Defiance of the Fall

A hint of killing intent appeared in the auras when Zac pushed into the molten core . Zac couldn’t sense the situation outside , but he wouldn’t be surprised if the beasts had crawled out of their caves . It wouldn’t be long before the leaders were compelled to take action , and Zac knew exactly what would set them off .

Cracks appeared across the small pygmy skeletons as they did their best to block and divert the unrelenting inferno around him , but a scream of danger warned Zac that the true peril of the sun was about to strike . A pulse of pure Oblivion was bearing down on him . There was no time to worry about the fallout as Zac channeled Oblivion into his shoulders .

Conflict and Oblivion fused and formed a sphere of nothingness between his hands . It consumed any Death that came close and then merged with the approaching pulse . There was no way for Oblivion to destroy Oblivion , but they weren’t exactly the same . One was unbridled destruction , while the Annihilation Sphere] was infused with Zac’s will .

The difference allowed Zac to extract enough Oblivion to create a safe passage through the pulse . Doing so tripled the size of the Annihilation Sphere] , and it was rapidly going out of control . Zac was ready for that and threw it out in front of him with all force he could muster . The sphere created a tunnel of nothingness before collapsing in a huge implosion that pulled Zac closer .

The miniature black hole was gone as quickly as it appeared , and Zac managed to use it to speed up . The experience was just like when he got the Shard of Creation inside the Twilight Ocean . It’d been in the heart of a volcano , releasing deadly pulses that he’d been forced to fight through .

Since then , Zac had grown a lot stronger , both his constitution and soul . It allowed him to control the uncooperative energies better , and the collision only cost him two of his fingertips . He could even have gone further and infused Profane Exponents] with Oblivion to completely block the pulse .

Of course , doing so would do more harm than good . With his tight schedule , there simply hadn’t been time to do anything with the energy highways on his shoulders . He’d only had time to reinforce his Thousand Lights Avatar] to the point it would hopefully withstand what was about to happen . As such , he was still forced to rely on the Dao Molds if he wanted to channel Creation or Oblivion into his skills .

And while the molds had improved since his successful attempt in his fight with Valsa , they still weren’t able to properly carry that kind of force .

Zac continued toward the star’s core , hoping to reach his target before it released another pulse . Things had worked out just like Zac hoped , but not everyone rejoiced about his success .

A furious roar shook the star , and Zac’s bones groaned when a tremendous aura crashed into him from outside . It clearly belonged to the ruler of the Oblivion Star , but Zac wasn’t phased in the slightest . He even used the pressure to speed up as he dug toward the core with wild abandon .

He’d known that using Oblivion Energy would warn the kings outside that things were different this time . That he wasn’t just a greedy fool overestimating his capabilities . Zac wryly smiled , realizing the latter might depend on who you asked . The remained that someone who could wield Oblivion held the key to stealing the Remnant .

A huge presence drew closer with speed that outclassed his own , though still within his calculations . The sun wasn’t that big , and he could already feel the Remnant ahead . If he absorbed the splinter before the Beast King caught up , then everything would be fine . In fact , he dared that guy to target him when he had a splinter-worth of Oblivion coursing through his body .

The splinter was just a hundred meters away now . The energy was unbearable by that point , and Profane Exponents] couldn’t withstand the assault any longer . The skeletons crumbled , and the star’s energy dug into his body . Even his undead constitution started dying from the immense and uncontrollable aggression . Skin and limbs withered as a comforting yet terrifying cold gripped his soul .

Yet Zac pushed on , using his Dao and Hidden Nodes to fight back . He was almost there . The resistance was far greater this far into the star , and the tar-like ichor had almost turned into a solid . Zac was forced to dig his way forward , all while the sense of doom drew closer . Then , a scream of danger forced Zac to take drastic measures .

A huge , jagged blade giving off a profoundly ancient aura dug into the solidified energy before him , and the Branch of the War Axe allowed him to carve a scar over forty meters deep . Zac didn’t even have time to finish the swing before he’d turned into an abyssal wraith that squeezed into the crack . He even left the practice axe behind , not daring to waste even a fraction of a second .

It was lucky as well , as a huge taloned claw tore into the star right at his heels . A whole section of the Oblivion Sun was ripped out , exposing the local tyrant . It was a skeletal monstrosity over one hundred meters long , its bones covered in black flames that resembled fur . It reminded Zac of the Gwyllgi back home , except for its size and two wings made of burning bones that didn’t seem attached to its main body .

Zac didn’t know if it had been raised from the bones of a fallen beast or if it was something that was naturally born that way . Either case , the Beast King emitted a murderous aura , and it wasn’t sparing any effort to deal with him . It was willing to carve off a good chunk of the star to kill Zac .

Thankfully , it wasn’t quick enough , and Zac appeared at the edge of the scar just as the claw passed . Deep wounds covered his whole body after forcibly using his movement skill in such an unstable environment , but surface wounds beat being swiped by a Late-stage Beast King .

A deadly flame grew in the Gwyllgi’s maw , but Zac didn’t bother activating any defensive layers . Only Pillar of Desolation] had a chance at withstanding the thing , and that skill couldn’t be activated in this environment . Zac desperately dug on as more Oblivion was extracted from his mind .

A second Annihilation Sphere] tore through the inner core while swallowing the ambient Oblivion . Zac was fast losing control , but he furiously held onto his will . The splinter was just ahead , and Zac grinned upon sensing it had detached itself from the sun’s core . Did it feel its siblings , perhaps , and wanted to swim over?

Zac was soon forced to throw away the Annihilation Sphere] , and it erased a huge swathe of the magma barring his path . His mind screamed of danger , and not because of the sun rapidly destabilizing from the punishment it had been forced to endure . The Gwyllgi’s all-out attack was fast drawing closer .

Zac wouldn’t make it in time , so he forcibly activated Abyssal Phase] again , even if he knew it would damage the fractal .

It was narrowly enough to cross the void created by his outburst of Oblivion . On the other side was a smooth sphere of solid black . Zac didn’t know exactly what it was , but he suspected it was a special shell protecting the sun’s core—a shell that was now cracked , leaking vast amounts of energy . Zac could feel it just on the other side , and his arm squeezed into the crack . The world slowed as extinction poured into his arm , and a smile spread across Zac’s lips .

So far , so good .

74

ALL FOR ONE’S DREAM

The usually crowded Road of Repentance was abandoned . The hawkers had abandoned their stalls where they stood , and the enshrined patrons were without reverend attendants . A suffocating silence held the road in its grip , and his approach only amplified it . The sound of his boots stepping on the glazed tiles were annihilated , creating the illusion of illusion .

The same was true for the birdcage hanging from a chain wrapped around his left arm . Oblivion swept away the anguished screams of the men and women trapped inside . They only got to live on in his mind for a brief instant before being forever erased from the river of time . Some thought him a ghost , and while his corporeity was still there , they weren’t exactly wrong . Since he accepted this path , he’d become the ghost of future’s sin .

It all had to be torn down before it was too late .

The walls of Emyr’s Sanctuary rose toward the sky , a bastion of salvation that served as a both administrative and spiritual capital for eons . False salvation , certainly , but he still felt a muted pang of sorrow that his path led him back here . The fact he felt anything at all proved the centuries spent inside these vermillion walls weren’t so easily erased .

Atop the ramparts stood the Celestial Guard , thousands of them decked in glistening armor . He could feel the fear , the hatred , the despair . The four outer sanctuaries had already fallen by his hands , where utter nothingness was left in his wake . Yet they stood tall , remembering their training and their oaths .

Above the central gate floated a vaguely familiar face , her expression marred by sorrow rather than the mixed bag of the soldiers below her . He tried to remember who this priestess was , but he couldn’t match it with those he knew during his years in Emyr’s Sanctuary . Then again , it was all so blurry . She clearly recognized him yet dared to fly out of the protective barrier to speak with him .

Lord Norosa , you have to stop! -

Norosa . . . A name I haven’t heard in a long time , - he spoke , his voice gravelly from disuse .

It’s not too late to turn back . You are inviting a Calamity . On yourself , on the citizens of the Holy Empire! - the priestess entreated . - You said the core tenet of the clergy was to serve . Is this how you serve? -

So , it was her .

To think that little nun became an Ecclesiastic Tributary in a short 800 years . Sina , was it? He remembered the young acolyte who had been so full of righteousness , openly catechizing her local bishop over his excess . How she’d approached his fellow inquisitors to mete out justice against a fellow member of the cloth .

Come to think of it , it was around that time his faith had started to waver , when he’d begun noticing the cracks beneath the vermillion veneer . She hadn’t changed much except for a few marks left by the passing of time and the burden of office . He was surprised someone like this had risen so far through the ranks in a few centuries .

Turn back? - he said , a dark smile spreading . - I severed my name along with my past . I sacrificed it all to build a bridge toward the future . To cleanse these rotten lands , I will become an avatar of extermination , even if I have to sacrifice my immortal soul . Only through destruction can rebirth take place . That is how I serve . -

Confusion , anger , and revulsion took her when she looked at the cage . He wondered if she recognized the men and women who’d become fuel for the undertaking . If she did , she didn’t seem to care about their fate . Was this young woman truly an enemy or someone pushed to the forefront because of their tenuous connection?

Sina opened her mouth as struggle appeared on her face .

I’ve recently learned what happened , what the church tried to cover up . But you should better understand the truth than anyone! It’s all because of those things , - she said . - It twists minds , turns devout servants into madmen . Keeping the five sins of extermination sealed is the burden our church has borne for millennia , all to keep the citizens safe! -

He only shook his head in response . So the little nun thought it was revenge .

Our training and piety don’t make us immutable , - Sina pressed on , her pure eyes pleading . - The sin of extermination never lets up , and our mortal minds can’t fully block its immortal will . Mistakes were made , and tragedy struck , but the events at Polsara are not indicative of the church as a whole! If you fulfill the prophecy , everything we’ve worked toward will be undone . Emyr’s sacrifice will be undone . -

It looked like she still didn’t understand the truth . Mortals weren’t the only ones who could be corrupted by the immortal will of extermination . Emyr’s sacrifice had long since been undone by the twisted will of Emyr himself .

That’s exactly what has to happen , - he said , pointing Edge of Oblivion] against the city . - Right or wrong , the chains have to be broken . I have set out on this path , and I will see it to the end . For our history , I hope you will give way . The citizens will need guidance after the collapse . -

You know I cannot do that , - Sina said , tears running down her cheeks as five halos sprung up behind her back .

The halos grew to cover the whole gate , each stretching hundreds of meters into the air . Sky shook , and one red pillar of light after another descended as the Celestial Array answered her call . He looked upon the scene with equanimity . The situation was lamentable , but it wasn’t enough to create a ripple in his heart .

Four roars of extermination entered his sword , and a wave of Oblivion rippled forward . The young nun channeled the whole sanctuary’s accumulated faith in a desperate attempt to block , and the warriors atop the walls formed an interlocking wall of shields . It wasn’t enough .

Sina , along with his memories of her , were consumed , and the outer wall of Emyr’s Sanctuary was no more . Four emaciated sinners had nothing more to give , and their final wails of pain and release echoed in his mind as ash drifted out of the birdcage . He barely noticed . The wall’s collapse had finally let him sense it .

The fifth artifact of extermination . The key to stopping the resurrection of the mad god .

The fourth Splinter of Oblivion didn’t assault Zac with a confusing and endless series of miserable fates . It only showed him three , each far more detailed than those before it . The Grand Inquisitor Nosora , who sacrificed everything to save his country . To destroy the nightmare created from a god’s soul utterly tainted by the Splinters of Oblivion .

The Seven Desolates Emperor , who turned his small duchy into a powerful empire through a ruthless campaign spanning millennia . The Oblivion Dragon who hunted splinters to enhance its bloodline .

The goals of these three were completely different , as were their temperaments . The one thing in common was that all four held four Splinters of Oblivion in their souls . Furthermore , while they struggled against the madness , they still held onto their purpose . Mostly . Whether it was Nosora , the emperor , or the dragon , they had lost most of their emotions .

In their case , it wasn’t without their awareness . It was the price they willingly paid for their Dao , for their goals . They had severed pieces of their soul to feed the Remnants , much like some cultivators severed their seven emotions and six desires .

Was that what the Heart of Oblivion wanted to show him? That it was fine if he wanted to borrow their power , but a price had to be paid . That was simply the Law of Balance . It was a stark difference from the visions he endured inside the Orom World . Those scenes had been filled with hopelessness and defeat , like the splinters were trying to drown him in despair and doubt . His Dao Heart had almost crumbled then , and the experience was the main reason he’d been so eager to practice his Void Vajra Sublimation] .

Now , it almost felt like all that hard work was for nothing .

Had the Remnants realized his Dao Heart had grown far stronger since and instead opted for negotiation? Was it another trap , an attempt to steer him down a path of no return? Ultimately , it didn’t matter much , and this wasn’t the time to figure things out . The splinter had already entered his body , and Zac ushered it toward his Soul Aperture before it could unleash too much destruction on his body .

Meanwhile , he furiously rebuffed any Oblivion Energy that got close to his Duplicity Core . He even sacrificed some of his hold on the splinter to create a durable barrier of Mental Energy aimed at protecting the hatch .

The world sped up again , where an urgent warning of danger and shrieking fury greeted him . The undead Gwyllgi understood what had transpired , and its murderous intent was powerful enough to make the whole star quake . Not that it needed any help in that department . The splinter had infiltrated the Stellar Core for who knows how long , and Zac could sense how its vast energies were fast going out of control .

The situation inside his soul mirrored the chaos outside , with the splinter releasing torrential amounts of Oblivion while trying to break into the prison . Luckily , Zac had both experience and the strength of a Three Fates Soul this time around and simultaneously reinforced the prison and rebuffed the new splinter .

However , a chorus of madness and destruction threatened to overwhelm even his reinforced Dao Heart . The four splinters formed a powerful resonance , resulting in a far greater impact on his mind . And the more the splinter’s Oblivion tainted his soul , the harder it became to resist the corruption .

The screams of danger grew more urgent as a black sphere shot out of the Gwyllgi’s mouth and entered the ball of destructive flames already bearing down on him . The sphere made the fireball condense until it was no more than five meters across , just a small ember in front of the deathly sun . The aura it radiated filled Zac with terror . He’d grossly underestimated just how angry he’d made the Late-stage Beast King .

The crazed beast had actually spat out its Beast Core to reinforce the attack .

Doing so was an act of all-out aggression . The attack was extremely deadly , containing the full force of the Beast King’s cultivation base , yet it also carried great danger for the attacker . Damage to the Beast Core could mean millennia of weakness until the damage was repaired . If it broke , the Beast King was crippled . In other words , the Gwyllgi was putting everything on the line to kill him .

Seeing the situation , Zac opted to go for broke . Madness and determination gleamed in his abyssal eyes as he dragged the accumulating storm of Oblivion out of his soul , steering it into his hand . Pain wracked him as small cracks covered his skin , but there was nothing else to do . A beam of pure nothingness shot out of his hand and carved a tunnel straight through the Stellar Core . Zac rushed inside .

The sudden attack was the straw that broke the camel’s back , and the sun went supernova . The core exploded , unleashing a shockwave that tore apart space like it was made of paper . Zac was right at the epicenter , though pulses of Oblivion consumed most of the force crashing into him .

The same was true for the incoming attack . The Gwyllgi’s desperate move tore through the sun’s outer layers like it was nothing , but the following shockwave was another thing entirely . It was filled with the energy of a sun corrupted by Oblivion for who knows how long , and then further augmented by Zac’s outburst .

The two forces collided , forming spatial tears that stretched for miles . A scream of pain and anger pierced Zac’s already beleaguered soul , leaving a set of surface cracks across both Soul Cores . The sense of danger had mostly abated , proving his plan worked .

