When Noah summoned Kassadin, strange changes occurred in the cosmos.
At that moment, a new dimension materialized in the universe, emerging as if from nowhere and creating barely perceptible ripples. Ordinary people and beings with low levels of power couldn't sense these changes, but powerful entities immediately felt the spatial shift.
The Ancient One, Odin, the deities of the universe, the dark ruler of a dimension, Dormammu, and other formidable beings across various realms felt the birth of a new, previously unknown dimension. This dimension appeared suddenly, utterly foreign to this universe and even to the entire multiverse.
An all-seeing and omnipotent entity known as Eternity observed the event but showed no emotion. Though this new dimension, the Void, was unprecedented, Eternity took no action. He typically remained inactive unless there was a threat to the multiverse or if someone, like Gorr the God Butcher, managed to find him and make a wish. This time, he chose to simply watch as events unfolded.
Meanwhile, fragments of Kassadin's memories began to surface in Noah's mind. Immersing himself in them for a few seconds, he then returned to reality.
"Ah... All these memories are about battles with the Void," Noah rubbed his head.
The snippets of Kassadin's memories that he managed to perceive were mostly scenes of fierce combat against Void creatures. Kassadin's backstory began as an ordinary man from Shurima, a devoted family man whose wife and daughter were everything to him. But one day, while he was away, terrible news reached him.
On his way home, he encountered a group of refugees who turned out to be from his village. They told him about a catastrophic event that struck their home, like the end of days. Stricken with fear, he galloped toward his village.
When he finally arrived, he found only ruins. No signs of life remained. In desperation, he called out the names of his wife and daughter, digging through the debris until his hands were bloodied, but to no avail.
After losing his family, Kassadin became a wanderer until he heard rumors that the disaster in his village was caused by a prophet who believed in the Void and sacrificed the village to these beings. Kassadin, already familiar with the Void, believed it to be true and set out to find the prophet and avenge his family.
This prophet was Malzahar, the Void Prophet. Kassadin began searching for powers that could help him in the fight. In Ionia, he received Karma's blessing, then created magical equipment and found an ancient artifact—Holorka's Gauntlet, left behind by an Ascended, similar to the one worn by Ezreal.
With this, Kassadin embarked on a determined path of fighting the Void to track down the prophet and avenge his loved ones.
Noah realized that these memories weren't particularly useful in a world where the Void didn't yet exist. He looked at his right hand, where a violet gauntlet had appeared. It resembled Ezreal's but had taken on a different hue due to Kassadin's long battles with the Void.
He clenched his fist, and a violet energy blade shot out from the gauntlet.
"The Void Blade."
Noah felt that he had almost fully grasped the potential of this gauntlet. While Ezreal's gauntlet focused on releasing energy, this one was designed for absorption. Though it could emit energy blasts, spheres, and blades, its true strength lay in absorbing power.
"Let's test this out, Lissandra, hit me with an electric shock," he said, standing up to test the gauntlet's capabilities. However, he wasn't sure if a gauntlet that absorbed magical energy could also absorb an attack based on electricity, as it wasn't pure magic.
The white walls of the training room began to shift—nanomaterial devices formed on them and started generating electrical discharges. A moment later, a bolt of lightning struck Noah.
He raised his hand, palm directed at the incoming bolt. As the bolt collided with the violet gauntlet, it glowed momentarily, and then the lightning vanished, as if swallowed by the void, leaving no trace.
"It worked," Noah said, looking at his glowing hand with surprise. He then waved it, and a surge of violet energy burst out of the gauntlet, directed at the walls of the room. Fortunately, the walls were made of vibranium, which fully absorbed the energy.
"Pretty powerful stuff. I wonder what will happen if I use both gauntlets together."
Focusing, he mentally summoned the brass gauntlet from the experimental stand. It instantly appeared on his left hand, so now he had two gauntlets: one yellow, one violet.
With the yellow gauntlet in place, both began to glow more intensely, and he felt their power increase significantly. The absorption and release of energy now felt far stronger.
"Lissandra, let's try again."
Chapter 75. The Void's Invasion?
As Noah continued his experiments, waves of energy burst throughout the room. The vibranium walls absorbed the powerful impacts, although they had their limits, the room's durability allowed it to withstand his intense assaults.
