"Are you... a human?"

Of all the scenarios he'd imagined during the ten-hour flight through interstellar darkness, this hadn't been among them. He'd prepared himself for hostility, for incomprehension, for the possibility of being ignored entirely by something so vast it might not register his existence at all.

But recognition? Direct communication? A question that implied not just intelligence, but specific knowledge of humanity?

The shock paralyzed him for several heartbeats. His enhanced mind raced through implications, trying to understand how a cosmic entity floating in the void beyond the solar system's edge could possibly know what humans were.

The system had called these beings administrators, but what did that mean in practical terms? Did they catalog species? Monitor civilizations? Or had this creature somehow observed Earth from impossible distances?

Above all else, the sheer scale of the Voidling dominated his thoughts. The system had mentioned cosmic whales, had warned him these beings operated on unprecedented scales, but nothing—no description, no warning, no mental preparation—had been adequate.

Words like "massive" and "enormous" lost all meaning when confronted with something that dwarfed a kilometer-long starship the way a blue whale dwarfed a minnow

As for the creature's question, a thousand questions filled Liam's head, as he tried to process the whys and whats. The fact that it recognised his race was really shocking but considering the fact that it's the offspring of a cosmic administrator, it wasn't shocking anymore. But it didn't mean that Liam wasn't surprised.

Finally, he sighed softly and decided that simplicity was the only viable approach. Overthinking this would lead nowhere productive. The creature had asked a direct question. It deserved a direct answer.

"Yes, I'm human," he simply replied.

"Really?" The Voidling asked in surprise.

Liam was really once again this time, because this time, he didn't hear the creature make the same sound as before, but he could now hear its voice directly in his head.

The past few minutes has been full of surprises for him, thanks to the creature, and he wondered how many more surprises it has in store for him.

"Yes, I'm really a human," Liam replied in confirmation.

"If you're really a human, then this meeting of ours should be impossible. There's no way that a race that's so young can advance so much to the level that it can build a class 5 spacecraft," The Voidling said in surprise.

Liam could sense that it was trying to make sense of the situation, but it was just the same as him.

He noticed the Voidling turning slightly toward the direction of his home planetary system, its massive body causing slight ripples through the space around them. It turned back to look at Liam the next moment.

"I can see your solar system and your planet form here. How is it possible that your world is undeveloped, but you has already evolved beyond way beyond them," the Voidling asked with a mix of confusion, surprise and curiosity.

Hearing the question, Liam realised what had happened. The Voidling's gaze had pierced through tens of trillions of kilometres to where Earth is. The distance was astronomical to say the least. What level of power was that? What level of perception Was that? Was this the power of juvenile cosmic administrator?

Liam forced a smile to his face, as he thought of what to reply with. He was about to reply, when he heard a tired sigh of the creature in his head.

"It's fine. You don't have to answer. There are a lot of strange things in the universe. Mom already told me about them. I shouldn't be curious about how you were able to do it," it said.

Liam smiled wryly, internally thankful. Nothing had really prepared him for this part of the trip. When he heard that Voidlings are offsprings of Void Beasts, he had thought that they will have life-like intelligence but he was extremely wrong. The creature in front of him is extremely intelligent and equally powerful.

Liam sighed internally and got his emotions under control. Prepared or not. Powerful or not. Intelligence or not. He came here with a purpose in mind and he won't be going back without achieving what he came for.

"Why were you looking for me?" The Voidling asked, unaware of Liam's internal struggles.

The question was direct, cutting through all pretense. Liam felt its weight—not just the words, but the attention behind them. The Voidling was focusing on him completely now, not in a threatening way, but with the intensity of something that had decided this interaction was worth its full consideration.

"The region of space where I rest," the creature continued, "is deliberately warped. Twisted in ways that make conventional navigation impossible. No race should even know this region exists, much less be able to reach it. Yet you came here. Directly. As if you knew exactly where to find me."

It paused, and Liam sensed confusion radiating from it, genuine bafflement at the situation it found itself in.

"But that shouldn't be possible. No race should be aware that entities like my kind exist. Even civilizations that have endured for hundreds of thousands of your years, spanning multiple star systems, only have vague suspicions."

The Voidling's eyes narrowed slightly, the vertical pupils contracting as it studied him with uncomfortable intensity.

"Yet you, a human whose species has barely developed basic spaceflight, came looking for me specifically. How? How do you even know what I am?"

Liam took a slow breath, feeling the weight of the moment. This was it. The point where he either succeeded in his purpose for coming here or failed entirely. The Voidling was confused, possibly suspicious, definitely curious. It was also clearly intelligent enough to recognize the paradoxes surrounding him.

But it had also shown restraint. It had respected his privacy regarding his secrets. That suggested it might be open to negotiation, to exchange, to some kind of arrangement that benefited both of them.

Before Liam could formulate his response, the Voidling seemed to reach some internal conclusion. Its massive body shifted, space tearing behind it with that same fabric-ripping sound that had announced its arrival.

Through the tear, Liam could see... nothing. Just more darkness, but of a different quality—deeper, more absolute, as if the tear led not just to another region of space but to somewhere else entirely.

"This is too much thinking for me," the Voidling said, its voice carrying a note of what might have been humor. "I'm supposed to be resting. Sleeping. That's what my kind does—we sleep for vast stretches of time, maintaining our vigil but not actively engaging unless necessary."

It began swimming backward toward the tear, its movements causing gravitational distortions that made the Voyager shudder.

"I'm still young, still assigned to relatively simple regions like this because I lack experience. But you're making this complicated, human. Too many questions. Too many impossibilities. I'd rather just go back to sleep and—"

"Wait!" Liam shouted, desperation cutting through his careful composure. "Please, wait!"

The Voidling paused, one portion of its massive body already through the spatial tear. Those yellow eyes fixed on him again, patient but clearly ready to leave.

Liam reached into the air and withdrew several high-grade spirit stones from the Dimensional Space. Each one were roughly the size of his fist.

The effect was immediate and dramatic.

The Voidling's entire body went still. Its eyes widened, the pupils dilating as they fixed on the stones with laser focus. Liam could sense its attention sharpening, all traces of lazy disinterest vanishing in an instant.

"That's..." The Voidling's telepathic voice carried undisguised hunger now. "That aroma. That energy. What are those?"

Liam smiled, relief mixing with satisfaction as he finally, finally found leverage in this impossible negotiation.

The stones looked like tiny particles of sand against the cosmic scale of the creature before him, but their spiritual energy concentration was extraordinary.

To a being like the Voidling, they represented something rare and valuable, perhaps even necessary.

"High-grade spirit stones," Liam explained, keeping his voice steady despite his racing heart. "Concentrated spiritual energy. I'm willing to give you these, along with more besides, if you'll grant me a request."

The Voidling remained frozen, its gaze fixed on the glowing stones. Liam could see it struggling—cosmic being or not, there was something it wanted here, something the stones represented that overcame its desire to simply leave.

The system was right. Spirit stones and mana crystals are like exotic energy to Void Beasts.

"What..." The creature's voice came slowly, carefully, as if it was fighting against its own eagerness. "What do you want, human?"

Liam's smile widened. The balance of power had shifted. Not completely—he was still a tiny being facing something that could crush his spacecraft with its mass alone. But he had something it wanted, and that made all the difference.

Finally, after all the shock and confusion and overwhelming impossibility of this encounter, he was about to achieve what he'd come here for.

"Let me tell you," Liam said, his voice gaining confidence, "exactly what I need from you."

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