The first thing Ery focused on was the newly ford stone table.
It dominated the center of the hall, a massive circular structure nearly ten ters in diater, forged from a deep black material that seed to absorb light rather than reflect it.
The mont his perception settled upon it, he could already tell it was far from ordinary. The entire structure was saturated with profound spatial energy, layered and condensed in a way that reminded him less of a crafted object and more of a relic—sothing closer to an artifact than a simple construct.
Its surface shimred with fine, glittering dust, resembling scattered starlight.
Ery had already confird its true nature. It was a map—one part mirrored the star charts of the Magus Alliance almost perfectly with what he had studied before. As for the second massive cluster, representing the elven domains, he held no doubt about its accuracy; VIA had already verified what his instincts suggested.
Yet what drew his attention was not how accurate it was.
It was how it behaved.
The table was not rely displaying information.
It was responding.
As Ery stepped closer, he began to notice sothing beneath the shimring dust. Carved directly into the surface of the stone were intricate sets of runes—ancient symbols arranged in concentric patterns that encircled the entire table. Each rune pulsed faintly, releasing subtle waves of spatial energy that interacted seamlessly with the dust above. It took him a mont to begin deciphering them.
The initial layer of understanding was enough to trigger a reaction. As his comprehension deepened, the glittering dust shifted, responding directly to his awareness, and in the next instant, Ery felt his perception being drawn inward.
His consciousness entered the map.
The transition was smooth, almost effortless. One mont, he stood before the table, and the next, he was moving through it, his awareness soaring across vast spatial distances. Solar systems unfolded around him in breathtaking clarity—stars burning at their centers, planets orbiting in precise harmony, moons circling their worlds, and even the scattered debris of asteroid fields drifting silently through space.
It was not an illusion.
It was imrsion.
Ery moved through the map as though he were truly traveling, phasing from one system to another with nothing more than a shift in thought. The scale alone was staggering, and yet the control felt natural, as though the table had been designed to be navigated in exactly this way.
Curiosity sharpened his focus.
Earth.
Alpha Quadrant.
Sector Thirteen.
The mont the thought ford, the entire map reacted. The surrounding systems collapsed inward as the perspective narrowed, the glittering dust reorganizing itself with astonishing speed. Within seconds, a familiar blue sphere appeared before him.
Earth.
It hovered in perfect detail, its oceans reflecting light, its continents rotating slowly beneath a thin veil of atmosphere. For a brief mont, Ery allowed himself to simply observe it, taking in the sight of a world that had once felt distant, yet now existed within his reach.
Then he focused further.
As his perception deepened, the runes embedded within the table began to glow more intensely, and ripples spread across the surface of the planet. The image shifted and beca more dynamic; its rotation accelerated slightly, while subtle changes began to manifest—terrain refining, structures erging, and details sharpening, as though the system were updating itself in real ti.
Buildings began to form across the continents, though Ery could not fully confirm their accuracy until his attention shifted toward the moon, where the transformation beca unmistakably clear.
The barren surface shifted.
Then—
Structures rose.
The Moon Base appeared, forming seamlessly as though it had always been part of the map.
Ery's eyes narrowed slightly as understanding settled in.
With a simple shift of intent, the star chart updated itself, displaying recent structures as requested. He could even see spacecraft docked within the hangars and make out faint figures—guards stationed nearby—though everything remained frozen in place.
It did not take long for him to recognize the limitation. It could only render what existed on the surface, unable to penetrate deeper layers or reveal what lay within those structures, as though Ery were observing a perfectly detailed snapshot of Earth and its surroundings rather than a fully interactive, living view.
"Interesting…" he murmured, his voice low with contemplation.
This mysterious stone table had effectively granted him a new form of vision—an eye capable of observing across two vast superclusters, spanning both the Magus Alliance and the elven domains. The implications were imdiate and far-reaching, as such a tool could serve as an invaluable asset for reconnaissance, allowing him to monitor regions, track movents, and access information.
"Alright… what else can you do?"
