Cyril Sarnath
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Chapter 195
🕑 Added 2023-11-24 19:35:17 +0000 UTCCongratulations!
You have acquired a Technique of Focus.
Keynes sighed, relieved. It was quite a ride and his brain felt wrung out, completely. At some point he had lost a track of time and followed the pattern that hardened his focus into laser-like quality. The technique gave Keynes a blueprint of how to attain that state again but the cost in the willpower was substantial.
Techniques were strange. So much alike to some spells and yet their fundamental functionality couldn’t be more different. He was too tired to wonder about these two aspects of the System. He fell on his back, letting the sleep overtake him…
“Keynes!” Kora’s voice reached him and its urgency made him snap out of exhaustion. He jumped to his feet and looked her way. Kora looked worried.
What’s going on, Alice? Keynes asked in his mind.
I don’t know! Whatever you did, put me in a daze! Alice replied heatedly.
Why would—not important now…
“Keynes, what happened to you?” Kora came to vis-a-vis him, her spiritual aura was in turmoil. She was clearly upset.
“I’ve learned the Technique of Focus,” he announced with a tamed enthusiasm. “What’s the urgency about?”
“Keynes…” Kora paused, unsure what to say. “Congratulations.”
She didn’t sound festive at all.
“What’s going on?”
With his superior spiritual sense, Kora was unable to hide her emotions from him and it seemed she didn’t try to.
“The deadline for the third challenge… ended a few minutes ago.”
The last traces of exhaustion left Keynes upon hearing the news. It was a disaster.
“That’s impossible.”
“I’ve tried to approach you twice but the dream tree warned me to not interfere.”
“What the hell?” Keynes glanced toward the tree house, then reached out to the dream tree.
“Why?”
The dream tree remained silent, which infuriated him.
“I’m going to speak to the guardian. This is bullshit.”
After several steps, Keynes came to halt, then turned to Kora.
“Sorry. What about you? Did you manage to cultivate the plant?”It came weak and in some way out of necessity. It didn’t mean Keynes didn’t care, he was just distracted by the unexpected news.
“I managed to cultivate a plant but I don’t know if it is any good. The dream tree and the guardian offered no help. I visited the marketplace and did some minor quests but I couldn’t get the information about the third challenge from anywhere.”
This wasn’t actually the worst thing in the light of Keynes’s failure. Others would have a hard time figuring out the criteria of the third challenge, which softened the fall.
“I’m sorry,” Keynes said again. “I failed.”
He couldn’t understand how this had happened. Staying focused for several days seemed unbelievable. Keynes wasn’t just focused, he was cut out of the world around him.
It’s not impossible, Alice chimed in. Your attempt for your consciousness to enter could easily desync your perception of time.
Why didn’t you tell me? Keynes asked, annoyed.
This isn’t what happened, Alice replied, also annoyed.
Then what happened?
You tell me, genius! Alice snapped, albeit softly. I lost my little pet.
Keynes sighed. He wasn’t in the mood for this.
“You okay?” Kora asked, concerned.
“I… think so. Just arguing with Alice. She’s being a pain in the ass.”
What? Alice asked much harsher. I am a pain in the ass? You better take that—
Keynes mentally shoved out of his head. Blocking a spiritual assistant wasn’t easy, especially the divergent one like Alice, but with his recent powerups, he’d gained substantial spiritual mastery.
Kora placed her hand on his shoulder, smiling weakly.
“We’ll be fine.”
Keynes tensed up as he sensed the guardian approaching the tree house. Keynes got into a confrontational mood. A few seconds later, Kora also sensed the guardian and glanced at Keynes with a concerned look. He didn’t hide his emotions and his frustration was quickly turning into anger.
“Contenders.” The guardian entered the backyard. “It’s time.”
“Hold on for a minute,” Keynes said. “I have a question.”
“Ask.” The guardian nodded.
“What happened to me?”
The guardian gave him a pointed look, which indicated that he wasn’t surprised. He knew something.
“You didn’t take Sophia’s words seriously,” the guardian said. “After the second challenge, contenders were permitted to act against other contenders. Do you remember?”
Of course he remembered.
“This was other contenders’ doing?” Keynes asked with disbelief.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“I cannot reveal that. Now, let us proceed to the amphitheatre.”
“I don’t understand how they did it. It makes no sense. I unlocked a technique. How’s that not benefiting me?”
“The challenge,” Kora murmured softly.