Zac was killing two birds with one stone . He needed to vent the unbearable amounts of Oblivion before his Soul Aperture was overwhelmed , and he needed to deal with the incoming threats . Perhaps you could say three birds with one stone , even if the last benefit levied a painful price across his body .

Skin tore and bones snapped as deadly force pushed him out of the inner mantle and the collapsing star . A second shockwave followed the first as the black sun expanded . The explosion accelerated Zac , turning him into a streak of black .

A streak that moved right toward the golden sun in the distance .

Zac breathed out in relief upon seeing his guess had been true . Only one consciousness with a strong mark of Life had inspected him as he approached the deathly star . Similarly , none of the Life-attuned Beasts targeted him with killing intent as he moved on the splinter . Why would they? Life and Death didn’t mix , and having two opposing suns locked in orbit made cultivation harder . The Life-attuned Beasts would probably have destroyed the deathly sun themselves if they had the strength .

Then , a creature finally emerged , and Zac’s heart shuddered as he prepared for the worst . The thing was an enormous elemental , slightly resembling a jellyfish . Dozens of intensely golden lights shimmered in its - head , - and its long tendrils crackled with powerful bursts of Life . Its aura was a match to the Gwyllgi’s , and Zac could feel he was at the center of its attention .

Zac gritted his teeth , preparing to use another salvo of Oblivion to meet the Beast King . But the thing passed him by , only spitting one of the golden lights in his direction before moving on . Zac was confused at first but soon realized its goal . The jellyfish was targeting the Gwyllgi’s Beast Core , which had been thrown far away by the supernova .

The Late-stage Beast Core had emerged almost unscathed from the clash . Only a few small marks could be seen on the core’s surface , though it had lost much of its accumulated energy . Zac hoped the explosion would disintegrate the core and cripple the beast , but this situation wasn’t too bad .

A Late-stage Beast Core of such a powerful beast was undoubtedly an amazing cultivation resource for the jellyfish . It could probably use its opposing element to hone its core , just like how Zac cultivated using his Nine Reincarnations Manual] . Better yet , it belonged to its biggest rival , making it too tempting to ignore .

Zac could probably destroy the incoming attack with another burst of Oblivion . But he wanted to use as little Oblivion Energy as possible since paying the splinter’s price with outside resources wasn’t easy . He had no birdcage with souls to drain to fuel the destruction . Instead , he threw out a large boulder filled with Explosive Talismans and Miasma Crystals before turning into an Abyssal Wraith with Void Energy .

Using his Void Energy prevented most Oblivion Energy from sneaking into the Skill Fractal , but he still left a trail of Annihilation in his wake . A huge explosion erupted behind him as light and boulder collided , and Zac sighed as the small sphere emerged untouched from the clash . It veered toward him like a bloodhound .

He kept going , crashing into the Life-attuned flames . Searing pain filled him as Life poured into his body . Some aspects of his Void Vajra Constitution carried over through Quantum Gate] , but an undead being’s inherent revulsion toward Life trumped the effect of his Body Tempering Manual . He might be the Draugr who could best resist the poisonous rays of Life , but being in the middle of a Life-attuned sun was asking for trouble .

Yet Zac pushed on , using Void Zone] to give himself some breathing room as he dug deeper . The light was almost upon him , but Zac was ready . A huge eruption of Oblivion consumed the light , creating a hundred-meter energy vacuum as everything was annihilated . The shockwave pushed Zac closer to the core , and he relaxed when his Specialty Core activated without giving him any trouble .

Life replaced Death as Draugr became human , and the burning flames closing in on him were no longer very threatening . The true threat came from the jellyfish far in the distance , who finally realized Zac wasn’t satisfied with wrecking just one of the suns .

Unfortunately , it had already made its move against the Gwyllgi . The jellyfish tried to hit its old nemesis while it was down and was now getting its just desserts . The Gwyllgi obviously understood what was going on , and Zac laughed when he saw it opt to block the jellyfish rather than target him again .

He pierced into the star using Oblivion , making much greater progress thanks to the overwhelming amount of energy in his body . The shard sensed the intrusion of its fated nemesis , and powerful waves of Creation pushed toward him as the Remnant fought back . Zac could tell it had detached already , shooting toward him like an arrow .

Zac’s whole Soul Aperture shook as the splinter tried to break free , either to attack the nearby shard or to break out its companions . The trapped Remnants were also going insane , and the runes keeping them trapped flickered precariously . A mental command opened the gates before it was too late , and six streaks of light raced into his Soul Aperture .

However , before the four splinters could unite against their mortal enemy , time slowed once more as Zac grasped an opalescent mark .

75

KARMA CONCLUDED

Three more lives passed before Zac’s eyes . The minstrel who sought to lift an ancient curse through Creation , the flickering flame who wished to become a sun , and the warrior who wanted dominion over Life and Creation to resurrect his daughter . Beings of great determination who turned the shards into engines for their desire .

The trio knew they were trading the vast longevity of a cultivator for a short moment of glory . A worthy sacrifice if they could turn their desires into reality . Like before , they were at the precipice of Atavism , believing that step to be the key to achieving their goal . The message of the visions was identical to the splinter’s , yet Zac’s heart wasn’t moved .

Zac was too occupied with his immediate concerns to worry about the future , and he used the first outburst of Creation to forge a powerful shell that blocked out the collapse of the golden sun . The Beast Kings drew closer with murderous intents , but his attention was fully on the situation in his Soul Aperture .

The shard had made a beeline for his mind after entering his body , sensing the dangerous situation of its brethren . It crashed into the fully-charged splinter like a meteor , and the collision unleashed a flood of energy into his aperture . The two enormous soul spirals were spinning to the point of almost going out of control , and they couldn’t absorb the efflux quickly enough to prevent damaging his cores .

The Remnants remained indifferent to the collateral damage they caused and were already rearing for a second exchange . Zac furiously held the Remnants back with everything he had while pulling two threads of Oblivion and Creation into his shoulders . The energy highways happily accepted the overflow and subtly transformed the energies before releasing them into his chest .

The process had started , and a deep rumble in the sky penetrated the roar of two collapsing stars . Zac was filled with a sense of déjà vu upon seeing the Remnants fearfully starting to struggle . It was no wonder the Heart of Oblivion and Spark of Creation failed to become the equivalent of Supremacies , even if they were unique entities singularly tuned to their respective Daos .

Their obsessions made them stupid , for lack of a better word . They didn’t learn , they didn’t change . The first set of Remnants he seized had been tricked the same way three times by now , yet they eagerly jumped into the trap all the same . The birth of Chaos had begun , and there was no escape . Torrential amounts of energy were forcibly dragged out from the Remnants , and the churning ball in his chest was fast reaching its tipping point .

The world-ending clashes of Life and Death outside shook the Calamity as the two broken stars collided . The unique energy signature of Creation encountered Oblivion all around him , and he almost felt like he and the stars were one . Was this how Catheya felt upon harmonizing with the world?

Possibly , though Zac knew it wasn’t the same . Harmonization was likely impossible for him to begin with . How would you possibly connect with the Heavens without any affinities? His perception was from having his soul overloaded by Oblivion and Creation , just like the stars had been for centuries .

Thousands of eruptions added to the turmoil around him every second , each powerful enough to rip Beast Kings to shreds . The orbiting moons had already collapsed , and Zac could guess the fates of their inhabitants . Only the two leaders remained , but not even they were able to easily endure the explosions . Yet they pressed toward him , their killing intent dense enough to twist the air .

With the shard snatched just like the splinter , the Gwyllygi no longer had any reason to impede its nemesis . Instead , they found themselves in the same boat and teamed up to deal with him . Zac guessed they wanted to make him spit out the Remnants before moving them to a new set of suns . Or perhaps finally consume the items themselves .

They were much too late for that .

The storm raged , the sky rumbled , yet Zac was removed from it all . He was a storm unto his own , where his latent energy emanations kept the much larger tempest at bay . At first , it had been an unstable mix of Oblivion and Creation , but that changed as the opposing forces were reluctantly fused into one . A broken peak was temporarily made whole as Chaos graced the Calamity with its presence .

The world suddenly stilled , and even the Late-stage Beast Kings halted their advance . It was like an ancestor had descended upon the realm , and the Calamity’s Dao offered obeisance . It didn’t dare create a scene when faced with the true Terminus of its existence . Zac’s body no longer mirrored the world outside . One was calm ; the other was in absolute disorder .

The vast amounts of energy had formed a fourth Glimpse of Chaos , and all his breakthroughs since the Orom World had done little to withstand its effect . He could only hold on to it for a short window , and he needed to make it count . Thousands of possibilities and urges filled his mind , but he held onto a seed of clarity as he corralled the drained Remnants back into their prison .

He could tell this was the last time . The cage was teetering on the brink of collapse , with the runes barely having withstood six Remnants fighting for a minute . Four sets would be able to break out anytime they wanted after they’d recovered from the extraction . Hopefully , they wouldn’t figure that out before Zac found the fifth pair and was ready for Atavism .

Whatever happened at that point would break the status quo of the past two decades . One is an eternal curse , two is a calamity . Five is Atavism , where five lingering resentments form a consciousness . He didn’t know why he knew , but that would be a tipping point . He would either take control of the Remnants or be consumed by their immortal will . No matter the outcome , there would be no need for a prison .

The people in the visions had known the same thing and felt it was an unavoidable tribulation to accomplish their goals . Was that the trap within those visions? Were the Remnants trying to give him a false sense of security , all the while leading him to his doom? Zac shook his head . He’d still keep going even if it were a trap . He believed Be’Zi wasn’t trying to harm him when she gave him that mission .

More importantly , he believed in himself and his ability to turn a disaster into an opportunity . In either case , it was a worry for later . He had decades to shore up his heart and soul before the deadline . The ethereal tranquility of the Calamity only lasted a moment before a boundless presence forced its way into the scene . Gold and black flames were pushed away as clouds painted in blue and the imperial gold of the System descended .

The System’s presence subdued the Dao itself , and the Calamity fully ground to a halt . The remnant energies of the broken stars turned into two dense clouds about to form a hurricane . Zac could picture the kind of mayhem such a development would bring to the Calamity . Between such vast amounts of amassed energy and the infusion of Creation and Oblivion , it wouldn’t be too surprising if another source of Chaos was born .

Of course , Zac could tell it wasn’t fated to be .

Chaos raged through his body , his efforts at containing it in his chest almost useless . It left immense damage in its wake , but the torture brought a temporary state of clarity . The Remnants had slowly transformed the stars , but they were still over 90% Life and Death . And the Oblivion and Creation it held was fractured , incomplete . It wouldn’t be enough to converge into one .

The hurricane was destined to collapse before it formed , unleashing an unprecedented storm . The insight filled Zac with lamentation . The situation was an expression of the difficulty of his chosen path , a reminder of the dangers he’d face even if he’d finally reached this step . But the scene held the seed of possibility , a small ray of hope .

Zac’s gaze turned , peering through endless layers of restrictions and energy . Far in the distance , a much greater storm raged . A storm that would make even Autarch tread with care , where Oblivion and Creation were more common than Life and Death—the true face of the Calamity .

The Dao of Chaos allowed him to see the whole picture . Of course , he wasn’t the System’s only source of Chaos . The whole Calamity was a huge Chaos Generator that occasionally exposed a piece of the tapestry before destabilizing . Zac’s attention shifted to the two tyrants who floated a few hundred meters away .

Their bodies trembled under his gaze , but they could not leave when held in place by the System .

I’m sorry . You are innocent bystanders in this , - Zac said . - I ruined your home and cut off your cultivation . But in a way , I saved you from a tragedy down the road . As such , our Karma has concluded . -

A rumble in the sky expressed the System’s impatience , and Zac looked up with a smile as the Glimpse of Chaos emerged from his chest . - You know the rules . This time , I’m not asking for much . -

He extracted a mote from the churning ball of Chaos , infusing it with his desire as he let it drift out from him . A gate appeared , and Zac wordlessly stepped through , leaving the Calamity behind . He found himself standing on the peak of Mount Illumination . The sky was already overcast and full of lightning , as though the System had anticipated his move .

Zac wasn’t sure if the gate was made possible through the Dao of Chaos or the System’s approval . The true nature of Chaos was ultimately too difficult to grasp . He was only awarded glimpses of the truth , but the truth wasn’t what it seemed when it came to this particular peak . All was flux .

That was fine . He hadn’t been sure if his idea would work , but he’d figured if Chaos could take him from the Orom to Zecia , then surely a short skip back to his mansion would be easy . If it failed , he would simply have jumped down toward the exit , though that would have delayed him by at least an hour . And there was no telling how the two tyrants would act after the System got what it wanted and left .

That wasn’t a headache he needed while advancing to the next step .

Being temporarily connected to the Dao of Chaos confirmed the validity of his idea , but he didn’t have much time . Zac extracted a second Chaos Mote from the ball and gently dragged it into his body , toward his Duplicity Core .

Chaos was the key to forming his core , but that didn’t mean he’d suddenly decided to form a Chaos Core . His blueprint was still the same Trinity Core , Quantum Core , or Void Core , depending on which aspect you wanted to focus on . And before the Chaos Mote could be added to that plan , it needed to be transformed .

The inherent unpredictability in the Chaos Mote struggled against being controlled , but a flood of the Branches of Pale Seal and Kalpataru rapidly bound it to Zac’s chariot . To ensure nothing went wrong , he also activated his bloodline to form a protective layer of Void Energy around the mote .

The Chaos Mote furiously resisted the foreign insights , but its energy was limited while Zac’s soul was overloaded with borrowed strength . Eventually , it shuddered and split apart , like a cell undergoing mitosis . The two forces radiated the unmistakable aura of Oblivion and Creation , then the attunement shifted again . Left were the Daos of Life and Death .

You could argue that he’d ruined the magical nature of the Chaos Mote . After all , it was easy to split a Grand Dao into its lower components but almost impossible to take it the other way . That was doubly true for a broken peak like Chaos . The motes were just like the Primal Dao back in the Twilight Ocean , which likely was why the System was so impatient to get the glimpses . Wait too long , and the ambient Dao would sully their truths .

Still , the two little swirls of incredibly condensed truths contained something crucial , something that put it at the same level as the Supreme treasures he’d prepared for today—potential . It was an energy that once existed as the Terminus of two of his Daos . That meant something , even when devolved into Life and Death .

You could see it from the simple fact that the two clouds of energy didn’t act like what you’d normally see when bringing the Daos of Life and Death together . They calmly floated into the Duplicity Core’s hatch . A small storm already raged inside from his opposing Daos . Life clashed with Death , urged on by the Branch of the War Axe .

That all stopped when the refined Chaos Mote entered the Hollow Core] . The energies mixed , and the violent eruptions were quelled . Not even the Dao of Conflict could trigger the two Daos that snuggled together in an unnatural embrace .

The world lit up as a bolt of lightning struck the ground in front of Zac , but he ignored it . The System could wait a bit longer . Zac kept the Glimpse of Chaos close to his chest as he extracted a third mote . It was refined and pushed into his hatch , further stabilizing the situation .

A fourth mote soon followed , but the fifth would have to be the last . It was a matter of balance . Just forming the glimpse left him in a bad way . Every mote extracted was like a hurricane unleashed in his body , compounding the damage . A little bit of mutilation was fine in the pursuit of benefits , but he had to be in a condition to follow up with the actual Core Formation .

Thank you , - Zac said , finally releasing the Glimpse of Chaos .

It floated away from him , showering the peak in the superlative truths of Chaos . The mountain rumbled , and the Dao of Samsara groaned as it unraveled . Samsara was a path of rules , creating an ecosystem of Life and Death governed by the laws of Karma and Order . Chaos was its antithesis , and its influence was like a rapidly spreading poison .

The sky shuddered as the ghost temples fought back . Dharmic hymns tried to impose their will on the peak , but all were forced into stillness as a golden pillar of lightning slammed into the glimpse . The System didn’t care about the struggle for the meaning of Life and Death . It only cared about the insights within the glimpse . Zac looked on , trying to memorize some aspects for himself .

