Chapter 245: Ryun

Chapter 245: Ryun

Inspiration

Ryun sat across from Tali, both gazing at each other intently. She was healing, albeit slowly. Her scars had retreated, her eyes regenerated. She was stronger now, some of her passive powers had been returned to her. She just carried herself better. She looked healthier, though her face was still somewhat scarred. To Ryuns eyes, the Essence inside her body was getting healthier too.

Tali was many things to him. A teacher in some ways, an example or perhaps even a warning in others. He did not deny that she had done a lot for him. That she had shared a lot, that she had taught him many things that had ultimately helped him. Yet he did not agree with her regarding a few things, perhaps even with most.

He was so tired from having to defend his views. Everyone seemed to think that his way of advancement was somehow wrong, as if they were the greatest experts on the topic just because they had reached a destination beyond his. Because they had done it in a way that differed than his.

Ryun knew that there were countless roads to the same place. He did not need to walk in their footsteps. In fact, he didnt want to. His Path was his own, no one elses. He would rise on his own, or not at all.

You are going to do what? Tali asked.

He doubted that she hadnt heard him the first time, but he indulged her and repeated himself.

I am going to attempt the inspiration for the Evolved Realm, Ryun said calmly.

Talis single functional eye bore into him, and he could almost see her disapproval.

Thats a mistake, it is too soon. Youve barely been an immortal for a handful of years and you dont know what you need to do. You will cripple yourself.

And there was the crux of their disagreementtime. She believed that time was something that he needed, as if it was some magical currency that made people greater. No, Ryun didnt believe that. He was disappointed in those who did. It was as if someone had taught them that time was so precious when they were children and now they preached about what they had been taught long ago, without really understanding the matter themselves. Time was important, but no more than all the other things that made a path. Talent most definitely, understanding of what you wanted to do and be. Will to persevere and push oneself forward with no regard to what anyone else said. Ryun advanced through strife, through battle, through his sheer inner willpower. Through his own understanding of his Path. It was what the Framework was made for, to give shape to actions, feats, understanding, and instinct. A Class changed based on what one did in the world, a Path changed based on what one accomplished with their body, and a Skill changed based on understanding of it.

Time might be of use for that, to some. But it was not a requirement, not by a long shot.

I disagree, Ryun said simply.

Tali narrowed her eyes at him. Do you think that I know nothing? That I would try and hurt you somehow? Do you think that my wisdom is worthless?

Ryun laughed, surprising her.

You laugh at me, Tali said slowly.

Ryun shook his head. Not at you, Tali. At what you said.

Can you enlighten me then? What was it that you found so entertaining about my words?

I trust you Tali, with my life, with my advancement, Ryun placed a hand over his chest and smiled at her. Then he took a deep breath and shook his head. Everyone seems to think that somehow age equaled wisdom. That time makes people smarter and better. It doesnt. It is a lie, a delusion that most seem to take for the truth. It was the same on my old world, on Earth.

Ryun remembered how it was, before the Framework, and even after. It was a human failing, the fact that they took the words of their elders as truth. He didnt disagree that they could have wisdom, he trusted Tali after all. But that wisdom of theirs had to be taken carefully. For their wisdom was tempered by their understanding, their learning, the things that they had experienced. A man that was brought up in a world that shunned all technology would obviously not be able to give advice on its use. Tali had grown in a world where time and careful advancement was accepted as the only way.

But Ryun didnt agree. He didnt think that it was the only way.

How so? Tali asked, her voice tense.

None of the other Evolved Realm Cultivators that Ryun had seen at the tournament needed to breathe. Oh, they pretended, it had taken Ryun a while to see it. But in battle against the monsters in the arena he had felt them fight. And Tali was the same, she pretended like she needed to do it, but she too had no need of it. She sustained herself some other way. He didnt know how exactly, but it felt similar to the way that Erdania had done it, which made him think that her Aspect had something to do with Gravity. Though he didnt have a lot of time to truly investigate.

He felt like that was the key to evolving further, entering the next realm as a being that was evolved beyond what he had been before.

Time passed and he lost any sense of it. A part of his mind was aware that he had long since passed the point where he usually felt like he was suffocating, but he didnt stop. He continued sitting inside the Void, pulling Essence inside his core as he focused on feeling the Void inside his body.

But he also tried to focus on what the rest of his inspiration was, because it wasnt just an act it was also more than that. And that always came down to something about a Path. He had decided that it was going to be about witnessing the End of things, waiting for that one moment where all things came to an end. It was about survival, about enduring until all else met its end. Witnessing it all.

And he was Void, and Void endured.

All things have an end nothing lasts forever

All things will return to oblivion Reality is all, and it is nothing

He could feel it clicking into place. He was Void, and even if all things came to an end, they would just return to oblivion, a nothingness that had been there before and will be there after.

A moment later, he felt as if he could truly feel his body for the first time. There were deeper secrets there, but he didnt understand them yet. A notification flashed in his vision.

Body and Aspect Boundary Overcome

Congratulations, youve overcome the body and aspect boundary.

Reward:

-Gain +50 to intelligence

-Gain -50% to sustenance consumption rate.

He smiled as he read through the notification and then he started pushing himself out of the Void.

Ryun sat high in the air, just outside the Void boundary. He felt the cold air on his skin, but it didnt touch him the same way as it had before. His body had been pretending to act like it had been before, but now the cold was something that he mentally noticed but it no longer bothered him. He wasnt breathing, and he had found that it didnt make him feel weak or as if he was suffocating. He had achieved what he believed to be his inspiration for the next Realm. Now, he only needed to test that out. His core was full with Void Essence and he triggered his advancement.

The Essence in his Core trembled and pushed at his core, improving it and the quality of his Qi. As soon as the change finished, a notification showed up.

NEW PATH PERK AVAILABLE

Greater Swift Mind (Path Perk)

Your mind is swift. Your thoughts travel at increased speeds, gain +500% to thought speed. Increases the ability to alter the perception of time by 200%. Gain +15% to intelligence.

Like stamina and core perks before it, this one too had no choice. It was the result of his previous perks. But he was satisfied with what he had gotten. It improved his passive thinking speed and buffed his other mind perk. Being able to increase his thought speed and basically slow down time for himself had saved him countless times. It wasnt a flashy or greatly powerful perk, but it was exactly what he needed.

Once he had finished reading the new perk, he pushed the window away and then pulled out his full screens. He moved through the windows until he reached his Cultivation. He made his way to his primary path and looked at his core. There, he saw what he had been looking for. The prompt to advance was there, though not available now of course, since his core was empty. But its presence meant that he could advance to the Evolved Realm. He had been right about what the inspiration for the Evolved Realm was.

Now, all he needed to do was cycle and improve his core as much as he could. And then then he could enter the next Realm.