Chapters 35-36

Crushing Attuned Fruit of Enlightenment (Uncommon)—4,000,000 SP

3,000,000 SP (-25%)

Piercing Attuned Fruit of Enlightenment (Uncommon)—4,000,000 SP

3,000,000 SP (-25%)

Cleaving Attuned Fruit of Enlightenment (Uncommon)—4,000,000 SP

3,000,000 SP (-25%)

Getting into the elysian crystal trade, he’d done his due diligence when it came to research gathering, and what he was attempting right now wasn’t too dissimilar from a tactic the elite have been using to supercharge their children on the path of cultivation for centuries. It all had to do with the inherent nature of elysian crystals. Because, while it’s effectiveness as a spiritual insulator is undeniably singular in scope, the benefits of elysian crystals, to the beast core trade, is, in actuality, twofold. That is to say, by coating a shattered beast core in Elysian dust, then heating it up until a hardened shell was formed, it’s entirely possible to contain what spiritual energies would otherwise dissipate, indefinitely. This special property was what most referred to when denoting the inherent value of elysian crystals.

Very few people were aware of its secondary value, however. That being, it’s capacity to, not only trap spiritual energy, but house conceptual matter as well. The manufacturers that routinely process beast cores realized the potential of this discovery fairly early on, and, in turn, developed ways in which to capitalize on this rare and potent commodity. Draining the concentrated stuff of the cosmos itself, each drop of universal truth heavily flavored by the lives of the beasts who’d conceptualized them, into shards of crystal rarely larger than one’s thumb.

A shard about the size of Jun’s pinky nail containing the condensed matter of cutting, for instance, could easily sell for several hundred million apiece. And, depending on the quality of the cores used, even that was being rather generous. They could just as easily sell for billions. That was just how valuable these little glowing crystal’s were. After all, they supplied something that no amount of money had been able to buy previously. Hard earned experience.

Several lifetime’s worth of epiphanies, breakthroughs, and mistakes to learn from. A series of recorded, and even sometimes viable, paths to power. All right there and ripe for the picking. That it normally it took upwards of ten thousand shattered beast cores to harvest a single drop of understanding. A shard of the aforementioned size, just for easy reference, containing as many as twelve such drops. Needless to say, what Jun attempted here was nowhere near on the same level. Still, the idea was essentially the same.

Though that ultimately brought him back to the natural treasures he’d purchased. Because if the cores would act as a guiding compass—outlining how he might progress his path without it taking a lifetime—then the fruits of enlightenment should serve as the fuel.

Jun stared down at the three uncommonly ranked treasures neatly arranged before him.

The one on the far left, imbued with the concept of crushing, was a round thing that easily fit inside the palm of his hand. A shriveled, desiccated looking berry, it was as if any juice it’d once held had long since evaporated into nonexistence. A thick stem stuck up from the top of the little fruit with a vibrant green leaf affixed to it like a flag. In all honesty, if it weren’t for the aura of crushing spiritual weight it gave off, he wouldn’t have believed it to be anything special. As it was, it exuded the aura of a sleeping predator—immobile for now, yet ready to lash out with explosive force at even the slightest provocation.

Next came the piercing attuned fruit. From the stem downward it looked more like a root system in disguise. Bright green and vibrant, looking almost unripe, the length of the elongated fruit split apart into a disparate tangle of winding appendages. From where he sat, it emanated a sharp, singleminded focus. Like a raging river it felt somehow indomitable, while at the same time infinitely adaptable. As though, just because it’s only way to move was forward—to advance—the form it took in achieving that advancement could vary almost indefinitely.

And lastly, the cleaving imbued fruit. It kind of resembled a smooth wedge of cheese, with a waxy rind that was covered in minor discolorations. There was no visible stem, and it was larger than the other two combined. Still small enough to fit in his hand, but only just. The aura it emanated was not a complex one, though it did not lack substance for all that. In the place of complexity arose a terrifying aura of unapologetic might. It seemed to promise that, irregardless of how many swings it takes, when it’s blow eventually landed the very world itself would be torn asunder.