But his comprehension grew blurry and distant as the System absorbed the glimpse . Zac had known this would happen , so he wasn’t disappointed . Who knew? The comprehension might have left a mark on his mind even if it wasn’t clear right now . Just like the two motes inside the Hollow Core] .

The process only lasted a few seconds before the glimpse was gone . Clouds dispersed , with the System uninterested in staying behind to observe what came next . Without the pressure , the tremors returned , and Zac snorted as one ghost temple after another around him crumbled . The Dao of Chaos had flooded the peak before being refined by the System’s cleansing lightning .

The Sangha’s connection to this abandoned peak deep in the Perennial Vastness had already been tenuous , and this was enough to forcibly sever Karma . The Dao of Samsara collapsed and split into its base components . The transformation wasn’t an integral part of Zac’s plans , only a small bonus . A safeguard to ensure no Dharmic loopholes snuck into his Cosmic Core , and it would hopefully let his mansion extract a bit more energy .

A small shockwave from within made Zac groan and turn to the situation within the Duplicity Core . The energies were still playing nice , but he ultimately pushed a whole lot of energy into a cramped space . Even if the mutual hostility between Life and Death had been temporarily resolved , some commotion was to be expected .

Furthermore , this fragile harmony was just a temporary truce . The transformed motes were unstable and couldn’t remain in their current state for long . It was just a matter of time before they decayed , until they were no different from his own Daos . Before that happened , he needed to have set his foundation .

The whole reason he took the risk of incorporating the Remnants in his Core Formation was to create this window of opportunity . He’d tried perfecting the plan for years , but there was a huge problem that couldn’t be solved without taking some risks . The very first step of his Core Formation , where he’d fuse the Supreme treasures into a nucleus , was filled with risk and uncertainty .

Getting past that first hurdle meant he’d have a stable foundation to build upon . From there , it’d be fine if the core was temporarily unbalanced as he added one layer of energy after another . The nucleus would keep the ship afloat until he remedied the issues and stabilized the core .

That’s where the Chaos Mote came in . Utilizing the Dao of Chaos this way wasn’t enough to permanently fuse Life and Death . Someone would already have formed a Life-Death core if that were the case—for example , the Undead Empire . There was no way they couldn’t source a little bit of Chaos if they put their mind to it .

The Peak of Chaos was still broken , and a core like that would fall apart before it was created . But the refined motes were enough to temporarily calm the Daos of Life and Death until he could permanently solve their incompatibility with the Void .

Zac turned toward his manor , which was already drawing torrential amounts of energy into its domain . The energy was so dense that the air twisted , and its attunement felt so familiar that it could just as well have been his own . The power of the fourteenth-echelon was already proving its worth . The scene was set , and everything was in place .

Now , it was time to see if he could pull off a miracle .

76

FATED

Kruta ripped his sword out of the hunter’s chest , the jerking motion making him grunt with pain . The man’s eyes were still filled with fire and desperation as his corpse joined the others on the ground . Two were already burning from the heat rising from below . Kruta shook his head , briefly wondering if these souls would enter the lands like his ancestors did . For their sake , he hoped not .

Embers and ash filled the sky , casting the world in darkness . A few streaks of light falling from above were the only source of light . Deadly meteors that would incinerate everything where they landed . A few far off shouts indicated the others weren’t far away . He needed to get going .

The festering wounds had reopened from the struggle , and he was running dangerously low on Cosmic Energy . Flying would have been impossible even if the ability hadn’t been sealed , and urging his harried legs into a run was like trying to get an elderly Greenox to move . But a wall of deeper black rose toward the sky , and the flatlands had given way to a steep incline . He was almost there .

Kruta stuffed more of the acrid roots that’d kept him alive and tormented for so long into his mouth . He extracted what little spirituality they had left as he willed his feet to keep moving . His vision was distorted from the toxins , but his extended abuse had at least given him partial immunity . The dead attackers were soon left behind and forgotten , replaced by the constant worry that had filled him since being spat out in this hellscape .

Things hadn’t played out at all as he’d imagined . The young princess of the Tayns was nowhere to be found inside the Thousandflame Galley , or any other Tayn representative for that matter . Kruta didn’t even know if he was inside the warship , or if he’d been transported somewhere else during his two weeks in burning limbo .

This broken world was some sort of prison colony , where descendants of those who had angered Thousandflames Eccentric toiled away in ashen suffering . He still didn’t know how the Tayns had exposed their plans , but it was clear they didn’t approve . Every day , Kruta prayed he was the only one from the tribe who had been punished for their arrogance , and the fact that he still hadn’t ran into any of his tribesmen was his greatest source of comfort .

As for the treacherous whispers in the back of his mind that the tribe had been incinerated instead of captured? Kruta refused to listen . He held onto his faith , and the carrot dangled before him .

Kruta hadn’t encountered much trouble the first day , even if his mind had been a confused mess . He had been trying to make sense of the situation , and the fact that his Spatial Treasures were sealed didn’t help . It was in that state a trio of foragers had stumbled upon him . They’d been wary of this stranger but took pity on him and shared some of their knowledge .

The three eked out a living by digging through the ashes for spiritual roots . The ambient energy was abundant but filled with fire that would consume you from within if you imbibed too much . Besides , it was impossible for most to completely forgo normal sustenance . But in this kind of broken world , food was extremely scarce . Kruta had followed them for five days , and everything had been fine until something changed .

All three tried to murder him in his sleep , going so far as to sacrifice limbs and longevity to accomplish their goal . Kruta had already been prepared for a possible attack , and his superior training allowed him to pull through even without his weapons . At first , he’d thought they simply attacked him to rob his corpse , but questioning them exposed the truth .

The foragers had heard a voice just before attacking , and it had a simple message for the whole realm—freedom for death . Kill Kruta the Great before he crosses the Worldfall Ridge , and the sins of your ancestors will be forgiven . The foragers hadn’t hesitated to risk it all for a chance to escape their burning prison .

Since then , Kruta had become an enemy of the world , where every single native did everything in their power to eradicate him . Those who could survive this purgatory weren’t weak , and there were even Peak Hegemons in this world . Their training was subpar , and their equipment was garbage , but their numerical advantage wasn’t something you could just overcome with grit and skill .

But he’d survived . Days turned to months , and months to years as Kruta advanced toward the Worldfall Ridge . He lost count of the times he’d narrowly escaped death , either by avoiding traps or narrowly eking out a victory against powerful and desperate foes . His only shot at survival was to win the cruel game set up by the Thousandflame Eccentric .

Kruta didn’t mind . He cherished the opportunity , which had turned into his mental support . The Tayns loved to test fates . It still wasn’t certain his suffering was solely meant as a punishment . He’d never received any message , but it was possible he would be let go if he survived . He already missed the opportunity to join his buddy in the Left Imperial Palace , but he didn’t care so long as his people weren’t hurt .

And he was almost there . He could hear the voices draw closer and summoned strength he didn’t know he had as he kept climbing . His body was drained beyond a breaking point , his pathways like charred strings . His ancestor had nothing more to give , and Kruta was forced to seal the spirit inside his mind to prevent it from collapsing . Yet his legs kept going , fueled by desire and iron will . He resisted the suppression , and the peak was soon in view .

Then there was nothing more to ascend . The winding path turned into sheer wall , a black rock so hot that smoke created a curtain that hid his presence . His feet were lead , and they refused to move again now that they had stopped . He threw away his commandeered balsawood swords and grabbed the wall .

Sizzling and searing pain tried to make him give in , but Kruta wouldn’t break . He sacrificed a layer of skin for each step as he continued his journey . Did seconds pass or did hours? Was he alive or was he dead? Kruta didn’t know .

Then , darkness turned to light as he pushed through the smoke and dust . Seeing a blue sky was almost enough to make him pass out , but he summoned a final burst of energy to drag himself up from the edge and crawl onto a flat surface . A smile of contentment spread across his face as the flickering flame of his being finally winked out .

He had done it . He’d beaten the game , and his tribe would be safe .

Burning flames shattered the darkness , and Kruta released a pent-up roar of fury . He was already dead , so why couldn’t they leave him be? He had done what was asked of him! This treatment was excessive . He didn’t care . He’d give these bastards a good punch even if his ancestral soul were incinerated .

Wait , why did he have hands?

Ah? What’s going on? - Kruta muttered , blankly looking down at his very much corporeal hands .

Only then did he realize he was no longer atop the Worldend Ridge . The pain and sickness that followed him for years was gone , and his pathways had changed from burnt-out twigs to threads of steel . The ancestor was stabilized , and his aura was incredibly vigorous , though he still slept inside Kruta’s Soul Aperture .

The situation inside his body looked good , but the scenery around him quashed Kruta’s excitement . He’d been placed in the middle of what looked like a coliseum , and he could sense brutal auras from behind the steel gates . His heart shuddered , and his will almost collapsed from a terrifying premonition . Had the Thousandflame Eccentric brought him back to life only to have him play another game?

Kruta roused his spirit as he turned toward the closest gate . He wouldn’t give in . He would fight to the bitter end .

Feisty . Not bad . -

The voice came from every direction , and it felt like the roar of a thousand suns .

G-greetings , great mistress , - Kruta stuttered , his budding momentum gone .

It was one thing to fight to the death with beasts or prisoners , but there was only one thing to do when facing one of the Three Scourges . Even Supremacies were wary of these lunatics , so a bit of groveling wouldn’t shame the ancestors . Kruta wasn’t afraid ; he was just being smart .

I—ah . I’m very sorry if we’ve offended you and the esteemed Tayns . -

Esteemed Tayns , huh? That wasn’t what you said back then? - The eccentric laughed as a screen appeared in the middle of the arena .

Kruta felt his vision close in as he saw himself appear , surrounded by withered roots and corpses of the First Heaven . He heard himself talk with Zac , discussing their options .

Don’t say it , you bastard!’ Kruta inwardly cried , wanting nothing more than to go back in time and punch himself in his big mouth .

Pretty famous? That’s the understatement of the century , - his projection guffawed . - Those lunat⁠— -

The scene didn’t continue from there , and Kruta found himself alone in the arena again . A storm raged in Kruta’s mind , where part of him was cursing that flaky Realm Spirit . It acted so high and mighty , saying his seals were impregnable . But what did that matter if he gave in when faced with true monsters? Kruta couldn’t believe the old bastard had spied on the chat of two juniors and then shared it with the Tayns .

Another part of his mind was trying to devise a road to survival , but he could only see one path forward .

It was my mistake! I am willing to bear all punishment for my actions , so I beg your eminence to spare the Greenleaf Tribe , - Kruta shouted as he slammed to his knees .

Your tribe? They are fine . We left the Ralphi Continent right after you came aboard , - the voice scoffed . - You think I’m so bored I’d go around bullying a bunch of juniors? I can’t believe this . I’m gone for a few hundred thousand years , and the family’s reputation is in the gutter when I return . Those brats back home really need a talking to . -

Kruta almost cried in relief upon hearing the tribe was fine , but joy was followed by sorrow . He wasn’t out of the woods . This unreasonable elder was one of the main reasons for the Tayns’ wretched reputation , yet she wanted to blame it on the younger generations? His mouth opened and closed a few times , but no words came out .

He was afraid to say the wrong thing , something that would trigger this lunatic . What if she turned the ship around or sent him back to that purgatory for a second round of torture?

You stumbled onto an opportunity and created a string of fate that shouldn’t exist , - Mistress Thousandflame said . - You should know , our family’s learned to be quite attentive to fate . So I asked that old goat , Sendor , why a Karmic Thread emerged from his realm and latched onto my little niece . What if one of our old enemies had returned? I figured I would deal with this mess on my way back . -

Sweat poured down Kruta’s back from the realization that he’d truly been targeted by the Thousandflame Eccentric , almost resulting in him being made another example . The fact he and his clan hadn’t been turned to fertilizer for the Thousandflame Galley should be proof she’d learned he didn’t have any evil designs on Iz Tayn . But it couldn’t hurt to make sure .

Kruta bears no ill will! I was told the young princess might be willing to help , and I agreed to contact her . That’s it , I promise! -

Relax , will you? - the voice said with exasperation . - The way you’re acting makes me feel like I’m some old evildoer . I told you I’m not burning you or your little tribe . -

The Thousandflame Eccentric was deeply in denial , but Kruta would die before he pointed that out . Instead , he went with the flow , standing while trying to look grateful and impressed . Kruta felt those who said orcs were inflexible and crude would have to swallow their words after seeing his performance .

Or was it the human ancestry of his great-grandfather that had given him the adaptability needed to navigate this tribulation? He’d considered that a blemish on his name throughout his youth , but Kruta knew better than to blame his ancestry on any of his shortcomings today . Zac had showed with blinding clarity humans could be just as ferocious as the orcs .

Who would have thought such exciting events would take place just as I returned to the Integrated Territories? - the Eccentric sighed . - My little niece is clearly meant for greatness . The boy you met inside that delusional old spirit’s realm isn’t half-bad , either . As for you . . . Eh . You’re okay , I guess? -

Veins bulged on Kruta’s forehead , and he narrowly held back a spicy response . He even managed to look thankful for the backhanded comment , though it felt more taxing than climbing that scalding wall .

So , you want our help to reach the frontier , - the Thousandflame Eccentric continued . - That way , you can continue to hang onto this thread of borrowed fate . A bit shameless , wouldn’t you say? -

The rational part of his mind urged caution . He was almost there . But years of torment refused to be pushed down any longer . He would be shaming the ancestors if he kept his back bowed any further . Besides , no one liked a coward . Kruta sensed it was time to risk it all for a chance at glory .

Kruta borrowed nothing! I earned this opportunity by risking my life , standing by my friends , and even going against the Seven Heavens! -

His voice echoed across the arena , possibly representing his final burst of defiance before his life winked out . Kruta steeled his heart . For no matter what came next , life or death , he’d stand tall . However , no flame descended to consume him .

Finally , you found your courage , - Thousandflames laughed . - Good! I was starting to wonder if the primal flame in your soul had been extinguished . -

Kruta knew his guess had been right . The Tayns were battle maniacs , and being too obsequious could result in having your fate tested . Kruta wracked his brain to figure out what to do next , but his thoughts scattered when the most beautiful orc he’d ever seen appeared before him .

Her muscles were refined beyond perfection , her bushy eyebrows capturing the deadly beauty of a raging fire across grassy seas . Fiery runes covered her sanguine skin , containing the deepest truths of the true fire of the universe . Her eyes were striking green , reminding Kruta of home , the plains , and of war .

She held no weapons , but why should she need any? She was already a weapon refined beyond perfection . The faces of his fiancées rapidly faded as Kruta took in the true expression of deadly grace . Kruta couldn’t think of what to say , so he simply gaped at her appearance .

Come to think of it , he’d never heard what kind of background the Three Scourges had . He’d assumed they were some unique mythological beings born from the cosmos , like the Empyrean Throne , or part of the Human Tayn bloodline .

Surprised? - the orc laughed . - You shouldn’t be . Would I have treated you so gently if not for our shared ancestry? It’s not so easy to grab onto the coattails of the Empyrean Throne without getting burnt . -

Kruta’s expression collapsed . Years of suffering , desperate battles , and breathing ash and smoke was considered gentle treatment?

Why look so glum? - the fiery orc snickered . - I never said I wouldn’t help . -

Kruta appreciates the offer , but the event has already passed , - he sighed , unwilling to spend even one more second with this lunatic . Beauty or not , Kruta couldn’t withstand much more of her attention . - If the ancestor can drop me off somewhere convenient , I would be most grateful . -

What are you talking about? It’s over three years before the event for the juniors begin . -

Ah? - Kruta said , his eyes blank before he understood . - Time Dilation? -

Why hadn’t he noticed? The Heavens were almost completely drowned out by the endless flames , but he was certain the Dao hadn’t been twisted by temporal distortion . He was even close to evolving his Branch of the Layered Blade to Late Mastery . How had Mistress Thousandflames accomplished something like that? Was this the benefit of holding a throne?

