Chapter 564: Zach

Chapter 564: Zach

The Danger That Lurks Beneath

Zach felt like he was dropped into an ocean of words and images, all of them trying to burn themselves into his mind. It was overwhelming, but his mind had weathered great weight before, he didn’t break. It took him time to adjust, to comprehend what he now understood. Knowledge came quickly enough.

In moments, he understood many things, and perhaps most importantly how his perk worked. He had access to all the things that were part of the Plane of Knowledge. He knew them, but that knowledge wasn’t immediately available, it would’ve broken anyone, but a lot of it was and he could call on anything that he wanted and knew it.

He also realized what the Plane of Knowledge actually was, what it contained. It was a record of all the knowledge ever recorded, whether it was written down, recorded, or spoken for the world to hear, it was here. He did not have access to the Knowledge that people kept within their hearts and minds, only things that the world had witnessed. That made sense, the Soul was in many ways the most sacred thing in the Infinite Realm, knowledge that was contained within the minds of people was not something that should be accessible so freely.

Zach felt like his mind had become vast, incredibly so, and already he could feel himself getting lost in all the knowledge around him. He never wanted to leave this place. He was... relieved. He had thought that this place might harm him by its very nature, if he knew everything then what was the point of his being? Of Pursuit of Knowledge.

Now he understood it better. Knowledge wasn’t the absolute truth, it was what people in the world knew at this very moment, what they knew in the past. It didn’t mean that knowledge was correct, or even coherent as he quickly realized.

With his goal firmly in his mind, the knowledge about Focus Madness came to the forefront of his mind. All the instances of it being discussed, of that knowledge being recorded somewhere.

The world knew... little about it. He could see how wrong most of the ideas were and he sifted through it all in an instant as his mind comprehended the vast knowledge available to him. Most of the Infinite Realm believed what he had been taught, that Focus Madness was a limiter put in place by the Framework, that one couldn’t push more than a single focus to its peak.

The only true, or at least what he believed to be the true understanding of it, was recorded in the Twilight Melody Sect. They had started spreading that knowledge amongst their people. He knew their reports, their ideas and the decisions that had been made. They wouldn’t tell everyone immediately, it could be harmful if they tried it without properly understanding how it had to be done. But they had already started formulating new curriculum for their schools, new ways of training their warriors. All so that they could guide them toward trying to embody a singular idea.

The state of the knowledge in the world saddened him, but it also emboldened him. He could teach others, he could spread the ideas and knowledge and empower people, show them a better path. It was part of his purpose, his calling. The dreams of his academy changing the world could become the truth.

He debated pulling out of his perk, but since he felt a lot more coherent and able to think he decided to stay and focus on some other things he wanted to know, he didn’t feel tired yet, though he was detecting a drain on his mind.

He also understood how the part of his perk that allowed him to retain knowledge worked. It didn’t allow him to retain the entire breadth of knowledge about a topic, which he knew wouldn’t even help that much. Here, while in the Plane of Knowledge, he could feel that the plane itself was helping his mind sift through and comprehend it. If he tried to stuff his mind with all the knowledge about Fire for example, he might end up with mush for brains. Not to even say anything about all the useless and wrong information that would come with it. Not all knowledge was true.

He could take a piece of knowledge, which meant one instance of its record. What was contained in a book, in a storage device, a conversation. It wasn’t that bad really, a lot could be said in a single conversation, or recorded in a single book.

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

He didn’t know if he wanted to experiment with that just yet, so he moved on.

He focused on the knowledge of his Aspects, hoping to improve his understanding of them. He wouldn’t remember the knowledge, but perhaps he could retain some of his conclusions from what he would know.

Zach opened his eyes and groaned. He had a headache stabbing straight through his head.

“Zach?” He heard Naha say and felt her move closer, her hands on his shoulders.

“I’m fine,” he said slowly, noticing notifications in the corner of his eye, with a quick glance he saw that he had gained the Sage of Knowledge title and perk. It seemed that just using his new Class perk was enough to grant him comprehension of the plane. “I tried my new perk. It’s a lot.”

“And how was it?”

Zach blinked, struggling to actually explain it.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to do that again soon. It is... harder than I thought.”

There wasn’t actually a cooldown on the perk, but he felt like it had been almost too much for his mind. Somehow he knew that he had to give it chance to recover.

He didn’t remember what he had known while in the Plane, but he felt a great many things. Awe, trepidation, understanding, and even fear.

Somehow, he knew that the world didn’t know the truth behind the Focus Madness, not in the way he did. He was certain that his knowledge of it was greater.

He also understood what Knowledge was. He couldn’t quite put it into words, but he knew that it was what the Infinite Realm knew, and not the truth.

He felt closer to some of his Aspects, and... There was something else. He felt a sense of danger about... something. Then, he blinked and turned to look at Naha.

His mind felt like it finally settled, and he remembered that he had retained a piece of knowledge, though he didn’t know why. “Uh... For some reason, I have a report from the Exalted Empire about the factions they had absorbed, but that are wavering in their loyalty toward them. Which is... strange.”

Naha frowned. “Why would you retain that piece of knowledge?”

“I... I don’t know,” Zach admitted. “But I feel like it is important, and that there is danger in the Exalted Empire.”

“Well, I guess that we should investigate and find out.”

Zach nodded, agreeing.