The New World
Chapter 452: To Devote Everything

I laughed before cracking my neck, the sound echoing in the hall. "If I'm honest, I like how authentic you are." Torix swung his cape. "But

I laughed before cracking my neck, the sound echoing in the hall.

"If I'm honest, I like how authentic you are."

Torix swung his cape.

"But of course. Now, there is work to be done and blood left to be spilled."

He raised his hands. The supplies began amassing into the enormous underground dome under the frozen ocean. The undead peered towards their leader, and they began bowing. The bows spread until an entire army kneeled before their leader.

Torix spread his arms, and the light cast him in shadow as I gazed up. He mouthed.

"Let us begin my ascension."

Over the course of the next week, we established the groundwork for the ritual. We erected a dozen pylons around a central monolith, and we connected them via artificially constructed leylines. They gathered energy from across the entire desolate continent. Considering no one survived here, we doubted anyone would mind.

It was an issue we prepared for. Torix's entire ritual took up an enormous amount of mana, supplies, and life force. For our guild, getting the first two parts was easy. Life force? Eh, well, not so much. Unlike last time, Torix didn't want to finish the ritual by using up my longevity. I tried to elaborate on how a few thousand years wouldn't matter, but he refused to even entertain the thought.

During the discussion, Torix glared at me.

"How can you expect a master to be effective when he lives by siphoning the wealth, prosperity, and abilities of his disciple?"

I raised my palms to him.

"Isn't that why people take on disciples in the first place?"

"And precisely what has instilled such a foolish into you?"

I mentally rummaged through many of the books, passages, and even poems Torix left me as I talked.

"The vast majority of your library, actually. From what I've read, a master banks on the inherent talent of their follower, and they hope it exceeds their own. If that happens, they aim to take a portion of the disciple's earnings using their accumulated gratitude as the currency for the exchange. This allows the master to gain large profits from small actions without using morally tenuous methods. It's a win-win for both parties, assuming the relationship remains harmonious."

Torix shook his head.

"Firstly, it would serve you well to not reread passages out of addendums verbatim."

I scoffed.

"It's your addendum."

"All the more reason not to do so as I already know the information therein. Now, obvious criticisms aside, you've certainly been reading through that library I lent you so long ago. Excellent of you to use your resources, but you must understand when to question your sources. The authors of that documentation are individuals who have hit the absolute zenith of their personal ability, and that peak is mediocrity incarnate."

A capricious smile lined my lips.

"Does that include anyone writing the addendums?"

He telekinetically flicked at me. I flicked back. We kept flicking, continuing a mock flicking battle for a while. We dove. We ducked. We performed entirely excessive dodging maneuvers before I got lodged halfway in the ice. Torix laughed while brushing himself off. Torix pressed his fingertips together.

"Very cheeky of you, disciple, but I'd say yes, addendums are different. That aside, the writers of those passages lack the will, resolve, or ingenuity to construct further augments to their own path or power. This is why they've taken on disciples. They've bottlenecked."

Torix's eyes flared red.

"These supposed masters aim to take what isn't theirs by grooming the young to serve the old. It's pathetic. Even worse are those that are sexual within these relations. Those misgivings are part of why I took a rather hands-off approach to your tutelage. Certainly, I could've constructed a more direct path to your growth, but I cannot trust myself to do so out of the goodness of my heart."

I ripped myself out of the ice.

"To be fair, you did help nudge me in the right direction from time to time. I don't think you were pulling me into the strict confines of a lich whenever you did so either."

Torix put a hand on his chest.

"I am a professor at heart, and my soul belongs to my studies. If I can't answer my student's earnest questions honestly and without bias, then I deserve nothing short of death."

I swirled the crushed ice back together into a snowman.

"Well then, it sounds like you're trying to limit your more maniacal leanings by emphasizing your good points. Not a bad strategy."

Torix stood tall.

"And should I fail, then that is simply my limit. You should know that was and still is my intention, though we all falter at times. It's also why I left you with so many resources on the wider world that I'd yet seen. I wanted you to get your own idea of the universe and test your theories. If you forged your worldview on your own terms, it would sustain itself far better than something granted to you by me."

I created a carrot nose out of crystallized augmentation mana, the energy crackling.

"Really, my question is, why would anyone even take on a disciple if there's nothing to gain? Why would you?"

Torix jeered while settling into his rant.

"Isn't it obvious? To build a legacy, one enacted on by knowledge. We all live lives because of our ancestors and the accrued experience they died to obtain. There is little more inspiring than knowing my steps and actions will do the same for future generations as well."

I smiled.

"For a lich, you sound very pure of heart. It's quite wholesome."

"In regards to knowledge, I certainly am. In all else? Well, I have my failings."

Torix took out the corpses of several eldritch.

"Speaking of, these are a few failed experiments. I'm wielding them for labor."

I raised a brow.

"Do you think necromancy is worse or better than indentured servitude? Is it different, and how so?"

"It's circumstantial. These were bloodthirsty monsters hellbent on destroying anything they could get their hands on. However, performing these rites on peaceful individuals is no different than forcefully induced slavery, assuming I killed them."

He revived a few of the monster corpses, and he nested a will into their bodies to do so. I inspected the mind of one of the monsters, a koi fish that flew through the air in an ethereal ghost form. It felt warm and cold in tandem, like ice flowing through fire. I reached up a hand, and a fish flowed across my fingertips.

"I've always wondered how you created these beings."

Torix raised a hand, and the koi nestled onto the top of his finger.

