Liya had initially expected Feng Shen to take eight months to reach that point in his training. After witnessing his fast progress with the basic spear techniques, she had even believed he would be done within seven months total. However, learning how to fight with limited mental acuity took its toll.
It had been worth it anyway. Feng Shen's willpower growth fell short of Liya's original expectations, but not by much. She estimated he was ninety percent as good as he would've been if she had used his emotions against him to the end. The extra two to three months it had taken him to reach that point didn't matter much.
Not when you took into account how important one's willpower was—and it was time to teach him why that was so.
Liya had previously decided she would be done with lies and emotional abuse after the spear training. That also meant ceasing the forced cognitive improvements. She would now answer his question about the mind, heal his soul, teach him how to properly use his aura, then let him loose on his Rupture Pilgrimage.
Who knows, he might even rupture a Concept or two before the Summit if he were lucky enough.
----------------------------------------
"That's enough," Liya declared when he was done demonstrating everything he had learned in a "spar."
She stopped pressuring his mind. Feng Shen's eyes became more focused, then confused, then surprised. Moments later, he breathed deeply and shook his head. "That was fucking horrible," he said.
Liya knew he only used expletives when he felt the occasion called for it. Five and a half months under great mental strain certainly fit the bill.
"Are we done?" he asked. "I need to cultivate."
"Not yet," she said. "Before you do, it would be better to hear the answer to your previous question. It'll help you settle some ideas and work through some details of everything you've witnessed and learned until today."
Liya had carefully prevented his soul from deforming or changing too much despite all his technical improvements. The boy was still at a crossroads, though, and delayed as it was, any stray thought might push him the wrong way.
"Are you talking about the question about the mind?" Feng Shen asked.
"Yes," Liya replied, then used a solemn voice. "Swear you won't reveal what I'm about to tell you to anyone below A-rank without my consent.
"Swear that you understand that if you do, I'll kill you and whoever you shared the secret with. I'll investigate both parties' family and friends for any sign they also know, and I'll also kill them. I'll keep going until everyone who might know is dead.
"Swear that if you want to teach it to someone but can't find me, you'll seek authorization from the drow Triarchy instead."
Despite Feng Shen's emotional control, slight anger still spilled through the cracks of his carefully controlled facade. "My family and friends?"
"Yes," she insisted. "Usually, only elite C-ranks and established B-ranks are taught this secret among the drow. The exceptions are the few elite D-ranks who ask the right question at the right time, like you did. I believe it'll be immensely beneficial to you, but it's one of the few things I can't force on you regardless of your opinions because I need your willingness to keep it secret."
He showed a frown and thought for a few moments. "What if I'm blackmailed? What if the same friends and family you're threatening to ensure I keep my mouth shut are threatened to have me reveal the secret instead?"
The answer was simple and likely not what he wanted to hear. "Then choose the lesser evil and deal with the consequences. Everyone has circumstances in the multiverse. Live long enough, and you'll find justifications to end an entire species, a reason to act against the one you love the most, and a motive to betray any oath. There are no valid excuses; only what you actually do matters and is judged by other parties, the drow included."
Once more, he thought deeply for a moment, then asked, "So I should only judge what you did to me these past ten months and not the good intentions you had?"
"Yes," she agreed. "We would judge it acceptable according to our culture. If you don't, deal with it as you see fit."
Feng Shen snorted. "Of course, you would consider it just." He sighed. "There will be no mind control, right? I can choose the lesser evil in a bad situation."
"You can," Liya agreed. "But make no mistake; I won't come alone. Don't think you only need to get stronger than me to go back on your word.
"The drow will dispatch strong groups to investigate, and we'll leave no stone unturned as we erase the knowledge from any place it might've spilled into. Destroying Earth won't be beyond us if another human blackmails you and share the knowledge with everyone. The only comfort I can offer you is that if you betray us, we'll also crush whoever blackmailed you. And they will have to pay a much worse price for it.
"And that does not even account for what others might do to ensure the knowledge doesn't fall into the wrong hands. We're talking about important things here. Things that might move an A-rank to act to ensure it won't spread into their race and potentially cripple them."
In a way, the oath would also protect him from others that didn't want the information made public.
"High risk, high reward," he summarized. "And I can tell A-ranks?" he asked for confirmation.
Liya nodded. "You couldn't hide it from an A-rank even if you wanted." She paused, then decided to explain everything as best as she could, according to human culture on forthcomingness. "Let me be crystal clear here. There are three main reasons this knowledge must be kept secret.
