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Book 3: Chapter 20: Outside the Tower

Away from Dyon and approaching from the opposite side of the Epistemic Tower, were first and fifth son.

Fifth son panted heavily as his energy barrier was continually bombarded with spatial tears. That being said, Kaeghan seemed completely unperturbed.

“First son… I’m not sure if I can hold out for much longer.”

At first, Kaeghan wanted to send a few spiteful words toward his useless younger brother. After all, how could you claim to be a ranked son of the Uidan family and still be so pathetic? But, when he noticed the trail of dead bodies behind the two of them, the seriousness of the situation dawned on him. Fifth son had been acting as sole throne bearer for Kaeghan for a long while now…

Currently, Kaeghan and fifth son were the only ones left, and there was still a dense patch of about five hundred meters to go before they reached the true base of the Epistemic Tower.

Kaeghan stood, his body flashing into the distance as he left fifth son behind. “Stay there and refine some profound stones if need be.”

Ignoring fifth son, first son continued flashing forward. But, even he reached a point where he needed to begin dodging the fluctuations. ‘It gets quite dense…’

Soon, Kaeghan stood but a few feet from the tower.

His vision was invaded with nothing but a perfect black. The tower had not a single stain or blemish, it was as though it stood separate – completely unaffected by the wear of time. ‘How do I get in?’

Kaeghan stretched his hand out slowly, hoping to touch to tower and find a clue. But, a sudden sense of danger overwhelmed him, causing him to leap back.

His eyes narrowed, immediately scanning his surroundings. ‘What was that?’ Kaeghan’s eyes trained on the tower. ‘Was it you?’

Fifth son watched this scene happen with a look of confusion on his face, ‘First son retreated? Why?…’

Kaeghan’s hand swept up and toward his forehead, an action he was all too used to. It was something he did to activate the Uidan’s signature technique [Buddha’s Eye]. But, He suddenly felt something very wet on his hand. ‘Wha – ‘

Kaeghan’s eyes widened. His hands… They were bleeding. In fact, bleeding didn’t even properly describe the damage. His hand had been completely marred to a nearly unrecognizable point. The whites of his bones shone through with clear markings of a weapon running across them and he could even see his muscles twitch with every movement of shock he made.

Maybe if Kaeghan felt something, this wouldn’t have been so bad. He had reached out his hand in a dumb move and made a mistake. If he coated his hand with more energy, he would have thought that he could force his way through. But… even as Kaeghan stared at his mangled and twisted hand… He felt nothing.

Fifth son shook violently watching his elder brother be so severely injured. Neither of them even knew what happened. How did this happen? If first son couldn’t withstand the Epistemic Tower, how would he?

“Uh… F -first son,” fifth son stumbled through his words, clearly agitated. “M-maybe we were wrong? There hasn’t e-ever been records of anyone even approaching this tower without first conquering the other eight…”

Kaeghan didn’t immediately reply, instead choosing to take out a grandmaster medicinal pill to quickly heal his hand.

After flexing it comfortably, he looked back toward the tower. ‘Why wouldn’t I feel pain…’

A thought flashed through the first son’s head. What if it was because there was no reason to feel pain? ‘An illusion?

No. An illusion wouldn’t disappear because of a healing pill…’

“Don’t you find the rules of this gate to be interesting, fifth?” Although Kaeghan spoke to his younger brother, his eyes remained trained on the Epistemic Tower, he felt an endless feeling of fascination. As a genius of the Uidah family, although you could say he worked diligently to maintain his status, much of what he had accomplished had been easy. But… This tower truly seemed to be a wrench thrown into all of that.

“In our quadrant, there are several hundred gates for our hundred universes. And yet, this is the only one with an odd number of towers, did you know that?” Kaeghan continued speaking, not too intent on waiting for answers.

“I can’t claim to have information on each and every gate, that would be asinine. But, we have impeccable information on about 20% of the gates in our quadrant, and information by proxy on about another 50%.” Kaeghan’s eyes sparkled. “Imagine that! 70% of our quadrant’s gates have an even number of towers! Except for this one!”

Kaeghan’s odd energy began leaking from him involtunarily, he hadn’t felt his blood boil with anticipation like this in a long time.

