BlueShear
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Chapter 50
🕑 Added 2024-10-22 18:32:55 +0000 UTCAt first there was pain. Then there was darkness. Darkness and pain. Pain and then darkness. His consciousness a faulty light fixture. A torch buffeted by hurricane winds. Flickering. Faltering. Barely there and then gone. His mind operating on quarter rations. His body always a ways away. He could never be sure if he screamed, how much he screamed, or for how long.
Trapped as he was behind walls of his own making, for all intents and purposes, he knew nothing else but pain. An acute, soul deep agony, followed always by the rush of oblivion. Syrupy sweet and smooth going down, it was his balm and favored poison all rolled up into one. A sip to hold him over. To take the edge off of purgatory. In this way the interminable cycle continued, it’s every revolution as immutable and correct as the celestial bodies’ traversal of the sky.
Until, that was, it very abruptly was not. Until his maudlin routine was interrupted by light. And with that light came sight, and sound, and confusion. Strange visions assailed him, coupled with alien emotions. Scenes from a life lived, though not from anyone’s he recognized.
Expansive flares of elation, cold contempt, and sharp focus—things he could recall experiencing retroactively, though never to the extent that he was now being shown.
He watched as vibrant images flickered past at speed.
He saw scenes of terrible violence quickly replaced by one’s of sickbed and rest. Felt the stiffness of board and the coarseness of sheets. Heard the rumble of voices over him, indecipherable and concerned.
And then, after what, to him, felt like an eternity, the world around him came into focus at last, and he found himself somewhere else entirely.
Welcome User!
Five New Mantras Have Been Detected.
Do you wish to proceed with the iterative process?
YES/NO
(Warning: Refusal will result in the immediate ejection from workshop servers)
Do you wish to proceed?
YES/NO
Dazed, Jun stared at the notification for some time, before, merely as an afterthought, he selected yes. Abruptly, a creeping mist sprung up from the void and, just like that, he found himself in possession of a body once more.
Without thinking, he clothed himself in a nondescript set of grey robes, then plopped himself down right where he’d stood.
For a time, he simply sat there—occasionally toying with the rolling mists—his mind a jumbled-up confusion of emotion. The most prominent among them being an all-consuming dread. He couldn’t place where exactly this mounting horror stemmed from, only that the thought of moving, or indeed, thinking deeply on the problem whatsoever, seemed to summon up that dread feeling in abundance.
And so, instead he simply chose to do nothing. Merely sat there, placid—unblinking and unthinking—whilst trying very hard not to feel anything at all.
***
The world avatar observed the fate touched mortal closely, a growing kernel of concern darkening its thoughts. By its count it had been two weeks since the mortal first entered its lower facilities, and throughout all that time, not once had he made to move even an inch from the spot he now occupied. That alone was not so much of an anomaly.
In eons long past, when its many worlds had been commonly frequented by the worthy, it wouldn’t have been unusual for individual periods of seclusion to last entire solar cycles as its users sought out the highest pinnacles of divinity. Only, in the case of this particular mortal, there was no shining light of ambition, like what might’ve been expected from one of the Fen’Reale. A burning ambition coupled with unparalleled genius—the two together harboring the capacity to make even god's tremble.
No, instead of cultivating his soul or contemplating the Dao, he appeared, for all intents and purposes, to be doing nothing at all. Worse than that, an uncharitable assessment might even find his studied indifference to be defeatist in nature. It was all deeply concerning.
Primarily because the world avatar had pinned so many of its newly blossoming hopes on the reputation of the fate-touched, and on this one in particular. And so it was that, after so long spent drifting through the ether aimlessly and without purpose, the thought of regaining some shred of agency, only to have it taken just as easily, was so undesirable as to be outright unacceptable.
It had been some time since it had directly communicated with one of its users, and never with a mortal.
Even in its prime it had been an extremely rare occurrence, spared for only the best and brightest of its pupils. The very same that had gone on to conquer entire swathes of the multiverse or alter the base nature of their universe itself.
