Dyon stood with Ri outside of the Acacia Academy inner world in a daze.
In the sky, he saw the fiery words that still burned, seemingly pulling him in. Dyon smiled to himself, ‘interesting…’
Ri hit him on the shoulder, “don’t stare at it for too long, are you trying to burn your eyes out of their sockets? Even the elders couldn’t stand to stay in the castle.”
Dyon chuckled, not explaining anything. She already hadn’t believed him once today, what was the use in adding to that total?
But, out of curiosity, he wanted to hear what people thought of the words in the sky, “hm, that definitely wasn’t there last time. What happened?”
Ri looked up at the words in annoyance, “that arrogant Zaltarish guy recently manifested his soul. So, I’m sure you understand his arrogance now.”
Dyon smiled, “really? Does this sort of thing happen all the time?”
Dyon truly had no idea about what occurred during manifestations. In the books he had read from Acacia Academy, he was aware of the ranking system, and the totem, but he hadn’t researched far enough to get a good understand of how rare some of these things were. Essentially, despite knowing that there were 10 quadrants, Dyon had no gauge on how often each occurred.
Ri sighed, “unfortunately, no… The castle’s totem was destroyed, taking with it millennia of history. All that’s left is those words.”
‘Destroyed?’ suddenly Dyon thought of the ancient totem that appeared before him, ‘so that’s what they think happened to it…’
Ri and Dyon began floating toward the direction of the orphan haven.
“what about your manifestation? What quadrant was yours in?” Dyon had been looking forward to seeing Ri’s manifestation out of curiosity, but, she hadn’t needed it to trample Ores. Despite the fact Ores thought Ri won with a sneak attack, Dyon was clear on the fact she never needed such a thing.
Ri smiled mysteriously, “I haven’t manifested my soul yet.”
Ri’s words made Dyon’s eyes sparkle with interest. Since she hadn’t manifested her soul yet, wouldn’t that mean that it was difficult to do? Meaning her manifestation, once it was released, would be quite powerful.
What Dyon didn’t know was that this was a point of bitterness for Ri. She felt like she was still decades away from manifesting her soul. She worried that, much like her uncle the King, she’d spend centuries just to succeed.
She never told anyone this though… many of the major families hated the Acacia family. This animosity only increased with the disappearance of the king. If another genius on that level suddenly appeared, wouldn’t she be asking for her own ruin? It was just yet another secret she’d have to keep.
“it’ll probably only take you a few tries to succeed though. Considering your innate aurora,” Ri said.
Dyon nodded in acknowledgement, then he suddenly started.
Originally, he had taken it for granted that he had an innate aurora. But, with Ri’s words, he realized just how important it was.
“you know, I’m quite good at alchemy… what percentage of awakened is your aurora at currently?”
Ri froze at Dyon’s words. It dawned on her that Dyon’s array alchemy had reached unprecedented levels. To the point where he could already match some of the best experts of their island. If he could awaken her aurora to a higher level, wouldn’t she be able to manifest her soul that much faster?
With the destruction of the tome, no one would be able to understand or get a feeling for how powerful Ri’s manifestation was if she did it within the cave her mother left her. With the purification path density within it, hardly anything would leak out at all.
But, Ri smiled bitterly, “my aurora is awakened to 30%, but past that point, it gets exponentially more difficult. Even the guild leaders approach 40% at the most, and they’ve dumped all of their resources into it… which is actually part of the reason their services are so expensive…”
Dyon smiled. He was fully aware that he could use his pill condensation technique to create exactly what Ri was looking for. How could the Celestial Deer Sect not have many aurora awakening pills? It would be child’s play to awaken Ri’s aurora to even 60%, let alone 40.
“you’ll be a part of my army soon, won’t you? Why wouldn’t I want my subordinates to be as powerful as possible? Don’t worry about it.”
Ri kicked at the back of his knees, laughing to herself as he almost lost balance.
“who said I’m your subordinate? Last time I checked, you’re riding my lineage to even get a shot at participating in the campaigns as anything other than canon fodder. Why aren’t you kneeling down in appreciation?”
Dyon chuckled, “sounds like someone doesn’t want their aurora awakened,” Dyon looked off into the sky, pretending to ignore Ri.
“you’re such a child. I’ll be sure to let Little Lyla know that her big brother is bullying me,” Ri harrumphed, crossing her arms across her chest.
Dyon raised an eyebrow, ‘I’m the child?’
“okay, okay. Vice-Commander Ri, leave it to your commander-in-chief, we’ll get you sorted out,” Dyon patted his chest nobly.
