Chapter 1,367 – Second Singularity

Zac was careful not to disturb the floating scripture. Its origins were clearly extraordinary, which made the situation seem strange. The chamber was too small and dingy to house a top-tier manual. The scripture was even stowed away in the chamber’s corner like an afterthought. However, there were no indications of something even better having been kept in the chamber’s center.

“Why would they seal the manual like this? Does it have special properties? Maybe even a spirit?”

“You’re still too wet behind the ears. Watch and learn,” Esmeralda snickered, removing all the dust with a wave of her hand. “Look at the indents on the ground. Can you tell what made them?”

Zac inspected the markings with a thoughtful frown. “The patterns seem random, and I can’t feel any special fluctuations coming from them. If it’s another array, it’s extraordinarily well hidden. Then again, I didn’t notice anything special with the illusion upstairs.”

“You’re overthinking it,” Esmeralda said and started taking things out from a hidden spatial compartment.

Zac gawked as the dusty hideout transformed into a cozy studio apartment complete with a bed and a reading nook next to the manual. The markings weren’t perfectly aligned, but they were close enough. “Did some lunatic actually excavate a Cultivation Cave below the Scripture Tower?”

“Some bored librarian probably found a weakness in the arrangement and started digging. Not a bad place to sneak a nap or a reading session out of earshot of annoying disciples,” Esmeralda said with a grin. “Judging by the depth of the indents, this little hideout changed hands a few times over the years.”

“Are the disciples of the Mercurial Court insane?” Zac muttered in disbelief. “And is the Head Librarian blind?”

“You’ve read the rulebook. The Mercurial Court is an ‘anything goes’ institution. Going by that old codger’s attitude, this is exactly the kind of thing they’d encourage,” Esmeralda said.

“Still, why bother? The sect would have to punish them if they were too obvious about it.”

“There’s one very good reason for creating such a space. What did the tower tell you when you entered?”

“That I could bring one manual out of—oh,” Zac said, looking around with realization.

“Working as a librarian doesn’t mean you get to study all the methods, and sneaking them out would trigger the alarms. But if you could bring one into your hideout, wouldn’t you have ample time to study away from prying eyes? Aren’t we still inside the Scripture Tower?” Esmeralda said with a crafty grin. “This isn’t the first time I’ve encountered hidden reading nooks inside repositories, though they’re rarely this elaborate.”

“And the book?”

“Probably what the last owner was reading when the Mercurial Court was attacked,” Esmeralda said, pointing behind the pedestal. “See the markings on the wall? It’s a dynamic array directly connected to the repository. Keeping the tome here ensures that the library doesn’t mark the book as missing or stolen.”

“Does that mean we can’t take it with us?” Zac asked. “It’s definitely not something from the scriptorium’s first floor.”

Esmeralda answered after a pause. “The library repository arrays have already collapsed. Only parts of the defensive arrays are operational. We’d have to hide it from the array when leaving this chamber. A normal Spatial Tool wouldn’t work. I can make some room in my vats.”

“You don’t have to. If it’s concealing contraband, I have the perfect solution,” Zac said. “So, can I take it out now?”

“It should be fine,” Esmeralda said, though Zac noticed how she held her breath when he picked up the tome.

Zac didn’t know whether he should be happy or annoyed after skimming through [Shattered Sky Scripture]. It was an auxiliary method much like [Inverse Outer Vestiges], designed to address the fundamental problem of Monarchy—the energy loss. The shattered sky in the name referred to man-made spatial anomalies, miniature black holes that you nurtured inside your Inner World.

One could form a total of four Shattered Sky Nuclei, one during each breakthrough of C-grade. They would siphon off some of the ambient energy before it could leak through the cracks—along with some energy that was meant for cultivation. It wasn’t a loss, though. After enough accumulation, you could resorb most of the energy as if harvesting the fruits of a spiritual tree perfectly aligned to your path.

The practitioner could also bring the nuclei out of their Inner Worlds as a last-ditch weapon. Naturally, blowing up a nucleus would permanently sacrifice the accumulated energy along with a significant amount of mass—the weight necessary to replicate the gravitational pull of a black hole. Ideally, you’d never have to use that method, because the nuclei had a secondary feature.

Their mass could be integrated with your Inner World during a breakthrough, providing an additional boost to your foundations. Ideally, you’d form one Shattered Sky Nucleus during each breakthrough in C-grade, then sacrifice all four when confirming your Dao. That way, the Inner World would see the greatest improvement, setting the stage for Autarchy.

It wasn’t the only way to use the [Shattered Sky Scripture], though. The method was quite flexible. You could start practicing it anytime during Monarchy, and you could absorb the nuclei during any breakthrough for an additional push. The manual was just as valuable for a weaker Monarch who’d be satisfied with merely reaching Middle C-grade.

“Am I really that lucky to find another external C-grade method so soon, or were they just common back in the day?”

“A little bit of both, probably?” Esmeralda said. “Monarchy is the first grade where your cultivation deteriorates over time. You can never stop. You have to keep gathering energy even when you’re stuck at level 226. If you don’t, your Inner World will eventually wither and collapse. Can you imagine how it was back in the day?

“Until Monarchy, cultivation was much slower compared to modern cultivators. You had to advance slowly enough that you could expel the Earthly Taint, because allowing it to accumulate would sever your path. However, that won’t work in the C-grade, where you need to work hard just to stay in place.

“Even for talented ancient Monarchs, cultivation would be an uphill battle where more Earthly Taint was added every day. These methods weren’t just a luxury; they were a necessity.”

“I thought the Cosmic Sea didn’t have Earthly Taint?” Zac asked.

“At least not as much. But cultivators aren’t absorbing energy from the Cosmic Sea, are they? That happens only during breakthroughs. They still draw on their surroundings after reaching Monarchy. Otherwise, what would it matter if you cultivated on the frontier or in the heartlands?”

“Are these kinds of methods as common today?” Zac asked.

“Not really. For one, we don’t have to worry about Earthly Taint, so we’re not quite as pressed for time. Secondly, these methods have been streamlined and incorporated into your cultivation manuals. Adding more methods on top wouldn’t be as efficient as perfecting your cracks and addressing the root of the problem—at least not for cultivators.”

“It’s a shame it’s a purely Spatial Method. There’s no way I can practice it. At best, I can use it as reference material when creating my own technique,” Zac muttered, glancing at Esmeralda. “Do you need it?”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author’s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“Not really. I don’t cultivate; I recover. That means I can breeze through C-grade in a couple of weeks if I stop suppressing myself, and I can’t reforge my old cultivation. I’m set, so to speak,” Esmeralda said. “I’ll take a look when we have time. It might give me a better understanding of the Mercurial Court’s application of space, which could help us in other ways.”

“No problem,” Zac said before putting it back into the pedestal. He didn’t want to trigger any alarms just yet. “There’s nothing else here? Why would the Qriz’Ul be after some tome?”