Chapter 672 (2/2)

“But I am getting ahead of myself. I developed All is Ash in order to hunt down the Scourge. It is primarily a worldview so powerful that everything around you shifts. ‘All is Ash’ as it were. This makes everything weak and hollow. You have not yet developed the sophistication to do so, but you will one day be able to strike at things using the Skill, and will find that others will blow away like ash before your might.”

“Will they recondense as I do? Because-” Randidly asked.

Ulaat chuckled. “Of course not. Because they don’t believe that All is Ash. They are simply struck by a Skill they don’t understand. You would recondense because you understand you are naught but ash. But remembering to gather just the right of ash in the right combination to create yourself… it is difficult. You will need to practice just sitting in the All is Ash state, learning yourself. Otherwise, you are doomed to lose yourself with this Skill. The next time, I will not be able to save you.”

If Ulaat was giving the whole truth, then All is Ash was an incredibly powerful Skill. To think something was so, and shift the whole world to follow it…? That was a monstrously powerful Skill if Randidly could master it. But the road to mastering it led through that pain that had struck him when the Patron of Ash had to save him.

Shivering at the memory, Randidly asked. “...that’s all fine. But when… the accident happened last time, I felt like… I was in a place where nothing was something. Where was that?”

“Ah. Let me explained what occurred. While you were in the All is Ash state, a part of you did not return to form your body. It was… unfortunately, a very vital part. Perhaps an emotion or a goal, but some necessary ingredient was left behind. That absence hurt. Missing that one piece of Ash was enough to send your soul into full panic mode.

“Once it started sending pain to indicate something was wrong, the pain destroyed your concentration; you lost the focus to stay in the state. Suddenly, you were not a part of the fabric of existence, you were an individual. And something was lost. But nothing had changed. So it had to go somewhere. But where could it have gone? Nowhere.”

This time, it wasn’t the world that trembled, but Randidly. Ulaat continued to speak. “I have encountered the Nowhere a few times while using the Skill. At first, I speculated it was the area of space not yet covered by the System, but now… Now I believe it is something much more terrible. All my attempts to investigate have been… unfruitful. I recommend you put it out of your mind while using it. It will only bring you suffering.”

With a sigh, Randidly stretched, feeling his shoulders pop as he put his hands towards the grey sky. Although it was a dark place, Randidly could feel the peace of this ashen world. It was a retreat. Perhaps some of the emotions that Ulaat felt bled into the making of this place.

Wanting to waste no time, Randidly sat on the ground in front of Ulaat and closed his eyes. Ulaat wouldn’t persist forever, and if there was anything wrong with the Skill, Ulaat would know.

Burning his Mana at a huge clip, Randidly activated All is Ash.

There was only a little color to this world aside from the red of some exposed lava, but all of that color was bled out of the world as the Skill activated. Rather than moving, Randidly simply felt. He felt how small he was. How fragile and breakable everything was. All was Ash. Everything would disintegrate to nothing from just the slightest breeze. This world had been hollowed out by an all-consuming fire.

His breathing began to speed up. More than the fragility of life, Randidly could feel a deep undercurrent of… commonness between everything. If all was Ash, everything was connected. He was one piece in a grand machine. He bore his current form, but when he died the substances that constituted him would be recombined in different shapes. Life was eternal because it didn’t exist. Everything had its place in an endless dance with no sound, but only hollow remnants.

Was there true existence in the past? Possible. But the real world had been burnt away. They were all that was left. It was all that is left.

All is Ash.

Randidly let out a gasp as his Mana ran out, and the thinness of the world left him. Although it was purely a comfort thing, Randidly took several deep breaths. At his level, breathing wasn’t strictly necessary. But it certainly calmed him down.

Ulaat nodded with a grim expression. Then he waved his hand and Randidly abruptly felt energized. “It is still my world, and I can assist you regaining Mana. We need to train as much as possible before I go. I won’t allow my first Chosen to bring shame to my name. I have a reputation of some import, you know.”