‘Oh? Really. Interesting.’
The entity seemed confused by Dyon’s response. He could clearly see that this was Dyon’s actual reaction. He didn’t show despair or apprehension. In fact, he had already thought of many possible avenues for dealing with it. Possibilities that the entity found absolutely ridiculous, but, how could Dyon have as much experience as the entity? He could only try his ideas until one worked.
After all, if his intelligence had acted as a lure to break the dam on his soul cultivation. And he catalyzed his body cultivation with the essence blood of his master. Didn’t that mean there must also be a way to break the dam on energy cultivation as well? He just had to find a way…
“You don’t seem to understand.”
‘Well, grand teacher, you’re in my mind, aren’t you? You know more than anyone else whether I truly understand or not.’
The entity ignored Dyon’s words. Seemingly intent on making the situation as clear as possible.
“Your martial talent was only seen as average because your soul talent is so high, so it made up for the other two during your test. Your body cultivation talent is near non-existent and your energy cultivation is ACTUALLY non-existence. Do you not understand what having no ability to energy cultivate means?”
Dyon sighed. ‘I assume the biggest problem is learning an intent and beyond. Then there’s stamina.’
“Wr –. Actually, that’s pretty accurate. Even with the Acacia family technique, what is having extra energy going to do for you if you don’t have a means of absorbing it? At most you could reach the peak of the foundation stage without meridians.”
What the entity was saying was correct, of course. The foundation stage was tempering the body itself. It was slightly different from body cultivation in the fact it didn’t improve affinity. The idea of the foundation stage was to prime the body for the improvements that would come with the energy influx of the later stages.
So, body cultivation was explained in two portions. The first was the instant improvement in strength and the second was the future improvement in will affinity.
However, the first tier of energy cultivation, the foundation stage, was slightly different. Its focus was on priming the body for future energy cultivation. Its sole reason for existence was in order to give the organs, nerves, bones, etc, an opening for evolution. A qualitative evolution.
The ultimate goal of cultivation was transcending… But, body cultivation could only improve the body to the very edge of that level. It wasn’t able to push you over the edge.
As such, energy cultivation fulfills that role through a different means. By tempering your organs, skin, bones and blood with essence energy, it opens up your body to being improved further later through your meridians.
Essentially, essence energy opened the door. Then, saint energy opened it further. Then celestial energy even further. The enigmatic energy even further. Until you finally reached that penultimate qualitative stage.
Yes, both the foundation stage and body cultivation resulted in increases in bodily strength… But, they were completely different.
“Even worse,” The entity continued. “Not being able to learn an intent and beyond is a severe disadvantage. You saw how powerful that Madeleine girl got after learning an intent. Even with your soul talent, that’s impossible to make up for. Especially when your soul will be limited by your body’s strength which will be limited by your energy cultivation.
You can’t expect to be able to sustain the strength of your soul without energy cultivation. As you probably know, the soul soon undergoes a qualitative change once it breaks into the 7th stage. At that point, a strong body won’t be enough anymore. You’d need the qualitative change provided by essence energy.”
‘I know all of this already. You know I know all of this already. Why are you so adamant about making me feel despair?’ Dyon chuckled to himself. This entity was truly odd.
The entity sighed. “What’s so interesting about watching a drama with no drama? Ridiculous!”
‘Isn’t one your abilities to see through everything? What could possibly be left that’s interesting to you?’
“Oh, stop it. Only imperfect wielders of my power feel overwhelmed by such things. I can turn off my True Empath ability as I please.
In fact, speaking of people with my abilities. I was clearly wrong about you. I thought you were the only sane one, but it seems like you’re insane too.”
‘Come on, grand teacher. Tell your grandson something.’
“Pft, you’re no grandson I recognize. Providing me with no entertainment. How ridiculous.”
‘You have a solution, don’t you? You have the ability to infuse everyone in existence with one of your abilities. Although, many don’t have innate auroras, they still have the ability to access their own, right?
Plus, you said yourself, your will permeates through the universe. It was just that there was a block on it reaching the mortal realm. Let your grandson show you why he deserves your help, how about it?’
“Hm. Truth is, as long as you cultivate to the 9th foundation stage layer, I probably have a set of meridians laying around. It would be quite interesting to watch you absorb them. Especially considering how painful it would be.”
