A perennial flower is reborn yearly, but only under the right conditions. Cultivators are the same.

~Blodeuwedd, Goddess of Flowers and Wisdom

Crow woke up as a four-year-old child, snuggled in his mother’s arms. Cia’s long, dark hair draped over his chubby cheeks. It was the hair tickling his face that woke him. He knew this wasn’t real, but he still reached out to poke his mother’s cheek.

His palm had no scars, but that was fine because he had his mother. Her smoldering eyes opened, and a broad smile split her face. Crow watched as his mom’s face brightened like sunshine. A warmth suffused his heart, and he hugged her, but his little arms refused to wrap around her waist.

“Mama…” Crow’s voice cracked as he mumbled into her cheek. Fat tears filled his eyes before spilling over.

“Little Crow… you know this isn’t real.”

“I know. But I know your consciousness is here, even if this is all a dream.”

“I’m safe, kid. Your father has been telling me stories about you.”

“Don’t believe a word that old bastard has said. He led me astray!” Crow nearly shouted, and Cia couldn’t stop laughing. This father and son pair was more alike than either wanted to admit.

“You better treat those women with respect. If they tell me you mistreated any of them, I will help them punish you.”

“Mom, why are you filled with Death Mana?”

“I died in that prison, but because I’m the last female in my line, I cannot die until I give birth to a girl.”

“How do we fix that?”

“You want a little sister?” Cia chuckled.

“I want a family. I want you to be happy and have another chance to see your child grow.”

“Oh, you,” Cia’s body trembled. “Even if you want that, it is impossible for now. My mortal body is too damaged to have another child. I’ve recovered my cultivation strength, but only ascending will allow me to fix my physical form.”

“I won’t let you die. I’ll find a way to fix you so that I can have a little sister, and your coven will continue to exist.”

“Crow, I’ll be fine, and your father, uncle, and grandfather are already helping me. Once I reach the Sky Realms and gain an immortal body, the Death Mana will naturally dissipate. We have little time, so you need to know our bond—the power that links our consciousness comes from my maternal grandfather. I don’t know who he is because my mother would never tell me, but my current state isn’t only because of my Witch’s bloodline. It preserved my life, but normally I’d have turned into Draugr. I do not know what I am currently because I’m not a ghost, and my body still lives and requires sustenance.”

“Mom, I have to tell you about grandma…” Crow described meeting his maternal grandmother, Gideon’s past, and all the other things he learned. Once he was done, his little hand reached up and wiped the tears from his mother’s cheek. He felt helpless, knowing everything his family suffered.

“In the end, she gave up everything to protect my happiness,” Cia sobbed and clung to Crow, hugging him tightly. Crow didn’t know what to do, so he just stroked her hair with his little hands, making the entire scenario feel backward. It became even more awkward when his mom put her hand on his naked little butt.

“Why don’t you have any clothes on?”

“Y-you can’t blame that on me. It-it’s a dream.”

Cia burst out laughing. “Papa Niall was right about you.”

“Don’t go spreading that nonsense. You are ruining my reputation! That old man has an uncanny ability to walk in on me when I’m naked. He’s just an old pervert.” The cheeks of Crow’s little boy face were puffed up and red with embarrassment. How dare those old bastards betray me to mother!?

Cia laughed even harder, and tears of joy leaked from her eyes. Crow didn’t know what he said that was so funny, but he was glad his mother wasn’t sad anymore.

“Alright, little man. Why are we here?”

“Spirit Shrine again. It must do something to us that opens our ability to communicate, so it makes me wonder if our shared bloodline has something to do with Spirit. I imagine my challenge was targeting a deep desire of mine and seeing if I can resist it.”

“Your deepest desire was to be a naked little boy, being coddled by his mother?” Cia chuckled evilly.

“You… that is dad’s influence. My loving mother would have never said that if that corrupting presence hadn’t tainted you.”

