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Book 8: Chapter 177: Birthday (3)

Badum Boom.

The vault doors sealed tightly behind them. But, when Dyon turned back, signs of the door were nowhere to be seen. It seemed that this was the entrance to a Mystical World. Dyon was surprised, but he probably should have expected this much.

“This is the highest and easiest tier Calming Lake. The Stream of Consciousnesses here are the easiest to protect against and temper your mind with. As you travel downward, the waters will become thicker and darker. Eventually, if you flow down enough tiers, you’ll enter the True Calming Lake below which has a seemingly endless depth.

“Streams of Consciousnesses slowly fall from here, downward. However, if said stream of consciousness is weak, it is swallowed by the stronger ones below it, eradicating its existence.

“I recommend that you all start at this highest tier. Become accustomed to the environment and air first before you even think about stepping into the waters.

“Trust the flow of the water. The streams of consciousness flow naturally to areas of like-strength and concentration. If it decides you’re in an area you can withstand, it will naturally push you downward. If you’re in or approaching an area too much for you, the current will stop.”

This Calming Lake… It reminded Dyon of something from long ago: the Focus Academy fountains. The Storm Clan broke off from the Ragnor Clan and proceeded to use the stolen technique of the Pakal Clan to sacrifice the lives of its students to form this pool. In fact, this was how Dyon met Ava. She saved him from touching the waters and accidentally killing himself.

The difference here was that this Calming Lake was built by willing participants. The difference was akin to Heaven and Earth.

Dyon didn’t move for a long time. He was doing his best to not show it, but he was most definitely the weakest here, he didn’t even have a dao heart, a fact that he had hidden from everyone.

He had brought Clara, Amphorae and Ri with him, along with Ryu and Violet, the estranged brother-sister pair. By now, they had all disappeared, leaving him standing on a cloud of pink, looking out toward the endless waterfalls and waters before him.

“Hm?” Dyon snapped awake from his thoughts, looking to his side. It seemed he wasn’t alone after all, Violet had seemingly stayed back as well.

Violet shrunk back under Dyon’s gaze, lowering her head. She didn’t stay back because she wanted to. If it was up to her, she’d never be alone with Dyon again. Those memories from so long ago were grating on her conscious. Rather, she was hesitating too.

She had come here today because her mother and father insisted, but she didn’t see the same potential within herself they did… There was a reason Damaris mentioned her little brother as a possible successor, but not her.

Dyon silently gazed at Violet. He found it hard to believe that this was the same girl who castrated him all because he rejected her.

If he was honest with himself, he was quite harsh with punishment. Well… Maybe not, actually. If it hadn’t been for Jade and the Nine Cloud Yang, he would have been a eunuch for life.

“Do you believe people can change?” Dyon said suddenly.

Violet shivered. These were the first words Dyon had spoken to her since that day more than ten years ago.

Was he wondering if she could become a better person?

Violet bit her lip. She wanted to say yes… But the reality was that she didn’t think she had changed at all.

She held a resentment deep within herself, even to now, against her mother. If Giralda had chosen a stronger father for her, would she have ever been humiliated like she had been? Would she need to fight against the weaker half of her genes in order to become powerful?

But, at the same time, images of Delia’s tribulation still played in her mind. That day, Delia fought against the Heavens for daring to try to dictate who she should and shouldn’t fall in love with.

The Heavens wanted nothing more than to take Delia’s life for bearing the child of one of its Children, yet Delia fought with a smile on her face, defeating endless onslaughts all alone.

Now that very same Delia was alone once more. Did she regret choosing the husband she did? If she had chosen someone more suitable, she wouldn’t be alone, right?

“I don’t think so.” Dyon answered his own question.

Violet’s shoulder trembled, her head seemingly lowering even further. But, Dyon’s next words shook her all the more.

“I want to become a cool-headed ruler, one who rules toward the absolute good with a calm mind. But, I happen to be quite hot headed. The only thing stopping me from storming Sapientia Quadrant and slaughtering anyone I see with those arrogant golden eyes is the thought that I don’t stand a chance.

“A part of me believes that no matter how much I layer my true self in a layer of cold and calculating, I’ll always have a core of molten lava, one waiting to erupt at any moment.”

Blood dripped from Violet’s lip. She hadn’t expected Dyon to be talking about himself.

“However, that’s not going to stop me from trying to become the man I want to be.”

Violet felt as though a bolt of lightning had struck her very soul.

She watched as Dyon sat and entered a state of meditation.

The truth of the matter was that it wasn’t Dyon’s words that shook her to her core, it was his actions that did so.

Dyon Sacharro, a genius among geniuses, was being completely ignored by the Current of Calming Lake. What did that mean? It meant the Lake believed that he wasn’t even worthy of entering the waters of its worst tier.

However, to Violet, this meant something completely different. It meant that Dyon wasn’t lying to her.

Even someone as seemingly perfect as him had such a large flaw that he was still doing his utmost to fix. If even he could admit his faults, who was she, a woman mediocre even in the mere 99^th quadrant, to not admit her own?…