Shen had believed himself to be ready to face any place the Void threw him at. He had been wrong.
When the darkness of the Void released him, he found himself flying high above Cylek—a different Cylek. It had been day a moment before, but it was night right now. Furthermore, the world itself felt weird to his senses. His Laws were there, but they felt... twisted. Not wrong, but also not quite right.
The most significant issue was his presence in this place. The Void never lied. Never. Or so he had been taught and learned to believe in.
Yet, Shen had asked to be brought to a "random, deserted, safe place in the Overlord Realm." The city wasn't deserted, and his arrival here probably wasn't random. The Void Spawn that could perfectly mimic living beings was evidence of how strangely the Void behaved in the Tower of Seven, but Shen had never considered it might also mislead him in a deal.
As for his safety... There were no Demi-Dominators around waiting to kill him. In fact, his domain had been deployed as soon as he arrived because it had been deployed on his origin, but he felt no single Demi-Dominator or Lawful Dominator in the entire city. None of the tens of millions of people there had a domain.
This was Cylek, yet not.
Not that he needed information about the denizens to know the place was different. Space itself behaved weirdly. It felt stretched, and Shen's One Self felt like it occupied three times the space it should have. Regardless, everything looked normal. Not that everything behaved normally, though. Space also felt thin, and people appeared out of nowhere and disappeared in thin air. He could detect with his domain that they moved through the boundaries of three-dimensional Space into another three-dimensional Space, but his domain couldn't infiltrate the other area.
This Cylek was also less cultivator-like. Neon lights were more abundant, the city had only three levels despite the equally tall buildings, and it was plenty more mechanized. Drones were everywhere, and flying vehicles—thick, armored ones—were much more common than he had gotten used to. It made sense because the lack of Demi-Dominators made enchantments more likely to resist attacks long enough for backup to arrive.
As he checked his surroundings, an armored hovercar bearing the letters CIPD approached. Its strong flashlights were aimed at him, and a loud voice came from its speakers, "You're an unauthorized domain holder! Pull it back right now!"
The hovercar had anti-domain enchantments, but the hovercar had no anti-Allvision enchantment. Shen could see through it and noticed only Conceptualizers inside, armed with enchanted guns. Every item was Overlord-tier, but did they really believe they could defeat him with that?
Shen thought they looked like a bunch of morons. They were lucky he was feeling Gentle, or he would Conduct his spear right through their skulls for daring to speak to him like that.
"He's with me," a voice Shen hadn't heard in a while said as a high elf in a blue cultivator robe materialized beside him.
There was a delay as the CIPD people checked something on their computers, and then they replied, "Understood. We've granted your guest a twenty-four-hour exceptional permission." They left without another word.
"Thank you," Shen said. He didn't consider himself an entitled brat, but he had to ask right after, "Could you've saved E'livia?"
He suddenly felt edgy. He wanted to do something Extreme. The CIPD idiots had gotten very lucky that Habnor had saved them.
"No one could've saved her," the Realizator replied, using True Language. "Which is almost a blessing. Her race is so rare that no one who mattered knew about her presence here. I had to convince the Warden-Emperor not to use her as a breeder. He wasn't pleased. It was expensive."
Shen frowned and asked, also in True Language, "What do you mean?"
"Not here. Retract your domain and follow me." He flew away, walking right through one of the weaknesses in Space.
Shen did as told and was surprised to find himself flying above another copy of Cylek as soon as he went through the boundary. His domain wasn't deployed, but he could see no Overlords anywhere. Space felt even more stretched here, and he could only feel his mastered Laws as if through a tainted glass. Many objects looked as if they were and weren't there. They didn't quite blink into and out of existence, but their presence felt feeble, and sometimes Shen could see through them even without Allvision as if they had momentarily ceased to exist while still being there.
He understood what was happening when he saw a person walking sideways. Not sideways as one might expect it; the female treant was walking perpendicular to the floor, floating and stepping on empty air like she was walking on the ground and moving accordingly. A moment later, she was actually walking on the ground. The next moment, she was walking sideways again.
It reminded him of the spider he met at the First-Grade Talent Summit. The one who didn't live in Main Space.
"Phasespace," Shen concluded.
He was surprised to feel a sort of Conceptual shockwave leave his mouth. Every Concept it touched shook. The shockwave faded in less than a hundred meters and did nothing permanent, but it was still beyond his expectations.
"Not a term you should throw carelessly in this place, even if no one can understand you." Habnor warned. "Especially not using True Language. There's more to the Shaft's Languages than you can learn before reaching the Realizator Realm. It should be obvious. Why go through so much trouble to establish them if the only purpose was forming a social hierarchy?" Shen opened his mouth to reply, but the high elf raised his hand and said first, "We're almost there. Stay silent for once."