“By the limb, child. You’ve become an unruly thing.”

“Ha,” Crow chuckled. “I was always unruly—don’t you remember the day we parted? I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I kept my clothes on and didn’t run off.”

“Crow?” Cia sighed. “No matter what you would have done, the outcome wouldn’t have changed. Gideon came for me; no one could have stopped him, not even your father. It was already a miracle he didn’t catch my lie. Guilt eats at me whenever I think about how I cast you aside as my child that day.”

“We aren’t getting anywhere blaming ourselves. There is enough guilt for both of us, so let’s move on. The important thing is we’re alive. Hell, I’ll even let father settle Gideon.”

“You don’t want to kill him for what he’s done to us?” Cia asked, surprised because she knew Crow suffered the most and wanted his vengeance. Even now, she could feel his anger simmering below the surface.

“Father has no blood relation to that man, but I do. I worry that any form of patricide will heavily affect my karma. I’ve learned that as an unfated, I must rely heavily on my luck. No matter how badly I want to, I can’t take some actions.”

“My little boy has grown up,” Cia whispered, but Crow could feel the melancholy. She spent over a decade in prison and waited. It pained her that she missed out on his childhood and wasn’t there for him when he’d needed her the most.

The realization that he couldn’t kill his grandfather solved this challenge. The moment he said those words, he felt the change in the challenge, indicating he’d get booted out soon.

It came with some benefits because his Spirit strengthened, and his sensitivity toward his empathetic bonds increased. His mother’s bond was still one of the strongest he had, even above his lovers. Strangely, the closest rival to her was Otto. Crow assumed it was because of the blood brother ritual.

“Child, our time is ending. Remember, mom loves you with all her heart. I’ll be waiting for you in the Sky Realms.”

“We can’t meet sooner?”

“As much as I’d love that, we can’t.”

“But… why?” Crow’s anguish tore at Cia, but she had to harden herself.

“We share a bloodline power, which I don’t completely understand. The one thing I know is that if we meet, things will change.”

“You’ll die…” Crow said, seeing through his mother’s hidden meaning. Cia nodded, her long black hair tickling Crow’s red baby face with his puffed-up cheeks.

“We cannot approach each other before I gain my immortal body, or nothing can prevent my Soul from dissipating.”

An immortal Body wasn’t any big secret. Cultivators were called immortals because they were constantly refining their Bodies, which allowed them to live longer than mortals. Gaining an immortal Body required perfecting it to the point that they could imprint it on their Soul. Even if the Body is destroyed, as long as the Soul doesn’t dissipate, it is possible to recreate it. To create a Body from nothing required a lot of resources, but there was another option—hijack a body without a Soul. Eventually, the soulless body will morph into the imprinted Body.

However, hijacking a soulless body could have a heavy karmic impact. It wasn’t something that should be done lightly, especially if they removed the original Soul to steal the body.

The tower’s purpose was to prepare a lower realm cultivator for the upper realms. The purity of the mana was so drastic that it would cause an unprotected lower realm cultivator’s body to explode.

It was unfair. Those that lived in the Sky Realms were already born with advantages that the lower realm could only dream of. Even the unawakened were more resilient, less likely to die of illness, stronger, faster, and more intelligent on average. The moment their Source awakened, it was a qualitative change—even their Body was in an almost perfected state.

The tower had many benefits for the lower realm cultivators. Its design was to help cultivators ascend and grant them advantages to survive in the Sky Realms. The primary advantage and the one Crow’s mom was after was the formation of an immortal Body. Before then, she was as vulnerable as any mortal. Each floor she completed was a qualitative improvement of the Soul, and the Body was part of that change.

The things Crow didn’t know about the upper realms would humble him in the future. As much as he tried to overestimate the abilities of upper realm cultivators, he’d realize he was still underestimating the difference in power. The difference between the upper and lower realms would have him question the fairness and even feel thankful he grew up in a less turbulent place.