Eric walked out of the Church of Serenity.
The evening sky stopped him before he could take three steps.
It was the kind of sunset that didn't ask for attention — it simply had it. Gold bleeding into amber, the sun descending with the unhurried patience of something that had done this ten thousand times and still meant it. He stood at the edge of the construction site and looked at it for a while. Not thinking. Just looking.
It had been a long time since he'd done that.
He pulled his gaze away and started walking.
With his eyes half-closed, he turned his attention inward — to the charms settled quietly in his body — and let the mission details surface.
Lady Elara. 99th Layer, Meditation Realm. Nova rank. Beauty Pathway.
He had accepted the mission through Serenity's Codex just now. The entry had been clinical, the way Codex entries always were — a rank, a layer, a condition, a reward. Nothing that would tell you she had once been the most sought-after woman in an entire layer of the Meditation Realm. Nothing that would tell you she had been a person before she became a mission.
He knew a little about her. Enough.
She had been the number one consort of the 99th layer — a title that carried more weight than it sounded. The Beauty Pathway was not simply about appearance; it was a cultivation road that refined presence, perception, and a particular kind of power that worked on people from the inside out. A Nova rank Walker on that path was not someone you forgot easily. Men of standing had sought her specifically. Some had spent fortunes for a single night. A few, if the rumors were accurate, had done considerably more than spend money.
She had been untouchable.
Then, some weeks ago, she caught an illness. And the brothel house that had built its reputation partly on her name had thrown her out with the kind of efficiency that suggested the decision had been made before the diagnosis was even confirmed. Her little sister had stepped into the vacancy almost immediately.
Eric and anyone else with functioning eyes could see the shape of that clearly enough.
He didn't know the finer details. He had never visited the 99th layer — it had simply never crossed his path. He didn't know anyone who frequented it, didn't know the names of the people who ran it, or the particular politics of its hierarchy. This would be his first time walking that street.
That didn't concern him especially. He was not a man easily distracted by that kind of place.
What did concern him was simpler and harder.
Lady Elara had spent years at the top of something. Whatever that something was — however it had been built, whatever it had cost her — it had been hers. Her rank, her name, her position. And now she was at the bottom of it, ill and discarded, living somewhere in the margins of a layer that had already replaced her.
A stranger arriving at her door with a mission token and good intentions would not be welcome. He knew that without needing to be told. Pride didn't disappear when circumstances did. Sometimes it was the last thing left, and people held it the tightest when everything else had been taken.
He would have to be careful. Not with his words exactly — he had never been particularly gifted with words. Careful with something harder to name. The way he entered the space. The way he looked at her. Whether she felt, in the first thirty seconds, like a task being completed or a person being seen.
The difference between those two things would determine everything about how the next few hours went.
The construction site faded behind him. The golden sky darkened slowly at its edges.
As Eric walked on the dark road, he suddenly bumped into someone.
"Hey, what is your problem? Are you blind?!" The man screamed.
The man looked back with angry red eyes, but when he turned, Eric was already gone.
"Huh, wait. I just bumped into someone. Did I drink too much?" The man's brows were furrowed as he hectically looked around, only to see no one.
Eric had already used his Meditation Aura to arrive at the Meditation Realm. He was a registered Lysi Nova and could freely enter any layer from the 90th to the 108th layer.
The Meditation Realm was a huge dimension with different layers. It had a lot still yet to be discovered. Even after millions of years of effort, only 108 layers had been found.
Who knew how much more was out there yet to be discovered?
The higher you rank, the higher the number of layers you have access to.
Obviously, you have to be registered, but after the 31st layer, you cannot enter unless you belong to one of the thirty royal families.
The first thirty layers are divided among the thirty royal families and act as their bases. The remaining layers also have their own usage.
The 99th layer acted as an entertainment hub for Aura users to spend their time and have fun.
As Eric teleported into the layer, his blurry vision slowly became clearer as he started to scrutinize his surroundings.
He was now in the middle of a formation. These formations are placed on every layer to ensure that the Aura user teleporting here is directed to this specific location where the formation was placed, and as a precaution against criminal Aura users.
