With Ether powering our footsteps, Ava and I make great time rushing through the two empty zones that make up the first portion of the middle ring.
Each plot ranges from 5 to 25 kilometers wide, and the neutral pathways between zones are a few hundred meters thick at most.
Within the two zones we cut through, many exiled lords with [0]s on their palms show up in my senses as they continue to work, mining out pits of stones just like back in the Hollow District.
From my new rush of memories, I can calculate these plot prices and know many of the workers here have exile contracts that need thousands of Ether to be fulfilled over similarly long thousand plus year contracts.
Many of the workers in these mines come from 3rd Class worlds, just like Ava. She should certainly be placed in a contract like this but was stationed out in the Hollow District for some reason.
As we pass by, many don't even look our way; we're using up lots of Ether to speed through, and those who do look at us quickly lower their gazes to avoid offending a Lord like myself with over 100 worlds.
When we get to the next neutral checkpoint in my senses, we follow the curving pathways around a zone that my past memories tell me is always occupied by a strong 2nd Class Orc Lord.
It is far stronger than the Goblin King I just fought, and the pathway we're on is basically a straight shot to the next empty plot in my mind's eye.
Ava keeps up with me, as still keeping my barrier closed doesn't allow me to use my divine energy or mana to push myself faster.
On top of that, she's now benefiting from the 500% all-stat buffs that linking a 3rd Class world to one's avatar grants.
In the Goblin King's memories, I can see that 5th Class Worlds granted a 50% buff, 4th granted a 100% buff, and the single 2nd Class World it held granted a 2500% buff to all stats.
There are stacking limits depending on the Avatar granted to the Lord. Basic Avatars can only grant 25 planet buffs per Lord, and the High Grade Avatar the Goblin King had allowed up to 100 planet buffs.
No memories of what 1st Class worlds grant in stat buffs or the limits of a Premium Avatar come to mind, but it makes my mind spin with many questions as we continue our travels.
I keep quiet, processing all these thoughts, and my mind eventually calms down quite a bit. One thing doesn't add up, and I decide to turn to Ava and ask.
"I couldn't help but notice... most of the 3rd Class Lords we've passed don't have true cores. How did you manage to awaken yours?"
Words from Ember and the Lich King come to mind, as before I awakened mine, they all said a similar thing: that if I were to compress my core before reaching a green core, it would bring me far more power later on.
From what I've seen down here, the only two beings I've seen achieve a True Core are Ava and the Goblin King. It took hundreds of years and the cumulative resources of an entire 2nd Class World for it to achieve this.
Ava replies as I continue to theorize in my head.
"Long story short, an ancient Goblin King descended from the upper realm to die on my world in peace, most likely millions of years ago. They left their inheritance deep beneath the crust of our world. My unique skill happened to point me in the direction of its tomb, with enough Divine Energy for me to almost saturate my True Core in less than 30 years. The next strongest hobgoblin on my planet was lucky to awaken their red core in 300 years with the natural divine energy in our Star Sector."
She grins and turns to me with an eyebrow raised.
"What about you? A third-class human with a True Core? There must be something special about your world... there's no reason a demon would waste one of those ascension artifacts on it otherwise."
I think about her words carefully and realize I've actually succeeded in a similar way.
Celia's pocket world was an inheritance of sorts, as for decades it allowed many humans to extract enough divine energy to compress many True Cores.
In the end, it actually gave us enough power to stop the world from being taken by demons.
I nod and reply.
"A similar thing happened to me. A higher life form left behind enough divine energy for me to ascend..."
I pause as we make it to the edge of the next abandoned zone.
"First Instinct, right? That's the name of your skill. What does it do?"
A bright explosion of white light, green divine threads, and crystal-clear mana-infused water magic bursts all around me.
The brunt of the blow is stopped by my barrier, but the intensity of Ether that ripples through me is near the same attacking force as the Goblin King's axe, and it was a long-range attack.
I fall back to the ground, landing on my feet, and Ava lifts her hammer in defiance behind me, but I yell out again in a far more stern tone this time.
"We're seriously not here to fight! I'll transfer you some Ether for the trouble if that's what you want. We're going to be late for the Access Point, I don't want to make an enemy out of you—"
A loud roar comes back, and a deep yell follows.
"I do not care for your excuses, and I do not want your Ether! This disrespect will not be tolerated. You will die for stepping onto my plot! Thieves!"
This is followed by echoing footsteps, and the figure of a humanoid creature, over 7 meters tall, comes our way.
As its body comes into even more focus, I begin to see a long tail trailing behind it and thick scales covering its body.
Despite the green threads vibrating out from it, the shapes all shimmer with a shade of dark blue, and its sharp eyes match this color.
My gaze shifts to its hands and feet, which are covered in black armor, same as its middle body covering its vitals.
However, as this Blue-Scaled Lizardman lets out another roar, I watch the black-armored gauntlet around its right three-clawed hand glow with Ether, mana, and divine energy, telling me this is certainly a Soul Weapon user we're dealing with. The thick gauntlets cover up its world token, so I can't see how many worlds this being has, if any at all...
It charges forward much faster than either Ava or I could run on our way over, so I know I'll have to engage.
I charge up my fists, channeling the same mental energy that cooked the Goblin King's mind in seconds, and yell even louder as it lets out another three energy blades from its claws.
"Last chance! Back down, or I'm not holding back."
I sense Ava already moving her stance behind me to dodge the impact of these slashes, so I just allow all three to hit me across the body point-blank, taking the brunt of the blow while focusing on charging my fists with even more compact Ether.
It feels much easier, faster, and second nature to separate the brighter, tougher physical Ether from the compact and compressed translucent Ether that comes from deep within my mind.
The charging Lizardman doesn't seem to register anything I'm doing as it charges up its other gauntlet and lets out another three water-based Ether blades my way.
I allow them to hit my purple barrier, and it does nothing to me but fill my body with a light tingling sensation.
As the beast gets within striking distance of me, I shake my head and jump upward.
While punching the blue-scaled lizard in the chest, I yell at it again.
"I told you to stand down!"
Then, I release a concentrated mental attack that flows right through its armor and permeates its avatar's instant defenses with ease.
The Lizard's eyes roll to the back of its head, and it stops its roars and furious charging instantly while falling backward with me standing on its body.
My first thought is that this is all a waste of time and energy. While I'm in the wrong for trespassing into its plot, it could have just let us leave. This makes me think twice about killing my partially innocent attacker.
Though, before I can even decide whether or not to continue running and spare this mindless beast's life, I hear even more rumbling footsteps coming from all around us.
My gaze locks eyes with Ava as I jump off the lizard's chest and stand beside her holding her bright white hammer. Then, we stand back to back to scan the rolling hills and deep mining pits of black stones, preparing for whatever this rhythmic rumbling coming our way is.
Very soon after, we find out exactly what these footsteps and growing shadows are. Over one hundred identical blue scaled lizardmen figures emerge from the fog and move in on us from all sides.