Ball of Nothing

Chapter 318 Patching a Huge Hole

After Zero left Heaven, he looked for Merlin and apologised sincerely. Unable to remain mad at his student, the wizard offered to work together with Zero to create the spells for his grimoire. Zero beamed and immediately took out all his drafted designs. The master and student combo worked closely and within a week, Zero was considered a full-fledged magician in Merlin’s eyes.

Today, both master and student stood atop Titan Cliff with Hades beside them. The God of Death wasn’t expecting to open the barriers again. Although the crack in the plane had been fixed, the mountain was still broken and the place was still dangerous to everyone else. Roots tangled at the bottom of where the void used to be and Hades wondered what the magician was up to this time.

Zero scouted the area and even marked out some spots around the cliff. Merlin was rather proud of his student for being able to put together so many vague descriptions of the old Mount Olympia and come out with a model that looked close to what the original mountain looked like. The wizard agreed with the model that Zero showed him and was also excited that Zero’s first use of recreation magic was to reconstruct the broken mountain over where the huge hole used to be. Of course, they didn’t let Hades know about Zero’s little gift to Heaven before officially leaving for the last part of his mission. Merlin thought that it would be a great idea for Zero to go with a blast.

Hades yawned. He didn’t have a good rest the night previously because there were so many things to do after the separation of planes. With nobody managing the new segregation, Hades took up the mantle in the law department in his old office to record the new legislations from the treaty signed between Heaven and Hell about the divided territories. As the overseer of the broken zone, Hades had to modify the barrier restrictions so that important individuals may still pass to carry out their activities like patrolling the area and strengthening Merlin’s elemental golem seal.

Merlin worked separately from Zero and laid out his arrays for the complicated setup. The golem guardians were with Zero in his very convenient void inventory function. All the magician had to do was identify the spot after determining the direction and complete the Bagua formation with the correct elements in place at the foot of where the reconstructed Mount Olympia would be.

Zero skipped along the edges of the crack and was sprinkling some kind of powder along the edge of the crack to mark out where he was going to start borrowing plane materials to recreate Mount Olympia. This strange powder was a product from crushing Zero’s energy and chaos energy after Wii accidentally mixed them together causing an explosion. The properties of this powder acted strangely and in a short explanation, they acted as Zero’s temporary clones that can pass information back to Zero’s mindscape assistants. The powder could help with data collection of becoming a point that Zero could use to direct his magic or energy without contact with the place as long as they didn’t dissipate. The powder’s use had a time limit of one hour and would return to the atmosphere if Zero didn’t absorb them back on time.

In order to create a complicated reconstruction of the shattered mountain, Zero had to get the help of many Parallel Minds to build layers over layers of plane, earth, rocks and plants. Wii knew the drill and had already started to analyse the plane’s make up. The materials of the plane contained traces of Solo’s unique energy signature in the plane’s energy veins that was supported by the Tree of Knowledge’s roots. The first step to reconstructing the plane would be to completely drain and absorb the traces of Solo’s energy from the veins and energy reservoir and replace it with Zero’s own energy.

Merlin tried to ask Zero to reconsider because changing the energy signature in a plane would be the same as changing the laws of the plane entirely. They experimented it on a small scale that Merlin lent Zero in Arabesque. That portion of the modified plane was immediately influenced to behave according to Zero’s will. It no longer focussed on rejecting foreign presences and caged itself. Zero was beginning to receive many lost dimensional spirits on the altered part of the plane. Wii and Zero did their best to attempt to inject the plane with different energy types. Merlin was horrified at the level of destruction certain combinations caused and declared that sins should be banned. He didn’t need to attract the evil spirits who would spread negativity in Heaven.

\"Heaven has enough toxic going around as it is, we don’t need to add more to the chaos,\" was what Merlin said. Zero couldn’t deny it and respected his teacher’s decision.

The best combination of energy types that Merlin and Zero agreed on for remodelling Heaven’s plane would be eighty percent pure energy, ten percent chaos energy and ten percent qi. As odd as it was, the chaos energy and qi didn’t cancel each other out with enough energy acting as a wall between them. It was like a layer of oil trapped between two types of water. Zero’s chaos energy attached the chaos energy attacking the plane as strange as that was. While neither side won, it made a great defence mechanism. Sadly, Zero couldn’t introduce too much chaos energy into the plane because the unpowered plane starts to eat itself inside out after a while. Qi nourishes the plane much like how mana works and keeps the chaos energy in check while pure energy fuels the plane’s stability and laws.

