Madness

Ryun frowned at his words. Focus Madness is a lie? He tilted his head and spoke. "Explain."

Maleatus flipped the vial over his fingers, playing with it. "Well, not really a lie, more like... Misunderstood? Yes, perhaps that is a better word."

Ryun waited patiently, even though he had many questions. Eventually Maleatus continued.

"What do you think that Focus Madness is?"

Ryun thought about it for a second. He knew what most thought, but he had his own understanding of it. "All focuses shape us, the Cultivation from without, the Class from within, the Skill by anchoring. Madness is the imbalance in between these three Focuses, it is our Souls tearing themselves apart from being pulled in different directions."

Maleatus blinked. "Wow," he said, sounding surprised. "You are actually much closer than I thought. Most would've just said that it was the limitation from the Framework on how powerful we could get."

"Doesn't it mean basically the same thing?" Ryun asked.

"Yes, and no," Maleatus said. "I'm not a great thinker of Aspects, I don't spend ages contemplating what my power means. It's not who I am, but leveling, maximizing the requirements for advancement of Class, that is my thing. And madness, is inevitably a part of that."

He glanced back at the empty vial in his hand. "It was the description that gave me the idea, coupled with the name. The description was as follows: Drinking this elixir will remove both your Class and Cultivation Focus while allowing you to retain all perks that alter your body or soul along with all your current stats and improvements. Allowing you to pick new starting focuses with your current accomplishments."

Ryun's eyes widened for a moment. That explained how he felt so strong. Ryun didn't know what tier Maleatus was, but if he had to guess, he had reached the end of his focus before he drank that elixir, he had the benefit of his removed focuses and what he had gained after, he doubled the stats he gained from advancing. He had leveled his Class to the end twice, refining what his first rise was into whatever Class he held now.

"That is... A very powerful elixir," Ryun said.

Maleatus shook his head. "That isn't the powerful thing. It is what led me to discover that is powerful. Why would there be so many ways of removing focuses? They aren't common, but enough so that those at the peak of their power would be able to find them. What purpose do they serve? To squeeze just a tiny bit more power? And if so, why not the same for Skills?"

Ryun... Didn't know. It had seemed strange that Skills were often left out of such things. He knew that there was a way to remove a skill, but it could very well cripple the person if a wrong anchor was removed.

"Once I used it, things started to fall in place," Maleatus' eyes bore into his. "Have you reached the Peak of the Eternal Realm?"

Ryun tilted his head, but so no reason not to answer. "I have."

"Do you have a Class?" Maleatus asked.

"I've removed it years ago," Ryun answered.

Maleatus grinned. "Have you ever checked what Classes are available to you?"

He had, he still had access to the original ones offered to him on Earth, but also many different ones that he had requirements for. When a person in the Infinite Realm came of age, they were given access to the Classes in a similar way, based on the requirements that they had accomplished. They didn't have to take those Classes, of course, Class stones existed, and some of them had no requirements. People could steer their own destiny. A child that had grown up a baker, would have requirements for related basic Classes, but it could also take up the Class stone for a combat related Class that had no initial requirements. Cultivation was slightly different, it allowed for higher tier Paths to be passed down, but they held more risk. A child might not fit that Path, it might get stuck and unable to advance if the Path was too much for it. A Class only required achievements to progress.

"I have," Ryun answered the question. "I have too many to easily look through."

"Have you looked since you reached the Peak of Eternal?" Maleatus asked.

Ryun narrowed his eyes, then navigated through his screens to find it, as soon as he did, he stood up in surprise, his back straight. He heard Maleatus chuckle, but Ryun ignored it.

His Class choices were gone, all the ones that he had seen there before, and three new ones remained. Ryun looked them over.

Class

Description

Harbinger of the Final End ( Et )

You follow the path of pure Destruction, harnessing the power of your inner spirit. Bring it to all in your way.

Wolf of the End ( Et )

You follow the path of True Death, hunting those whose time has come. Send them to the End.

Sage of the Ends ( Et )

You follow the path of the Ends in their many forms. Harness that knowledge and insight and advance your path.

He had no words to express what he saw. One of the Classes was familiar to him, a variation of his old Class, but the rest… It clicked for him. He had gained those classes as a result of reaching the Peak of Eternal Path, based on the achievements he had accumulated over his life. They were pieces of him.

"How did no one know about this?" Ryun asked as he moved the window aside.

Maleatus gave him a pointed look. "Did no one know? How many people in the world have managed to reach the end of a singular focus without touching the other? And how many of them had survived, how many still live? If any such people exist, I doubt that there would be many of them. And we all know how people like to hoard knowledge."

Ryun grimaced, that part of the Infinite Realm was something that he hated about it the most.

"Or perhaps that knowledge had been spread, we just didn't realize. It is known that having a Class and a Path that are compatible and similar in spirit alleviated some of the Focus Madness. Perhaps someone did manage it, and did spread the knowledge, only it got lost? Twisted somehow. Though, these choices seem tailor made, don't they?"

"Still..." Ryun shook his head. "What of Skills?"

Maleatus nodded, a thoughtful expression on his face. "That's my question as well. It is why I planned on visiting your Sect. I haven't picked any of my offered Paths yet," he paused, his eyes going unfocused for a moment, a sign that he was looking at his screens. "They seem tailor made, perhaps they are a way to raise a secondary focus beyond the limit, maybe even all the way to tier nine without any adverse effects. And yet... I feel like they could be more, like they are not quite there yet. I fear that if I pick one of them now, I would not be able to push them to their last tier without going mad. Perhaps more than what I could otherwise, but not fully. And Skills have to tie into it all somehow, right? Why does the focus madness limit lower if you have more tiers in skills? There is a link somewhere that I have not seen yet. That's what I hoped Vryull could help me figure out."

Ryun inclined his head. "They must," he said, agreeing. Ryun looked at his choices, and... He agreed with what Maleatus had said. He felt a smile blossom on his face unbidden. There was more to this, and he was going to figure it all out.