Katie had already left before he had woken up, her 'adorable' pet calling her away for some kind of training that involved things better not known to man. Sam just hoped that the universe survived her rampage through the void.

He kind of felt bad about their enemies… He doubted any of them were preparing for somebody like Katie.

With Lucky in tow, he began to walk down the corridor, looking for the Lady of the Tower, intent on finishing his task with her and finally leaving this dreadful place.

The inside still looked the same. The same dreary decoration with a distinct gothic and goth aesthetic, with a few odd items here and there.

As he walked by several windows, some decorated by black and white stained-glass windows, he saw the endless churning void beyond the limits of the magic protecting the tower. It was still the same as he remembered, though, oddly, when he glanced out of the window, he had a feeling that the void actually looked back.

Shaking his head and looking away from the primordial aether, he refocused his attention, wanting to find the strange owner of the tower.

Thankfully, Lucky was smart enough to lead him toward his goal.

Soon, he was entering the same garden where he had met the Void Lady after being sent through the suddenly appearing portal.

The elegant woman was, once again, sitting at a wrought-iron table, sipping something from a cup. Her face instantly lit up with joy as she spotted Lucky, and the adorable wolf returned the attention, rushing toward her, practically jumping into her arms as she made sure to lavish him with attention.

Sam stood there for a minute, letting the two of them re-acquaint with each other, before delicately clearing his throat. The Void Lady's head snapped up as if she had forgotten his existence. She looked over him, then gently motioned toward the table.

Sam bowed his head and took the offered seat.

"Well, well… It seems sleeping beauty has awoken! What a joyous occasion, tinged with tragedy!" she exclaimed dramatically, holding the back of her hand to her forehead, while her other hand kept playing with Lucky's fur.

"Tragedy?" he asked worriedly. He was already dealing with the consequences of his actions in the real world; he didn't want to deal with them in the game, too.

She just continued melodramatically. "Yes! With you woken from your healing sleep, it means our time together is coming to an end," she 'wailed'. "Which means I shan't have this beautiful soul here to warm my soul with his presence!" she declared while reaching for Lucky's face and smushing it together.

"Ah…my apologies?"

"Humpf! At least you know your place!" she riposted immediately.

Sam didn't really know how to answer that, so he simply stayed silent, waiting for the woman to continue. Thankfully, she only spent a few more moments playing with Lucky before she finished and focused all her attention on him.

He couldn't help but sit up straighter as her eyes looked him over once again before she smiled. This was not the free-spirited smile she gave to his familiar. No. This was a smile of satisfaction. The smile of somebody accomplishing something that they desired.

"You succeeded," she stated.

Sam nodded. "I did."

"There is only one thing to do before I send you on your way."

"Yes?"

She didn't respond immediately. Instead, she reached out with her hand, seemingly into the thin air, then with an unnatural wrenching motion, grabbed something out of nothingness, which made Sam's eyes hurt.

It took him a second to get used to the feeling before he was able to look at the thing. He watched warily as she took the book she 'summoned' and placed it on the table between them. Then, with a deft movement, she spun the offending piece of something toward him.

'I really should be used to this…' he mused as he tried not to look at it.

Unfortunately, she didn't waffle around with it. "This is what we call the Grimoire of Void. Used by countless rulers of the tower to record happenings, events, catastrophes, and such," she explained. "Another use is to record the magic birthed from the void or inspired by it. Thus, I would entreat you to share your discovery!"

Sam looked at her, then down at the offending piece of paper that was already open at an empty page, with a chimera of writing implement – half quill and half fountain pen, decorated with a black feather – already ready for him.

She smiled at him. "Oh, do use your best writing."

Sam let out a sigh and reached for the writing instrument while also pulling the 'book' next to him. Surprisingly, it actually felt like touching any kind of book. He hesitated for a second, wary of doing something that he would regret, but then, as he looked at the woman in front of him, he realized it wasn't actually a request.

Putting the pen to the paper, he began to write while idly asking a question. "Did you also ask Katie to do this?"

For a long moment, he didn't receive an answer, causing him to look up in surprise to behold the Lady of the Tower with a surprised look on her face.

"She knew how to write?"

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Sam landed with a rather wet splash in the middle of a muddy puddle, not far from Ironwood, with an ominous portal closing behind him within seconds.

After finishing writing down the details of his new spell, plus a few observations about the void and magic, the woman thanked him for his service and offered him a portal near his destination. Apparently, portaling into a city without the local ruler's permission was somewhat of a faux pas.

Shaking his head slightly, he stretched a little and began to walk toward the city.

He had a few things to do.

Number one, check some new system notifications. Ever since he left the void dimensions, something was really trying to grab his attention.

'Huh, it seems the system changed a little. They probably added some kind of priority weighing algorithm to it…' he mused silently as the screens opened.

[Congratulations! You beheld the sight of the Grimoire of Void! Thanks to this, your Unknown Sight skill went through a qualitative change!]

[The skill Unknown Sight has transformed into Abyss Sight!]

[Abyss Sight: Level 12/50 (9%) (Passive) You looked. Despite the warnings. You are immune to being blinded by mundane sources, and sources that would visually impair or debilitate you are much less effective. You gain Truesight in a 10 m radius.]

[Truesight: The ability to see the true form of things. Pierces through Invisibility.]

Sam snickered a little. The messages with the skills, while ominous, were rather funny. Still, gaining Truesight this early, even if limited, was rather useful.

