Abyss Draconis

The instant the command was given—

DROONNNNEEE

The sound of space being torn rang out as Ryuk turned to the side and found a vortex waiting for him.

A pitch-black vortex, about three meters in height and diameter, rotating chaotically.

"It's a physical dimension, huh?" Ryuk muttered to himself as he looked at the vortex, one that no doubt required his physical body to enable entrance.

And so, without wasting any more seconds, Ryuk rose to his feet, with the book in his hand, and stepped into the portal, which instantly zapped closed the second he entered it.

10 minutes later...

"Meow? Meow?"

_____________

When Ryuk stepped into the portal, the world stilled for a second.

Then he felt sensation return.

His eyes curled up as his awareness began flowing back to him—but the first thing he felt was... discomfort.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself in a completely different world.

A world of darkness and purple.

Floating vortexes hung across the sky, purple lightning snaking through it, crackling with a destructive power that made all of Ryuk's hair stand like needles across his body.

Around him were suspended, shattered grounds that floated chaotically.

When Ryuk looked beneath his feet, he sighted no floor, only an endless void, with some parts holding lingering cracks all over the area.

"This is the Void Rift?" Ryuk mused to himself as he looked around.

Here, there was an energy that made his body feel quite uncomfortable.

There was no feeling of gravity or anything that anchored him to the ground.

Everything was dead silent, save for the crackling of purple lightning in the sky.

The entire plane of void reeked of destruction and chaos—so much so that it reached a nauseating level.

Yet, Ryuk could feel something deep within him getting excited, as if a part of his body had found this place to be its home.

Trying to take a step forward, he realized he couldn't move an inch.

All he could do was heave, even after flailing his arms all over to try and move forward.

In the end, he had no choice but to order:

"Activate Void Vortex,"

A dark vortex zone appeared before him, and he stepped into it.

Another vortex instantly appeared about 100 meters away, and Ryuk stepped outside it.

"Seems like I can only move with Void Vortex for now. The laws here are so twisted..." Ryuk muttered to himself as he looked down and noticed his own clothes suddenly rising up toward his neck—something that should've happened if he were standing upside down, but he was standing upright.

That meant the gravity in here worked the exact opposite way, making everything incredibly awkward.

"Activate Void Vortex!" Ryuk ordered once more as he moved away from the area and teleported another 100 meters ahead.

Quickly using Void Vortex seven more times—

Ryuk paused as he found himself considerably far from where he had started. The view before him was noticeably different.

It was another dark area of the void, but this time, around Ryuk were floating graveyards.

Yes—graveyards, along with their sand hanging in the air, seemingly buried in the void, moving up and down rhythmically with tombstones placed on each of their heads.

They covered every single area of the region, and Ryuk teleported to one of the floating rocks in the graveyard, sitting on it as he looked at the arrays of graves before him.

His eyes flashed curiously as he teleported once more and appeared before one of the graves.

His hands reached out for the tombstone, trying to clear off the dust and read the name, but then—

CRAAACKKLLLLE

"Argggh!"

Ryuk yelped in shock as he rapidly teleported away from the grave and appeared on a suspended platform.

Except this time, his right hand was missing and his entire arm had been scorched black.

"Lightning?" he asked, clenching his teeth as the pain wracked through his body.

When he had touched the tombstone, he had suddenly been struck by lightning.

A few seconds passed and dark veins in his arm slowly receded—but then, his hand morphed into very sharp claws, and then—

RIIIIIPPPP

Ryuk's hand came forward as he slashed his burnt arm, and then—

VROOOOOOM

The void flapped about as another new arm was instantly torn out of the stump and reappeared over his shoulder.

"Seems like whatever this grave holds... I can't go near them—for now," Ryuk muttered, before shrugging his shoulder as he returned to the suspended platform he was on before and sat down, opening the book up.

"According to the manual, I need to find the Graveyard Spire. The best environment for the first stage of cultivation," he mused with a furrow in his eye, but his gaze slowly widened as he looked toward the multitude of graves.

"Seems like I'm already there. So this is the best environment for the cultivation of Void Energy. Nice," Ryuk said with a smile as he moved to the cultivation process in the manual, reading and re-reading it over and over again until he got every single letter arrangement in his heart and understood everything as clearly as possible.

"The meditation pose is quite an unusual one, but it's not something too difficult..." Ryuk mused to himself as he loudly inhaled, before the book slid back into the shop.

"Time to begin..."

Heaving in and out to calm his heart, Ryuk cleared all distracting thoughts before standing on both feet.

Then he slowly crouched low like a predator hunting for its food.

His hands stretched out, his palms facing downwards, with his spine arched, his head lowered but straight into the distance.

His eyes slowly closed up, as his lips opened wide, exhaling loudly—when suddenly, the space around him shook a bit weirdly.

[Host has achieved Perfect Meditation Pose for the Technique.]

The system notification confirmed, as he began the cultivation.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

Opening his mouth wide, he drew in an incredibly large breath, the force of it enough to pull the space around him, and then—Ryuk watched the space before him fold in, and as if oozed out, a pitch-dark energy floated down and instantly slipped into Ryuk's maw, rapidly emanating through.

He remained calm as the energy continued entering without any help from him, but it had yet to be even 30 seconds when his expression suddenly changed—his eyes reddening with surging veins.