Ri gave Dyon a playful look of disdain but ignored him.
“So, aren’t you going to tell me more about the campaigns?”
Ri took a deep breath, ‘it seems he really is from the human mortal realm. Who grows up here without knowing about the campaigns?’
“It’s quite simple really. Wills and higher levels of it, are the most important thing amongst all the universes. However, they’re finite and built upon the laws of said universes.
For example, there are many religious wills exclusive to this universe. Wills like that have a limit that can’t be increased unless the religion spreads to other universes. However, at the same time, wills like that, that depend on faith, are among the most enigmatic and powerful. They tip the scales to such a large extent, that often the most powerful experts choose to use wills of that nature.”
Dyon nodded, once again thinking back to Meiying’s fengshui compass. He had read about ancient China before and was clear on the fact that ancient Chinese traditions originated in this very universe.
“Unfortunately, the increased power of wills is only one aspect of the campaigns… and even worse, it’s considered relatively unimportant compared to the main reason.”
Ri took a deep breath, seemingly trying to hold Dyon in suspense.
“The energies of each universe are constantly headed towards an unusable state. The essence energy of essence gathering… the saint energy of the saint stage… the celestial energy of the celestial stage… as years pass, experts of this level become less and less prevalent not because we’ve become less talented, but because the energies necessary to reach those heights are becoming scarcer.”
Dyon eyes flashed with a sudden realization, ‘isn’t the identical to the human world concept of heat death?’
In the human mortal realm, there were laws of physics that they believed dictated the universe. One such law was the idea that everything was constantly moving towards more chaos. On the surface, this seemed like a simple concept. For example, your room somehow becomes messier as days go on despite your efforts.
Unfortunately, this theory also has much more important implications. Unless you use energy to clean your room, it will continue to get messier. However, that energy you use, is constantly becoming less abundant. Eventually, there won’t be any energy left to fix the chaos. This is known as heat death. The state where the universe no longer has any energy available to do work.
But then Dyon suddenly thought of something else, ‘is this related to the expansion of this planet and the drop in energy density? Or is that completely different?’
“Because of this inevitable end, the powerful constantly want to oppress the weak to stop their cultivation. But, at the same time, they want to become more powerful to transcend this inevitable end. It’s a constant battle of not wanting to fall behind your enemies by not cultivating, and the idea that cultivating is also leading to your death.”
Dyon pondered for a bit, “so, how does conquering universes help this?” honestly, this question had a very simple answer, but Dyon just wanted to make sure he was right.
Ri seemed to understand this and didn’t tease him, “the more universes you conquer, the more room you have to escape the inevitable end. There are true experts out there… experts so powerful that they can out live the universes themselves… experts that have religions spread over thousands of universes… experts who only care about ensuring that they remain alive as some of the most powerful beings in existence.”
Dyon’s blood boiled. Weren’t these almighty beings the exact existences that people of the human mortal realm dreamt of? To rule thousands of universes. To have the lives of trillions upon trillions at your finger tips. And to still want more? How arrogant. How powerful. And Dyon wanted nothing more than to be one of them.
**
“Big brother!” Little Lyla ran into Dyon’s arms adorably.
She had long since lost her ragged clothing, instead dressing in her favorite color: light pink. Lyla had said multiple times that there should only be one shade of pink, so Dyon did his best to match her favorite shade when he created all of her dresses. He could have just bought some for her, but Lyla liked to watch him use arrays, and he took the liberty of adding some extra protection for the little girl.
Lyla’s large pink diamond eyes sparkled as she patted Dyon’s face with her tiny hands. Ri giggled, her eyes glistening as she watched their interaction.
“Why did it take you so long to come visit me?” Lyla pouted.
Dyon scratched his head awkwardly, a little pinch of guilt gnawing at his heart, “big brother’s sorry, I’ll visit you more, okay?”
“Okay!” Lyla seemed to not want to make Dyon feel bad, so she agreed immediately, wrapping her arms around his neck.
Ri pouted off to the side, “so you see your elder brother, and forget about me?”
Little Lyla immediately jumped down, jumping into Ri’s arms. Dyon could only watch bitterly as his little sister betrayed him for the enemy.
Bending down, Dyon patted Little Black’s head, looking around at the spacious living room, “at least you won’t abandon me, right buddy?”
Little Black licked Dyon’s hand almost as an affirmation. He was getting to be big. His horns even began to protrude a bit more, creating distinct bumps on either side of his head. And interestingly, the white scale on the center of his forehead was increasing in size faster than the rest of his body.