"It's something of a talent, I suppose. There are plenty of undead across the cosmos, and they have many means of creating the unliving. Reanimation is the most likely, along with conscious imbuement. This process was the latter, though I prefer the former. Regardless of the magical process used, the result would actually depend on whether or not you consider puppetry to be the undead."

I leaned to the koi.

"Aren't all the undead your servants? Wouldn't that mean they're puppets by definition?"

"Some are, and some are not. I don't consider the simplest of my creations to be undead, as they lack free will. That is all the undead are - a different kind of life. To me, without the spark of sapience, life isn't truly alive. Thus, neither would undeath be the undead without the same concepts applied. That spark is in all living things, after all, and undeath is just another means to that same end."

The koi floated off his finger.

"The reformed that lack a will are simply constructs not unlike machines or puppets. When needed, I simply build them with bodies, blood, and bones instead of bolts, metal, and screws. They are a different kind of machinery, essentially."

"Do you think that means the Overseers and Sentinels are constructs?"

"I'm of the opinion that they are not, but they are much closer to that concept than either you or I. As with most things, they exist on a spectrum, this spectrum being one of free will and pure servitude. These minions I've made are more aligned with subservience, while my most potent undead serve with far more freedom."

"I don't remember you using them very often. Well, that I've seen, at least."

"They handle far more important tasks than mere grunt work. As an example, one of my undead generals scouted the Elysium village in the southern portion of the Americas. Without their interference, it would've been far more difficult to disperse that colony before it became a landing point for Elysium's insidious intent."

Curiosity sparked in me.

"Do these free undead have names?"

Torix paused. He turned away.

"They do."

A childish wonder arose.

"Could you introduce me to them? They sound incredible. One of them has to be a death knight, right?"

Another odd pause passed over us. Torix coughed into a hand.

"I suppose. It isn't as if I've hidden them, though I'll have to ask each of them if they wish to meet you."

I nodded with a smile.

"Of course. We have to make sure they keep that free will and all that, right?"

His eyes dimmed.

"Certainly. Now, there's still more work left before we may begin this operation. We must get to it before handling Amara's origin mission."

I gave Torix a two-finger salute.

"You said it, chief. Onwards."

He reached out a hand and gave me a telekinetic flick, but his eyes glowed brighter. We began working, and it diverged from the terraforming project wildly. Unlike the spirit-summoning ritual, this rite focused entirely on stability. This stemmed from the different nature of the rites; Torix wasn't attempting to construct a new mind. He shuttled his psyche from one body to the next.

In that regard, Torix worried more about the raw stats of the new body. The fresh, fully forged golem would be overwhelmingly more powerful than his current iteration, and it would strain Torix's mind to wield it. It was one of the many cons to having a soul bound to an unliving entity.

It took time to adjust to a new body and its limitations. Maintenance was always a concern, along with inferior stats post-transfer. For individuals with low strength, endurance, and agility like Torix, the lower stats weren't actually a loss. Few bodies he found had lower physical stats than he did, meaning they almost always gave him a nice boost.

This boost came with risks, however. If Torix lost control of his new vessel, he'd be in the same situation as an end-state eldritch. Torix's body and its instincts would overwhelm his soul, and he'd become beholden to its physical desires. In essence, he wouldn't be a puppeteer of his body but an internal observer.

Torix wanted nothing to do with that haunting fate, and Schema didn't appreciate it, either. By giving the individual an unknown status, Schema turned an individual into a bag of experience points and tree unlocks.

However, the pros of a new body were obvious. Lichdom was a path to immortality. If one could maintain their sense of self in the face of eternity, then they would never die. A new form also allowed someone to cheat Schema's system and its constraints. After all, if Torix succeeded, he would gain physical stats that rivaled my own.

He'd become a warrior lich. It was a spicy combo, if I did say so myself.

To ensure a smooth transition, Torix collected quite a few materials to help stabilize everything. The first set involved many contrasting elements. Fire and water, life and death, even earth and air, Torix took opposing resources and had them battle for dominance.

They tore each other apart within isolated subspaces, the subtle space magic still impressive. Torix adjusted the ratios of each mana-imbibed space until they met a balance. Once done, we set the battles atop the twelve pylons and the central monolith. Torix oriented the elemental battle over the site, and over time, the material's constant struggle gave way to a violent harmony, one with a growing resonance.

The monolith at the center absorbed this cacophony of sound and conflict, becoming a catalyst for change, chaos, and war. Above the monolith, Torix's new body hovered. I had made it like many of the other golems, but with a few adjustments. The first involved Torix's general aesthetic. He enjoyed the appearance of a robed skeleton. The bones were easily mimicked, but metallic cloth required some actual engineering.

After looking through a few books about cloth, I had to weave together many tiny strands of metal. I'd done so in the past, but the resulting weave mirrored burlap's consistency. Wanting to do a better job, I did some actual research. That's why these wires came together before I connected them over the skeletal frame's shoulders.

It had taken several days of painstaking telekinesis to take the hundreds of wires and weave them together into a lattice. If not for the hundred and fifty-plus minds on the ask, I'd of been unable to handle something so absurdly difficult in time, but I was legion. I could tackle projects that required many, tedious or not.

Having finished the robes, I crafted a crown of thorns to match, taking time to craft it as an actual artifact with a radiant blue core hidden within the bristles. The staff and grimoire followed later, each a powerful treasure in their own right. The sharp, angular designs were menacing, and I gave everything the texture of raw iron.

I asked for any revisions, and Torix gave me plenty. Haunting yet tempered, Torix wanted it all. The metal titan I crafted was far from enough, so I let my primordial aura encompass my being. It surged, turning the calm center of my mind into a raging storm.

