Defiance of the Fall

Zac groaned and stumbled backward, his body instinctively escaping the floating mask adorning a devilish smile. Feeling its prey escape the magic circle, the cursed mask turned inanimate and landed on its placemat. Zac's heart was hammering, and his mind was an absolute mess after listening to the sinister whispers until he reached a breaking point. He quickly entered his Void State, which gradually soothed the chaos in his heart.

Lasting just under thirty minutes of real-time under the assault of the [Second-stage Mask of Seven Sins] wasn't very impressive—it wasn't even enough to complete one cycle, making the cost of 100 merit per activation sting even more. Still, it was a noticeable improvement from his previous attempt. He first faced the Heart Demons based on the seven sensations on the second day of training, and the experience made him run for the hills in only twelve minutes.

The past week of torture was already showing significant results. Most of his merit had been spent on two buildings; the Inverse Observatory and the Hall of Heroes. The facilities tackled the same field—tempering one's Dao Heart. His pilgrimage had shown with painful clarity how far his Dao Heart was from his other cultivation, and it posed a huge danger to his plans. Luckily, Rava's training regimen was almost exclusively focused on remedying this shortcoming.

The Hall of Heroes refined one's heart by targeting their path. It was filled with recordings, illusion realms, legacies, and unique treasures. Each held lofty Daos or extremely refined paths. Facing the installations was like visiting the Buddhist Sangha. Your Dao Heart was constantly under assault, forcing your path to solidify or break.

The Inverse Observatory rather dealt with mental states and traumas. The Peak of Impetus did the heavy lifting, like with the mask. It was actually a Natural Treasure and one of the more dangerous tools in the museum of madness he currently trained inside. Its whispers could dredge the weaknesses in one's heart with pinpoint precision. The mask pushed and pushed until you formed a Heart Demon, sealed the spiritual crack, or ran out of time.

The treasure's cruel training perfectly suited his current needs, exposing and sealing the weaknesses in his heart. In reality, his Dao Heart was extremely strong for someone as young as him. Most cultivators hadn't even left their homes at his age, still considered children who needed to train under the protective gaze of their elders. They'd still be in E-grade, focusing on building sturdy foundations, grasping Dao, and searching for their path.

Life-and-death battles and overcoming harsh challenges were the most effective ways to make quick improvements, and Zac's swift but rough ascent was the main source of his Dao Heart's strength. However, his hectic ascent had worked against him. If you looked at his Dao Heart right now, it'd resemble a huge uncut gemstone.

Struggle and bloodshed needed to be alternated with meditation, consolidation, and tranquility. Meditating on your past, your future, and your path was needed to refine the gemstone into an unbreakable diamond. Normal seclusion would work. Cultivating your path was a way to reinforce your conviction. Millennia of practice would stack up, especially if you used Heart Sutras or similar techniques to multiply those gains.

This was the main reason he barely passed the Pilgrimage of Heart. The average age of templar candidates undergoing the pilgrimage was around 2,500. They had seen as much or more bloodshed as he, but they'd also spent thousands of years processing their struggle while cultivating in seclusion. Zac didn't have time for that, so he had to burn merit and use forceful methods like facing the Seven Sins Mask.

Neither the Inverse Observatory nor the Halls of Heroes helped bolster the Void State formed with [Void Vajra Sublimation]. That technique was more like a Soul Defense skill for his Dao Heart. So long as his fundamental heart improved, so would the benefits from Void State.

"Have you decided?"

"Not yet." Zac looked up, finding Rava floating nearby. "I already have a lot on my plate. My body tempering technique might have to suffice."

"Few are the Sangha's equal in cultivating one's heart. Even a subsidiary refinement of theirs will yield decent results. However—"

"I know, I know. It's not the real thing," Zac said. "But I'm already struggling to keep up. I'm not sure if I can bear the extra weight of another method."

"An Evolved Lord less than sixty years old worrying about time," Rava said with a shake of her head. "Very well. Your break ends in seven minutes."

Rava's suggestion was to add another form of Heart Cultivation to his path. The [Void Vajra Sublimation] did provide benefits in this regard, but most of it was concentrated on the major bottlenecks. Secondly, most of those gains came in the form of Void State and its evolved versions rather than directly refining his heart.

A traditional Heart Refinement Sutra would be a perfect complement, refining his foundations and removing imperfections. It was the same thing he was doing right now, except he wouldn't always have access to the templar facilities. Zac was rapidly burning through the merit he received from the pilgrimage, and his progress would grind to a halt after the three-week boot camp was through.

It wasn't just about erecting stronger defenses. Heart Cultivation nurtured a stronger harmony with your path, which essentially helped all aspects of progress. Heart Cultivation was inborn enlightenment, something Zac definitely could use with his complex, multilayered path.

