Guild Wars

This prowess test coupled with all he had experienced so far told him that this was the cruel aspect of the cut-off. In other words, these warriors better have a bus pass ready to go home.

There was no display of results this time, only a shuffling of the field. Draco was left in the prime area whereas everyone else was sent to another area packed together like sardines.

The sudden change came as a surprise to the warriors, but before anyone could complain, their faces changed. Cerea, the embodied spirit that seemed to be Draco's helper and connected him to the testing system, suddenly manifested above his head and 'sucked'.

The vortex that appeared before the spirit did not affect the air or the atmosphere but it did affect something else: the other spirits. The bodies of the other warriors shook as similar embodied spirits within them were dragged out by the vortex and then pulled over into its depths.

Everyone who was material could hear audible screams and pleading which chilled their hearts.

"Cerea, please, it's me Delia…. AAAHHH!!"

"No, no! Please don't! Cerea have mercy!!!"

"Let me go! We can work things out!!"

All of the spirits seemed to know the one belonging to Draco which left him curious. He didn't much care about the cruelty on display because he guessed it was a necessary part of the test.

The winners' aides would devour the aides of the other failed warriors. If it was more than one, he guessed there would be some sort of split but this time around, only Draco seemed to have passed so he got everything to himself.

Soon, Cerea closed the vortex as all the other spirits had been consumed. Draco wouldn't be surprised to see her almost let out a burp. The other warriors had looks of dismay as they could guess what was going to happen next but it was far swifter than anyone thought.

They were simply removed from the testing grounds and returned to the space-time which they originated from within Boundless World. Draco watched the spatial reactions and furrowed his brows, finding something strange about it as if there was something… profound about what just happened.

"Congratulations on passing the test of the War Maniac Pavilion, Unranked Warrior Draco. I always knew you had the ability to soar within you." Cerea sincerely said as she lowered herself to Draco's eye level.

However, Draco did not match her energy in the least. Rather, he glared at her coldly and demanded: "Now that I have passed the test, either you give me the answers I seek or I return to my world."

Cerea froze and seemed to be in a dilemma. "It's against protocol to inform you before the orientation…"

Draco immediately tore open a hole in space to travel into the void and make his way back to the area of Boundless which was too far for him to jump to at once due to his sealed bloodline but Cerea hurriedly stopped him.

"However!! I am sure that the administrators can understand the need for me to… galvanize… your enthusiasm."

Draco raised an eyebrow for the spirit to continue. Seeing that he had actually stopped, Cerea breathed a sigh of relief and hesitated before asking: "What exactly do you want to know?"

"What else? What the hell is the War Maniac Pavilion about and why this unnecessarily cruel test?" Draco asked with folded arms.

Cerea nodded. "The War Maniac Pavilion is a Trans-Universal Organization that focuses on providing our members a platform to seek out lucrative benefits. The Pavilion is split into three Halls: the Conquest Hall, the Slaughter Hall, and the Battle Hall."

"As for the test, it is meant to filter out candidates in a single universe per universal cycle. A single universal cycle lasts the equivalent of what you know as a million years. Within this cycle, all candidates who apply during different moments in time are brought to this testing ground which exists in its own unique space-time."

Cerea stopped here. No matter how much Draco threw a tantrum, she would not divulge any more. Meanwhile, Draco's brows had long furrowed deeply after hearing this much, realizing he had underestimated this War Maniac Pavilion!

The term 'Trans-Universal' was deeply thought-provoking because what did it mean? Was the War Maniac Pavilion able to travel the Nexus of Worlds within the AI's digital universe and go to different sections of the game for its operations?

Or was the War Maniac Pavilion a faction that transcended the entire AI and was an external real-world faction that had dug its fingers into the AI's digital universe?

And the testing method…

Draco basically met unborn fellows and dead people then competed with them here. The span of a million years was long and even he couldn't easily beat his chest and say his raw lifespan reached that level.

Everyone within the range of a million years who qualified for this test was brought here at the same point of time and then returned to their eras when they failed. So now there were beings that knew of Draco before he ever stepped into Boundless and those that would one day suddenly know of him in the future.

How… weird.

"Fine, what's next?" Draco decided to acquiesce for now and see the pavilion for himself.

"Now we head to the headquarters of the War Maniac Pavilion to handle your registration and orientation. If you would please…" Cerea beckoned as she opened a portal - with some strain - that led to their next destination.

Draco walked through without any fear, feeling himself being transported from this unique space-time to an area closer to the original Boundless which he could gauge by the space markers he left there.

