The magical communication slate on the oak desk glowed with a soft, steady blue light.
Arthur sat in the leather chair, leaning forward with his elbows resting on the wooden tabletop. His fingers tapped lightly against the smooth surface as he waited. Outside the window of his newly expanded trading post, the sixty-step stone walls stood tall and solid against the quiet void. The automatic water collector gear hummed softly in the distance, pumping sparkling blue water into the storage barrel with a rhythmic clank-whir-click.
Ping!
The slate chimed brightly. Neatly written letters appeared across the glass screen in real-time:
[ Trade Accepted by Novice Lord Elian ] [ Incoming Item: Three Bundles of Silver Moon Herbs ] [ Outgoing Item Requested: One Basic Wooden Fence Blueprint & Five Wooden Stakes ] [ Opening Dimensional Trade Slot... ]
Before Arthur could blink, a small, circular portal shimmered to life right above the center of the oak desk. It was about the size of a dinner plate, spinning with a soft silvery light.
From inside the spinning light, a small bundle wrapped in rough brown cloth dropped gently onto the desktop.
Arthur reached out and untied the twine holding the cloth together. As the fabric fell away, a sweet, cool fragrance filled the small room—a smell like fresh mint mixed with morning dew under a starlit sky. Lying inside the cloth were three long, slender stems with leaves that shimmered like polished silver.
"Silver Moon Herbs," Arthur whispered, a small smile touching his lips.
Back in the city of Neo-Veridia, rare herbs like these were sold in high-end apothecary shops for heavy gold coins. They were famous for calming tired nerves, healing minor cuts, and clearing the mind. For a beginner lord whose territory was constantly surrounded by danger, having a stash of healing herbs was like holding pure gold.
Arthur quickly picked up the spare wooden fence blueprint he had stored in the corner of the room, along with a bundle of five sturdy wooden stakes he had kept from his earlier supplies. He placed them neatly on the glowing trade slot.
"Trade confirmed," Arthur said clearly.
The silvery light flared up for a fraction of a second. The blueprint and the stakes vanished into the portal, instantly transported across the infinite void to Sector Eight, Universe 102, to help Lord Elian build his first defenses against the shadow rats.
Ping!
[ Trade Completed Successfully! ] [ Friendship Link Established with Novice Lord Elian ]
Arthur breathed a sigh of relief. It felt good to help someone else. He wasn’t just hoarding resources for himself; he was building connections in a universe that usually cared only about the strong crushing the weak.
He carefully picked up the Silver Moon Herbs and placed them inside a clean wooden drawer of the desk to keep them safe.
Then, he stood up from the leather chair, stretched his arms, and prepared to walk out to check on his stone walls.
That was when the trouble started.
This was the inciting incident of the Chapter. The silvery trade portal on the desk, which was supposed to close completely after a completed trade, suddenly flickered. Instead of shrinking into nothingness, the portal froze halfway open. It began to hum with a sharp, ugly crackling sound, turning from a peaceful silver color into a deep, muddy black.
Bzzzzzt!
"What?" Arthur muttered, stepping back toward the desk.
Before he could reach for his dented dagger, the edge of the stuck portal tore wider with a sharp ripping sound, like cloth tearing in half.
Pop!
Something small, dark, and incredibly fast shot out of the black portal, landing squarely on top of the wooden desk with a wet, heavy thud.
Arthur froze, his eyes widening.
It wasn’t a friendly trade item. It was a Shadow Rat.
It was about the size of a large cat, but its body was covered in short, pitch-black fur that seemed to absorb the light around it, making its edges look blurry and strange. It had no eyes—only a smooth, hairless snout twitching wildly as it sniffed the air. Its four paws ended in long, razor-sharp claws that dug deep into the oak desk, leaving deep gouges in the wood. Its mouth opened wide, revealing two rows of needle-sharp yellow teeth that dripped with a dark, sticky saliva.
The Shadow Rat let out a harsh, rasping hiss—shhhhhh!—and locked its sense of smell directly onto Arthur.
How did it get through the trade link? Arthur thought rapidly, his survival instincts kicking in instantly. Elian said his territory was being attacked by shadow rats! When the portal opened, one of them must have scrambled through right before the trade closed!
There was no time to think, and no time to run. The trade room was small—barely ten steps across. The door was behind the desk, and the rat was crouching between Arthur and the exit.
The Shadow Rat didn’t hesitate. With a powerful shove of its muscular hind legs, it leaped straight off the desk directly at Arthur’s face.
Arthur didn’t panic. He dropped flat onto his back, hitting the wooden floor hard just as the dark creature flew through the air right where his head had been a second before.
Clack!
The rat’s teeth snapped shut on empty air. It crashed against the wooden wall behind Arthur, bounced off, and landed gracefully on all four paws on the floor, spinning around instantly to face him again.
