Defiance of the Fall

Similar preparations like those for Alea were quickly arranged, and Zac stepped onto another private island at the archipelago's edge. It was one of the few pure Life-attuned hotspots that had yet been turned into spiritual farms, reserved for his private use. Zac installed the [Primordial Awakening Array] inside the valley at the island's heart before taking out the mounds of treasure he'd prepared.

The refined bones he'd gotten from Kruta were one of the core items, and they even held the Dao of Conflict already to match his path. Joining them were the two Life-attuned treasures he'd gotten from the Allbright Empire, of which one would elevate Verun's spirit while the other was an extremely durable stone.

The last box wasn't a material for the upgrade itself, but rather for a step that came before. It was a peak-quality [Primal Series Harmonization Array] and looked like a small stone altar. It wasn't another special array from the System but a very common array sold by multiple local Formation Clans. Zac already had a few before entering the Perennial Vastness, but this one was of better quality.

The Primal Series was one of the more common types of rewarded equipment, at least in the Zecia sector. And while Verun could barely be compared to the common goods you'd see all over, it still carried some of the same issues. This array was designed to alleviate some of the problems before evolving it.

Verun's main source of nourishment had always been blood from the beasts he'd slain over the years. Each infusion left a small mark on the Tool Spirit, refining its bestial spirituality further. This diet allowed for quick and cheap growth through the first grades, which was perfect for the average frontier cultivator. After all, you only needed to hunt random beasts or buy blood at a discount, and your weapon would slowly grow stronger.

However, the potential of this path was very limited. Zac understood the concept very well, thanks to his study of [Cosmic Forge]. Too many clashing bloodlines had entered his axe, taking up space while providing little of use. The [Primal Series Harmonization Array] was essentially a press, condensing all the energies the weapon had absorbed over the years. The good ones even managed to fuse some of them, like turning coal into diamonds.

And the more space was left, the more room there was to grow.

Zac deftly set up everything in no time. Peak Quality Beast Crystals had already been slotted into the array to power the process, and Zac placed his companion onto its surface after taking a calming breath. He had gone over the next step for years to ensure nothing went wrong.

After all, there was no way he'd be satisfied with the improvement from this array alone. It was one thing if the System had crafted it—those products came with a quality guarantee—but this was an array crafted by one of the resident Formation Masters of the Allbright Empire. More importantly, the array only condensed and fused the essences. It didn't improve them or remove the unsuitable pieces.

Luckily, Zac had just the thing to vastly improve the result; [Cosmic Extraction]. Zac couldn't do what the array did, but he could complement the process by removing the most troublesome bits during the fusion. He'd already perfected the method on spare axes while practicing crafting.

The altar hummed to life, and the inscribed runes released a bloody glimmer. After ten minutes, the runes on [Verun's Bite]'s handle also lit up, and it looked like the veinlike golden streaks across the weapon pulsated from a heartbeat. Zac felt Verun's pain as the array set its spirituality ablaze, but the Tool Spirit didn't resist at all.

It took an hour for the altar to fully agitate and untangle the bloodlines inside the weapon, and the axe was veritably vibrating atop the array by that point. Zac knew that was his cue, so he engraved a small seal with his Omnitool at a certain spot of the axehead. Hiding in that location was a blob of energy that completely clashed with the weapon's nature—it reeked of death and decay, a remnant from one of the bloodlines Zac let it absorb before deciding it should become a true Life-attuned weapon.

It couldn't be called a whole essence like those he infused with [Cosmic Infusion]. It was barely a fragment of one, a small snippet of discord. It was lucky since he couldn't use the standard extraction method while the [Primal Series Harmonization Array] was running. Instead, he'd created a small peephole with the seal, letting him drag out the piece like pulling out a splinter.

An unstable vacuum was left in its wake, and a streak of blood actually shot out of the axe. But the situation didn't get a chance to worsen before a tremendous pulse pushed down on the bloodlines. Zac erased the seal and moved on after confirming the extraction was successful, this time targeting a piece clearly coming from the adolescent dragon in the Tower of Eternity.

The dragon's blood was responsible for a significant portion of Verun's nature, and its extremely high-end bloodline was an important reason [Verun's Bite]'s potential had skyrocketed upon entering E-grade. However, that didn't mean every aspect of the dragon's bloodline was suitable going forward. The bloodline purity and bestial ferocity that could be considered part of the Peak of Conflict were perfect, but there were also snippets holding the Dao of Fire. Those pieces had become a disturbance to the fusion of Conflict and Life, and similar whispers of unsuitable Daos could be seen everywhere.

