Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'

Walking above the Cheris Garden of Border Abyss, the feeling is not too good.

The impact of the silent disconnection has not yet dissipated, and what is now in sight is no longer the once bustling Void City.

The air is filled with a mysterious aura that corrodes like stomach acid. The surfaces of the surrounding buildings look intact, pristine, maintaining the orderly appearance from before the invasion. However, a closer inspection reveals them as mere mirages, illusory façades.

This place has been consumed by the Society.

"The aura of Ether Blood is still fresh and very active, the toxicity is probably at the reforging… which is the Sigma (18) standard."

Vellia casually brushed over the land, pitying as she spoke:

"It was a Secret Councilor, at least accompanied by a Speaker. This place has been thoroughly consumed."

After saying this, she looked up at the girl behind her:

"Don't just stand there, this is a rare opportunity. Focus your mind, and carefully feel the environment here. The Ether Blood of Councilor Level is very special. As a Tailor, you can now glean some information from it."

Vellia watched as the other lowered her head, knelt on one knee, and keenly sensed the air around her.

"Relax, Ether will not harm a fellow Secret Councilor like you. You need to open your heart and quietly accept the remaining Ether here."

Vellia reminded:

"Tell me, Dai Yawen, what did you see?"

The chilling wind lifted her hood, revealing her ashen short hair and webbed eyes. She calmed herself, her pores seemingly opening wide, allowing the familiar and intimate scent in the air to blend into her body.

Immediately after, as the scent permeated her blood, an indescribable torrent of information surged into her nerves, transmitted to her brain, transforming into images and text.

"...I saw a woman with brown hair, her face confident yet gentle, also strict. She spoke in a strange accented Secret language, often swallowing sounds and blending words."

"Do you mean a London accent?" Vellia tilted her head.

"What's that?"

"It's nothing, just an accent that authentic Earth descendants adopt to prove their pure lineage. As for whether it really is, no one knows. Anyway, we haven't been back to Earth for so long—even whether Earth exists, we don't know."

Dai Yawen was silent for a moment. She held her forehead, continuing to narrate the images in her mind:

"I can see her summoning a prince, no, various princes, the same one but different versions… They all seemed to be called Hamlet. They come from different creations to fight for her."

"'Hamlet'? Hmm, summoning characters from fictional works—then she is likely a Teacher."

Vellia nodded:

"Although a Teacher is not the most powerful Councilor, far less powerful compared to a Blacksmith or a Soldier, for the Secret Citizen, a Teacher is indispensable. She can quickly cultivate other citizens to pass the early stage, growing like the Ascender of the Pathway. It seems I didn't choose wrong."

"Is the Teacher our target?" Dai Yawen asked.

"No, our target is the Scholar Lyle Sventler, one of the Three Speakers."

Vellia shook her head:

"This is a bit complicated to explain… but you only need to know that there is serious discord among the Three Speakers. The Collector Redd Gold has rebelled and gone his own way, the Emperor Anpolo is missing, only the Scholar is still active in the Starry Abyss. The Teacher aligns neutrally like the Scholar. Finding her means finding the Scholar."

"I understand."

Dai Yawen lowered her head slightly, then asked:

"Master Vellia... I saw many strange beings, their bodies larger than planets, casually grasping a city in hand. This Void Enclave has been divided and swallowed by them. The consumed buildings, everything inherent within, has been completely erased. Once a cinema, it can never be built again because of being eaten away... What are those terrifying beings?"

"That is the true form of the Society."

Vellia calmly said:

"In the Layer Abyss, due to the curses of Layer Abyss strictly limiting individual power, even every planet has a class limit. So the Societies are relatively restrained. However, in Border Abyss—the unique flat universe of Border Abyss allows the Societies to no longer be limited by regional power, so they will brazenly exhibit their true forms. Even if targeted by a strong Entity, they can just find a deserted cosmic mountain range to hide."

"You should have seen how the Societies feed… Yes, they consume civilization in that manner."

"No matter how well a Society's citizens perform, they are essentially viruses and cells sent by the Society to assist in hunting and feeding. They consume not only material things but also history, population, precipitation, collective expectations, collective consciousness, and everything behind civilization."

"So cruel…" Dai Yawen pursed her lips:

"When a part of civilization is consumed by a Society, these things are completely lost. Even if on the surface it appears this city was only physically destroyed, in reality, nobody can rebuild anything on this wasteland, and it permanently turns into a wasteland. Aren't the Societies worried that one day, the cosmos will be completely consumed by them?"

"The Societies themselves are immortal beings; consuming civilization provides them mainly two aspects."

Vellia raised one finger:

"First, is to acquire more 'elements.' Each civilization has its unique traits, such as race, technology, weapons, environment, history, spirit, and so on. The more these elements, the greater the enhancement for the Society. A diverse civilization enables the Society to become stronger, thus remaining competitive in battles with similar counterparts."

Yawen was surprised:

"Do Societies devour each other?"

"Exactly. The Secret Society Gaia allied with the Outer Society Perjalai to share the High Court Society. By the way—your occupation as a Tailor comes from the 'Fate' element of the High Court Society."

Vellia smiled, then flicked out a second finger:

"Secondly, Societies do not die of old age and have no life-span limits—but if they lack enough elements or their core 'Primordial Soil' is polluted and attacked, they could disassemble or even fall back into civilization."

"So Societies have a weakness!" Dai Yawen's eyes lit up: "If we just pollute the Primordial Soil of Gaia, can't we defeat the Secret, and achieve complete liberation?"

"Very clever, but unfortunately not. When the mother entity dies, the offspring also perish—Society's death is not a release; you'll vanish together with Gaia."