There were multiple top-tier manuals available for exchange in the repository, though these training stations only had the early- and middle layers. Most of the Heart Refinement Sutras were related to harnessing faith, but they could be reforged just like the [Void Vajra Sublimation]. Better yet, the repository freely provided most manuals so long as you passed the requisite feats or trials.

The problem was, beyond the added baggage, Heart Cultivation was incredibly unpredictable. One day, you might gain enlightenment and make drastic improvements. Or, you might find yourself stuck at an impasse where millennia of diligent practice yielded nothing. It was also quite dangerous, where mistakes could damage your Dao Heart or give birth to demons.

Being a mortal came with the "benefit" of not having to put any time into normal meditation, but his schedule was already full. As a compromise, Rava suggested reworking one of his methods to add Heart Tempering like the [Void Vajra Sublimation]. Doing so would shore up a weakness at the cost of progress speed.

Scanning the vast repository of manuals had shown that pre-system methods generally worked that way, and some inventions had really opened Zac's eyes. There were Domain refinement methods that also nourished the heart, combo techniques that strengthened both Soul and Body with the help of Dao Intent, and hundreds of methods Zac had never even heard of. Some templars eventually fused everything into a singular manual that encompassed every aspect of their path.

It was the System's push for efficiency that drew clear lines between the different branches of cultivation, where each method or manual improved one thing as quickly as possible. The System must have figured that quickly raising the strength of cultivators was better, even if it left them slightly lopsided. Those who actually reached greater heights would deal with their shortcomings when it became an issue like Zac was doing now.

Rava's proposal was tempting, and the most obvious candidate was the [Nine Reincarnations Manual]. He had already diverged from its original design, so it would need to see significant revisions anyhow. He had considered integrating his updated [Thousand Axes Chapter] after it was finished, but fusing a Heart Refinement Sutra might be better.

Adding it to a Bloodline Refining method for his Draugr half would make symmetrical sense, though that would impose too many restrictions. He'd only get full use of such a manual while cultivating inside the Abyssal Lake. Either case, he had a big epiphany coming up, and there should be similar opportunities inside the trial.

But then what? He'd eventually run out of epiphanies, at which point he'd have to deal with the upper layers of the technique on his own. The more he added to a single manual, the more complicated it would get. Overextending himself could leave him stuck in a bottleneck of his own making.

Zac reluctantly got to his feet when his scheduled break was over and stumbled into another hall. He paid the fee, and a swirl of purple dust surrounded him. Zac suddenly found himself back in Greenworth, standing before his childhood home. Zac sighed and walked inside to face the realization of his father's death again.

Hours passed as Zac was forced to relive every trauma in his life, where his emotions were cranked up to eleven by the array. Every illusion gave him a choice. He had to be the one who stepped through the door. He was the one who had to enter the courtyard where Kenzie was breaking through. He could turn around and walk away, but doing so came at a price.

Over and over, Zac chose the punishment, stanchly advancing in an endless cycle of suffering. Eventually, the scene faded. Not a minute to soon. Zac's body was in perfect condition, yet he stumbled like a drunk as he fled the Inverse Observatory. He felt brittle like glass after having his Dao Heart pushed to its limits for the better part of a day. It was as though he'd just come out of a long bout of sickness.

Spotting a fellow victim coming his way did enliven his spirit a bit, though.

"How are you—"

"Don't even talk to me right now," a hollow-eyed Emily muttered. "That cra- Instructor Rava will hang me by my ankles again if I don't wrap up my mission in time."

"Well, keep at it. Instructor Rava mentioned she's built some sort of gauntlet for those she felt were lacking motivation," Zac said, which made his disciple's face collapse.

Zac laughed as Emily scampered into the Inverse Observatory after throwing him an accusatory look. The eager excitement of his subordinates had been quickly tempered by Rava's personalized training regimens. It was like the Eternal Servant knew all his followers inside and out, knowing precisely how far she could push them without causing permanent damage.

No one would dare complain about the Eternal Servant, who seemed omnipresent throughout the Ensolus Ruins. As a result, some of the pent-up resentment was displaced onto him. Of course, they weren't actually angry. The Empyrean Chalice Barracks represented an opportunity to come into contact with concepts far beyond Zecia, something only he and Ogras had really experienced.

A few had decisively expanded their paths after having their inadequacies exposed by Rava, with Emily being one of them. She had even delayed her breakthrough into Middle Hegemony to go through a second round of refinement first. She planned on finding a window in the Imperial Graveyard instead.

Zac was done with Heart Tempering for the day, but there were no true breaks in Rava's schedule. He soon reached his next stop and effortlessly moved through the barrier that had rebuffed any attempts at breaking through over the past year. At the same time, he felt a weak flicker from the token in one of his pockets, signifying that 10 points of merit had been deducted.

