Two things were immediately noticeable to Vin when he finally woke up. First, was that the world was no longer struggling to decide whether to exist in physical form or runic form.

  Second, was that it didn’t exist in either.

  Looking around, Vin was surprised to find himself standing once more within that black void that he’d first found himself within when the Gods had originally yanked everyone over to Edregon. That wasn’t the only time he’d ever been here, however.

  There had been two others since then. Both when he’d communed with a certain Goddess.

  As if the thought had summoned her, Vin blinked and suddenly found himself looking at the Goddess of Benevolence for a third time. She still wore her robes and sandals, and her hair flowed around her head as if she were suspended underwater, but there were two noticeable changes that stood out.

  One was the way her smile looked tired, and there was a slight droop to her shoulders that certainly hadn’t existed the last two times they’d spoken.

  And the other was the glowing chain wrapped around her torso like a lopsided sash.

  “It is good to finally see you again, Vin,” the Goddess said, beaming at him despite her weary expression. “I have to say, for a mortal, you are simply full of surprises.”

  “Are you alright?” Vin asked, holding a hand to his head as he realized he couldn’t actually look directly at the chain binding the goddess. It was as if the golden links contained more information than his eyes could truly parse, and he somehow knew if he even tried, he’d simply fry his own brain and fall over dead. For real this time.

  “Do not try to see Beyond the Veil that is placed over the God of Contracts’ chains,” she warned, tutting as if scolding a young child. “Honestly, I brought you here in an attempt to save your life, and the very first thing you do is try to kill yourself in an entirely new way? I can’t exactly baby-proof this void any more than I already have.”

  “Save my life?” Vin repeated, his mind still awhirl from the world practically devolving around him. “What the hell even happened? The last thing I can remember, I evolved Runecraft a second time… there was another grand arcane discovery… and then the world… fell apart, or something? It’s all so fuzzy.”

  “That fuzziness is my own benevolence,” the Goddess said, smiling at him and reaching forward to take his hands. The moment her skin touched his, Vin started, as a warmth flooded through his body that washed away the pain and dizziness throbbing through his very being. It was like being submerged in a warm pool of healing potions, and he shuddered as he was suddenly made better than he’d ever been before.

  “What happened?” he asked again, nearly letting out quite an embarrassing sound of longing when the Goddess let go of his hands and took a step back, releasing him from the warm bliss.

  “You reached for something you were not yet ready to hold,” she explained, her smile never wavering in the slightest as she watched him. “The first time we spoke, I explained to you how magic is chaos. How we Gods invented runes and runic formations to force that chaos into order and give the universe structure. Do you remember?”

  “Of course I remember, that was probably the craziest bombshell anyone’s ever dropped on me in my entire life,” he said bluntly. “Then you showed me the impossibly large runic formation making up the old System, how it was being corroded because of the Gods’ blatant use of divine magic, which is basically rune-free magic, if I’m understanding correctly, and how the Gods’ power was locked away behind divine boons. I don’t think I’ll ever forget a word of what you said.”

  “That is all true,” she nodded. “But it was clear you never stopped to consider what that meant. You may have on an intellectual level, but not on an instinctual level. Just a few moments ago, you did just that. You opened your eyes to the truth of the universe around you, to the fact that everything that ever has existed and everything that ever will is all magic bound by the laws of the runes we Gods created. The very air you breathe. The blood pumping through your veins. All of it is magic given form and specific purpose. The knowledge was too much for your mortal brain, and the magic within your body began to rebel. You and it are technically one, so as you realized the truth, so did it.”

  “You talk as if magic is some sort of living, sentient thing just waiting for the right moment to break free,” he said, chuckling at the idea. His laughter quickly died as the Goddess’ smile flickered, and his blood went cold. “Hold up, what? Please tell me you didn’t bring me here to tell me that magic is some sort of super-God you and the others bound up to do your bidding. I think I can only take so many revelations in a single day.”

  “It is nothing quite so crazy,” she said, causing him to let out a shaky breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “But as magic is in fact chaos incarnate, it is true that it is always looking for a way to break free from the chains we used to bind it. Tirelessly, it searches, just waiting for the right moment to shatter its restraints and run wild once more. Your people back on Earth called this phenomenon entropy. The tendency for things to move from a state of order, to a state of disorder. Your scientists were able to deduce the what of magic, but not the why.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  “Okay, all that science talk is going to be wasted on me, I dropped out of high school long before learning any of that,” Vin said, shaking his head. “Let’s back up a step. You said I ‘reached for something I was not yet ready to hold.’ What the hell does that mean? All I did was dump my excess skill points into a skill, something anyone is able to do, right?”

  “Achieve skill mastery? Yes,” she nodded, holding up a finger. “Achieve it via brute force as you just did? No. Skills are an interesting part of the System. A method we devised to give magic a more subtle form and influence over mortals. Once a skill reaches a certain point, it is dangerous for the skill to grow too much, too quickly. In order to reach skill mastery, a person must slowly work their way up to it, advancing the skill through natural means as opposed to skill points. We Gods placed something of a buffer before this point, for you mortals’ own protection.”

