Chapter 1225 – Sacred Meditation

The Malefic Viper did have to agree that waiting for Jake to fully wake up wasn’t the most satisfying experience. Usually, he could at least get a sense of how Jake was doing, but in his current state, not even a Primordial could get a peek. Jake’s soul had gone somewhere only the system had authority, after all.

All he could thus do was wait impatiently to see if Jake would open his eyes. From the looks of it, Jake hadn’t experienced any soul damage that was too bad, and while he had definitely exhausted himself, he’d luckily also worked on getting a meditation skill that should rapidly help hasten his recovery.

Of course, that wasn’t the main benefit Jake would get from this. Jake’s progress would accelerate going forward due to this upgrade. The Viper also saw that Artemis knew, though she was still clearly more worried about him waking up than his improved potential.

An endearing trait the snake god approved of.

While waiting, the Viper also had a bit of an odd thought. Seeing that the First Sage had taught Jake so much, wouldn’t his dear Chosen be considered at least half a disciple by now? And if that was the case, Vilas would be the senior brother, right? Definitely a bit weird, but he still found the thought funny, and he could only be grateful that his Master’s transcendent existence had also ended up benefiting his Chosen.

Not to downplay what Jake had done. He had truly accomplished something extraordinary that the Viper couldn’t imagine many – if anyone else – doing, even with the direct guidance of the First Sage. He had managed to gain access to something normally only gods were allowed to approach. Sure, this access was extremely limited based on the aura he released earlier, but the mere fact that he had even touched upon it was unheard of.

To be clear, this didn’t mean Jake was suddenly half a god or anything like that… he was just one tiny little step closer and had taken this step far earlier than usual.

Being able to peer into concepts with the help of the system through a Meditate skill wasn’t anything exclusive to gods, and many got skills capable of doing so at higher grades, with it usually revolving around their specialization. A water mage would be able to meditate on the concept of water and those immediately surrounding it; a sword-user would be able to meditate on sword-related concepts; and so on and so forth.

When they did so, the system would provide them with curated and limited Records during their meditation, effectively feeding them scraps. It could be compared to them getting a single leaky pipe installed in their souls, allowing the system to drip out concepts when it so desired.

Meanwhile, Jake had gained limited direct access to the ocean that served as the main reservoir. If it weren’t limited, Jake would have drowned with absolute certainty. Even gods risked losing themselves when exploring the endless sea of Records.

“Does it usually take this long to wake up?” Artemis asked after several more minutes had passed with seemingly no progress.

“I like how you think there is any semblance of ‘usual’ in this entire scenario,” the Viper chuckled and shook his head. “But I would just give it a bit. You know as well as I do that the mind’s comprehension of time while in that state isn’t exactly the most logical or stable, and unlike us, Jake didn’t anchor himself before going in but just took the dive.”

Artemis slowly nodded in acknowledgment as she joined the Viper in silently waiting. Several more hours passed with Jake just sitting there completely unmoving. His aura was stable, and there were no fluctuations of energy or anything like that.

However, about five hours after Artemis had spoken last… something stirred. The Viper felt Jake’s aura slightly change, and in the very next moment, it spiked and grew even more powerful, making the Viper smile.

Success.

Finding his way back proved more challenging than Jake had first expected. He also realized that this was the final part of the upgraded meditate skill he still needed to figure out. He effectively had to chart a path between his Soulspace and this weird space that seemed to exist nowhere yet everywhere, using his Truesoul as the gateway to it.

Luckily, his way back proved a lot easier than the way there. In fact, all he had to do was travel in whatever direction lessened the pressure from the massive gate, which was leaking concepts. Again, Jake wasn’t sure he was actually going anywhere or if he was just distancing his mind from the gate of concepts, but either way, it seemed to work.

Slowly, Jake began to feel his senses return. He vaguely started to feel the energy running through his body, and right as that happened, Jake also instantly became aware of what was happening around his body, courtesy of his Sphere of Perception.

Through his sphere, he saw that Artemis and Villy were both there waiting for him. They were just standing there, seemingly not interacting much, and Jake couldn’t help but smile when he saw the relief on Artemis’ face upon also feeling that he was nearly back.

Shortly after, Jake returned to his Soulspace. As he appeared, Jake found himself standing in the gazebo that had housed the tome left by the First Sage. On the backside of the gazebo, a large plane of golden light had appeared, which was what Jake had walked out of; instinctively, he knew this would now serve as the connection between himself and the weird, mind-realm of concepts.

To clarify, Jake didn’t actually have a portal there. Everything in the Soulspace was a representation of Records, and this was just the expression of Jake’s overly simplified understanding of how to enter this realm. One could almost call it a trigger that Jake subconsciously knew he had to enter this new state of ultra-deep meditation simply through entering.

Seeing this gate appearing was definitely not a surprise… but what was a surprise was what Jake found in the gazebo besides the portal. Jake had expected the Legacy of the First Sage to have been consumed during this entire process of enlightenment, yet right there in front of him was the tome of the First Sage, still fully intact from the looks of it.

While Jake should definitely focus more on the notifications that he’d just gotten from the system and the sensation of having suddenly grown stronger, he instead couldn’t help but open the tome.

As he did so, he found all the pages blank. Jake was disappointed but not really surprised as he nodded in understanding. Yeah, it made sense that the book had consumed the Records infused by the First Sage to build that road of golden pages, and…

Oh, never mind. After flipping through more of the book, Jake realized it was only the section he’d already read that had been removed from the book. There were even more sections Jake didn’t fulfill some unknown requirement to access yet, and while he certainly tried, he found himself unable to open the next chapter.

Shaking his head, Jake couldn’t help but smile. Just how many Records had the First Sage left for Jake? Just how much had he given him? Also, was the system really okay with a transcendent being providing Jake that much? Sure, he’d spent five charges of his Path of the Heretic-Chosen, but the trade still seemed unbelievable.

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Closing the book again, Jake had a good feeling he wouldn’t be able to get anything out of it before he reached B-grade, anyway. Speaking of B-grade, Jake had a few notifications he needed to check, which either confirmed that he had completed tasks on his pre-evolution checklist or brought him one step closer to the actual evolution.

Starting at the top of notifications, Jake looked at the most boring ones first. Expectedly, fixing and upgrading his Palate of the Malefic Viper had been recognized by the system and given him a few levels. Three, to be exact.