Jun shivered at the palpable waves of intent billowing off of all three. It was an intimidating sight to behold, that was for sure. A niggling feeling of doubt surfaced then. A fear that maybe, just maybe, he was getting ahead of himself by the tiniest bit. Biting off more than he could chew seemed to be a reoccurring theme in his cultivation after all.

Before he could second guess himself, Jun reached forward and plucked up the crushing attuned fruit.

I mean, I’ve already bought them, right? There’s really no use in second guessing myself now.

He wasn’t entirely sure whether the twig counted as a part of the fruit or not so, just to be safe, he decided to swallow everything—fruit, stem, leaf, and all. It was only a few seconds into that particularly difficult swallow that he was able to confirm that, no, he hadn’t needed to eat the damned stick. On the bright side, the leaf actually had a pleasant piney taste to it. So, there was that.

After picking most of the splinters from his teeth, Jun sat back and waited for inspiration to hit him—a handful of attuned cores resting in his palms. And he waited. And waited. Aaand waited…

Just as he was beginning to think he’d been cheated by the system store, a feeling of euphoria swept over and through him. It carried him upward on currents of awe, and right into the waiting arms of inspiration’s loving embrace—his eyes mimicking his soul as they widened in sudden comprehension. As if he’d been blind all his life and now, suddenly, he could see. And while his environment itself hadn’t changed, he now saw everything around him in a completely different light.

It was as if epiphany lurked around each and every corner. As if the intrinsic truths of the wider universe were just one unobstructed glimpse away. That the cosmos could be peeled back to its very base components, if only he had the guts to reach out and draw back the curtain. It was a tantalizing proposition. To see further, deeper, than any mortal mind had any right to. To reach out into the ether, and, in so doing, have the ether reach back in turn. If anything, wasn’t it too great of an invitation for him to reasonably ignore?

Jun bit down on his tongue hard enough to taste blood. The flood of pain bringing back some semblance of reason. Leading him away from the brink of… well, he didn’t rightly know what. Something a part of him had known to distrust almost instinctually. Something he wasn’t entirely sure he could’ve come back from. He was suddenly very aware of how much time had passed while he’d been in his little trance. Or to be more exact, aware that he had no idea how long he’d been out of it. A few seconds or a few hours, he couldn’t even begin to speculate which. Regardless, the thought that he might’ve wasted this very expensive opportunity daydreaming was so horrifying that his hands were moving before he’d fully formulated the thought.

With a circulation empowered clench, he crushed the handful of beast cores—a part of him still reveling in the application of such a fundamental truth. Maintaining his focus with an effort of will, he lowered his head and inhaled the dense cloud of silvery vapor. In the next moment he was blindsided by a deafening cacophony. Brief flashes of memory, intense emotions, and overlapping voices all blending together to the detriment of all. An unholy cocktail of soul quaking proportions. The overwhelming medley jarring him senseless with each passing flicker. Dozens of lives led, hundreds of days lived, thousands of tiny little actions that, when added all together, amounted to a life, a number of lives, many. Far too many, in their totality.

And if that was all, if he’d gone into this with nothing more than a few beast cores and a dream, it was likely this maelstrom of memories would’ve remained inscrutable. As it was however, thanks to the fruit’s much needed assistance—acting as a focus, a facilitator of forward motion, within the jumbled knot of confusion—finding a single thread, a lone path among dozens, and untangling it from the chaotic tapestry as a whole proved difficult, though nowhere near impossible. And in that way, after what felt like an eternity, he soon finished.

Eyes closed, and with his mind still enraptured, he felt more than heard the simple chime likely heralding advancement. With that in mind, he realized that, were he to simply call it quits here, he’d likely come away the proud owner of a crushing cast. That, in addition to whatever random mantra the path he’d disentangled from the roiling mass had gifted him with. Which ultimately begged the question. Was he satisfied with just that? And more than that, had he really come this far just to stop at the bare minimum? To his surprise, he found that the answer was no. And so, without even an ounce of hesitation, he rolled up his metaphorical sleeves, and began again. And this time he wouldn’t stop after extracting a few more paths. No, on the contrary, he wouldn’t stop until he’d unraveled the confused tapestry as a whole.

