I Can Assimilate Everything

Geniuses.

Existence birthed them in wave, their emergence scattered across existence without pattern or discernible logic.

Some arrived wrapped in terrifying physiques.

Others descended from lineages so ancient that their bloodlines carried memories predating the formation of Star Seas.

Their inheritances weren't mere tools or techniques but fundamental alterations to how existence perceived them.

These naturally born geniuses moved through reality like meteors, their trajectories unstoppable, their destinations seemingly predetermined!

And then there were the normies.

The countless existences who cultivated with dedication that spanned geological ages, who refined their authorities with patience, who pursued advancement with determination that burned brighter than dying stars.

They could spend billions of years in focused cultivation…

And barely advance slightly.

The gap between a genius and a normie was vast!

Existence had waves of varieties, unpredictable cascades of potential that manifested without warning or explanation.

One never knew when they would encounter a monstrous genius whose capabilities defied all reasonable expectations...

Or a normie whose advancement had stagnated despite efforts that should have yielded exponentially greater returns.

Existence distributed its favors with capricious indifference.

And sometimes- rarely, but sometimes, it created beings who existed outside both categories entirely.

Anomalies.

---

Inside the Testing Grounds of Life.

The brilliant verdant glow from Xar'vantheon's authority faded gradually, reality reasserting itself around Achilles's consciousness like a curtain being drawn back to reveal a stage of impossible grandeur.

An expansive domain stretched before him…vast beyond conventional measurement.

Massive structures rose from the landscape like monuments to principles he was only beginning to comprehend, their surfaces radiating green brilliance that wasn't mere coloration but concentrated Living Existential Authority of Life made visible.

Each building, each tower, each floating platform pulsed with vitality as if they were truly alive.

Runic inscriptions crawled across surfaces in patterns that shifted when observed directly, their meanings fluid rather than fixed.

Achilles stood upon green grassland that felt more alive than any earth he'd encountered, each blade of grass thrumming with vitality.

His cells responded immediately.

...!

That familiar, treacherous hunger awakened within him…the same desperate craving that had pulled him through the Peripheral Field of Life like existence itself was being magnetically attracted to its most compatible authority.

His being wanted to assimilate everything here, wanted to devour the concentrated Life that permeated every particle of this domain's atmosphere.

And the waves of information of his existence and surrounding existence, the prompts, seemed to appear with much more frequency.

|Your existence is experiencing significant resonance with the ambient Living Existential Authority of Life.|

|This domain represents the most concentrated source of Living Existential Authority of Life you have encountered. Proceed with analytical caution.|

He forced his hunger into submission through sheer will.

There would be time for assimilation later…after he understood this place's rules!

His gaze traveled past the immediate landscape toward what dominated the domain's central position.

A massive green tower rose from the ground with presence that commanded attention regardless of where one stood within this sanctuary.

Its construction seemed simultaneously organic and architectural. And it held…

One hundred floors.

Each level distinguished from the others through subtle variations in the green luminescence that surrounded the structure, the brilliance intensifying as one's gaze traveled upward toward heights that seemed to pierce into different dimensional layers entirely.

And at the peak, crowning this monument with authority that radiated outward in waves Achilles could feel pressing against his consciousness even from this distance...

A massive runic scripture blazed with light.

LIFE!

The word wasn't merely written but carved into reality itself,. This was a declaration, proclamation, absolute assertion of the principle this entire domain served!

Beyond the tower, Achilles perceived additional structures that suggested this place's true scale exceeded even his enhanced comprehension.

Ancient edifices that looked like they'd been transplanted from civilizations that existed before current cosmic cycles combined with advanced facilities whose purposes he couldn't identify through observation alone.

But what truly captured his analytical attention wasn't the architecture.

It was the life within it.

HUUM!

Countless auras pressed against his expanded perception…existences that registered as substantially powerful.

All of them operated within the Level Zero Scale of Existence.

Every single one.

Pre-Civilizational beings!

Not a single creature here remained bound by the constraints he'd shattered not too long ago.

The lowest tier of existence simply didn't exist within these Testing Grounds.

Those weaker than his current capability comprised approximately seventy percent of the auras he could perceive…a substantial majority whose authorities he could likely overwhelm.

But those stronger than him...

Oh, there were many.

Some felt perhaps twice his current power…elevated but not insurmountably so.

Others radiated strength tens of times beyond his own.

And some…those whose auras he perceived emanating from deeper within the domain's interior…

He felt like they could crush him by pressing down with their thumb.

Absolute overwhelming power!

But such auras remained distant, their overwhelming pressure diluted by separation rather than active threat.

For now.

"Welcome," Xar'vantheon's voice echoed, "to what we call the Sanctuary of Life."

...!

"There are many such Sanctuaries scattered throughout the reaches of existence," the Foldless One continued, his verdant-gold wings folding against his back.

"Each serves different purposes within the broader framework of the Primordial Civilization of Life's methodology for cultivating new adherents."

His abyssal verdant eyes blazed with pride.

"But this particular Sanctuary is unique among its peers, Young Living Life. This domain holds distinction that elevates its significance beyond standard Testing Grounds."

He paused, allowing anticipation to build.

"Members…of the Primordial Civilization of Life itself currently reside within these boundaries."

BOOM!

Members of the Civilization itself? Here? Within this domain he'd stumbled upon through following a group of traveling Magi?

His perception immediately extended outward.

His senses swept across the domain with thoroughness…

And found nothing that matched what he expected such beings to feel like.

Were they entirely out of his perception?

But before he could pursue this analytical thread further, Xar'vantheon continued.

"But none of that matters for you at this present moment, Achilles Adrastia."

"What matters most…the only thing that should concern your focus right now..."

He extended one verdant-golden arm toward the massive tower that dominated the domain's central landscape.

"Is that structure before you."

...!

Achilles's gaze returned to the Tower with renewed intensity.

"The Tower of Life," Xar'vantheon intoned.

"The central mechanism through which all who seek entry into the Primordial Civilization of Life must prove their potential worthy of their attention."

He began floating forward slightly, gesturing for Achilles to follow as they moved toward better vantage point for observing the structure's full magnificence.

"You perceive its hundred floors, yes? Each level serves specific purpose, and if you can reach the 100th floor, which even I and many others have not, you shall gain entry into the Primordial Civilization of Life!"

BOOM!

"But…your immediate concern involves only the first ten."