“She’s right. Another contender or contenders used their favour to trap you in a state of hyper focus. It is unlikely that they had enough favour to trap you for the entirety of the third challenge. The amount of required favour would be too great.”
“Then what happened?”
“You must have sensed that you were close to unlocking a technique and you kept it going.”
“So this is my fault?” Keynes said and immediately realised that he sounded whiny, which was something he wanted to avoid. He quickly added. “So be it.”
The guardian silently nodded to that, beckoning them to follow him out of the garden.
Keynes pulled out a stamina potion and downed it in one gulp. It stopped his body from shutting down due to extreme exhaustion. The potion was a temporary measure as he still needed sleep to properly recover. Even though ascenders required less sleep with each Level, as their stamina and Vitality increased, their anatomy was far more complex than that. He wasn’t an expert but he had learned a bit since his ascension. Based on that he suspected a hidden resource, different from stamina, that only recovered by sleep. Stamina and Vitality had some effect on it but they weren’t sufficient. Even High Level ascenders needed sleep, albeit less.
Their trio made their way to the amphitheatre in silence. They were the last to arrive. The Grand Druid’s welcome was muted, his emotioned veiled from Keynes.
Keynes’s gaze found Sophie who stared daggers at Zephyr. The old man’s expression was blank. But it was Edward who caught Keynes’s attention. He openly watched Keynes, his eyes calculating. Either Keynes was reading too much into the man or Edward knew something.
“Welcome, contenders. Congratulations to those of you who came close to achieving what the Father considers precious. It was the hardest challenge yet. For one, you were allowed to negatively influence your rivals, which in some cases worked rather well.” The Grand Druid didn’t glance at Keynes but Keynes knew he was talking about him. “The other issue with the challenge was the meaning behind the word precious. What’s precious to you? What’s precious to the Father? What’s precious at its fundamental level?”
The Grand Druid gave them a moment for the questions to sink in. Keynes, knowing that he had wasted several days on something else, was pissed. He knew he’d have figured it out. The whole concept was based on value. What did they value? What did the Father value? Value was the outcome of supply and demand. On a personal level, value had more complex dynamics though. Value could be a sentimental thing, defying logic and making no sense to anyone but that single person. But more often than not, value lay in its ability to exchange one thing for another like money.
Obviously, translating the concept into the world of plants wasn’t in any way simple and relied primarily on the Father. Keynes suspected that the Father valued things related to the Children of the Forest. And so Keynes assumed that any plant benefiting them would be automatically perceived as precious.
“These are not easy questions to answer but the Father wished for you to try, because only by trying you can grow,” The Grand Druid continued. “This time, I won’t be the one who will deliver the verdict.”
The Grand Druid slammed his staff against the stone. The air around them shuddered with power and the sky above the far forest changed colour to indigo. Against the sky stood an enormous tree with bright orange leaves, in sharp contrast to its surroundings. The tree was several times taller than the next tallest tree in the forest. Its trunk would fit a house inside.
“I present to you the Father of the Forest.”
So the Father is a tree. It makes sense.
Keynes tore his eyes from the tree and checked other contenders. They stood mesmerised by the sight. Even Edward gave up on staring at him. For some reason, it was a small relief.
“CONTENDERS, CONGRATULATIONS. YOU HAVE ACHIEVED MUCH. YOU HAVE LEARNED MORE THAN THOSE OTHER OUTSIDE THE INNER SANCTUARY. THIS KNOWLEDGE IS PRECIOUS. CULTIVATE IT.”
The Father’s voice in Keynes’s head rattled his very bones. How does the boss of the second global dominion have such power? In comparison to the first dominion, this one is at least 10 times harder.
“Gosh, what is that power?” Kora muttered. “My head feels like it’s about to pop.”
“I WILL JUDGE YOU NOW FOR THE THIRD CHALLENGE. THE PRECIOUS. MY SERVANTS WERE FORBIDDEN TO ASSIST YOU SO YOU MUST CONTEMPLATE THE MEANING OF PRECIOUSNESS. IT IS A VERY SIMPLE CONCEPT. IT IS ALWAYS THE GREATEST AUTHORITY THAT DECIDE VALUE. IN THIS DOMINION, I AM THE FINAL AUTHORITY IN THIS DOMINION AND ALL VALUE IS DERIVED FROM MY PERCEPTION. YOU MAY DISAGREE BUT IT WON’T CHANGE THE TRUTH.”