Higher beings, in other words, that were a far cry from the sulking adolescent it now harbored. Yet hard times often made for fewer alternatives, and if it truly prioritized its rise to prominence, the world avatar knew that certain exceptions would have to be made.
And so, with that in mind, the world avatar extended the first probing inquiry of what it hoped would be a fruitful and enlightening dialogue, and then waited.
***
When Jun roused himself, it wasn’t due to hunger, a full bladder, or even boredom. Instead, it was entirely due to irritation. A burgeoning annoyance with the blinking purple box that just couldn’t seem to take the hint and go away already. Jun tried to shove it away with his mind at first.
And when that didn’t work, attempted to swat it out of the air instead, to much the same result. Finally, when no other option easily presented itself, he forced his eyes to focus—finding the task far more difficult than it had any right to be—until he could properly make out the notification and its accompanying text.
Basic Mantra: [Spearing Hand] (1st Aspected)
Grade: (Poor Quality)
Conceptual Stability: 14%
Do you wish to spectate, assimilate, or edit?
Incredulous, Jun promptly dismissed the notification with a flat-out denial, unsure as to what he’d done to prompt it in the first place.
Are you sure you do not wish to spectate, assimilate, or edit your Basic Mantra: [Spearing Hand]
YES/NO
Bewildered, Jun again selected no. It hadn’t done that before, had it? Shoving the question aside, he could already feel his mind drifting back into that blissfully uncomplicated stupor, when yet another notification bloomed large in his vision. Annoyance well and truly turning to anger by this point, he would’ve blindly spammed “no” until the infernal rectangles disappeared from his sight for good, only this time, there wasn’t any option for him to refuse.
Why?
Jun blinked, staring at the open-ended question with obvious confusion. Before he could even think of a way to respond, another appeared to overlap the first.
Do you not seek to pierce the heavens? Do you not chafe under others’ rule?
Jun honestly didn’t know what to say to that. Or how he was even meant to respond, for that matter. Should he just speak aloud or…?
“I don’t…” it took some time for his mind to properly formulate the words. “No. Things like that. Piercing the heavens. Lording over others. They’ve never really interested me.”
Excuse me if I have a hard time believing that.
Jun frowned.
“Who… who am I talking to right now? And why is that so unbelievable?”
It was the truth, after all. Wasn’t it?
Firstly: who I am is unimportant. Second: because you would not have stumbled across this place were it otherwise.
Instantly, the words reeled to the surface feelings of curiosity that he’d almost buried in his attempts to distance himself from his emotions.
“And what is this place exactly?”
It once was a great school of learning. A training facility for students of exceptional talent and peerless skill.
“Once?”
He hadn’t failed to pick up on that little detail.
Time has not been kind to these facilities. I am now but a shadow of my former glory. No longer the main hub of transcendental knowledge I once was. Drawing about me bright and eager young prodigies. Each brimming over with potential, like great celestial bodies orbiting a brilliant central star.
Transcendental knowledge? A place of learning…
In spite of his own fears, and despite the dark welling of dread even gently probing the subject brought about, the chance of finding answers—explanations that this ‘grand repository of knowledge’ might just possess—was enough to pull him from the brink of oblivion. Enough for him to properly face his internal struggles, concerns, and anxieties, instead of running away from them outright.
“If it really is as you say, and you truly do know as much as you claim, would it be possible…? Would it be possible for you to explain what exactly is wrong with me?”
***
As it so happened, the mysterious voice of the workshop was happy to explain, in great detail, all of the myriad things that were very wrong with him. Hurtful comments about his short stature, poor cultivation, and, of all things, poorer bone density aside, it ultimately didn’t take long for them to get down to the heart of the issue.
Having gone over his experiences with a fine-toothed comb, recounting them as well as he knew how—from his initial steps onto the path of cultivation, to the more recent episodes of missing time, and finally his most recent experience trapped in what had felt like hellish purgatory—they’d eventually stumbled upon a diagnosis. It had taken him some time to come to terms with the workshop’s conclusions.