And that was exactly what he did—feeling as if he were untying the most complex knot in existence. In what felt like a moment stretched out into infinity, his mind was further inundated by dozens upon dozens of life defining revelations. He sifted through myriad flaws, ingenious connections, and crippling misinterpretations that’d stymied, blessed, or otherwise impacted an individual’s path. And, as he did so, not only did he see, but he catalogued as well.

He sorted, and he managed, and he extrapolated from where they’d left off. He took from the good and learned from the bad. He used similar, and conflicting connections to make great leaps in his own understanding. He followed chains of connections through to their most logical conclusions. Conclusions that’d never been fully realized. He unraveled the devilish knot of experiences until all that was left was a series of threads.

Threads which he’d expanded upon and specified in equal measure. And then, with each path neatly defined, he did something unbelievably foolish. Something he’d already prevented himself from attempting once before. Deaf to better judgment and acting purely on intuition, he tore away the curtain which screened his true soul from the ether, grabbed hold of the myriad conceptual threads laid out before him, and then, ever so slowly, he began to weave.

   ————————————————————

Initializing…

Performing System Checks

Loading Core Modules

Establishing Communication Protocols

Verifying System Dependancies

Configuring Runtime Environments

Please hold…

Connecting to Pantheistic Workshop Servers

User Verification: In Progress

Total Active Users: 1

Solar Cycles Elapsed Since Last Known Interaction: 1,800,900,071:099:02

Welcome Unknown User!

Three New Mantras Have Been Detected.

Do you wish to proceed?

YES/NO

(Warning: Refusal will result in the immediate ejection from workshop servers)

Do you wish to proceed?

YES/NO

Jun stared unblinkingly at the system messages. The decidedly… purple system messages. More a neon lavender than the saturated blue he was so accustomed to.

Huh. Uhh. That’s… new. Or no. Given the context, it could be that it’s just really really old.

He… well. He didn’t entirely know what he was doing here, what here was exactly, or, for that matter, where the hell his body had run off to. As far as he could tell, it was just him—or the vague, floating idea of him rather—the hanging notifications, and the blank void all around them. That said, whether he’d intended for it or not, he was already here and all… And if he was actually the first person to stumble across this unspecified “workshop” in the last billion years? Well, it’d be awfully rude of him not to at least hear the system out. Wouldn’t it? Really, it truly was the least he could do.

Already, thoughts of ancient treasure and long-lost artifacts made his eyes practically brim over with greed. Practically, because he didn’t actually have eyes at the moment. Though if he had, they’d probably be resembling little spirit coins right about now. Jun promptly selected “yes,” and the world around him changed.

Not overly much, all things considered. Now, instead of a pitch-black void extending forever in all directions, there was a low-lying mist that obscured everything below his ankles. His ankles? Glancing down, he found that his body had returned, which was an instant relief. That he was also stark naked was, admittedly, less than ideal. Before the thought had fully formed, however, there was a distinct shift, and suddenly he was wearing a tailor-made suit in the colonial style. Black with swirling gold embroidery along the slacks, at the cuffs, and around the lapel. The fine and intricate needlework vaguely worked into the shapes of several fox-like spirit beasts—all liquid grace, bristling tufts of fur, and wicked canines.

Oh yes. Yes, I think I could get used to this.

After a moment spent simply admiring himself—himself and the outfit that might have been plucked directly from his deepest, most personal preference—he looked up to see what else about the space had changed. It didn’t take long. Actually, it was a wonder he didn’t go on the offensive immediately. Indeed, he probably would have, had the notification which appeared the second he laid eyes upon the rat-kin done even a slightly poorer job of distracting him.

Basic Mantra: [Iron Fist] (1st Aspected)

Grade: (Poor Quality)

Conceptual Stability: 17%

Do you wish to spectate, assimilate, or edit?

