Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 189: Leandra

Zac skeptically looked up at Ogras as he fiddled with the amulet in his hands.

“What are you talking about? It’s impossible that this is something from the Technocrats. I picked this up on Earth years ago,” Zac said, hiding the true origins of the Amulet for now.

“Trust me, I know. The demonic horde is very much in favor of The Ruthless Heavens, which makes the Technocrats one of our prime enemies. Everyone learns to identify their kind in case we run into them in mystic realms or out in the wild somewhere,” Ogras said.

“What I am curious about is how it could have gotten here. It doesn’t make sense…” Ogras muttered until his eyes suddenly widened. “Unless Earth was a planet owned by the technocrats.”

“What? I think we humans should have known about that?” Zac answered with some skepticism.

However, the calmness was only on the outside. His head was hammering fast as his mind was a mess. If Ogras said was true, just what did it mean? Was his mother an alien? The note left by his father said that he should use the amulet if he wanted to find her. Did his father know something as well?

The matter of Leandra, their mother, was still shrouded in mystery. She had simply disappeared not long after MacKenzie was born, and his memories of her were quite hazy by now. His father refused to talk about it, even though Kenzie repeatedly had tried to arrange a meeting with her. Their dad only responded once, saying that their mother had gone home to her family and that she wasn’t coming back.

Zac had left it at that, always bearing some resentment for her actions. He had just been a kid as well, but he still remembered the sadness that had marred their fatherʼs face as he took care of the infant MacKenzie.

However, Kenzie didn’t have that resentment and kept pestering Zac to help her find Leandra. Finally Zac relented a few years ago, even hiring a private investigator to track the woman down. Oddly enough there wasn’t a single proof of her ever even existing. Even their birth certificates didn’t mention her, only listing their father as a parent.

The only explanation that the investigator could come up with was that Leandra was an illegal immigrant, which is why there was no paper trail of her existence. Zac had to give up at that point due to a complete lack of clues, much to Kenzie’s disappointment.

But now another, far more fantastical, explanation had revealed itself. There was a possibility that she was actually an alien, as crazy as it sounded. But that possibility only led to more questions.

What was she doing on earth? Why did she leave, and why didn’t she come back? If she had to leave, why didn’t she bring her family with her? Questions whirled around in his mind until cough awoke him.

“What?” Zac said, looking over at Ogras.

“I said that some technocrat might have used this place as a lab for experiments. I mean, they want to remove The Ruthless Heavens right? Perhaps someone was researching a planet outside Heaven’s control,” the demon said.

“That might be it. Well, it doesn’t really matter I guess,” Zac said with a shrug, as he put the amulet away. “If they were still here they should have shown themselves by now, right? Or packed up and left.”

Ogras’ eyes thinned a bit, but he didn’t push the matter any further, much to Zac’s relief.

“So what’s your plan with your girl?” the demon said instead. “Want me to take care of the problem? I’m sure Alea is willing.”

“A lot has changed in the six months since the fall,” Zac said with a sigh, ignoring his comment. “I am not the Zac from before, and she likely isn’t the same Hannah either. Where does that leave us?”

“Well, you should probably figure it out. The girl has repeatedly asked about you, causing some ruckus. No one has dared to say no to her so far, unsure what your reaction would be,” Ogras retorted with a widening smile, likely looking forward to the coming chaos. “I haven’t let her inside the inner area though, much to her annoyance.”

Zac only shook his head, unsure how to respond. He had myriad things on his mind at the moment, and Hannah suddenly being back was truly not something he’d expected. He’d actually mostly forgotten about her, having more pressing matters on his mind until now.

“So you’re back already from the rat incursion?” Zac asked, eager to change the subject.

“Yeah. It was a success. It only took 2 days, wasn’t a too desperate a fight. That giant had actually exhausted their reserves quite a bit all by himself. He’d been killing Ratmen at least 18 hours a day for half a year,” Ogras said with a wry smile. “Don’t make that guy an enemy, he must have some special constitution. I’ve never met anyone having that strength at such a low level.”

“What?” Zac asked with some shock. “You don’t think we’re his match?”

“In a head-on confrontation? Probably not,” Ogras said. “I’d guess that mammoth has over 500 strength, and his club takes perfect advantage of that. He crushed the defensive array the Ratmen had set up with just one swing, taking half their town with it. I’m not sure I would have been able to destroy the array at all, no matter how much time I was given.”

“He must have done some crazy things in the tutorial. Of course, if we wanted him dead it wouldn’t be too hard, he’s not very balanced. He needs a good support system to bring that disgusting Strength of his to full use,” Ogras added with a vicious glint.

Zac could only shake his head in disbelief. He knew that the tutorial gave out good benefits to the top cultivators, but this was above what he expected. It seemed he needed to be careful around the others as well, especially Thea and Salvation.

“So what’s next?” the demon suddenly said.

“What do you mean?” Zac asked.

“Didn’t you fight up till this point just to find your sister and provide a place to stay? You’ve done that now,” Ogras said as he gestured at the many courtyards in the area.

“Are you pushing for my retirement?” Zac asked with a small smile.

“Just curious,” Ogras said with a shrug.

“I have a quest,” Zac said after some hesitation. “A trial of sorts. I plan on doing it before the Treasure Hunt starts.”

“I thought you were skipping the treasure hunt?” the demon asked.

Zac only sighed as he shook his head.

“It’s not like I have much of a choice. I can’t stop and relax in this shitty new reality. If I do then someone will kill me.”