Ery's attention returned to the runes, his perception tracing their structure once more, this ti with greater focus. It did not take long for him to notice a subtle distinction within their arrangent. Where the previous layer had governed observation and projection, this one carried a different intent altogether—sothing more active, more directive.
A command.
Travel.
The mont that understanding ford, the star chart reacted.
Ripples spread across its surface, and the glittering dust shifted rapidly as hundreds—no, thousands—of dark points of light began to erge throughout the map. They appeared in clusters, scattered across sectors, each one pulsing faintly as it stabilized into position. At first, the sheer number made it difficult to process, but within seconds, recognition set in.
Khaos waypoints.
They were being integrated into the star chart itself.
Ery's gaze sharpened as he observed the distribution. Each sector contained several of these points, far more than he rembered, and the sa density extended across the elven domains and beyond the boundaries of charted space.
Ery's gaze sharpened as he took in the implication.
This network extended beyond what the Magus Alliance even knew existed.
It surpassed them.
He narrowed his focus again, guiding his perception back toward a familiar location—Earth. The star chart responded imdiately, the surrounding space dimming slightly as the perspective shifted inward. Around the blue planet, a few points of dark light brightened, separating themselves from the rest of the network as viable connections.
Nearby waypoints.
Among them, one stood out with unmistakable familiarity.
The artificial waypoint he had personally created within the hidden space in Britannia.
Avalon.
A faint surge of excitent rose within him as the connection beca clear. "So it really is connected…" he murmured.
Without hesitation, he focused his intent and confird the command.
For a brief mont, nothing seed to happen. The hall remained still, the crystal hovering silently above the table, and Ery wondered if he had misinterpreted the chanism. Then, almost imperceptibly at first, the runes beneath the surface began to glow.
The reaction spread outward.
A pulse of spatial energy flowed from the table, traveling across the circular hall as though following an unseen pattern. The air itself began to distort, warping slightly as space folded inward at one corner of the hall. The distortion intensified, twisting into a concentrated point before expanding outward into a stable form.
A rift.
Its edges shimred with compressed spatial force, gradually stabilizing until it ford a complete gateway, its structure precise and unwavering.
Ery watched it for a mont, his expression tightening with focus before easing into quiet satisfaction.
Ery did not hesitate.
With a steady step, he crossed the threshold and entered the gate.
The transition was instantaneous. Space folded around him, and in the next mont, he erged on the other side—only to be t with a tense and unexpected sight. A group of female warriors stood before him, their reactions imdiate and sharp as weapons were raised in alarm.
Ery recognized them as the Valkyries; their expressions betrayed unmistakable shock.
The gate behind him had remained dormant for over thirty years, and now, without warning, soone had stepped through it.
For a brief mont, the air was thick with hostility.
Before the situation could escalate, a familiar figure rushed forward.
"Stand down!" Brandt's voice cut through the tension as he stepped between them, their guarded stances slowly easing as understanding replaced alarm, though their gazes lingered on Ery with lingering disbelief.
Ery offered a faint smile, acknowledging them, though he did not remain long. There was a part of him that wanted to linger, perhaps visit the Fey village or simply reconnect, but the existence of the waypoint system had already changed that equation.
He could return at any ti.
With that thought in mind, he stepped back through the gate.
Returning to the Khaos domain, Ery wasted no ti in continuing his test. His focus shifted once more to the star chart, and this ti he selected a different destination—the artificial waypoint within Terra City.
The command was given.
The runes responded.
A second gate ford.
"Success," he murmured, a quiet satisfaction in his voice.
With both Earth and Terra City now confird as accessible points, the implications beca far more tangible. Ery had finally regained the previous functions of Khaos, allowing him to traverse vast distances in seconds.
Naturally, the next step was to test its limitations.
Ery quickly discovered that the restriction remained unchanged. In order to send others through the waypoints, they first had to enter his inner domain before accessing the gate. This alone imposed a significant limitation. The number of individuals he could transport depended heavily on their cultivation level, and the stronger they were, the fewer he could accommodate at once. More importantly, his inner domain was not a place he could open freely to just anyone.
Even so, the utility of Khaos waypoints was undeniable.
Since he was already in Terra City, Ery decided to push the test further.
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