Arthur scrambled backward on his hands and feet, his back hitting the edge of the heavy oak desk. He reached down to his belt with his right hand and yanked his dented metal dagger free.
The Shadow Rat hissed again, its black fur bristling. It lowered its head, digging its claws into the floorboards, preparing for a second, deadlier charge.
Arthur gripped the handle of his dagger tightly. He knew he couldn’t afford to miss. In this tiny room, if the rat bit his arm or neck, he would be in serious trouble. He had no magical armor, no healing potions left except the moon herbs in the drawer, and no guards to save him.
The rat lunged forward like a black bullet.
This time, Arthur didn’t dodge away. He waited until the very last second—until he could see the ugly, wet snout and the sharp yellow teeth right in front of his eyes.
Just as the rat reached out its razor-sharp claws to swipe at his chest, Arthur slid across the smooth wooden floorboards, thrusting his metal dagger upward with all his strength.
Squelch!
The dented blade drove deep into the rat’s soft underbelly.
The creature let out a high-pitched, piercing screech that rattled the glass of the window. Its body convulsed violently in mid-air, its claws scratching futilely against Arthur’s leather jacket without breaking the thick material.
Arthur twisted the dagger hard, putting his full body weight behind the push.
The rat’s screech cut off abruptly. Its dark body went completely limp. It dropped heavily onto the floor right between Arthur’s boots, twitching once before dissolving into a small puddle of dark smoke that faded away into the air, leaving behind only a tiny, glowing black crystal the size of a marble.
Arthur exhaled a long, shaky breath, letting his head drop back against the leg of the desk.
His chest heaved up and down as he sucked in air. He checked his arms and hands—he was unharmed, save for a small smudge of dark soot on his jacket sleeve where the rat had brushed past him.
He slowly pushed himself up from the floor, wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.
He walked over and looked down at the tiny black crystal left behind by the defeated monster. He reached down and picked it up between his thumb and index finger. As soon as his skin touched the crystal, a warm, tingling wave washed over him, and a small system notification floated up in the air:
[ Shadow Core Acquired ] [ Description: A condensed energy crystal dropped by void-corrupted creatures. Can be used as fuel for basic territory upgrades or sold at the bazaar. ]
"Well," Arthur muttered to himself, a tired but victorious smile touching his lips, "that certainly wasn’t in the trade agreement."
He walked over to the magical communication slate on the desk. The stuck portal was completely gone now, and the screen had returned to its normal, peaceful blue glow.
He picked up the stylus pen and wrote a quick message back to Lord Elian in Sector Eight:
"Your trade items arrived safely. Along with the moon herbs, however, one of your local shadow rats decided to tag along for the trip. Don’t worry, I took care of it. Build those wooden fences quickly."
He pressed send. The slate chimed softly, confirming the message had been delivered across the infinite void.
Arthur walked out of the trading post and stepped out into the open air of his sixty-step territory.
The sun-like glow of the void stars shone down peacefully upon his stone walls. The automatic water collector gear continued its steady, reliable rhythm—clank, whir, click—pumping fresh water into the barrel. Everything was quiet, secure, and orderly.
He walked over to the stone well, scooped up a cup of the sparkling blue water, and drank it down. The cool liquid refreshed his throat, washing away the dust of the short fight inside the office.
He felt proud of how far he had come. From a true orphan standing on a tiny, empty thirty-step rock with zero family and zero money, he had built a functioning territory, won a trial in the bazaar, established trade with other novice lords, and successfully defended his home from unexpected surprises.
He was not overpowered. He didn’t have magic cheat codes. But he had grit, intelligence, and a steady hand.
He stood near the edge of the stone wall, looking out into the endless sea of purple fog and distant stars, feeling ready for whatever tomorrow would bring.
Just as Arthur turned around to head back inside for some well-deserved rest, the communication slate inside the trading post suddenly let out a sharp, urgent chime that sounded completely different from any previous message—a loud, piercing double-beep:
BEEP-BEEP!
Arthur stopped in his tracks. He frowned, turned around, and hurried back into the trading post office.
He stepped up to the oak desk and looked down at the magical slate.
The screen was no longer glowing in its usual friendly blue light. Instead, it was flashing in a deep, warning amber color. Neatly typed letters scrolled across the glass surface, coming from an unknown sender with no universe number attached:
[ PRIORITY SYSTEM BROADCAST ] [ To all independent Lords in the Lower Realms: ] [ The Great Alignment of the Infinite Universes is approaching. All unaligned territories within Sector One through Sector Ten are scheduled for mandatory spatial merging in seventy-two hours. ] [ Prepare your defenses. Your neighbors are coming. ]
Arthur stared at the words on the screen, his breath catching in his throat.
Mandatory spatial merging? Your neighbors are coming?
The peaceful days of building a quiet island in an empty void were officially over.