Chapter 684: A Strange Occurrence in the higher plane

The consciousness of the Higher Realm stared at Grey in disbelief after witnessing the eruption of Nexus Energy.

Its voice trembled as it spoke.

“W-Who are you? What exactly are you? How do you possess such terrifying power?”

Grey completely ignored those questions.

He focused on the only thing he cared about.

“Why did you reject me?”

The consciousness immediately panicked at his cold tone.

“I-I apologize! The countless Daos had been pressuring me from all directions! I did not realize you were an exalted existence!”

Its voice became increasingly frantic.

“The moment I attempted to reject you, the boundless Daos suddenly crashed down upon me with overwhelming pressure! I nearly collapsed from the force!”

The consciousness continued its explanation desperately.

“I sensed something about you that reminded me of the Abyssal God. I instinctively viewed you as an extremely dangerous existence that I could not afford to allow into the Higher Realm.”

It paused before adding weakly.

“But I had not expected you to possess the kind of power that could completely overwhelm my authority.”

“I-I apologize for trying to reject you. Please don’t do anything to me. I-I was only acting in the interest of the Higher Realm.”

Grey considered this for a moment before shaking his head.

“No can do.”

His expression became completely serious.

“You gave me mental trauma, psychological trauma, emotional distress, physical trauma, spiritual trauma, existential distress, and severe inconvenience.”

He sighed dramatically.

“I may never recover from this.”

The Higher Realm’s consciousness immediately became confused and panicked.

Grey looked completely serious despite obviously exaggerating the situation.

“W-What? What do I give you?”

“Okay, for starters,” Grey said casually. “Make me the ruler of the Higher Realm.”

The Higher Realm consciousness fell completely silent.

Grey waited patiently.

Then its voice exploded in disbelief.

“You have something wrong with your head!”

“Excuse me?”

“Please be sane! Do you seriously think I can make you the ruler of the Higher Realm? I’m just an overseer! I don’t control everything here!”

Grey thought about it for a moment.

“Fine. Then at least give me a realm to rule over within the Higher Realm.”

The consciousness became thoughtful before answering.

“I cannot do that either. Such a thing would be extremely difficult to arrange and would involve too many complications.”

Grey clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“Then let’s review the trauma again. Mental trauma, psychological trauma, emotional distress, physical trauma, spiritual trauma, existential distress, and the terrible suffering I endured from being rejected.”

“W-Wait! You’re a scammer!”

Grey’s expression became even more serious.

“Now you’re verbally abusing me too. That’s extra.”

The Higher Realm consciousness nearly broke down from frustration and panic.

“I can’t give you a realm to rule!” it finally admitted. “But I can compensate you in another way!”

“I can give you enough energy to reach the 13th Rank!”

Grey immediately nodded with a satisfied expression.

“You are a good person after all.”

He wasted no time accepting the energy.

A tremendous amount of power began flowing into his body. Grey absorbed it rapidly, his strength climbing as the energy was converted into usable power.

The moment he finished obtaining everything, the Higher Realm consciousness began speaking again.

“Here, I gave you some ene…”

Its voice suddenly glitched.

“Huh?”

The consciousness became confused.

“What is this?”

The golden space around Grey began violently distorting.

Before he could understand what was happening, the entire world started collapsing around him. The space, the light, and even the surrounding laws rapidly broke apart.

Reality itself was being erased and rewritten.

Grey’s vision blurred completely.

Then everything suddenly returned to normal.

Grey stood silently in the golden space.

His expression became increasingly confused.

“Higher Realm Consciousness?”

No response.

“Hello?”

Nothing.

“Did you die or something?”

Still nothing.

Grey sighed heavily.

“I still want to get out, you know.”

With no answer coming, Grey turned his attention toward the Daos.

He entered the Creator Invocation Space and attempted to contact the Dao of Space.

The connection succeeded.

Grey was transported into the Dao of Space’s realm, where the Dao greeted him with its usual respectful attitude.

“Hello, Perfect One. Why have you come here?”

The Dao of Space suddenly paused as it realized something.

“Wait… it looks like you managed to ascend. Why are you stuck in the Ascension Space? How did this happen?”

Grey became even more confused.