“The will of The Ruthless Heavens,” Ogras said with a grin.

“Actually, regarding that point I have a suggestion. You’re nearing the bottleneck. There are a few things that can’t be done after you evolve,” the demon continued.

“Hmm?” Zac asked halfheartedly.

“Well, there are two opportunities before you. The first is The Tower of Eternity. Ascending the tower can only be done before evolving. Not taking that opportunity would be a huge missed chance. Everyone who gets the chance to go there will take the trial,” the demon said.

“Secondly are the inheritances. The inheritance needs to begin at F-Grade Class as well according to the Tool Spirit”, Ogras added.

“Alyn mentioned the Tower some time ago as well, just what is it?” Zac asked curiously.

He didn’t mention that he stood to gain an entrance token soon, and actually was already thinking of going. He knew the demon wanted him to go for some reason, and Ogras would be more forthcoming with information if he thought he was trying to trick him into going.

“It is unclear,” Ogras said, but quickly added when he saw Zac’s skeptical face. “It’s something that has just been there since the beginning of time it seems like. Some believe that it houses the Brain of the Ruthless Heavens. However, you can only get to the tower with the help of a token as it is impossible to find without them. Many extreme hegemons have scoured the multi-verse for the tower intending to make it their treasure, but it’s always eluded them.”

“The tower consists of 9 floors, and each floor is demarked by 9 tiers. The further you manage to travel up the tower the greater the rewards. In theory, the highest possible grade is 81, nine by nine. However, I’ve never heard of anyone getting that far,” Ogras continued.

“So what are the rewards?” Zac probed.

“The tower contains all manner of treasures, and it also provides a Title that gives stats depending on how far you reached,” Ogras simply answered.

It sounded a lot like the title that the cultivators got from the tutorial Zac realized. Perhaps pushing all the way to the 9th floor would give a huge boost to his combat power. However, Ogras next words shocked him.

“If we help each other out, we stand a chance to make it to the fourth floor, perhaps even pass a few tiers there,” he said with desire in his eyes.

“What?” Zac asked, shocked. “Only the fourth floor? Isn’t the towers limited to F-Grade people?”

“Oh, you think you’re some hotshot because you can beat up some useless cultivators on this baby planet? You are strong, but only in the context of this planet. Don’t look down on the forces of the multi-verse. There are F-Graded people with advanced Daos and unimaginable titles, people surpassinga thousand points in a single attribute before they evolve.”

Zac’s eyes widened in shock. It was a good reminder that he couldn’t get complacent. Lately, he’d almost felt like an immortal as he met various people. But he was just a normal person who had caught a few lucky breaks when his planet got integrated. It couldnʼt compare to whatever the great forces of the multi-verse provided their young.

“Wouldn’t that mean we’d be risking our lives going there?” Zac asked skeptically.

“Well, getting stronger always comes with risks. But those kinds of monsters are rare, and people are more concerned about ascending more tiers in the tower rather than expending energy on fighting with strangers. Just keep your head down and push forward,” Ogras said without a care.

Zac felt things weren’t as simple as the demon was implying, but he knew that the Tower of Eternity wasn’t something he should ignore if he wanted an Epic Class.

“Besides, we’ll be able to watch each other’s backs. We only need to get an inheritance each before we go, which would boost our survivability noticeably,” the demon concluded.

Thinks clicked in Zac’s mind as he looked over at the demon, who innocently looked back. It seemed there was an inheritance really he wanted, and Zac was pretty sure which one it was.

“We need to get an inheritance?” Zac asked wryly.

“Of course. You should get one as well. It might be dangerous but the opportunity outweighs the risk by far,” Ogras said. “Besides, I can undergo the test first, scout things out. So to speak.”

Zac only snorted in response. The two spoke for a bit more before the demon receded into the shadows again. He seemed a bit annoyed that Zac wouldn’t give a clear go-ahead on the inheritances, but Zac didn’t really care.

He would likely give one to the demon sooner or later. He was pretty sure Ogras wanted The Umbra inheritance, and Zac had no use for that. But he wouldn’t just give it away before thinking things through properly. They were one-time gifts, and he only had eight of them. As for himself, he was a bit unsure of what he should do. He currently felt that there were multiple interesting choices available.

His initial thought had been to go with The Titan inheritance, since he was mainly strength-based. An alternative was The Undying Fiend, which sounded to be Endurance or Vitality-based. One would improve his battle prowess and the other his survivability, and either sounded like a good option.

However, his experiences in the Dead Zone made him look at a new option, the Lord of Cycles-inheritance. While Zac couldn’t be sure, it did seem to align with his new core and new attainments into the Dao. That was provided that the cycle the inheritance spoke of was the cycle of life and death, of course.

It all came back to what he was aiming for. He still had a hard time to decide whether he should focus more on the core and Dao, or his axe-work. The largest risk as he saw it was that he might need to somehow attain another Dao Seed that could act as the opposite of the Dao of Trees.

The Sharpness and Heaviness weren’t really suited to represent the miasma-filled side of his core, making his skillset a bit mismatched. Zac had thought about the issue for days now and still couldn’t come up with a solution.

However, there was still time, so Zac once again tabled the matter as he stood up and headed toward the Nexus Crystal. He really needed to speak with his sister, but she was off god knows where with Alea, so he would have to wait.

In the meanwhile, he had a skill to attain. Soon he found himself at the crystal, and as he touched it a surge of information entered his mind as he gained a new fractal, and this time it was right on his chest.