While he faced the ridiculous terrors of The Blind Depths, Achilles had another body alone with Rose in a stretching Sea of Thalassara that remained peaceful and serene despite the conflicts unfolding across Observable Existence.
The threat of THE Corpse Hierophant and their forces seed to have beco mild, at least temporarily, until he better understood what happened to them when they entered Tian. The rapid strengthening of their Civilizational Authorities that he had sensed before had stabilized at levels suggesting full restoration from their Collapsed states, but no aggressive actions had followed that recovery.
Were they like him, thrown into The Cavern of Existence to face trials that would determine their worthiness to lay claims on the Oldest Paradox? Or did they have an entirely different fate in the hands of The Groundskeeper, that mysterious being whose power exceeded anything Achilles had ever encountered?
He didn’t know, and the uncertainty gnawed at his instincts.
But as all of this was being figured out through the body currently fighting for survival in absolute darkness, this body focused on sothing equally important.
"How does it feel?"
He asked Rose cautiously as her expression was a bit serious, her features illuminated by the gentle blue-gold glow of the relocated Sea around them. Her body radiated copper-green luminescence that grew more intense with each passing mont, THE Civilizational Authority of Alchemy consolidating around her form with weight that pressed against reality in ways it hadn’t before.
"It almost seems like it’s too massive to fit inside ..."
She said such words cautiously, her voice strained with effort as she processed what was flowing into her Existence. At this mont, Achilles was flooding her with his own weight of pure THE Civilizational Authority, power that she took to forge the Civilization of Alchemy into sothing that would answer to her rather than THE Sovereign Catalyst.
This was a thod he was trying out right now, an experint born from the unique nature of his Way of Assimilation and her similar capabilities. For him, the idea of more power was grand, but he also wanted that sa power to be felt by Rose. She was his partner in everything, the one who had stood beside him through transformations that should have been impossible.
Why should he hoard all the benefits of his consumption when he could share them with the person who mattered most?
Well, their children could also gain so power after.
So just as he Assimilated the sheer magnitude and Depth of the Malford Collapsed Existences in The Blind Depths, he began trying to do the sa with Rose. He simply gave a percentage of what he Assimilated to her, channeling the weight and authority through their connection.
It almost felt like cheating. Conventional wisdom said one couldn’t advance toward The First Scale of Existence this way, couldn’t simply receive power from another without earning it through personal cultivation and struggle.
But he wasn’t hearing any complaining from Vakochev, was he? The Scales of Existence hadn’t sent any prompts warning him that this thod was forbidden or that Rose’s advancent would be rejected.
So he simply did it, and it only seed to even be possible because Rose possessed a similar capability to Assimilate.
Her standing on The Civilization of Alchemy began to exceed any Pre-THE Existence and moved toward the genuine Depth of THE with speed that would have seed impossible through conventional ans.
Rose’s fiery green eyes opened with expression that combined wonder and concern as she felt her Existence transforming.
"What will happen when I attain THE Surface Depth in Alchemy and that Sovereign Catalyst also manages to do so? A battle to the death to see who keeps the Way?"
...!
Achilles smiled at her words as he shook his head with confidence that ca from understanding how Civilizations and Ways actually functioned at THE level.
"You would be the main pioneer of the Way. He would be your derivative." His purple-gold eyes t her copper-green gaze with warmth that softened his words. "Especially once your weight and imnsity far exceeds his, what can he do? Challenge soone whose Depth dwarfs his own? Contest a Way that has already been claid by soone stronger?"
He reached out to touch her face gently. "And that is if he even returns to THE Surface Depth. We don’t know what happened to them in Tian. But let’s take this step now and worry about the rest later. We’ll be entering Tian soon..."
He said these words calmly as Rose nodded with determination replacing her earlier concern. She focused on taking in as much of what Achilles was giving as her Existence could handle, pushing toward THE Surface Depth with intensity that matched the fiery nature she had always possessed.
Achilles monitored this situation here while he maintained the connection with his other body in The Blind Depths that was putting in a great deal of fucking work.
The second Malford Collapsed Existence he was Assimilating in that place of absolute darkness had proven just as resistant as the first, requiring multiple rounds of consumption before its imnsity began truly diminishing. And even before he finished with that creature, another one rushed toward him from a direction his survival instinct had identified monts before it would have been too late.
He hadn’t made any progress inward since that first brutal encounter. The constant need to move around, to keep his distance, to make sure another monstrous thing didn’t co from an unexpected direction to swarm him had prevented any forward montum toward the deeper regions of The Cavern.
Because he did not wish to go through being skewered by the heavy weight of another Civilization again. The Ways of the Collapsed Existences were very anomalous and corrupted weavings that could barely be made out even by his enhanced perception.
But with as much hardship as it brought, its benefits were also undeniable.
The weight of his Depth began to climb rapidly as he consud creature after creature, each Malford Collapsed Existence adding its accumulated imnsity to his own growing foundation. His Existential Corruption Resistance continued rising as he processed the contamination they carried.
His hunting instincts sharpened with each predator he consud, their survival knowledge becoming his own.
He wholly believed in the idea that the harder one worked, the more results they achieved. Talent and circumstance could provide advantages, but nothing replaced the simple dedication of putting in effort when effort was required!
Effort! Effort! Effort!
At this ti, this body truly put in the work.
And ti passed as he went across The Blind Depths and Assimilated multiple Malford Collapsed Existences, each victory buying incrental progress toward the distant goal that waited sowhere in the absolute darkness ahead!
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