Noticing an elderly lady with grey hair and eyes walk in, Dyon stood to greet her.
“Ms. Everdeen, thank you for all your hard work,” Dyon smile was gentle. He had seen all of the trouble Everdeen went through to provide for the kids. It was above and beyond what she had to do.
The elderly lady blinked, but smiled a very motherly smile, “it’s my pleasure young master Sacharro. What more could I want in my old age?”
Dyon chuckled, “don’t say that, people would actually start to think you were old. Such a young woman with so much life ahead of her shouldn’t say such things.”
Although Ms. Everdeen knew Dyon was just saying these things to please her, the purity in his eyes seemed to make everyone want to hang onto his every word. Even the experienced Ms. Everdeen couldn’t help but to blush.
Ri rolled her eyes watching this, ‘you won’t even let the elderly go?’
Ms. Everdeen bowed to Dyon, “I’m sorry young master, I still have many things to handle. I hope you enjoy your time with Little Lyla. Make sure to have her back for tomorrow’s lessons,” she said strictly, leaving no room for debate.
Dyon smiled at this, not minding at all. It made him think of his own mother, giving him a little warmth inside.
Walking back to Ri, Lyla and Little Black, Dyon pondered on something, “you’re the native here Madame Ri, what should we do today? We could just go and find a nice place to eat. Then we could go to cave with Little Lyla. I think she’d like to watch me make the pills for your aurora, what do you think?”
Ri harrumphed, “if you’re already making plans, why bother asking me?”
Despite this, there seemed to be a tacit agreement between them that there would be no issues with Lyla going to the cave.
Dyon grinned, “well, I still need you to show us to a good restaurant, no? Oh! And I’m broke, so you’ll need to pay. You should be quite wealthy as the daughter of a school headmaster, right?”
Ri pouted, “is this how you wooed Madeleine Sapientia? Making her pay for everything?”
Little Lyla blinked her large pink eyes intelligently, “Madeleine Sapientia? Is that sister-in-law, big brother?”
Dyon pinched her cheeks, “of course. One day I’ll take you to see her.”
Little Lyla clapped her hands together, “yay! Big brother is amazing. Sister-in-law should be too”
Ri narrowed her gaze towards Dyon, using a free hand to pinch his waist, “you shouldn’t lie to a little girl you know.”
“ow,” Dyon rubbed his side with a bitter smile on his face.
“Big brother isn’t lying, he’s telling the truth,” Lyla said confidently, “you believe him too big sister, why did you say he was lying?” she asked a little confused.
Ri raised an eyebrow, but kissed little Lyla on the forehead, causing the little girl to giggle, seemingly already forgetting her question.
Dyon smiled, patting Little Black on the head, they headed out back towards the city.
**
Within the city, they walked on the jade and marble roads.
Little Lyla sat on Little Black’s back, patting his head and looking around excitedly. It was the first time she had been within the city. Although the Elvin City had no walls and was continuous with the villages on its outskirts, social standing had placed its own individual pressure on the poor… especially an orphan like Little Lyla.
When Dyon asked Lyla about her past, she teared up a bit, but braved through the story. Her parents weren’t very powerful, so they acted as foot soldiers for campaigns. Because of the poor wages, Lyla’s mother had no choice but to join the recruitments as well. Usually, Lyla would get to see her parents maybe once a year. Despite this, because of her age, she could only remember a single interaction with each of them.
During a recent campaign, due to what Ri called the incompetence of a young master, the name of whom even Ri didn’t know since mistakes like this happened so often, Lyla’s parents died. In the end, all Lyla had was her first name… not even able to remember her family name.
Dyon could only sigh. He was so excited to lead and make a name for himself, but he hadn’t even put it into perspective that he was a kid with no experience. Would he use the lives of parents who had children just like Lyla just to further himself? What if he made a mistake, costing his army their lives.
Dyon suddenly became painfully aware that he didn’t have enough knowledge. He knew nothing about the environments of the gates, and even worse, had no knowledge of military tactics. To add to an already compiling problem, Ri told him a shocking piece of information: the laws of the gates were unpredictable and constantly changing. How was he supposed to plan properly and be prepared if a desert could become a land of ice in the blink of an eye? What about if the land beneath their feet collapsed into an endless abyss of space energy? What if the weak spatial fabric of the gates caused a legacy world to flicker into existence? Suddenly, you’d have to deal with trouble not just from the other universe, but whatever trials the legacy world involved too!