Merlin didn’t know what the laws of Solo’s plane were but there was a huge difference in plane behaviours when he allowed Zero to modify that one portion of his plane during the testing stage. Zero’s plane laws often neutralise negative emotions and promote a very pacifist mindset. Conflicts were few and the harmonising factor was very strong. Zero’s plane was all-encompassing much like himself and didn’t restrict residents at all. In the past, Solo’s version of Heaven only allowed certain types of souls to reside in it. It’s also the reason why King Yama has to pass judgement to determine who went to Heaven, Hell or reincarnated. With Zero’s meddling, the old rules for entering the pearly gates no longer applied. However, that was something for Zero to inform the Great Gods and archangels for them to decide if they want to open the gates for more tourists and residents of lower soul values.

\"I’m done,\" Zero informed Merlin who was setting up the last array.

\"I’m almost done,\" he told his student and checked the formation once more.

They met up at the peak of Titan Cliff and linked hands before pulsing mana through the air to activate the Bagua inspired magic circle formation to anchor the crack in the plane. Hades had to take a few steps back from where Zero and Merlin were chanting due to the heavy atmospheric pressure of their grand magic. This plane sealing magic was something even greater than the ordinary blessing magic given by Great Gods. After feeding Zero with as much mana and energy as he could for the past week, Merlin was glad that his student had such a great ability to act as an infinite battery pack. Without Zero, the chances of sealing the crack in the plane completely would only be theoretically possible.

A sixteen layered magic circle appeared in the form of spinning discs towering over one another with each circle bigger than the previous stacked on top of one another. It was quite the sight to behold and everyone in Heaven stopped what they were doing to witness the grand spectacle. Once more, Mount Olympia became the talk for years to come.

Hades had to retreat to the foot of Mount Olympia as the magic circles started to compress into one another. The pressure was so great that it shook the entire plane. In Garden Eden, Ouroboros had passed out from the sheer agony of enduring something being forcibly pulled out of the plane to fill another place out. The crack that was broken was now meticulously being stitched back. Destroyed energy veins were being drafted by the elemental golems while Zero was slowly draining the plane of its vitality reserves and replacing it with something else. If anything, Ouroboros had to describe this cruel process as performing a blood transfusion and operation without anaesthetics.

The plane’s ’wound’ was slowly stitched back together with magic. Once the magic circles were in place to stop the bleeding, Zero pumped in his energy, chaos energy and qi into the half depleted reserves. Merlin helped to steady Zero’s channelling flow into the newly created energy veins of the huge hole.

Once the energy reserves were completely free from Solo’s traces, Zero moved on to the final stage of their plan - recreating Mount Olympia.

Origin floated out from Zero’s robes and flipped open to a page that contained Zero’s rune writing. This time, Merlin didn’t chant and let his student handle everything. Recreation magic wasn’t something he could use since it was unique magic that only Zero could accomplish with his advanced understanding of creation.

With the help of the dust that Zero spread around the perimeter earlier, Zero used them to extract some of the plane’s materials to duplicate their structure and converting the seawater from his inventory into materials on a similar level as the plane’s composition. Wii did some quick calculation and decided to convert some sand from Zero’s inventory to ease the burden of materials needed to recreate an entire holy mountain. The seawater wouldn’t be enough for Zero to complete what he wanted to do and they might not have enough for growing plants when the structure was complete.

\"Master, there isn’t enough for plants. I think we should skip on the soil structures and just create a rock mountain. The Tree of Knowledge should be able to terraform a barren mountain once it regains its strength over time. If we tried to complete the soil structures and plants, we wouldn’t have enough even if we used all the sand and seawater. Mii said that we need to store reserves for your reckless use of blessings and magic.\"

Hearing that from Wii made Zero cringe. He wanted to retort to the eggplant fairy’s claims but understood that he couldn’t be trusted by anyone to not repeat his mistakes. He did it once at Half Moon Village and Baal scolded him for it while the Great Gods worked hard to give him a new vessel. As if he never learnt his lesson, the young doctor repeated his mistake again on a grander scale by forcefully holding on and trying to bring the Tree of Life to full growth despite already breaking his second vessel’s limits. This time, more people scolded Zero for it. Zero would be an idiot if he didn’t learn from it but there was a small part of him that knew he would definitely do the same thing if another desperate situation called for it. He wasn’t someone who could turn a blind eye to such things.