Of course. Torix was utterly correct. This wasn't even close to being enough. The current model was far from refined, and it carried little in the way of elegance. To further its depth, I dismantled the mistake. Torix tried to interject to spare my feelings, but I wouldn't hear it. In fact, it disgusted me.

It's plenty, he says? It was plenty of absolute shite.

To begin the new creation, I crafted many multilayered runic panels. It was something I'd been wanting to try for a while - multilayered runes. After all, the cipher worked in three dimensions: length, width, and height. If I could implement more methods for using those dimensions, I would be able to get more out of the cipher. If anything, the highest form of the cipher was likely a sculpture rather than simple characters on a page.

So, I created runes that traveled across many panels of my dimensional fabric. In many ways, the panels came out looking like a book that wouldn't open, its secrets hidden from all. All but me. M'yes. I let out an evil laugh, relishing in an unfounded paranoia. As I kept composing panel after panel, Torix leaned over to me.

"This, ahem, appears unsafe."

I raised a hand, making a circle with my thumb and index finger.

"No. It must be...Perfection."

My work continued for three days and nights. Nothing else mattered as the council of Daniels and I went to work. We argued and iterated, killing the worst of our ideas and letting the best fight. In a simulation of evolution, we destroyed the weaknesses that our minds conjured up by having them annihilate one another.

It was beautiful. A beautiful destruction.

We improved. Our ideas became sharper. Leaner. Superior. It was always a painful proposition to admit how foolish our initial designs were, but what was progress, if not pain? The Daniels and I continued relentlessly hounding our iterations, improving and crafting one panel after the next. As we finished on the third day, Torix wiped his hand down his face.

"Am I supposed to be your science experiment?"

I shook a hand at the golem with gusto.

"Can't you see? It's perfect."

It wasn't. Far from it, actually. The design carried so many flaws and failings. I winced, even thinking about how many of the designs wouldn't hold up to scrutiny. Pathetic. Awful. Like staring at a shining turd. I shook my head in resignation. Torix deserved better, yet this was the absolute limit of my and the other Daniels' potentials.

It left me humbled at the overengineered nonsense. Torix inspected parts of it.

"It does match the same aesthetic as before, of which I was quite the fan, by the way."

I raised a brow.

"Are you certain? I can scrap this-"

Torix waved a hand.

"Enough. This is plenty. Aside from that, you've developed quite the case of neuroticism over these last few days, haven't you?"

I shifted auras back to quintessence. The crushing sense of perfectionism faded.

"Eh, not really. It's more like my dimensional wake gives me access to multiple personalities. In reality, they're just shades of myself, and I kind of have to...Keep them in check when they emerge."

Torix interlocked his hands behind himself.

"It could be a partial possession by the Old One that rules over that specific mana type."

I took a breath.

"I thought of that, but I don't think so. You see, my dimensional wakes do spawn after uncovering mana, but they don't require mana. Instead, they are like...Hmm, me altering the domain under my control. It's an emulation of their power, but not the genuine article."

I held a hand, dollops of primordial mana rising from my palm.

"This energy is the actual thing, and I think it's Eonoth's attempt to bait me into becoming one of his avatars. That's the case with everyone. The mana is the poisoned apple they offer. However, I'm a supposed multiverse. That means I can take on any number of different forms, assuming there's some kind of mana associated with it."

I squashed the mana.

"So I can bend and turn my domain into areas that manifest similar paths of energy even without the energy itself. I become its source instead of the Old One."

Torix scoffed.

"You mirror a skinwalker but for mana instead of flesh?"

I shrugged.

"Maybe, if a skinwalker is what I think it is. Either way, I don't actually end up feeling more of my mind getting seized by mana or an Old One whenever I use my dimensional wakes. Instead, I am mimicking their power."

Torix put a hand on one of the pylons.

"That sounds rather dangerous."

I raised a hand.

"It is, but one day, I won't need to mimic them. I'll make mana my own."

Torix's eyes flared.

"I love the ambition in regards to yourself. However-"

He gazed at the constructed golem, its entire body littered with runic carvings, fine-flowing fabrics, and crafted gear.

"My new body isn't one of those times, now is it?"

I turned a palm to it.

"I mean, come on. It's not that bad, it is?"

Torix reached up and put a hand on the golem's shoulder.

"I like it. Aside from that, I like how this is only 25 feet tall. Enormous, yes, but it's not so large that I can't walk the halls of Mt. Verner. Gah, I would hate to constantly need to shrink myself."

"Oh man, do I understand that sentiment, but you do get used to it. Eventually."

Torix swished his hand.

"Well then, nothing ventured, nothing gained...This will do."

I smiled.

"Onto the next task."

We moved on to other parts of the ritual, having delayed them for my manic onset of crafting. Many of the runes across the central monolith glowed with the color of different elements, and those energies funneled to the uppermost point of the gray, angular monolith. As time passed, Torix dumped more elements at the foot of each pylon.

They feasted on the energy, and I molded a few calderas to hold the supplies, putting them on the twelve outer pylons. Torix refined the forces of each treasure, and my dimensional fabric acted as a nice holding cell for all the odd trinkets.

Like this, a day passed. Then two. I helped supply the ritual with my own mana, handling much of the ritual's need for raw, unrestrained power. Even when careful, I would've overwhelmed it if not for the tempering of the pylons. Their elemental harmony channeled the energy I fed the ritual, ensuring I didn't blow everything up.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

That energy flooded the pylons before converting into more flavored, elemental energies. Torix directed those bursts, creating a raging cyclone of energy at the central monolith. It ate away at the ice, creating a small crevice reaching up to the surface miles above. On the third day, Torix turned to me.