No . I’m saying you’ve been on board my ship for a couple of months . Since when did it become years? -

Huh? -

Seems you got turned around by eating all those roots . I thought you realized they were poisonous when you spent two full days emptying your bowels in the bushes , but I guess you’re a bit of an idiot , - the orc sighed . - Well , that’s fine . It’s not the smartest guys who walk out of a battlefield in one piece . It’s the strongest one . -

Kruta was flushed with joy . He hadn’t missed it . He’d thought the old eccentric had prevented him from being sent to the Left Imperial Palace when three years had passed in his mind . Turns out he was out of his mind on toxic roots . Thank the ancestors! However , the frowning expression on Thousandflames’ face made Kruta rein in his jubilation , and he looked at her attentively .

But what’s the deal with your aura? Your fire’s soft and gentle like a courtesan’s , even after tempering yourself a bit in the penal colonies . What good are you to my niece in your current state? -

Uh , - Kruta hesitated , not sure what she was talking about . - I don’t know . I’ll work on it? -

Fine , - Thousandflames relented , her eyes lighting up with excitement . - You’re too soft , but you’re still a kid . How about this? My little niece is undergoing some training herself . She should emerge in two years or so . Until then , I’ll toughen you up a bit . Whether I bring you or not depends on your performance . -

The thought of being tormented for two years was too much to bear . Not even the Left Imperial Palace was worth that . He’d just be happy with his partly-finished seal and see if it was enough to bring him over in three years . But how do you turn down the discipleship of a crazy Supremacy without getting toasted?

Well? - Thousandflames said , her voice like a thousand roaring flames again .

You didn’t . Kruta was trapped . He could see it in her eyes . There was no room for rejection .

Disciple greets master , - Kruta said , feeling something wet pour down his cheeks .

Sweat from the heat , no doubt . He surely wasn’t crying .

Disciple . . . - Thousandflames said , a radiant smile spreading across her face . - Would you believe that I’ve never actually had a disciple? -

Kruta’s mind was a mess after being repeatedly dragged between joy and despair . But he roused himself . Maybe it wasn’t so bad? Maybe things were finally lining up for ol’ Kruta . Even being an in-name disciple of a Supremacy came with benefits most could only dream of . Being the sole disciple of one?

An opportunity like that was almost at the same level as the trial in the Left Imperial Palace . However , his new master’s next words threw him right back into the pit of despair .

Well , never one that was fated , anyway . -

77

NUCLEUS

Zac flashed forward , appearing by the gates of his mansion . The powerful waves of energy greeted him by burrowing into his body , akin to a gentle caress . Like a missing part of himself coming home . There was no mismatch , and it barely took him any effort to make the energy his .

Was this how it felt to be a cultivator? Zac shook his head and continued toward a cultivation chamber he rarely entered . It used to be a conventional chamber with custom arrays based on your blueprint . The arrays helped cultivators speed up the formation of their Core Nuclei , but those things didn’t work on him .

As such , the room had mostly gathered dust , except when he occasionally secluded himself to ponder aspects of his Core Formation or Cosmic Forge] . The energies were gathering there , meaning it had already been rearranged for the next step . Zac first sent out a short message to Catheya and Ogras , confirming he’d succeeded and was entering seclusion .

I’m secluding myself , - Zac said out loud after receiving two answers of well-wishing .

Affirmative , - Null said . - Your final tally is 130 , 784 Mana , granting you a fourteenth-echelon breakthrough environment . Your special requirements have been accepted . All other features of the Cosmic Gallery have been deactivated . -

Null was clearly following protocol , but Zac could hear her voice trembling with a mix of fear and anticipation . Null had a lot riding on this , just like him . If he failed his breakthrough , Null would be no more , no matter how splendidly he’d performed over these past seven years . Succeed , and Null would be awarded a true soul , becoming a permanent resident of the Perennial Vastness .

And being the guide to a fourteenth-echelon cultivator with such a unique blueprint probably came with additional perks .

Thank you for all your help over the years , - Zac smiled . - I won’t let you down . -

Thank you for working so hard , - Null answered . - Good luck . -

The next moment , the connection between him and the bracelet was cut , and it disappeared soon after . He could no longer sense the guide’s presence , and she didn’t answer his calls . Zac tried sending Catheya another prompt to confirm the situation . As expected , nothing happened . The outside had been sealed off .

Core Formation was the ultimate goal for those visiting the Perennial Vastness and the guests’ final opportunity to provide Sendor with something he could use for his undertaking . There could be no distractions at this juncture .

The gates of the cultivation chamber swung open as Zac approached , and he was surprised to see it led to a spatial gate . This wasn’t what he’d heard from Null when putting forth his requirements for his Core Formation . Normally , the Perennial Vastness would add the Core Formation arrays to the chamber , which your mansion’s Mana domain then empowered . With no one to ask about the situation , Zac simply stepped through .

The surroundings shifted , and Zac found himself standing on a disk far up in the air . The scenery far below was quite familiar between his manor to the range of sanctified mountains stretching across the horizon . He’d been placed on a floating platform five hundred meters above Mount Illumination .

Zac felt like he’d replaced the gargantuan Buddha he’d seen when first stepping onto Mount Illumination , feeling somehow connected to the lands . The mountains also formed a vast natural formation , generating unfathomable amounts of energy .

Energy which was flowing toward Mount Illumination .

The gateway disappeared behind him , and incredibly complex runes lit up beneath his feet . The whole ten-meter disk was an array , and its activation was the beginning of a huge transformation of the surroundings . First , five smaller array disks flew out from beneath the platform , each emitting different aura fluctuations .

They were part of his special requests , but he didn’t get the chance to properly inspect them before the whole universe shook . One moment , the expansive vista was the same one he’d gazed at for years . The next , the air was filled with multiple sets of threads that hummed with power and pulsated like a heartbeat .

The threads formed a huge tapestry that stretched farther than Zac could see , filling the world with gold , black , and steely grey . Some tapped into the mountains , siphoning and transforming their energy reserves . Others dug into the ground or even reached deep into space . Many connected with Mount Illumination below , which eagerly supplied its already transformed energy .

The scene reminded Zac of when Yrial imparted him with a piece of his Dao , where threads had descended from distant stars . Vast amounts of energy flowed toward the ancillary arrays , who further refined the payload before depositing it on the platform .

The tapestries’ attunements were almost an exact match to his Daos , and the energy density atop the disk approached a level where they could be considered liquified Natural Treasures . A mortal with a shallow foundation could almost form a Cosmic Core using the ambient energy alone .

This kind of benefit undoubtedly came courtesy of reaching the thirteenth echelon . He didn’t just get to usurp the energy of Mount Illumination ; the whole mountain range became fuel for his breakthrough . Such treatment was one of the keys to forming his core without too many impurities . The Dao Threads were far from enough to fully satiate the demands of someone like him , but they would lessen the number of treasures he’d have to throw into his Duplicity Core by a third .

The tapestries of Life , Death , and Conflict were connected to the outer arrays . Conflict had two to itself , while the other Daos got one platform each and shared the fifth . There was also a fourth set of threads , which was quite different from the other three , and connected to all five ancillary arrays .

However , they didn’t extract any energy from the surrounding mountains nor channel energy into the outer arrays . The hidden tapestry simply accompanied the three sets of thread like a shadow , emitting weak fluctuations .

It would have taken Zac a while to notice the fourth tapestry if not for his intimate familiarity with what the environment represented . The threads portrayed his path , depicting his blueprint , where the fourth tapestry was the Void . And while it wasn’t nearly as stable or energy-dense as the other elements , Zac was quite surprised the Perennial Vastness managed to form something so closely resembling the real thing .

It was almost like Zac had been shrunken to a mote of dust and placed inside the simulation array back in his mansion . The circular array he stood on was placed right where the Cosmic Core’s nucleus would be , and he couldn’t even see the edge where his core ended . It was quite the place the Perennial Vastness had prepared for his Core Formation .

This whole setup , a level of customization not generally provided , was a unique feature designed for mortals , while most cultivators only used a main array .

Three of the outer arrays were refinement platforms for the treasures going into his core , based on Zac’s respective Daos : War Axe , Kalpataru , and Pale Seal . The Perennial Vastness provided the arrays in exchange for 5 , 000 Mana . They and the main array replaced the need for Core Formation Methods aimed at mortals . The mysterious threads were a welcome bonus that would increase his efficiency .

The final two ancillary arrays’ functions were to take him through the first hurdle of his Core Formation by setting up a stable nucleus . Thanks to this setup , Zac only needed to focus on correctly adding treasures and fusing the essences provided by the refinement arrays .

Zac had even modified the arrays using his accumulated knowledge from Cosmic Forge] . They were still mostly the Perennial Vastness’ design , but the energy produced would be more familiar to him . Obviously , adding the theories of Essence Union] into the arrays would have been even better , but the current setup was more than enough to accomplish his goals .

The two swirls of Life and Death inside his Duplicity Core wouldn’t last forever , so Zac sat down on a shimmering prayer mat . The movement made Zac grimace with pain . He’d kept a frantic pace since making his move on the splinter , and now that he’d stopped , he fully realized the state he was in .

Since he last seized a set of Remnants , he’d evolved his Draugr heritage and cultivated the Void Vajra Sublimation] . His soul was stronger too , having crossed a whole stage thanks to the Moss Crystals , something that would normally have taken a century . All that work , yet it wasn’t enough to nullify the damage the Remnants wrought on one’s body .

As usual , Zac’s body and Soul Aperture were filled with hairline cracks in gold and grey , especially between his head and shoulders . This aspect wasn’t that bad , though . The Remnants had been given little time to leave a lasting mark on his body .

The bigger problem was the large amounts of Creation and Oblivion inside his soul spirals . They had frantically swallowed energy to protect the cores , and they hadn’t spat much of it back out when Zac formed the Glimpse of Chaos . Now , it remained a double-edged sword . The energy would come in handy one way or another . Even if he didn’t need to use it , it would still speed up his Soul Cultivation .

However , this wasn’t purified energy like what was released from the prison seals . The energy had been separated from its source and still contained the Remnants’ immortal will . He’d have to keep his guard up and not let it influence him . Apart from that , his Soul Cores were slightly damaged , but he could still extract 60-70% of their power .

The real damage had been wrought by the Glimpse of Chaos . He’d intentionally only used five Chaos Motes , just one more than when he broke out of the Orom World . It certainly wasn’t his limit , but it left his body in a state of disarray . His pathways were damaged , as were his cells and the Thousand Lights Avatar] .

None of it was lethal , but it created a general imbalance in his body . Energy was more difficult to control , and multiple leaks affected its composition . The turbulent energy was a stormy sea , and sending tendrils of Mental Energy to his Duplicity Core left them weakened and less agile .

Most wouldn’t even consider starting their Core Formation unless they were in perfect condition , both body and mind . Zac obviously would have preferred being fully healed before starting , but it wasn’t meant to be . His road had never been a straight one where everything went exactly according to plan . Why start now?

He was a scrapper . Forcibly pulling through with his body a mess was where he excelled .

Zac swallowed a mix of Healing Pills and got to work . Three boxes appeared before him , each sealed by dense layers of arrays . They contained the materials that would form his nucleus , and successfully dealing with their complex energies was the next hurdle to be crossed . And that needed finesse .

As much as Zac wanted , he couldn’t just swallow the treasures . He first needed to refine them into something that could be used as the nucleus of a core .

First , he took out the Warstone] , and his heart surged with vigor from being buffeted by the crystallized essence of Conflict .

Conflict was the underpinning concept of his path and the first Dao he encountered . It was also the universal truth that shaped his understanding of the Multiverse . His unusual introduction to the System had pitted him against the Gwyllgi Alpha in a roll for survival , but that was just the beginning . Fighting the Barghest outside his camper had been the true start of his bloody road toward supremacy .

He’d been fighting since day one , seizing the titles for being the first to slay a beast in the new order forced upon Earth . Conflict was a constant companion , molding him and pushing him forward . Now , it would become the first piece of his core .

Zac took out the Omnitool and began carving a series of lines across the stone , his hands moving in perfect harmony . Each line released immensely refined truths of War . A lot of ambient energy had already accumulated , and the Warstone] turned the environment into a replica of his cave back home . Of course , be it energy or insights , the quality here far exceeded the setup on Earth .

Conflict , Life , and Death fought and raged , though Zac only felt comfort from the disturbance , entering an optimal state of mind . You could call the clamor the natural expression of his Daos , something he didn’t get to see in his mansion here in the Perennial Vastness .

The rays of War emitted a mottled mix of truths , some echoing his Branch of the War Axe while others didn’t . As Zac added more engravings to the stone , the leaking aura started to shift .

Away from his path .

The main reason the treasure needed to be engraved was to prepare it for processing and refinement . Zac had spent the better part of a decade working on his Omnitool and Cosmic Forge] , all so he could create a better core more attuned to his Dao . Part of his effort could be seen in the mysterious patterns added to the Warstone] .

It was impossible to remold the Supreme treasure into something fully harmonized with his Branch of the War Axe . He wasn’t confident even Essence Union] would allow such a great transformation without destroying what made the Warstone] unique . However , his proficiency in Cosmic Forge] allowed him to nudge things in his favor .

Zac intentionally targeted the pieces unsuitable for his core , detaching their spiritual threads from the rest of the treasure . It was these pieces of spirituality that leaked from the treasure . Such a crude approach would irrevocably destabilize the Supreme treasure since he neither had the time nor skill to use Cosmic Extraction] the intended way . In this case , it didn’t matter .

Zac couldn’t go too far . If the treasure’s unique spirituality collapsed , the Warstone] would be no better for his core than some random , raw attuned energies .

It was a delicate balancing act , removing as many unneeded aspects as possible without getting too greedy . Once Zac finished the pattern , the timer had begun . It was impossible to say for certain , but Zac estimated he had around a minute before the Warstone] would detonate like a bomb due to his meddling if he didn’t immediately start refining it .

He gingerly placed the treasure on the Nucleus Array powered by Conflict , and an immense pressure contained the energy within . Seeing it stabilizing under pressure , Zac infused his will into a control rune . A deluge of Dao and Energy , refined by Mount Illumination and the Dao thread , poured into the small stone . It started vibrating , taking on the accumulated energy in the tapestry .

Zac had to work quickly . The Dao of Conflict was rapidly being drained from the surroundings , and the imbalance only increased when Zac opened the second box and released a gust of Life and Death . They joined the waiting energies , forming a miniature version of the Calamity above his head . Small explosions created a smattering backdrop that Zac barely registered . He confirmed both arrays and Dao Threads had no problems withstanding the commotion .

His full focus was on the twinned crystals of the Calamity Core] , Life and Death trapped in an embrace—the remaining two-thirds of his Dao .

78

THE ROAD TOWARD HEGEMONY

The road that’d led Zac to the Daos of Life and Death was more circuitous than his connection to the Axe , marked by coincidence and outside factors . It was his battle with Mhal , the Corpselord General , that accidentally steered Zac down the path of Death . It was only a short conflict at the beginning of his journey , yet the Corpselord became one of the biggest influences on his path and achievements .

His Seed of Trees was later pushed toward the Dao of Life because of the need to create a counterforce to the wound Mhal left on him . Even then , it’d taken years of twists and turns until he reached his current direction . The fact that coincidence and necessity had so greatly influenced his history with these two Daos didn’t make them any less his .

Cultivation was discovery . To explore the universe and its secrets . There was no telling what you’d find . Dao was as much chance as fate , where your experiences and encounters influenced your understanding of the Heavens .

The Omnitool danced in Zac’s hand as he carved a second set of lines across the spiral , reminiscent of a snake winding between the crystals , gradually making its way up . The Mountain Heart held a fragile balance , requiring far less prodding than the Warstone] to destabilize .