As Eric looked around, he realized that he was in a closed, dark space with invisible walls around him. The soil was rough, dry, and red in colour.
His body felt a little cold, but it was almost unnoticeable. The air was wet and filled with moisture. The surroundings were silent — so silent that one could hear one's own heartbeat.
Eric looked around and didn't move. He knew that someone would come to check his identification soon.
Just as he thought, a man wearing a black bodysuit, with black hair and white eyes, walked into the formation space. The aura of a Nova rank Walker permeated his body.
"Identification, please." The man said plainly. He looked at Eric as he asked a few questions and made Eric show his identification.
The moment the man saw Eric's badge and identification card, his expression changed, and his attitude shifted to one of respect.
This was what it meant to be a Lysi Nova in these lower layers. But Eric knew that he had to advance to a Hypernova, but the final obstacle was figuring out his dream and ambition.
"But what is it? My memory has been wiped. It most likely has something to do with the voice inside my head."
"Few layers compares to the 99th, my lord. I trust you'll find it lives up to whatever you've heard." The Nova said enthusiastically. His past cold and indifferent attitude was completely gone.
Eric hadn't needed to go through all this when he came with Adrian to one of the lower layers, layer 107, because after layer 100 were the places where mostly the poor and a few Aura users lived, and nobody had cared to spend resources maintaining them.
This was also the reason so many criminal organizations had formed in those layers.
After Eric cleared this small formality, he was given a small cherry blossom-coloured token by the man, with the symbol of the Beauty Pathway inscribed on it.
"This will allow you to enter the district without needing to undergo these checks again."
"Thank you," Eric said as he bowed slightly.
The man waved his hand, showing a mildly embarrassed expression. He was regretting having acted so plainly toward a high-ranking Aura user.
At the wave of his hand, the formation space opened, and a small door appeared, through which Eric and the man walked out. In front of Eric now was a huge field of flowers that were red in colour and of all types of shapes and sizes.
Eric realized that they had been standing on a small hill all this time. The view from here was quite beautiful and serene.
In the middle of the field was a simple, plain road leading to the gate of the city in front of him. The city was called the Red Light District and was enclosed by thick black walls that formed its protective formation.
Some workers were tending to the flowers in the fields, and several Aura users were walking the road toward the district.
Eric had already changed into his pink bodysuit as he started to walk toward the gate.
He indeed had Truth with him, but in the Meditation Realm, only rank 0 relics can be used. He could use the Imperator's Cross, but alas, it didn't contain a single Angel Spirit that could change appearances.
As he walked, he took in the sweet smell of the flowers, which made him calmer. He could tell from this effect that these were not ordinary flowers but a cultivable material.
"Incense flowers." Eric quickly found the name in his memory. These flowers required dry red soil and a cold environment to fully grow. A separate formation had been constructed to maintain these conditions. Eric quickly understood why the ground was made up of red soil, and the air was cold.
Eric arrived at the gate and joined the line quietly.
Just then, two guards wearing red and black bodysuits with a few pieces of armour and swords at their waistbands approached Eric.
"My — my lord. Please, there's no need to queue. Show the badge at the entrance and go right in. The line is not for you." One of the guards said nervously.
Eric realized this was arranged by the man he had just met. He didn't refuse the special treatment. He quickly showed the cherry blossom badge, which the guard barely glanced at before returning it.
The guard guided Eric to the gate and allowed him to enter.
Seeing this, the others waiting in line wore either indifferent or jealous expressions.
"I wonder when I will be able to advance to a Lysi Nova." Many Auri Nova thought this, but reality was crueler.
It was not easy to advance to a Lysi Nova.
The flowers ended at the wall as Eric entered.
On the other side, the air was different — warmer, thicker, laced with incense of another kind. Not the clean, cold sweetness of the fields outside, but something heavier. Deliberate. The kind of scent is designed to slow a person's thinking just enough.
The street opened before him in both directions, lit by lanterns the colour of deep rose. Music came from somewhere he couldn't place. Laughter too — the performed kind, the kind that was for someone else's benefit.
The sight ahead was blocked by the crowd.
Eric stood at the entrance for exactly one moment.
Then he walked in.