Kaden almost literally dug himself into research. Zeruek had knowledge crystals available that were probably hoarded by the churches anywhere else. Some of them illegal. You would be hunted down for owning those. Supposedly heretical records about god and their influence. Truth's about inner workings of the churches and such. Many of which were likely still relevant after all the time.
Kaden noted some of these were clearly written by Zeruek himself. They seemed quite legit and he had found no reason to believe the information within wasn't real. At the very least Kaden had no knowledge to disprove any.
At any rate, Kaden decided to concentrate on anything about True Magi. Those were slightly less illegal to own. Churches generally handled that and very few were allowed to without permission to offer that knowledge. Those at the limit would need to come beg for church the permission, if they wanted to know.
As far as Kaden cared, even the records Zeruek had collected were a scam. They contained no information that seemed reliable. Every record seemed to contradict others. If church was handing out this information, whatever they asked for it wouldn't be worth it.
"Zeruek", Kaden finally decided to ask the projection. "Why are all these records about the actual process of forming a mana body so nonsensical and contradicting?"
Zeruek just formed in midair.
"Thats because it is a personal matter", Zeruek replied.
"What?" Kaden questioned the answer. What was that supposed to mean?
"You are gathering your own concept", Zeruek said. "You will become one with your own existence. What you experience while you put it together is different for everyone."
Kaden stopped to think that for a moment. It did actually make very much sense. It was quite simple idea even. The writings essentially had said that, but they usually went to how it was done than what it was. The records were just records. Mana was the building blocks of existence. There existed mana that was 'you'. Why not merge with the part of it that is specifically this 'you' in its true sense.
"Personally when I became a True Magus, I was in a state of meditation for a decade", Zeruek said. "I once had an apprentice when I was already an Archmagus. She failed her ascension to True Magus. In just a few years she ran out of mana and simple scattered away."
Zeruek wandered around for a moment.
"I was aware most of the time during my own attempt, though I did have some visions along the way and was less aware", Zeruek stopped moving and explained his own experiences. "Some live several lifetimes in theirs. Some just... start the process and nearly instantly complete. I assume those people know themselves well. Completion speed, what you experience during it, how you complete it. None of that is a sign of talent as far as I can tell. It is a matter of understanding yourself. If you don't understand yourself, you will only burn away the mana that is you in the attempt to keep it rather than becoming one with it."
"Then is there something you suggest doing before attempting?" Kaden asked.
"Some say you should meditate and think of your entire life carefully", Zeruek suggested. "Yet, some say this will merely bring your faults into view and expand them and that is better to solve your problems head on. One might simply step over problem that don't actually matter, if you don't know they are there."
Kaden was annoyed. While Zeruek did give information that he could finally understand, the rest was about as useless at in the records.
"Haha, becoming a True Magus is a greater step", Zeruek said. "It is an obstacle everyone who wish to ascend beyond their physical forms must take. No one can truly help you with it. Anything I say might be wrong to you, but right to someone else."
It made sense there were very little details of becoming a True Magus and what did exist was contradictory mess. Kaden had only known one must form a mana body, but, as it turns out, the rest might be different for each.
Had decided to think about it later more. There was nothing to learn about it anymore.Kaden put the matter of forming a mana body aside for a while and looked through other things.
While the tools available in Zerueks hideout were high grade, they were kind of outdated. It was thousands of years old. The higher level stuff that True Magi and Archmagi might use could still likely be used, but methodology was outdated.
One example were records of formation techniques. He could literally read about formations that were far stronger he could build, but the basic parts he could understand were based on old ideas and thoughts.
It wasn't completely useless. While he could not understand the higher level formations, he could some of the weaker ones. With some adjustments he could discard those old ways and produce updated versions. Kaden expected it would be possible in quite a reasonable time.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
In fact, converting an old formations to newer version was the reasonable part. What was going to take time was amount of them. Zeruek had literal library of formations. It wasn't even just formations. There was large amount of information on ... well, everything.
Kaden felt like he would be returning to Zeruek's base far in the future once he was able to make use of the available resources.
"Zeruek probably stored away all his posessions into this place once he realized he was about to die", Kaden though to himself. "Not just that projection and the information and some resources to boost potential candidate. Everything. Did he have anything on him when gods annihilated him? Just how much wealth and knowledge an Archmagus collects in their lifetime? Zeruek even grew beyond that usual limit."
What was missing mostly was Zerueks own life. There were some references that Kaden could find, but it never went into details. Kaden questioned this too, but Zeruek told him, he did not want anyone, such as Kaden, follow his path. He wanted Kaden to come up with his own way. Zeruek would only provide knowledge, materials and such, but Kaden would have to choose how to use it.
