Tenrik breathed in deep, held it for several seconds, and expelled the breath across the sparse room. His powerful lungs created a visible wind-stream that broke apart upon striking the far room.

The room had no furnishings whatsoever. It was made of powerful, mana-enhanced bricks from a source of stone traded from one of the premiere Tier 8 Sects. Despite the plain appearance, the work put into and the source of the materials making up the room made it one of the most valuable places in his entire palace. The riches and opulence found in the lower reaches were for the visitors, not the occupants. The lesser nobility who wallowed in such extravagance were doomed to never ascend to the levels where the true power resided.

There was only one entrance into the sanctum. Lighting was provided from the tall windows and reflective surfaces comprising the tower that extended into the heavens above. The top of the tower, as far as Tenrik was aware, was the highest point in the entire Realm. The base of the structure, where Tenrik was sitting in repose, was already thousands of feet above ground-level.

It wasn't hubris or arrogance that led Tenrik to construct the impossibly high tower. There was a function to everything he did, but it wasn't time. Not yet.

Tenrik was seated in the lotus position. He only wore a pair of comfortable pants, leaving his feet and torso bare. He was proud of the sculpted muscles he had worked so hard to form, but their beauty was marred by the dark streaks that coursed and pulsed along his skin.

The dark lines covering his body like a tangled web didn't follow any rhyme or reason. They didn't trace his complicated meridian pathways or blood veins. They were a completely chaotic jumbled mess.

Tenrik held still with his breath expelled for long moments. The dark lines crisscrossing his body flared as they fought against his actions. A bit of their corruption was expelled with each of his breathes, and he needed a moment to gather himself for the next expulsion.

A crystal floated in front of him, and as Tenrik took the next deep breath, the tremendously compressed Mana held within the crystal as well as a hint of the Essence of the Realm itself flowed into his body. He held his breath as the Mana and Essence circulated through his body, dispersing into every nook and cranny, rooting out the corruption.

Bits and pieces of the vile darkness attached itself to the Mana and Essence, following along back to his core. He used his own Mana to gather the corruption up as quickly as possible, lest it disperse back into his body, and directed it into his lungs where he expelled it with his breathe.

A dark patch permanently scarred the distant bricks from the countless impacts of corruption. Tenrik had been been at this task countless times even beyond his most recent seclusion. A tipping point had been reached at the start of this seclusion, though, and he had initiated one of the last stretches of his grand plan.

Time ticked on as Tenrik accepted the Mana and Essence of the Realm itself into his being to cleanse it. After several hours, he took in a breath but noticed no movement from the crystal floating in front of himself.

He opened his eyes to spy the completely inert crystal. With a thought, it flew behind him to land in a pile of similar inert crystals. He reached into his subspace to retrieve the next crystal, but there was nothing there.

At first, Tenrik frowned as he searched within the cordoned off area for the next crystal, but then he smiled as he realized the truth. He simply switched his attention to the next compartment within his subspace and extracted another crystal. He took a moment to bring up his ignored Notification Window.

Achievement!

Incorporate the Breath of the Realm into your very being: Tier 1

+500 All Stats. Lowest-Tier Providence achieved

Tenrik's smile turned into a grin and a hearty laugh from deep within his lungs bellowed out, echoing against the walls. The dark lines across his body faded from sight as he paused his exercise.

"Finally!" He cheered. "It won't be long now."

Tenrik had been at his task of expelling the foul corruption he had leaned heavily on in his youth for centuries. He had despaired that he would never completely be rid of the stench of his crutch, but he was nothing if not determined. He had persevered, forcing the Essence of the Realm into his body where it's battle scorched his insides and nearly broke his mind with the pain it brought.

Even his thrice Transcendent Pain Resistance was no match for the weight of the world itself.

Out of that perseverance he had discovered that the effects were exponential. It was slow to start, but it accelerated over time. The start had been excruciatingly slow, though. Almost 90% of his time fighting against the corruption had been on the lowest rungs of the struggle. He had sensed the final turning point just at the start of this round of seclusion.

