Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 212

Author note: This is a reminder about keeping the comment section civil.

The tone in some discussions lately have been just abysmal, and itʼs not something I want to see any longer.

I do not mind people discussing parts of the story they donʼt like or stuff like that, but when insults start flying it stops being a conversation, instead turning into a mud flinging contest.

Since Iʼm tired of that kind of behavior Iʼll make it easy for myself, and most of my readers, by simply blocking anyone who canʼt behave.

First time the block will last for a week, the second time will be permanent. People who get blocked will still be able to read chapters, but they wonʼt be able to PM me or write comments.

This is effective immediately.

--------------

Zac had to admit he was a bit disappointed the process to change was so arduous. He knew he already had received a top tier opportunity that would make most of the cultivators in the multiverse green with envy, but he still had hoped it would be quicker.

He had hoped to be able to change his class in the middle of battle, enabling him to turn the tables. But there was just no way to do that with how the change worked. Not only did it take way too long, but he also lost almost all awareness of his surroundings when he changed, making it impossible.

Since the Core was only F-grade at the moment Zac didnʼt give up all hope though. Every time it upgraded some parts of it function should improve. The only problem was he had no clue how to upgrade a Specialty Core at the moment.

At least it felt nice to be back in human form again. The whole time he was in his Draugr-form he felt assaulted by the Cosmic Energy in the atmosphere, causing him constant discomfort. He understood why Mhal brought a bunch of Unholy Beacons in his invasion of the island.

Zac still had a few of them, as he never got around to selling those he found in the Undead General’s Cosmos Sack as well. He was seriously contemplating creating a Zone on his compound where the Cosmic Energy was transformed to Miasma instead.

He needed to figure out a method to contain the death-attuned energy first though, and not let it get spread all over.

“The treasure hunt starts tomorrow. Is there anything I need to do that I’ve missed?” Zac said as he got up on his feet.

“Well, have you talked with the others?” Kenzie asked.

“Others?” Zac said in confusion.

“There are three people from Refugee’s Harbor who’s going, and Lyla is going as well,” Kenzie explained.

“Lyla’s going? Why?” Zac asked with confusion.

Everything Zac had learned about the System pointed toward the Treasure Hunt becoming a slaughterhouse. He roughly knew the strength of Kenzie’s friend, and he had to say he was unsure whether she’d survive.

“She wants to become stronger, and this is a chance for that,” Kenzie explained with worry. “You’ll look after her, right?”

“I’ll try, but I can’t promise anything. I still don’t know what’ll happen after we enter,” Zac answered.

“That’s good enough. Oh, and maybe you should talk to Emily? Her birthday is in a few weeks, and you might still be gone at that time,” Kenzie continued.

“Right,” Zac said. “Can you have the other trial takers gather at the academy in two hours?”

There was something he needed to do with Emily in any case, so he decided to head over immediately. The teenager still lived alone in his old camper up in the tree, and with a few jumps he scaled it and landed on the large patio.

Emily had decorated it with a sofa and a couple of recliners under a parasol, with large potted plants creating some warmth. The whole thing gave off a very comfortable feeling. Zac had to admit it looked a bit better than his own austere courtyard as he knocked on the door.

After a minute Emily opened up with a yawn.

“What’s going on?” she asked with some confusion.

“Eat this,” Zac said and gave her some springroot.

“Ugh, I’m starting to get real sick by the taste of this thing,” she muttered, but still complied.

“Sorry, just making sure. I didn’t want to give your birthday gift to a shapeshifter,” Zac said with a smile.

“Birthday gift?” she said as her mouth curved upward.

“Here,” Zac said as he took out an intricate box from his Cosmos Sack.

She immediately opened it up, and inside was a fruit giving off an extremely enticing aroma. It was the Fruit of Ascension he’d kept all up until now. Ever since he found out that his sister didn’t need it he had pondered on what to do with it.

In the end, he decided to give it to one of his closest allies rather than put it into the contribution system. The two people he’d considered were Sap Trang and Emily, but in the end he chose Emily. He knew that Sap might be more worthy of the treasure going by his actions, but he had to think about the future of Port Atwood.