The situation wasn't all that bad, though. The precious treasures he'd fed Verun over the years had flushed out much of the clashing attunements, and [Cosmic Forge] allowed him to remove even more. Besides, this was just the beginning. Zac would definitely retune [Verun's Bite] properly when his accomplishments in [Essence Fusion] were deep enough. This was just a way to ensure his axe could keep up until then.

Zac spent the next twenty minutes removing as many unsuitable essences and bloodlines as he could while the altar condensed the remainders. The forceful extraction led to the accumulated bloodlines inside the weapon decreasing, evidenced by the pools of acrid blood covering Zac and the surroundings. Of course, Zac wouldn't let Verun face its tribulation with an incomplete bloodline. He had prepared suitable replacements.

The first of which was his own blood.

Zac dragged his thumb against Verun's edge, and drops of golden blood were sucked into the weapon. He had focused the vitality of his Void Vajra Constituion into four droplets and infused them with his Daos, creating an incredibly nourishing replacement for his weapon. His bloodlines and Constitutions were still considered E-grade, but they were at the very limit of the grade. The infusion left him woozy, but it was nothing some rest and a pile of Beast King meat couldn't fix.

Next, a coffin emanating temporal ripples appeared next to him, and Zac calmly turned to the person inside. Uona Noz'Valadir had acted high and mighty when alive, treating him and the other trial takers as playthings. Today, she had been reduced to nothing but a material for Verun's growth. The blood still flowing through her body had always attracted the Tool Spirit, and it would get to eat its fill today.

Actually, Uona's fate wasn't unique among Eternal Clan members. The haughty vampires looked down on all other species, considering them as food for their Blood Path. However, it turned out that their blood was considered an extremely valuable resource, especially their so-called Heart Blood, which contained the essence of their path. It was useful in various ways, from alchemy and smithing to nourishing beasts.

It was the true reason many joined the Buddhist Sangha in their crusade against the Eternal Clan. Vampires with pure bloodlines and high talent, such as Uona, were extremely valuable, and that wasn't even considering the startling changes her corpse had seen over the years. A series of unlikely coincidences had created something unique, which was exactly how many treasures were born.

Uona had been marked by Chaos and struck by Heavenly Lightning, all while carrying a powerful source of high-quality blood. Zac was responsible for the first two and guessed the blood came from the Eternal Clan Monarch who Alvod Jondir killed. Today, half of Uona's body was completely withered, emitting an air of Death and even Oblivion.

The other half possessed a vibrancy that no undead being should have, making her look more alive than when she actually lived. Even her skin had gained a golden hue. Uona had essentially undergone a similar transformation as the Chaos Motes in his body, where Chaos had fused with her Eternal Clan heritage and then split into Life and Death.

Zac had already fed Verun a few drops of the life-attuned half, and it had elicited such a strong reaction he'd decided to seal the corpse inside a temporal coffin until today. Unfortunately, Alea had no interest in the other half, though it would likely see use in other ways. Its energy was simply too attuned to him not to take advantage.

Verun howled with glee, hunger overcoming pain as it greedily drank the refined blood, absorbing everything in no time. The quality of his and Uona's blood far surpassed the random bloodlines Verun had absorbed over the years, and the lesser essences were forced to give way to the newcomers. Zac had never felt more in tune with the weapon than now, and he could feel the excitement mirrored in Verun.

The runes atop the altar died down after another ten minutes when they failed to condense the bloodlines further. Zac moved [Verun's Bite] to the [Primordial Awakening Array], and the upgrade process began soon after. The differences to Alea's turbulent ascension quickly became apparent.

The piles of materials didn't get sucked into [Verun's Bite] at once. Instead, Zac fed the array one item after another, based on which item Verun desired the most. The bones entered first, followed by the other top-tier materials from the Allbright Empire and Perennial Vastness. With every material that entered the array, a new set of golden runes appeared on the axe.

The axe was completely covered when just twenty percent of the materials had been absorbed, but Zac sensed Verun wasn't satiated. So he kept pushing items into the array, looking on with interest as new layers of golden runes gradually formed a cocoon around the axe. Eventually, Zac felt fullness from his mental link just as he was about to take out some of his spare materials.

The upgrade array cracked as the shimmering ball released a powerful pulse, and Zac backed away while [Verun's Bite] rose into the air. He could tell that his part in the process was over. No ominous clouds were forming above his head, but Zac could still feel fate gathering around his weapon. Then, a flash of gold appeared out of nowhere, striking [Verun's Bite].

The golden bolt shared almost no similarities with the Tribulation Lightning of the Old Heavens, except that they were made of lightning. Zac couldn't sense any anger or aura of extermination. There was only indifference, like a god looking down at the world. The System wasn't out to harm, but it also wouldn't care if [Verun's Bite] failed its test.