Beyond the barrier waited the Bathhouse. Zac was greeted by a dense aroma that made Zac's cells hum with contentment as he stepped through the teleporter. The temple, true to its name, looked like a city-sized Roman bathhouse. There had to be over a thousand pools and baths within his vision alone, and that was only a corner of the sprawling complex. It wasn't his first visit, so he directly made his way toward the inner region.

Most of the pools around the entrance held healing arrays of varying types and strengths. The weakest ones were free to use, requiring only the 10-point entry fee. The better ones either added a one-time or accumulating charge. There were even pools that could calm and nourish an embattled Dao Heart, and enduring their tantalizing scent was a trial on its own.

The free pools grew increasingly sparse as Zac kept going, and their designs and auras grew more varied. The Bathhouse had all kinds of special ponds, many of them filling similar purposes as the top-tier cultivation grounds in the Orom World. Most of them were related to tempering one's body.

There was everything from pools holding molten liquid or flames to more exotic resources like liquified sound. There were even pools infested with flesh-eating parasites. Thankfully, these types of baths were generally blocked by seals since the parasite populations had long since died out.

Zac hadn't come to the Bathhouse for body tempering. His results in the Pilgrimage of Body were slightly worse than he'd expected, but not to the point it was a priority. Rava had already confirmed his suspicions in that regard. The difficulty of the trial was adjusted based on his grade, but not age. His body tempering was far from reaching its limits. He could technically fully awaken his Eoz Bloodline if he had unlimited time and resources.

Practically, he should be able to advance at least one major stage with a millennium of practice by the lake. The same was true for his [Void Vajra Sublimation], though each layer required far more energy and resources. It would be far more efficient to wait until he had Earthly Daos and a Peak Stage Cosmic Core before continuing to temper his body. With so much potential untapped, it wasn't too bad being a standout among eons of thousand-year-old elites chosen by the Empyrean Chalice.

A few twists and turns later, Zac found the place he was looking for—an empty pond. Zac placed his token against a plaque, and a swirl of mist sealed off the area. Bubbling liquid poured out of multiple fonts, causing the ambient energy to skyrocket. Zac had never seen the type of energy the bubbling waters were made of. Even then, it felt familiar, and not just because he'd visited this pool every day since the training began. It was something like a middle-ground between Kill Energy and the chaotic energy you'd find inside a Beast Core.

The more Zac discovered about the Limitless Empire, the more Zac realized how much remained the same. Whether Titles or the Kill Energy the System used, it was all based on something that had already been invented. So much knowledge was lost during the Dark Ages, which led to an inaccurate understanding of the past. It was like how most underestimated how people lived in the Middle Ages before the integration.

The general consensus was that the elites of today were much stronger than in the past. While most likely accurate, Zac didn't believe the gap was nearly as large as most were led to believe. Perhaps that was common knowledge in the upper echelons of the Heartlands, but why would they admit something like that to the common populace?

Three weeks was not a lot of time to grasp greater power. The most accessible route was to gain a few levels, but Zac's progress had ground to a halt now that he'd left the frontlines. That was something he was remedying with daily baths, pills, and a few extraordinary treasures. Reaching the limit of Middle Hegemony before setting out was impossible, but a couple of levels was fine.

The raw energy pool had certain downsides compared to modern Kill Energy. The first was that it was a natural resource. Like with most things, you could only absorb so much before your body formed a natural resistance. Kill Energy, in comparison, could theoretically let you advance a whole stage if you took out someone strong enough.

The second problem was that it contained some impurities, though that wasn't an issue for Zac with his bloodline. A little gunk would enter his Cosmic Core, but it would be dealt with sooner or later. The third problem was no longer relevant. The raw energy also held a large amount of the 'earthly energy' that the System had removed from integrated space.

Zac's communication token hummed just as he was about to disrobe and sink into the depths. His subordinates knew he was in the middle of an important training session and would only contact him if it was something important. Zac infused his will into the crystal, and it suddenly was like the exhaustion had been swept away.

"Instructor Rava, I need to take some time off as we discussed!" Zac shouted, having finally gotten the call he'd been waiting for.

"Finish your quests, and I'll permit one day of absence for one of your bodies."

Zac burned with anxiety, yet he knew better than to argue with the Eternal Servant. He entered the pond, and the energy attacked him like he were an invader encroaching on its domain. The pain exceeded the level of his body tempering sessions, and the waters around him became red as shallow wounds were opened across his body.

As human eyes closed, Draugr eyes opened, gazing at a boundless cityscape from his hiding spot. He was supposed to rest a bit longer to recover from the Heart Tempering, which affected both bodies. But how could he sit still with Catheya waiting for him? He shot out from his hiding spot like an arrow released from a bow. Just a little bit of massacre before he could see his love.