Sovereign of the Karmic System-Chapter 684: Broken Deep Down

Wolfe let out a low growl, tail wagging slowly.

The mental cultivator nodded in response. "But there is also bad news." He said, causing the large metallic beast’s jet-black eyes to narrow.

"Hold on." Roley said, stepping closer to the two. "What is going on? Why did you do that?"

Der followed suit, armor clunking gently as he stepped closer. The hold onto his weapon’s handle relaxed, and his hand once again went to rest over the pommel.

Aeron looked at the two with uncertain eyes, but then, a puff of hot air washed over from his side. "Alright." Aeron told the large wolf before once again turning to face the two. "The change in Daniel’s psyche. I have had a theory about its cause, and I think I have confirmed it."

"Explain." Der said. Voice slightly muffled by the white-gold helmet he was wearing.

The mental cultivator nodded. "As cultivators, you are both aware of the three innate forms of mana that every mortal possesses. The power of our physique, Ki. The power of our spirit, spiritual essence, and mental power. They are called the powers of the living, because all creatures, beasts or humans, have them."

Roley and Der nodded in agreement, keeping quiet and listening attentively.

Foll𝑜w current novℯls on ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm.

"Now, cultivators are split into two different categories. Those who had access to the information regarding immortal essence, who develop all three powers in unison before merging them into the essence of immortality, and those who don’t." Aeron continued, green mist shifting through space like a pacing ghost. "We used to belong to the second kind, before Daniel accidentally discovered immortal cultivation."

"And when his method spread, the cultivators of our universe became part of the first group, we know." Roley said. "What does that have to do with Daniel’s ascension?"

"I am getting there." Aeron responded as his incorporeal body halted its movements. "What few cultivators paid attention to, regardless of whether they are pursuing just one of the three powers, or wish to merge the three into immortal essence, are the concepts that tie the three individual powers together. For example, we know that our emotions come from our spirits, but pain is experienced physically, and it requires a stable mind to be endured."

Roley nodded. He was a spiritual cultivator himself, and he couldn’t help but agree. Mortals who wished to pursue a single path of cultivation used to focus on what their powers could do, and how they could be improved, rather than studying their very nature. Hence why he would always spend his time improving his understanding of the elements, rather than observing how his spirit and mind worked together. It was more than common.

That, however, was not the case for specialized sects like the one Aeron had belonged to in the past. A sect focused solely on the study of the mind in its every shape and form-A practice that had allowed them to develop a method to cultivate the mind that, instead of forcing them to merge the three even powers into one, allowed them to keep the mind as the core of their powers.

Ki solidified into the avatar, and the spirit merged into the unconscious. The mind controlled it all.

It was only because of Aeron’s upbringing that he had been able to notice the changes hidden within Daniel’s subconscious.

"You are saying that the connection between Daniel’s spirit and his mind has been severed?" Roley asked.

Aeron resumed pacing. "Not completely. He still receives and processes information with his mind, and as you’ve seen, he is still capable of reacting emotionally to it. What has been severed is the connection between his emotivity and his memories."

Der and Roley stepped forward once more, brows furrowed with worry. "Is that why.." The former muttered.

"Yes." Aeron said. "I believe his ascension came with a cost.. and the cost was to sever all ties to humanity."

"No, no that can’t be it." Roley said as a shiver ran down his spine. Thousands of years had passed since he and Daniel had met, so in his mind, he had explained his old friend’s apathy as a natural occurrence. But the truth was much more terrifying. After all, if Aeron was right, Roley, Der, Daniel’s closest and oldest friends, and even his family meant nothing to him anymore. "Why would he bother to help us then? Why waste time making sure that we are safe, if he felt nothing for us any longer?" He asked.

Aeron stopped moving once more, shapeless head lowered pensively. "I am not sure. It could be boredom, a deity’s whim, or possessiveness towards his propriety." His disembodied voice said, showing a hint of uncharacteristic sadness.

A few seconds of silence followed.

The two white pearls that gleamed through Der’s helmet had now closed. In his mind the warrior pondered about an alternative world. One where instead of welcoming the flickering white flame, he had accepted the red inferno. The existential power that had thrown itself at his mercy, begging to be wielded by him, the new god of war. The thought of finally reuniting with his daughter and the family she had created, and looking at them with the indifference Daniel had shown towards the safety of his own family.. It made him sick to his stomach.

Similar thoughts had been swirling around in Roley’s mind. His attachments were fewer, as his existence was now dedicated to the promise he had made to the creatures that followed him, but.. Would he be okay with fulfilling the promise not as himself, but as an apathetic deity? "Wait." He suddenly said, narrowed eyes of pure light and darkness shifting in Aeron’s direction. "You said you could touch the threads.. what did you mean?"

Aeron’s ghastly shape began to solidify, giving him four obfuscated limbs and a head. "I noticed that some topics we have discussed lately caused the broken link between Daniel’s memories and emotions to react.. As if his spirit was reaching out. So I started to wonder whether I would be able to touch them."

"That is why you provoked him." Der said.

