Modric looked at the empty vial in his hand and shook his head.
He wasn't about to trust something handed to him by a stranger. Using it to trap Ulyr already meant he made good use of it.
Killing him outright would've been simpler, but would've also attracted the young woman's attention.
That middle aged man had taken interest in him exactly for that reason. He wasn't making that mistake twice.
Both of them had talked about recruiting natives…
His eyes narrowed slightly.
I need to know what it's about.
He turned and headed back to his car.
Since Ulyr was dead, there was no way to get the void organ that let him read minds.
In the influx of information he received, there was knowledge regarding this. Void organs which had merged with humans could only be removed when the person was alive.
I sincerely hope mind reading void organs are rare though, wouldn't want other people to know about my system advantage.
He opened the storage compartment, and took out a lighter and a half finished bottle of vodka.
Once again, he neared the corpse and poured all the alcohol over it, before igniting the clothes with his lighter.
Seeing that there was no reaction, he confirmed that Ulyr had indeed died.
For the next few minutes, he tried starting the car again, but it seemed that something had really gone wrong.
With a sigh, he put all the useful things in a bag.
Lastly, he grabbed the metal rod beside the driver's seat, something he'd always kept for safety, and shut the door.
He glanced back at Ulyr's body. He didn't feel anything about it.
That probably said enough about the changing world.
He'd weighed the risk, made a decision, and acted. That was all it took now.
He peeked from behind his car, and scanned the area.
Void monsters were still manifesting, but so far nothing had wandered this far out towards his car.
He spotted a native fighting alongside a green badge. She slipped in, cleanly destabilized the monster, and the green badge invader finished it in one strike.
It looked like a good partnership, but just then, a red badge stepped in.
Before anyone could react, the native's heart was stabbed through the back.
There was an expression of anger and frustration on the green badge but he quickly moved to protect and help another native fight the void monsters.
A few meters away, the same thing happened again, just with different sides.
Some natives would even mutate mid fight, their skin turning purple before beginning to attack the humans.
Modric ducked behind his car once again, and made his way to the exit while taking cover behind other vehicles.
It seemed the natives mattered more than I thought. Enough that the empires were willing to cut them down just to deny the other side.
No wonder I could successfully bait that young woman into killing Ulyr.
As for those mutations, I guess it highly likely has to do with the corruption of the void organ exceeding 100.
As he moved while hiding himself, he soon neared the entrance, where he found a void monster gnawing on a corpse.
It resembled a dog, but one which might've borrowed its skin from something far larger as it hung loosely on it.
He noticed massive jagged teeth facing inwards, which meant a prey wouldn't be able to escape once the monster bit them.
Modric had already begun making battle plans when something happened, pausing him in his tracks.
The head of the corpse exploded like a watermelon holding too much pressure.
The sudden danger made the void monster instinctively close its eyes for a moment, but exactly in that frame of time, a purple spear shot out from behind a nearby vehicle, perfectly impaling its head.
Modric had already witnessed many fights, and without exception, the void monsters dissolved into nothingness upon being killed.
However, here, the void monster dissolved into dim motes of light, entering the purple spear.
Right after, a young man emerged from behind the same vehicle, with a green badge on his chest. He held the spear in satisfaction and turned to look at Modric.
There's just no escaping them huh?
Modric thought, but a part of him was relieved. He might finally get his hands on some information given how these people weren't hostile to the natives.
"Run if you don't wanna die."
The young man spoke, before breaking into a run.
Modric immediately heeded the advice and followed.
He wasn't foolish enough to not listen to someone who might know more than him, but also not naive enough to just run into a trap, so he kept track of his surroundings.
As soon as they exited the parking lot, and ran out in the open, Modric's brain almost shut down as he gazed above.
The sun…gone?
Not hidden, not covered. Gone. Destroyed.
The sky which had been bright just minutes ago was now dark and empty except for the humongous eye.
A faint glow lingered, the scattered artificial lights of the city struggling against the sudden night, but they were pitiful compared to the sun's lost brilliance.
The young man running ahead seemed to have sensed Modric's state as he urged while explaining.
"Don't stop running. Everything gets destroyed by the Void Rupture, except the life bearing planets which get fractured into floating islands."
Modric nodded, picking up pace once again as he asked what had been on his mind all this time.
"Who are you guys? How can you people speak our language? And what's this all about?"
