Two days later... One hour before dawn.
Levi sat in a round, plastic blue tub filled with steaming water, his body subrged up to the shoulders. He had started his nightly sessions a few hours ago, and unlike the reckless attempt on his first night, he was now following a more disciplined approach.
He’d created a temporary training schedule, limiting himself to one cultivation session per hour. This allowed his body enough ti to fully recover before diving in again. Between sessions, he filled smaller containers with cold water and poured them into the large bathroom tub for later use.
The thod gave him an extra ten seconds of cultivation ti during each round, but he was beginning to question whether the benefits were worth the cost.
’The water bill’s going to be insane if I keep this up,’ Levi thought, standing up and stepping out of the tub. ’Might even put on so governnt watchlist.’
He knew full well how tightly water and other natural resources were monitored. In their world, governed by the laws of the Holy Light, each region could only use the resources available within its blessed territory or rely on imports from neighboring lands. Anything beyond that was always at risk of exposure to nightcrawlers.
Fortunately, Heliodor’s region stretched just enough over the Atlantic Ocean to secure a sustainable water supply under the Holy Light’s protection. A wide river also separated it from the adjacent settlent of Sale, further boosting their independence.
Still, that didn’t an they could waste resources without scrutiny. The governnt monitored all usage closely, especially for residents in small households like Levi’s...Just him and his brother. If he kept consuming this much water every night, it was only a matter of ti before soone took notice.
"Well... it did help reach 5% faster than expected," Levi muttered. "Ti to retire this thod."
A small smile played on his lips as he activated his spiritual vision. Examining the seed embedded within him, he noted the fine network of cracks: he had passed the 5% mark...just barely, but enough.
The near-death experience from his first night of training had unlocked a genetic trait granting him high resistance to heat. That breakthrough made a huge difference...Now, even training just once an hour, he was progressing just as fast as before.
"Do I have to show the tattoo to unlock the rewards?" he asked his partner while drying himself with a towel.
"It’s mandatory," Ash’Kral replied, snickering faintly.
Levi’s brow twitched. He muttered the incantation, and monts later, the three-seeded, black-inked tattoo blood into existence on his tailbone. One of the seeds now glowed with a faint crimson light.
Though he couldn’t see it, he felt a mild burning sensation...nothing alarming, and nothing unexpected. He’d read everything about the reward system.
This was standard.
Without hesitation, Levi reached behind him and touched the glowing seed.
The instant his fingers made contact, like pressing a hidden button, his body went limp and slumped onto the couch, falling into unconsciousness.
While it might have seed ordinary from the outside, in truth, Levi’s consciousness had been transported inside the Nine Senses Seed!
As the light adjusted to his spiritual vision, he found himself standing atop a vast, perfectly still surface of red water.
"Red...? Shouldn’t it be colorless?" Levi blinked, caught off guard.
Lifting his head, he imdiately spotted the source of the crimson hue beneath him. For the first ti, his usually soulless eyes...eyes that had driven thousands of nightcrawlers into despair...flickered with a trace of emotion.
"What the..."
Those were the only words he could manage to utter, his mouth slightly agape as he gazed at a massive scarlet tree, glowing gently like a living fla and stretching across the entirety of the Rooted Plane.
Its fiery glow painted the sky in deep crimson, mirrored perfectly by the still water beneath it.
The reflection was so flawless it gave the illusion of two trees joined at their base...one reaching toward the heavens, the other sinking into the depths. It felt ancient, sacred. As though it held secrets older than ti.
"Where am I... Is this really the infamous Rooted Plane?" Levi murmured, eyes wide with awe.
He recalled reading that once a Daywalker completed a stage or broke through a plateau, they were transported, alongside their contracted nightcrawler, into the Rooted Plane: a spiritual dinsion within the seed, ho to its will and consciousness.
From what he understood, one was supposed to encounter a modest, ten-ter Shadowlife Tree, a small golden tree whose reflection revealed a shadowy twin beneath. This illusion was how it earned its na...Shadowlife.
But what stood before him now was sothing else entirely.
The crimson tree was unimaginably vast, so massive it dwarfed comprehension. It felt less like a tree and more like a World Tree, sothing out of legend.
Just then, a familiar voice spoke up from his shoulder.
"Boy, I’ve already told you to forget everything you’ve read about Daywalkers," Ash’Kral said calmly. "This is no ordinary place. This is the Ancestral Rooted Plane. You should be honored to be here."
"Ancestral Rooted Plane?" Levi echoed, still stunned. "Just what kind of seed do you have?"
His curiosity about Ash’Kral and his mysterious seed was growing by the day, but the little prick had no intention of revealing anything.
"You haven’t earned that knowledge yet."
"Tsk."
"Click your tongue all you want, nothing changes," Ash’Kral chuckled.
Realizing he’d get nowhere with questions, Levi shook his head and turned his attention to the task at hand.
"Alright then... how do I activate the reward station? Sa as with the Shadowlife Seed?"
"Yes. Just speak your request and it will appear."
Levi nodded, then cleared his throat and spoke with a respectful tone:
"I respectfully request consideration for a reward in recognition of my contributions to the seed’s growth."
Ash’Kral rolled his eye.
"So dramatic," he muttered. "You could’ve just said, ’I want my reward.’"
But Levi wasn’t about to use such casual words, not when standing before a tree the size of a celestial body.
As his words traveled across the still surface, the red water rippled slightly. When the sound reached the tree, a sudden burst of light erupted, blinding Levi’s spiritual vision.
He raised his arms to shield his eyes.
When the flash faded, he slowly lowered his hands, only to find himself stunned for the second ti in minutes.
Before him stood a massive wall of nonagon-shaped crimson leaves, millions of them, arranged neatly to form a monuntal nine-sided flower.
The outermost leaves were dim, but those near the center blazed brightly, creating a surreal image of a half-lit, radiant blossom.
Levi stared in awe. Then, with disbelief in his voice, he turned to Ash’Kral.
"Are those... all abilities you’ve mastered?"
"Yes," Ash’Kral replied as if it were nothing.
But Levi knew better. Anyone who saw this would instantly realize this was anything but normal.
Ancestral Rooted Plane? Millions of mastered abilities? Nothing about this seed, or its master, was ordinary.
"Why the surprise?" Ash’Kral said casually. "I’ve lived a long, long ti. These are just fragnts of my accumulated experience."
"How long did you live to reach this level of madness?" Levi muttered, still dazed.
His shock was understandable. Most Daywalkers began their journey with Tier 3 or 4 nightcrawlers, Tier 5 if they were gifted. A Tier 5 might have mastered a hundred abilities at most.
With each breakthrough, the Daywalker would enter the Rooted Plane and randomly unlock one ability from that limited pool.
But this? Millions?
Levi couldn’t even process the scale.
"All you need to know," Ash’Kral said annoyedly, slapping the back of Levi’s neck with his tiny wing, "Is that I don’t have the patience I used to. So, quit wasting ti and claim your reward. We’ve got two months to prepare you for candidates who were trained before they could walk."
"Fine, fine," Levi muttered, "Keep your secrets, old bat."
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