"Primordial Mass?" Skullius said, brows furrowed. He'd never heard of that term before. Then again, Apexis had made it clear that it was his own way of defining what he was talking about. "What is that?"

"Perhaps it would be easier to grasp what I mean if I outline the two other ways of generating Ota," said Apexis, and his hands trembled slightly because of his excitement. Skullius raised a brow at that. "Inverted Prevalences are one source of Primordial Mass, a lesser source. Only gods can produce ones that I can process into significant volumes of Ota upon being slain."

Skullius lagged for a moment, and then it hit him. "Hold on. You mean the Broader Existences of Deities?"

He realized a split-moment late that Broader Existences were called Inverted Prevalences in the Null Verse. Apexis was quite like Weaver. He wasn't a new being per se. It was likely that he was a reincarnate, which was why he even knew to use certain distinct terms when defining anything.

"Yes, my Liege," said Apexis. "But you need not worry about the difficulty involved with reaching Inver— Broader Existences. It indeed is a difficult feat, but if you use any of my abilities to eradicate an enemy with a powerful Broader Existence, I can instantly process them."

Skullius blew out a breath. His mind was whirring.

"Primordial Mass…" he recited. "You're referring to Reality's innate, supernatural compounds, right? Things that existed before the Primeval Deities and the Existential Parallels began tampering with Reality. Broader Existences aren't a product of the Common Reality Leagues; they are more like victims. They were already a thing before those guys ascended. And ha… the Broader Existences of Deities are far more complex than those of the average Divine."

The Broader Existences of Deities generated Fated Reefs and constructed their potential for obtaining the power of dimensions. Yes, they were far more valuable.

"Indeed," said Apexis. "As for the second source of Primordial Mass…"

"Breaking Chasms," said Skullius at once. "Right?"

"Indeed, my Liege."

It made sense to the Hybrid at once.

Primordial Mass…

Through Boron's memories, Skullius now understood what Breaking Chasms were and their significance. As a matter of fact, there was a war going on between the Aspire to Divine and Primeval Deities for Breaking Chasms. There weren't that many of them, and some were more important than others, but all the same, they had great value.

They were Realms, wide spaces, like miniature realities where naturally-occurring worlds spawned almost ceaselessly. The Aspire to Divine used them as bases for their operations.

Skullius could see why spaces like these could generate Focused Null Life Ota, but frankly, the how was still unclear to them. When he asked Apexis about that…

"I wish I could explain it further, my Liege, but I cannot be sure myself. This mechanism, I believe, is unique to me alone. Only I can convert these things to Ota. No other Null Life creature has ever done it. I am still learning."

"Is that so?" Skullius said.

All that Apexis had explained was a product of him studying his own powers since he was born (or perhaps reborn?). It was probably true that this was as much as he had gathered; some of that information he had explained was probably passively extracted from Skullius.

"Very well. That's plenty for now," said Skullius. "Makes it easier to understand what I'm dealing with."

And speaking of understanding the status quo, Skullius began analysing his limits.

Before he dove deep into his atrocious idea for the growth of his subordinates, he had to define his limits with Apexis at present. The Apostle was, after all, one of the pieces needed to bring the idea to life.

Skullius couldn't access Apexis' full powers while in the Default Body. It was something he'd only become aware of when Fulgardt had forced him out of the War Body during their battle.

The Apostle's collection of abilities was dense.

The supreme Null Life Essence manipulation skill.

The ability to switch between Null Life Classes. (Granted to the user.)

The Mystery Series – Bestowal and Bewitchment.

The Banisher Series – Removal and Railing.

The Maverick Wafer arsenal.

The only ability Skullius had access to when in his default form was the Maverick Wafer Arsenal, but even that was limited. He could freely use Lifeless Wafers to absorb attacks, but when it came to using them to read opponents – stealing pages from their bodies in order to understand everything about them – the process was dramatically slow.

He had to make contact with his target for a long time to get enough information for a full book containing all their experiences. That was why he'd only gotten two pages from Fulgardt during their fight, when previously, he'd managed to extract everything from Boron.

When he was utilizing the First Phase of the War Body, Skullius would get access to the supernatural manipulation of Null Life Essence and Class Change qualities afforded by Apexis.

And only when he obtained the full power of the War Body with the Second Phase could he access the Mystery and Banisher series.

"A headache, indeed," said Skullius with a sigh of frustration. "But while I'm in here, I can cheat the rules, and in more ways than one."

One of the cheats had to do with his setting. Skullius wasn't using the Timemould Mirror Box only because it allowed him to decelerate Doom Factor 2.

No.

The Timemould Mirror Box was also the only place Skullius knew for sure that the Primeval Deities could intrude on his affairs.

The reason was simple.

'The Primeval Deities are probably beings that can traverse through more than four dimensions, hence why I can't perceive them clearly, even when I'm moving in four dimensions myself,' thought Skullius. 'One of the most supreme advantages to being able to move within higher dimensions is being able to observe the entirety of any organism, living or not, in lower dimensions – their bodies, souls, secrets, and future.'

Skullius reached into the space to his left, and it opened up like a blossoming flower.

'The only time when you aren't able to do so is when that organism has aspects of the |Greater Cosmic Law| that exceed a certain threshold.'

The Timemould Mirror Box was one such place.

…But Skullius had also reached this threshold. Unfortunately for him, though, that made only him immune to the observation of the Primeval Deities and not the things around him. The Box remedied this loophole.

The space next to him revealed a collection of books hidden in a nebulous, hidden library, each with a cover that bore a resemblance to Skullius' subordinates.

"Now…Let's get started."