Sweat formed on Zac’s forehead as thick tendrils of Life broke out of the golden spiral , trying to burrow into its other half . Death fought back , and small cracks appeared across the treasure . The seconds passed , and the situation rapidly deteriorated .

Worse , the Warstone] was already showing signs of early collapse . Zac’s heart thumped , though his hands remained steady . Then , it was finished . The winding pattern covered the spiral side to side , and Zac urgently set it on the second Nucleus Array and slammed his hand on a seal .

Both arrays hummed to life , and spatial fluctuations appeared as the treasures sank into the shimmering pattern . Zac exhaled as the items were fully consumed , and he returned to his spot on the prayer mat in the middle of the main array .

Every second of the following forty minutes stretched like an eternity , and maintaining the status quo inside the Duplicity Core wasn’t helping . At least it allowed the Healing Pills to mend his body a bit , and every explosion he prevented inside the Hollow Core] prolonged the harmonizing effect . Of course , one more material needed to be added to the nucleus to make the harmony permanent .

The Void .

Zac’s eyes shifted to the third and final box , staunchly holding onto the schedule he’d set . He meticulously watched the refinement process until it was time to move .

The third box opened , and the Void Engine] floated into his hand .

Dealing with the Void was both the simplest yet trickiest of the bunch . Simple , because he didn’t know what kind of patterns to draw on the surface to refine it , so he wouldn’t add any . Tricky , because the Void technically wasn’t part of his cultivation system , and he lacked the deep understanding that would normally go into a Cosmic Core .

The concept of the Void was an enigma , remaining as much a mystery today as it was when he first encountered it in the Towers of Myriad Dao . The answers he’d found were more related to the nature and origin of his bloodline than the Void itself . His Body Tempering Manual allowed him to get closer to the Void of Life , and the insights aided him to incorporate the Void of Dao into his Cosmic Core Blueprint . But the method was ultimately a borrowed concept from Ultom , just as Engo said seven years ago . The role of the Void was similar to that of an outside consultant to his core and a way to connect it with his bloodline .

The Void could be described as the absence of Dao , but what did that mean? Not even Cosmic Forge] allowed Zac to better understand its nature , even if its creator was a being who cultivated before there was a Heaven .

The Dao had spread through Dasorm’s universe like a plague , tearing apart the reality the First People relied on . Dasorm had accomplished something truly incredible by taking on the poison , the raw Primal Dao of the era’s birth , and using it to create a seed of hope in the shape of a hammer . Not hope for himself , but that his craft would survive the upheavals .

The existence of the First People confirmed a few things . The Void existed even when the Heavens did not , and it had been possible to use it to reach levels equivalent to today’s Supremacies . Perhaps the Void remained a constant while the Dao rose and fell with Eras coming and going .

But how did his bloodline harness it? How did it enable his talents or even activate skills? Could it even be cultivated now that the Heavens had reformed? And since Zac didn’t understand the theories that had gone into the Void Engine] , there was no way for him to refine it the way he had the other two treasures .

Neither was the Perennial Vastness able to help in this regard . Cultivating the Void was seen as a dead end , and wasn’t within the purview of the seventeen Dao Peaks Sendor sought to perfect . You could see this reflected in the Tapestry of the Void around him . What it held wasn’t true Void Energy , which made sense since it shouldn’t be able to exist with the Dao .

The key was his bloodline , and it was the only reason his impossible core would work . The Void Emperor’s unique ability broke the rule of Void and Dao being unable to mix . That power was enough to give even Supremacies a shock . Furthermore , Zac deduced it was one of the main reasons his Duplicity Core functioned as it did .

Long ago , Zac thought the Kayar-Elu Clan picked Karz’s bloodline because of his ability to infinitely raise his affinities . Today , Zac wasn’t so sure . He even started to suspect the - corruption’ was not a heavenly punishment but rather an intentional modification .

And as luck would have it , Zac already came installed with a refinery for this unique type of Void Energy .

Zac pushed the Void Engine] against his chest , which prompted a powerful thud of ancient hunger from Void Heart] . He’d kept the Hidden Node restrained until now to avoid having it swallow Oblivion , Creation , or Chaos . Zac didn’t want it distracted from its most important task . No longer needing to hold back , Zac released his hold .

Each beat was filled with greater urgency , and Zac did everything he could to empower the node . Then , a vortex appeared on his chest , and the treasure was sucked inside . The Hidden Node calmed , beginning to refine the treasure . Thank God . Zac’s bloodline and Hidden Nodes had created those vortices on a few occasions , but this was only the third time he’d managed to intentionally trigger one across hundreds of attempts . He just needed to offer a tantalizing enough prize . Clearly , the Void Engine] qualified .

If that failed , he would have been forced to cut open his chest and cram the Void Engine] inside , something Zac definitely wanted to avoid . With that , all three components of his nucleus were being prepared .

The issue of incorporating the Void Engine] was the one that stumped him the longest , turning into a migraine-inducing catch-22 . Life , Death , Conflict , and Void were all needed to form the nucleus . If even one were missing , the whole thing would collapse .

His body was a safe harbor for Void Energy , but it was also incredibly voracious . Any time his Void Heart] spat something out , it would be consumed by the vortices in his cells . Zac estimated he would have five minutes at most before the refined Void Engine] was squandered , based on how much control he could exert on his bloodline through Heart Cultivation .

What were you supposed to do when you had no idea how long Void Heart] would take to refine the Void Engine]? Some energies took days before being released , while others were a matter of minutes . It wasn’t like the Hidden Node gave you an estimate either—it was radio silence until it spat everything out .

Zac estimated the process would take roughly fifty minutes to an hour , based on the energy involved and how much quicker his Void Heart] refined Void-based items compared to normal treasures .

If everything worked out , the refinements would finish in step , and he’d go on to form his nucleus before the materials destabilized .

But what if his estimates were wrong? Refining the Void Engine] could take twice as long because of how complex its inner structure was . If that happened , the Calamity Core] and Warstone] would have been wasted .

Zac could also see it swinging the other way . Such a pure Void Treasure might barely need refinement and get spat out in less than a minute . Then the Void Engine] would be long gone by the time the Nucleus Array released the refined essences . He only had a few minutes of leeway in each direction .

He did have all kinds of backup treasures in case Plan A didn’t pan out , but that would have huge ramifications . He couldn’t just throw a bunch of unrefined Void Treasures into the Hollow Core] in case the Void Engine] was released too late . Even if it worked out through dumb luck , the resulting nucleus would be extremely rough .

More likely , he’d end up with an incomplete core that couldn’t withstand more than a handful of levels . Then , it would all be for nothing . Fixing such a mess would take centuries if it were even possible . He could forget about Ultom , and his value to the Undead Empire would drastically decrease . His goals of catching up with Leandra and saving Kenzie would grow far more distant .

The timing was a huge risk , and it wasn’t even the only one . With the original plan , he’d have two unstable energies on his hands . He would have to perfectly combine them at a breakneck pace before they destabilized , where a single mistake would lead to disaster .

Zac was unwilling to take that risk , so he opted for his untested solution of using Chaos . If it succeeded , he would have a far easier time with this first step . So far , his choice had proven the right one .

A section of the main array lit up a few minutes after Zac dealt with the Void Engine] , and two bright blobs appeared . Forty-six minutes on the dot , just like Null said , and Zac finally relaxed . The guide had assured him the Perennial Vastness knew what it was doing—how could it fail in refining the items found within its domain? But it was impossible not to worry when so much was at stake .

Sendor had thankfully come through . Zac didn’t know how , but the arrays prepared by the Perennial Vastness melted the treasures without damaging their essence . The Nucleus Arrays were custom designed for these two treasures and the patterns he’d added . He essentially had a Supremacy personally overseeing the process , ensuring this first step would work without a hitch .

No energy leaked from the materials , and they weren’t fluctuating dangerously , either . The arrays he’d engraved had fused with the material itself , creating a stable structure that could be molded .

The glowing blob from the Warstone] looked like heated steel , emitting an aura somewhere between its original Dao of War and his Branch of the War Axe .

The Calamity Core] was a sphere of heated glass . Life and Death almost formed a Yin-Yang symbol , except for the missing dots . The two sides were in perfect balance in energy , aura , and Dao , which was why he picked the Calamity Core] over two separate Supreme treasures .

Of course , the balance didn’t mean the elements had fused , and stability was only a relative concept regarding Life and Death . The Nucleus Array had forced them together , and it remained an unstable union without the Void to keep the peace . There was a mutual rejection within the treasure , but it was within his expectations .

Zac dragged the two materials over with telekinesis as he disrobed to leave his chest bare . The tattoo on his belly was still there , ready to receive more materials . The main array had a similar function , but the tattoo was better as it was slightly faster . His skin rippled as the Calamity Core] entered his body . The Warstone] would soon follow , but he needed to complete the next step separately . Zac dragged the molten glass into his core , where the perfected Life and Death waited .

The molten treasure was a voracious black hole when it came in contact with the energies sealed inside the Hollow Core] . Vast amounts of Life entered the golden half of the glowing sphere , while the Quantum Death entered the black one . The sense of rejection was rapidly weakening as more and more energy entered .

That’s it! - Zac shouted .

This was exactly what he wanted to see . He’d been somewhat confident in his plan after seeing the Chaos Motes successfully split , but it was still a huge load off his shoulders to see the Calamity Core] stabilize . The twinned crystal was as stable as the Warstone] when two-thirds of the accumulated Dao had been absorbed .

Still , Zac crammed another two Chaos Motes’ worth of perfected truth into the Supreme treasure , ensuring it would stay stable even longer . The energy inside the Hollow Core] was fully drained except for lingering pieces of Conflict he hadn’t managed to prevent the Duplicity Core from absorbing .

The Warstone] entered the Hollow Core] the second that process was done , joining the Calamity Core] . Simultaneously , Zac released the floodgates in his mind , letting a storm of Dao emerge from his Spiritual Void] while the axe-wielding Dao Avatar was squeezed for over three-quarters of its accumulated truth .

The War-attuned treasure already contained significantly more energy than the Calamity Core] thanks to being left on the array until it couldn’t withstand it any longer . Still , it wasn’t a match to the Calamity Core] after it swallowed the four Chaos Motes . This was a second infusion to reach equilibrium between the three forces .

Zac shifted his attention to the platform beneath him . A nudge activated its main feature , and the whole thing came alive . The array started to absorb the vast amounts of energy provided by the Dao Tapestries , using it as fuel . An uncomfortable pressure built in his body , but he ignored the discomfort as he ensured none of his Hidden Nodes triggered .

A gleaming , three-colored sphere surrounded the Duplicity Core , releasing immense gravitational waves into the core . Seeing the Duplicity Core was fine , Zac sent out over twenty strings of Mental Energy . They entered the sphere , where they were transformed . They were still spiritual , but the array gave them physical characteristics , allowing them to interact with the materials .

Their function was similar to robotic surgical instruments sometimes used before the Integration . It was night and day compared to the Mortal Core Formation methods he’d found in Zecia . Those techniques pretty much took the base materials and put them under great pressure , squeezing them into a shape resembling a blueprint .

It took little time to get used to the transformation since it was ultimately his Mental Energy . The only problem was that his control was a bit clumsy due to the damage across his body .

The Void Engine] was still being cooked inside his Hidden Node , but that didn’t mean Zac could sit around . From the second he began the process , there would be no rest . His core was currently just two treasures pushed against each other , gradually being distorted by the immense pressure released by the Core Formation Array .

The next step was to mix and shape the temporarily malleable materials into a proper nucleus , adding the critical pathways and connections that would make up the inner circuitry of his Cosmic Core .

Zac was full of anticipation , sending the mental tendrils forward like a swarm of snakes . Everything until now was just the warm-up . The next step was what he’d truly practiced for .

The actual Core Formation was finally starting .

79

UNCERTAINTY INTO TRUTH

The pressure the Core Formation Array levied on the treasures was immense , and they sporadically released bursts of energy that shook the Hollow Core] . The energy was then forced right back into the materials after wreaking havoc , leading to a volatile cycle .

Zac controlled the Mental Energy tools to mold the blobs of Conflict and Life , relieved to find the surgical tools mostly unaffected by the gravitational force . The refined Calamity Core] and Warstone] were very responsive , like putty . There was one problem , however . He had no way to interact with the deathly half of the Calamity Core] in his human form .

His Life and Conflict-attuned Core Formation tools were blocked when trying to pass through the Death-attuned half of the Calamity Core] , but they couldn’t mold or move it at all . It lived its own life , changing shape based on pressure and the movements of the other two materials .

Similarly , he’d lost his connection with the tools filled with his Branch of the Pale Seal the moment they entered the Duplicity Core , transformed by the mysterious quantum state that influenced all Death in the core . But that was fine . He would start the process in his human form and then swap over to his Draugr side .

The pressure was almost too great to form his core next to the two spheres . However , it was the pressure which kept the energies contained and the materials malleable . If he turned off the main array , the materials would rapidly cool and harden . Since that wasn’t an option , Zac used the tendrils to force the materials to spin while pressing against each other . The gravitational force and the spinning treasures created a makeshift roll press , a technique only possible when having surgical tools to assist the formation .

From there , he extracted a piece from each blob , like string pulled from spools , and pushed them together . He formed a simple braid before it was crushed between the rolling spheres . The braid emerged significantly more compressed on the other side and stuck to the Warstone]’s surface . The more condensed the nucleus was , the stabler it would become .

Zac added a few more sections of Conflict to the braid while preparing half a braid on the other sphere . Each cycle fused and arranged the preliminary connections in the Cosmic Core’s center .

A surge of energy warned that the materials wouldn’t come together without a fight , and Zac was forced to give up a cycle as the braid released a tremendous shockwave of intermixed energy .

A large section of his budding creation was damaged , undoing most of his work in one go . This was the uphill battle any mortal would face , especially one wanting to create such a complex core . He salvaged what he could and let the rest rejoin the spinning blobs as he extracted new strings .

Thirty minutes passed as the super-condensed nugget grew bigger and bigger , where every layer was earned after multiple setbacks . The Death-attuned energies were unsurprisingly the source of the biggest headache . The growing ball of yarn was filled with uneven spots of Death dragged inside by the process , only some of it intentionally . The nucleus was roughly 60% in line with his blueprint , and every eruption came with the risk of pushing that number lower .

Not being in control of one-third of the matter going into the nucleus created a lot of difficulties . Zac did what he could to indirectly influence the uncontrollable half of the Calamity Core] . He intentionally created empty pockets between Life and Conflict where Death squeezed inside . Along with temporary blockades when too much Death was about to be pulled into the roll press .

Not much time had passed , yet he’d already lost count of the number of explosions the Hollow Core] had been forced to absorb . Zac avoided some of the disasters , but most didn’t even give him a chance to react . His mental tendrils were repeatedly shredded , forcing him to expend energy reforming them .

During this time , there were no signs of Void Heart] releasing the missing piece of the puzzle .

It was for the best . While getting his hands on the refined Void Energy would be one less worry , it was liable to complicate the process . He had no idea how much control he’d be able to exert over the Void Energy , especially with the Core Formation Array unable to help .

If he could build an operational base on the other three materials first , he would simply need to push the Void into the - empty space , - similar to how he used his Dao Molds . While the models of his blueprint looked porous , that was just because it was impossible to properly express the Quantum States of his core in three-dimensional space .

In reality , he needed to infuse the Void Energy into the untouchable Quantum Death in his human form , then repeat the process with Life as a Draugr . And since he had no idea what that infusion would lead to , it was a good idea to finish as much work as possible beforehand .

Another thirty minutes passed , which meant he’d crossed his estimate on the Void Heart] .

Still nothing .

Zac slowed the rotation of the growing nucleus as much as he could while taking out three new treasure boxes . They were all top-tier materials of Life , Death , and Conflict , all sourced inside the Perennial Vastness . Zac added a set of engravings before placing them on their respective refinement array .