"It's time for me to unshackle these mortal coils, wouldn't you say?"

"I'd probably say it differently, but as far as the sentiment is concerned, hell yeah."

I peered at the rune-covered body. I'd spent quite some time on it during our stay here. I finished my inane, frenzied carvings by adding cipheric augments for necromancy. The sleek designs originated from Torix himself. Well, conceptually. I had the actual carving skills and know-how. He offered the perspective that painted the intent of the runes themselves.

That intent bled into every aspect of the armor. It would enhance skills such as speaking, thought processing, and mana manipulation. Torix's abilities would multiply not just from attributes but these carvings as well. Torix marveled at the new vessel for his soul.

"It is a thing of dark beauty. I look forward to using it to march across the many continents of this world and conquer them."

I sighed.

"Are you finally realizing your dreams of becoming a leader of an undead army?"

"I've done so during several of our campaigns, but I did so under your protection. It was fulfilling in its own way, but to wage a war on the living...It is a tantalizing prospect."

I raised my brow.

"That's an interesting way to word it. You know, we'll still be focusing on the welfare of humanity and even on sentient eldritch when we can."

Torix waved a hand at me.

"Certainly, but having so much of my time taken up by the university and Mt. Verner has left me restless. I wish to gain accolades, wage wars against the monsters that roam these lands, and spread knowledge to all corners of this world. While I am grateful to those who have given me a home here, I'm exhausted with the logistics of a city and its citizens."

A silence passed over us before I took a deep breath.

"Torix...I never thanked you properly for doing that all this time. I've been having you be the actual guild leader of my guild in my stead, and I'm sorry. It's a lot to put on anybody, but especially a friend."

Torix watched the elemental cyclone harmonize around the metal monolith.

"It's something born out of necessity. You had no choice. I was competent and trustworthy. The moment you found anyone who could handle portions of the project, you gave it to them willingly. The load has lessened over the years, as it were."

The elemental storm radiated on the reflections of Torix's metal body. He murmured,

"Speaking of our new lead economist, I have my misgivings if you'll hear them."

"You mean Alfonso and his temperament? Don't worry. I've got a few contingencies in place to handle any issues that may crop up."

Torix's eyes flared bright.

"Such as?"

"Firstly, the executive is reviewing Alfonso's documentation and the systems he uses for his accounting."

Torix leaned away.

"Ugh. While I respect its strength and force of will, that golem is quite young. Do you honestly believe it can handle the scheming of a centuries-old bureaucrat?"

I smiled.

"Not at all. However, I think it can filter out the most obvious attempts at overt control and a few of the less obvious ones."

"I'll assume it isn't the only backup in place then?"

My smile deepened.

"That's right. I learned from Obolis that the albony had a culture revolving around extreme capitalism. It's a fine method of production, but it needs tempering from certain incentives and failings. Otherwise, resources are burned through, and people are taken advantage of. That, and the economic style tends to distribute out expenses when it can. E.g., a company won't take responsibility for the long-term health repercussions from using toxic materials."

Torix crossed his arms.

"Ooh, philosophy once more. I will say that taking stances on larger ideologies doesn't always result in good decisions, whether they be economic or political. Any leader is tempered best by pragmatism first and idealism second. Or perhaps not at all, if I could be so honest."

I nodded.

"Understanding and classifying the albony's ideological structure lets me communicate what they do and have done more efficiently. That's why I've done so, but generalizations always fail to capture nuance. Limitations of language aside, I think the albony will attempt to finagle resources out of us in perpetuity. It's a nuisance, but I can also direct that same greed at our enemies and opponents."

Torix steepled his hands together.

"Hm. While wise to use someone's demerits as a resource, I don't see how that protects our faction from their greed."

"It will keep them more preoccupied. Florence has been meeting with many of the influential leaders I saved during the lottery. He's setting up negotiations, ones where we really don't know much of anything. That's where the albony will help us with their general economic nuance and knowledge for trade deals. After all, they have perspective, something we sorely lack."

Torix waved a hand.

"This helps mitigate the problem, though it will certainly still be present."

I took a breath.

"That's where the third source of power balance comes from. I've set up an economic council for my faction. It has representatives from every race that were democratically elected."

Torix scoffed.

"When did you find time for all of this?"

"I didn't. I sent a message to a few of the community leaders for various districts in Mt. Verner. They organized everything and got this entire project off the ground. It only took a few messages on my part, along with some funding to keep people interested."

"Did you find these people trustworthy?"

"Some of them, but I think trust isn't the most reliable currency for this kind of thing. I mean, what kind of person wants to run an economic council?"

Torix shrugged.

"A greedy bastard."

I swung a hand.

"That's right, so how in the hell can I find people to put my trust in?"

Torix took a breath.

"It's a rather pressing conundrum that I've struggled with myself. I have no answer to it."

I put my hands on my hips.

"I think I do. Instead of trusting in their goodwill, I'll change the paradigm. I'll trust their greed instead."

Torix's eyes flared.

"Ooh, how so?

"I'll create a balance of powers so that they keep each other in check."

I weighed my hands back and forth.

"After all, I can't always have people that are morally incorruptible leading every position in my empire. Greedy people will fall between the cracks in my judgment."

I spread my arms.

"Therefore, I'm setting up systems of power where everybody's self-interest and greed duke it out. As for me, I don't want to have to oversee every little detail. One thing I don't mind is enforcing a no-violence policy using my raw power and strength. Knowing that they can't kill each other, I can simply set every party so that they have a roughly equal amount of influence and responsibility."

Torix gestured at the monolith.