However, he was surprised to find that they had branched at some point and gone a bit away from the normal universe until his face changed. He felt like they had penetrated a very important barrier and entered a new spatial domain that was no longer within the Western Fantasy section of Boundless.

The problem was that he recognized where he was due to the aura of danger and death that bore down on him.

The Void Nexus!

The space in between the various areas of Boundless!

The reason one needed a Void Pass like what he once got for Richmond and what Nakiu had used to come over here was because they needed the map-like guidance and protection that came with it to navigate the dangerous Void Nexus.

Without it, your chances of survival were low. Even the brash Evil Trio didn't dare to enter until they became Origin Gods and acquired Void Passes of their own, having laid down an elaborate plan for that.

Otherwise, why care about the Grey Rot and the like so seriously? They could just do some crazy things to gain Void Passes and be off to the sci-fi section or the Eastern Fantasy section for better prospects.

However, just as Draco sensed demise, the spatial barrier that enveloped his tunnel flashed and rippled all the evil entities lurking in the void. Some of these creatures were even more toxic than Eva's Mother of the Abyss branch and could bring extreme harm to life forms of any section should they be released.

Draco remained silent and pondered deeply as he continued to move. Usually, teleportation was instantaneous but that was just because it was within the same spatial sphere. Draco wasn't using a wormhole but a space tunnel so he felt the time pass as he traveled at speeds that Earth's numbers could not yet calculate.

He only knew of two encounters with the Void Nexus in this timeline. The first was when he was in the Tower of Babylon with the former Four Beauties and the First Inter-player International Tournament had been launched.

Apparently, when Kiran became a Super Warrior 2 - his stupid plagiarized version of Super Saiyan 3 - he had broken the fabric of reality in the pocket space the AI used to host the tournament causing the Void Nexus to be opened for a split second.

In that split second, some strange entities or energies had leaked over from the Void and entered the sarira that housed his mother's soul which had since locked her away. Because of that, she was unable to have been revived by any means up until now, even time reversal didn't work.

After this, the AI repaired the torn hole almost instantly.

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The second encounter was Draco when he reached the top of the Tower and wanted to open the passage that led to Divine Realm from there and see what lay above. However, it only revealed an area of resistance where some group were battling the Grey Rot rot.

The Grey Rot then dove down the tunnel he opened to try and infect the tower and then the entire Main Plane but Draco had overclocked his newly acquired 100% bloodline to smash open a hole in the tunnel which exploded it to the Void Nexus.

When that happened, even the Grey Rot that had fallen into the passage showed endless fear and tried to run back but… something… had captured it and swallowed it up. Draco was unable to see or sense it back then since the AI had hurriedly closed that hole for him lest he bring disaster into the Main Plane.

Nevertheless, it was deeply imprinted on his memory, especially the more he learned about how troublesome and tyrannical the Grey Rot was. What exactly could make it screech like that and show fear despite not even having sentience in the traditional sense?

Now in the Void Nexus himself, with the aura of demise all around him, Draco could safely say that he deeply understood the Grey Rot of back then. This place was something that he would have a tough time surviving without his Semi-Eternal class and bloodline abilities.

Draco eventually felt himself slowing down as the space tunnel thinned out revealing his landing point. It was a rather large platform set into the main stage of a large reception room, the platform being large enough for nearly a thousand people to stand on comfortably.

Cerea manifested above Draco. "Please follow along, Unranked Warrior Draco. I shall guide you to the registration center so that you may officially join our organization."

Cerea sent Draco a mental guide of the layout of the reception area so he walked off the platform and saw that it light up right after he got off and began illuminating some beings. Some others also walked past him to the platform and began to disappear slowly as if they were returning to pixels.

"They are heading to different worlds on tasks they have chosen from one of the Three Halls." Cerea explained lightly, seemingly less inclined to hide things now that Draco was within their nest.

Draco noted this and walked to the registration area which contained a booth. As he walked, Cerea manifested and touched an orb that floated in the booth which scanned Draco from head to toe while the aide continually fiddled with it.

"There, done." Cerea said after about five minutes of this, receiving a token from the orb and handing it to Draco with both hands respectfully.

Draco took the token and probed it with his senses. He found that it truly did contain all the information about him including his name, his world of origin, his warrior rank, his achievements, his current list of quests and most importantly, his PP.

No, not that PP you perverted fellows, but Pavilion Points!

Another contrived 'unique' currency for this faction to use that allowed them to control their members, control the flow of resources within the faction, and provide value for the faction itself.

Of course, Draco was selectively ignoring the fact that he too had once created the dastardly Umbra Points which were the exact same thing as what he was criticizing now.

Hmph, if I choose not to acknowledge my mistakes and even blame you for it, what can you do?