Defiance of the Fall

"The fortress is already powerful enough to make the alliance go crazy. Can you imagine how dangerous the 'things in the depths' are? They must have the power to blow up half of Zecia," Emily said.

Beads of sweat had appeared on the shaman's forehead from applying medicinal paste to her wounds. Thankfully, the chef puppet only possessed raw strength, so the wounds would heal quickly and without leaving any sequelae.

"Well, it's been a long time," Zac said as he infused another stream of his Branch of the Kalpataru into his disciple. "The odds of those things being functional and close enough to be summoned are pretty low."

"The Technocrats might be after schematics or blueprints rather than the finished product. We won't be able to build it, but they probably could," Emily agreed before looking at Zac askance. "Then again, doesn't it feel too coincidental? A war involving the System and the Limitless Empire breaks out, and here's one of their old fortresses?

"That alone is enough to make my instincts tingle. And adding you to the mix, isn't it a done deal already? I'd bet what's left of my left arm the 'project' is just waiting for someone to light the beacon."

"I—" Zac wanted to refute her claim, but he had to admit that what she said made sense. The pillar's ascent was dredging up more than just the inheritance. "It's possible. Did you find out anything more about it before I came?"

"Not much. I bet the puppet's knowledge was limited to random scraps of information it overheard while working. Mentioning the project or details of the lighthouse's mission made it lose its mind," Emily sighed. "It went berserk every time I tried to dig further, accusing me of being a spy. I gave up after I almost lost my arm."

Zac nodded in agreement. What the puppet knew should be limited unless it had somehow been given access to the tower's database. It was unlikely, but not completely impossible, since it seemed able to trigger the defenses based on mood swings.

"It did mention two things, though. 'They should be dead,' and 'taming a calamity.'" Emily said. "It screamed those things when I asked about the gods in the cracks. I think the soldiers knew who took them."

"Gods in the cracks that should be dead. A project in the depths. Taming?" Zac muttered in thought before looking up. "Do you remember Salvation?"

"You think that's the project? The Limitless Empire was trying to refine a bunch of godlike beings into puppets?" Emily said with interest. "But some of them survived to take revenge on the Sixth Lighthouse? Or perhaps they regained part of their sentience when the empire collapsed."

"It's one possibility," Zac agreed, thinking back to what he'd learned of the chaotic age at the beginning of their Era. "There was no lack of such beings back then."

The Dao was young, wild, and unpredictable. The dimensions were more separated than today, where a few were showered by the majority of Heaven's favor. These prime dimensions gave rise to powerful civilizations like the Limitless Empire and the Selvari. More importantly, they gave birth to incredibly powerful Innate Existences. The Spark of Creation and the Heart of Oblivion were most likely two such examples, and Zac suspected the Primo was another.

Innate Existences are born from the Cosmos and endowed with unfathomable power. A few of these unique beings were Supremacies at birth, and even the weakest would naturally step into Autarchy in adulthood. Their downside was that their future was limited. Stepping beyond their inborn potential was almost impossible.

These Innate Existences were essentially mythological creatures in modern times. They might still appear in the depths of the Eternal Storm, but the environment within integrated space didn't allow for their birth. The Heavens were already claimed, and any seed of potential would become a lucky encounter for some established faction long before it could turn into a creature.

Rounding up a group of such powerful beings to turn them into weapons sounded ludicrous. But was well within the realms of possibility for the Limitless Empire. And even if the 'gods' weren't Innate Existences, they could be some powerful race like the Starbeasts or Giants.

"You might be onto something," Emily said. "So what should we do? Try to stop their plans? There's already fighting going on up there, so we might be able to deal the finishing blow."

"Fighting?"

"Yeah. There's been three major commotions in the tower since I arrived. One shortly after I came. Then there was you an hour ago. Finally, there was that thing twenty minutes ago."

"There was?"

"You didn't notice?"

"I, uh, was slightly preoccupied with my body almost blowing up from that spine I mentioned."

"I still can't believe you," Emily glared with mock anger. "Since when does the knight in shining armor make treasure-hunting pitstops before saving the damsel in distress?"

"I'm sorry," Zac grimaced. "I only planned to pick up one or two things on the way. Didn't expect things to escalate like that."

"I'm kidding," Emily laughed. "You'd have to be crazy to ignore a supreme treasure in arm's reach. Anyway, the last thing was three smaller shockwaves in short succession. It felt like a battle rather than a bomb. I tried to have the puppet investigate, but it ignored me. I figured it was alliance versus Kan'Tanu. Now I'm thinking it was Technocrats dealing with tower guards or imperials."