"You're creating perpetual conflict that will essentially direct the greed of ruling officials against each other, preventing them from having the time for embezzling or fraud. Did my disciple grow up and learn to adore politics, or am I dreaming?"

I shook my head.

"It's actually the opposite. I'm tired of hand-holding every part of the empire and its growth. I want to create self-sustaining systems before handing off the reigns to someone else. If I make them well enough, then people find purpose within those systems, and I'll get more of what I want."

"Which is what, exactly?"

I gazed at the seafoam-colored ice above. Light poured in, dappled by the endless, cold ripples.

"I want to explore the wider cosmos. I want to have adventures and see what the vast galaxy has to offer. Once I'm able to get a better understanding of our place in it all, I can use that hard-earned wisdom to direct us with more understanding and awareness."

"This all sounds like an entirely different direction than the one you've been taking. What inspired you?"

"Diesel."

"Ah. His projects are immaculate, but I don't know if they involve this level of philosophic detail."

"They do. He mentioned using old-world aesthetics to get people on board with our infrastructure project. If you think about it, he'll be hiring people who are old-world artists, locals, and community leaders. They'll work with us, see how we do things, and join our cause. It's a positive cycle that feeds itself, and it happens because we're doing the right thing the right way."

I put my hands on my hips.

"If that isn't a model for how to live, then nothing is. Oh yeah, and when he's finished, Diesel will leave a project with people in place to maintain it for however long we need. I'll be doing the same with an auditing company."

"That's quite the entrepreneurial ambition."

"If I'm honest, I don't care about the money they'll make. I do care how well they'll be checking on everybody, and I'll even have a third-party, Schema-run organization double-check the documents every five years as well. If someone manages to get past all these stopgaps to skim off the top, then they earned whatever money they've stolen."

Torix shrugged.

"It's not as if either of us have ever cared for money before, regardless. What are stolen pennies to the well-adjusted?"

I took in a frigid breath.

"They're means of demonstrating disrespect and law-breaking. Just as well it's not a good idea to let people steal from me. It sets an undue precedent."

The monolith at the center of Torix's ritual hit its absolute zenith of resonance. It thrummed with enough force to crack bone and till soil. Torix stepped up to it.

"I'd love to continue this conversation as I find it fascinating. However, it's time."

I took a step back, getting outside of the pylon's perimeter. Torix hovered towards the center. Once next to the central monolith, he sat cross-legged and began culling the minds of the many eldritch near here. Their mental energy flooded into the ritual, and a barrier formed around the pylons. As Torix culled the populace, I performed a few mental calculations and frowned.

"There's nowhere near enough bodies for the ritual here."

Torix nodded.

"Indeed. I'll be using my own stockpiled minions for the cause."

I rolled my shoulders and opened my dimensional storage.

"Actually, I have an alternative."

I pulled out one of the primevals from L-7. The glacial beast matched the frozen terrain here, and like a lavender infection, it crystallized the frozen sea around us into void ice. Its mind was a chaotic, distraught tumbling of drowned thoughts, and it carried immense power that far exceeded all the eldritch here combined.

Torix's cape ruffled behind him, and his eyes shimmered purple. Fear leaked into his voice.

"That's quite the monster you've put on a leash."

I gazed at it, disgusted.

"Yes. It is. I think killing it would be a service, considering what I've already done to the poor thing. Do you mind mentally taking it out?"

Torix took a breath.

"I don't know if I can."

I raised a brow. Torix gestured to the monster.

"Have you ever inspected one of these creatures?"

"I can't remember, but I don't think so."

"Perhaps you should."

I turned and did it. I let out a sharp breath.

The Sound of Winter | Lvl: 41,234 | Guild: Eldritch | State: Corrupted - The Sound of Winter is a strange life form found on the planet Leviathan-7 outside of systemized space. Upon that planet, it was able to find life amongst a storm of chaos and brutality, eventually rising to the status of a king among kings. It arose from the bones of its brethren, a force of nature incarnated as a concept given form.

It carries its title through carnage and horror. The Sound of Winter holds enough ice energy within itself to destroy continents and end entire species. Its abilities are manifold. Firstly, its ability to control temperature enables the absolute destruction of life, matter, and even causality within confined spaces. This general manipulation has allowed the once simple ice elemental to take on a different role.

In many ways, it has evolved into a harbinger of destruction. If it arrives on an undefended world, the entirety of the planet will be turned into a wasteland. The Sound of Winter may then bend the world to facilitate certain kinds of growth involving various ice affinities. Over the course of millennia, it will siphon all the life force of a planet to generate as much energy as it can.

By absorbing the residual energy, it inevitably loses its physical form and becomes a heightened, ethereal existence. At that point, the end state eldritch enters an entirely different lifestyle. It will travel between worlds and convert them into icy tundras and frozen domains for its expanding pocket of a galaxy. If it is able to consume multiple planets, it can evolve further into a causality-disrupting entity capable of warping entire lightyears of space.

In its current state, this is a monster capable of leaving Earth as a cold, desolate badland within several decades. While you can destroy it, the resulting battle will leave the planet scarred. It must be stopped.

I murmured.

"Wow...They're, uh, a bit stronger than I expected."

"Indeed. While I do think of myself as an excellent mage who's able to eliminate foes above my level, I am not close enough to this monster's abilities that I may bridge the gap between us. It's simply too overwhelming a difference in raw attributes."

I put a hand on the eldritch's head.

"I've already left its mind hollowed out with a mana flood. Does that change your ability to conquer it?"