“We never pay attention to this gate because it’s connected to such a weak universe… But there has to be a reason, don’t you think?

Does this have to do with why the Ragnor and Pakal clan would send branches here? Was it calculated for their branches to give birth to faith seeds? There’s so much we don’t know!”

“Big brother.” Fifth son finally found a space to squeeze into Kaeghan’s monologue. “Did they really come here for this gate? If they did, why would they come to a universe with such a lack of energy density? With the talents their clans give birth to, wouldn’t they benefit more from our universe?”

Kaeghan thought for a bit. Fifth son did make a good point. The gate, after all, had two points of entry. Not one. Yet, they essentially handicapped their branches.

If those Ragnor and Pakal branches had grown in the Uidah universe, they’d likely be much stronger than they were now… There was too much of a massive difference in energy quality.

Plus, why would the Ragnor and Pakal clans leave a trail of crumbs for him to come here if they had went out of their way to disguise the reason behind their clans coming here in the first place. What would those massive clans want with a mere first son of the meridian formation stage?

Suddenly, first son was snapped out of his thoughts. Before, he had been hearing the gentle movement of energy as fifth son refined profound stones. But, the sound had disappeared. This wasn’t something he would have noticed normally, but, the tower had put him on edge.

Kaeghan’s head snapped back, his eyes widening in shock.

His eyes locked onto a handsome young man with caramel skin and short hair that shone in a combination of red golds and browns. He oddly had a little girl clinging to his back and a few injured followers behind him. ‘How did they get so close without me noticing!?’

But, what truly angered Kaeghan was something completely different. Although he didn’t respect fifth son, for better or worse, he was still his younger brother – a younger brother that carried the pride of the Uidah clan with his actions. A little brother that was being his so tightly by his neck that his face blued in agitation as his feet flailed.

The handsome young man’s eyes locked onto Kaeghan. “You’re not the one I wanted to lead here.”

Kaeghan stared at this young man, saying nothing for a long while before he spoke. “I advise you put my younger brother down. For someone from a no name universe, you sure have a lot of balls challenging the ranked sons of the Uidah clan when you’re merely in the Meridian Formation Stage.”

Kaeara said nothing, but she scorned the first son inwardly. They were from the Uidah clan’s universe, they were simply in disguise.

Maybe that was good for Alidor who was using Dyon’s face… But, maybe not so good for Dyon.

“Hm. Well, it would be a waste to use what I prepared on you. So, you can go. Feel free to come back with reinforcements.”

Alidor couldn’t be bothered with fifth son anymore. His hand flashed in a gold that laced through fifth’s body. Suddenly, fifth son couldn’t see, hear or feel anything. It was as though all of his senses were completely cut off. In the end, he could only pass out – dropping to the ground in a pathetic heap.

Kaeghan’s eyes narrowed. ‘I received a report that this no name universe had an innate aurora wielder, is this him?’

The truth was that this was information Alidor purposefully leaked while sealing off all information about his own appearances. After all, why would Dyon’s universe share information with the Uidah clan? In addition, the only members of the Uidah universe who witnessed Alidor’s appearance was the dead Commander Draven and the loyal Bas and Liska. Alidor’s identity was safe.

To Alidor, he could kill the first son here and now. But, that wouldn’t benefit him as much.

If Kaeghan died, the Uidah clan would sweep it under the rug and maybe send some stronger talents here to deal with Dyon. But, what Alidor needed was the right son to be interested in the tower. A son he could use to break the most taboo of rules… A son he could steal a faith seed from!

“Good.” Kaeghan straightened, his large prayer beads rustling on his broad bare chest. “Purging the universe of another innate aurora will be good. Father would be pleased.”

A cold light flashed past Alidor’s eyes, but, he quickly calmed himself.

If he wanted to kill the first son smoothly, he would just need to make use of the odd energy that he had used on Dyon. However, since he wanted the first son to leave alive, using that energy was out of the question. It would reveal his identity without a doubt. So, if Alidor wanted to make the first son run, he’d have to use other means.

“You know.” Kaeghan braced his wrists. “My family is quite used to putting innate aurora users in their place.” Cracking his neck, he pulled the thick rope from his waist, slapping it to te ground as it instantly became an eight-foot-long rod.

Kaeara imperceptibly trembled at the first son’s words. She turned away, trying to tune it out.