With great reluctance, Zero agreed. It was a huge miscalculation on his part to not stock up on materials for reconstruction. The young doctor only prepared enough energy to last the ritual and some extra for a buffer in case something went awry during the spell. Due to his lack of experience, Zero would only have a bald mountain made instead of a mountain rich with life, like what he wanted. It was regrettable but there wasn’t much he could do.

Nodding, Zero focussed more on building a solid mountain base with rocks hard enough that could break even the best pickaxe crafted by ancient dwarven smiths. Beneath the mountain was the hole leading to the void so Zero wanted to prevent any dumb explorers from trying to dig into it and disturb the Bagua magic circle that patched the plane’s wound. He filled the rest of the hole with things like bedrocks and reinforced mineral walls while adding these rocks that couldn’t be mined around them before tossing in the less stubborn rocks and earth on the top layer.

Titan Cliff was originally tall so the reconstructed Mount Olympia wasn’t any less impressive in terms of width or height. It was intimidating even from far and a sight to behold. In terms of grandiose, it didn’t pale to the House of Great Gods. However, it was definitely lacklustre in appearance with the barren landscape in comparison to the beautiful gardens all over Heaven.

Merlin was slightly surprised when Zero stopped his spell. Mount Olympia looked almost complete but something was still missing. He was almost certain that the model shape of Mount Olympia built by Zero contained rivers, caves and even trees. Although it wasn’t specified, Merlin thought that Zero would put in more effort to make the reconstructed mountain more visually appealing. After all, it wasn’t easy to recreate it. Why not go the extra mile to beautify it too?

Zero looked gloomy and the wizard couldn’t help but feel like something was wrong.

\"Zero?\"

The young doctor sulked. \"We have to leave landscaping and the aesthetics of this mountain to others. I’m out of building materials.\"

For a moment, Merlin didn’t react. Once the words sank in, the wizard couldn’t help but clutch at his sides that were sore from laughing too much. Hades came up to where the two magicians were and found Merlin rolling on the floor, wheezing with a red face and inhaling with difficulty. He stared at the magician with confusion. They were fine earlier despite being at the top of the mountain. The air here couldn’t possibly thin out suddenly just because the mountain was reconstructed. It didn’t work that way.

\"What’s wrong with him?\" Hades asked the teen who merely rolled his eyes at his teacher’s childishness.

\"I just made a silly mistake and Merlin lost it completely. In any case, due to a miscalculation on my part, you might need to call in a landscaping team to decorate Mount Olympia. Almost all the seawater and sand I absorbed back on planet Amarania is used up rebuilding the mountain. I cannot bring forth the recreation of soil and plants or rivers... Gaia might have to lend us a hand if we don’t want everyone in Heaven to stare at this ugly stone mound.\"

Zero’s sarcasm and sulking only made Merlin laugh louder. His brilliant student could make such a rookie mistake and although it wasn’t harmful, the wizard was never going to let Zero live this down. The one grand thing Zero wanted to leave in Heaven... the grandest of the grandest things for everyone to feast their eyes on when he left... was this awful looking rock mountain.

Oh, how hilarious this was... if only Merlin had a recording of Zero’s bold claims last night, he could have sold this for billions of mana gems! Too bad he didn’t have a copy of the teen’s claims but thinking about it was still funny.

Hades only looked at Zero’s foul mood and Merlin’s crazy laughter in confusion. Whatever that was going on between them, Hades had no wish to be a part of. He thanked Zero for the hard work and assured him that he will inform Gaia and arrange for a team of landscapers to decorate the new Mount Olympia when he left for his quest to resolve Athena’s Grief.

Zero thanked Hades politely and quickly teleported away, leaving his batshit crazy teacher rolling on the dirt still laughing away. Slowly, the God of Death inched away and disappeared before the laughing virus spread to him. Everyone knew that Merlin was a few marbles short of a picnic but today, he must have forgotten to bring any marbles at all. Hades shook his head. He was so glad Zero was graduating soon. Now that the grimoire is created, Merlin has no more reasons to keep Zero under his wing.