Jason, however will not start that way. His very path of cultivation forbids it! How can he truly be supported by civilization if all he does is blight? The fall of the early mega-corps proved that no amount of power can truly insulate you. Maybe if this world was a source instead of a sink. But even then, Jason knows it wouldn’t have changed his answer.

The powers around him vibrated and with a single decision would have all streamed into him and supported his cultivation. Without another to contest it, he could have grown at speeds unheard of. But that would have left behind a broken world and broken lives. In fact, this amount of control disturbs Jason.

In his last life, even the gods lacked the power to do anything quite like this. Sure, there are enough beings who try to devour all but they are resisted or at the very least ignored. This realm lacks something. Not will, but rather that will lacks an understanding. Any realm that provides its own power has a natural defense against truly ruinous exploitation of it.

Here though? All the various powers are external. Maybe when they first entered someone could have come and taken it all away without negative side effects. Now, though, it has all infiltrated the very underpinnings of reality. While not as extreme as NeoRealm, this realm is slowly transitioning to being power based. The very way reality works has changed.

Not by much, Jason can at least feel that. Gravity is still king and there won’t be animals flying around with wings that could never support their weight. But that single bit of power that has infiltrated the rules of reality means that at some point in his cultivation, Jason will be able to fly under his own power. Before the powers invaded, only someone truly beyond it, all would be able to.

For now, though, Jason lets go of all these considerations. Instead, he needs to take the second path. To grow civilizations? He had already started on this by sharing cultivation with Courtney. Beyond that, his very act of cultivation had opened some doors to the scientists trying to figure out what had happened.

The substance of reality? Before, many powers had fought for control. Those corruptive elements on one side. Not evil, of course. Rather, they just represented realities different enough to cause harm. Power from a realm with gravity just a touch stronger might have radically different results, but in the end compatible. Not so for energy from a realm where gravity was one of the strong forces instead of a weak one. Without the realms’ will helping, it had all been mixed and now with him as the center those truly foreign powers were being pushed out and reality becoming more substantial.

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Cultivating and ascending towards immortality? What wasn’t now is. The most difficult step achieved. To go from zero to one cheated into existence through his knowledge. It is almost a shame as who knows what paths this change might have cut off. There is no telling what humanity might have accomplished with the various powers that will now be devoted towards pushing the individual forward. But that’s fine and what once could be may become real in the future.

Through Jason’s acts, he had started to grow these concepts and changes allowing the powers he chose to join with reality on a deeper level. Others will come later and choose their own path but he was the first. Even if he was to vanish nothing would change this and through this the powers grow. And through this, a harvest is upon him.

Jason’s efforts both purposeful and accidental, have sown a crop that is now ready for the first harvest. Around him, the powers settle down and continue to integrate with reality while at the same time within Jason’s core his own understanding grows. The walls structure become orderly as if before it was made of random stones and now is made of bricks. Within that, the soil gains a vitality seen only in the most fertile lands. And of course, the plant that is his understanding of ascendance rises higher.

Without taking in extra power, Jason is able to improve his own cultivation purely through the act of solidifying his foundation, helped by the changes he has sparked in the realm. For what was once foreign, both energy and his memories are connected to the greater whole. Through this, limits begin to grow and paths close off.

The first people to notice the changes are the scientists who got the short of the stick when Jason first pushed the corruption away. Stuck back in the labs where they studied those powers instead of being able to go out and explore the new phenomena they witness micro portals close early. Because of course, despite how bad the stuff is, it didn’t stop anyone from opening portals to study it even more. Not that the larger portals were affected yet. Rather, just the smallest temporary portals meant to last days started to close early. The time those connections could last cut in half as for the first time the realm realized it didn’t have to put up with those influences.

What would be unnoticed except as statistical anomalies are the after effects of Jason spreading out his concepts of civilization and substance. Without families living next to him anymore, no one is around to realize that general wear and tear of things has been reduced. And beyond that, who would pay attention to the fact that kids are a little more willing to learn or that arguments don’t become as toxic? Only years later would anyone even notice these changes by searching through logs about how often lights had to be replaced and other similar logs.

Though most important for Jason at the time was he finally managed to complete a session of cultivation without interruption. Having started early and not logged in over the entire night he managed to carve out more than an hour to cultivate.