"First, it can hinder one's growth if learned too early in their Path. One can infer incorrect things from it, and many will. They'll try to force themselves to walk an incompatible Path just because they believe it might give them a slight advantage. So you must keep it secret for your race's own good.
"This knowledge has been weaponized in the past. One would disseminate it among an enemy race and wait until they crippled themselves. None of the targeted races are relevant in the multiverse today.
"Second, and much more importantly, it can be used for great evil. I say it in the most absolute meaning of the word, not just spreading information. I'm talking about the Void.
"You're too weak to open a way into the Void, even if I tell you how. A strong C-rank can do it, albeit only briefly. Any B-rank definitely can, too, but also temporarily. However, by understanding the underlying structure of Reality, which is part of what I'm offering, they can infer ways of breaking Reality in devastating ways.
"Mastering Laws will make most B-ranks glimpse some truths, but not everything. The knowledge I can give you is beyond even them unless they do extensive research or find someone to tell them about it.
"Third, this knowledge will strengthen one's comprehension of some things but can slow down their willpower's growth. I can't explain why without telling you everything. However, I can tell you that it would be against everyone's interest—and say I it in a multiverse scale—to spread this knowledge."
Feng Shen's frown deepened. "It'll also affect my growth?"
"Yes," she confirmed, "but it'll be safer than the alternative. You've asked the right question, and if I don't answer, you'll draw conclusions yourself. Such conclusions might be incorrect, pushing you the wrong way and crippling your Path. Researching the subject and believing a lie can be even worse. That said, you have attenuating factors going for you that will make it less hurtful to you than to other people."
He frowned deeper than she had ever seen him do. She was hinting at many benefits of hearing the secret. He was tempted but unsure.
Liya approved of the caution, even if she knew he was showing facial expressions because he wanted to—he had achieved emotional control, after all. That meant he was wise enough to at least pretend to be bothered by the potential consequences. Either that, or he was so deeply troubled by the implications that he was having trouble controlling what he showed. Knowing how soft Feng Shen was, it might be that too, or a mix of both.
It took a while for his frown to fade, then he asked, "What about the B-rank monitoring us?"
Time for a small reveal, it seemed. "You're considered a first-class talent by the Alliance. That's the highest classification they can give anyone. That means not just any B-rank can be appointed to monitor you. If whoever is listening to us doesn't know what I'm about to say, it's only out of willful ignorance. They certainly have the means to find out."
He took a deep breath. "Very well. I swear on it. Hit me with profound truths," he said half-mockingly.
"Do it properly," she admonished. "Swear on all three things separately. I need to hear it from your mouth."
The boy did a lousy job at it, but it was good enough. "I swear I'll keep whatever you're about to tell me a secret from anyone unless you let me share it. Unless an A-rank asks. Or an S-rank, I suppose.
"I swear I understand the dire consequences of breaking my word. Everyone will die.
"And I swear that if you're not around, I'll seek permission to share the secret with others from the drow Triarchy, whatever that is."
"The Triarchy rules the drow," she explained. "Now, sit down and listen well. Part of my answer is also the context you need to understand it.
"This is the truth about Reality."
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"No one knows how Reality came to be," Liya started. "I could waste our time with theories. I could also entertain many possibilities of what Reality could've become in different circumstances.
"However, you only need to understand what Reality is at this moment."
Liya put raised three fingers and used her mana and willpower to draw three circles in midair. The subject was complex; illustrations would help.
"Reality as we know it has three Aspects," she continued. "All three are needed, or there is no Reality. They are Space, Time, and Will."
She made one of the circles larger and wrote "Space" inside.
"Try to imagine Space as its own isolated entity. It just is, empty, devoid of anything else, unmoving, unchanging. A pocket of emptiness surrounded by nothingness."
She created an empty, transparent grey ball in midair, surrounded by translucent darkness; Space surrounded by the Void.
"Where did Space come from? How long was it there? Don't worry about such things. Space and the other Aspects were always there as far as this explanation is concerned. Remember, this is not about understanding where things came from but how they are what they are today.
"What you should worry about is that this illustration is wrong."
She made a red cross between Feng Shen and the floating image.
"Space can't exist without Time. I said the Aspects were always there, but even the concept of 'always' require Time. We're picturing empty, frozen space, but it's still a snapshot of a precise instant frozen for all eternity. For instants to exist, they require Time. Time is, thus, present."
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Liya enlarged another circle and wrote "Time" inside it.
