Her father frowned slightly at the thought but shook his head. "It doesn't matter right now. Let's hurry to the meeting," he said in a quiet but firm voice. "Once it's over, we'll come back here and personally thank him."
His daughter nodded in agreement. Without wasting another moment, she wrapped her arm around him, lightning beginning to spark faintly around her form. In the next instant, the two vanished in a brilliant flash of light, leaving the street behind as the air crackled with the fading hum of electricity.
Meanwhile, Vector raised an eyebrow as something on the ground caught his attention. He bent down and picked up a wallet, turning it over in his hand. Inside were several crisp hundred-dollar bills along with a few cards, slightly scorched around the edges.
The burn marks made it clear where it had come from—most likely one of the masked men whose bike had exploded. The wallet must have been thrown clear in the blast, and by chance, he was the one who found it.
"Cool," Vector said lightly, slipping it into his pocket without a second thought before heading off to buy some stuff.
For any poor man, stumbling upon money like that would've felt like a dream. And though Vector had once been born into wealth, that life was long gone. Being disowned had left him with nothing but the pieces of who he used to be.
Now, he dreamed of returning to that life—the life where he had everything he wanted, where luxury and comfort were the norm. He hated hard work, despised stress, and had no patience for unnecessary problems. To him, a perfect life was one free of effort and struggle. Wouldn't everything be better if the world simply flowed in his favor? That was the dream he now chased—a peaceful, stress-free existence.
***
"Where is the Vice President?"
In a spacious office lined with glass walls, a white-haired man spoke sharply into his phone. His tone carried irritation, his patience clearly wearing thin. The Vice President was supposed to be here—he had crucial information that couldn't wait—but there was still no sign of him.
Around the room, several other guild presidents sat at a long table, their expressions reflecting their own displeasure. These were powerful figures, leaders of the top guilds in the country, and each had sacrificed valuable time to attend this meeting. Now, they were left waiting, growing more annoyed by the minute.
"What? He's gone missing!"
The white-haired man shot to his feet, his chair screeching across the floor as his arm slammed hard against the table. The sound echoed through the room, drawing immediate attention. The sudden outburst made everyone else rise as well, their faces shifting from annoyance to concern. It was clear now—someone had acted to delay or stop the Vice President from arriving.
"Then find him!" the white-haired man roared, his voice booming with authority. "No matter what, he needs to be here!"
A surge of lightning burst from his body, crackling violently as the power surged through the room. The phone in his hand shattered under the force, fragments scattering across the table. His anger was real, but beneath it was worry. The Vice President might have been systemless, but he was a rare genius—someone invaluable to their organization.
And his daughter… she possessed an A-tier System Holder, known as the Living Battery System. Although her system wasn't a combat system, out of pure talent and will, she managed to combat a powerful fighter within the guild, rivalry the likes of those A-tier systems who had A-tier combat systems. Losing the two of them wasn't just a setback—it was a disaster.
"What happened?" the Sun Guild President asked, his tone calm but edged with tension as he turned his sharp gaze toward the Lightning God Guild Master.
"They were attacked—most likely by the Goblin Guild," the white-haired man replied, his voice restless and strained. "It seems word of their movements leaked, and the Goblin Guild struck before we could react. Now… they're missing."
He clenched his fists, lightning faintly crackling around his arms as frustration built within him. He wanted nothing more than to head out immediately, to search every inch of the city until he found them—but he didn't even know where to start. Without any clue as to their location, all he could do was stand there, seething with helpless anger.
"Then this could be troublesome," said the Guild Master of the Boundless Sea Guild, her expression tightening into a frown. "If what he's carrying is truly that important, and it falls into their hands, we could be facing a disaster in the near future."
No one in the room spoke against her words. They all knew she was right. The silence that followed was heavy, the tension palpable as the implications sank in.
But before anyone could say another word, the door to the meeting room burst open with a loud crash. Every head turned toward the sound—and what they saw left them frozen.
Standing in the doorway were the Vice President and his daughter, both of them breathing heavily, their bodies covered in blood. Their clothes were torn, their faces pale, and yet they were still standing—barely. The sight sent a wave of shock through the room, breaking the uneasy silence in an instant.
"Sorry—we were attacked by the Goblin Guild on our way here, but we can discuss that later," the Vice President said quickly, his voice strained but urgent. Without wasting another second, he moved toward the computer at the end of the room and began typing rapidly. His blood-stained hands moved across the keyboard with practiced speed as he logged into his email, pulling up a series of chats and data logs.
A few seconds later, he projected the contents onto the large screen mounted on the wall. Rows of logs and data, and a sea of information images appeared as the others tried to follow along.
"What's this?" the Lightning God Guild Master asked with a deep frown, his eyes narrowing at the unfamiliar numbers, chats, and other nerdy stuff. He couldn't make sense of what he was seeing, but the Vice President's expression made it clear—it was something serious.
"This is a chart showing the ripples in space-time six years ago—right before our world collided with the Goblin Universe," the Vice President explained, pointing toward a large spike on the holographic display. The data pulsed faintly, the massive ripple clearly standing out from the rest.
The room fell silent as everyone's eyes followed his gesture. They didn't need further explanation—the meaning was obvious.
"So, you're saying our universe started that war?" the Boundless Ocean Guild Master asked, her frown deepening as she studied the data more closely. "For what reason?"
The chart shifted as she spoke, showing the timeline after the collision. The initial surge of chaos had eventually faded, and for years, things appeared to stabilize. But now, new ripples were forming again—small at first, but slowly growing stronger. It was a warning, one that no one in the room could ignore.
"I believe the universe is alive," the Vice President said, his tone serious. "It's not self-sustaining. It's ever-growing, constantly expanding, and by the looks of things, if it continued unchecked, it would eventually reach a point where it could no longer support itself. Everything would collapse into darkness and cold. To survive, it had to seek out another universe—something to consume."
His explanation left the room heavy with silence. The projection flickered softly in the background, showing the steady expansion of the universe's pattern.
"But that doesn't make sense," the Beast Taming Guild Master interjected with a deep frown. "For billions of years, it didn't need to feed on anything. Why now? Why, suddenly, six years ago, did it become necessary?" He gestured toward the chart. "And according to this data, it'll need to feed again in just a few more years."
"That's because we didn't wipe out all of the goblins," the Vice President said suddenly, his words shocking everyone in the room.
"What?" several guild leaders muttered at once, their eyes widening.
"From what my research has shown," the Vice President continued, "something is eating away at the universe's energy. The first part of that problem… is us." He gestured toward the projection, where patterns of energy flow and depletion pulsed across the screen. "When we gained mana, it seemed harmless at first. Granting us systems didn't appear to consume any of the universe's energy, but mana—that's the issue. Every time we channel it, use it, and replenish it, we're drawing directly from the universe itself."
He paused, letting the weight of his words sink in before continuing. "The universe's energy isn't infinite. It has limits. And if my findings are correct, it only began producing mana after it devoured the Goblin Universe. That act gave it the strength to create, but also started a cycle that's slowly draining it dry."
The room fell into stunned silence. The idea that every skill, every use of mana, was slowly killing the universe left even the most powerful guild masters speechless.