Kaden could accept that explanation, but he still had concerns about how there was no record of him. Even if gods destroyed every possible knowledge, someone as strong as Zeruek could not have been erased completely. He had attracted angels to come after him. That itself would get churches in frenzy. Perhaps a direct intervention from gods? That and all that was known about such event would be recored in history across the world. Even Cari would record it, even if it was not their gods.
Something about Zeruek would be known. Basically publicly. Other than purging large portion of entire human population, which would get recorded too, it should not be possible to completely erase someone like Zeruek.
"Haha, its actually very easy", Zeruek said as Kaden was done voicing his doubts. "There exists angels. This is known. Gods just told churches that the God of Lies had been able to gather enough power to create an Apostle of Lies. Essentially an angel. It mattered very little what or who I was before."
Perhaps some of the Archmagi who knew enough could tell something was off, but did not know enough or could not do anything. The older Archmagi usually spent time trying to reach beyond human limits. That kind of made sense. They might know enough to believe it was possible. They had seen it and thought perhaps a human could by some mean take the step that required gods. They just didn't know their path there had already been ruined.
Then an angel would come to them and offer them that chance. Clever.
Kaden had no idea how many Archmagi actually reached that far. There weren't many Archmagi in total anyway and just how many and how often one of them reached the limit. Not many. It would also be a rare occassion.
It wouldn't be weird that gods gave them the chance to directly serve and give them power in return. What concerned Kaden most were those that rejected the offer. Zeruek said they would be killed.
If the other Archmagi discovered corpses of the elder Archmagi, what would they think? It likely was not even a battle. It would have to look like the Archmagus perished during their attempt to go beyond the human limits. There likely existed danger with it, even if there was no plot by gods to prevent humans from growing too strong. It would be easy to completely destroy them and leave no evidence of a battle.
Kaden asked Zeruek about what dangers one experiences upon becoming an 'Ascender'. That is the actual advancement and not gods and their plots.
"I don't believe I can answer that. Not completely at least", Zeruek said and shook his head. "My method was ... unorthodox. It did allow me to understand what I already told you. That there was something above the Archmagus stage and that the way there had been blocked. The problem was that I could not gather the higher type of mana, the astral mana, since it comes from that higher level of existense, the Astral Realm, where the gods reside. I consumed angels as my source; I had no true connection. Only thing I can say is that the astral mana seemed to 'dominate' the lower type of mana of our world. As if our mana was just a piece of the astral mana and upon contact astral mana either absorbed the lower type completely or forced that lower type of mana to do whatever it was doing."
Kaden pondered that for a moment.
"I would then assume that is what makes this astral mana so powerful", Kaden surmised. "Being able to control all mana with far lesser effort."
"Indeed", Zeruek replied. "As for the danger, if it exists, which is likely considering all limits between different stages have some. While I took my first bit of astral mana, already in refined form, from an angel, I expect the danger lies in the unrefined type that would comes directly from a still intact connection that I did not have."
That was problem for the far future.
There were many questions, but nothing that Kaden thought was immediate and relevant. He already knew what he needed to do.
Kaden started to slowly take cultivation materials from the storage. He did not gorge himself on the piles of higher grade crystals. He took only some and consumed them. Then he studied.
This was the process Kaden started to repeat. Eventually he did start consuming more of the materials since he noted his body was not growing as much as he had hoped. He was so full of mana that more and more what he took just leaked out while his body and core were unable to take in and keep it there.
Yet, he had noticed if he took small amounts, the part that he was able to keep was also small. With larger amounts, even if larger amount of mana escaped from him, the part he could keep was in fact proportionally larger.
His body was able to take in essentially a trickle of mana at a time, but that little trickle could be flooded.
"I have the rare opportunity to use freely such enormous piles of resources", Kaden chuckled slightly. "I almost feel bad using materials like this."
Even so, what he took was likely a very small portion of Zeruek's total wealth. Kaden had seen the other rooms with extremely high grade crystals. The sort that, if he tried to use them, he would likely explode. Normally people didn't even see those in their entire lives. Those crystals were so high quality that they had unusual properties to them, most likely due to the enormous mana they contained in such small volume. They didn't seem to be completely there. They might float, change shape, color. Anything really. The usual chaotic nature of mana. Only place to get them was likely when some unusually high mana remnant collapsed and the mana couldn't be expelled anywhere. That is, deep in the dimension outside of space. It was possible that even a True Magus wouldn't be able to go that deep. Kaden had only heard passing mentions of such rarities.
Anyway, Kaden continued consuming more and more mana without caring about leaking some out.