Chapter 629: Above Perfection, The Unknown
The Author tapped his pen lightly against the desk and spoke in a casual tone.
"Welcome back."
Ash, Nia, and Elysia stood in the boundless white void, facing the Author who sat casually at his desk.
Nia tilted her head, her black eyes narrowing slightly as she stared at the silhouette in front of them.
"What the hell is going on?" she asked bluntly. "What the hell is that?"
The Author let out a small chuckle and leaned back in his chair, twirling the pen between his fingers.
"Well, I suppose introductions are in order," he said in a relaxed tone. "Since Nia probably will wonder who the hell, I am anyway."
He gestured lazily toward himself.
"My good friend Ash has mentioned me a few times... I’m the Author. Or at least, a projection of him.
As this isn’t a live conversation — I recorded this message for the moment you’d eventually reach this point, when you began moving beyond even the limits of perfection."
Ash raised an eyebrow, his expression carrying a hint of dry amusement.
"How thoughtful of you," he said sarcastically. "Leaving messages like some kind of dead man’s will."
The Author smiled, as though he’d been expecting that reaction. Nia, who had been quietly listening, turned to Ash with a curious look.
"The Author, huh?" she mused, knowing this was the same being who had triggered Ash’s earlier outburst years ago—and the very reason she had created the Eternal Lands.
"How long have you been able to connect with him like this?" she asked.
Ash cast a quick glance in her direction.
"Not long," he said casually. "Just a few years. These things always seem to happen out of the blue."
Nia tilted her head with mild curiosity.
"So, is everything between you two resolved now?"
Ash gave a brief, confirming nod.
"Well, let’s just say he has no intentions of controlling anything we do."
The Author continued speaking, unaware of their private exchange.
"I’m not entirely sure which path you took that led you here," he continued,
"But if you’re seeing this, then there are two things you’ll need to accomplish if you want to truly attain the power of the pen... or in other words, break through the Sixth Wall and become the Author yourself."
He raised a finger.
"First, you need to master and conquer the Unknown."
The Author leaned in a bit, his voice taking on a more serious edge.
"The Unknown is the highest form of your current state — the Unseen. But it’s not part of the cosmology of the Father or Mother. It exists somewhere deep within the First Absence."
He then raised a second finger.
"Second... you’ll have to wait for our final meeting. That encounter is also waiting for you somewhere inside the First Absence."
Nia narrowed her eyes slightly and muttered under her breath.
"He’s being pretty vague..."
He let out a short laugh, clearly aware of how vague he was being.
"I know, I know. Not very helpful. But on the bright side..."
The Author gestured toward the white boards surrounding his desk.
"You can take a look at these now. They’re just my thoughts and rough outlines for the future volumes. Since you’re already in Volume 5, there are really only two volumes left that matter — Volume 6 and Volume 7."
He stood up from his chair and gave them a casual wave.
"Well then... this place is open to you now. Do what you want with it."
With that, the Author’s figure flickered and slowly faded away, leaving behind only the white boards and the empty desk in the vast white void.
-----
"So, there’s no need for me to create the road myself after all." Ash muttered as it seemed like the Author had already planned such a thing.
Which made sense, the Sixth Wall, it wouldn’t just allow him to become more powerful. No, at that point, he wouldn’t even be considered to be a true character in the novel anymore.
And he would finally achieve the one thing he always strived for.
Complete freedom.
Elysia walked beside him as the three of them began moving toward the white boards. She glanced at him with a small, knowing smile.
"Even though you don’t need to create a road anymore," she said teasingly, "you’re surely not planning to just walk the one the Author laid out for you, are you?"
Ash let out a low laugh, shaking his head.
"Of course not."
Nia walked beside him, her dark eyes roaming the floating white boards ahead with open curiosity.
"What do you think the Unknown really is?" she asked.
"Since your last few additions, we’ve all gained some connection to the Unseen... but unlike you, none of us can actually influence the Unknown. We don’t even know what it is."
Ash stayed silent for a moment as they walked.
"Even with my omnscience," he confessed, "I don’t exactly know what it is either. I just know it’s... something undefined. Something that exists beyond what’s already known or written."
They finally reached the cluster of white boards.
Ash stopped in front of them, his gaze sweeping across the various notes, outlines, and scattered ideas the Author had left behind.
For a brief moment, he thought about reading through them.
But then... he decided against it.
Even though it was his own story, he didn’t want any spoilers—no more than what he could already glimpse in his day-to-day life.
Instead, his gaze wandered to the bottom of the largest board, where NovelGeek2 had scribbled a rough estimate of the novel’s length.
Projected Ending: Chapter 950 ~ 1,050
Ash gazed at the numbers for a moment, a small, amused smile curling at his lips.
’Hmm, I wonder... should I still go ahead and extend the number of Chapters?’
He had originally thought that NovelGeek intended to wrap things up around the eight-hundredth Chapter, but now it seemed the story had already been stretched beyond that point.
’I should ask him why he decided to set the limit there in the first place.’
