Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Penetrator and Hound scaled up the mountain which roared with immense waves of power that almost seemed intent on washing down the two.

The search for a boost in power and understanding of this mini world and the more powerful applications of mana could not be quelled however, as Skullius and Ferex continued to push through.

The lumps and humps they had to go around or climb over seemed infinitely larger as simply talking steps as they ascended became a massively inconvenient chore.

'Jeez... I can't even see the top even though this mountain is shorter than the others...' Skullius thought as he looked ahead where billows of whitish clouds that were actually created from the compounding of mana were swirling, their visibility diminishing with the steep ascent.

Ferex decided to take action to make the journey easier.

His body tripled in size as he grew to tower over his master.

The Vehement waves that blew from above were instantly depowered for its bulk and numerous Unliving Threads swiggled from its body and pulled Skullius, setting him on the large creature's back.

"Nice bro!" Skullius gave his Apostle some praise.

The Hound dug its pass into the ground and pushed forward with all its collective might.

It clawed forward, resisting the waves of eve growing power that thrummed, Skullius holding on to the Unliving Thread on the creature's back tight as he could easily be flung away if he wasn't careful.

The journey didn't take long after this as soon, the duo seamlessly pierced through the veil of white clouds, an expansive space different from the peak they erred expecting emerging in their vision.

A large, flat hound could be seen, the ferocious waves of mana that were here being a lot more tame but extraordinarily thick as they evidently melded themselves into the environment – air, ground and sparse vegetation made up of lightly glowing tufts of grasses.

Even gravity seemed to be affected as upon reaching this place, Skullius and Ferex found taking firm steps in any direction phenomenally difficult.

'The mana here is even thicker than in the water...' Skullius thought as he passed his hand through the light winds that howled with the white energy.

Aesthetically, this place looked like some tourists attraction.

Remnants of massive rocks that had existed here, in the form of massive, tall pillars that rose into the sky could seen with shattered and broken edges.

Crumbs and chunks of burnt rock littered three-time ground for the entirety of the more than 600 meter stretch.

On top this, lightning crackled from the air from time to time, some of it shattering the rocks before fizzling out.

BZZZT!

Skullius saw from the roiling mana that surged in the air a bolt of grey-ish lightning sparking and propelling itself towards one of the rising remnants of old blocks in the blink of an eye!

At the moment of impact, where the lightning struck did not shudder with a impactful explosion as the element would usually do.

No.

The bolt actually...

ZWUUUP!

It devoured a chunk of the pillar, the construction being left with a circular curve!

Skullius was intrigued as his expectations had been betrayed.

What kind of lightning was this?

Was it some kind of special element like his Silentburn Levin?

The answer did not evade Skullius for long as soon...

BOOF!

In the next instant, Skullius turned, attracted by the sound of something falling a few meters behind him.

'What?'

Two chunks of rock with a circular shape appeared out of thin air and fell to the ground near each other!

While they were separate, one look was enough to affirm that both could be brought together to fit into a whole!

It didn't take Skullius two seconds to connect what had just happened here.

'That lightning... Did it just...?'

Even though he asked himself this, he knew full well that it was as he thought.

This lightning didn't destroy, rather it manipulated space, exhibiting teleportation effects to boot!

That said however, the effect wasn't something one would use for mobility as there seemed to be something extremely wrong - the two-way effect that would make it easier to move from one place to another was distorted somehow. It broke things in two!

"If that's really the case, this place is extremely dangerous. I should move faster befor—"

BZZZT!

A streak of lightning shot directly at Skullius while he was muttering his plan to himself!

With a dark ripple that caused an animated wiggle around the surroundings, the Penetrator vanished from his position!

...

"What the hell happened?"

Skullius asked himself.

He could see nothing but a darkness dabbed with hints of grey gradient.

It was all around, devouring his sight.

All he could see was his armoured body and nothing else while at the same time, he felt restricted in his movements.

"Where am I? Gah! I cant move! What is this?!"

['Epiphany' detects high level concept, Stagnant Space. Would you like to invest and learn?]

"Stagnant Space? Hmmm. Wait, I think I've heard that before."

Surely, Skullius could attest to the fact that he had seen this term before, albeit not knowing what the flesh it meant.

He had seen it on something he had used after appraising it with the guidance field.

He sank into thought, thinking about this and how perhaps, he would be let out at any moment.

But unfortunately, it seemed that wasn't the case.

For him it was difficult to perceive the time but a full minute passed without any changes.

"How long is this going to tak-"

VWUUUP!

Once again, Skullius was cut off as suddenly, he felt himself spinning, colour returning to the world around him!

His body smashed against the ridiculously hard ground with a noisy impact that alarmed Ferex!

Skullius' armour cracked , his bones reverberating from the immense force.

"Wow. That was unexpected. A high level concept huh? I should probably see how much it costs. Hmm? Why do I feel so different? Wait! Bro! Where is the rest of me?!"

To Skullius' surprise, in a clean, diagonal blitz from his right shoulder to his left side, everything below was missing...