Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 4018: A Stick! VI

Red marks appeared across his luminous form...not wounds, but evidence of education forcibly imparted. They seemed to exist outside his body’s natural regeneration, as if the lessons they represented were too important to be healed away.

PAH!

|You will remember this moment every time you consider acting without honor.|

By the end, Altheon gazed at Noah and the stick with the kind of fear typically reserved for forces of nature!

He understood now, with terrible clarity, that this simple tool could do something far worse than kill him...it could make him understand himself!

Noah nodded with satisfaction, lowering the Goad. He didn’t mention that Altheon’s crime had been attempting to kill one of his bodies days ago. The lesson had been delivered; the specifics were irrelevant.

”Pick him up until he recovers,” he said to Thessaly, his tone brooking no argument.

The Honored Living Existence nodded frantically, her wings fluttering as she approached Altheon’s trembling form. She stared at the red marks covering his body with horrified fascination. They defied every law of regeneration she understood. Would they even heal? Or would they remain as permanent reminders of education forcibly received?

With that matter settled, Noah moved to stand beside Sigrid, taking her hand with gentle certainty. Her fingers intertwined with his without hesitation, though her expression carried questions she wouldn’t voice in present company.

”Let’s see what else is in this place” he said, his stern demeanor softening into something warmer. ”Afterwards, I need to bring you to my place. My home.”

...!

Behind them, Titano’s enthusiasm returned full force, apparently unaffected by witnessing Altheon’s discipline. ”Will Titano get to visit as well???”

Noah glanced back with a genuine smile. ”Of course, Brother. And I’ll make sure to prepare a feast.”

The giant’s eyes lit up with joy that could have powered Wheels.

With renewed purpose, they delved deeper into the twisted passages of the Doorway to the Loom, leaving behind a thoroughly educated Prime Living Origin and a fairy who would think very carefully before crossing Noah!

---

In another Doorway entirely, past a bronze tear that had opened due to the resonance of ancient authorities, Alexander Asmodeus stepped into a realm that time had forgotten.

The Desiccated Sleeping Shore stretched before them like the graveyard of dreams. The sands, which should have been golden, were ash-gray, as if all color had been leached away by eons of abandonment. The sky above held no sun, no stars, only a uniform grayness that seemed to press down with the weight of forgetting.

Hundreds of dead trees dotted the landscape, their branches reaching toward nothing, their bark preserved in death like monuments to what had once been. Ancient structures rose from the sands...abodes and towers that looked as if they had been beautiful once, before time and desertion had worn them down to skeletal remains.

Royal Law Tristesse approached one of the structures with professional curiosity, reaching out to test its integrity. Her hand, wreathed in Law Authority that could reshape reality, met the worn stone. Nothing happened. She pressed harder, her power flaring. The structure didn’t even acknowledge her attempt!

”Indestructible,” she murmured with genuine surprise. ”Whatever force preserves this place transcends current understanding.”

Alexander moved deeper into the Shore, drawn by instincts he didn’t fully understand. His Enneagram, the nine-pointed star on his chest, began to spin with increasing speed. As he neared certain areas, debris that looked like nothing more than dust and fragments suddenly animated, flying toward him as if magnetized.

A piece of what might have been pottery. A fragment of crystallized wood. Each item was absorbed directly into his Enneagram, disappearing into whatever space existed within that geometric impossibility.

The same phenomenon occurred with Seraphina, her own Enneagram drawing different fragments, as if each piece knew exactly where it belonged.

They continued deeper, past collapsed buildings that might have been homes, past dried fountains that might have once held Sacred Waters. The desolation was complete, yet somehow budding with possibility.

Then, as Alexander’s Enneagram absorbed what looked like the hand of an ancient clock, dust cascaded from above as a dirty gray cloth slid off a torn wall.

What was revealed made Seraphina scream, stumbling backward in fear!

A head.

Massive, bisected, yet somehow preserved in perfect, horrible detail. The eyes still burned with rage that had transcended death, frozen in eternal fury. The mouth gaped open in a scream that had lasted eons, teeth visible like monuments to violence.

It was an Early Creature!

This was all that remained of an Early Creature in its own Shore...a head that radiated such terrible presence that even in death, even bisected and abandoned, it made their hearts fill with dread that transcended rational fear.

Alexander maintained his composure through will alone, though sweat beaded on his forehead as he gazed upon this testament to ancient catastrophe.

Their Enneagrams blazed simultaneously, and prompts appeared.

|Synchronized Enneagram Activation Possible. While connected, the holders of the Enneagram fragments can induce a memory replay within the preserved consciousness of the Early Creature. This memory will reveal the locations of the Early Tool fragments of THE Living Law.|

|Connection Requirement: Physical and energetic synchronization between Enneagram holders.|

...!

Alexander’s expression grew heavy as the implications settled. Seraphina’s eyes opened wide, understanding exactly what ”connected” meant in this context.

She peeked over at Alexander to see his expression!

Alexander... couldn’t help but remember Noah’s words in Aeternitas Concordia. His gaze grew even more clouded as he looked at Seraphina, whose expression mixed embarrassment with something deeper.

Something...had to be done as too much was at stake!

---

In the Transcendent Spiritual Folds, existence took on properties that had more to do with thought than substance.

The Great Usurper floated without determined form, his consciousness spread across multiple probability states as he let the currents of Living Spiritual Authority carry him where they would. The sights were marvelous...thoughts given architecture, emotions crystallized into landscapes, concepts that had learned to dream.

He hummed contentedly, the sound reverberating through dimensions of pure consciousness.

With casual interest, he pulled up his Idle Gaming System interface, noting the golden glow on the [Transcendent Spiritual Folds Living Existential Dungeon] icon.

Time to collect his idle rewards!

Golden brilliance erupted around him as the system processed his accumulated gains.

|Idle Loot Obtained!|

[+10 Prime Living Spirit Shards (Collect 100 to summon a Prime Living Spirit Idle Soldier)], [+1 Honored Living Spirit Shard (Collect 100 to summon an Honored Living Spirit Idle King)], [+20 Living Existence Upgrade Crystals], [+5 Bottles of Liquified Consciousness], [+3 Memory Palace Blueprints], [+1 Seed of the Primordial Spirit Tree], [+1 Trillion Idle EXP]

...!

The Great Usurper examined each reward with great interest, but it was the seed that truly captured his attention. He pulled it from his system space, the object materializing as something between light and thought.

[Seed of the Primordial Spirit Tree] :: A seed that predates the division between consciousness and substance. When planted in appropriate soil, will grow into a tree that produces Spirit Fruits. Each fruit grants permanent increase Living Existential Authority, 100,000,000 in Complexity and Purity, and entrance into a unique state of mind.

Planting Requirements: Soil blessed by an Early Creature, watered with Sacred Waters, tended by one who understands the nature of divided existence

Growth Time: 1,000 years (acceleratable through specific methods)

...!

The Great Usurper appreciated the seed’s potential, but shook his head with wry amusement. He didn’t have what it took to plant such a thing. Who in existence did? Early Creature? What even was that?

He thought for a bit.

Then memory struck like lightning.

Osmont.

That ridiculously overpowered being who had once mentioned, almost as an afterthought, that when everything was over and done, he actually wanted to be a farmer.

The Great Usurper laughed, the sound rippling through spiritual dimensions. Had Osmont ever worked toward that dream? Could the man who seemed capable of anything actually be somewhere, tending to crops as a mere farmer?

Maybe he would be able to utilize this seed.

After all, what was more fitting than a farmer receiving seeds that could reshape existence itself?