CHAPTER 69: THE SKY

Enzo felt his consciousness jerk once again, a very familiar feeling as he was thrust through the void as he knew it—gas clouds, sparkling lights, and darkness.

But unlike before, Enzo suddenly stopped midway, right in front of a massive star giant standing inconspicuously in space, releasing a deathly aura.

[Avatar available: Asher]

[Race: Night Creature]

[Special traits: Astral resonance, bloodline (Night)]

[Abilities: Shadow Manipulation, Shadow Step, Night Vision (Locked), White Radiance (Locked)]

A screen soon appeared before his ethereal body, revealing the Avatar he had used on his first voyage.

Whenever he weaved, he would have to use it.

"Old friend..." Enzo muttered before selecting it with his shaky finger.

Before he knew it, he was sucked into the giant star before him, and as if recycled, he was spit out from the other side, hurling him into the unknown.

[Your Weave is unraveling...]

[Welcome to Planet Yari]

Before Enzo knew it, his body materialized inside a pod in the middle of nowhere in an arid area full of sand.

As he slowly crawled out of the pod, he couldn’t help but smile bitterly at the environment. The pod was inside a standard-issue Weave hanger, not so different from a shipping container.

Such materials were required for long-distance space travel, so it didn’t quite matter the quality, as they would never be so decrepit.

However, the location the pod was dropped in was where the issue lay.

He had been dropped in the middle of nowhere, with the silhouette of a city only appearing far in the distance.

"Shit, I should have gone with the three-day package, huh?" Enzo thought to himself.

He was too frugal, and he didn’t need to be right now. After all, he was considered well-off among commoners.

While Enzo did the rudimentary checks on his status screen and bodywork, a figure flying in the sky approached him and slowly descended.

"Is that you, Enzo?"

The figure asked, drawing his attention to it.

It was a human-looking Avatar with hair made from flames and legs blazing just the same.

"Zeke?" Enzo looked at Zeke as his HUD resounded in his head and displayed a screen in front of him.

[Details sharing enabled]

[Name: Zeke Burn]

[Race: Sky]

[Description: The Sky are an ancient race of demi-humans living in the atmosphere of large gas planets. They are said to have existed in ancient times and died out due to the spread of corruption and decay. They are good flyers and command control of one of the four elements.]

"Hmm, nice," Enzo couldn’t help but mutter before smiling.

He knew something was special about Zeke the moment he saw him. The Sky were no laughing matter.

Those who had this body type in the universe were few, but each was terrifying—so much so that they had seized a planet long ago to form their own power.

The Sky.

"Night Creature, sounds like something that goes bump in the night," Zeke commented as he descended towards Enzo.

The two of them stared at each other for a while, sizing each other up. An Avatar was a direct reflection of how powerful one’s star core was.

In that respect, it could be assumed that both of them were not to be messed with.

"Race you to Windgrave?" Suddenly Zeke proposed a race, a sly smile on his face.

"Coming from someone that can literally fly?" Enzo shook his head, embarrassed by Zeke’s shamelessness.

"Hehe, you’re just bitter because you’re slow. So much for a great star," Zeke mocked slowly as his body climbed into the air.

"You scoundrel," Enzo narrowed his eyes, watching Zeke hover.

In the next second—

BOOM!!!

Zeke broke the air surrounding him, dashing in a particular direction with no restraints.

"Sigh," not having a choice, Enzo sighed, then muttered under his breath a few words of power.

"The shadow is me, and I am the shadow... Shadow Step."

His body suddenly fell into a shadow on the ground as he blasted out, also following Zeke with the exact same ferocity.

The two of them—one like a shooting star blasting through the sky for all to see, and the second a glittering shadow that only appeared once in a while on the horizon.

The contrast was all too glaring.

"What’s that?" At the gate of a city situated on an upward slope beside a mountain, a guard questioned, looking at the blazing figure rushing at them.

"Hm? Hell if I know. These days there’s an explanation for everything. Let’s just focus on our duties... this gate," the guard next to him waved it off, looking at a screen in front of him.

His second child was already on the way, and he had just gotten a work bonus because of it. Right now, all he could think of was what to do with all that extra time...

Save it and invest in some interplanetary stocks, or buy a motorbike on his home world. This was the hardest decision he had to make...

He had all these thoughts, of course, while scrolling the page of a shopping website.

Seconds later, a flaming figure blasted through their outpost, throwing him off his reclined chair and sending him plummeting directly into the ground.

"Did I win?"

As Zeke came to a stop in the middle of Windgrave, he looked around sharply, trying to determine if Enzo had come in before him.

"Hehe, as expected..." After confirming he was nowhere to be seen, he sighed in relief.

Speed was his strong suit; stamping that he was better at this from the very beginning was good for their relationship...

Or, to be more concise, it was good for his ego.

Unfortunately, Enzo was not one to stroke one’s ego.

"Can we get down to business now?"

All of a sudden, he heard a voice over his HUD, forcing him to look around in a hurry.

In the shadows of an alleyway right below him, Enzo stood with a water bottle, drinking it slowly with no signs of perspiration.