Keynes disagreed, a little bit. While authority was the guarantee of value, it wasn’t the sole source of it like the tree claimed.
“I WILL SPEAK TO YOU SIMULTANEOUSLY.”
Keynes felt his body freeze without the Pure Body buff reacting. Then the scenery changed and he was transported before the giant tree. It was precisely the same experience as when he had been inside the dream tree, which meant that the Father was a dream tree itself, just more powerful.
“You are not wrong,” the voice in Keynes’s head wasn’t as domineering and bone-rattling but it still retained its power. “I am a dream tree but I’m the first and all dream trees come from me.”
“I guessed that much.”
“You have failed, contender.” The Father changed the topic. “You have not presented a plant for judgement.”
On one hand, Keynes wanted to blame the Father for idiotic rules that made it possible but on the other, he knew it was his fault and looking for a scapegoat didn’t sit right with him. He wanted to be in control of his destiny and that came with responsibilities for his failings.
“I have,” Keynes admitted, dulling his emotions.
Silence stretched to the point that Keynes thought of trying to break out of the Father’s influence, if that was even possible, when the tree spoke again.
“You refused my offer. Why?”
“I don’t trust the System and by extension I don’t trust you.”
There was a change in the air, power blew like gusts of winds, then the Father’s presence winked out and the vision ended. Keynes staggered, stopping himself from falling on his face. Not everyone was this lucky. He saw Edward and Torvac on the ground. Zephyr was sitting and shuddering, his face pale.
The sky above the forest had returned to normalcy but the presence of the Father was still palpable in the area. Keynes turned to Kora.
“How do you feel?”
“Like shit. Whatever the Father’s Level is, it is beyond anything we encountered. If we were to fight it, it would crush us.”
“I don’t think it is that simple,” Keynes admitted. “The deal the Father struck with the System must have granted him elevated power but there had to be a price.”
The Grand Druid slammed his staff against the ground drawing attention to him.
“You have received the Father’s judgement.”
Keynes and Kora - 100 points
A hundred points didn’t sound good but then the chorus of complaints filled the amphitheatre.
“Zero point?” Zephyr spoke up, his voice coarse and irritated. “My plant was the highest possible quality.”
The Grand Druid turned to him
“Your plant is an abomination and a warning to others that nature is not immune to corruption and sickness.”
“That's absurd! Plant is only a vessel of my will and intention, not the goal in itself.”
“You’ve learned so much and yet you’ve learned nothing,” the Grand Druid said. “You can access the System to find your new ranking.”
Zephyr was about to say something but then his body seized and he stilled. Keynes felt the Father’s power spike.
“The last challenge starts tomorrow and is called the Dominion of Plants. Each of you will be given a plot to cultivate. Your aim is to conquer others. The challenge will last for a week and at the end of the week, your dominion will be scored. The guardians will explain the rules in depth. Good luck, contenders.”
***
“The final challenge is different,” the guardian said upon returning to their tree house. They would have to move out of the backyard and move into a temporary headquarters from whey they were going to command the war effort. Calling it a war didn’t sound right but the guardian insisted. “You will be permitted to use your challenge points to supplement your new gardens. But remember that it is a double edge sword. Spending too much might guarantee you the win in the fourth challenge but not in the overall, so be careful about it.”
They checked their placement in the dominion section of the System.
- Zephyr - 2720
- Edward - 2252
- Kora and Keynes - 1927
- Sophia - 1795
- Evren - 1516
- Theodore - 1288
- Esme - 1286
- Syman - 1092
- Torvac - 330
They were third, which wasn’t the worst placement but Keynes aimed for the top and the top was far. They were lucky that Zephyr had failed to earn a single point, something to do with the methods employed by him, but his advantage was still substantial. Also Edward and Sophia were rivals Keynes and Kora couldn’t easily dismiss.
While Keynes was checking the highscore, Kora asked, “The final challenge sounds like a nightmare for if we cannot cooperate. What do the rules say about it?”
“For this challenge you two can freely cooperate and your commands will hold equal power.”
“How does the whole ‘war’ is going to function?” she asked. “It doesn’t make much sense.”
“Your plants will have a unique spiritual signature and so you will easily recognise them. Plants themselves will consider plants with different spiritual signatures as enemies. Now, let's go over the types of plants you will be able to deploy at the start. This is a critical stage. It will shape your strategy.”
