Roger frowned and leaned forward, switching his seat’s position from comfy and relaxed to serious and alert. The ship had stopped moving completely. Usually, it would only do that under certain circumstances, and the majority of them were nothing good. Roger interpreted the data on the screen in front of him and rubbed his chin. Ideas flashed through his head as he tried to identify what exactly was happening here. It seemed like a huge chunk of space had been ripped apart, just leaving a void. With the measly equipment in his ship, there was no way to tell how far the tear in the void extended. It could’ve been just a few miles or a few lightyears across.

Roger initiated the scanning program, and a laser shot out of the front of his spaceship. With this, he could easily find his way around the gap. It would take a little longer than flying straight through, but honestly, he didn’t care. He had already been traveling for over a hundred years; a few more hours didn’t matter to him. However, what he thought was just going to be a few hours turned out to be a few days, then a month. The ship was still trying to find a way around the torn gap in space. It was a bit unbelievable, but from the initial data, it seemed like a sphere of space had been dislodged and shifted, creating a spherical barrier in the form of a spatial rend. However, it could’ve also just been a slightly curved wall. Either way, there was a section of space that was hidden behind a the spatial rend, and in its direction were the coordinates he had received from the weird text in his vision. Could it be possible a world had been hidden away due to this spatial anomaly? Perhaps there was a whole galaxy or even another universe. However, the odds of that happening were extremely low. Roger chuckled to himself and leaned back, staring at the ceiling while the ship did its thing.

***

Grandpa Vremya exhaled and opened his eyes. Azalea was standing over him, looking at him with a concerned expression. “Are you going to create your golden core soon?”

“I’ve been creating it for the past hundred years,” Grandpa Vremya said, his voice so low Azalea could barely hear him. In fact, he could barely hear himself. He was currently on the verge of death. Like his previous breakthrough, he was waiting until the last moments of his life before continuing. It had taken him a total of forty-five years to establish his nine foundational pillars, and for the past a hundred and five years, he had been forming his golden core. He was making it as large as possible; all the wealth he had generated was going towards his cultivation.

Azalea pursed her lips as she watched Grandpa Vremya shut his eyes again. She had broken into the golden-core stage long ago; with her newfound strength, she had become a core disciple. Afterwards, Grandpa Vremya used his position as an elder to create a job posting for an assistant which Azalea applied for. Thus, after becoming a core disciple, her status in the sect had changed in name only. If Grandpa Vremya died here during his breakthrough, then Azalea would be out of a job. Of course, she was worried about him for other reasons too.

Unlike Azalea, Grandpa Vremya wasn’t worried at all. The knowledge necessary for ascension was in his head from the very moment he was born. Even though the path he had taken was a little different from the original plan, it wouldn’t affect the outcome. He had more time to gather spiritual energy, so in response, he triggered the completion of the formation of his golden core a little earlier. Instead of waiting for the very last minute of his vitality, he waited until the last three minutes. The giant ball of spiritual energy hovering above his nine foundational pillars inside of his spiritual lake froze. The outer layer glazed over with a golden sheen. Eventually, it solidified into a perfectly round sphere. With a thud, the golden core crashed downwards into the foundational pillars—which was really just one big column. The core was much larger than the column. When it fell, it wobbled a bit, but it steadied itself soon enough. The outer edge of the last foundational pillar was slightly curved, barely noticeable but enough to prevent the golden core from rolling around.

The foundational pillars stood tall, holding the golden core in place. After a few seconds, the golden core shone with a flash, and the nine pillars were illuminated by billions of golden runes snaking down from the core into the spiritual lake. Like golden vines, the runes connected the two portions together, creating a treelike structure. With a final flash of light, the golden core lit up, and the runes dimmed, their glow disappearing but their etchings on the foundational pillars remaining.

Grandpa Vremya let out a long exhale. If he had waited one second later to finish the solidification of his core, he would’ve run out of lifeforce. Luckily, he knew what he was doing. “I succeeded,” he said and opened his eyes. He stood up, and as he did so, his saggy body squirmed. His muscles, which had decayed into near nothingness, bulged, filling out his loose skin. His wrinkles faded, and his hair turned black. With a mere thought from Grandpa Vremya, his hair turned gray again. Currently, he was two hundred fifty years old. When he solidified his golden core, he gained another two hundred fifty years of longevity. As usual, he was planning on using the two hundred fifty years to its fullest before forming his nascent soul.

Azalea exhaled and placed her hand on her chest. “Congratulations. I almost thought you wouldn’t make it.”

Grandpa Vremya grunted. Creating a golden core was easy. All he needed was spiritual energy and a lot of willpower. The spiritual energy came from the spirit stones that flowed towards him every month like water. Although the sect owned the pocket realm with the titans, Grandpa Vremya had been rewarded for revealing the value of the titans. Of the profits earned by the sect for selling titan materials, Grandpa Vremya was given thirty percent. In return, Grandpa Vremya condensed his knowledge of rune enchanting and golem creation into two jade slips that he gave to the sect. Of course, he still had to teach courses as an elder. Even though his knowledge was freely given away, it didn’t mean the disciples understood its contents. So, Grandpa Vremya thoroughly taught Azalea, and thus, the first teaching-assistant position in the Moon Lotus Sect was created.

Unfortunately for Grandpa Vremya, forming a nascent soul wasn’t as simple as creating a golden core. All one needed to form a golden core was spiritual energy; it took much more than that to create nascent souls. Nascent souls emerged from golden cores, but in order for that to happen, golden cores had to be refined, not with spiritual energy, but with experiences and enlightenment. It was much like raising a child. It wasn’t enough to meet a child’s nutritional needs. If they were to grow into healthy adults, they needed the appropriate mental stimulation as well. In order for Grandpa Vremya to create a truly strong nascent soul, he had to show it the world, not just stuff it full of spiritual energy.

Grandpa Vremya’s gaze met Azalea’s. “Are you ready to experience new things together?” he asked.

Azalea beamed. “What are we doing first?”

Grandpa Vremya stroked his beard. “Let’s go kayaking.”

“Kayaking?” Azalea asked. “What’s that?”

“We get in a boat, put it on a river, and enjoy the ride down,” Grandpa Vremya said.

Azalea nodded. For almost the past two-and-a-half centuries, she had accompanied Grandpa Vremya in all his endeavors. Even though he spent nearly all his time cultivating, there would be the occasional outing he’d invite her to go on, and for some reason, they always involved rivers. She was pretty sure she was onto something, but she wasn’t quite sure what it was.