Infinite Realm: Monsters & Legends

Chapter 600: Zach

Things That Matter

Zach’s Cultivation progressed at a breakneck pace. But Zach didn’t need to go through the hoops that most Cultivators had to, and besides, he was cheating.

Behind him, a giant rift in space connected the Real Realm to the Ethereal, a connection directly to the domain he was linked with.

The Essence of the Castle of Knowledge was seeping through and his core was swallowing it up alongside with a myriad of other related Essences. The Pursuit of Knowledge was at the core of what the Castle of Knowledge stood for. Spirits, Shades, even chosen, visited in hopes of learning, of finding the knowledge that they sought.

His core churned, spinning as he cycled using the guides he had been provided by the Twilight Melody Sect. And then he triggered the advancement. Qi flushed his body, moving through his conduits, his Soul was echoing the motion, the rightness of the moment, the transformation was fully in line with who he was. Knowledge and its pursuit were at the core of who he was, and his Cultivation simply worked to improve his body, to strengthen the link between his Soul and flesh. Filling in the gaps left by his advancement through Class and Skill.

The Immortal Realm felt… different somehow. He wasn’t certain he would’ve noticed it before he had advanced so far on other focuses, but now there certainly was something more.

He felt more attuned to everything.

He opened his eyes and with a thought closed the portal to the Ethereal behind him. Across from him Naha sat with shadows whirling around her and into her. He watched with interest as she cultivated, focusing his senses on her core. Shadow churned within her, growing to a crescendo. He took the time while she cultivated to glance at his notifications. As he had expected, there was no new immortality available to him, only another Apotheosis Perk, the same as what Naha gained when she reached her second immortality. It improved his body, gave stats, and reduced Soul damage he took.

And then, before he could do much else, Naha too advanced to the Immortal Realm. Shadows froze for a moment, and then settled, dropping to the ground into a more natural state.

“How’re you feeling?” He asked.

“Great,” she sighed. “I forgot how advancing Cultivation felt. Stats do a lot for a body, but cultivation had felt like it was further refining that power.”

Zach nodded. “That it is,” he glanced down at his arms, both of them not his own, a prosthetic and a soul weapon. He hadn’t voiced it, but he had hopped that advancing his Cultivation would’ve helped heal his Soul enough for him to be able to heal his arm. Sadly, that didn’t seem to be the case.

Whatever Ra’azel had done had destroyed the part of his Soul that represented his hand. No regeneration potion worked, no perk or ability. It was healing, regrowing, at least he believed so, only at such a glacial pace that it would take ages for it to be complete. Or perhaps he was mistaken, only imagining things. It was hard to tell.

He shook his head and turned to Naha who was looking at him with a complicated expression. He didn’t want her to pity him, nor did he want for her to comfort him. It was his new reality, nothing he could do about it. Perhaps some higher Realm might provide something more.

“We should head back to the front. I want to be near for when Ryun pushes the invasion back and heads into the core proper. I need to be there in case I’ve misjudged him.”

He had a lot of confidence in his plan, but there were always things that could go wrong. He turned around, ready to go, when Naha grabbed his arm.

“Let’s stay for a while.”

He froze, her voice different but familiar. He turned and saw that she had assumed an old form. Small horns pointing upwards from the top of her head, blond hair and star-shaped dark green eyes. A soft pink shade to her skin, and a slim tail curling behind her.

It was the face, the form that he met her in, Quell.

“Naha?”

“We have time, weeks perhaps. Bera is watching the front, with her abilities she’ll be able to contact us the moment Ryun moves.”

“What is it?” Zach asked as he started to get worried.

“I… I’d like to spend some time together, just… Away from everything. Things always happen, we always have something to do. I miss us just being together, free of everything.”

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Zach blinked. “We’re together all the time.”

Naha spent most of her time in his Shadow, and even when she wasn’t, they were together.

“That’s not what I mean.”

Zach opened his mouth, confused, but then paused. His skills, his perceptions and Soul, saw her expression, her words, information gathered then clicked in his mind.

“Ah,” he said slowly.

Yes, they spent all of their time together, but… he had taken it all for granted. He saw that now. They never really did things that other people with relationships like theirs did. Well, there was none who had a relationship like theirs.

But he realized how he had failed. There was always so much on his mind that he never had a moment for himself, let alone for them. A few moments stolen here and there were all. They’ve been together for decades, and if he thought back, he could remember barely a handful of times when they’ve put themselves first.

She was right, of course, Bera would alert him when he was needed. The Sects would need time to repel the invasion and organize a counter one. They had time.

He smiled at Naha. “Alright.”