Alidor immediately noticed his younger sister’s shift in emotion. Gold flashed in his eyes as a silencing array manifested to hit her ears. Bypassing it, Alidor whispered words of comfort. It was something he did often, but, when it came to these old memories, he would step out of his comfort zone to do so.

Kaeghan noticed this, laughing to himself. And yet, he completely misread the situation. “Worried that I’ll kill your big brother? Maybe you should have told him to think about that before he attacked a member of the Uidah family. Do I look like those flat nosed Phantus clan plebs?”

“It’s best you open your buddah’s eye now, or else you won’t see how you lose.” Alidor said faintly.

Kaeghan didn’t respond. He felt like this was past banter. Disrespecting the Uidah clan shouldn’t be tolerated.

But, even as Kaeghan took a step forward, a large defensive array appeared behind Alidor, completely protecting his sister as he stepped forward – disappearing.

Kaeghan’s eyes widened. ‘Wait? What?’

Bracing his large rod against himself, Kaeghan immediately stopped underestimating Alidor. His hand sped toward his forehead, trying to open his buddah’s eye. But, it was too late.

A rift in space opened up before him. Alidor could only sigh to himself, ‘I miss my oil paper umbrella…’

“AAGGHH,” Kaeghan leaped backward, but his back was immediately shredded to pieces by yet another spatial rift.

“You!” Kaeghan’s eyes immediately trained on his hand. Unfortunately… It was no longer attached to himself.

Not only had Kaeghan’s back become a bloody mess because of his hasty and useless retreat, he had lost his hand!

“You should be careful. The spatial rifts are quite dense here. We’re too close to the tower.”

‘What is this nonsense. He’s disappearing in space, but he isn’t using spatial will?’ A sudden realization hit Kaeghan, causing his eyes to widen in shock. ‘He’s using the spatial rifts?! How is that possible?!’

Although Alidor couldn’t teleport to Epistemic Tower, within the space around the tower itself, he could manipulate it all he wanted.

“For the sake of my sister’s mental health, I’m going to do you a favor and send you on your way now. Unfortunately, as punishment for hurting my sister’s feelings, you can consider your brother dead.”

“You! How dare you!”

Alidor’s face remained dead panned, “You can go now.”

Disappearing again, Alidor appeared behind Kaeghan, kicking toward his back.

A flash of gold appeared at Alidor’s feet. As soon as his foot connected, Keaghan was coated with an array even Dyon wouldn’t know anything about. And yet, it somehow still didn’t have the characteristic purple of the master level…

Kaeghan could only break out into a cold sweat as he was sent flying directly into a spatial rift, completely disappearing from sight.

Alidor didn’t seem too surprised by the result. All he had done was send the first son into the forest that was about 50km away from here. If he chose to come back, Alidor would already be long gone anyway. After all, the tower he wanted was right behind him.

Turning his gaze toward the seemingly peak-less tower and not even bothering to look toward the fifth son as his implanted arrays ended his life, Alidor undid the arrays on his little sister. “Alright. Time to go.”

Alidor walked up to the tower, stopping at a 3-meter safe distance. Turning back, he spoke to basilisks. “It will only get more dangerous from here.”

Although Alidor didn’t say much, what he was really thinking was that he had no idea. He didn’t know whether this was another game, whether it was a trial, or even if he really was meant to come here. Was this a suicide mission? Was he really meant to conform and follow the path everyone else did?

Alidor’s disguise disappeared along with everyone else’s. He had only used them as an extra measure, because as he said, he hadn’t been preparing for such a weak enemy.

Maybe if anyone heard how Alidor thought of the first son, they’d be shocked. After all, Alidor was still in the meridian formation stage, and yet, he had easily dealt with the best genius a king god clan had to offer at that stage.

But, with the versatility an innate aurora gave you, especially when it came to your 6<super>th</super> sense and intelligence, people at the same cultivation level hardly stood a chance. Although an aurora 6<super>th</super> sense couldn’t see through techniques like the Uidah clan’s buddah’s eye or the Mathilde family’s Asura Imperial eye, it heightened your senses. You could see better, hear better, and technically, even feel, smell and taste better.

