The Approaching Final Act

After everyone had finished resting, more than an hour had passed.

Just as Ian had guessed, after wielding the Undead Monarch's power for a time, he had gained a faint understanding of the existence of the Soul Light Body.

To be honest, after cultivating the Ascension Path for so many years, Ian had long since developed an accurate understanding of Terra's power system.

At its core, Terra's Ascension Path did not focus on the body at all, but on the "soul."

According to the many records in the Imperial Capital Grand Library and scattered mentions of the Pre-Epoch Civilization, Ian had realized that there seemed to have been no Ascenders above the Fourth Energy Level during the Pre-Epoch Civilization. There had not even been universal First Energy Level Ascenders.

The entire art of Ascension had been a branch of alchemy, a spiritual cultivation discipline primarily focused on elevating one's own soul.

During the Pre-Epoch Civilization, there had been none of today's countless magical beasts, nor such an abundance of power components. Ascenders of that era could only meditate and train without pause, tempering their minds while honing their bodies, until their mental will reached a state of "perfection"—the limit of humanity.

After that, those with talent could gradually sense Origin Matter and use it to condense an Origin Seed for themselves.

That was the First Energy Level.

Only after reaching the limits of humanity did one qualify to condense an Origin Seed, and the success rate was not high. Although medicine had been extraordinarily advanced at the time and failures could be saved, attempting it a second time afterward was immensely difficult.

As for the Second Energy Level, it required the Origin Matter accumulated by the Origin Seed to reach a threshold, allowing the mind to gradually mature and thereby condense a soul.

The Third Energy Level was another transformation—once the soul solidified, it could act independently of the body.

As everyone knew, humans could think even without a soul. The body itself possessed intelligence, while the soul also had the ability to think independently. The two resonated in a manner that transcended time and space, engaging in dual thought. And this disembodied soul even possessed all manner of mysterious abilities.

At the time, souls were called Soul Light Bodies, Alter Egos, or Super Egos... In any case, that had already been the limit the Pre-Epoch Civilization's Ascension arts could reach.

After all, in a civilization that could reach and reshape the Void Realm through alchemy alone, the functions of the soul could be completely replaced by countless spiritual instruments and alchemical techniques.

Moreover, the process of Ascension cultivation was extremely painful and heavily dependent on talent—meaning a persistent state of mind. Physical talent alone had been meaningless to the Pre-Epoch Civilization. Even if one succeeded and gained a soul, it merely meant being able to enter the Void Realm without equipment. It was no great achievement.

Only those at the Third Energy Level could become masters and privileged figures in their respective fields.

Because they had truly proven their extraordinary will and wisdom. In this world, rather than seeking the speed and convenience offered by technology, they dissected their own hearts and dug deep into the power hidden in their souls.

Such people could succeed at anything and achieve greatness in any endeavor. Even if they encountered a streak of bad luck, as long as they were not killed, they would inevitably rise again. They would not grow discouraged or blame themselves, but would instead rationally and objectively examine their own mistakes.

For their way of viewing the world had surpassed mortal thought. Like people controlling game characters, they looked down upon the world from above. Their bodies were no longer cages that bound their thoughts and perspectives, but merely a point of departure.

As for the Fourth Energy Level...

No human had ever reached that level through personal strength during the Pre-Epoch Civilization.

Those who possessed such power had actually been their creations—at first, super-biological weapons such as Otherworld Colony Centers and Space Battleship Carrier Mothers, powered by Aether Furnace Cores. Whether Crystal Dragons or Frost-Enticing Moths, they were ultimate civilization-scale war machines forged from the essence of the entire Pre-Epoch Civilization. On an ordinary planet, a single one would have been enough to suppress the whole world.

Even amid the vast stars of the universe, planets with naturally occurring Fourth Energy Level lifeforms were exceedingly rare. Every one of them was an incomparably precious Titan Planet, a forbidden land of death with extreme danger.

And the Pre-Epoch Civilization had produced countless such weapons of civilization. Who knew how many kinds there had been, or how many in total.

In any case, with Spark ships from alien civilizations, the Terrans of the Pre-Epoch Civilization had enjoyed an endless stream of inspiration. They fanatically absorbed those technologies and used their own methods to turn imagination into reality.

However, these alien technologies—and even alien forms of civilization—had also profoundly affected the development of Terra Civilization itself.

The most obvious manifestation lay in the art of Ascension.

The Calamity of Falling Skies had further intensified this trend.

The Calamity of Falling Skies. To this day, no one knew the truth behind the disaster that had destroyed the Pre-Epoch Civilization. But the shattered moon was proof enough that it had been a terrifying calamity capable of utterly annihilating Terra Civilization. Only the Watching Moon had shielded the people from destruction.

A considerable portion of the surviving Terrans had been Ascenders... The individual strength of Ascenders proved that they could live freely in the post-Calamity of Falling Skies environment, and even Ascend more effectively.

Why had the Pre-Epoch Civilization required people to reach the limits of the human body before they could condense an Origin Seed?

To put it bluntly, it was because the human body as a species was simply too weak.

—If our senses cannot capture Origin Matter, then we will modify our bodies.

Even if they remained constrained by the strength of material flesh and could not sense Origin Seeds upon reaching adulthood, they could at least vastly increase the number of people capable of sensing Origin Matter.

The Pre-Epoch Civilization had already adapted to this—they had modified all humanity. Whether White Folk, Red Folk, Iron Folk, Gold Folk, even Elves, Dwarves, Merfolk, and Demi-humans... all of them had once been adaptive "templates" developed for interstellar migration and the different planets they would inhabit.