"Just as Space can't exist without Time, Time can't exist without Space. But let us try to picture it."
She removed the red cross from between Shen and the balls.
"Imagine nothingness, and Time passes in there. The issue with imagining such a thing is that we still imagine Time constrained by Space. We usually picture nothingness, the Void, as a big empty space surrounding everything. But nothingness is nothingness."
Liya made the black ball disappear, and only the gray one remained. "There, imagine nothingness is surrounding Space. And time is passing on that nothingness." She also removed the gray bubble. "Now you're picturing Time affecting nothingness, or as close as I can make you imagine it.
"If you still can't understand it, just believe me: Space and Time are intrinsically linked and can't exist without each other."
Liya wouldn't waste too much effort on that. She only needed him to understand the premises. She was giving context, but that wasn't the most crucial part.
She enlarged the third circle and wrote "Will" inside it.
"Picture the Aspect of Will as a single-minded drive, a goal, an impetus to simply be. Without such drive, Space and Time both would cease being.
"The Aspect of Will is born out of nowhere, like the other two Aspects. It also can't exist in nothingness. Without Space, it can't even be constrained. Nothingness itself, in its entirety, would have a Will, and thus it wouldn't be nothingness anymore."
Liya pushed the circles closer to each other. They touched and intersected into what humans called a Venn diagram. She wrote Reality in the center.
"So, all Aspects are Reality: the Will to be, the Space where it exists, and the Time when it occurs.
"Every Aspect is equally powerful and affects each other. We tried to imagine Space by itself in the beginning." She recreated the gray ball inside a transparent black one. "Now, let's acknowledge there's Time there. Uncontrolled, unruly Time, just like Space itself. There's also the Will to exist that keeps them doing so, but they are just mindless forces devoid of a will of their own.
"Then the Will to be, to exist, merges with them both, and they suddenly have the drive to be something.
"Space experiments with itself. It expands, shrinks, and attempts new forms. Time experiments with itself. It runs forward, backward, both, or stays frozen.
"As you can see, one thing is common in both: Change."
She wrote "Change" in the Vann diagram where Space and Time intersected.
"In the diagram, Will seems to be absent from Change, but it's not. It's just not the main actor involved; instead, it's the drive behind the actors. We call Change an Expression of Space and Time; the main way both Aspects Express themselves."
She rotated the diagram until the empty area where Time and Will intersected ended up upwards.
"Similarly to my early example, imagine the Aspects of Time and Will just there, existing, doing nothing. Then Space merges with them both. Now there's merged Time and Will in an area. Give it enough time, and you get the second Expression, Sentience."
She wrote "Sentience" at the intersection of Time and Will.
"Sentience is not sapience. Humans are sapient. Animals are sentient. Sentience is the ability to experience feelings and sensations and react accordingly, prioritizing one answer over another based on your preferences and willpower.
"Remember when I said the Will to be, to exist, permeates everything? Any Sentient being starts with the will to keep existing. We call that the instincts of self-preservation."
She rotated the diagram again and wrote "Energy" in the remaining area, which was the intersection of Space and Will.
"Energy is the Expression of Space and Will.
"Honestly, I don't fully understand how that is so. The best I can explain is that when Space and Will are just there, doing nothing, Time affects both, and it somehow ends up as a way to be more, in a novel way. It pushes shapes and boundaries into having a new Expression, Energy.
"We're talking about metaphysical energy here. I read the books on physics you did. Human physics understands energy as, and I quote, 'the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat and light.' But that is not the Expression of Energy.
"Energy here is the building block of everything we see, touch, feel, and experience, except the three Aspects and the other two Expressions. I'm talking about qi, mana, or whatever primordial Energy is Expressed by the Aspects of Space and Will. We absorb and command qi and mana as particles, waves, streams, and even extensions of our Will.
"That is the Expression of Energy."
Liya paused to give Feng Shen a few moments to process it all. He seemed to be following.
"So, now we have the Aspects of Space, Time, and Will, and the Expressions of Change, Sentience, and Energy.
"The Reality we know has all Aspects and Expressions. It means everything affects everything else. In other words, an Expression is created by the Aspects and affects the Aspects back.
"Think of it like your Path being made by you and affecting you.
"Energy can be found everywhere, on every inch of Reality. Remember, it's the Expression of Space and Will, and both Space and Will are everywhere. They Express themselves wherever they are.
"We have already determined that Energy has the innate Will to be more than just Space or a different kind of Space. That it was its Will, its drive to be more, that made it come into being.
