Nikolai returned. Standing over Rowan, he spoke with a grave tone, his expression serious.
"Before we continue, I must warn you—it only gets worse from here. This stage will be brutal. It may even break your sanity. This is your one and only chance to back out. If you wish to stop, I will understand."
Rowan sat up slowly, his body still aching. He contemplated Nikolai's words for a long moment. Then, with quiet determination, he said, "I've come too far to quit now. Let's do this."
Nikolai nodded in understanding. "Very well. I thought I'd offer, just once."
He tapped his foot against the ground.
In an instant, the world around them was swallowed in shadow. The scenery vanished, replaced by an endless void of darkness. As Nikolai began to fade from view, his voice echoed through the void.
"Consider this a game of hide and seek—with much higher stakes than you're used to. You must find me before I find you. But know this: if I find you first, you will die. And just like before, you will come back—but that doesn't make your death any less real."
His voice grew distant.
"The purpose of this exercise is to teach you to fight without relying on any of your five senses. Good luck, Rowan. You'll need it."
Then, silence. Nikolai vanished completely, and Rowan found himself alone in the void.
He quickly realized that something was horribly wrong. He couldn't see. He couldn't hear, feel, smell, or even taste. He had been completely deprived of all five senses. He floated in the void, detached from reality. Trying not to panic, he attempted to move, to search for Nikolai. But it was like moving in a dream—nothing felt real. Only endless, directionless blackness.
Then, suddenly—pain.
A white-hot bolt of agony tore through the back of his neck.
Then, nothing.
Rowan woke up—still in the void.
"Try again," came Nikolai's disembodied voice.
And so he did.
Time became meaningless. Over and over, Rowan searched in blindness, only to be struck down by quick, lethal blows. Each time he died, he awoke again to Nikolai's voice.
"Again."
And again.
And again.
Until something changed.
A strange sensation pulsed within him—an instinct, a feeling he couldn't name. It screamed danger. Without thinking, Rowan twisted to the side.
A blur of movement grazed past him.
Then Nikolai's voice: "Good. You managed to avoid that one. Keep it up."
Once more, that feeling. Rowan dodged—barely—but couldn't avoid the follow-up. He died again.
And again.
But each time, that feeling grew stronger. Sharper. More defined. He focused on it, honed it, adapted to it. With every death, he came closer to understanding.
Eventually, he began dodging more and more of Nikolai's attacks. He could almost see the trajectory, feel the shift in the void around him. Then, he sensed a pattern, a rhythm in the silence.
Finally, he lunged toward the source of the feeling—arms outstretched.
His hands gripped something solid.
The void shattered like glass, dissolving into fragments of darkness.
Rowan stood, clutching Nikolai's coat.
Nikolai glanced at his pocket watch, a faint smile playing on his lips. "Very good. You did that faster than I expected. We're actually ahead of schedule. Well done."
He turned and casually walked toward an outdoor dining table on the patio.
"Take a brief rest before we begin the next stage."
As Rowan tried to steady his breathing, a glowing message appeared before his eyes.
System Notification
Reward Issued
New Skill Unlocked:Skill Name: Void Reflex
Type: Sensory / Passive-Active Hybrid
Origin: Born from surviving combat in a realm without sensory input — a place where time, space, and stimulus collapse into nothing. The user's mind has adapted by creating an internal echo of reality, allowing them to "feel" the presence of others without needing conventional senses.
---
Effects:
Passive – Echo of the Void:
The user passively senses disturbances in space and intent, detecting anything that moves, breathes, or thinks within a 50-meter radius — even in complete silence or invisibility. This perception isn't "seen" or "heard," but intuitively known as pulses in the void, forming a mental image like sonar fused with premonition.
Passive – Null Feedback Immunity:
The user is completely immune to sensory deprivation, illusions, and disorienting stimuli like flashbangs, silence fields, or fear auras. They've already endured worse.
Active – Stillworld Pulse:
For 10 seconds, the user enters a state of "total null awareness" — their surroundings become frozen in hypersense. They can predict movements a moment before they occur and react accordingly, almost as if time slows around them. Everything becomes visible as lines and pulses of presence, not sight. Cooldown: 90 seconds.
Bonus – Survivor's Clarity:
When completely cut off from at least three senses (e.g., blinded, deafened, paralyzed), the user's awareness sharply increases, granting +50% perception range and perfect danger sense. In a true void, they become almost untouchable.
Rowan whistled and said that is terrifyingly effective alright I'd like to test it out but first I must nap he says dropping to the ground passed out