"Could be infighting over the information," Zac agreed, his brows furrowing. "But that'd mean there are two powerful forces to worry about. I'm still hoping their schemes are limited to stealing seals on the outside."

"We could just try to complete the alliance mission if the outsiders are too dangerous to deal with," Emily offered. "If our guess is right, they won't care what happens to the fortress, and the amount of contribution we'd earn is crazy."

"This has turned into a fine mess," Zac sighed. "My original plan was just to loot the tower. If I felt there was a chance to seize the fortress, I would give it a try. If not, I'd sabotage it before leaving. Now we're suddenly talking about beacons and God Puppets."

What Zac said was mostly the truth, but he didn't mention his real end goal. The tower was supposed to be his ticket to finally evolve his Void Emperor Bloodline to D-grade.

The fortress was a treasure trove far surpassing the Twilight Chasm, easily solving the immense resource requirements. Furthermore, Zac's control over his Void Emperor bloodline had reached the point where he was confident he could at least partly control the breakthrough.

Suppose he managed to claim the tower, great. He'd just collect as much treasure as possible before handing it over to the alliance. If it was unclaimable, or worse, about to fall into the hands of the enemy? A few well-placed vortices should blow the whole thing up. That would dash the hopes of anyone using the fortress against him or the alliance.

However, his plan had become flawed. For one, blowing up the tower might not be enough. It might even backfire. What if his breakthrough destroyed the defenses protecting the information? It didn't even matter who their hands on it. The information being brought out would spell disaster for Zecia.

But how was he supposed to stop the outsiders? Whether Imperials or Technocrats, a mission this important would be led by top-tier individuals like Tavza and Kator. Zac still wasn't ready to face experts at that level, especially if they had helpers. He'd have to figure out a way to use the tower against them.

Zac also had Emily to worry about. How could he rip the tower apart when she was in it? Even he didn't have full confidence in walking out in one piece. At the very least, he needed to send her out of the tower before triggering his breakthrough.

"We need to figure out an escape path before worrying about what the Technocrats are up to."

"Can we leave the way you came?"

Zac considered a few moments before shaking his head. "It's too risky. I mostly got across the chasm by following your rescue beacon. We have nothing to lead us back, and there's still the Killing Intent to deal with. I think we're better off looking for the tower's emergency exits. They should still be around since the original owners were abducted."

"So let's keep going," Emily said, pointing upward. "The main control room should be somewhere above, maybe along with the private chambers of the big bosses. Sounds like a good place to look for escape pods or teleporters. That way, we can pick up some good stuff while investigating what the outsiders are up to."

"Sounds like a plan," Zac agreed. "If all else fails, we'll just have to cut our losses and jump into a spatial tear and take things from there. They should start popping up when the realm starts to fall apart."

Of course, finding a teleporter would be best. That way, he could send Emily off before going with his original plan.

"Good thing you're here," Emily giggled. "I've never heard of anyone with as much experience blowing up and escaping Mystic Realms as you. You should have a good idea of what to expect."

Zac rolled his eyes, but he had to admit his track record wasn't great. It had even become such a common occurrence that he always carried some items that would come in handy in case he got stranded in the Void. It was half the reason he dared attempt a breakthrough in such a volatile environment.

"Well, no time to waste," Emily said as she got to her feet. "You've saved the cheerleader; now it's time to save the world!"

"You're chipper, all things considered," Zac commented as they set off, searching for a passage that would take them further up.

"I've been hearing about all your lucky encounters for decades," Emily said, her eyes gleaming with anticipation. "I finally get to join one."

"We'll see if you say the same after having enjoyed one of my 'lucky encounters' first-hand," Zac said with a roll of his eyes.

Zac kept a more measured pace now that he'd reunited with Emily. He'd encountered a few more sections damaged by the sword strike during his ascent, and the clouds were already so close it felt like he could reach out and touch them. There couldn't be more than a few dozen floors left to climb. Possibly even fewer since Zac doubted the tower would have floors all the way to its tip.

Every sealed door he opened going forward could release a whole gaggle of Technocrats. Luckily, his lucky encounter had completely fixed up his body. The internal wounds had disappeared during the frantic cycle of destruction and rebirth. Even the damage to his foundations caused by channeling so much Creation Energy had mostly been fixed. Of course, that was only a bonus on top of the real gain.

The combination of refined high-grade Killing Intent and ancient Life-attuned cactus sap far exceeded his expectations. The golden storms within his cells had almost doubled in size and teemed with vibrant force. They had even gained a hint of ancient aura that reminded Zac of his Void Emperor bloodline.

