about those martial arts on your table? You think I don't see them?”

“You think they are stupid? I copied them all according to things I knew and found out through the Diary and materials I was given.”

“Why figure out something out of them, when there are so many already made? You are just making things complicated and hard this way. Is your student in need of specific? Body Forging is unfathomable, but some proper beginnings are hardly changing like this.”

“Who are you to question my decision? I run this place for my student, not you! This is my way, Wisher.”

Both figures conversed with powerful voices and unwavering hearts. Each was a figure that went through a lot, so it was no wonder.

“I swear… Fine. I will talk a little about what I know, and they aren't that important anyway.” The Wisher told after coming to terms with 36's unwillingness to talk about his decision or the content of the table. “The rewards? Within the beginner trial are martial arts of all sorts of value from the annals of The One's library. There is also some supplementary stuff, including weapons, manuals, tools, and so on. Though, the ones which your student may get will be decided by the overseer of the Rewards who is coincidently the one in charge of the Beginner Trial. The student may be in luck, or in distress because of the lack of not knowing them well, or seeing ones that aren't up to his tastes.”

“I see…” 36 nodded, taking things with great importance to his heart.

“Overall, your student will have to get his hands on enough value or good enough stuff for his current comprehension, expertise, or needs. Everything revolves around his own decision since you won't be able to help him. It all revolves around the body techniques and if his luck will be good, some things could have dealings with the energy or spark.”

“Ohhh? How nice is to talk meaningfully all of sudden. It is not that hard after all.” 36 laughed, beaming with a bright smile.

“Screw you too, 36.” The wisher retired, taking things rather seriously. “Do you think this is good news? Think about the reason why they include the energy stuff within the very first trial of rewards. This is just the very start and The Ones are already expecting the students to reach their sparks or at least power near it.”

“Oh, that? I don't find it that surprising. Considering they are all lunatics who are using such teaching methods, this is something that I would come up with myself. It would make a monster, you know?”

“Or a dead monster… Though, I agree with you, for once.” Wisher paused, no longer able to disagree with his words. His hate towards The Ones, who made him a numb guardian of this place was evident to him and only. He wanted to get out, more than one could imagine.

“Wait. Wait. I think I heard something within your story that makes things a bit interesting.” 36 waved his hands, ending one below his ching, the other pointing to the Wisher. “So you do know something about the content of the beginner trial? Care to explain?”

“Of course, I know the trial. It's unchanging for a long time. A lot of things are known to me because certain teachers are even more talkative than you. I was waiting for a better moment to talk about it, but whatever, It's not like you will provide me with a lot of things, or secrets. In fact, I fear your student may be much to my liking if you are like this.”

“How fortunate to see my past teachers being like that. Hehe.” 36 chuckled. “Though, I am unsure about this boy of mine.”

“Oh, dear lord. I am completely screwed up, am I not?” 36 silently lamented about the new facts that tHe wisher didn't tell, but he long guessed them himself. Trials, rewards, and the real body of Allan. All of those things had one thing in common, and one thing that wisher implied. Allan will be the one choosing the rewards, and the matter of how wasn't that good. It was terrible.

And he… Allan won't be able to do much, because he won't be able to see the choices – whatever they will end up like.