It took a few moments for Lev to notice something was wrong. His brain scrambled to make connections, confused as to why he couldn't breathe. Atmospheric pressure had suddenly ceased to exist, and even his body felt light as a feather, for gravity was also no longer effective.

  Instincts, Perception, and skills all kicked into overdrive as he glanced around, drinking in every possible detail in a blink. Pushing through a blinding headache, he noticed how the grass underneath had stopped completely, not even twitching. Then his gaze turned to the humans, and they, too, were frozen entirely.

  He involuntarily gulped, acutely aware of the sweat flowing down his back. Manually inhaling air, it took considerable effort to exhale it back out as he got up from his chair.

  What… what now? Lev finished the thought tiredly, shoulders slumped, and eyes resigned. Is this some application of kinetic energy? Space? Time? Why is nothing moving?

  Jumping off his platform, he nudged it slightly, finding his manipulation just as responsible as before. His bubble could also move freely, except his body floated in zero gravity, needing another mental nudge to his armor to glide towards the stationary Exalteds and Melvine.

  Coming to a stop in front of Exalted, he let cold shivers flow through his body and spine while waving a hand in front of her face. Her eyes remained still, and even her heartbeat and mana were halted entirely.

  Drakys and Melvine were similarly affected, either unable to move despite being able to perceive their surroundings, or simply not living in the same world as Lev currently was.

  Seconds, or at least what he perceived as seconds, passed with nothing else happening. A stream of mana was channeled into his converters. Lightning was teleported to his right arm and fire into the left.

  Raising them both, he let the mana seep out freely into the air. Just like everything else, both clumps of mana moved away from him for a split second before they paused, frozen like everything else around him.

  I'm the only one free to move. Everything controlled by my skills also counts for that.

  He didn't know what to do with that information. Minutes had passed in the unmoving atmosphere already without anything going down. No monster had tried to eat off his face, nor had the planet suddenly turned upside down to swallow him whole.

  Lev was too wary of moving away from the Exalted, however. Even if they were frozen, he really didn't want to be alone during… whatever was happening right now. Granted, it wouldn't help at all to be near fellow humans, but it at least assisted in keeping the panic at bay.

  Calling his bubble down to the ground, he streamed his regeneration into the fire converters, slowly powering up the fire cannons situated atop the construct. Enchantments were also filled with mana, though he only ran them at half their power to not dig into his pool.

  Many more minutes passed, and by now, his nerves had settled almost completely, especially because his Epic suit started pulling in air and creating an artificial pressure to let him breathe as a part of its enchantments. Mentally prepared to tackle whatever the world was going to throw at him, even if it was the last battle he ever fought, Lev decided to enjoy his time in the meantime. Death could be approaching swiftly— he had no way to know.

  So, he created a few barrier plates. Each was easily large enough for him to stand on top of, and he sent them to the edge of his manipulation range. When over two dozen of them were spread out, he commanded his willpower to make sure the plates remained within his manipulation range without falling out.

  Taking control of his armor, he refrained from imbuing any elements and lunged. His flight was significantly faster than before, though it wasn't as fast as he expected. Air resistance hadn't vanished suddenly, even if it was entirely still; he needed to displace it with his armor to fly.

  Landing on the most distant plate, he paused for a moment to ensure that all of the platforms were still under his control. Willpower hadn't failed him, so he jumped again, this time diagonally.

  Again and again, he hopped from plate to plate, gradually increasing his speed all the time. Feeling himself glide forward without anything except the initial push was exhilarating, almost making him forget to scan his surroundings while keeping a tight leash on his armor and equipment.

  While he had his fun, more barrier platforms formed, stabbed into the ground while fixed atop a pole. Situated much further than his range, Lev ensured that they were stable before moving on, creating more of them.

  When there were fifty of them in total, lightning streamed into his armor. So far, the hops had taken little to no effort, and he wanted to find just how fast he could move now.

  Imbued to the limit, his armor shot off at the slightest signal. It was way faster than Lev anticipated, and he just barely controlled his speed before landing on one of the platforms. The construct cracked underneath his feet, absorbing the impact.

  Whew, this is fun.

  Breathing in deeply, he sent puffs of restoration mana to his head to heal against the damage from observing too many things at once, and jumped again. Prepared for what was coming, he didn't accelerate to the maximum.

  Still, he almost slid off the targeted platform. His mind keenly felt the jolt from stopping his momentum abruptly, which he pushed away. That was good training, especially because there was only one living being in his vicinity.

  Focusing as deeply as possible, he chose a platform to his left and lunged. This time, he didn't hold back and tore through the suspended air like a bullet. Overloading the platform at the last moment was the only thing that kept it intact, and Lev didn't stop after landing.

  Immediately, he pushed off to the next, leaving a burning trail of lightning in his wake. Faster than he had ever flown before, his foot tapped the platform once before he flew towards the next in line.

  In less than ten seconds, he flew to all of the fifty platforms before repeating the cycle. By now, a track of frozen lightning had formed atop the smattering of platforms, suspended in time like everything else.

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  His armor powered through it without trouble. Another lap was completed before he upped the amount of lightning channeling into his armor, almost crashing instantly. All of his training paid off, letting him control the destructive element and imbue it with excellent efficiency, which bumped up his speed another notch.

  More lightning appeared in his passing, the little waste accumulating over time. Lev passed through the trail without care, displacing it to the sides and dividing it into two. His entire being was focused on not crashing and empowering the platform at the right time.

  The speed at which he was flying was beyond what even the bubble could manage at its maximum. Each tap of his armor's boot produced a shockwave that traveled for a few inches before freezing, not producing any sound. Yet the power was undeniable, jolting his mind with every impact as he jumped from a platform.