The world was a fractal. Repeating patterns endlessly. With this fundamental truth, he had speculated that the task of absorbing the higher Tier providence would also accelerate. He didn't know how much time would be saved versus a linear progression, but if it was a fractal pattern, he had already surpassed the 90% threshold. He would know in, hopefully, in a few years whether it followed the fractal pattern or linear progression.

The new crystal was a bit larger than the last. The lines and edges within the crystalline structure were slightly more perfect, and the Mana and Realm Essence compressed within were significantly higher. Not only was there more Mana and Essence contained within the crystal, but it was more pure, as well. The different colors of the rainbow radiated out from the center of the crystal instead of just reflecting from the crystalline structure like the Tier 1 crystals.

Tenrik braced himself and took in a deep breath. The Mana and Realm Essence flowed into his being. He had mentally prepared himself, but the pain was an entire magnitude higher than when he had started with the Tier 1 crystals. His body locked up and his muscles spasmed visibly through his skin. The dark lines reappeared, and their pulsing was more intense as they fought to prevent even a miniscule fraction from being siphoned away by the Essence of the Realm.

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Tenrik had to maintain his focus on the task at hand, even as he felt the creeping tendrils of unconsciousness seep into his mind. He hadn't risked unconsciousness from pain alone for almost a millennia. He bore his willpower down on his own psyche, holding the shroud of darkness and the bliss it promised at bay. His teeth ground together as he circulated the Mana and Essence while keeping his breath.

Eventually, after what felt like weeks of torture but was no more than a moment, he gathered the corruption in his lungs and expelled it with a relieved sigh. The amount of impurities and corruption caught with the next Tier Essence was ten times the amount filtered from the Tier 1 Essence.

The dark, viscous liquid slowly dripped down the wall on the scar before it solidified and added another layer of gunk. Steam rose from the liquid, and if the room hadn't been built from reinforced Tier 8 materials, Tenrik suspected it would have melted the bricks.

Tenrik didn't immediately launch into his next circulation. He panted for breath, recovering from the ordeal, as he thought about the implications.

My Pain Resistance might not be high enough, still, he contemplated. I've spent a small amount of time over the years to bring it up to Level 180 and a fourth Transcendence. I either need to gain an ability to directly fight against the pain brought by the Realm Essence, or I'll need to reach at least Level 201 before I can safely move on to Tier 3. Arrangements need to be made.

With that thought out of the way, he didn't hesitate any longer and took in another deep breath. A lesser man would have given up long before he had reached this point. The bodies of the lesser men laid at Tenrik's feet, though. Literally and metaphorically.

Tenrik continued his circulation. He suffered devastation over and over again. If he had attempted to absorb the Essence of the Realm at a lower Level, it would have melted his body from the inside out. As it was, it was just the most excruciating pain he had ever experienced, and that was saying a lot. The Tier 3 and 4 crystals in his subspace whispered promises of more. He didn't allow the dark thoughts to prevent his path forward, though. Always forward.

"Master," a soft chime intruded on his thoughts as he panted for breath, readying himself for another round. He stopped and looked up. "Your daughter requests an audience."

"Send her away," Tenrik dismissed the intrusion. He gathered his thoughts back to the crystal, but then hesitated. "Wait. Which one?"

"Aeriella, Master," came the reply.

"Have her wait a moment," Tenrik revised his order.

"As you will, Master."

Tenrik stood up and glanced down at his body. The dark lines had once again disappeared, but he had a sheen of sweat and blood covering his body. The battle raging within his body had caused his muscles to clench so hard that they micro-bled. The bleeding then seeped out of his pores along with his sweat.

With a thought, the liquids were banished. He removed his pants, burning them to nothingness in the process, and redressed himself in a severe black robe from his subspace. The robe had gold lining more for the appearance for others than his own vanity, but the materials it was made out of, like everything for his personal use, was of Mana-enhanced Tier 8 materials.

He left the crystal floating in place and strode out of his tower. He stepped out into the open air onto the floating platform that held his sanctum at the apex of the palace. He stepped onto a teleportation circle and zipped across the open air to the only other teleportation circle linked to his sanctum. He descended the stairs to his personal chambers.