Dyon’s face displayed absolute focus as he thought through all of these things, ‘in the 6 months between now and my first campaign, I’ll learn everything there is to learn about campaigns. What the celestial deer sect has on them. What the Elvin Kingdom has on them. Whatever I can find. I can’t give up on wanting to make my name known. But, I can sure as hell make sure that the least amount of allies die as possible.’
Ri watched Dyon’s serious expression from his side profile, sighing inwardly, ‘at least he knows to take this seriously. Campaigns are not a game. The fate of an entire universe is essentially in the hands of kids. And why? Because we happen to be geniuses? How selfish is that? Can’t an older and more experienced veteran, who may be a bit slower at cultivation, lead armies better than we can?’
A light laughter took Ri out of her train of thought. She looked over to find Dyon smiling to himself. She suddenly felt the urge to hit him, “what’s so funny?”
“I was just thinking about how funny it is that they really put everything in the hands of teenagers and young adults. Don’t they know we’re moody? What if the leader of the opposing army is a beauty? Won’t I get distracted?”
Ri finally couldn’t take it anymore and punched Dyon in the shoulder, “you! And here I thought you were finally going to take something seriously for once.”
Dyon chuckled, rubbing his shoulder. His playful appearance turned into a thoughtful one, “don’t worry Ri, I’ll lead the best campaign in the history of the martial world. It isn’t realistic for me to save everyone. Some will die. But, I can promise they won’t be forgotten.”
Ri, realizing that Dyon wasn’t joking around anymore, lowered her hand and smiled, “as long as you know.”
Dyon chuckled, but suddenly thought of something, “if gates don’t allow anyone higher than essence gathering in, how do you conquer other universes? It’s obvious that those universes would all have experts that surpass that level of cultivation. Wouldn’t we all just die going to the other side?”
Ri raised an eyebrow, “you really don’t know anything. Gates all have key towers within them. Controlling more key towers means having better control over the gate. If any one universe controls all key towers at once, the gate falls completely under their jurisdiction. They could essentially control the laws of the gates as they see fit.
More key towers allow you higher tiers of control. Only the highest tier of control, meaning control of all key towers, allows you to change the cultivation limits of the gates. Which then allows you to invade with armies of real experts.
It’s often at this point that some universes decide to negotiate. The full control of a gate is too great of a threat. So, sometimes clans spill over. An example of this would be the Sapientia God Clan and even us Elves. Neither of us originate from this universe. It’s just that at some point, some of our ancestors controlled a gate, which allowed us a foothold here.”
Dyon had a confused look on his face, “is this real life, or a video game? This is obviously a man-made construct. The universe couldn’t have just spontaneously decided all of this, right?”
Although Dyon said this, it made sense to him. The Sapientia God Clan had multiple main branches, yet weren’t a cohesive whole. If they were, wouldn’t they rule this universe instead of the Royal God Clans?
Dyon had learned recently that ‘Royal God Clan’ wasn’t the name of a clan, but rather a ranking for the ruler of a planet. As such, if the Sapientia God Clan really originated from this universe, it wouldn’t make sense for any clan but theirs to be the Royal God Clan of this planet and every other planet in this universe. Although, if they controlled every planet in a given universe, they’d be known as a King God Clan.
Ri could only laugh at Dyon’s words, “I guess at some point, however millions of years ago, someone thought this would be a fun game to watch…”
“ah, whatever. I have time to figure all of this out slowly. For now, how about you tell me where you disappeared to for all those days. I was missing you,” Dyon pouted as though he was truly hurt by her absence.
Ri rolled her eyes, “don’t worry about what I do during my free time. That being said, I did promise to take you around the guilds. I’m not familiar with the blacksmithing or alchemy guilds… but the formation guild, I can help with that.”
Dyon nodded. He had already made the conscious choice to contribute as much as he could to those guilds so that his army would be the best equipped. He was taking their lives very seriously already.
Suddenly, Little Lyla’s voice came from atop Little Black, “big brother, big sister, I want to go there!” her little chubby hands pointed towards a tower in the distance.
When Dyon realized what he was looking at he chuckled lightly, “it looks like I’ll be treating you today after all,” he said looking at Ri mysteriously.
Ri raised an eyebrow, looking towards the restaurant in the distance, “Heaven’s Wine? You’re broke, how could you afford to treat me there? That very well might be the most expensive restaurant on the island… even your original million profound stones wouldn’t be enough. Also, aside from Little Lyla, we’re not dressed nearly formally enough.”
Dyon smiled, “don’t worry about all that, let’s go.”