Dismissing the notification, Jun took several steps back, making sure to keep the rat-kin and its companions in his periphery the whole while. He made out three of them in total. A quick survey told him that, apart from himself, they were the only other living entities in this space. Or… actually on second thought, were they alive? Looking closer, he honestly couldn’t say with any amount of confidence. They stood stock still, nearly shoulder to shoulder, and, as far as he could tell, didn’t appear to be breathing. Not only that, but their actual bodies appeared… off. Hazy around the edges, completely drained of color, and semi-translucent in a way that was very familiar. A mix between some ghost like apparition and the strangely artificial cast of a system screen.

Putting some of the pieces together, Jun allowed himself a measure of calm. Flicking his eyes back to the initial beast, he received the exact same notification as before.

Right. So, if I go with my gut and say these notifications are trustworthy, then these three must be the mantras. Or their manifestations? I’m still not entirely clear on the particulars.

Not knowing what else to do, though still wanting to err on the side of caution, Jun selected “spectate.” In the next moment, the beast he’d selected stirred to wakefulness, just as a mossy boulder the size of a three-story building began to rise from the mist wreathed floor, fifteen or so paces away. Jun was in the midst of scrambling for something, anything, with which to defend himself, when the rat-kin abruptly turned away and marched towards the still rising boulder. In that way, he was given little time to ponder why, all of the sudden, his abilities seemed to be wholly inaccessible, before the ethereal construct reached the foot of the very real looking boulder and struck.

He barely caught the actual strike, only its aftermath—the resounding crack as a fist sized crater radiating hairline fractures, was left in the moss covered stone. Against his better judgment, Jun made his way over. First inspecting the round crater, then the rat constructs uninjured hand. He was fairly confident at this point that, whatever the ghostly construct was, it posed no immediate danger. Now if only the system would just tell him outright what the point of all this was. As if in response, the ghostly construct moved.

Even from a mere three paces away, however, the quick jab was almost too fast for him to see. Though the crack of its impact was, predictably, far more deafening. Again, as if in direct response to his frustration, the beast threw another punch, though this time, in slow motion. Because of that he actually got to watch in real time as the coil of silver mist pumped out from the construct’s chest, wound around its arm, and sank into its fist, before yet another crater was pounded into the boulder.

Jun asked the construct to repeat this several more times before, with a thought, he willed it to go dormant.

Okay…

By this point he thought he had a pretty good handle on what exactly was going on here. But, before he jumped to any conclusions, he wanted to spectate the others, just to be sure. Locking onto the second construct in line, he was unsurprised when, yet another notification popped up.

Basic Mantra: [Force Hammer] (2nd Aspected)

Grade: (Poor Quality)

Conceptual Stability: 15%

Do you wish to spectate, assimilate, or edit?

Selecting spectate, he watched as the construct stirred to life, then slowly began to make its way in his direction. Wanting to try something, Jun made his discontentment with its pace clear, and in the next moment the meandering construct appeared right in front of them, having crossed the dozen or so paces in an instant. Alright, so the system was far more intuitive than he initially gave it credit for. He’d have to remember that going forward. With a thought, Jun willed the first construct back to its original position, leaving ample room for the second construct to showcase its ability.

Stepping back, just in case, Jun watched as the construct assumed a wide stance, wider than seemed practical to his untrained eyes, then thrust a single palm forward—its actual target, the massive boulder, still several paces away. Not that Jun was surprised when, instead of whiffing completely, and rather embarrassingly at that, a wave of silver-tinged force expanded outward from its palm at speed, to collide with the boulder with a deafening explosion of rock shards. However, this time, instead of forming a crater, large, deep fissures emerged, spiderwebbing their way all along its pocked surface. The damage less concentrated, though significantly more devastating than any number of the previous construct’s attacks.

Not skipping a beat, Jun dismissed the construct back to its initial position, then willed the final ghostly figure to his side. If he was right, and each of these so-called constructs effectively showcased one of the three abilities he’d woven together with those conceptual threads, then this final one should prove the most interesting of them all. Not even taking the time to read the notification, Jun eagerly selected, “spectate” then took several steps back.