“What the hell is going on now?”

He explained that he had just been speaking with the consciousness of the Higher Realm. It had attempted to reject him before eventually allowing him to enter after claiming that the Daos had pressured it into accepting him.

The Dao of Space fell completely silent.

“I knew something was wrong.”

“What do you mean?” Grey asked with genuine confusion.

“Just now, something strange happened within my realm. I don’t know what it was, and I cannot even determine whether it was truly part of the realm or something that merely appeared inside it.”

The Dao of Space’s voice carried an unusual weight.

“It was extremely strange.”

It paused before continuing.

“And Perfect One, you have no reason to lie to me.”

Grey remained silent.

“But I will tell you this. This so-called Higher Realm Consciousness does not exist in this world.”

Grey became completely baffled.

“What do you mean? I was literally talking to it just now.”

“That may be the case,” the Dao of Space admitted. “But I have just contacted the other Daos, and none of them know of any Higher Realm Consciousness either.”

Grey’s expression became serious.

The Dao of Space explained further.

“There are only two possibilities. Either the Higher Realm Consciousness once existed and was somehow erased from existence, or someone has performed a massive manipulation of reality that even the Daos failed to notice.”

The Dao of Space’s tone became grave.

“I trust you completely, Perfect One. I can also sense that something irregular has occurred. This makes the situation even more disturbing.”

“I will investigate this with the other Daos. Please don’t worry, Perfect One. We are ultimately the beings who overlook this world. Whatever this consciousness was, we will get to the bottom of it.”

The Dao of Space then raised its hand.

“I will send you somewhere safe first.”

A tremendous force immediately surrounded Grey and threw him out of the golden space.

Grey was completely stunned by the entire sequence of events.

This couldn’t have been a coincidence.

He immediately contacted the World Tree.

“World Tree, do you know about a Higher Realm Consciousness?”

The World Tree gave the same answer as the Dao of Space.

“I have never sensed such an existence, Grey. The Higher Realm has countless laws and mysteries, but a consciousness governing the entire realm is not something I have ever encountered. You possibly can’t hallucinate right?”

Grey then contacted Finality.

“Finality, do you know about the Higher Realm Consciousness?”

Finality was silent for a moment before answering.

“No.”

Grey frowned.

“You’re sure?”

“If such an existence truly existed, I would know of it. There is no Higher Realm Consciousness within my perception.”

Grey became even more uneasy.

Something had clearly happened, yet somehow even Finality and the World Tree had no memory or knowledge of the entity he had just spoken with.

He began connecting the possibilities in his mind.

“Something that can even affect Finality and the World Tree…”

“A person from the Ascendancy Domain?”

“Could it be the Paragons?”

His mind raced through possibilities, but he could not find an answer.

That uncertainty only made him more uneasy.

Perhaps the only reason he himself had not been affected by whatever had happened was because he was the Perfect Being. His Nexus Energy was capable of resisting whatever force had altered the Higher Realm and its surrounding laws.

Grey’s expression darkened.

“Whoever it is… they have bad intentions toward the Higher Realm.”

Before he could investigate further, his vision suddenly blurred.

The next moment, Grey found himself standing inside a forest.

He looked around carefully.

There was no Alissa.

No Eterna.

No Ouroboros.

No one else from his group.

“Great.”

The corner of Grey’s lips twitched.

Of course.

After everything that had just happened, he had somehow been separated from everyone.

“This is just perfect.”

Grey immediately entered the Creator Invocation Space again and attempted to contact the Daos.

Nothing happened.

He tried again.

Still nothing.

Grey frowned.

“Are they busy discussing this with the other Daos?”

He waited patiently.

No response came.

“Or is there something else now?”

The uneasy feeling inside Grey grew stronger.

Even if the Daos were discussing the strange incident, they should still have allowed him to participate. He was the Perfect One, after all.

Grey slowly looked around the unfamiliar forest.

“What the heck?”

For the first time since ascending, Grey found himself completely alone in an unfamiliar part of the Higher Realm.

He had no way to contact his companions.

No response from the very Daos who had always been available to him.

Whatever had happened during his ascension was not over.

And Grey had a feeling that whatever had interfered with the Higher Realm had only just begun.