The Repeating End

Ryun stepped away as he turned to contemplating the ramifications of what he had just learned, Maleatus did the same. He moved to an adjacent hill, giving both some privacy. He didn't know the man well, but he could recognize a kindred spirit, someone who wanted to advance and loved discovering a way forward. Even if it was in a different manner.

Ryun had the time to think, at least. It would take a couple of days for Selia and the others to arrive, so Ryun turned his attention to more productive things. The conversation with Maleatus had fired up a blaze inside his heart, there were still things that he didn't know, that he could discover. He reached out to Selia and repeated all that Maleatus had revealed.

"You should see if we could acquire some Focus removing elixirs," Ryun sent to her.

"If what you and Mal believe is true, then... Curses," Selia cursed. "If I remove my Class, I will lose a big piece of my power."

"Maleatus has said that his new Class had leveled fast and was an improvement on everything that he had. He gained new perks, if you use a lesser elixir than his, you will lose yours, but you will gain stronger ones back."

"I can't believe that a thing like that elixir exists, but you are right. I'll scour the auctions and place bids. Perhaps Vitor would be willing to help. If he knows that an elixir such as that exists, he might try and recreate it."

Ryun hadn't thought about that, but it was a good idea. "Get in contact with him if you can, but our focus should, for now at least, be Tali."

"Of course," Selia responded. "We are still a few days out, but I am pushing our new airship as fast as it can go."

"That gives me time to advance my second Path and prepare for the fight," he sent.

"Let me know if anything changes, or if you need any help," Selia added.

Ryun sent her his love and pushed their connection aside. He didn't close it, he had promised to never do that again, but he turned his attention now to other things.

He had to prepare for the very real possibility of encountering the yeti. With his advancement to the Peak of the Eternal Realm, there was no longer any need for him to hold his secondary Path back. He had spent the last several years training, improving, and theorizing on many things. He hadn't put many of those things into practice, such as the changes to his second Path techniques. Though it wasn't like there was some official way to do it, techniques granted by the Framework were guidelines, an assist system that taught a person how techniques should work. It was not a necessary thing, though obviously there was a limit to what kind of a technique one could use. Ryun and Selia both could use each other’s techniques, not just because they were linked, but because those techniques were compatible with their Qi and Paths. The Path of the Unbreakable Wall was compatible with the techniques of her Path of the Vision Forging, and parts of her Path of Unwavering Impact were compatible with his Path of the Final End.

He could, or at least should be able to use any technique that was compatible with his Path and Qi. He had spent a decade attempting to use Erdania's techniques and had only a tiny bit of progress. He was certain that it was possible, but he had never managed to do it fully. He had studied her techniques and managed to move his Qi through his channels in the same patterns that she used, but ultimately, he always failed to produce the desired effect. He knew that there was something missing, something that the Framework enabled automatically with the techniques that it granted, something that Ryun did on his own unconsciously when he altered his already known techniques. Though he felt like it had to do with Soul, as most things seemingly did.

He shook his head and pushed those thoughts aside, there were too many things calling on his attention with Maleatus' revelations, he had drifted away from his task. He turned his attention back to the task at hand. He had been pulling in the Essence from around him, swallowing it up in big gulps, leveraging his Aura and even his instrument to increase his gathering speed. The territory was tier 9, which meant that he didn't lose any benefits when he converted the gathered Essence to Oblivion and cycled. He started advancing his second Path. The first upgrade was his Aspect Mastery, and here he had no choice, as he had expected. Eratemus had already told him what would happen. And he looked at the new perk that just added True Death to his perk. It was what happened to people that had a second Aspect, his situation was a bit different, but he had suspected that this would happen ever since he got more familiar with True Death.

Master of Oblivion and True Death

You may exert influence on Oblivion and True Death Essence around you. +20% to endurance and +30% to wisdom.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

He cycled again, advancing to the next stage. His next choices were non-perk rewards, the same as they were for Peak Lord.

Early Ascended Improvement Available

Stat Boost

Gain +500 to two base stats of your choice permanently.

Aspect Quality Improvement

Improve your Aspect tier/s by 1 tier.

Core and Conduits Improvement

Improve your Core and Conduits. Gain +20% to Qi speed and +20% to current Core capacity.

The choices were similar to his Peak Lord ones, just without a perk change. The Aspect Quality one was interesting, it would be of great help to many who reached this high without perfect Cultivation, without improving their Aspect to tier nine. To him, it was useless. The stats were likewise not that important. The Core and Conduits though… He hadn’t picked that the last time, the percentage wouldn’t have mattered much to him back then. But now, 20% was a much different figure. His core was large now, increasing it further would be incredible. He made his choice and picked the last option.

He focused and advanced again. Then looked at the new offerings.

Coming of the End

You may manifest the core ideas behind your power, allowing you to manifest a field within your domain of influence which lets you remove core ideas from the Essences you interact with. +35% to wisdom.

Oblivion's Reflection

You may manifest the core principles behind your power. Create a field within your area of control which erodes the laws of reality based on your will and shuts down use of all sensory powers aside from those related to oblivion. +30% to wisdom.

Only two choices for his Power Manifest it seemed. He wasn't surprised. The Framework always presented three best choices, if the chosen met the requirements for at least three that is. Obviously with the Path that Ryun walked, he wouldn't meet requirements for that many, not now when he was so far down his Path. He had specialized enough.

He read through his choices again, noting that one was a direct upgrade and the other was suspiciously themed. If he hadn't had the conversation with Maleatus, he probably wouldn't have considered the new perk. Mostly because it seemed like it did the same thing, and that he lost the ability to shut down sensory powers. And yet, the more he read, the more he became convinced that it was the better perk. It wasn't flavored with just Oblivion, but the concept of the End. Ryun was both the Oblivion which was a constant, a string that existed before and will exist again, Beginning and the End. And the True Death, the final return of a Soul to its Origin.

And the wording of the Coming of the End made him suspect that he would be able to do more with it. He hesitated for a moment, unsure if picking it would be wise so close to conflict. He would have to get used to it, and yet, the perk called to him. He took a deep breath and picked it. He hadn't realized how something as simple as taking a breath could be centering in a way. He shook his head and moved on.

His Ascended State was next.

True Oblivion Ascendancy

Enter your Ascended State, while in this state all damage sources are reduced by 99% and any Essence in your immediate surrounding that is disintegrated by Oblivion converts into increased stats and increased regeneration of all sources. +30% to intelligence and wisdom.

The Pull of the End

Enter your Ascended State, while in this state all things within your domain of influence hasten toward their End. All powers weaken and all life is shortened based on your will. While in this state your being is fueled by the lessening of the world around you, increasing your stats and restoring your being. +30% to intelligence and wisdom.

Ryun frowned as once more the End appeared. It felt like the Framework was trying to tell him something. The second perk appeared weaker, perhaps only because he lost near invulnerability that Oblivion Ascendancy granted, and yet there were things in the new perk that gave him hints. The weakening of powers and life was something that seemed powerful, but it was the repeat of the words domain of influence that intrigued him. Technically, his domain of influence, if he understood everything correctly, was the area that he could influence, which was incredibly large. His Aura could spread far, and his perception even farther. But he wasn't certain if that was correct. Still, his talk with Maleatus was fresh in his mind. It seemed that aligning his powers along a certain path was required to be able to rise higher, to avoid madness, or imbalance.

It was risky, changing things so close to the conflict, but he had always followed his instincts, and now they were screaming at him. He glared at the choices for a little while, and then he made his choice, taking the Pull of the End.

He didn't have the time to spare and test his powers out, not yet. He had more advancing to do.