It was an overall boost so great that often, those with innate aurora were limited by their bodies as opposed to their senses. A prime example of this was when Dyon was stabbed through the heart by Oliver, Madeleine’s elder brother.

At the time, Dyon saw Oliver’s attack and had even perfectly placed an array to intercept it, but, he knew his body wouldn’t react in time. The 6<super>th</super> sense literally gave innate aurora wielders the ability to think and sense at a speed no one could match!

Suddenly, a small voice snapped Alidor out of his thoughts. “Big Brother?…”

“Yes?”

“Can you tell me the story again?”

Alidor’s brow furrowed, “Why do you insist on listening to something you know will make you sad?”

Kaeara remained quiet for a long time before she gave her brother the answer she always gave. “You’re always taking care of me. I don’t even know how much you suffer everyday just so you can. I want to balance it out with this story.”

Alidor’s heart panged with a sprout of something he rarely felt. Kaeara always answered like this, but he always reacted this way. It was ridiculous, and he hated how irrational it was. But, the purity behind his little sister’s thought process was something he could hardly bury.

“You don’t need to do this. It’s my job.”

“And this is my job.” Kaeara pouted.

Alidor’s eyes flashed with gold as he began diligently studying the Epistemic Tower, beginning to slowly walk around it large base.

“Our family was once a part of the Uidah clan. We shared much of their techniques, wills and philosophies.

However, our family structure was odd amongst those of the amrtial world. As two equal halves of our collective clan, The Uidah and the Gautama chose the leaders of them both based on talent.

The problem with this method stemmed from our method of measuring talent and how that biased many of our results.

We follow the path of the Buddah, and although there are ten powers in perfect balance, our families only managed to stumble upon one: the Buddah’s eye.

Because of this, our leaders were chosen by who could master Buddah’s eye to the highest level. However, there was something about our Gautama faction that gave us an advantage so large that generations would go by at a time before a member of the Uidah family would rule. And that, of course, was our soul talent.

The Gautama family, for one reason or another, had manifested probably the most innate aurora wielders in history. That being said, that didn’t mean there were a lot of us. In our long history, I am but the 12<super>th</super>.”

Alidor stopped, seemingly studying something before he continued. “However, despite the number still being small, it was still much more than clans even like the Ragnor, Sapientia and Pakal clans. And, even when an innate aurora wasn’t produced, our ability to soul cultivate and our innate souls were so far above average that we still maintained an advantage.

Finally, the Uidah clan had had enough. They were tired of losing power for millennia at a time and teamed up with a clan to eliminate us… I’m not sure what clan that was, or what purpose they had in helping the Uidah, but all that matters is that they helped.

In the end, all but the two of us were wiped out. Mom and Dad sent us into the gate to hide, hoping my innate aurora would keep the two of us safe while we grew. The end.”

“Big brother, you cut so much out! I’m not happy.” Kaeara frowned. How was she supposed to share her brother’s pain if Alidor kept cutting out the most heartbreaking parts?

Alidor only sighed, ignoring his younger sister. She didn’t need to know about the details. She didn’t need to have thoughts of her mother being defiled. She didn’t need thoughts of her father being tortured. She didn’t need thoughts of her elder brother cowering in a dark basement, holding the bundle that became her in his small arms as he watched it all happen through a crack in the ceiling.

Those were memories Alidor held onto for himself. Thoughts he would use to fuel him as he forged ahead. And this? This was step two.  

Alidor’s lips almost twitched into a smile as he finished making his way around the tower. ‘Alright, I was right. Good.’

Reaching his hand forward, Alidor drew an intricate array. And, almost magically, his hand didn’t become mutilated like Kaeghan. Instead, a foggy door manifested itself 3-meters in front of the Epistemic Tower.

“Let’s go.”

Watching silently as the Basilisks entered, Alidor took one more look behind him before he continued. His brows furrowed, but, he couldn’t find evidence of anything out of the ordinary, so, he simply continued, the foggy door disappearing behind him.

Soon, there was absolute silence. The tower loomed and the random spatial fluctuations continued to crackle in the air…. When suddenly, a flash of gold appeared in the air, a handsome young man stepping out of it.

“I think letting you use my face is enough payment for me to use you. Don’t you think?”

Dyon smiled to himself, standing in front of the tower before walking forward confidently.