Just as Zac finished his work on the third treasure , a huge energy fluctuation shook his core . Zac urgently turned his focus back to the Hollow Core] . A whole section had destabilized , and Zac was forced to cut it off . He threw the piece to one corner while moving the nucleus to another , shielding it with Mental Energy .

A second later , the alloy shattered , and an unprecedented explosion raged , forcing the energies back into the nucleus just like the energy from outside , but that wasn’t the case for the physical material . Until now , the eruptions had only been energy . This time material itself exploded . That section was gone , and he suddenly had less material to work with .

It had also lost its spirituality , and he could only extract the fragments from the Hollow Core] . Zac sighed , beginning the process again with new material to patch the damage .

Meanwhile , the three new treasures began absorbing the ambient Dao from the Dao Tapestries on the Dao Platform . The treasures sank into the refinement array fifteen minutes later , just before they risked destabilizing . With his full focus back on the core , Zac didn’t lose any more material .

The explosions continued as incessant solar flares that refused to relent . But the nucleus also grew more compact , to the point the innermost regions were forcibly stabilized .

It took a full ninety-five minutes , but Zac managed to fuse all the matter from the Warstone] and Calamity Core] into an almost perfectly spherical blob of alloy . Zac’s soul trembled from the effort , having been forced to constantly split his consciousness into twenty threads to maximize efficiency .

Zac said a silent prayer of good health for Mossy . If not for the living planet’s Moss Crystals , he’d never have managed to evolve his soul . And without a Three Fates Soul , he wasn’t sure if he would have endured the process .

Unfortunately , the nucleus still only looked like 60% of what it should . If Zac began channeling energy through this thing , it’d go from a Cosmic Core into a nuclear warhead . Still , he was happy with his efforts and moved on to stage two . Mental Threads entered the pathways of Life and Conflict and began exerting pressure to expand sections and move others .

Manipulating the inner structure of the nucleus like this made its energy even more volatile , and he was forced to reform the mental tendrils twice as often . At least the blob moved closer to what it should look like .

Zac was beginning to run low on Mental Energy even when liberally using Soul Crystals , so he supplemented with Soul Recovery Pills . Each subsequent pill would provide less than the one before , but what could he do? Zac guessed it was unavoidable when working with immense energy and great pressure . As for the Void Heart] taking its sweet time? Zac couldn’t do anything about it , so he kept working on what he could affect .

It took him a full hour to improve the nucleus to 75% similarity with the blueprint , at which point progress drastically slowed . There was only so much you could do to fix the problems caused by Death without actually touching it , so Zac infused some energy into the Duplicity Core .

Life and Death inverted , and the dormant tendrils filled with his Branch of the Pale Seal woke up . The previously inaccessible black crystal of the Calamity Core] became fully malleable . Finally having access to the Death-attuned side drastically sped up progress , but it still took another hour until he reached 90% precision .

Shifting back to human let him add finishing touches , pushing that number to an impressive 95% . The last 5% was impossible to solve without being able to manipulate all three elements simultaneously . Besides , his soul was utterly drained . He wouldn’t have the strength to deal with the energy bursts if he kept pushing it .

There were no critical errors in its appearance , just minor inefficiencies , and that problem should solve itself . Dao had a natural state of balance , which could be glimpsed from the patterns often appearing on High-grade materials . As such , the Core Formation Array’s constant pressure would make the materials move toward equilibrium as they condensed .

There wasn’t much left for Zac to do except keep watch and recover . The nucleus was as stable as could be , and few low-grade cultivators would be able to spot anything wrong . But it was built on a lie . Anyone with the slightest insights into the paradoxical nature of the Peak of Chaos would know Zac’s solution shouldn’t work .

And technically , it didn’t .

Zac had kept his mind occupied over the past hours , but it was time to face facts . His estimates on the Void Heart] were inaccurate , and not by a small degree . Meanwhile , the lingering unity of Chaos was starting to wear off . The imperfection of his low attainment in the Dao tainted the perfected version of Life and Death , and seeds of discord disrupted the balance inside the Hollow Core] .

It was just a matter of time before it destabilized the nucleus . Even the radiant light from the agitated materials started to wane .

Too much time had passed , and the materials were hardening . Certainly , the Supreme treasures had been indelibly transformed by the process , but they couldn’t remain in this state . It was the same as with working on skill fractals . You could only modify a fractal for so long until it solidified .

He needed to start adding the next set of materials . Wait too long , and the second layer wouldn’t properly connect with the nucleus , creating a hidden weakness where the Cosmic Core would crack when too much energy coursed through its pathways .

That’s why he’d already thrown the next set of materials onto the refinement arrays . The general refinement arrays took longer than the specialized arrays Zac used before , and he needed to have the materials on hand before the nucleus solidified . Of course , that depended on Zac making it that far . The nucleus was living on borrowed time .

Void Heart] was almost three hours late in providing the final piece of the puzzle , and Zac’s worry only grew as another hour passed . Zac was infinitely thankful he had been a bit greedy when it came to the Chaos Motes . If anything , he felt a pang of regret not opting for a few more . Of course , that might have resulted in his soul not enduring the unexpectedly rough process .

He’d passed the time using his Undying Mark] and Healing Pills to fix some of the damage to his body and Soul Aperture , and he’d performed maintenance on his damaged pathways and Thousand Lights Avatar] . Later , he swapped back to his human form to use Surging Vitality] and a second batch of pills .

Then Zac reached a point he hoped he’d never have to see . The mental threads moved like surgical knives to cut off a small section that was destabilizing . He tried to expel it from his body , but neither hatch nor Hollow Core] allowed the release of such energy-rich material . He could only repeat his previous maneuver and withstand the resulting explosion . It rocked the hidden space within the Duplicity Core , and Zac dragged the broken pieces out soon after with a sense of defeat .

Losing a couple of pieces of the nucleus wasn’t the end of the world . The damage could be repaired , and it only meant a bit more work when he needed to upgrade the core in the future . But the fact he couldn’t maintain stability even with a fully formed nucleus meant he was out of time . Every subsequent explosion would create a negative spiral that would spin out of control .

Zac fought exhaustion while infusing his full will into the Hollow Core] , but it felt like he was trying to right a sinking ship by throwing water overboard with a bucket . Indecision gnawed at him as he desperately tried to maintain the status quo , his eyes constantly darting to the ring holding his Void Treasures .

Then , a deep thump shook the whole platform , and Zac almost cried with relief . Void Heart] had given him a scare , but it was finally done . A stream of mysterious Void Energy poured out of the Hidden Node , looking like a thundercloud of alien runes . The patterns didn’t resemble anything from Ultom and seemed completely separate from the systems used in this era . Zac wasn’t even certain whether it was physical or spiritual as it moved through his body .

Deciphering those formations might be key to finding clues to the Void , but this wasn’t the time or place . His cells were already trying to drag runes out of the clouds , and the nucleus was teetering on the brink of collapse . Zac captured the cloud with a net of Mental Energy and dragged it toward his Duplicity Core .

Meanwhile , he opened his cells wide and supplied large amounts of Void Energy , slightly diluting its immense energy to exchange quality for quantity . The cloud was too intense , overpowering the auras from the other three elements . If Void of Death was more powerful than the Dao of Life , he’d fail to reach a state of equilibrium .

Zac stopped the churning cloud right outside the hatch , where he split it in half after a short deliberation . He considered adding Branches of the Pale Seal and Kalpataru into the halves but decided against it . The Quantum Death fused with modified Void should result in Void of Death . Adding actual Dao would likely ruin the process .

It was impossible to say whether he was making the right call or whether his idea would even work . He could only put his faith in Ultom’s impartments and years of effort as he made the plunge . Zac could already sense that another piece of the nucleus was about to destabilize , so he pushed one of the clouds through the hatch . Mental tendrils turned into a blur as they split the cloud into two dozen streams that entered the nucleus from every direction .

Zac didn’t have to wait long to see the result . His triumphant roar echoed through the mountain range as the Void Energy effortlessly entered the Quantum Death , and the cloud was rapidly consumed . It worked! Void really was the key . However , the Void Energy was certainly not the calming balm he’d anticipated . Anywhere it entered , the surroundings quaked as the Void disrupted the faltering peace brought by Chaos .

For a moment , it looked like Zac had built a bomb rather than a core , but that didn’t mean he stopped infusing the nucleus . There was no going back now . Either he finished the job , or he’d blow himself and the surrounding mountains to kingdom come . It only took a few seconds , but it felt like an eternity as he desperately applied the Void to every nook and cranny .

Then , the shaking stopped , and the energies turned docile after hours of madness . Zac looked on with bated breath until it seemed like his vantage shifted . Zac felt like he was looking at one of those images that changed motif depending on the angle from which you looked . A moment ago , the nucleus felt like a fake core , like someone had slapped a new coat of paint on a rotting house .

Now , it was perfect—an Evolutionary Core holding the shadow of Inexorability .

Well , almost perfect . Seven imperfections marred the complex structure after he’d been forced to excise the unstable sections , creating some disturbances in the energy flow . However , that level of damage was no worse than him getting a couple of cuts . He’d still be able to fight in that state , and his Cosmic Core would still work with issues this small .

Part of Zac just wanted to look at his creation and marvel , but he had to keep going . He swapped to his Draugr form and began the process anew with the other half of the Void Cloud . Inverting the core destabilized it again , but having one completed half made it sturdier . Even then , Zac filled the sections with extreme meticulousness until a complete Inexorable Core was born .

Zac just sat there staring at his creation with an immense sense of satisfaction .

Fifteen years it’d taken him to reach this point . Fifteen years of struggle , wracking his brain for a solution . A solution that would prove to the world they were wrong . That it was possible to form a core with Life and Death . Yet , even as he began this final process , he hadn’t been entirely sure whether he was chasing a wild fantasy or if he was really onto something .

Today , uncertainty finally turned into truth .

80

TOLL OF HEGEMONY

Zac released a heavy breath . Forming a nucleus obviously wasn’t the same as forming a core , but it was the step that worried him the most .

With that hurdle out of the way , Zac grabbed one of the Void Cores to extract its energy . A storm of chaotic energy entered his body , dragged straight into his heart before it could cause damage or create a mess . Infusing the cloud had drained him of most of his Void Energy , and he needed to recover some while he worked on the refinement arrays .

Turning his attention to the three items on their respective glowing array , Zac guessed they’d be ready in around an hour . He observed the golden metallic root atop the Life-attuned platform for a few seconds before shaking his head . It was a Life-attuned treasure at the top of Peak-quality , but the timing meant it couldn’t be used for his core . He grabbed the half-refined treasure and crushed it , swallowing some while letting the released toxic waves of Life enter through his pores and irradiate his body . It was better than letting it go to waste .

Waves of nausea hit him , but the feeling lessened as Zac dragged the immense energies into his soul and the cracks left by the splinter .

He still had a complicated relationship with Life in his Draugr form , but it wasn’t quite considered poisonous any longer . The infusion of Life ground against the stubborn slivers of Oblivion hidden in the scars , exhausting and erasing them . A similar scene played out inside his Soul Aperture , where the energies nurtured and healed the Life-attuned Soul Core .

Twenty minutes passed until the energy was expended , at which point Zac repeated the process with the Death-attuned treasure on the refinement array . The remaining active array didn’t need much input from him , so he figured he might as well eat some treasures to fix his body . Doing so would leave behind some impurities , but so what? A tribulation was just around the corner .

Zac engraved another Death-attuned treasure with a refinement pattern . The one he just used up would be refined too early . Besides , all the Life-Death treasures he’d prepared were matched up in pairs to ensure every layer would be balanced . Since the Life-attuned treasure had been discarded , the Death-attuned needed to go too . The choice of treasures holding the Dao of Conflict wasn’t as stringent , so the remaining metal would become the first piece of the core’s next layer .

Most cultivators would probably curse Zac for using such precious treasures like they were simple Healing Pills , but he had gathered way more than he needed during his years of collecting Mana . Losing a couple of sets wasn’t a big deal , and he felt a lot better by the time the Death-attuned treasure had been absorbed . Part of it was thanks to his soul being in a better state , and one part was simply relaxing from the pent-up stress .

Twenty minutes later , a spiritual nudge confirmed the War-attuned treasure was done . Zac pulled it over with telekinesis . The array on his stomach had already collapsed , So Zac placed the refined metal onto a sub-array next to him .

The material flickered and suddenly felt illusory—it was ready . Zac pushed it into his side , avoiding the broken tattoo just in case . The piece of metal passed through his body like a ghost until it reached the outer shell formed by the main Core Formation Array . At that time , it turned corporeal again as it entered .

The new piece of Conflict was like a small moon pulled by the gravity of a far greater planet . In fact , the nucleus’ pull was so strong that the new treasure would’ve crashed into its surface like a meteor if not for Zac restraining it . Even then , Zac barely managed to hold the material back while spinning the nucleus to the correct location , at which point he let the blob of Conflict-attuned steel land .

The pressure would merge the materials even if Zac did nothing at that point . Of course , such a creation would only barely follow the patterns of his blueprint thanks to the ambient energies . To avoid such a crude result , Zac used the mental tendrils to reforge and reform the piece of Conflict . Two hours passed until something similar to a silvery spiderweb had been evenly applied to the nucleus .

The process had been quite smooth compared to forming the nucleus , apart from a few eruptions and the general drain of Mental Energy . Only adding one material at a time increased the duration of the process and the overall strain on his mind . In return , the risk of mistakes occurring was far lower , and Zac felt that was more important than saving time .

With the next attuned treasure on its refinement array nearly complete , Zac took out a vial containing a shimmering pill with immense waves of unattuned energy and heat . He swallowed it , and it was like a white sun erupted in his chest .

Zac dragged the ball of energy into the hatch , and the pill needed no guidance from that point , smoothly entering the core . The waning lights of the nucleus rekindled , regaining some of the luster it lost while waiting for Void Heart] to finish . The pill was called Rising Sun Return] , a hot commodity inside Vastness City provided by a powerful alchemy clan in the Multiverse Heartlands .

Its effect was simple : returning some malleability to a budding core . Sometimes , delays or mistakes make you fall behind schedule , which could lead to a negative spiral of accumulating mistakes . The Rising Sun Return] acted as a second lifeline , where you’d get the opportunity to fix the problem or catch up . One could only eat three such pills during Core Formation , and its effect would be halved after every use . Yet Zac felt it warranted after the earlier delay .

With his nucleus once more resembling a magmatic ball , Zac dragged over the next treasure—this one Death-attuned—adding another layer . The addition of more Death-attuned material affected the stability of the core , but the thin outer layer wasn’t enough to push the nucleus off-balance . It just resulted in a few more discharges of energy .

After Death had joined War , Zac swapped to his human form to add the matching Life . With all three materials in balance , the core calmed . Even better , just as Zac was about to infuse Void into the Quantum Death , he realized he didn’t need to . The dense amounts of Void were already spreading into the added section .

With the initial hump passed , Zac entered the longest stage of the Core Formation . He formed a stable cycle , adding one element after another while swapping between Draugr and human . Layers of Conflict , Death , and Life were tacked onto the growing core . Occasionally , Zac supplied Void Energy through his Void Heart] to prevent the Void from becoming too diluted . Interestingly , the vast Dao Tapestry was absorbed into his core with every layer added , providing extra strength and stability , shrinking the spiderweb a bit .

Zac almost felt like he was gestating life inside the Hollow Core] , and he was filled with anticipation as the weeks turned to months . During that time , he encountered only a few snags . Some materials destabilized before they could be used , and others didn’t react as he’d expected when forming his plan . The constant explosions were a real headache .

His Quantum Core would hold more than ten times the energy compared to most cultivators while being a mortal . And when the one month mark had passed , he knew there was no chance he’d survive the core collapsing . It was success or death .