And there he waited. At first, nothing seemed to happen. Then, very briefly, he managed to catch something. The tiniest flash of silver emanating from beneath its patchy coat. Beneath its thick hide even. There was only one or two of them at first, and then that number easily doubled. Soon dozens of the little silver lights were flickering this way and that like fireflies stirred up into a frenzy. Jun held his breath. And then, all at once, in a truly horrific monochromatic display, the construct, quite literally, exploded—simulated entrails and dismembered body parts raining down from the sky only seconds after the blast reduced the once boulder into a gravel pathway half a kilometer long.

Jun recognized, belatedly, that it might’ve been wise to take more than a few steps back. Thankfully, just as he’d hoped, the blast did nothing to actually harm him. So long as stepping all over his pride didn’t count. That… hadn’t gone according to plan. He’d intended for something similar to his sword cyclone, a multidirectional blast of force. In a way, he supposed that’s exactly what he’d gotten. Still, the costs of such an ability left much to be desired. And the worst part was, he just couldn’t seem to wrap his head around why.

In response to his question, two things happened at once. On top of the remains of the previous construct, an identical figure blipped into existence. And, seeing as it appeared right in front of him, the notification he’d previously ignored bloomed large in his vision.

Basic Mantra: [Force Blast] (2nd Aspected)

Grade: (Trash Quality)

Conceptual Stability: 2%

Do you wish to spectate, assimilate, or edit?

(Warning: Attempting to assimilate a Mantra that is at or below 10% conceptual stability runs an inordinately high risk of failure.)

(Note: Assimilation failure will result in the total erasure of the Mantra in question. Physical and or spiritual backlash may or may not apply.)

(Note: You can gain conceptual stability by raising your resonance pillar.)

(Note: You can gain conceptual stability by altering the offending Mantra to better reflect its patron ideal.)

Okay, Jun thought to himself. Now we’re finally getting somewhere.

It would appear he’d finally found a use for his resonance statistic, and it wasn’t at all what he’d been expecting. If he was reading this correctly, his resonance should be one of, if not the, greatest deciding factor when it came to pushing for more ambitious mantras. Looking back, he could admit, now, that his force blast’s conception had been a bit of a mess. If the other two represented the obvious next steps for some previous understanding, then the third mantra had been all him.

A mishmash of several disparate paths, a great many suppositions on his part, and not a small number of outright guesses. The conceptual equivalent of jerry-rigging a bomb with limited resources and dubious instruction. In hindsight, the end result likely shouldn’t have been nearly so unexpected. He had learned a lot from the process, however. And it was because of those lessons that he knew, almost unequivocally, that the second option would likely prove the least reliable of the two.

Because, at least based on his own experiences, creating a mantra from scratch like he’d attempted, was a lot like trying to find a needle in a haystack with the lights turned off. Like trying to decipher ancient hieroglyphs purely by sound. In practice, it was a lot like playing a game of charades with an extra planar entity, wherein the only clues you were given as to its identity were precisely what it was not. In other words, it was damn near impossible. The only reason he’d been able to create a poor grade imitation whatsoever, due in large part to the fact he’d been blissed out of his mind on inspiration at the time and had the touchstone of a few dozen beast cores to anchor himself.

He’d done the equivalent of throwing everything against the wall just to see what stuck. And, if he was reading into things correctly, in order to improve his design the hard way, he’d have to make absolutely certain that everything he threw stuck. Or in other words, make sure this patron ideal, what he assumed was the overarching concept, generally approved of the changes he was making. Something he figured he couldn’t do without a breadth of higher understanding well beyond his years.

To serve up an interpretation of an ideal itself, only to have that same universal concept go, oh yeah, no that seems alright to me. It would be like copying the masterwork of the greatest painter in the world, only to have them turn around and compliment you on your brushstrokes. Daunting, in other words, and not something he felt ready for. Far easier to cheat, in his opinion, when the option had so conveniently presented itself. Bump up his resonance and, fingers crossed, any half-baked mantras he did manage to conceive would be made more viable by the system itself. In that way, it didn’t mean he would refrain from experimenting altogether. He just knew that, in terms of creating actual, viable abilities, any original bouts of creativity were likely going to be off the table.

And so, it was with that very thing in mind that Jun focused on the notification hovering stationary before him, and promptly selected “edit.”