"Though I wish it wasn't the case, I doubt that changes anything. While I still fashion my mind magic as more developed and nuanced than yours, the difference in our abilities is also liberally apparent here. I couldn't conquer the soul of something this unique and powerful. It's something...Ominous and foreboding. When I stare at it-"

Torix shivered.

"My mind and thoughts go cold. It goes to my depths in a way few enemies have. The fact you conquered many of these entities makes me dwell more on your stay in Leviathan-7. It must've been a rather...Tumultuous affair."

My eyes went cold, but not from the Sound of Winter.

"Yeah. It was a wake-up call."

A quiet passed over us, and it settled like an uncomfortable truth over our shoulders. Torix crossed his arms.

"I'm no psychologist, but perhaps there's more to unpack there?"

I let out a scathing laugh.

"Definitely, but it's not complex. I met with plenty of high-level individuals who ended up being subservient to Elysium and Valgus. The rulers and I fought them, and only Shalahora and I survived. You know, I thought I'd be able to come away from the experience with a different outcome than Springfield."

Torix's eyes dimmed.

"Oh, Daniel. Don't say that-"

"It's true. I thought I'd changed. I'd fought galactic-spanning organizations and won, but the result of all I've done amounted to nothing in the end. I was once more the only survivor. Well, aside from Shalahora."

I raised my palms to Torix.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I'm alive, but damn. I was hoping to pull the others out."

Torix pointed a finger at me.

"You imbecile. You did. Remember, Florence has been establishing relations with the many empires you saved. That, in and of itself, is a tremendous victory."

My eyes softened.

"Oh, yeah...I did. Huh. It's easy to forget since I handed them off to Kessiah, but you're right. I did save those guys."

Torix shrugged.

"And you will continue to make a difference, given we continue to strengthen ourselves and improve our agency in various ways. Speaking of-" The lich put a hand onto the ice elemental. Void ice spread up the arm of the lich before he pulled the frozen limb away.

"I cannot fight this entity. That same effect is actually impacting its mind magic on top of the rules of reality near it. I've never seen it from anyone aside from you. Not even Lehesion or Plazia."

I scratched the side of my head.

"Huh. I didn't notice that when I was on L-7."

Torix grabbed his chin, diving into thought.

"It's a mere hypothesis, but I think the chaotic, energized environment limited the physical impacts of these, er, primevals. Given their natures and abilities, I think they'll be able to spread a far more malevolent influence onto planets and worlds without as strong of a baseline energy level."

I put my hands on my hips.

"I wonder if there's a way to affect the energy on a planet. You know, outside of being close to a star or something."

Torix waved a hand.

"There are few limitations in a world governed by magic and cosmic beings. We could go about trying to find some means of changing our planet for eons if we so chose. However, I believe we'll need to remain focused on the task at hand for any real progress to be made."

"True, true. Anyways, I can help take these primevals apart for you so that they're more vulnerable."

"Do you think it's a good idea to put them into the ritual in the first place? While they're as perfect a resource for the elemental resonance as I could hope for, they're also tools I can't wield for myself. I worry they may overcharge the ritual with energies I can't withstand."

"You can always bail to your phylactery, right?"

Torix's eyes dulled.

"Hm. Yes. I could, couldn't I?"

"Using my otherworldly disciple senses, I can tell something's off. What's wrong?"

Torix gestured at the eldritch.

"This is an abomination that can quite literally freeze my mind and soul. Do you honestly believe a phylactery will save me?"

I shrugged.

"No clue."

"I am left ignorant as well. The more I think of it, the more I'm realizing this is far beyond anything I'm capable of."

I gazed at the Sound of Winter.

"Then this may be too big a step."

Torix took a moment. He peered down at his hands before pulling out a journal. He opened the pages, words already written within. It was Alfred's memoir from BloodHollow. Torix shook it before letting out a long sigh.

"After more thought, I think I'll rise to this occasion rather than cower away from such an opportunity."

I peered at the journal.

"What changed your mind?"

"Alfred's ambition. He risked everything and devoted millennia to helping Ruhl achieve the impossible. That has resulted in your armor. Even though it seems to have left you scarred, you were empowered many times over by the difficult experience. I think that this is also a similar opportunity for me, though this ritual may take far more time than I anticipated."

My eyes narrowed.

"How long?"

"Several months. If my theory is correct, I should be able to force a class evolution using several of these primevals as a catalyst. They'll give me the resources I need to impact the laws of nature along with their raw energies and manas."

I cracked my neck.

"Excellent. Are you ready for a bit of elemental war?"

Torix's eyes flared red.

"Always, disciple."

Atop each pylon, I placed a primeval. They hovered just above the pillar's tips, their bodies omening change and environmental corruption. I had around thirty to forty of them lying inside my pocket dimension, given their lower densities. To give twelve away wasn't the biggest loss in the world, though their impacts on the laws of nature were an interesting facet to explore later.

Regardless, we postponed the departure for Amara's mission for a few days to beef up the rituals. While robust, the previous rite never planned for this scale of augmentation. The previous incarnation intended to make the transition into a new body as smooth as possible. This new approach would handle that task before having Torix endure an elemental baptism.

Each of the primevals would create a kind of artificial world that Torix would need to mentally conquer. By doing so, he would learn more about whatever element they represented, and the lich's magic would gain permanent upgrades. While risky, it would enable Torix to wield twelve different elements of nature with a potency he couldn't achieve without this kind of risk.

For that, we built up the leylines with the primevals as the cores. I set up a few temporal runes for the mental subspaces, letting Torix save some time while he handled the trials. I even used twelve blue cores to control and temper the area so that Torix wouldn't have to worry about stability for the project.

