There was no impact.
That was the first thing Ren noticed.
He had expected pain.
A violent collision.
Bones breaking.
Air forced out of his lungs.
But there was nothing.
No ground.
No sound.
No sense of direction.
Just… absence.
Ren opened his eyes.
Darkness.
Not the kind that comes from night.
This was deeper.
It didn't feel like something was missing.
It felt like something had never existed.
He moved his hand.
Slowly.
Carefully.
It responded.
So he wasn't dead.
"…Good."
His voice sounded wrong.
Muted.
Like the world itself refused to carry sound.
Then—
A flicker.
Something in front of him distorted.
Not light.
Not energy.
Space.
It bent slightly.
Like heat rising from asphalt.
Ren stared at it.
Not with fear.
With focus.
That wasn't there before.
The system voice returned.
Broken.
Fragmented.
"SCANNING…"
Pause.
"ERROR: NO COMPATIBLE PROTOCOL"
The message repeated.
Again.
And again.
Then—
It changed.
"…INITIATING MANUAL LAYER"
Ren's breath slowed.
Manual…?
He didn't understand the term.
But he understood one thing clearly.
The system had failed.
And something else had taken its place.
A faint pull came from the distortion.
Not physical.
Not magnetic.
But… directional.
As if something was inviting him closer.
Ren stepped forward.
Nothing pushed back.
No resistance.
No gravity shift.
Just silence.
He reached out.
And touched it.
Pain.
Instant.
Violent.
Not external.
Internal.
It felt like his body had rejected the contact entirely.
Muscles tightened.
Nerves misfired.
His vision fractured.
He fell back.
Breathing uneven.
"…So that's how it works."
Ren sat up slowly.
Not power.
Force.
He looked at his hand.
It was trembling.
Not from fear.
From overload.
That distortion—
It wasn't something you used.
It was something you had to endure.
Ren stood again.
This time—
He didn't reach out immediately.
He observed.
The distortion pulsed.
Not randomly.
There was a rhythm.
Subtle.
But consistent.
Like a heartbeat.
Ren adjusted his breathing.
Matched it.
Inhale.
Pause.
Exhale.
Again.
Again.
Then—
He stepped forward.
And touched it again.
Pain returned.
But weaker.
Still violent.
Still overwhelming.
But not… uncontrollable.
Ren gritted his teeth.
Stayed there.
Didn't pull back.
Seconds passed.
Then—
The distortion changed.
It reacted.
A small ripple expanded outward.
Red.
Faint.
But visible.
Ren's eyes sharpened.
It responds to stability.
Not strength.
Not aggression.
Control.
The moment his breathing broke—
The pain spiked again.
He pulled away.
Collapsed to one knee.
Sweat.
Shaking.
"…So this is training."
No instructor.
No system guidance.
Just feedback.
Immediate.
Brutal.
Ren looked around.
The Abyss hadn't changed.
Still empty.
Still silent.
Still unforgiving.
But now—
It wasn't meaningless.
It was structured.
He just had to understand it.
Hours passed.
Or minutes.
Time didn't exist here.
Ren repeated the process.
Again.
And again.
Step.
Touch.
Endure.
Adjust.
Every failure hurt.
Every success was microscopic.
But measurable.
The distortion grew slightly more stable.
The red pulse slightly stronger.
And Ren—
Slightly more capable.
At some point—
He stopped thinking about pain.
Not because it disappeared.
But because it became… data.
Too much force → backlash
Poor timing → instability
Broken rhythm → rejection
It wasn't random.
It was consistent.
And consistency—
Could be mastered.
Then—
Something changed.
The distortion expanded suddenly.
Violently.
Ren didn't step back.
He stepped in.
Instinct.
Or calculation.
Even he wasn't sure.
His hand entered deeper this time.
The pain—
Spiked beyond anything before.
His body screamed.
But he didn't pull away.
His breathing stabilized.
His posture aligned.
And for a moment—
Everything went still.
The distortion—
Calmed.
Then—
It moved.
A thin line of red energy followed his hand.
Not wild.
Not explosive.
Controlled.
Ren stared at it.
"…So this is it."
Not magic.
Not a skill.
A result.
Generated.
Not given.
The red line flickered—
Then vanished.
Ren fell backward.
Completely exhausted.
But smiling.
Slightly.
For the first time—
He wasn't disconnected.
He was… building something.
From nothing.
End of Chapter 2