  When his mind felt like it was on fire from juggling so many tasks at once, a notification popped into view. The relief from seeing it was so immense that his flight went out of control immediately, launching him towards the second layer of the Deadlands.

  Unconcerned with where he was going, Lev read the notification.

  [

  Arcane Passage has reached 4th Level 3

  ]

  It tasted so sweet because it could very well be his last improvement.

  Lev sighed silently, hyped himself up for the umpteenth time, and finally looked in the direction of the being watching him.

  A moose stood there, watching him with equal parts curiosity and patience. Lev had to crane his neck to even look at its eyes, and inside that darkness, motes of mana swirled like stars, both haunting and mesmerizing in how they formed a nebula inside the pupils.

  Then the creature tilted its head, and the spell broke. Lev belatedly remembered to breathe, suddenly realizing several minutes had passed. Chest heaving, it took several minutes for his head to stop hurting and his vision to stop darkening.

  Looking back at the moose again, he noted how its antlers were made of a light black material. They bent light with casual ease, making the area around the being gloomier, which only served to highlight the rest of its body.

  Standing at over twenty meters tall, just the tip of its hooves was enough to smash him to paste. Lev didn't stare at its body for long, one similar in color to the antlers, and instead stared into its eyes while summoning a cup of hot chocolate milk for himself.

  What else could he do? Identify had triggered several times, and it returned the same result with each attempt.

  [Immortal Spectral Tyrant - ??????]

  "Hi," Lev said, sipping his drink.

  "Salutations, human."

  And just like that, Lev passed out, his brain shutting down in self-defense after hearing the mental communication.

  ****

  When he woke up again, it was with a long, world-weary sigh. Time was still suspended, and everything that had just happened wasn't a dream.

  Unfortunately.

  The moose sat beside him, still as patient as before. Getting up, he risked looking into the creature's eyes again. Nothing tried to hypnotize him this time, letting him observe the beautiful orbs of darkness for a few long seconds.

  Then he shook his head, and inhaling deeply, he spoke again.

  "Greetings…" Lev trailed off, realizing he didn't know how to address the being.

  An answer came. He winced, expecting another unintended assault on his mind. That didn't happen, and a pulse of mana loaded with meaning replied to his earlier words.

  "Greetings, human," the moose answered, its voice containing a tinge of fondness, as well as many other indecipherable emotions. "Is this means of communication more preferable?"

  Lev gulped, trying and failing to understand how the ambient mana suddenly spoke to him. Moreover, the voice sounded masculine, so he replied, "It is, sir."

  "It was not my intention to harm you in any way, let alone rob you of consciousness. For that, you have my apologies."

  For several seconds, Lev stared at the being, debating whether he was serious or not. There were no traces of mockery or falsehood in the Tyrant's words, nor could he detect any other malicious intentions.

  "There's no need to apologize," Lev replied with a nervous chuckle. Pushing down the rising panic, he got straight to the point. "What is happening? Why is everything frozen?"

  The Tyrant lowered his head, staring down at the human in front of him. "Does your kind not have the capabilities to influence time? We're currently in an isolated bubble, and you will be deposited at the same point in time once I leave."

  … I have so many questions, Lev thought to himself, panic taking a backseat. Instead, he sat down on the black grassland and crossed his legs.

  "Time? As in… there's time mana?"

  "Fascinating," the tyrant remarked, straightening again. "Indeed, it is a relatively simple application of time mana. I detected a curious presence near the edges of my claim. How fortuitous it was to stumble upon you, young human."

  "Stumble upon me…?"

  A sound suspiciously similar to a laugh reached his ears, produced neither by the stilled air nor by the moose in front of him. Spectral mana had somehow produced it, a feat he couldn't even begin to wrap his head around.

  "Let us start from the start. Follow me. I will answer your questions once we find a more suitable location to converse."

  Lev didn't dare defy the being. Glancing behind him, the humans accompanying him were still frozen, though the moose took notice of that as well. A small puff of spectral mana was gathered from the ambient mana, and it gave rise to the strongest ward Lev had ever seen.

  It accomplished several features. The humans turned completely invisible and unnoticeable to everyone but Lev and the tyrant, and the ward also protected them from any external attacks.

  Breathing out a sigh, he turned around again and followed behind the moose. It gave him more time to observe the creature, specifically how it walked without producing any sounds or displacing the air.

  Craning his neck, he also noted that the antlers produced a curious effect. They seemed more… real than anything else around him, something he had no explanation for. Even the ambient mana didn't react with them, but Lev knew without a shadow of a doubt that the antlers were special beyond his imagination.

  Silently, both the human and the majestic, towering moose made their way deeper into the second layer of the Deadlands. Nothing happened when he stepped through the threshold, and the tyrant also didn't stop when they reached the first frozen monsters.

  [Spectral Ghoul - Level 487]

  [Spectral Reaver - ????]

  Lev gave them both a wide berth, especially the latter. Passing close by let him know about the monster's skills better, and he definitely wasn't interested in dying from having his vitality sucked out by tentacles.

  The moose, noticing his wariness, casually erased both the monsters.

  Continuing deeper, the Tyrant stopped on a random spot, deeming it good enough for his mysterious purposes. Lev also paused, waiting for the moose to do something, and it did.

  He could only watch with his jaw dropped as the massive creature lowered to the ground, its giant legs folding as it sat down, eyes trained on Lev.

  "This is far enough, young human. We may now speak freely, shielded from prying eyes."

  A pulse of mana accompanied those words, erecting an unimaginably potent privacy ward, one that could just as easily trap him inside with no hopes for escape.