"Phew, that was amazing!" he said, pausing and stopping the energy flow after absorbing another burst of electricity. Now he knew the limits of the gauntlets' capabilities. If he had this pair during his fight with the mutated Destroyer, he was sure he could have defeated it without relying on the Resolve Rune.
"It seems the teleportation ability has also significantly improved."
Having completed tests on energy absorption and release, Noah remembered the teleportation capabilities of the gauntlets. Both Ezreal's gauntlet and Kassadin's gauntlet had spatial jumping abilities. Ezreal's Arcane Shift and Kassadin's Riftwalk allowed teleportation, and he was eager to see how they would work in tandem.
But before he could begin the experiment, a system alert interrupted him.
[Important mission detected. Summoner is requested to review it immediately.]
Seeing the red text before his eyes, Noah hesitated for a moment but quickly composed himself and opened the mission list, where a new mission highlighted in red awaited him.
[Large-scale Mission: Master of the Void]
[For specific reasons, the Void has already emerged in this world. The Summoner must master the Void and become its ruler.]
[Note: The Void will be influenced by the real world and may undergo unpredictable changes. The Summoner should take control as soon as possible.]
"What the... the Void!?" Noah's eyes widened as he read those words.
Many questions swirled in his mind: why had the Void appeared? What were these "specific reasons"? Was it because he had summoned Kassadin? But Kassadin was not a creature of the Void; he merely wielded a fragment of its energy. How could his summoning have triggered its appearance?
Digesting this momentous information, Noah massaged his temples. To him, the Void was always something terrifying. The mighty Ancient Shurima had nearly fallen into ruin after encountering it, with many powerful Ascended turning into Darkin.
Moreover, Noah feared the horrifying Void creatures such as Kha'Zix, Kog'Maw, and Cho'Gath, beings capable of infinite evolution. Most worrisome of all were the Watchers—the most powerful monsters of the Void. They had scarcely appeared in the history of the universe, but the one time a Watcher was seen, it had been sealed in true ice by Lissandra in Freljord.
Additionally, according to Aurelion Sol's backstory, the Void might house forces equal to his own. Although this part of the story hadn't been fully developed, it was unknown what these forces might be.
"System, do you mean for me to fight these Void-born creatures?" Noah worriedly rubbed his temples. He wasn't sure he could take on the Watchers.
[Summoner, the Void that has emerged in this world is new, peaceful, and not yet influenced by external forces that could trigger mutations.]
"Not mutated? So there aren't any Void creatures yet?" He was surprised by the system's words. It seemed that the Void hadn't been exposed to influences that could spawn Void creatures.
He recalled that in the Void's lore, it was mentioned that originally it was a tranquil realm until it was affected by another dimension—Runeterra—leading to mutations and the birth of the Watchers, who sought to destroy Runeterra.
However, Noah also noted that this influence was currently absent, though it could arise in the future for some reason. Still, he felt relieved knowing that he had time to prepare.
"How does one control the Void... How would that even be done?" he pondered, studying the mission description. He had no knowledge of dimension control and wasn't sure where to start.
"Controlling a dimension... Is it similar to how dimension lords govern their realms?" Noah mused. Dimension lords like Dormammu ruled over their domains, such as the Dark Dimension. If so, he considered consulting the Ancient One, who had often dealt with such beings and might know what needed to be done.
"By the way, why doesn't this mission have a rank?" he noticed that the mission didn't specify a level, such as A, B, or C.
[This mission is a large multi-stage task consisting of numerous smaller objectives. The ultimate goal is to become the Master of the Void.]
"Sounds like a storyline quest," Noah noted after reading the system's message. He pressed the button to accept the mission, even though he recalled having already completed his quota of tasks for the day.
[Mission accepted.]
"What? Accepted!" He was surprised to see the mission had been successfully accepted despite the lack of available mission slots for the day. Perhaps this type of mission didn't require a task slot?
After accepting the large-scale mission, a new entry appeared in the mission list.
[B-class Void Series Mission: First Encounter with the Void.]
"A Void series mission? Is that like a prefix for this series?" Noah clicked on the mission to see if it required an available task slot.
[Unable to accept, daily task limit reached!]
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