This was the first time Zac saw a trial of the Heavenly Path since breaking through to E-grade. [Verun's Bite] differed from [Love's Bond] in that it was an Orthodox Spirit Tool in every sense of the word. The weapon was provided by the System, and they'd followed the conventional evolution path. The only difference between [Verun's Bite] and normal primal series axes was the shocking number of opportunities it had encountered thanks to being bound to Zac.

It wasn't even on the Boundless Path like Zac. His Daos were kept separate so he could walk the path of Pure Life, but Verun was the sum of the materials that had gone into its creation. It was a Life-Conflict dual-affinity Spirit Tool, similar to a Mixed-meaning Dao.

Tribulations within the Heavenly Path were generally considered easier, but that didn't mean the System would just hand out things for free. You needed to prove yourself worthy, just like how Zac had endured two Tribulations when entering E-grade. Similarly, the bolt contained incredible force, and a storm was kicked up inside the valley. Zac could sense complex fluctuations inside the lightning, which triggered both his Soul and Dao Heart.

The trial of Hegemony was essentially all three tribulations of the E-grade baked into one and cranked to eleven. Every aspect needed to be up to par, and the demands on Tool Spirits weren't any different. The weapon had to be nurtured with good enough materials to withstand the energies of a Cosmic Core. Its spirituality also had to be strong enough not to break when faced with the Daos of their wielders or enemies.

Finally, their Heart had to be strong enough if they wanted to follow their companion on their journey toward the peak. The former aspects mostly depended on treasures and opportunities, while the latter was nurtured through the bond between wielder and tool.

A defiant roar reverberated through the valley, drowning out all other sounds. The runes across the axe's surface burned with unfettered power, and one after another sank into the axe. Not a wisp of the golden lightning was released into the wild. Having passed the first bolt, it became perfected energy. The second bolt arrived without warning, its intensity more than double the previous one. Thousands of runes appeared around the axe upon collision and were dragged into [Verun's Bite].

Zac felt Verun's struggle, and his mind was full of defiant roars. He could feel the two bolts locked within the axe, turning its own body into a furnace. The pain didn't subside, but the energy eventually stabilized. Zac could sense fate gathering for one final salvo. This time, Verun emerged in person, standing guard over its corporeal form while roaring at the sky. Its mane almost appeared to be on fire as it danced in the wind, the fur releasing intense red- and golden lights.

The final bolt emerged from the void, and Zac smiled upon seeing Verun swallowing it whole before retreating into its axe. The process had felt calm and controlled from beginning to end. Compared to Alea's breakthrough, it had been. Still, the overbearing display at the end could only fool a bystander. Zac could feel just how much pain Verun was in as it struggled to refine the tribulation.

Ultimately, Verun more than possessed the qualifications to take the next step, whether you looked at quality, spirituality, or Dao Heart. The remaining golden runes across the axe didn't sink into the axe but released a stronger radiance. Soon, the light congealed into a huge pallasite made from steel and gold. Just like Alea, Verun had passed the tribulation and was now incorporating the new materials.

In contrast to Alea's breakthrough, Zac still felt his connection to Verun. The Tool Spirit was exhausted but in high spirits. Zac still retracted his presence, letting his companion focus on breaking through.

There was no need to wait for Verun to stabilize, so he moved the pallasite to his Cultivation Cave. Zac spent the next day cultivating, making sure no surprises popped up with either of his Tool Spirits. Thankfully, everything was in order, and both were steadily absorbing the ambient energies to fuel the fusion. Zac nodded and left his cave but didn't take the teleporter. Instead, he passed a series of barriers, emerging in the complex tunnel system of his mountain.

It only took a few minutes to reach the secluded valley hidden between the mountains. A confusing mix of Life and Death danced around him, partly due to his Cultivation Chamber right below. He'd once considered developing this region into a premium cultivation space, but the chaotic atmosphere had made that almost impossible.

Of course, a few mansions were hanging from the slopes of the four mountains around him, though they all faced outward. This region had been turned into yet another private domain of his, though it hadn't seen much use.

Zac walked through the valley until he reached the withered Tree of Ascension. It had long since lost all its leaves, and it was difficult to tell whether it was still alive.

"It might still make it. There's a stubborn seed of spirituality that refuses to let go."

Zac looked over, nodding at Vilari as she appeared from the mists.

"Perhaps. It's been through a lot—being poisoned, ripped apart to provide materials, and now this environment. It's really unlucky," Zac said with a shake of his head. "Are you ready?"

"I've memorized your notes and the missives," Vilari nodded. "There shouldn't be any issues."

"Good," Zac said and took out a small box. "I'll be relying on you then."

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