Cyril Sarnath
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Chapter 175
🕑 Added 2023-07-07 19:35:13 +0000 UTCKeynes’s connection with the Greater System closed. He was granted knowledge about attaining personalised quests and what they meant to him. He whistled as some outcomes were straight out insane and akin to rewards granted for levelling as a Perfect State ascender.
Obviously, nothing was for free. If he wished to gain access to personalised quests, he had to enter a greater rift and find a specific location outside of this Universe. The Greater System didn’t say it but it was heavily implied that the greater rift offered access to other Universes. Lem Solaris hadn’t mentioned it during their earlier conversation; either she didn’t know or didn’t want him to know.
After he found the required universe and underwent a ritual, the quests would work across Universes. This was good news, the bad part was that personalised quests tended to not only be very difficult as the Greater System sought to push ascenders beyond their capabilities but aimed at the particular ascender’s weakness.
Unfortunately, the road ahead of Keynes was long and he had some reservations about paying a hefty price for obtaining this knowledge but it was better than relying on Lem Solaris.
Master…something has changed, Alice said slowly via their bond and Keynes assured her he would explain it later.
Let’s go over the gardening bit first. What did you discover by following the two ascenders? He asked.
It is as we thought, these small patches act as blank canvas and combination of plants creates specific effects.
She had seen the two ascenders use the simple combination of several plants that then morphed into one large plant that bore a single fruit. The two ascenders had done it twice, which meant the fruit eased the dominion debuff’s effect and couldn’t be shared.
Alice showed Keynes the combination and with his new spiritual trait, he was able to recognise the pattern. And like with his spiritual aura, the spiritual energy of these plants had many shades and some connection being hidden in the deeper layer of the spiritual plane. One glance was enough to tell him that he still didn’t see everything he needed.
With [Inspect Plant] Keynes identified the fruit as ominously named Survivor’s Voice. He debated if he should eat it but Alice assured him that the two ascenders had eaten these fruits without any dire consequences. Though it didn’t mean this was safe to eat. There could be some hidden long term side effects. But he was confident in his Pure Body buff to step in if things got out of hand.
One bite into the bitter fruit and he already felt it take an effect. There was no system message but something very new—akin to a spiritual sense—told him that the forest wasn’t safe and made him alert.
Do you sense anything different about me? He asked Alice but it was a misplaced question as everything about him was different after absorbing the Trait of Spirituality, so there was very little insight into her answer.
Keynes inspected himself with the fruit in effect but couldn’t tell what had changed. This was frustrating but not without its own insight. As he watched himself through spiritual lenses, he realised something. Could he achieve [Spiritual Wraith] effect without the skill? Not willing to ask Lem Solaris for assistance, which she would likely not provide, Keynes and Alice discussed the issue. To his understanding, spells acted as shortcuts, though Alice wasn’t particularly convinced about his interpretation and her argument was very solid - [Chaos Aura]. The aura effect was so alien and destructive, and very much anti-spiritual in its nature that it seemed impossible to recreate it without an actual skill.
We should test our skills…
Master, Alice said and Keynes’s words trailed off. You are erratic. You are trying to do too many things at once. I…do not know what to do.
Keynes’s mind ground to halt. He was chaotic, wasn’t he? Frankly he didn’t think it was because of the Chaos debuff becoming a buff. It was more to do with his two buffs—Photographic Memory and Rapid Learning—becoming more assimilated with his core. This coupled with his mind being freed from manipulating strings and healed, made Keynes more like the person he had been before the awakening, curious and adventurous. It wasn’t his fault that the number of interesting things was numbingly large.
But she was right, if he didn’t rein himself, he might run into a serious problem. His priority was progress and by throwing himself in all directions, he would stall his advancement.
That’s unacceptable.
“Fine, let’s focus on Lem Solaris’s challenge and find the sub-boss,” he said aloud, knowing that Alice and Lem Solaris would hear him. He thought about being a little more arrogant here and demanding more from Lem Solaris but her earlier words about the System only needing him to open Level 7 rifts put his importance into a new perspective. It also made him wonder if he should rush with Level 5 and 6 rifts.
Actually, with a great rift and way out of this universe, can I use my leveraged position against the System? It is conscious and it already acted granting me the Orb of Grand Insight so it may bargain with me.
Once again, Alice’s words echoed in his mind. He was getting ahead of himself…
***
The Survivor’s Voice lasted one day. Keynes felt his ‘relationship’ with the dominion’s forest changed but he sensed one more thing. As the effects of Survivor’s Voice ended, calmness descended on him. He felt welcomed by the forest as if the true face of this place vanished behind a mask.
The strength of serenity was so substantial that his Pure Body buff reacted to it very strongly. But Keynes wasn’t worried about it and let the debuff affect him. His newly acquired spiritual power was sufficient to not only keep him safe but he now knew what to watch out for.