Dyon’s brows furrowed in confusion before the entity continued explaining.
“You need to cultivate to the peak of the foundation stage layer first because the meridians I’m referring to have already been tempered with all of the wills in existence. Meaning, it would shoot you up to 108 open meridians near immediately.”
Even in the completely black space, Dyon’s eyes widened.
“Ha! To think something to trivial is what finally surprised you.”
‘Trivial…?’
“Obviously it’s trivial. Tempering your meridians with all of the wills in existence only requires sitting in a pocket of space. Not an artificial pocket, a real pocket.”
‘A real pocket?’
“Yes, a real pocket. Legacy worlds, for example, are examples of artificial pockets. They’re worlds created by experts. A real pocket of space isn’t separate from the real world. It’s the same, yet separate. And, the energy within it carries a stream of all the wills in existence.
The reason you can’t see the top or bottom of the Epistemic Tower is because the design meant to stabilize a space exactly like that. Anyone who has ever entered the Tower under their own power has gained the right to train in it. How many temperings you can undergo is only limited by your perseverance. And, normally, if you make it to this tower, you have plenty of that.”
‘Wait, you said it isn’t separate. But then said it is separate?’
The entity sighed. “It’s such a hassle speaking with children. Yes. These are very real pockets of space. They aren’t a separate space written into this world. They are this world. They’re the origin of all existence and the energy that’s in them …”
‘Is the energy the universes are slowly running out of…’
“There you go. The energy is known as Gama. Something I guess someone who was too lazy came up with. It’s just short for amalgamation. The energy in real pockets of space is just the combination of everything we’ve come to know. Which obviously also includes all of the wills.”
‘But if it’s all of the energy, doesn’t is also include saint energy and the like? Wouldn’t people at low cultivation levels explode?’
“I really have to explain everything to you, don’t I? These spaces obviously have levels to them. And it’s a misconception that you only need to temper your meridians once. You can temper your wills at every change of level. After all, why would it be better to temper your meridians with wills? Wouldn’t you like to temper yourself with intents too?”
‘I see. That does make sense… So a lack of tempering is probably what also holds people back.’
“Now that I think about it, any God Clan above a King God Clan has access to at least one of these spaces. It’s really not that impressive… Your universe is just too weak.”
‘Alright. Then What do I have to do to earn these meridians.’
“I’m glad you understand I won’t just give them to you. Usually, you can choose a prize of that level by mastering one of my abilities to perfection.”
‘So that means I’ve already earned it, no?’
“Ah – “
Dyon grinned.
“Listen kid.”
‘Grand teacher, you wouldn’t lie to your grandson, would you?’
“YOU!”
‘You said you don’t like it when people bend rules. You wouldn’t take advantage of me, would you?’
“Hmph. I can do whatever I want.”
Dyon sighed. ‘Alright. Alright.’ He didn’t like being used for entertainment, not at all. But, something was telling him that there was no way that all of this was just for entertainment. If it was, why would he send out the basilisks? Why wouldn’t he let him earn it for his little sister? And why would he, despite his words, spend so long explaining things to Dyon?
Even the fact he was willing to tell Dyon about the solution to his meridian problem was enough for Dyon to be grateful.
‘I think it’d only be fair if you allowed me to complete something a bit simpler, no? And also… I have more questions…’
“Learning one of my abilities to perfection, even if you have some pieces of it, takes decades. I guess I could give you some leeway. But, you’ll have to do something for me.”
‘And that is?’
“You have no choice but to participate.”
‘Participate? In what?’
“In the competition between this and other Epistemic Towers obviously.”
‘Huh…’
“Idiot. I already told you that there are 99 other towers like this. One for each of the hundred quadrants of the universe.”
‘What is this competition for…’
“You’ve already heard the demon sage’s story. The watershed moment he was close to requires completely conquering a tower. He just happened to take an unfortunate turn. If he had just taken the last step in conquering his epistemic tower, he would have had a better time.”
‘Wait, but I thought he was a universe away from transcending. What does that have to do with the tower?’
“Conquering universes is what unlocks later levels of the tower. If you haven’t accumulated enough power outside, there’s no point in you being inside. Once you have a break through outside, you can take the tower’s challenge on. Simple.”
