The Velvet Lotus palace wasn’t massive, but its presence was unmistakable. Every floor had been crafted with care and precision, every piece of décor tailored to evoke a sense of profound serenity.
There were no unnecessary ornants. Every detail, every arrangent, served a purpose.
"This is amazing... Way better than my lab," Cambela muttered, disbelief lacing her voice.
"This is nothing—" Victoria replied with a smug grin, eager to show off. "The upper floors are even better. You don’t even need to step inside the main chamber to feel their effects."
Jeremy and Cambela exchanged intrigued glances. If the lower floors were already this impressive... what awaited above?
"She’s right, Lady Victoria speaks the truth," Isa, their escort, chid in. "Many have found enlightennt in these rooms. That’s why the cost is so steep."
After several minutes of ascending stairs and walking through hushed corridors, they finally arrived.
A simple wooden door stood between them and the mystic experience promised by the Velvet Lotus.
"Wow... even just the exterior gives off the sa vibe as the lower floor," Cambela said, visibly stunned.
"Co on, co on! Let’s not waste ti out here—" Victoria was the most excited of them all. She had been here before, and she knew that what lay beyond this door made everything else pale in comparison.
"Please, step inside," Isa said, gently opening the door and bowing slightly.
A refreshing breeze welcod the three as they crossed the threshold.
The room was magnificent. Jeremy and Cambela stood frozen, mouths slightly agape. Victoria watched them with a knowing smirk.
"Told you. This place is on another level."
Neither of them replied. Their minds were too overwheld by the aura that embraced them—it was as if every worry had suddenly vanished.
But that sensation didn’t last.
Sothing felt... off.
"...A trap?!" Jeremy narrowed his eyes, scanning the room.
A light laugh broke the tension.
"Relax, Master. This is just how the place works," Cambela said.
"Indeed," Victoria added, nodding. "Every manifestation in this space is infused with tranquility and peace."
Jeremy glanced around the room, and his guard slowly dropped.
There were flowers, tiny insects, harmless little animals. It didn’t feel like an artificial space at all—more like a sacred grove untouched by ti. The scent of fresh grass, the soft murmur of flowing water... every elent seed designed to cradle the soul.
"Alright. We don’t have unlimited ti," Victoria said as she sat down gracefully. "The best way to benefit from this state... is to ditate."
And so, all three sat down in a lotus position, closing their eyes, breathing in sync.
They had exactly two hours. Every second had to count.
Victoria had her reasons for coming to the Velvet Lotus. Jeremy and Cambela, on the other hand, were simply here to rest.
Too many things had happened to Jeremy too fast. He’d barely had ti to wash himself a few tis, and yet he had gone from an ordinary lifeform—weak, unnoticed—to what he now was: a being who stood on the threshold of death’s dominion.
Within that serene, unprecedented state of ditation, the mories ca flooding back to Jeremy.
His awakening.
His first undead.
His first kills.
His first rank-up.
And his first encounters with humans from another world.
But what shocked him the most... was how he relived all of it.
Not through his own eyes—but as if watching from the outside, a third-person perspective of his entire journey, beginning from the mont he awakened.
Like an omniscient observer, capable of capturing every detail of what he had once lived.
In this state, Jeremy noticed many things that had once been unclear.For instance, the summoning of his first undead. His mories of that mont had always been foggy.But now... not anymore.
Watching the scene unfold from a different perspective, Jeremy finally understood what had truly happened. He had imagined it before—but witnessing it was sothing else entirely.
The person standing before the corpse of the Razorfang was still Jeremy... but cloaked in a completely different aura.Cold. Ruthless.
He exuded a murderous presence so strong that, despite knowing it was rely a vision of the past, Jeremy shivered.That was him.
And yet, as the events continued to play out, Jeremy didn’t feel like he had changed.
He began to notice strange behaviors—such as his oddly affectionate attachnt to his undead... and his emotional detachnt from everyone else. But the situation was murky.
After all, right now, he was in this place with other human beings—and whether he wanted to admit it or not, he was... enjoying it.
"Maybe I just need to spend more ti with people I consider friends?Still... it’s strange. I don’t feel this way around Nathan or Ivan... maybe I haven’t spent enough ti with them yet?"
Jeremy’s thoughts spiraled into questions without answers.
How was he supposed to define himself?Cold and rciless? Or calm... quietly longing to be loved?
Just as his mind drifted deeper into that storm of thought, a disturbance in the air snapped him out of his ditative state.
"...Oh?" Cambela stirred as well, startled. "What’s going on?"
She looked disoriented—whatever she had experienced in her mind had clearly left a deep impact.
Both turned toward Victoria, who, without needing a word of instruction, pulled out the Elixir of Law and drank it in a single motion.
Then—
A burst of energy—blinding but harmless—swept across the room.
Victoria Amabel was undergoing her tamorphosis into a higher being. And the Law she was about to receive... didn’t seem like an ordinary one.
Jeremy and Cambela exchanged a silent glance as they both stepped back slightly.
Above the entrance door, a large tir showed only 24 minutes remaining before the two-hour limit expired.
But there was no more point in ditating. Jeremy had already relived his monts, gaining important insights into his power—and how to wield it more effectively.
After all, Okoron was far from omnipotent, and Jeremy’s mories of that figure were too vague to exploit every one of his theories.There was still so much potential left untapped.
But Jeremy wasn’t worried. He had gained all this power far too quickly—he needed ti to stabilize it.
Advancing without a deep understanding of his own strength was dangerous.
He and Cambela stepped aside, watching as Victoria absorbed all the ambient energy around her.
---
"Finally."
An aged figure, his expression unnaturally serene, turned his gaze in Jeremy’s direction.
Though his eyes were closed, it felt as though his vision pierced everything—and focused solely on Victoria.The room where the trio ditated was perated with his power. It was thanks to this energy that she was progressing.And so... he couldn’t ignore such a delicate anomaly.
"...But this is rather strange. Her absorption of energy... it’s almost too still," he murmured.
His eyelids shifted slightly open.
That subtle change in expression was completely unnatural for the man known as The Immutable.
He didn’t even realize he had moved—so intense was his concentration on the girl before him.
Unlike a standard Ascension—the violent and painful process of acquiring a Law, as Jeremy himself had endured—Victoria’s experience was... different.
Her absorption of energy was eerily peaceful.
After the initial explosion of brilliance, everything had fallen still.The energy seed frozen... as though it had been lost within the sands of ti.
"Incredible..."
The old man’s eyes fully opened—for the first ti in countless years.
"It’s true, then... the new generation will always surpass the old."
And with that, he closed his eyes again, returning to his serene, ditative posture—as if he had never awakened at all.
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