They walked down the street of Dal’dvor, the City of Invention. A city inside of a mountain. It had been a long time since they had visited, since the time when they entered the Ethereal and the Felltower. It was an independent city, one of the few that had managed to retain that independence while the Exalted Empire expanded.

It was much as he remembered it, mostly. All kinds of different vehicles moved up and down the streets, some truly unique. People of all races and all tiers mingled among the cobbled streets and marble white buildings. Though, he did notice more people seemingly down on their luck. A few more beggars around, a few tough and run down looking groups lurking in alleyways. The look in peoples eyes that told him that there was an undercurrent of fear. The Exalted Empire might not have conquered them, but their presence was still felt.

Zach and Naha were just two among them. She was in her Quell form, wearing a simple floral sundress, while Zach wore something resembling a suit, only a bit more casual. They didn’t draw any eyes, Naha had her Ring of True Shapeshifter Identity which hid her screens from nearly anyone, and Zach had a lesser but still suitable enough version.

They were just a couple on a walk. They spent the day exploring randomly, not really looking for anything, just spending time together.

It pained Zach to realize just how much they had neglected that part of their relationship. They could feel what the other felt, and that had made them let things slip. Their love was strong, but no love could survive without being reinforced, at least on occasion.

Naha’s eyes widened and she jumped to the side, looking through a window of a small bakery type shop, or perhaps a restaurant as he saw people sitting inside.

She glanced back at him and he ushered her inside. They found a table and sat down.

A little while later Naha raised a small pastry with pink sprinkles on top and bit into it.

“Mmmm, this is amazing,” she said.

He barely touched the food on the plate in front of him, instead he just watched her enjoy hers. He felt more relaxed than he had been in a long time. The food wasn’t truly nourishing for them, it was too low tier, but it tasted nice. The noise of the conversations around them provided a nice addition to the cozy atmosphere of the polished wood interior. He could close his eyes, and imagine he was in a different world entirely.

Except… he wasn’t being fair. There were places even in the Infinite Realm where the worries he dealt with almost daily didn’t reach the people living there. Cities where people could live in safety, without the need to advance constantly. People sitting near him were weak, and he didn’t feel that drive in them to grow. With a glance he could tell their power, could weigh their souls, he didn’t even need to use an item to inspect them. Their Souls were on the paths that were far more mundane, that helped them in their small lives.

“This feels like another world,” Zach said finally.

“In what way?” Naha asked in between bites.

“I don’t know how to explain it fully. There is no… harshness here. My image of this world is tainted by the lens I look at it through. I see monsters, I see evil. But this here is so… simple.”

“This is what most people experience, you know.”

He raised an eyebrow.

She took another bite, chewed for a bit, then swallowed. “I’ve spent lifetimes living among people like these, hunting. There is wickedness here too, you know, it’s just harder to see. But I understand what you mean. The life you know is on the outskirts, the frontiers. And you’ve been a warden, it was your job to seek and look for things that stood out. But those were the exceptions, not the rule. The Core had been safe for hundreds of years. Even wars rarely impact the ordinary people. The last few decades had been filled with more turmoil than hundreds before.”

“Am I wrong then?”

“About?”

“Is my view so skewed that I see too much that is wrong?” Zack clarified.

Naha tilted her head and thought about it. “Yes, and no. There are people who abuse their power, there are those who are weak that suffer because of it. Even here, where there is safety and people can live in peace, there are leaders that leech and grow fat from them. It isn’t always easily seen, not that noticeable. In a way, this safety here is also a prison. These people have little opportunities to grow beyond what is allowed. Resources are funneled to the few, to those who are chosen by the elite. And the people, sadly, don’t see it. They will not advance far enough and therefore will not live long enough to realize what they are being deprived of. They just don’t know enough.”

Zach leaned on the palm of his hand, his elbow on the table, as he thought. Life was so much more complicated than he ever could’ve imagined when he was young. There were so many things for him to juggle and seemingly never enough time.

He was glad that they had done this, taken some time for themselves. They were owed it.

He was about to ask Naha if she wanted to order something more when he caught something with his senses. An altercation in an alley nearby.

Naha had sensed it too, of course. She could probably sense every shadow in the city. Zach had left most of what he had sensed alone. He hadn’t believed that any of the things he had encountered was moving toward more permanent outcomes. Criminals didn’t often turn to violence that was final, killing in a city such as this might as well be a sentence in itself. As for the people being accosted, sometimes, violence and pain were valuable lessons that had to be learned.

This, however, was progressing in a direction he did not like. He looked at Naha then sighed. He left the payment on the table, and then together they stood and walked out of the building, heading for an alley a few blocks away.

It seems a few people would learn a harsh lesson today, one about the nature of the world they lived in.