Zac could tell that some of the energy wasn't fully integrated, but that only meant his body would be as unkillable as a plant king until the excess energy was exhausted. And while it wasn't enough to finish the fourth layer of the [Void Vajra Sublimation], it put him very close to the threshold. Much of that progress came from months of hard work, but it had saved four or five months.

Another month of practice and digesting the opportunity should be enough, which should finally fix the sense of imbalance that had plagued him for close to half a year. To this day, he hadn't dared work on his Undead Constitution since the Abyssal Pond, despite having found the method to advance his Eoz bloodline.

Similarly, the seed left in his Soul Aperture by Eoz still floated about like a wayward meteor in space. Zac fought his burning curiosity, neither investigating nor nurturing, fearing its germination would bring about a second awakening that would completely break the balance between life and death.

Speaking of burning curiosity.

"Uh… By the way," Zac said, his gaze averted out of embarrassment. "Those puppets… Do I need to be worried?"

Emily stumbled a bit as the tips of her ears reddened. "It's not what you think—I haven't gone crazy. It's an idea I've been tinkering with—lifelike boobytraps looking like the leaders of our army. Imagine that ambush from before. What if the enemy triggered that expensive-looking trap, only to discover their target is a puppet with a doomsday device installed in their belly?"

"You turned me into a bomb?" Zac said with disbelief.

No wonder he felt a vague threat from the sparring puppets. Whatever Emily had put inside had to be unstable and at the level of multiple D-grade talismans for him to feel a latent threat. She must have gotten her hands on one of the Ishiate Tinkerer's experimental bombs. It had their smell all over it.

"How else would capture your essence?" Emily laughed. "There are still some things to figure out. How to replace yourself without being noticed is the big one. I also need a stronger bomb."

Zac hummed as he kept scanning the hallways. He wasn't sure how viable the idea was. Like Emily said, swapping your position with the puppet without notice was easier said than done, especially with enemies so strong you'd need to use the puppet in the first place. However, there was no point in shooting down the idea. Who knew, it might lead to something impressive down the road.

"So, how do we know which rooms to open?" Emily asked, seemingly eager to change the subject. "How do you usually look for treasure?

"I just follow my guts," Zac said. "I have a fate-augmenting treasure that helps focus my large pool of Luck. Why?"

"We only have a few tries with your token, right? That reminds me, let me take a look at that thing."

Zac handed it over, equally curious to see the result. His eyes lit up upon sensing a wisp being transferred over, which pushed the seals to four charges.

"Roughly two-thirds compared to last time?" Emily hummed as she handed it back. "Looks like it's rechargeable."

"Thank god," Zac exhaled.

Two-thirds was just right, considering how much energy he'd spent reaching their current floor. In other words, he should be able to use up the whole thing before leaving. It was a bit of a headache collecting the infusions with how spread out they were, but the small inconvenience was nothing compared to the benefits it could bring.

Better yet, it might mean they had unlimited access, provided Emily could continuously recharge the token without any drawbacks.

"How are you feeling? You didn't feel a drain on your longevity or anything, right?"

"I don't think so?" Emily said. "I feel no different than last time."

"Can there really be such a good thing?" Zac muttered as he looked at the token skeptically.

"Might be an unintended effect. I doubt it'll work like this during the real trial. Seems like a cheat if you can continuously top up the token to claim more treasures."

"That's fine. I wouldn't be surprised if we lose our seals upon entering, like we're handing over a ticket."

"So we have a key and your treasure nose. But that won't lead us to any teleporters, right?"

Zac nodded. The next moment, a small gerbil with four oversized ears appeared on her shoulder. The turbulent energy seemed to frighten it, and it activated an ability that made it invisible. Of course, Zac could still see it with his Soul Sense.

"You have a contracted beast?" Zac said with surprise.

"It's a Wavecatcher Gerbil," Emily smiled. "Most call them Treasure Rats. They have a similar ability to the Zhix, where they can hear all kinds of energy fluctuations. This one is trained to search for arrays and Natural Treasures. I got it to help me find troves in the graded battles, but it should be able to find teleporters with some guidance. Hey, give me a Spatial Crystal."

Zac handed over the crystal and snorted when the gerbil stuffed it into its mouth, prompting its cheeks to bulge. Two minutes later, the Treasure Rat indicated a sealed door with a weak squeak. Zac tried to figure out what was different about this door, but it completely eluded his senses.

He looked at Emily, whose eyes spoke volumes. He wasn't sure if she even remembered the matter with the teleporters. Her mind was fully occupied with the promise of ancient treasure.

Zac coughed and took out the [Court Cycle Token]. "Well, I guess this is as good a place as any to start."