Yes. Terran Humanity displayed different adaptive capabilities depending on where they lived.

Any existing human race was essentially the same kind of human. It was merely that Terra's drastic upheavals and increasingly extreme ecological environments had caused them to display adaptations to different planetary environments.

Since that was the case, through selection caused by mass death, races adapted to the world after the Calamity of Falling Skies naturally emerged.

They were the Terrans of today. The Terra Races.

Races adapted to Origin Matter and Ascension.

But that was still not enough.

The First Energy Level was far too weak. Aside from greatly enhanced perception and stamina, it surprisingly offered no increase in actual combat power—various magical beasts, Fallen Sky Demonic Beasts, Aliens, and even extraterrestrial monsters rampaged across Terra. The feeble power of the First Energy Level simply could not contend with these artificial weapons and tools, much less alien monsters.

So they would use the power of those creatures for themselves as well.

The biological technology of the Pre-Epoch Civilization's Terrans had been extraordinarily advanced. They had long since left foundations in their bodies for installing all kinds of biological organs, and many had already been installed.

After the Calamity of Falling Skies, Terrans used the remnants of alchemy and Ascension arts to modify their bodies. They extracted the Origin Matter Structures within magical beasts, processed them with precision, and created the first Magic Potions.

That was the earliest prototype of the Ascension Path Ian cultivated today.

Combining the information from Redwood Base with the various hints provided by the Silver Chip, Ian pieced together the process through which the Pre-Epoch Civilization's Ascension arts had transformed into those of modern Terra.

And from this, he keenly realized that modern Ascension arts were essentially two cultivation systems.

One was Terra's original "Soul Ascension." The other was "Body Ascension," developed after the Calamity of Falling Skies.

It was the fusion of these two systems that gave rise to the Fifth Energy Level, a rank that even the Pre-Epoch Civilization had never fully touched.

And the Soul Light Body was no longer merely a solidified soul possessing supernatural abilities.

It was a fifth element born from the organic fusion of the soul and the body's Origin Matter.

"Aether..."

Standing at the edge of Black Soil Garden, Ian stared at the clump of mist in his hand, flickering with a ghostly cyan radiance.

It seemed to be a tangible substance, yet if anyone tried to touch it, they would receive absolutely no response from it.

Only Ian. Only Ian himself could manipulate this fifth element born from the fusion of his soul and Origin Matter.

A unique fifth element that would never be identical from person to person.

He murmured slowly, "So that's how it is. Psionics and Origin Matter are fundamentally one. Nature Psionics are difficult to use because they are most deeply fused with Origin Matter. They are the power closest to Primordial Aether, which is why they are almost inexhaustible."

"Only after humans grasp Primordial Aether can they freely control the power of the world like true transcendent lifeforms. The same is true for magical beasts. The absurdly massive bodies of giant beasts are supported by Aether and Nature Psionics."

"Magic Potions can only provide the materials for 'Body Ascension.' To truly make the leap from the Second Energy Level to the Third Energy Level, a Magic Potion is merely a catalyst. It is simply an 'Ascender's source of power.' What Ascension requires is an incomparably stable understanding of oneself—so stable that even if the body has no soul and the soul has no body, both can remain exactly the same, maintaining a 'consensus' without the slightest deviation."

"And the solidity of that consensus can even create the initial fusion between the psionics condensed within the soul and the Origin Matter condensed within the body, producing the first 'Primordial Aether' within the human body."

"And the Soul Light Body is born from this Primordial Aether."

"And it can influence Origin Matter and Nature Psionics, allowing even those without psionics to create 'Life Psionics' for themselves."

Ian did not need that—he already possessed Precognitive Vision. Even if his Soul Light Body awakened another supernatural ability, it would merely strengthen and assist Precognitive Vision. But even so, his Soul Light Body would possess tremendously powerful strength.

And now, bolstered by the Undead Monarch's power and the immense quantity of Origin Matter nurtured by the Ancient Dragon Core, traces of "Primordial Aether" had begun to gather within Ian's body, bit by bit.

He was already condensing a Soul Light Body.

But this was only the Undead Monarch's power. It did not mean Ian himself had completely crossed that threshold.

Ian was still contemplating his own "consensus."

—What is it that I will never abandon, that I will absolutely uphold in my actions, that will keep me free from worry, anxiety, and distracting thoughts?

Ian silently surveyed the entire Black Soil Garden. His scarlet blood-red eyes swept across the Subspace Labyrinth, and his doubts seemed to be questioning the countless dead souls as well. "What about you?"

Revenge.

The dead souls answered in unison: And rest.

There was no hesitation in their voices, no distracting thoughts or worries, no confusion or bewilderment.

This was their unwavering consensus.

Yes. Thus, if an Undead Monarch completely merged his self into these dead souls, he could make a sudden leap past the Third Energy Level—gaining his own Soul Light Body.

But Ian was different... His self-awareness was too powerful. He had never been influenced by the dead souls.

On the contrary, he had been influencing the dead souls instead.

Yet even so, the dead souls were still condensing Soul Light Bodies through their own consensus, providing Ian with precious experience for condensing his own Soul Light Body.

At that moment, Ian heard the voices of the Light-Embracing Rescue Team led by Radiant Sword. They had finished resting.

Forget it. It's time to set out.

That was what he thought.

So Ian turned and walked toward them.

Toward the conclusion of this adventure.