'Hmmm, that means I could go and do interesting things…' he pondered cheerfully. 'Lucy will hate me for it, but oh boy is it going to be funny!'

Shelving the idea for later, he continued to read.

[Thanks to impressing the Lady presiding over the Tower of Void, you gained the opportunity to add to the Grimoire of Void! You gained +1 LUCK!]

[Being one of the few existences that added to the aforementioned book, you gain the title, Scholar of the Void!]

[Scholar of the Void: You don't just use the void, but understand it. At least you think so. Whether that is genius or insanity is up to history to decide. Increases reputation with void mages by 5% and decreases the mana cost of void-type skills by 5%.]

Nodding slightly, Sam dismissed the prompts and began to head toward the rather long queue leading to the gate. Apparently, the increased security measures caused some kind of congestion. He would have to figure out a way to deal with it.

'Or…I could have someone deal with it,' he figured. 'God! I love delegation…'

When he finally managed to enter the city, he decided to walk around a little instead of heading directly to the HQ. Lucy probably had enough paperwork to deal with before he added his newest idea to her stack of issues, plus, with his recent adventures, he hadn't seen the city proper in a while.

For Farabor, he received regular reports from Lara, including pictures. That girl loved powerpoints! So he was generally up to date with the development there, even despite his convalescence. However, Ironwood was different. They didn't rule it, so their access to it was different. Well, they technically didn't rule it…

With all the services they were running, and with Lucy and Tim doing their arcane machinations in the political sphere, most local lords were either eating from their palms or were smart enough to see where the wind was blowing from.

Or they were like the Silvercrest family and had a genuine relationship with the guild.

He simply put his hands into his pockets and began walking leisurely along the main road.

Everywhere he looked, he saw players either rushing for the gates, eager to brave the adventurous world, or moving from building to building, looking for hidden gems among the myriad of shops. The street itself was also dotted with an almost impossible number of stands. These stands sold everything from tasty treats – Sam tried several cookies and a questionable meat skewer, as is tradition – to souls. Though the disgruntled guards instantly shut that down as several people watched almost gleefully.

He walked by the stands, watching as people (NPCs and players) bought odd items, accessories, rations, suspicious potions, and so much more.

Reaching the central part of the city, the crowd changed somewhat at the square that was almost exactly in the middle of the city. To his eyes, most NPCs seemed to be avoiding it, while the players seemed to stand around in groups or congregating around stands as stone-faced guards watched them from the edge.

Meanwhile, in the middle, as expected from a fantasy town, a beautiful fountain gurgled peacefully.

And of course, the entire area was filled with a cacophony of noise as people tried to recruit for their groups or guilds.

"Looking for fire mages for the forest fractal!"

"Want archers!"

"The Dominion Daggers are looking for big-breasted goth mages!"

"We're looking for a fifth for our fractal farm. Tank preferred!"

And so it went as everybody wanted to be the loudest. Narrowing his eyes, he looked around and saw a few artifacts lining the edge of the square, and it didn't take long for him to recognize the sound insolation runic circle carved into them.

He was about to leave the area when, through the almost physical noise, he heard something oddly familiar.

"Do you know who we are, girl? And you dare say no to me?" came a strong male voice, tinged with derision and anger.

Sam looked around and saw that none of the guards heard it, or probably cared; he let out a groan.

'Let's go fill my face-slapping quota…'

Turning toward the commotion, he cut through several groups, dodged a few couples lost in each other's eyes, before he beheld the event.

On one side stood a small group of young women, maybe around the age of Cynthia, Clarissa's younger sister, keeping close together, looking very uncomfortable. They were dressed in mostly mage-appropriate clothing, and to Sam's senses and eyes, they looked around Level 50 or maybe 60.

On the other side stood several guys, surprisingly, only one of them looked like he mainlined steroids with his cornflakes, glaring at the girls. At the head of the group was a rather tall fellow with perfectly coiffed blond hair and a look of unearned superiority on his face.

"Leave u-us alone! We don't want to go with you!" came from the lead woman.

Sam walked closer and retrieved an item created by Liz just for these kinds of occasions. It was a small cup with a lid and metal straw. Filled with a delicious fruit juice mix. If he remembered correctly, it was currently filled with an apple, strawberry, and carrot mix.

The guy, predictably, didn't take the refusal gallantly.

"I told you! You do what I tell you or else!"

"You can't do that! My father–"

"Your father is nothing!" he interrupted her. "If I tell him to dance, he will dance! And you might as well follow his lead."

She stared at him in response. "You wish, you asshole! Only your delusions of grandeur are bigger than your ego!"

The guy just snorted. "Do you think you're protected here?" he asked. "The guards don't do anything in this square…"

She opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by an odd noise.

SLUUURP

Both of their heads snapped in Sam's direction as he pleasantly smacked his lips and waved one of his hands at them.

"Don't mind me… Please continue."

The girl and her friends looked confused, but the guy just looked even angrier.

"Who the – SLUURP – fuck are – SLURP – you – SLURP – to – SLURP – interrupt me?"

Sam looked directly into his eyes and took another slurp of his drink.

SLUUUUUUURP

It was delicious.

"Will you fucking stop that?" the man demanded, his face growing rather red.

Sam looked down at his drink, then back at the man. Then, at the young woman. Then back to the men.

Then, with the most deliberate motion, he raised the straw to his lips.

SLUUUUURP

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