"You have awakened, Jack, but the world has not. It is as He said. The Twin Angels That Fell will ascend. Divine retribution will co to Earth. You should have stayed hidden."
’What god is he? Which pantheon is he a part of?’
His thoughts were slow and thodical.
Dasha needed to know.
Dasha had to know.
He systematically eliminated the impossible. He narrowed in on the gods that could and could not be the shadow before him.
But there was little to go off, leading him to give a simple nod. What could he say? The string of words the masked man said made little sense to him. There was too much to consider and too much to risk.
Twin angels...
’Lucifer and Michael, perhaps?’
Lucifer, the Devil, Satan, the Originator of Evil in the King Jas Bible. The na Lucifer ant the Morning Star, a translation carried over from the late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. It was a Latin word that slowly beca analogous with the devil himself despite originally being affiliated with the Roman-Greek god Venus.
Lucifer often referred to the devil prior to his fall. When the Morning Star returned, divine retribution would strike Earth? But why regard Lucifer as an angel? After falling, was he not considered a demon? Even if Lucifer returned to being an angel, why would his appearance alongside Michael’s cause the Earth to suffer? Michael was in the Heavenly Gas managing Valhalla’s Colosseum and he was regarded as a great, powerful angel in the public whispers.
So what sin was committed to make Michael fall?
’Divine retribution will co to Earth. The Day of Judgent, put simply. Michael and Lucifer...hrm.’
"Bartender?" A woman in a black chiton ca over at the masked man’s call. "A bottle of Ciso, please."
’Ciso, typically Peru. Finally.’
He had sothing. The lady bartender had the drink at the ready. She worked for him. This man’s influence went deep. To be recognized and listened to with such ease, his mask must have been an easy identifier.
’The flamingo mask is pink, like the Andean flamingo which is in the southwest tip of Peru. This god might belong to the Paracas Civilization. In which case...’
The god wore an expensive three-piece gray suit, so the mask, the bottle, and his body were the three aspects up for analysis.
’Too underweight. Boneless even. Powerful. His aura and cadence is neither good or evil. A mask. Pre-Incan mythology. He must be Kón, the Flying Feline and creator of the first humans.’
"A gift from to you," said Kón, getting off the stool. "Good luck, old friend. May we all find what we are looking for."
Dasha eyed him from his amplified peripheral. The bartender gave him the bottle of cisco Kón requested. He turned the bottle and read the label. Underneath the contents, written in tiny letters of a language long since forgotten. Four words. Four seconds.
They are still listening. Be careful
His blood ran cold.
Then promptly returned to normal.
For the first ti in this world, he was agitated by his ignorance. Not knowing ant life and death. The gap between himself and the upper echelon of the White Abyss was insurmountable, and he was beginning to recognize that.
He needed to keep reading. He needed to understand everything the world had to give—and then seize it for himself. From his inventory, he pulled out a quill and paper.
"I need you to do sothing for ,"he wrote down.
In five seconds, a single word appeared on the paper.
"Sure!!!!!!"
***
Addiction to pills was a phenona he wanted to avoid. The folktales that cultivation masters told their students on pill addiction was well-recorded. The most popular of which originated from a Champion of the Heavenly Gas from a hundred years back. The Champion’s knowledge of pills and herbs were second to none in his era, and so, he used that knowledge to his advantage and built a Foundation Establishnt reliant entirely on pills.
He was powerful, but he was also addicted. He forgoed ditation and to keep up with his rising peers he consud pill after pill. Dozens a day. Hundreds a month. Tens of thousands a year.
He consud pills until one day his body broke down from the bits of impurities that lingered and the strain on his soul. The Champion was never able to wield Qi again. The truth of the story was enough to turn into a cultural warning. Cultivators of the modern day constantly had to consider if they were over reliant on pills. The tiny jumps were too gratifying to ignore completely. Striking balance was an issue that ran rampant in every sect. According to the journals he read of forr Unorthodox Sect mbers, it was perhaps their largest problem with cultivating.
’It’s also why the greatest pill maker, Li Xuanming, went to the Orthodox Sect. The Unorthodox were unhinged and incapable of controlling themselves at one point. They beca too reliant.’
Forgoing pills entirely would hinder Dasha’s rate of growth. Balance was key. Therefore, he decided to consu a high-ranking pill at the Early Stage of the Foundation Establishnt and never again.
To reach the Middle Stage of Foundation Establishnt required learning to manipulate Qi to heal oneself. At the most basic level, that would be healing basic cuts.
He opened up his friend list and clicked on Grace’s userna. A backdrop of options opened up, including [ Invite ]
[ Invite Grace to personal dinsion. ]
[ Yes or no? ]
The white sumr dress of Grace appeared in his lab from the corner of his eye. One hands on her hip and the other behind her, she approached him with her usual perpetual smile. "Whatcha doing?"
"Making the last batch of Dream th till I leave."
"You want to give it to Xavier," she said.
"Yes. I told him in advance what to do."
"Look at you, so prepared." Grace watched him tend the flas of the beaker containing the Dreamweaver’s Dust and the Ethereal Clarity. He was two-thirds through the thirty minute process. Even so, he had already finished several previous concoctions. "By the way—"
"You have it," he stated bluntly.
"I do. Took a lot of convincing though. Our resident pill-maker, Sawatdee Chayangkul, said a bunch of the materials were from the Shang Dynasty. Not easy stuff to get."
"Yet still you convinced him. I’m impressed by your negotiation skills."
Grace put her fingers at the edges of her mouth and stretched it into a childlike smile. "This smile is E for everyone!"
The final step remained: the transmutation. He formulated the symbols through Fire Finger and activated a rare magic that synchronized with the beaker and transford it into the Dream th.
"Woah. Cool," Grace praised.
"Now then." Dasha left his work area and approached her. "The pill, please."
"One Xuanwu’s Ascension Pill coming right up!" From the hand that had been behind her, she revealed a small treasure chest. A crafted chest depicting a black tortoise. "Lóng Shé Cháobài. I hope I said that right—"
She must have gotten it right because the imagery glowed red and the chest flicked open.
"An S-rank cultivation pill." With three fingers, he picked it up. The small orb was brown in colour and carved with detailed markings. It was unexpectedly soft.
’This was not supposed to be in my plans for a year.’
"Thank you, Grace."
She winked. "It’s a part of our agreent."
"I will have to consu this elsewhere," he said.
"Where will you be going?"
"Where do you think?"
He ant it as a genuine question. Grace went into a thinking pose.
"Ummm...nature is good for ditation and Qi stuff, I think. So...Gate 1, the forest?"
He gave a respectful nod. "Yes. I will be returning to where it all began."
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