The old fisherman was a mortal just like him, but without any of the advantages that Zac had accrued. Meanwhile, Emily was shown to hold good talent for cultivation, and she still hadn’t even turned 16.

According to the information he’d gathered about titles for himself, there was one title that came from improving Race ranking before even stepping on the path of cultivation. That meant that he could actually put Emily on track on becoming a true elite with the help of the fruit.

He wanted another human elite on the island, and if he could help Emily gain a bunch of titles with the help of the fruit as an initial gift he felt it was a worthy investment. People of Earth might not care about the youths yet as they missed the opportunity of the tutorial, but Zac knew that Cultivation was a marathon rather than a sprint.

Not having access to the tutorial was a missed opportunity, but so what? The multi-verse was filled with cultivators who never went to the Tutorial but still possessed power that the people of Earth could only dream of. Even if Emily missed that opportunity, others would come along.

“This is a Fruit of Ascension,” Zac explained. “It will help you increase your Race even before turning 16, which will put you a step ahead of most cultivators in the world. I have seen how hard you’ve worked, and I hope this will help you become one of the pillars of Port Atwood in the future.”

Emily’s eyes reddened, and she didn’t say anything in response. Her arms only tightly cradled the small box, clutching it tightly to her chest. Zac only smiled and patted her head before walking toward the edge of the patio.

“I am leaving for the Treasure Hunt tomorrow, and I don’t know how long I will be gone. I hope you’ll have grown into a powerful warrior by the time I’ve come back. Remember, try to defeat a monster at least at level 26 as your first enemy for the titles. It will help your growth immensely,” Zac said before jumping down.

“Thank you, stay safe,” he heard before the door to the camper once again closed.

Next he walked over to the government building to speak with Abby and Adran. Abby actually chose to live inside the building itself, whereas Adran lived right next door, so both were essentially always there.

Since he was a lord it was within his purview to delegate certain tasks, and give specific individuals more control over various functions of the town. Until now he’d kept almost all control to himself, apart from enabling others to buy teleportation arrays.

But there were clear disadvantages to this tactic. One example was that he was unable to head to Billyville, even though they on paper were allies. But that alliance never got formalized since Zac was in the Dead Zone at the time.

After an hour-long meeting, he gave both the administrators some more control and set the course for the development of Port Atwood. Most of the islands within his control were still unexplored, and his force was still mapping things out.

Unfortunately, they still hadn’t found the main continent either, making Zac wonder just how far in the middle of nowhere they were located. But every week new citizens got integrated into his kingdom, which in turn increased his income through taxes.

Of course, since he chose a pretty generous system at the Merit Exchange his income wasn’t enormous. But if his population doubled his income from taxes would eclipse that of his mine.

Suddenly a knock on the door interrupted the meeting, and not long after a secretary walked inside.

“I am sorry to bother you, but the Zhix ambassador wishes to meet Lord Atwood. He says it’s urgent,” she said.

“Ibtep? Send him in,” Zac said with some curiosity.

It was a while since he’d spoken with Ibtep, and he wondered what he was up to. He actually thought the Zhix was aboard the main scouting vessel with Sap Trang, in case they encountered another Zhix hive.

Soon the Zhix entered, this time not donning the large backpack he usually brought around.

“Greetings, Lord Atwood,” the Zhix said followed by a very formal bow.

“Long time no see, Ibtep. What’s on your mind?” Zac asked.

“Nonet of Hive Kundevi wishes strength upon you for the hunt. Nonet also wanted to give you this,” the Zhix said and took out a dagger and what appeared to be an amulet.

“What are these?” Zac asked curiously.

“As you’ve noticed our kind are a bit enthusiastic in our greetings of new warriors,” Ibetp said.

Adran only snorted in his chair, and Zac had to force himself to not roll his eyes. Enthusiastic greetings might just be the understatement of the year. The Zhix ignored the demon’s response though and kept going.