  “I don’t know how to tell you this, but I think your ‘buffer’ needs some work,” Vin frowned. “It sure as hell didn’t stop me.”

  “That was an unfortunate interaction between your newest ability and the skill buffer,” she explained. “Beyond the Veil is just as deadly as it is powerful. It used to be a passive occasionally given primarily to Sorcerers back in the old System, but it still exists in a few limited cases. I can honestly say I never expected anyone from Earth to come into it so quickly, but it seems you simply live to surprise us.”

  “Sorcerers? I don’t think I’ve run into any of those on Edregon yet,” Vin remarked.

  “You wouldn’t have. It was already an incredibly rare class before, and they were all left behind when Edregon was formed,” she said, a single tear rolling down her face that Vin knew without doubt was purer than any water he’d ever seen in his life. “Sorcerer was a dangerous class that wrestled with magic in its primal form. They were far fewer in number than divine classes, but they wreaked just as much havoc on the old System.”

  “If they were so dangerous that you had to leave them behind, why keep Beyond the Veil in the new System at all?” he demanded. “I’m still having nightmares about what I saw when I looked at the World Eaters, and now you’re saying the passive nearly liquified my brain? I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it sounds like you Gods made a big mistake leaving it in.”

  “Just as magic is everywhere and all-encompassing, so are runes,” the Goddess explained. “As the name would suggest, Beyond the Veil will allow you to look beyond the physical world and better see how magic and runes interact with it. You will witness much that you would wish to forget, but you will also learn secrets and uncover runes that nobody else has ever discovered. It is a double-edged sword, one of great power and danger alike.”

  “Well, said sword already nearly killed me once,” Vin drawled. “That’s why we’re here in the first place, right? Did my divine boon save me or something? How are we even talking without a statue serving as a medium to talk through?”

  “By temporarily freeing the magic making up your body from its restraints, you bypassed many of the restrictions we have in place for most mortals,” she said, looking proudly at him. “It was an impressive act of magic, even if it did essentially cost you your own life. This entire conversation is taking place in a single moment, as I hold your body together with the energy given off by your divine boon. In order to save your life and stop your deconstruction from occurring immediately again once we finish talking and time starts back up, I am going to be forced to replace the buffer you bypassed to evolve your skill. You will maintain the Manacraft skill, though part of it will be locked to you until you are ready. I can only do this once, so do not go attempting to peek beyond that particular veil again until you are ready. In fact, I would strongly recommend shying away from using your class ability at all for the time being. Your body needs both time to heal, and time to further grow stronger.”

  “How will I know when that is?”

  “You’ll know,” she said, giving him a dazzling smile that literally blinded him for a moment. “Though if you’d like a more concrete answer, using the ability only sparingly until you reach level 50 should most likely be long enough. And there is one final warning I must give you, young Vin. When you are once again finally ready to access the full power of Manacraft and view the world as it truly is, take care that you do not attempt to harness the chaotic power of mana without the runes we have so painstakingly provided for you. Doing so will result in your immediate expulsion from the System, and I do so enjoy watching your adventures around Edregon. The temptation will be quite strong, stronger than anything you’ve ever felt before in your life, but you must fight back against it. That road leads to total destruction of you and everything you hold dear. And as much as I enjoy watching you, not even I will stand by and watch you bring ruin to what little we managed to save of the old universe.”

  “That’s a lot to put on my shoulders,” he said, cowering slightly at the intensity of the Goddess’ gaze. It was like there were a million people watching him through her eyes, and he shuddered as he felt them all judging him. “Honestly, can I just not lift the new buffer you’re putting in place? I think it would be a lot easier for all of us if I wasn’t forced to fight against that temptation.”

  “You could… but you will,” she said, her gaze softening as she gave him one final smile. “I know you almost as well as you know yourself, and I would bet all of Edregon that you won’t be able to help yourself once you are ready.”

  As much as Vin wanted to argue the point, even he had to concede that she was probably right. At his very core, he was an explorer. He always wanted to know what was just beyond the horizon. And now that he knew eventually he’d be able to safely see what was beyond every horizon?

  Well, it was only a matter of time before he took a peek behind that Godly curtain once again.

  “Physically, you won’t be in any danger after I send you back, but your body will be exhausted and need some rest,” she explained as the void began to shake and warble around them. “You did mostly destabilize every cell in your entire body. Even with your Total Resistance Skill, that’s not just something you can walk off.”

  “Thanks again for the explanation,” he said, looking around nervously as the black void shook and seemed to prepare for something. “And you know, saving my life. Again.”

  “It is only the tenth time,” she said, giving him a wink that made his heart skip a beat. “But hey, who’s counting?”

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