Along the way, we established a new protocol for Mt. Verner University and the logistic teams of Mt. Verner. In many ways, Torix could've left the facility and mayorial position a while ago, but he loved overseeing every last detail. That is to say, micromanaging. Torix letting the organization breathe could be a learning opportunity for both of them, and many of the other professors voiced their support for Torix's temporary exodus.

For the logistics of the city, my executive golem took up all the slack and then some. It had already started many expanding operations around the city to help the economy. With more control over the comings and goings, it intended to set up Mt. Verner as the global capital of the entire planet before making it an imperial center for the legion...On a galactic scale.

It sounded like a lot to me. That being said, I preferred a more hands-off approach to my, er, empire. Being on the forefront of terraforming, fighting hordes of eldritch, and exploring the vast unknown, that's where I thrived, and it's what I wanted to be able to do. Having Earth be safe enabled me to dive into that madness while knowing I'd be ok.

It was my home, and I needed that to remain centered.

But homes were more than places to stay. They were refuges where one could stagnate as well. By pouring my efforts into keeping my empire safe, I lessened my endeavors onto leveling, cipheric work, and gaining worldly knowledge. Even after so many years, I understood very little about the system and what was happening out there in the stars.

I understood hearsay from the occasional rumor from Helios or Florence, but I was far from even a basic kind of awareness. Aside from that, running the mere fledglings of an empire left me exhausted. I could work day and night yet never leave even a dent in my empire's projects. They were myriad and perpetual, and as one endeavor closed, others opened.

I would help with the most vital initial efforts of my Empire's undertakings before setting them up for success long term. I would need to put some time in occasionally to look into how the branches and organizations were faring, but constant surveillance over everything? That prospect alone left me wanting to run away to some corner of the galaxy where no one knew my name.

I had the feeling I would follow that growing desire whether I wanted to or not, given enough time. It was better to squash that urge before it overwhelmed me. Torix was the same. He wanted to dive into the esoteric minutia of magic, but his responsibilities left him entirely preoccupied with the mundane aspects of university work and city logistics.

That kind of oppressive, all-consuming responsibility would inevitably wear anyone down, especially an immortal without any hope of retirement. This would be Torix's first initial separation of himself from those responsibilities, and I couldn't be happier with how he left everything. Considering how I had a three-month epiphany session that left my guild on the precipice of absolute destruction, I wasn't exactly in a position to criticize either.

Either way, we finished the augmented and far more swole version of the ritual. The twelve primevals left a mark on the entire continent, their energies resonating for hundreds of miles in every direction. The life here mutated from being so close to the divine, elemental monarchs. Once fully saturated, Torix spent a few hours culling the eldritch across new Antarctica completely.

I helped by flying around and gathering as many of the critters as I could. It was an irrelevant amount, considering how little energy they had compared to the primevals. One of the near celestial entities dwarfed all the eldritch here combined. The twelve primevals might even exceed the power of all the eldritch on Earth.

Having them act as the energy source gave me confidence as Torix's ascension arrived. Sitting in the middle, Torix aligned himself to the chaotic flow. Life force flowed from each of the twelve pillars, descending onto the thick ice. I remembered this part last time, and it had proliferated as red blood. The bubbling energies dispersed as something far less mortal in shape now.

They coursed across all of reality, bending it to their own vision. The star primeval's energy burned anything within, turning air to slag. The ice primeval ripped the mist and miasma into shards, condensing everything into a solid stasis, creating a crystallized reality. The earth elemental inverted my vision of the sky, leaving nothing but a mountain in its wake. Each vision carried the weight of a world, and they pressed down onto anything that could see them.

The twelve radiant dungeon cores whirled within each pylon, an addition of yours truly. The cores kept the primevals contained, but the eldritch gods swirled and encompassed their entrapment in utter chaos. Over time, the pylons curated and refined their rage into something palpable. A dense, coagulated barrier formed around the ritual, binding the area and anything that happened there.

Torix turned to me.

"If this barrier is broken, my soul will shatter. Remember that."

I gave him a nod. Like the ichor of gods, glowing streams of blood condensed from the manifested visions above the primevals. I watched space bleed, and it held the remnants of dreams and nightmares alike. They flowed into the outlined dodecagon, pooling up until they mirrored glistening oil or shining paint. If an artist could wield those colors on their palette, they could paint a world. A universe. A reality. The sheer vibrance rivaled a heightened state of being as if my previous understanding of reality was a mere pale imitation of this new, superior existence.

The shimmering ichor kept pooling, and my armor hummed with hunger at the sight. It looked delicious. I shook my head, not letting my instincts get the better of me. In the ritual's center, Torix's mind was pulled out of his previous body. The old, rune-carved professor turned into slag as the energies demolished his old body, which had become a corpse.

Torix's shining soul hovered over the multicolored pool of reality-warping blood. He became a siphon. He pooled an enormous amount of the manas, and Torix's soul lost its characteristic stability. Before it became too volatile, the lich pressed onto the twelve dungeon cores. Their radiance and absurd balance helped the lich direct energies far above his level and being.

The lich kept siphoning the energies within until his soul gained a physicality. He pressed onto his surroundings, an ethereal entity with weight. As the imbibement swelled to a final crescendo, the energies altered in form.

The many colors of the ichor turned into a black solvent. All consuming, I gazed at a version of Torix. It carried a hunger like my armor, but it manifested an entirely different appetite. My armor wished to consume all of reality. This entity wished to understand it. To probe and prod and break everything within its purview until nothing could hide from it.

