"You have broken through," Levi said, landing softly in front of Silas.
Silas was stunned by those words.
Not the words themselves. More the person who had spoken them.
This was the first time Levi had ever initiated a conversation between them. Although they had not known each other long, it was obvious that Levi was not one who liked to talk.
Silas nodded. "Yes."
Levi tapped him on the shoulder.
Then walked away.
Silas was shaken to his core by the sudden gesture.
He turned back, staring at Levi’s retreating figure.
"What just happened?" He muttered, clearly confused.
Levi was the last person Silas thought would ever touch him.
"Hey," someone called from behind.
Silas set aside his thoughts about Levi and focused on his friends.
Sylvester, Amelia, and Billie walked toward him.
Sylvester was the fastest of the three, as though he were in a race.
Amelia walked as she normally did.
Billie moved as though every step was deliberate, carrying purpose, calm, and elegance.
"Did you pick that up from watching the noble heirs?" Silas asked Billie with a smile.
"Is it wrong?" Billie replied, as though she had been expecting the question.
"Not at all," Silas shook his head.
Billie responded with a noble curtsy.
Silas pressed a hand to his forehead in quiet exhaustion.
"Why is it impossible to keep up with you?" Amelia asked with a sigh.
At this point, she had stopped competing with Silas.
It was futile. The closer she seemed to get, the farther ahead he became.
Silas smiled at her remark.
"Maybe I am just that good."
"Show off," Amelia clicked her tongue.
"Congratulations, man," Sylvester said, adopting a thick, exaggerated tone of authority.
The trio leaned back slightly, all three of them looking at him at once.
"You sounded ridiculous," Billie said flatly.
Sylvester did not bother to respond.
At this point, he had fully registered Billie as his mortal enemy.
"You know, in the history of the Orion Sector, you are the first person to reach the Ascendant Realm before arriving at the academy."
Silas shrugged.
"It is nothing much."
Sylvester’s brows twitched.
He was unsure what to feel. Angry, calm, annoyed, shocked.
In the end, only one response came to mind.
"Okay."
Spending time with Silas had made him more accepting of shocking events.
"Billie, how are you feeling?" Silas suddenly asked.
Amelia furrowed her brows and shot Silas a glance.
"What happened?"
Silas was about to speak when he felt a cold stare on the back of his neck.
Instinctively, he turned toward Billie.
"Nothing," he said to Amelia.
She creased her brows and glanced toward Billie.
Billie wore a soft smile that felt more dangerous than any expression of anger.
In the end, Amelia let the matter go.
"Everyone, gather here," the voice echoed through the ship, reaching every ear with equal clarity.
Silas turned toward the source.
It was Levi, standing calmly on a damaged section of the ship.
The candidates began to gather, their eyes fixed on him.
"I have contacted the academy. They will arrive with a new ship in the next two months."
As he said those words, he waited for the students to process their confusion.
After all, at their age, two months felt like three years, especially in a place as silent as the void.
"I will do my best to keep you all safe, but there is not much I can do."
The students understood what he meant.
"Also, the next Void Tide is a month away."
Like balloons stretched past their limit, the students erupted.
A Void Tide?
How were they supposed to survive that?
Even with Levi present, the odds were bleak.
Levi sighed.
A wave of energy rippled outward, pressing against the students before the noise could rise further.
"I may be lenient with you because you are in danger. Do not mistake that for weakness."
His tone was cold and distant, like a machine addressing other machines.
Seeing calm return, Levi continued.
"We have enough weapons to hold them back without engaging in direct combat."
Murmurs spread through the students at those words.
’Even after that, they still dare to talk,’ Levi mused. ’I find children difficult to understand.’
When the murmur passed, Levi continued.
"The problem we face is setting the weapons up."
He paused for a moment, as though considering something.
"I have sent a file containing the setup procedure."
His gaze drifted slowly across the students.
"Two weeks. That is all I am giving you to understand the process before we begin installation."
A crack formed beneath him and he dropped into it, disappearing from sight.
The students stared blankly at the void of space.
Not at it directly. They were more focused on the screens that had appeared in their vision, generated by their AI assistants.
It displayed in vivid detail the method for assembling a weapon system the size of a small star.
"This is going to be a long process," Silas sighed as he read through the file.
"What is a Void Tide?" Amelia asked with furrowed brows.
"You have come to your one and only dictionary with another question," Sylvester said, puffing his chest as he looked at Amelia.
Bam.
One light tap was all it took to bring him back to normal.
He glanced at Billie, the perpetrator, and sighed.
"The Void Tide is an event that occurs every solar cycle," Sylvester said slowly, as if addressing a group of young children.
"It is when void beasts migrate from one part of the universe to another."
Silas frowned.
"If all the void beasts are moving at once, we cannot hope to hold them back with just ourselves."
"Not all of them. Void beasts have nests throughout the void. Each nest moves in a separate direction, not necessarily together."
"If they are moving, does that not mean we can avoid them?" Billie asked, raising her hand.
Sylvester turned to her, shaking his head.
"So you can ask questions."
Billie rolled her eyes.
Sylvester waved it off.
"You can try to avoid them, but the chances are extremely slim. A single nest has the capacity to fill an entire solar system. Avoiding them would require moving very far out of their path, which in our situation is impossible without a functioning spaceship."
He exhaled after getting all of that out.
Silas nodded. "Thank you."
"Where are you going?" Amelia asked.
"To read the file. Get a drink. Something."
Silas replied without looking back.
He pushed both hands into his pockets as he walked.
Then a quiet presence settled behind him.
He did not look back or ask who it was.
It was Asher.
The three of them watched Silas’s retreating figure before each turning their own way.
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