They arrived at a skyscraper not long after. The last few floors were made of solid metal that didn't look so unstable. They even glowed purple a little. They entered one of the apartments, and Shen sighed, relieved, when Space felt normal again inside.
The apartment's interior was rustic and cozy, precisely as it had been the last time Shen visited. Habnor's home was evidently not typical. It had doors in multiple places, all leading to the same house.
Lariel was there, wearing a maid uniform, tea at the ready. She smiled brightly, and Shen was shocked to notice something for the first time: she looked a lot like a young version of the Queen of Spring and Autumn.
Habnor noticed it and complained, "That's why I didn't want to bring you here after you survived your Selection." He sat by the table and poured himself some tea. "The girl doesn't understand True Language. She also doesn't know about her mother. You'll keep it like that."
Shen really wanted to know why the Queen had sent a daughter to that place, but it would be safer for everyone if he didn't. So, instead of asking about it, he demanded, "Explain what you meant about E'livia's race."
"I'll overlook your tone because you're affected by your Laws, but you'll provide a proper apology the next time we meet, or I'll beat you up. Badly. This is not a threat but a fact of life. I'm an old and strong Realizator, you little piece of shit. You'll do well to remember that." He took a cigarette from a pocket and lit it up as if he were discussing the weather.
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Shen tried to stand up to meet the challenge, but a Realization kept him firmly in place. It also kept his jaws locked up.
Habnor puffed smoke and said, "We'll wait for your Extremity to give up its hold over you to a more manageable Law before I release you. As for your question, it is known that the race of any living being who manages to push their Realization to the True Heavens becomes blessed. They are called the Heavenly Races. The blessing includes unique characteristics for each race, an easier time cultivating the Axioms their True Ancestor had in their Path, immunity from direct mental slavery, and it becoming impossible to change any traits of the race unless you change the True Heavens themselves.
"As you've recently learned, not just any random nobody can change the True Heavens—and that's not considering the True Heavens protect the Heavenly Races more than they resist new Axioms being pushed into them. Almost every Ascender who attempts the latter dies, so you're lucky you survived attempting the former. Using your essence was very smart of you.
"Seven Heavenly Races have originated from the Tower of Seven. Yes, that's the real meaning behind the Shaft's official name. I know of no other Heavenly Race to have risen anywhere else; the Shaft is that old and special. Alas, none of the seven Heavenly Races lives in the Shaft any longer because their first blessing became a curse. They were exterminated or fled."
Shen wanted to ask, "What do you mean?" but his mouth was still sealed shut.
The high elf kept silent momentarily, looking longingly at nothing. Then, he continued, "The Heavenly Races are, at the very least, a cheap source of rare and expensive materials. Almost everyone wants to breed them for resources. It's not beautiful, but that's the way things are. The abyssal dragons have it easy because they are almost impossible to capture and always manage to escape if they really want to. The holins are the opposite. They are known to be docile and surrender completely if you use their unique social-binding characteristics against them. Their most coveted resource is their wings' blood. You can gather similar liquid in other ways, but none as cheaply, safely, and in such quantities as breeding them. It's an endless source of income—and I'm talking about a lot of income." He paused, then said with a lower voice, "You don't need to know too much, but I was married to a holin once. The Gardener gained my respect by protecting them."
Lariel, by the table, had been changing the leg she stood on, anxious about something. When another silence stretched between Habnor and Shen, she poured tea for Shen with an expecting smile. Shen felt Habnor's Realization free him just enough for him to take a sip. The Realizator also gave Shen a look promising hell to pay if he misused his temporary freedom.
Gentle Breeze came to the fore, and Shen drank the tea with a kind smile. The liquid wasn't even as terrible as last time. It only tasked like piss this time.
"Thanks," he said in high elven. His memory of their last meeting let him know the language was shared between the Shaft and the Alliance.
"You're welcome!" she replied with a beaming smile.
"I need time alone with our guest, Lariel," Habnor said, also in high elven.
"Yes, Uncle," she replied meekly and left. She didn't even eavesdrop this time.
They grew up so fast!
Habnor reverted to the Overlord Realm's True Language. "You couldn't save your woman because she was holin. As I said, no one can change a Heavenly Race unless they change the True Heavens. But the Heavenly Races have two extra, less-known characteristics. What do you know about genecrafting?"
Shen asked, "Manipulating genes to create new races?"
