Defiance of the Fall

two from his and three from the other world.
There were the two Dominators, the Medhin emperor, the Medhin Crown Prince, and finally the champion of Berum, Beruv Ylvas.

One of the three Medhin Royals in the E-Grade had disappeared from the ladders three days ago, but Zac had no way to know whether he was killed or simply returned to manage the Medhin Empire.
But Zac assumed he was killed since the royal was in the top ten of both ladders.
Leaving just a few days before he would get both levels and a title would be crazy.

Zac was still leery about meeting any one of the remaining powerhouses after his battle with inevitability.
His progress down here had given him a huge boost in survivability, but unfortunately it didn’t provide the same boost in attacking power.
But that was a later problem and for now he needed to deal with his banged-up body.

Even though Zac had changed form his wounds were still there, and Zac quickly swallowed a healing pill to speed up the recovery before he took out some of the high-grade meat he had brought.
He ripped into it like a starving ghost, and he hadn’t realized just how much he had missed the taste of food during the past days.

As he ate he turned his sight inward, and his eyes were immediately drawn to the mysterious black crystal still hovering silently inside his mind.
Surrounding it was a string of fractals wrought from miasma, and Zac couldn’t help but feel a twang of panic upon seeing them.

He hadn’t thought about what would happen if he turned back to human, and had instinctually assumed the crystal would stay locked down behind the fractals.
But those were made from miasma, and there was no guarantee they would stay in his human form.
He had come very close to letting loose those dreadful tendrils by his carelessness.

But luckily no such thing happened.
The miasmic fractals had turned the area with the crystal into a separate space, and it had no bearing on him as far as he could tell.
Still, it felt like having a ticking time bomb inside his mind, and as he sat in the corridor he felt extreme regret over his actions.

Both the ghost and the powerful Draugr woman had seemed to think that he had done something spectacularly stupid by taking this sinister thing.
And Zac was inclined to agree after being shown all those visions of other beings that had fused with a splinter.
There were no happy endings in those visions.

He had been too impulsive, and his greed had made him get stuck with something that might turn out to be far more troubling than the miasmic wound that plagued him until his core was formed.
He needed to quickly find a way to get rid of this thing since he had no idea how long those defensive runes would last.

As Zac looked back on his actions he couldn’t believe it was himself who acted so foolhardy.
That thing screamed danger, and he knew that it might have been the cause of D-Grade powerhouses falling.
To try and take it was beyond foolish, and he would normally take the long way around such an inauspicious object.

His only conclusion was that he had been manipulated somehow.
He briefly considered Anzonil, but he did not think he was the source of the manipulation, though the old man should know the crystal was there.
He was more inclined that it was the splinter of oblivion that had corrupted his thoughts in order to get out of that desolate cave.

But there was one good thing that had come from this ordeal.
He was suddenly in the first position of the Gatherer Ladder, having passed even the Medhin Emperor.
Since he hadn’t found anything else of value the past days it could only mean that the parasitic crystal was counted by the System, and it was regarded as extremely valuable.

A thought struck Zac and he got up to his feet with a grunt.
Suddenly the whole hallway was filled with mounds of treasures.
Zac had poured out everything that seemed to be of high value in his sack but still kept his first position.
He had a feeling that even if he lost his whole pouch he would still keep his position.

The East Trigram Sect contained lots of great treasures for newly integrated worlds, but Zac estimated that it was a strong E-Grade Sect, or a weak D-Grade Sect at the best.
Anzonil and perhaps a few others were the only D-Grade powerhouses.

’

Meanwhile, the crystal that had lodged itself in his brain seemed to be a supreme, albeit cursed, treasure that would be considered valuable even on higher-graded worlds.
He became extra thankful that he possessed the bangle from Greatest.
Otherwise, he might find himself in even bigger trouble from the crystal than from his Specialty Core.

Zac was still far from healed, but he didn’t want to wait any longer so he quickly retrieved all the treasure he had thrown out.
He looked like he had been dipped in ink from all the ichor, but at least the golden robes were slowly healing themselves.

Zac started to walk down the hallway, and it was with some relief he saw another gate not far off that looked very similar to the last one.
This time he didn’t equip his shield, but simply pushed open the doors with a grunt.

“Welcome young… uh, human? Were you not a Draugr?” the familiar voice echoed through the majestic chambers.

“I ’m leaving for the surface soon, looking like a human is more convenient,” Zac said with a shrug as he walked inside the room, not wanting to get into specifics.

Its architecture was similar to the last one, with the pillars and beautiful sculptures, but it was far smaller than the last one.
The Array Spirit had already materialized in the other end of the room, roughly twenty meters away.

“How curious.
If I wasn’t a ghost I’d try to get to the bottom of such a mystery,” the old man said as he stroked his long beard.

“Anyway, I am here,” Zac said.

“It is good to see that you passed my final trial.
To see such an enticing treasure but have both the intelligence to spot the dangers and the mental fortitudes to walk away,” the old man said with an approving nod.
“If we only made the same choices back in the day, so much would be different.”

Zac blankly looked at the old man for a second before he understood what was going on.
The array spirit had purposefully led him to that cavern with the intent to test his character.
If he was smart enough he’d leave that cursed thing alone and walk straight through the cavern to get here.

“Well yes, it felt like something cursed, I am not strong enough to tangle with such a thing,” Zac said with a straight face, but he could feel his ears heating up from embarrassment.

“If I may ask, those ghosts… Are they your former sect members?” Zac probed, eager to change the subject.

The old man sighed and looked at the exit with deep helplessness and sadness in his eyes.

Advertisements

“Yes, it is true.
Will you listen to this old man’s tale?” the Array Spirit said.

Zac was more interested in the treasures, but he also needed to know more about that crystal.

“Please, go ahead,” Zac said.

“The East Trigram Sect was a small sect that could barely be considered a D-Grade force on a low-tier D-Grade world.
We only had half-step D-Grade cultivators, but somewhat made up for our lack of power with our insight into arrays,” the old man began.

“I am sorry, half-step?” Zac asked confused.