Such a threat wasn’t enough to make Zac hesitate or back down , though the eruptions only worsened . The Core Refinement array could only take you so far when trying to contain such vast amounts of energy . Even his Hollow Core] was starting to show cracks . Zac doubted its creator could ever have dreamed his invention would get beat up so badly .

The Core Formation barrier could be moved inside the Duplicity Core if the protective shell cracked , but it wouldn’t block out the damage nearly as well . In other words , the energies would crash into the Duplicity Core , and Zac had no idea if it was designed to withstand these kinds of eruptions . After all , his Core Formation process was undoubtedly designed to be controlled by Jeeves , who’d manage the process with inhuman precision .

Two months in , Zac was forced to swallow his second Rising Sun Return] . It wasn’t to catch up but rather to turn the inner regions of the core malleable again . The internal wiring had been damaged to the point it couldn’t be ignored anymore . At the same time , Zac had no choice but to start relying on outside help .

One pill , talisman , and consumable treasure after another was used over the following days , each a powerful but costly method to absorb damage or calm the core . The large amount of toxins was manageable , but each lifeline added some extra heterogeneity to his core . Even then , the Hollow Core] cracked around the three-month mark from an earthshattering explosion that almost knocked Zac unconscious .

He held on to his fraying consciousness , clumsily containing the damage while swallowing the third and final Rising Sun Return] to repair the huge crack that reached all the way to the nucleus . Months had passed with no rest , and he’d been constantly forced to maintain full focus . His soul was a parched desert , but his red eyes gleamed with madness and excitement as a rumble shook the sky . The Hollow Core] had lasted much longer than Zac expected , and the Dao Tapestry was almost fully absorbed .

A few dark clouds had appeared in the sky over the past days , and a weak aura of punishment filled the mountain range . The Heavens hadn’t descended in earnest just yet , but Zac’s Cosmic Core was already nearing completion . Things had more or less gone according to plan , except the process had been rougher than he expected .

Yet the result was good . A few layers were still missing , but Zac could barely believe how close to his goals the core had come . Certainly , the large number of explosions left enough imperfections to make a High-quality Cosmic Core an impossibility , but it was certainly enough for Middle-quality . It wasn’t even a matter of barely pushing past the goalpost . He was well within the acceptable range .

Another three days passed , and Zac’s hands shook as he moved the refined piece of Life-attuned Natural Treasure onto the main array . His soul was too tired for telekinesis , but he roused himself as he tacked on the layer that perfectly entered the groves on the core’s surface . The region was drenched in darkness , apart from the flickering purple of the barely contained bolts of lightning above . The sky roared , and Zac didn’t dare look up , afraid that giving the boundless fury attention would unleash the storm .

There was something odd about the Tribulation Lightning this time . Technically , the tribulation for forming a boundless Cosmic Core was the same as forming Dao Branches . Cultivation was stealing providence from the Heavens , and the severity of these two crimes was considered at the same level . However , the amassed energy far surpassed what he’d endured inside the Orom World . Something about his core angered the Heavens more than normal .

At the same time , it didn’t seem very focused . The lightning was spread across the horizon rather than gathered above him . Almost like the Heavens had trouble pinpointing his exact location , making it even angrier . Zac presumed it was a feature of the Duplicity Core rather than the Perennial Vastness , adding the Technocrat’s trademark ability to hide from the Heavens .

This time , Zac didn’t mind his mother’s meddling . He’d planned to slow his progress when he reached this point , to recover before facing the tribulation . But with the process being so volatile , Zac was forced to keep a breakneck pace to the end . Even now , there was no chance to rest .

One side of the core was complete , while the other was not . Zac could already sense the incredibly dense energy streams form a perfect circuit in his Evolutionary Core , which put immense pressure on the other side . Zac shifted to his Draugr form one last time , where he branded the recently added pathways with the Void .

Balance was restored within his trinity path , and something clicked . A second circuit was completed , and two streams became one . One half felt real and palpable , while the other remained in a quantum state , like a shadow hiding from the light . The flowing rivers of energy added stability , further fusing the materials .

It was done .

Zac couldn’t use it yet , but he had a fully working core .

A powerful pulse of primal force shook the hidden space within the Duplicity Core . The wave passed through the Specialty Core’s walls , where it seemed to be amplified rather than absorbed . It spread through his body , invigorating him and filling his cells with boundless power before continuing outward .

It was an unstoppable expression of Zac’s Dao and his path , a heralding cry of his ascent . It made the ambient energy in the whole region stir , forming one apparition after another around him . They didn’t look like the Kalpataru tree nor the Iron Maiden of his Pale Seal . The apparitions weren’t even fashioned after the shifting Dao Avatar wielding his two axes .

Instead , two powerful armies materialized , forming a protective circle like an Imperial Guard . While both sides were part of his force , there was an unmistakable animosity between the camps .

One army looked like a horde of barbarian ravagers . No two were identical in shape or equipment , except they all wielded axes . They emitted a primal aura of dominance , more beast than man , with an unquenchable and unbreakable will . Like their weapons could sever Dao , Fate , and the Heavens themselves .

The other half was a dour army of hooded executioners , slightly resembling Zac’s form when using Arbiter of the Abyss] . All held a black axe , and chains wound around their black robes . Their auras truly resembled that of a judge . Their weapons held the inexorable certainty of death . Dao , Fate , and the Heavens only became subordinate truths of their will .

Nine hundred ninety-nine warriors were conjured in each camp before the phenomenon stopped expanding . However , the pulse continued even when the armies did not . It spread to envelop the whole mountain and beyond , repainting the valleys in the color of Zac’s Dao . The platform beneath his feet crumbled from the pressure , yet Zac floated in place . He was a radiant sun , showering the world with his glory .

It was the Toll of Hegemony .

The toll was like the first cry of a newborn , announcing its existence to the world . But instead of a baby , it was a path born , manifested into physical form through his Cosmic Core . Some considered Hegemony the true start of cultivation , and Zac could understand the feeling as his Daos and Energy kept him aloft , surrounded by a sea of his power .

This kind of phenomenon marked every ascent , though apparitions only appeared when Dao Branches fueled it . Zac was shocked as the wave just kept going .

The size and expression of the toll depended on various factors , such as quality , energy density , and the stability of one’s path . Zac had heard forming a one-mile shockwave was the hallmark of a cultivator with the qualifications to continue beyond the entrance of Hegemony . Five meant the core could climb through the ranks of the grade , while twenty indicated a seed of potential for an Inner World .

So why did Zac’s pulse just keep going?

At first , Zac considered it a welcome recognition of his potential when five miles turned into ten . Until the ripple reached the neighboring peaks , setting their energy astir . Twenty , thirty , and soon fifty miles . It was unstoppable , and Zac’s excitement was soon replaced by worry . Because for every mile the pulse expanded , the Heavens grew more agitated as it forcibly honed in on his location .

The light of his Dao projections were eventually overwhelmed by the purple gathering above . Zac had to fight his instincts to burrow into the ground , to use the layers of soil to hide from the gathering punishment . For one , it would be to shame his path , and it was fruitless . There was no escape from what came next .

The shockwave stopped after forming a domain of over ninety-nine miles , an accomplishment Zac had never heard of before . By this point , the Heavenly clouds were fully purple , and Zac spotted mysterious runes inside the formations . They were like angry spots of red , filled with the desire for destruction .

Zac quelled the turmoil in his heart , and his eyes steeled . Even if the bolts were superpowered , he only needed to withstand three . He refused to believe it was enough to do him in .

The Dao Apparitions shifted , and the whole mountain range stirred . One second ago , it seemed as though a supreme Dao Treasure had been born , creating a glorious spectacle . Now , that feeling was replaced by ruthlessness and fighting spirit . And the sense of internal disharmony between the armies was gone . Their aggression fully turned to the outside threat .

Together , they formed an axe pointed at the sky .

81

AN AXE AGAINST THE HEAVENS

Over the past three months , Zac had spent a fortune on talismans , pills , and treasures to pave the way through his Core Formation process . The total cost was undoubtedly counted in tens of C-grade Nexus Coins if you included the outside value of all the unique treasures he’d picked up inside the Perennial Vastness .

Yet now , Zac didn’t take out a single item as he looked to the turbulent sky . It wasn’t that he’d run out of money but that some things had to be dealt with on your own . Heavenly Tribulation was the Law of Balance manifest . He’d taken something from the Heavens , breaking his mortal shackles to steal power and longevity far beyond what any human should hold . As such , he needed to pay the price .

Some methods and treasures could help you out , but they generally came with a cost Zac was unwilling to pay . The most glaring one was that withstanding the tribulation was necessary to temper and transform the Cosmic Core one final time . It was both punishment and a path forward . If you weakened the lightning out of fear of getting hurt , you’d lower the potential of your Cosmic Core .

Some sinister methods subverted balance through things like sacrifice , where you used other cultivators as cauldrons to refine the Tribulation Lightning before letting it enter your body . That way , you’d get the benefits while someone else paid the price . Zac guessed Saeward’s array was exactly this kind of method . He’d trapped the souls of his soldiers in a cycle of suffering to turn them into something that could help him pass his tribulation .

In a spat of cosmic justice , Saeward failed and was turned into an experiment by Sendor . However , even if he’d succeeded , it wouldn’t have been without issues . Such a method was bound to stain your Karma , affecting your providence and Luck . It wasn’t just a form of punishment meted out by the System ; it was Heavenly Law .

Zac would never use that kind of method , not just because he found it revolting and an insult to his Dao . His huge Luck was one of his greatest advantages , allowing him to get this far . Without his Luck , how would he have encountered all the opportunities that made up the cornerstones of his cultivation system? Without his Luck , he would have died and been forgotten long ago .

Sacrificing all that to enter Hegemony safely? Forget about it .

No , this was a test that needed to be overcome , though that didn’t mean he should stand there and eat the lightning bolts . Zac was intimately connected to the domain around him . It was generated by his Dao and Energy from his core , so he roused the domain to meet the gathering bolt . The sky had turned into a huge vortex , and the purple lightning in its center was so condensed , it had almost turned red .

Becoming a Hegemon didn’t mean he’d gained a connection to the Daos like a cultivator . However , Zac could still use the same types of tricks as he did when forming Dao Braids . The Dao Apparitions turned into streaks of light , forming nine rivers that wound into a simple but tremendously powerful spiral . In reality , it looked more like a hurricane than a braid , spinning in the opposite direction of the clouds .

A rumbling roar shook all creation as the first bolt descended , painting the mountain range crimson as it streaked toward Zac . Every step was a hard-fought battle where Zac fought back with everything he had . The bolt grew thinner and weaker the closer it came until it was fully consumed . The first bolt hadn’t even managed to touch Zac’s robes , a testament to his ungodly foundations .

The bolt’s descent had been cut short but still brought benefits . The domain was part of him , and his Dao had been greatly consolidated by pitting itself against the Tribulation Lightning . It didn’t provide any breakthroughs , but Zac felt like a hidden blockage had been shaken loose in his mind . His path ahead felt wider , and his Daos full of potential .

Though handled quickly , it hadn’t come without a cost . The seemingly boundless domain had been almost fully drained in one go , leaving him without outer protection for the second bolt . Zac tried to rouse his will to reform some of it , but his speed was nothing when faced against an angry sky . The lightning ramped up at shocking speed , passing energy levels Zac only expected for the third bolt .

The whole universe was teetering at the brink of collapse as small red strings appeared all around him . They felt like the fault lines of reality , forced to the dimensional forefront from the accumulating energies above . The threat of annihilation surrounded him , and Zac felt extremely exposed without the domain to keep him safe .

Was it because of his Technocrat heritage , or was it for cultivating not one but two boundless Daos? Or was it his bloodline and its connection to the Void? No matter the reason , the threat far exceeded Zac’s wildest expectations . However , he wasn’t given any time to adapt or prepare . The sky was so energetic that the second bolt was spat out on the heels of the first .

Zac’s mind screamed of danger as the remnant energies of the Dao Braid were ripped to shreds without putting up much of a fight . Zac acted on instinct as he activated Void Zone] just before the pillar of red hit him . A zone separated from the Heavens was erected , and the blinding light dimmed as it entered .

Not even the Void Emperor’s abilities could deal with the second bolt of Tribulation Lightning . It forced its way through the Void , and the meter-wide pillar condensed to the width of a finger that hit Zac square on his forehead .

The pain was instantaneous and ubiquitous . His Soul Aperture crackled , his pathways were turned into conducive copper wiring , and the vortices in his cells and nodes fluctuated precariously from being overwhelmed by the sudden influx of energy . The only thing unscathed was the Duplicity Core .

The lightning ignored it for some reason , though that didn’t apply to the Cosmic Core within . If anything , it was the Tribulation Lightning’s main target , and it flooded the core through the still-open hatch . The core that had just stabilized after months of eruptions ran amok as the punishing lightning squeezed into its every crevasse .

The whole thing shuddered as it was forced into a brutal struggle for survival of fighting fire with fire , and a pain Zac had never felt before made him keel over and lose control of his flight . He crashed into the flat peak of Mount Illumination , but the collision was nothing compared to the punishment his body endured from within .

Everything was set aflame and breaking apart . Every part of his body was about to be destroyed , and the Tribulation Lightning may as well have been a bottomless ocean . Zac tried to withstand the onslaught using the Void and his Daos , but it wasn’t enough .

He was inviting disaster but saw no option but to release his Void Heart] . It was the only part of his body that seemed excited by the sudden presence of such unique energy , and it pounced on the Tribulation Lightning the second it was released . A deep thud cut the lightning’s momentum in half , and a second ground it to a halt .

A third dragged a large chunk of red lightning over , and Zac witnessed a familiar scene . The lightning had met its nemesis and suddenly wanted to escape rather than advance . This time , there was a startling difference . Some Tribulation Lightning entered the Hidden Node , but Zac was shocked to see mysterious patterns appear on the Duplicity Core as it swallowed even more than Void Heart] .

Between the two , not a spark managed to escape Zac’s body before the Tribulation Lightning was consumed . Only the Cosmic Core’s lightning was left alone , and it soon exhausted the invading force after it became rootless . Zac could feel something had shifted within the core from the experience , but he had no chance to investigate what because a lot of things happened at once .

For one , stabbing pain in his chest confirmed his fear and the reason he wanted to hold off on using his Void Heart] . The Hidden Node had bested the second bolt , but it was completely stuffed . The tribulation held far more destructive force than the previous ones , and a few sparks leaked out of the vortex before it stabilized . There was no way it could help him with the final and most dangerous attack .

The Duplicity Core didn’t seem to have the same trouble , but it acted out in a different way . It released foreign ripples that bounced around inside its hollow center , and the runes across its surface writhed like they’d come alive . Zac was worried for a second that the Specialty Core was going out of control after finding Zac’s blueprint hadn’t followed Kayar-Elu’s original plan for their experiment .

However , it soon became apparent the Technocrat housing was scanning the newly formed core and was rearranging itself to fit the creation , using the tribulation as fuel for the process . Zac was happy to see it work as he’d hoped , but why now? Couldn’t it have waited a bit longer?

The Heavens hadn’t expected its second attack to be dealt with so swiftly , but it was already gearing up for its final punishment . Furthermore , there was no doubt the Heavens had taken offense to having its punishment become fodder . Unfathomable pressure built above Zac’s head , looking like a red sun of utter destruction that tried to break through the clouds . It formed a convex bulge of pure lightning , pushing down toward Mount Illumination .

The Duplicity Core had bought some time , but that didn’t solve his issue . Zac’s trump card against the final bolt was gone , leaving him utterly exposed . Surviving the force accumulating above his head with grit and willpower was impossible . Zac scrambled for a solution , reluctantly turning to the two spirals in his Soul Aperture .

The aperture had been annealed by the lightning just like the rest of his body , but that wasn’t what Zac was interested in . He was rather thinking about the hidden reserves of Creation and Oblivion Energy locked inside the nebulous spirals around his Soul Cores . Some had been refined and turned into nourishment for his soul and body over the past three months , but most of it remained .