"So, give a bundle of Willful Energy enough Time, and it Changes to gain Sentience. More Time, and it can make more decisions and develop new Wills. More Time, and it Changes into a different form. Then another form, and another, and so on.
"One day, it becomes matter.
"Quarks, photons, neutrons, electrons, atoms, molecules, cells. Different things interact with each other. Inorganic became organic.
"But think of those interactions. There were no guidelines, no laws of physics. Who decided water would evaporate with enough heat? Who decided heat would agitate molecules? Who decided molecules would bond the way they do? Who decided photons and electrons had opposite charges, what those charges were, and how they interacted with each other?
"Who created the laws of physics?
"The answer is obvious: the sentient bundles of energy.
"Let's give them names. Fire, water, metal, air; the elements. They are Sentient, and their different Wills interact with or oppose each other. They aren't sapient but understand self-preservation. So before some are destroyed in their interactions, they find common denominators. They wordlessly determine how things work by trial and error over an infinite amount of Time.
"Their Will is a Law unto the part of Reality they affect. They accept nothing less. Each element has a set of Wills, or Laws, that determine what they are and their goals.
"But they can't always push their Will the way they want to.
"They are adamant about manifesting themselves in a certain way in certain places; a flame will be a flame or not be at all. It goes even beyond their sense of self-preservation.
"However, they compromise in other areas. They accept another element's influence. They share a slightly changed part of their Will to achieve balance.
"Thus, the Concepts come to be.
"Concepts are watered-down or adapted parts of a Will, of a Law. And an element has a set of Wills. That is why we say Laws of Fire, plural, instead of Law of Fire.
"But those Laws are still just the localized Will of those bundles of energy. They can only affect what they can touch. The elements can expand to cover a larger area, but not enough to affect all of Reality. All we have are elements meeting each other.
"Until one day, that is no longer the case.
"The order of things is clear: first comes the Aspects, then the Expressions. Elements, Concepts, matter, all that is much below."
Liya pushed the diagram sideways and created four convex circles. The area between each was differently colored. She wrote "Aspects" in the outermost circle, "Expressions" in the middle one, "Reality" in the next one, and "Element" in the innermost circle.
"Yet," she continued, "even that order can Change into something else. Sentience is a small subset of Wills held together. Those Wills are not the Aspect of Will. They are drives, goals, changed facets of Will itself.
"We shall call them willpower.
"One day, an element gains so much willpower that it challenges the order of things. It pushes upward, trying to change the Aspects directly. It wants to rule over all, to change Reality according to its vision of how it should be."
Liya made the "Elements" circle move upwards inside the "Reality" circle. It reached the "Expressions" circle, pierced through, and kept going.
"That element surpasses even the Expressions of Reality itself. However, paradoxically, as soon as the element goes above the Expressions, as soon as it overcomes them, those Expressions can no longer affect it. He is in a place where they don't exist. So it must fight to keep itself together, much like we must do when entering the Void—or, more precisely, when leaving Reality.
"The element tries to resist and fight back. Maybe the first element gives up, but others try after it, and one day, an element ignores its sense of self-preservation and insists to the very end. It's unmade, stripped of all Expressions.
"It can't Change, and movement is a facet of Change, so it's frozen in place between Expressions and Aspects. It can have no Sentience, so it reverts into a bundle of mixed Wills. The element can have no Energy, so it dissipates.
"Only its Wills remain in that place, tempered as they were. Those are the tempered Laws that still obey and enforce the contracts if firmed, the Concepts.
"That set of elemental Laws reach such a high level of existence that they now affect everything—or close enough. Instead of everything, they affect a large subset of Time, Space, and Will. They affect one or more universes. Whenever that universe can be found, those Laws will define how things in it interact with each other.
"Remember, we are part of the Multiverse Alliance. Some Laws are the same in different universes because those sets of Laws were in place before a multiverse even existed. Space is still changing and expanding, and the multiverse is evidence of such change.
"Other sets of Laws affect multiple universes because the element's willpower was strong enough to spill into other universes. Some sets of Laws even have similar names and purposes in multiple universes, yet are still ultimately different.
"When the Alliance came to Earth, for instance, it replaced the Laws of Life from your universe with its own Laws of Life.
"Other elements follow the first to reach such a high place. Eventually, Space and Time itself are affected by this new order of things and push their own Wills—which are born and decided over the eons—into everything.