The green silhouette nodded. "I needed the broken link to react before I could locate it in the depths of his subconscious. Only then was I able to reach for it. and successfully come in contact with it."

"What stopped you from fixing it right there and then?" Der inquired. He knew that, had Aeron been able to do so, he would have fixed the damage to Daniel’s mind on the spot.

"Various things." Aeron said as the edges of his arms and legs respectively split into five fingers and toes. "The first one being Daniel’s unwillingness to let me try, as you have seen. But that isn’t the largest problem. I am simply not strong enough. His power is too heavy, and lingering in his mind for longer than a few seconds would burn my consciousness."

Der’s senses reached forward, hidden behind a cloud of bright white immortal essence. They surrounded the green silhouette, leering through its nature and power, examining it. It retreated moments later. "You are one step away from the godhood stage." He said. "Would one more ascension be enough?"

Unbothered by the warrior’s action, the green silhouette shook his head from side to side.

While looking at the problem, Aeron had not only found a solution. He had also seen Daniel the way Der had just looked at him. He had felt his power, evaluated him. And while Der must have seen his cultivation as a little green sprout, Aeron had seen Daniel’s as a blazing sun. A difference that could not be covered with a simple ascension from high immortality to the godhood stage.

"I will need to ascend the same way you have, Der." Aeron said as the green mist that shrouded his featureless face condensed into two emeralds.

The warrior’s lips closed shut. "I don’t know how.. there isn’t a manual for it. I was-"

"There is no need to explain. Let me see for myself." Aeron said as a column of green power rushed into Der’s helmet, diving into every orifice of his head. Before he could react, the world around him darkened.

-----

Der was back into his subconscious. Inside the cold and dark world he had found himself during the battle against War. This time, however, he was not alone, as he stood just a few feet from a kneeling warrior in broken plate armor.

The warrior was panting, injured, yet guarded. His hands were reaching for a sword and shield that weren’t there, sinking through the darkness that covered the lower inches of his feet and knees, until his attention was caught elsewhere.

"This didn’t happen.. I never looked for my weapons. I thought I had already died." The observing warrior said, fist tightened around his sword’s handle.

"Memories change sometimes." Aeron’s voice suddenly said, catching Der by surprise. It came from the man’s right side, and when Der turned towards its origin, he found him. The physical representation of the mental cultivator, or at least, the one he had chosen to appear as.

Aeron did not appear as a ghastly man with pale green skin, and his eyes weren’t emeralds anymore. He appeared human, with skin of a soft pink color, blemishes, and greasy dirt-blonde hair. As he spoke, his lips moved. "In your subconscious, your feelings can change the details of a memory. For example, while you know you didn’t look for your weapons at the time, watching it back as a warrior makes you wish you had because now you know the fight wasn’t over yet. Detach yourself from the memory, stop fighting it. This already happened."

Der nodded in understanding.

The memory continued, playing out fully for the two visitors. The appearance of the gargantuan red flame of war, which beckoned him and tempted him with promises of power, and the reassuring white flame, which ensured to him that, in its company, the warrior would never need to betray his values.

Just as it happened in reality, Der broke free from the temptation of War’s power, and after choosing the path of immortality, used his newfound power to defeat the aspect of War, leaving his nature devoid of consciousness.

Once the memory was over, Der opened his eyes, finding himself back in the presence of Roley, Wolfe and the green silhouette. The latter’s power had already retreated.

"So?" Roley asked. "What happened?" Several minutes had passed.

Der adjusted his posture, then turned to look back at Aeron’s silhouette. "As I was telling you, it wasn’t intentional. I wouldn’t know how to help someone replicate it."

The blurry edges of Aeron’s incorporeal body began to solidify, giving him a mannequin like appearance. "There were a few moments worthy of notice. The fact that you were fighting and dying at the hands of an aspect of existence, but that was not a first. Many beings at that stage of cultivation have met and died at their hands." He pointed out. "Then there was the choice. Though we are looking for what triggered the opportunity that allowed you to make the choice to begin with."

The warrior in white-gold armor nodded in agreement. Aeron had come to the same conclusion he too, in the past, had reached when wondering how to repeat the kind of ascension that had turned him into a cultivator who could rival an aspect of existence.

"There is one more.. but it is only a theory." Aeron added, attracting the attentive gazes of his three companions. "I need more information before I can confirm it."

Der nodded in agreement.

He not only had experienced, but was reminded a moment ago of the dangers of his ascension. Before suggesting that anyone went through it again, he wanted theories to become a certainty. Especially since death was one, not the least of the negative outcomes, as others could also fail to reject the offer he had refused. By that point, who was to say that what they would gain would be a friend, and not a foe.

"Do your research. We will speak again soon." Der said before opening a rift. Behind it, a well lit room with metallic walls, ceiling and floor. A large brown desk pressed down by several two-feet-tall stacks of papers. Paperwork he went back to right as the portal closed behind him.

Wolfe followed soon after, sinking back into the ground, leaving behind Roley and Aeron. Before the latter could also take his leave, Roley stopped him. "Wait, there is something I need to ask you." He said.