‘But… I have no conquered universes… How could I compete?’
“You idiot. The fact you can make it into the tower now means that there are obviously levels you can tackle without having conquered a universe. If that wasn’t the case, why would I put an Epistemic Tower in an essence gathering gate?”
‘True… But why the tower?’
“Without the tower, the outside world quite simply doesn’t have the energy density or resources necessary to transcend.”
‘So, you really aren’t going to tell me the reason you’re putting so much effort into improving the strength of everyone?’
“You might not even survive until the time information like that becomes relevant to you…” A rare tone of solemnity laced the entities voice. It suddenly became very obvious to Dyon that this was a lot more serious than he was ready for.
‘But, what about those students you mentioned. That first disciple that created the dao of array alchemy. Someone that powerful should be more than enough help, no?’
“My disciples are fighting. I’m fighting… We’re tired of fighting.”
‘But then, what does the Timeless Library have to do with everything? It’s supposed to have the legacies of everyone who transcended, no? Wouldn’t those be everyone who conquered your towers?’
“No. There was a time where my towers weren’t necessary to reach that level. There was a time where resources and energy were so abundant that you could become a dao formation expert just by eating and sleeping. There was a time where there was a near infinite number of universes. There was a time where no one had to conquer universes to cultivate.
Unfortunately, forcing wars is the only way I can find those worthy my energy. I can’t give you all power, no matter how much I’d like to. So, I can only force you all to fight amongst yourselves and earn it.”
‘Turns out your games have a purpose… hm.’
“Of course. This tower is all about resources. It’s the training needed to transcend and it has access to my five main abilities. As such, it’s protected by what you all call an ancient game.
The legacies on the outside, left by my disciples, like the dao of alchemy you picked up, are also protected by ancient games. The dead kings valley of the Elvin Kingdom was originally an award given by me to one of their ancestors. He just decided to use it in a unique way to help his lineage.”
‘So, your disciple was the one who put a lock on everyone’s ability to discuss the rules? I guess it would have to be the creator of array alchemy who could put the whole of existence under his power.’
“Ha! Actually, that was me. Why wouldn’t I be able to use something my disciple created to perfection. I created the ancient games using his concept as well.”
‘Well… At least he was serious for a moment?…’ Dyon sighed. ‘But, you still haven’t told me. What then is the Timeless Library?’
The entity paused…
“The den of my enemies.”
Dyon paused at the entities words…
‘I think I’ve finally figured you out, grand teacher.’
“Hey! Stop thinking what you’re thinking.”
‘When I came here, the first thing you said was that you didn’t want me crying, so you wouldn’t tell me about the lock on the mortal realm.
But, now, you’re telling about your enemies? Isn’t that on an even larger scale? Wouldn’t that make me want to cry more? You just wanted someone to vent with, hm?’
Although Dyon couldn’t see it, the entity raised its eyebrow. Then he suddenly realized Dyon had no idea about the penalty for speaking of the things that transpired in the human world…
If Dyon had known, he would have pieced together that the things that happened to the human world weren’t on a smaller scale. Not at all.
Something able to lock even the power of this entity. Something able to stop this entity from speaking about it. Something that caused even some of the largest clans in existence to move to Dyon’s universe.
How could this be simple?
If Dyon had known about the penalty. He would have realized that the entity not wanting to tell him what happened in the human world because he didn’t want a depressed Dyon was nothing but an excuse.
The mere fact the entity could allude to what happened without suffering the penalty Elder Daiyu had was a testament to its power… But, the fact it couldn’t say anymore was a testament to the power of the person responsible for sealing Dyon’s meridians.
This was exactly like when Dyon had spoken about the rules of the ancient games to Ri. Unlike everyone else, he could actually attempt to speak. It was just that Ri couldn’t here him. The same was true of the entity. The hold of the seal couldn’t stop him. But, even if he spoke about it, Dyon wouldn’t hear. In fact, unlike the more lenient ancient games, it might kill Dyon!
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
‘Okay. I’ll listen. I promise. Tell me more.’ Dyon smiled widely.
“The Timeless Library is a place made up of legacies of transcended beings. Allegedly.”