The young man seemed to have expected it as he answered while running.
"I am Aiden, from the Verdant Empire.
"We are here for the resources found specifically on newly formed floating islands, which are called nascent floating islands by the way.
"As for the language part, in simple words, it's due to one of the void organs of our logistic department's chief."
Modric digested that information, and quickly followed up with what he had seen.
"I've noticed you people seem to place more importance on us natives than what is expected from invaders."
Hearing the tone of questioning in Modric's statement, Aiden remarked.
"That was quite observative of you. You're not wrong.
"Outer areas of the nascent floating islands are a mess," Aiden said between breaths. "Dungeons start forming there, spawning endless monsters."
He cut around a wrecked car, not even looking back.
"That's why we're heading in. The inner area's different. That's where— Fuck!"
An eight legged void monster manifested just above them, prompting Aiden to roll away, while Modric who had been following behind instantly halted.
"Let's kill this one, I'm low on mana." Aiden spoke, and held the spear tight.
Seeing Modric's inaction, Aiden offered. "My information doesn't come free you know? Maybe we can even partner up if you're good."
Modric suspected that he had deliberately been lured to this monster, but he had no proof.
Without bothering to argue, he twisted his hips for extra momentum and swung the metal rod hard, straight at the monster which just landed on the ground.
There was no use hurling or stabbing it as the metal rod was blunt on the ends, hence the mighty swing.
It straight up broke one of the eight legs, eliciting a piercing screech from the purple monster.
That window of opportunity was instantly capitalized by Aiden, who stabbed his spear upward through its mouth, into the brain, granting it a quick death.
Modric's eye twitched. The amount of mana one received upon a void monster's death depended on their contribution in killing it.
He was pretty sure Aiden received far more than him. Then, he watched as the previous scene repeated itself, with the monster turning into motes of light absorbed by the purple spear.
However, this time, his attention was attracted to a couple of crystals which had manifested where the monster died.
It doesn't look like void organs…another kind of drop?
"Take them. I got the kill anyway."
Aiden spoke, already beginning to run.
Modric scooped up all those crystals, receiving a stream of information just like when he touched the Predator Eye, and followed after Aiden.
They were mana crystals. One could absorb them to replenish mana.
Just then, Aiden continued his previous explanation.
"Yea so, the inner area. That's where Nexuses show up."
Modric kept pace. "Nexus?"
"Yeah. Big deal." Aiden let out a short laugh. "First time they appear, it turns into a battle royale. Five hundred people. Teams of two."
"Why two?"
"I don't know, but one of them has to be a native," he said. "Other one can be from outside."
He vaulted over debris and kept going.
"Win that, you get control of the Nexus. The area around it turns into a domain. Helps with monster waves. Major cities are always built in this domain."
Modric struggled to process that information amidst the splitting headache and increasing physical stress of having to run over numerous obstacles.
A good few seconds passed before he replied. "What's the downside?"
Aiden snorted. "Domains aren't entirely safe. If monster waves get too powerful, it'll get destroyed as well. So you gotta keep clearing them out."
Modric narrowed his eyes slightly. "So…that's it? Just a strong defensive territory?"
Aiden glanced back at him, smirking.
"You catch on quick."
He slowed just a fraction.
"The two people controlling a Nexus can each lock the corruption of one of their void organs. Corruption doesn't go up. Doesn't go down either.
"Since it doesn't require mana or anything, you can permanently keep the corruption of that void organ locked.
"Wait, do you even know about corruption?"
Modric deliberately displayed hesitation before sharing snippets of information intentionally mixed with a few wrong turns, and passing it off as a rough guess.
No one could gather all the correct information this quickly after all, it would no longer be in the realm of 'smart' if he did so. He might expose his system if he stood out too much.
Aiden gave a small nod, accepting it without much thought. He then proceeded to correct his 'guess', before asking.
"Well, you aren't too bad. Wanna join me for the battle royale?"
Modric nodded, calming his heart which had been beating wildly ever since he heard about the function of the Nexus.
The feature of the Nexus is almost similar to my System's first function, Override and Overdrive.
But there are a few differences.
First, my system function boosts the ability of the void organ when I lock its corruption level.
Second, it consumes mana, so it is not permanent. A good tradeoff I'd say.
When he had realised this degree of similarity between the Nexus and his system, a decision had already been made in his mind.
I need that Nexus.