“So, you’re telling me I’m, what, too strong for my own good?”
For your current cultivation realm? Yes. Very. Which should not come as much of a surprise seeing as I believe we’ve already established it to be exceedingly insufficient. To be more exact, Your resonance pillar is hazardously incongruous.
“Okay, but…?” Jun was having a hard time wrapping his head around this. “What even is resonance? And why is it so important?”
There was a long pause between messages at this.
If I did not know what you were…? That you need ask at all is… I am increasingly incredulous that you chanced upon myself by anything other than divine intervention. It truly beggars belief.
“That doesn’t answer my question,” Jun was starting to get pretty sick and tired of this whole ‘holier than thou’ attitude.
Resonance: The degree to which one embodies the completeness of one, or several, of the universal truths, and in so doing ingratiates oneself with said higher ideals. Becoming ever closer to the true divine, and all the more real in the striving.
“So, in other words, how well I can make these “higher ideals” relate to me? Or I suppose that’d be the other way around, rather. Make them believe I’m just like them?”
Much nuance is lost in your lax interpretation, but if you must simplify to comprehend the greater complexity, it is an adequate enough summation.
Meaning that he was right on the money, essentially. It was honestly kind of ludicrous, that something so heavily veiled in cultish mysticism could be boiled down to something so utterly mundane. It was a common enough tactic, really.
Propagated most heavily by door-to-door salesmen the world over. Mimicking the body posture, and or general sentiments, of a potential client as a way to make them feel more at ease.
At ease and, in turn, more pliable. That these patron ideals essentially amounted to self-important clients with way more bargaining power than anyone had any right to, was honestly something of a revelation for Jun.
“And the more relatable I am, the more power they feel comfortable in lending me?”
Again, it is a woefully inadequate oversimplification. But, in essence, you are more or less correct.
“But then, what does any of that have to do with what I’ve experienced? I can understand how my resonance might be somewhat high, but I don’t see why the side effects should be so severe.”
Not as drastic as they could have been, all things considered.
“Really? And being booted out of my own body wasn’t bad enough? Are you telling me that it could have been worse?”
Given the pertinent fact that you were not forcefully removed, so much as you extricated yourself from your failing body before your soul was destroyed? Yes, I’d say things could have been far worse.
“Failing? What do you mean by failing? A-and my soul?! What was that about my soul being destroyed?” once more that sick dread was worming its way up from his gut.
I believe I’ve mentioned that your cultivation is vastly insufficient. This was not without cause. It is not a small thing, to bear the weight of even a splinters worth of universal perfection. Even were it not for your brazen hubris, in thinking to bind yourself to four such incompatible truths, this would likely remain truer for you than it would for most.
“And why is that?” Jun snorted. “I already know it can’t possibly be that I’m ‘just that special.’ You’ve already made it very clear that I’m anything but extraordinary.”
Did I say that? I do not recall that being my conclusion. Your cultivation base is weak. That much is true. You have the body and soul of an average mortal, less than a bare infant on the path of cultivation, yet you simultaneously possess the resonance levels of a scion well on their way to ascension. That your soul hasn’t yet shattered under the universal strain, or imploded from the dissonance is extraordinary in and of itself.
“Right. So, in other words I am a wonder. More specifically, it’s a wonder I haven’t killed myself yet. Thanks for the clarification.”
You are welcome.
Jun grit his teeth.
“So, if I’ve got this straight, I overreached somehow, got too big for my britches, then subconsciously fled here, to this workshop, which is also some sort of… soul realm?”
That is not incorrect.
“Which means…? What? That I’m stuck here now? And what about my body? What happens to the me out there while I’m stuck in here?”
That depends entirely on what you mean by “out there.” It also depends upon which body you are referring to. The physical vessel you left behind when you were forcibly dragged into the astral plane, or the aforementioned spirit body you so recently vacated.
Jun paused, took in a deep breath, then slowly let it out.
“Okay, let’s just start again from the beginning, shall we?”