“These are the relics of the hive. If you show these along with sending the regards of Nonet when meeting another Anointed they might not immediately attack. As every day passes the Dominators grow stronger, and we believe that every race needs to work together to stop them,” Ibtep said with a serious face.

“Thank you for the gift, and give my regards to Nonet. These will be a great help,” Zac said as he accepted the two items.

The ambassador stayed for half an hour to teach Zac some basic etiquette when speaking with the Anointed, before leaving with another round of well-wishing. Since he was running out of time Zac also ended the meeting with a final exhortation to aid Ogras in finding the shapeshifters by any means necessary.

Thirty minutes later he sat in an emptied classroom with four others. It was two men and two women. The only one he recognized was Lyla, whereas the others were cultivators from Refugee’s Harbor.

Seeing the three made Zac realize that the scale of the treasure hunt might be even larger than he expected before. If these people managed to get tokens, then so would thousands of others. Lyla had gained another two levels since he saw her last, but she was still only in her mid-thirties.

As for the other 3 cultivators they were around the same level, apart from a woman who was level 38. Apparently she was one of the leaders of the cultivators from Refugee’s harbor. Zac honestly didn’t feel that they would be much more than fodder at the hunt, but he wouldn’t stop people from chasing their dreams.

“I called you all here to discuss the Treasure Hunt starting tomorrow,” Zac began.

The people from Refugee’s Harbor hesitantly looked at each other until they focused on their leader.

“Are you confiscating our tokens?” she said with a somber expression.

Zac’s brows rose from that line of question. He hadn’t expected that question, but after further thought he guessed it made sense. There were quite a few people stronger than these three on the island, though they were all demons who couldn’t go.

But these people still thought that demons was the fourth local race. Honestly, if he could bring the demons he would probably buy the tokens from these four, as it would be far more beneficial to bring Ogras and his generals.

“No. I just called you here to tell you to be careful, and to not use my name unless as a last resort. I have essentially made the whole world government an enemy, and there are false rumors surrounding me on the main island. Mentioning that you live here might not necessarily help you, but perhaps have the opposite effect,” Zac explained with a wry smile.

“I will try to help you if we meet each other, but you shouldn’t rely on me either. I am just one person, and I believe that the treasure hunt will cover a huge area. In fact, if you’re not confident in staying alive on your own you’re likely better off not going,” he continued.

However, all of them seemed adamant about going, so Zac could only respect their wishes and only reiterated a few tips. He also gave them each one copy of [Book of Babel] so they could talk it out with whoever they encountered and a couple of healing pills each.

By now he was done with all his matters, apart from finally giving himself one last power-up. He went back to his courtyard and sat down to stabilize his mind. After a while he took out the small vial containing the Dao Treasure, but instead of drinking it he closed his eyes and focused on the Dao of Sharpness.

After pondering on the aspect of sharpness he wanted to evolve for an hour he finally opened his eyes, and with one fluid motion drank all the contents of the vial. A familiar sensation overcame him as he saw the vast system of the Dao of Sharpness with his inner sight.

Seeing the whole Dao like this was straining his mind, and it almost felt like his soul was getting continuously cut by the sharpness. Zac didn’t waste any time, instead quickly finding the part of the Dao that corresponded with his own insights, and started to absorb that part.

His understanding was quickly formalizing into a crystalized nugget of insight, and he effortlessly passed the threshold to the middle stage. Only seconds later the simulated epiphany from the drug ran out, and he opened his eyes again to check on his harvest.

Seed of Sharpness (Middle): Dexterity +25, Intelligence +5

Zac wasn’t surprised in the slightest that his upgraded seed only provided Dexterity since the particular insight he gained was into that of speed. Having evolved his seed also meant that he had done everything he needed to do before the hunt.

He got up on his feet to head to his sister’s place since he knew that she was skipping going to the Academy today. They had already planned to have dinner together since he might be gone for a while.

But as he started to walk out of his courtyard he saw Ogras stand there with a determined expression on his face.

“Good, you’re out. We need to talk.”