[CH598+ Continued] Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster's Power

Chapter 680

The daunting feeling of being trapped in true endless darkness because of my soul pact with an immortal being that keeps me partially sane. Slipping away for too long now could be catastrophic if this is just the beginning.

Fleeting memories of Ember's calm eyes and unfazed demeanor in every situation we're in begin to make far more sense. When looking into the void of eternity, what is there truly to fear...

There's a point where this notion is all I really think about, and an eerie calm washes through what's left of my mind.

I sit in the darkness, with only darkness on my mind.

I know I have a goal: it is to endure, but at a certain point, I don't know why or what I'm enduring for.

There isn't anything else to do though, so endure is what I do...

—

Darkness envelops reality and becomes it.

Days could have passed, maybe years, decades, centuries, millennia; I don't know.

My mind has put its walls up. The moment I lost the ability to count any further and accepted this reality, a mechanism in my mind decided to save its conscious thoughts, tucking them away into the depths of my consciousness; only to let my subconscious play with the endless darkness and lack of stimulation in my surroundings.

If anything happens in the void around me, it is impossible to tell, as I've mentally cut off my conscious mind from its surroundings as an automatic defense mechanism.

—

In reality, my subconscious wanders, and it finds what I sensed slightly the moment I started this trial.

It is an invisible, unsensible, undetectable energy floating around in my mind.

When my active thoughts attempted to pursue it, it could never be found, but now, my subconscious plays with the invisible energy left within my mind that is Divine Ether.

It acts as though it has a mind of its own but moves extremely slowly, only communicating with my subconscious on a scale of years rather than seconds as a usual conversation would.

My mind accepts this conversation as a slow-moving white mist in a sea of darkness, and it creates a barrier between the nothingness and my true mind deep within, shielding it from the passage of time while having a conversation with my subconscious.

—

903,881 Years, 7 Months, 2 Weeks, 4 Days, 11 Hours, 30 Minutes, and 16 seconds pass...

—

Silver light and an ancient-sounding voice echo through my mind, waking me up from the longest nap I've ever taken.

[Round 2 of 3 Shall Commence]

[Round 2 of 3 Title: Perception]

[Objective: Find the finish.]

As I see these words flash through my mind, the feeling of my body returns to me, my tight grasp around my soul sword is evident, and my divine core burning bright in my chest is powerful and ready to take on the world.

Ember looks at me with an expression of concern, and the second head of the serpent moves toward us.

It is all extremely overstimulating, as it feels as though I just stared into darkness for a few months, or maybe even a full year.

It feels longer than any time I ever spent in the Titans Domain.

I remember counting, and waiting, then counting more... then just darkness... and now I'm awake.