Their next step was to get back to researching the plant combinations. The way to the centre was closed by a spell even Keynes couldn’t decipher. It wasn’t like the forest changed as Keynes and Alice pushed forward. Foliage, tree density, the number of monsters and even their Levels and rarity remained the same.
As they moved slowly, Keynes’s spiritual aura carpeted the area, its goal was simple: catalogue plants. At the same time, Alice scouted for other ascenders.
What was very weird, was the fact that Alice couldn’t find the way through the dominion’s blockade. It had to be linked to Keynes’s status.
The first big thing Keynes discovered was that they had been mistaken and the patches of ground weren’t the only place to use the combo of plants on. He found that some trees had a suspicious spiritual signature. As if something was missing there, so he started looking for a matching piece.
He was surprised when he saw that the plant, a thin brownish stem with a bush of leaves, perfectly fitted into a recess running alongside the trunk of the tree. As Keynes placed the plant, it melted with the trunk.
The tree shuddered, its form started morphing. Keynes had to dodge as roots exploded out of the ground. It wasn’t easy with the dense foliage behind him but he managed it without resorting to [Chaos Aura].
The ground shook as the tree uprooted itself, becoming an alien creature made out of wood. It was massive and it wasn’t all. Keynes sensed currents of spiritual energy moving beneath him, something he hadn’t experienced before. But the creature didn’t give him much time to think as it attacked immediately. Roots and branches came in a great number, giving Keynes no chance to dodge. Keynes unleashed [Chaos Aura] and was shocked with the degree of control he wielded. The aura no longer behaved erratic and random. He was intuitively able to adjust the effect [Chaos Aura] had on the environment. He focused on the attacking roots and branches and without hesitation turned them into shrivelled husks.
Even though the monster was a rare Level 5, it crumbled in front of Keynes’s [Chaos Aura]. Keynes pressed ahead, not wanting it to recover. Tendrils of [Chaos Aura] hitting directly the main body encountered some resistance but nothing Keynes couldn’t overcome with a few well placed chaos tendrils.
But the fight was far from over. The Heartwood’s first passive ability regenerated the creature for each root connected to a tree. His second passive removed critical points from its body, making it a pain to finish it off.
The active ability was called [Root Overwhelm] and took over the control of every root in the area. It sounded dangerous on paper but the trees around were lower Level than the monster and didn’t—
The monster used [Root Overwhelm] and the skill proved Keynes wrong. Any root under the creature’s control gained Level 5 strength and structural integrity. In a matter of seconds, the whole surroundings turned into a killing field. Keynes was forced to blast [Chaos Aura] enhanced by spiritual aura to avoid being speared. He saw that some roots merged together becoming a super-root. Keynes used [Flight] and got out of its range then used [Spiritual Wraith] but then came another shock. The Heartwood somehow was able to track him though not precisely. It didn’t matter. Keynes channelled mana into [Mana Shot] until he was running on fumes then hit the main body the Heartwood.
It roared, heavily injured. Keynes landed on its back and unfolded passive [Chaos Aura] to save his mana, then chugged a mana elixir. Because it only increased mana regeneration, he couldn’t immediately use the active form of [Chaos Aura].
In the end, the overtime damage from the aura overcame the passive regeneration of the monster. Especially, when many of the roots were caught in Keynes’s aura and perished. Nonetheless, Keynes felt that the fight was closer than it should be. He’d have lost it without [Chaos Aura]. Even [Mana Shot] wasn’t enough to kill the creature due to its passive skill that removed its critical points.
As the monster collapsed, showering Keynes with essence, its body turned to dust. A spiritual impulse came and from the pile of dust grew a single plant. Its flower bloomed and then bore a single fruit.
- Heartwood’s Defiance (Rare)
- “Sometimes things just refuse to die.”
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- Buff (strong, temporary): Defiant Physical Resistance
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- [Consumable, Dominion]
- Level 5
At first, Keynes wanted to groan. The reward for killing the monster seemed underwhelming but the wording caught his attention. What significance had the word ‘defiant’ in the name? He was somewhat keen on trying the fruit but he needed to rest first. His stamina was low and he didn’t want to waste a stamina elixir if he could recover most of it in an hour or two. He’d decide then what to do with the fruit.
He scanned the area where he’d fought the creature. It looked devastated but faint undercurrents of spiritual energy flew toward it, fixing the damage. It was a mesmerising ‘sight’. All this energy moving around, bending the environment to its will. Whatever the process was happening, it was beyond Keynes’s understanding. He put the fruit into the dimensional pouch then spied the highest tree in the area then used its top branches as a hiding spot.
Using his Techniques of Cultivation, he started playing with his essence, wondering which skill he should start improving first.
He almost dropped from the branch when he noticed 1% in Dexterity.
Finally! After all this time, I am again making some progress.
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