Stunted.
This was the designation given to their Observable Existence as the numbers of entities who had attained any Civilizational Depth, who had proceeded to advance from Level Zero to Level One Civilization, was abysmally few. Across eons of existence, across countless ages of struggle and conflict and desperate cultivation, only a handful had ever achieved THE distinction.
Naturally, if sothing was missing which caused this, and such a thing was then introduced to fix the deficiency...
It would have a lot of work to do.
It would have to play catch-up for all that it had missed.
At this mont.
THE Resplendent Paradox ignored the howling serpent beside her as she felt the seas of Civilizational Chaos perating all around her paradoxical domain. The obsidian tide that had begun spreading through Tian continued its advance with hunger that seed almost conscious in its determination.
In the next instant, the sound of an imnse clap bood above them as she looked up toward the sky that had always shown contradictory light and darkness in equal asure.
And there, as if a fissure was blooming in space itself, a radiant obsidian sea of Chaos began to stretch out all around.
...!
THE Resplendent Paradox and the serpent eating its own tail watched the scene with expressions that held weight beyond simple observation.
A reflecting stellar obsidian sea blood across the Nine Seas, spreading like a mirror image forming above waters that had existed in singular form since Tian’s discovery. It was as if they were developing an opposing part of themselves, a twin that had been missing since before differentiation completed.
But it wasn’t really opposite.
It was simply Chaos playing catch-up.
And Chaos would catch up!
The obsidian sea continued expanding until it covered the entirety of Tian’s sky, a ceiling of pure Primordial Authority that pulsed with possibility that had been denied to this realm for eons beyond counting.
As this began to occur...
BOOM!
An explosion of Civilizational Authority erupted across all Nine Seas simultaneously. Liquid concentrations of pure authority began forming throughout the golden waters below and the obsidian expanse above, rivers of power that hadn’t existed monts before now flowing with abundance that made the previous concentrations seem diluted by comparison.
The authority available for cultivation exponentially began to increase.
What had taken eons to accumulate through careful labor could now be gathered in monts through simple proximity.
But the changes were not limited to Tian.
They occurred across all of Observable Existence!
Across the Shattered Folds, those planar regions that had been broken and fractured and stretched out across existence since before the Age of Collapse, Chaos perated with hunger that sought to repair what its absence had allowed to break.
Wherever Chaos passed, weavings of existence blood with vitality that the Folds had never known. Broken regions began to be rejoined and stitched together as if they were pieces of a long grand puzzle finally finding their complentary shapes. Cracks that had divided reality for eons sealed themselves as Primordial Authority flowed through them like blood returning to starved tissue!
Star Seas across the Void trembled as they began to expand, their boundaries pushing outward as if they had been compressed by invisible forces that no longer held dominion. Existential Authority visibly grew grander all around them, the very fabric of these regions becoming denser and more vibrant with each passing mont.
Mana, that glorious energy flowing out across Observable Existence as the base of all authorities, began to pulse and flourish with intensity that exceeded anything it had achieved since the monts of differentiation. Chaos made it grander, made it denser, made it more potent in ways that would reshape how cultivation functioned for every being in reality.
Such changes perated across Observable Existence in waves that would take ti to fully manifest but had already begun their inexorable transformation.
The ones who caused all this...
"Well..."
Achilles could only articulate this single word as he perceived but a re glimpse of what was actually happening. His Interdiate Depth, compressed as it was, still couldn’t fully comprehend the chanisms by which Chaos spread and healed and transford everything it touched.
Beside him, Rose had a solemn expression as she watched the tear they had created continue pouring Primordial Authority into reality. Both of them had their Depths rapidly increasing at this mont, the Chaos flowing through them as Clairs granting advancent that would have taken normal cultivation eons to achieve.
And with the elevation of their Depth, Achilles was not left behind in capability as well.
While Rose beca a Clair of one of the four aspects of the Oldest Paradox of Existence, his partial Claim worked in harmony with his Way of Assimilation to produce sothing new!
Prompts blood before his awareness with information that made his eyes widen.
|Civilization Mutation Detected|
|Your Civilization of Assimilation has advanced in a direction not purely related to Depth.|
|For the achievent of holding a partial Claim over one of the aspects of the Oldest Paradox of Existence and effectively having it operate under your banner of Assimilation, your Civilization has undergone fundantal mutation.|
|New Capability Unlocked: Defined and Undefined Assimilation|
|Capability Overview:|
|Your Way of Assimilation has previously operated through direct contact or proximity with targets possessing clear Existential boundaries. Entities, Principles, authorities, and similar constructs with defined edges could be consud and integrated.|
|This limitation no longer applies.|
|Defined Assimilation:|
|You may now Assimilate any aspect of Existence that you can clearly define and comprehend. This includes but is not limited to: Lifeforms, landscapes, domains, realms, spatial regions, temporal segnts, conceptual territories, and environntal constructs.|
|Requirents: Clear knowledge of what you are attempting to Assimilate. Understanding of its boundaries, nature, and composition. Sufficient Depth to impose your authority upon the target.|
|Examples: A Star Sea whose composition you understand. A Sanctuary whose weavings you have analyzed. A Shattered Fold whose boundaries you can perceive.|
|Undefined Assimilation:|
|You may now Assimilate aspects of Existence that you cannot clearly define, so long as you possess so form of understanding or connection to them. This includes phenona, states of being, ambient authorities, and constructs that lack clear boundaries.|
|Requirents: Partial knowledge or intuitive understanding of the target. Connection through Claim, resonance, or prior exposure. Sufficient Depth to impose your authority upon the undefined target.|
|Examples: The ambient Chaos perating a region. Ambient Paradox. The concept of possibility within a domain. The potential futures branching from a mont.|
|Critical Applications:|
|With sufficient Depth and understanding, you may Assimilate:|
|Primordial Realms such as Tian or Apatheia|
|Spaces such as the Cavern of Existence|
|Civilizational territories in their entirety|
|Ambient authorities spread across regions|
|Warning: Attempting to Assimilate constructs beyond your current Depth will result in backlash proportional to the gap between your authority and the target’s imnsity.|
|This capability represents fundantal evolution of your Way. You are no longer limited to consuming what exists within boundaries. You may now consu boundaries themselves.|
...!
Defined and Undefined Assimilation!
Achilles looked at this ridiculous feature as his eyes beca unfathomably serious and heavy.
A singular thought popped into his mind the mont he read through the details of this feature.
His thought was that...it seed like his dream of Assimilating Existence itself was very much real.
Not taphorically. Not eventually. Not as so distant goal that he might approach if everything went perfectly.
But genuinely achievable through the path that had just opened before him!
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