Power was nothing more than a means to an end to this entity. It wanted omnipotence as a means to attain omniscience. It would rather understand something than wield it, as pressing its understanding onto a concept would taint its purity. The tendrils of that dark ichor kept searching even as it toiled to direct the many energies within the ritual.

It was Torix. It was his soul. And it wanted more. Always more.

I frowned. This wasn't how he handled the ritual last time. Torix had created a spectral entity that we seized. He then tied it to a dodecahedron of my armor to reset his phylactery. This...This process used Torix's own mind and animus as the binding agent. By having his soul as the anchor, he could take the all-encompassing forces and make them his. In doing so, he could leapfrog ahead of his current strength, emboldening himself in the process.

But that carried risk. If Torix lacked perfect control of the manas, had a poor vision of himself, or didn't understand the ritual in any way, he would be subsumed. Even as ignorant as I was, I could see how sure Torix had been before the process even began, but still. The lich knew who he was and what he wanted, but I still gnarled my hands out of nervousness.

His insight paved the way as the black, energized ichor flowed into his new body. As it did, his previous body crumbled from molten slag to ash. It floated away in the wind, leaving no way of returning to his last incarnation. The runes across the new dark gray body dimmed to a soul-sucking black. It was an elevated dark, the kind that consumed any light near it. Unlike Shalahora's shadow, this wasn't an absence of light. This was an all-seeing gaze, like staring at the pupil of some large beast. It soaked in all it saw, leaving nothing left that it did not know.

A chill ran up my as the primevals let out unearthly howls. Blood poured from them, filling the ritual's perimeter once more. I lifted Torix's new body with gravitation, and I dipped the metal colossus into the new, vibrant, and multicolored ichor. It drenched in the essence of the elementals. It soaked in the light of those hidden worlds.

Above, a portion of the black ichor remained floating. From it, Torix's voice radiated.

"It is time."

My voice was like dark iron.

"Where is the new phylactery? You'll need one so that if this body is destroyed-"

The voice omened like death, the floating ichor shifting into a smile.

"There will be none."

I squeezed a hand into a fist.

"What are you talking about?"

Torix's voice went distant.

"Do you know what it is like to watch someone step further and further away as you remain motionless? I'd imagine not."

A coldness came over me. I gulped before frowning.

"Torix. You don't have to do this."

Torix let out a cackle.

"You know, I've been afraid of death for so long. It's an end, surely, but I never feared the end of life. I feared the end of learning. I wanted my faculties so that I could continue to broaden my horizons and expand my purview. In my mind, I had established a perfect system for my immortality, but now I know it was all built upon a facade."

Torix rippled.

"I trained my mind magic to a knife's edge and dedicated myself to its mastery. In that regard, I've been able to defend my detached mind and soul from corruption, even when bound to something that isn't truly my own. However, this has come with limitations. I am like a corpse lord, some amalgamation of flesh that isn't a true embodiment of the mind within."

Torix's voice echoed around me.

"I've reached the limits of this detached philosophy. To progress further, I will need to put all that I am on the line. To continue forth with you, disciple, I will need to step into the domain of permanence. Otherwise, I will merely be an observer as I always have been."

My eyes widened.

"You don't have to do this. There's nothing wrong with having a backup plan. You know, some contingency or something."

Torix's dark form smiled.

"I am tired of living as if waiting to die."

He carried no delight in his voice, only a determined resolve. Before I could say anything more, the dark embodiment of Torix's soul dove into the pit of glowing blood. I watched in horror as seconds turned to minutes, then hours. Eventually, a bubble popped within the iridescent ichor. Several more hours passed before another frothing churn erupted from the pit's surface.

The dense liquid began to boil. I let out a sigh of relief as a cold sank into my surroundings. Unlike the ice, this cold was a consuming, otherworldly stillness. The silence crawled into all senses, muting the howling around me. It stole all that tried to escape its confines. My sense of touch left me. My eyesight waned as ink spread from the pit, the rainbow torrent turning into dark dominion.

In the distance, a whisper coursed across the land. It was a sound as loud as one's heartbeat. It was the slightest of sounds, something akin to the falling of a leaf. Yet, I trembled at the weight behind its echo. It carried force. Defiance. Power. It held an almighty potential. A radiance. A desire. And it left the world trembling with me.

The wind let out a whisper, one of pain. It droned into a percussive agony, a kind of listless lamentation of what could've been. It howled as something escaped it, walking onto a different path. Around me, the light above dampened. Black veins spread over the ice, coursing into the glacier and continent below. The sun shrank into a small point before being subsumed.

The droning turned into a soul-shaking drum. It throttled my mind, leaving me afraid and waiting. It kept building to a cacophony of howling screams. I smiled as the colossus of metal rose from the pit of now dark ichor. Within the hollowed skull, bright flames of dark blue erupted. Its colossal form became sapient.

Torix regained his full faculties, and the dead metal evolved into a creature of yearning avarice. Avarice for knowledge and to uncover the secrets of the world. Of all worlds and all times. As he gazed down at me, his eyes pierced through a veil. They saw through all I was. They carried the determination to see through everything.

It left a fearful smile on my lips, and Torix raised a hand. The armor rippled in response. It kept rippling, turning into a churning pool. Torix's eyes flickered. As mana surged from the body and over the horizon, the lich froze in place. Far in the distance, ice cracked, and glaciers collapsed. Elemental torrents flowed as tornadoes tore through a dead and dying land. The air howled. The ground wailed. A darkened miasma infested our surroundings, and Torix turned to me.

He grasped the sides of his skull before raising his head. The jaw slackened before he took in an unneeded breath. Within his voice, the sound of sheering metal echoed.

And Torix screamed.