"Not exactly. The term is meant to mislead the ignorant. You can change someone's physiology quite easily—as long they aren't from a Heavenly Race—and ensuring all descendants will keep the trait is not prohibitively expensive. Genecrafting is more art than science. The goal is to produce an entirely new race by combining the right factors at the right time. Keep a living being affected by the right stimuli for the proper length of time, and it dies or morphs into another. It's not beautiful, and most civilized places ban it because results are statistically impossible at best."
"I guess holins can be created like that?" That's the only link Shen could think of to their conversation.
Habnor nodded. "The ultimate goal every genecrafter wants to achieve is producing a Heavenly Race. The Heavenly Races are the only existing races that can come to be in different ways. Any other race can only come to be in the same conditions that birthed it originally. A fire elemental happens when a flame becomes sentient, or something like that. A high elf requires a wooden elf to exist in the same solar system and a few other things."
"Why is that relevant?"
"Heavenly Races have traits that cannot change, but Change is an Aspect of Reality itself, so no one can be truly immune to it. Producing a Heavenly Race through genecrafting forces a mutation on some secondary traits. The last holin to appear in the Shaft used to be a race of undead succubi that became holins through the Axioms of Death. Their need for social connections, which exists in all holins, was twisted by their original race and could be sated through lust, not deep soul connections like those from the World Tree. They were the best sex workers to have ever existed, but they were exterminated from the Shaft in an incident about one hundred thousand years ago. Everyone still alive who ever paid for their services reminisces. They would all pay a lot to taste another holin. Some Dominators might bankrupt themselves for it. And the World Tree's holins would be even more valuable."
Shen wasn't enjoying this conversation at all. "Why is that?"
"The former succubi could be controlled through their lust, but they became mindless addicts. The World Tree's holins? They are as... engaged and fulfilling private partners as the former succubi. Their intimate self-sacrifice, vigor, and the unique way their souls feel when they surrender themselves to their partners are core traits of holins that cannot change. Don't think no one noticed how blissful your woman made you. You really think the bunch of losers in Cylek paying for sex experienced the same you did? Boy, you have no idea. No idea at all. What you took for granted was something I never experienced before or after my holin partner passed away."
He took another sip of the tea before continuing, "Now, think about what that means. A personal god or goddess of lust connected to you by their soul, committed and loyal to you while your essences are connected. The connection cannot be formed and unmade freely, either; time must pass even if they want to leave you, giving you time to exploit their temporary loyalty. Not that you would need to exploit anything; the link makes their lives depend on you, and abusing that to make them also emotionally dependent on you would be trivial. They can still sever the connection, but you'll feel it happen, and they would remain in a daze for a few moments, so a holin can never sneak attack you before you prepare yourself.
"This is the promise of happily ever after that many cultivators seek at the end of their Path, once it's clear they cannot progress further. It's something most of us realize too late that we gave up along the way. Death stares at you, and you begin to wonder, but we cannot trust anyone else after living for so long. With the World Tree's holins, no actual slavery would be involved, only some manipulation, and you'd get a partner who cares about you, satisfies all your desires, has almost no upkeep, won't betray you without first cutting off their link to you—giving you a warning—and can even produce rare blood for you to sell. Heavens, you might even train them for your protection because they are still a Heavenly Race that have an easier time cultivating than the rest of us!
"And there are, of course, those who would have no issues with enslaving them. They are immune to direct mental slavery, but there are other methods, especially if you raise them from a young age. I once heard someone call holins 'the perfect cattle.' I killed the bastard right after." His voice sharpened as he said that.
"The point is that there are no negatives about breeding holins, only moral concerns—and very few people care about morals when the opportunity is half as good as this one. In a way, the Divine Mandatary did you a favor by holding onto your woman's essence until you're strong enough. You wouldn't have been able to keep her after you reached the Seeker Realm, believe me. And it would've made you feel much more miserable than you do right now. I would know." He paused one last time before adding, "Killing my wife was the greatest mercy I could've given her."
Shen nodded. That made perfect sense. It felt a bit too stupid for people to go to such lengths for what he had had with E'livia, but he was young and inexperienced. Maybe his lack of comparative parameters blinded him.
That information should even make Shen grateful to Habnor for convincing the Warden-Emperor not to take E'livia from him. And, deep down, Shen did feel some gratitude. He also empathized with the high elf. He could guess Habnor's sympathy was also the reason he was sharing so much about holins, and maybe had even come to help Shen deal with the local CIPD.
But those pleasant feelings were drowned by the Extreme fury consuming his heart.
Shen deployed domain and swung Un'Re straight at the bastard who would've watched E'livia walk into a dragon's den without telling them anything!