His daughter, Aeriella, was seated on a couch in the sitting room, back straight and eyes forward. She glanced up at her father as Tenrik descended the spiral staircase at the edge of the room. He smiled as he Inspected his daughter, pleased with the gains she had made in the time they hadn't seen each other. The little spider hiding in the collar of her robe couldn't escape his attention, and it cowered in fear at his gaze.

Tenrik took a seat at a couch opposite his daughter, and a servant stepped forward to hand him a glass of spirit wine. Aeriella held one of her own, but she had waited to drink from it. He nodded to his daughter with a smile.

"What brings you here, dear?" He asked.

"I request permission to descend to a Tier 4 Region once again," Aeriella replied without preamble.

"Straight to the point," Tenrik said, mirth in his voice.

"I know I'm interrupting your seclusion," Aeriella said. "I don't wish to take up any more of your precious time. I've already gone through all the other channels."

That goes without saying, Tenrik snorted. If she hadn't, the seneschal wouldn't have brought her presence to my attention in the first place.

"If it had been one of the others, they wouldn't have even seen me," Tenrik said. "Just know that I always have time for you."

"Thank you, Divine Lord T-"

"Ah ah ah ah ah," Tenrik interrupted her. He gave her an expectant look. She took a breath and composed herself, smiling sweetly at her father.

"Thank you... Dad."

"That's better. Leave the formalities to those of lesser standing. So, to what purpose do you request to descend to the barbaric lands once again?" Tenrik asked, taking a sip of his spirit wine.

"I go to snatch a husband."

The spirit wine came back up, spraying across the room as Tenrik leaned forward, coughing. He looked up at his daughter with wide eyes. Utter surprise was quickly replaced by fury in his eyes.

"What did you say?" He asked, steel in his voice. "I didn't quite catch that."

Aeriella snapped her head around, flinging her hair tied up in a ponytail behind her shoulder. She took a sip of her diluted wine, looking over the rim of the glass at her father with amusement dancing in her eyes.

"I have found someone worthy of standing beside me," she replied, delicately placing the half-drunk spirit wine on the table in front of her.

"A barbarian... Worthy of standing by your side..." They were more statement than question. "And what makes you think that? Don't let someone's rugged good looks cloud your judgement."

"He might be handsome," Aeriella said, looking down and to the left. "I didn't really pay attention to that." The blush on her cheeks further convinced Tenrik she was lying. She looked back up at him. "It wasn't his looks that caught my attention, though. He's a better swordsman than I am, despite being a Tier 2 Caster. I had to face him with all of my Stats unlocked."

"Now you're just messing with me!" Tenrik exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.

"If you hadn't been in seclusion, you would have seen my report," Aeriella said, trying hard to mask a laugh. "I brought a copy with the relevant information."

She leaned forward and extended a sheaf of papers across the table. Tenrik accepted the papers and leafed through them quickly. He only had to glance at them to gather and process their full content.

"Leave it to my daughter to fall for a man she couldn't crush like a bug with a heavy rock," he chuckled. He tapped his lips in thought as he idly stared at the papers held in his hand. He looked up at his daughter with a sharp look. "There's something missing from these reports. Explain 'snatch' a husband to me."

"I knew I couldn't hide it from you," Aeriella laughed. "He has a woman already."

Tenrik waited for more.

"And? That's it?" Tenrik finally asked. "Who could possibly match up to you that he would deny your offer?"

"She's talented in Space and Time," Aeriella answered.

Tenrik stared at her for several moments.

"Bring them to me," he commanded. "I'll decide if he's worthy, and she would definitely better serve here than in the lands of the barbarians."

"As you command," Aeriella inclined her head.

"Ok, enough of that," Tenrik waved his hands. "Come, show me your progress and let's play some games of chess. I've already interrupted my seclusion, so we might as well make the most of it."

"Of course," Aeriella smiled as she stood up from the couch. She drew her sword as she made her way to a room off to the side designed for some light sparring. "I've met one of the lesser nobility who barely meets my standards for training. I feel like I've made a lot of progress recently."

"Excellent, excellent," Tenrik enthusiastically followed his daughter.

She reminded him of the other reasons besides a hunger for power and improvement for all the stress and pain he put his body through.