Forcibly using all that energy would come at a high cost , and he had no idea if it would even be effective against the Tribulation Lightning . But what else could he do? Zac mentally prepared himself to unleash the same thing he’d once used to deal with the Qriz’Ul King—fusing Oblivion and Creation into an unstable bomb of false Chaos .

The force of such a thing would far surpass his previous experiment , considering it would be powered by all the excess energy from the Remnants . If there was anything in his repertoire that could rebuff the ultimate judgement of the Heavens , it was that . Of course , he didn’t have much more confidence he’d survive his own attack than the tribulation .

Just as Zac was about to drag the energy out of the spirals , another shift occurred in his body . The Duplicity Core stopped rearranging itself and released a powerful force containing hints of the Tribulation Lightning itself . This pulse wasn’t like the earlier toll and stopped just five meters away from Zac’s body , forming a solid barrier that looked like a perfect replica of the Duplicity Core itself .

Zac looked up at the barrier with shock , recognizing its origin . Some of it came from the energy within the Duplicity Core , but it was the array his mother had gifted him to hide his situation . It had always rested by his Duplicity Core , invisible even to him , to the point he mostly forgot it was there . Today , it created a last bastion of protection against the Heavens .

Looking at the barrier filled Zac with a confusing mix of emotions . Its appearance dragged out thoughts he’d sealed away until he had the power to look for Kenzie and Leandra in earnest . Was Leandra protecting him , her son , or was it a safeguard to protect her investment?

A clap of furious thunder pushed those thoughts back to the recesses of Zac’s mind , and innumerable wounds opened across his body . The sense of being targeted was rapidly weakening , and the ball of condensed lightning deflated . It was similar to before he finished his core , like the Heavens had trouble locating him .

So the Kayar-Elu had made some preparations , at least . The increased severity of the tribulation was likely due to their experiments , and for once , Zac didn’t mind the hidden hand manipulating him from the shadows . Better that than dying .

Zac hesitated a moment before forgoing his plan of using the Remnant energy . More than 80% of the lightning ball’s energy had spread through the endless clouds . What remained should be possible to endure without taking such a crazy risk .

Thousand upon thousands of red bolts rained upon the ground , lashing out at everything . It looked like the end—the end of the world , the Dao , and the Era itself . A true apocalypse unfolded around him , and Zac was in the eye of the storm . A scream of agony was drowned out by the crackling roar of the lightning sea that appeared between the mountain peaks . Leandra’s array had hidden his presence , but it had done nothing to block the lightning itself .

A painful stab made Zac keel over , but the source wasn’t the lightning rampaging through his body . The Duplicity Core had tapped into his body , forcibly extracting all his Void Energy just as he was about to use it to fight off the tribulation . Zac was left without his main defenses against the lightning as multiple vortices opened up around him . Simultaneously , Zac could feel an odd connection with pockets of space across the whole domain .

And then came the energy . Life and Death , agitated by the aggressive force of the scattered Tribulation Lightning , poured over in droves , the quantities far surpassing what had been supplied by the Dao Threads . A different form of rumbles created reverberations that shook Zac’s bones as the closest mountain crumbled , its spirituality fully drained .

Zac was still grappling with the streaks of crackling red ravaging his body and could only look on with horror as it all poured into the Duplicity Core . At first , Zac feared the core wanted to forcibly elevate his Quantum Core , something he wasn’t sure he could withstand . Thankfully , only a trickle reached the core , while most were consumed and disappeared .

It was like the Duplicity Core had been topped up with fuel after running empty , and the wriggling transformation across its surface resumed . It was happily continuing its evolution , uncaring that Zac was still fighting for his life . Zac slumped onto the ground , his skin scorched and smoke releasing from his pores .

He took out an axe and drew a deep cut across his arm , releasing a large stream of ichor that crackled with red lightning . Despite having been through hell and back , Zac smiled while looking up at the sky . The clouds were filled with reluctance , but they were slowly dispersing after finishing their - Minor - Tribulation . It had already pushed the envelope to unleash such force against a D-grade cultivator and had nothing left to throw at him .

The ichor he’d excised contained the last of the lightning , given up because he didn’t have anywhere to use it . His soul couldn’t take any more tempering , and his cells were on the brink of collapse . Instead of trying to endure another round of refinement , he was better off just giving it up .

The tribulation was over , and he was mostly in one piece , yet the Duplicity Core hadn’t finished its work . A second mountain collapsed , and then a third , the scene reminiscent of his bloodline breakthroughs . In this case , he wasn’t the beneficiary , though . At least not directly . His bloodline wasn’t making any headway , and any attempt at siphoning some of the bountiful energy was rebuffed .

Zac could only watch on as the Duplicity Core continued its business . Truthfully , he was thankful for the respite . It wasn’t just the near-death experience just now , but the last months in general . Constantly being alert and at attention wore him down , and he had to fight the urge to enter a restorative hibernation .

He couldn’t let himself sleep at this juncture . He needed to observe what the Duplicity Core did with his Cosmic Core . What if he missed something important that would cause trouble when upgrading his core in the future? Zac took out some healing tonics and relaxed while the neighborhood was turned into a wasteland .

Eventually , the process stopped , leaving Zac frowning . For one , it didn’t feel like the Duplicity Core and Cosmic Core had connected yet . And since the cores weren’t connected , neither was Cosmic Core linked to his pathways . Yet , the vortices remained as the Duplicity Core swallowed unfathomable amounts of energy .

Then Zac realized what was going on .

It was waiting for him .

How could it possibly finish the process when his core wasn’t finished? His Cosmic Core had undergone a powerful refinement and was far more condensed than before . However , there was one final step needed to make things official . There was only one issue . How was he supposed to complete that step here?

Zac hesitantly looked around the ruins . His mansion was gone , disintegrated by the unfocused attack of the Heavens . Null didn’t answer his call either . Zac opted to speak with the sky . Seeing how chaotic his ascent had been and the damage he was still causing , someone was undoubtedly keeping watch .

I want to pick a class , - Zac said .

His request was granted through a flash of light that made him close his eyes . When they opened , a Nexus Node waited right in front of him . Zac’s looked at the glimmering crystal with anticipation . The final piece of the puzzle was simple enough , yet the one Zac had looked forward to the most .

Pick a class , and let the System engrave its runes onto your core .

82

THE PATH FORWARD

Zac’s body was absolutely wrung dry after enduring the tribulation , yet he felt like a million bucks as he dragged himself toward the Nexus Node . He only briefly stopped , looking to his core . It had shrunk to two-thirds of its original size , emitting a condensed aura of power . It was also covered in small cracks , and it still released the occasional burst of unstable energy .

The insides of the Duplicity Core were the only spot that hadn’t been drained by his Hidden Node and the Duplicity Core , and his core had just finished rooting it all out . Zac knew picking a class with a damaged core wasn’t an issue , but should he wait a bit longer? It would give him some time to recover .

No , that wasn’t an option . A deep rumble shifted his insides as yet another mountain crumbled in the distance . The Duplicity Core was insatiable , and Zac wasn’t sure how much it could take . It had stopped its transformation while waiting for him to pick a class , but what if he delayed too long? The Technocrat invention had already provided enough surprises . He didn’t want to wait to find out if some fail-safes were installed to avoid overloading the Duplicity Core with energy .

Better he pick now before his mother somehow picked for him .

The Nexus Node was different from the one back home . For one , it was only the size of a football , making it feel like a portable version . The dense golden scripts across its surface proved it was anything but simple , though . Between the runes and the stable aura it emitted , Zac suspected it was far superior to the normal ones he’d encountered thus far .

This was the moment he’d been eagerly expecting , and his heart rang with anticipation as he placed his hand on the smooth surface . Having endured the tribulation of the Boundless Heaven , the System wouldn’t target him with another trial of its own . Only cultivators within Heaven’s Path would have to deal with the tests he’d endured when entering E-grade .

Zac had originally been disappointed by that . Entering Hegemony would simultaneously attack you with all three types of tribulations , but so what? All aspects of his cultivation were beyond ordinary , be it his body , soul , or heart . Conversely , the experience had uncovered some sealed memories of his past . This time , he wouldn’t get such an opportunity . Now , Zac was only relieved . The process and tribulation left him in a far worse state than he’d expected . He just wanted to get things over with now so that he could rest .

There was a small risk you wouldn’t have any options waiting for you if the System didn’t deem you worthy . But that was quite rare and generally reserved for those who cheated their way into Hegemony , completely relying on pills or treasures . If you managed to form a core based on your Daos , you’d have at least one class waiting for you .

Zac felt a pulse enter his body , and it was like the Duplicity Core had entered a quantum state as it hid from the presence . Zac could feel the Nexus Node investigate his pathways and core , and a screen soon appeared .

Core Formation Successful

Design : 87% unique .

Imperfections : Low (10-100) .

Evaluation : Middle-quality , S-grade Energy Capacity , S-grade Potential , S-grade level of Innovation .

Zac hadn’t expected to get a report card , but he was flush with pride at the evaluation . Besides the Middle-quality , which Zac had already known about , every evaluation was top-notch . Capacity and potential were the most important ones . The former meant he’d be able to draw far more power from his core than normal Hegemons , and the latter undoubtedly meant potential for upgrades .

These two being valued at S-grade meant there were absolutely no problems taking his core all the way to Monarchy . Zac was the least surprised over the S-grade Innovation evaluation . His core was unique and unprecedented . If his core didn’t warrant S-grade , none did . However , that particular evaluation was more for the System than himself .

The line reminded Zac of his time in the Technocrat Research Base , where getting the Pathstrider-title marked him for further training . S-grade Innovation was like being branded an excellent experimental subject , which probably meant the System would throw more trouble your way to nurture you . Then again , that wasn’t anything new , so Zac didn’t mind too much .

The System seemed to be tabulating the results before showing his class options . Each second crawled by , and Zac breathed in relief when the screen finally updated . It was official . He wasn’t one of the unlucky few . Zac hadn’t been worried his Daos or accomplishments would be insufficient , but rather that his odd core would make it difficult for the System to generate suitable classes .

He’d been tormenting himself for nothing . There was not one , but three choices available to him .

Base Attributes Per Level :

Epic : 100 / 150 / 200 .

Arcane : 115 / 170 / 225 .

Option 1]

Name : D-Epic] Arcadia’s Champion .

Fixed Attributes : Strength +300 / 450 / 600 , Vitality : +150 / 225 / 300 .

Free Attributes : +100 / 150 / 200 .

Even Paradise needs a champion , an unrelenting storm of violence .

Name : D-Epic] Desolation’s Warden .

Fixed Attributes : Strength +250 / 375 / 500 , Endurance +150 / 225 / 300 , Wisdom +75 / 100 / 150 .

Free Attributes : +75 / 125 / 150 .

Bind them to your calamity . Pave your path with blood and bones . Emerge stronger .

Option 2]

Name : D-Epic] Primeval Edge .

Fixed Attributes : Strength +250 / 375 / 500 , Dexterity +75 / 100 / 150 , Vitality +200 / 300 / 400 .

Free Attributes : +50 / 75 / 100 .

As Life was born , so was struggle . Become the primeval blade , reborn through battle .

Name : D-Epic] Predestination’s Judge .

Fixed Attributes : Strength +275 / 400 / 550 , Dexterity +50 / 75 / 100 , Endurance +200 / 300 / 400 .

Free Attributes : +50 / 75 / 100 .

As Death was born , so was struggle . Become the judge’s blade , the cessation of all .

Option 3]

Name : D-Arcane] Evolutionary Precursor

Fixed Attributes : Strength +300 / 450 / 600 , Dexterity +100 / 150 / 200 , Vitality +150 / 225 / 300

Free Attributes : +100 / 150 / 200

Progress through struggle , future seized , not given .

Name : D-Arcane] Inexorable Apostle

Fixed Attributes : Strength +325 / 475 / 650 , Dexterity +75 / 125 / 150 , Endurance +150 / 225 / 300 .

Free Attributes : 100 / 150 / 200

Explosive stillness , fate become nourishment to your ascent .

The churning vortices around him were a reminder his time was limited , but Zac still went over his options word by word . Only being presented with three options was a step down from his previous breakthrough when he got the full set of five . Of course , it made sense .

Back in the F-grade , he’d still been finding his way . His power came from a mottled assortment of opportunities that had yet to crystallize into a cohesive system , let alone a path . Today , his understanding of cultivation was leagues ahead . There was no confusion , no hesitation—only faith and determination .

What would be the point of the System offering a bunch of classes that would diverge from his path? In reality , the screen presented Zac with a different choice . Did he want to confirm his path , or did he want to keep his options open?

Confirming his path meant getting the Arcane classes , which came with higher attributes and more advanced forms of nurturing . But it also meant his future would grow narrow . It would be almost impossible for him to change course like he had multiple times in the E-grade . He would instead enter the refinement stage of his cultivation , where he removed imperfections while moving toward the peak of his path .

The Arcane classes , Evolutionary Precursor and Inexorable Apostle , were clearly modeled after his stances , which were the truest expression of his path . The flavor text reflected his understanding of Life and Death , where Life represented possibility and Death represented dominion . One broke the chains of fate , while the other took control over fate .

The Epic classes represented freedom . Who knew what the future held? Perhaps there would be something inside Ultom that completely threw his path on its head , making him strive for something greater . It would mean a smaller boost of attributes , but that wasn’t that big of a deal . He was already getting far more attributes than anyone else by having two classes .

The two sets of Epic options were quite straightforward . The first duo , Arcadia’s Champion and Desolation’s Warden , were straight upgrades of his current classes . They would add more of the same , their attribute distribution almost identical to Edge of Arcadia and Fetters of Desolation . Picking this choice would likely provide the smoothest transition , and he would be able to hit the ground running .

Primeval Edge and Predestination’s Judge moved his classes toward his path without fully stepping onto it . Its attribute distribution better aligned with his Daos and the set of Arcane classes . It was the best of both worlds , adapted to his style without locking him in like an Arcane class .

Three options , all with their own advantages , and none with any direct flaws like many of his options last time . No matter what he picked , he would be well equipped for the upcoming war and the trial inside the Left Imperial Palace . Yet for Zac , it wasn’t a difficult choice—he’d decided the second he saw the classes .

He was going with the Arcane classes .

A surge of energy filled Zac’s body as he provided the Nexus Node with his answer , this one provided by the cosmos itself rather than through the forceful extraction of the surrounding spirituality . Mysterious runes sank into the channels he’d arduously crafted while waves of change rippled through his pathways . Fractals expanded and grew more exquisite , where ten patterns became one hundred to accommodate greater energies and deeper Daos .

The transformation of his core and pathways were soon mirrored on the Duplicity Core , confirming Zac’s suspicion it was waiting for his class choice to finish the transformation . It formed a resonance with the evolving core , and Zac gasped as he finally sensed a weak connection to his Cosmic Core . It was a bottomless ocean of pure power , right there for the taking .

The sky rumbled as Zac’s aura burst forth , like a star was born on the ruins of his manor . Every breath was a death and rebirth as his hard work culminated in a loop of empowerment . His drained cells were filled with life-giving streams of sturdy energy as his Cosmic Core integrated with his body . The growing waves of power coursing through his pathways were a tidal wave pushing him forward . There wasn’t much for Zac to do at this point but let himself be washed over by the truths he’d seized from the Heavens . He let his mind drift while keeping an eye on the process .

He’d been so focused on this unsurmountable roadblock for so long , and he could finally put it behind him and look to the future . The face of his sister appeared in his mind’s eye , and Kenzie was quickly joined by the people waiting for him back on Earth . Hegemony was only a means to an end . It was the key to achieving his goals . Who knew what kind of situation waited for him on the outside?

The war . Ultom and the Left Imperial Palace . Saving his sister . Each came with mortal danger that would push him to his limits .

He was finally ready .

Zac will return in Defiance of the Fall BOOK THIRTEEN!