‘Allegedly?’
“Well. Not allegedly. There actually are legacies.”
‘Huh…’
“The goal of the legacies isn’t to improve people, though. Think about it. Transcendent beings leave their faith seeds behind to their families. Why would they suddenly make their legacies available all in a single place? And also, why with such ridiculous rules?”
Dyon thought for a moment.
The entity was completely correct. If they were so stingy with their faith seeds, why would they share their legacies with others as well?
Legacy worlds were a bit different. Those were pockets of space people forced their way into.
Although the Timeless Library also required forced entry, what wasn’t adding up was the fact all of the transcendent beings came together to form one world? Why?
“The reason is many fold…
The first is draining this world of resources. You can’t even imagine how much it took for the demon sage to time lock the Timeless Library to a two-thousand-year span.
And this first reason helps facilitate the second: Chaos.”
Dyon eyes flashed. Chaos?
“It’s no coincidence that the demon sage’s daughter is in the only empty universe in the world. And it’s also not a coincidence that the death phoenixes fought part of their battle against Amethyst there either.
What you need to understand is that this universe has two schools of thought and that these schools of thought came about as solutions to the universes… ‘heat death’ as you call it.
The first, and the most dangerous, is the chaos path.”
Dyon’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t like where that was going.
“It’s a school of thought that you’d probably describe as the anti matter equivalent from your world. In this world, everything is balanced. For every thing, there is a non-thing. For every on, there’s an off. And for every existence, there’s a non-existence.
The chaos path believes that the end of the universe is a ridiculous concept. It is only that everything is in a cycle, moving toward chaos. They believe that it is simply chaos’ time to rule the universe, while order will take a back seat.”
‘So, you’re telling me that they allow people to enter that Timeless Library to drive them insane and increase chaos? And that they also increase the move toward chaos by forcing those able to enter to poor massive amounts of energy into time locking it? So the Demon Sage being teleported into the future wasn’t be coincidence…
But, why didn’t you tell the demon sage that like you’re telling me? Allowing someone as powerful as that to sow chaos should be against what you want.’
“… It’s only quite recently that I could afford to split my soul as I have now…”
Dyon remained silent at this response. The entity was right… again. Dyon hadn’t thought about it before, but dividing you conscious as the entity had wasn’t exactly… healthy…
“Forget it. I’m the one who told you that I’ve been here for millions of years. I’ll forgive your insensitive comments for now. Hmph.”
If Dyon had water in his mouth, he would have probably spit it out. This entity was truly too much. But, at least he accepted responsibility. It was him who had said he had practically been here forever when really the time had been much shorter than that. That’s what he gets for exaggerating to prove a point.
“Anyway. The second school of thought was created by my disciple in retaliation.”
‘Array Alchemy?…’
“Yes. Array Alchemy is quite literally able to write the laws of the universe. My disciple thought that – “
‘If you reach a high enough level you can create a new universe… even wills and energy wouldn’t be impossible if you had a deep enough understanding… Just like the death core!’
“Quite right. The death core is an example of one of the wills my disciple managed to replicate to perfection. However, the amount of studying it takes to become a being capable of replicating everything perfectly is something you and even I can’t even imagine…”
‘But… Why is the array alchemy path better than the chaos path? Sure. Anarchy doesn’t sound great. But, neither does forcing people to war for a chance to transcend. The world is in a perpetual state of anarchy anyway… There’s no real peace…’
The entity sighed. “I’m beginning to lose hope in you, kid.
The way of the world is balance. Can’t you tell by my statue outside? Everything together in resonance!
Chaos shouldn’t rule. And neither should peace. That’s what those idiots of the chaos path don’t understand. The world shouldn’t be alternating between chaos and peace. It should be in a balance!
The chaos path is nothing but an excuse for warmongers. People who’ve been slighted by life and want to watch everything burn.
How could you possibly think a world with no light, with no peace, with no love – was a world worth living in?”
Dyon was speechless for a long while before the entity spoke again.
“I only have one thing to ask of you before I decide whether you’re truly worth helping. When the day comes that you learn about what happened to your world. When you come to understand the shackles placed on you and your people. When you realize that the death of your parents may not be everything you thought it was…
Will you react like the demon sage did and lose your mind?”