"Space becomes stable, gains definite boundaries, and keeps expanding. Time becomes linear and moves only in one direction. By definition, the Aspect of Will itself cannot gain other Wills. The single Law of Will is to exist. But it's present in all Laws, for Laws are nothing but an element's or Aspect's Will.
"All laws of physics and interactions are decided on such grand scales—multiversal or universal. The Laws of Space and Time are the same in all universes. We have also never found a universe where the eight sets of basic elemental Laws were absent or different from each other. They are Fire, Water, Earth, Wood, Metal, Air, Light, and Darkness.
"Now, think for a moment about the elements that turned into Laws. If a bundle of energy can grow powerful enough in willpower and means to change Reality, why can't any random sentient being do the same?
"It can.
"The very elements were the first True Path Walkers. Their willpower defined their goals and existence. They pushed their Paths, their Laws and Concepts, into Reality itself. They didn't, however, need to pull other Laws into their Path.
"Theoretically, neither do we. Walking a Path to the peak is possible only by strengthening your willpower and having enough strength to push it into the Heavens. The eight basic elements did that.
"However, it's much easier to accomplish it by drinking from existing Laws. That's why we do it.
"One day, a random sentient being did that, too. Different elemental Laws like the Laws of Ice or Gold came to be in some universes. So did weapon Laws like Spear or Sword. That's also how the primal Laws of Annihilation or Life appeared.
"If you look closely, Sentience-focused Laws are as absent as any that focuses on Change itself or Energy itself. Either it's impossible to redefine all Reality, or no one had strong enough willpower for that to date.
"Now, if you paid attention, you'll notice that Annihilation is a type of Change, a facet of it; it's about making something cease to exist. You can do that, even if defining Change itself is impossible. Likewise, you will find the Laws of Love or Hatred in some universes. Or the Laws of all forms of metaphysical energy.
"Not in the Multiverse Alliance, however.
"The Multiverse Alliance is a group of universes sharing the same Laws. When a new universe or world is added, the sets of Laws fight each other, and the surviving ones remain. Some strong beings even push one way or another. The Alliance's favored Laws of Life, as I mentioned, are given extra strength to overcome any other.
"That helps us grow and fight together against the Void but also makes it harder for us to push our Path into becoming part of Reality itself.
"When our Path is strong enough at A-rank, we can attempt to make it real, to Realize it. That is similar to how the bundles of energy, the elements, affected their surroundings with their Wills. It's also very close to auras and domains; you can even call it the natural progression of a domain.
"S-ranks, those who have Realized their Paths, then start feeling and pushing other Laws around them to try to carve a place for their Realization among the rest of the Reality. Slowly, they merge with their surroundings. Some of their Wills become Laws, and Concepts are changed or born anew.
"When their willpower is strong enough, and they feel confident, they can attempt to push their Realization to affect the entire Multiverse Alliance. All intrinsically linked universes. And failing means death.
"The other sets of Laws oppose any who attempts it. The elemental, weapon, and primal Laws reached where they did by wanting to make Reality conform to their views to a point. They don't want further Change.
"Only one has ever managed to Merge their Realization with Reality in the Multiverse Alliance.
"The Mana Emperor created the Laws of Mana.
"There are too many sets of Laws in the Alliance, and they are strong. One way to strengthen willpower is by resisting other wills, and the more dangerous and visceral the contest, the better the results. The Laws in the Alliance have resisted much. They are also more numerous than in individual, small, or younger universes.
"Risking death against such a powerful foe obviously sounds terrible. Therefore, most S-ranks would rather attempt to Merge their Realization with a non-Alliance-assimilated universe.
"That is the worst sin they can make.
"Merging takes a long time, which means the Alliance loses a strong Guardian until it's complete, even if they succeed. When an S-rank tries their luck anyway, the Alliance erases the Guardian's entire race for not stopping the S-rank—or dying trying—then hunt them down for all eternity.
"And that explains the two reasons you must have strong willpower.
"First, so you can push your Path ahead. Without willpower, you can't grow or even keep being you.
"There are Concepts from the Laws of Reality into your Path. Those Concepts are echoes of some Laws—of Wills that once belonged to another sentient or sapient being. At C-rank, you'll touch and pull Laws, alien Wills, into yourself. To reach B-rank, the entirety of a Law, of an alien Will, must be inside you, and you must master it. Not just comprehend it to the last detail but rule over it. That requires willpower."
She turned everything she had drawn into pitch darkness and made them into a rotating spiral, then turned the vortex into something akin to a black hole, absorbing light and all.
"And second, strong willpower is the cheapest and most widespread way to protect Reality from the Void."