Dao, the System called it. A thorough understanding of your Aspect along with some deeply personal connection to that same understanding and bam. You’ve got yourself a Dao. A Dao pool, specifically, though no one had much more of an idea what that meant than just the words and the feeling. Once you unlocked a Dao - your Dao? - it became a new source of power. Like mana was the “fuel” of the spirit, and stamina the “fuel” of the body, Dao was “fuel” for the mind.

After Serge had awoken and explained what had happened, it set off a chain reaction. Over a dozen had broken through to Tier One in the last week. There were many more in the city on the cusp, still trying to unlock the final insight which would push them to the next level. One which, by all accounts, felt absolutely incredible.

I wanted that power for myself, but it was proving difficult.

Antiquity was an esoteric Aspect to say the least. I had tried a slew of options to get a better understanding of the ancient sensation from filling my living quarters with antiques to visiting some ancient sites. The System’s arrival to Earth had changed geography a lot, so the journey was further. I also moved nearly as fast as a commercial airliner would, so it evened out.

“If I may..?” I gestured for the skeleton to continue. Ledge was currently facing into the room and had been watching me pace for hours without complaint or comment. Despite the admittedly beautiful decoration of the room and my tourist trip to the pyramids, I hadn’t managed to grasp the true nature of the magic within, nor how it connected to myself. “I believe you are working on this from the wrong direction.”

“Go on,” I nodded.

“In trying to understand the past, I wonder if you have not angled your gaze in the wrong direction. I do not believe any of these relics hold any special meaning to you, nor did you care much for the places we visited.” Oh yeah, I took the skull with me to see the pyramids because I thought it would be funny. I hadn’t had the heart to make jokes once I heard the genuine amazement and wonder from the undead head.

“Okay. So, you’re saying I’m looking at old things, but they might as well be rocks?” I understood the point, but not how it helped. “Are you saying I’m stuck?”

“I doubt any can truly become fastened to their place on the path to power, if they have the determination. But no, not even that much. Did you not say you weren’t truly of this world?” The skeleton’s voice was measured, but even if they tried to hide it, I could detect a small whiff of frustration. I couldn’t help but smirk as I pictured all the teachers who had felt the same way throughout my life. I was a learn-by-doing kind of person.

Not that I was dense, at least not stupid enough to miss the obvious point. “Right!” Hitting a fist into my other hand, I nodded again. “Work backwards. That actually makes more sense for Antiquity than I’d like to admit, now that I think about it.” I was so focused on the need to understand the concept of Antiquity that I stopped trying to make it connect to me. I realised I had all the answers already.

Gaia.

Thhhhrump.

Just the thought of my old world caused the magic in the air to ignite with power. The entire room was charged already, various items within giving off an “old” feeling mana, a perfect place to create my Dao Pool. “Gaia…” I whispered, thinking of the entire branch of existence which had been stolen away by the whims of a fate I couldn’t understand and a universe I didn’t belong to. I grasped at the connection between my magic and my memories.

Everything came together quickly as the magic took control of the moment. All that remained was for me to prove my understanding. The world is ancient. Antiquity was not in items, it was in planets. This is not my world. Antiquity brought decay and loss. Gaia had passed into antiquity. I will preserve what it might, forever.

With the final piece of the puzzle in place, I felt my core expand. More than double, the metaphysical place where my soul existed ballooned. With a thought, I was able to look upon this new, inner space more clearly. My heart quivered a little, and I opened my eyes with a smile. “Congratulations, sir. Ah, though it appears… incomplete?”

Ledge was right, this wasn’t how I moved into the next Grade or Tier. Or rather, not the only thing I needed to do. Still I had System notifications which helped me understand my next step.

Dao Pool - Antiquity

Only fools do not learn from history. What then, is the potential of one who not only learns from it, but takes its power directly?

I knew that others received easy to understand statistical benefits from unlocking a Dao, shown in an “effect” portion under the description. As an Outsider, I had my hand held a lot less by the System. There was a clear difference in my internal energies, which would translate to more power, but the actual numbers weren’t something I could guess. Not until I used the Dao properly.

I looked at the second System prompt and couldn’t help but chuckle at how well it fit. “Hey, Ledge. Wanna go see your old home?”

——————————————————————————

Evolution Quest - Return To The Start Of The Path

The Dungeon which you claimed as your own was but one version of events. Return to the entrance and find it remade. The unfamiliar territory must again be conquered, but beware. The smallest of changes in the past can lead to the largest differences in the future.

Reward: Upgrade to Tier E

“Everyone good to go?” I was taking no chances, so I would be the one to enter the dungeon first. Ledge had suggested letting a level one enter first, but I had a feeling the System wouldn’t like the subterfuge. The four members of my “party”, Serge included, all variously confirmed their readiness. Ledge gave an affirmative from my hip where the durable skull was fastened. I held my hand out to the shimmer in the air and pushed through the magical film.

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The familiar popping of my ears was followed by a surprising amount of sound. By the time my vision cleared, I knew something was wrong. Maybe different was the better word as the original city hadn’t exactly been pristine. Arguably, this one was. It made a lot of sense considering the locals were all alive and looking at me with a mixture of confusion, fear and anger.

Not great.

When the four humans entered behind me, chaos erupted. “Hey, Ledge. What the hell is this?” Taking point, I led the party away from the scene we had created. Our group had appeared in the middle of a busy intersection of the clearly-not-forgotten city. With shouts following us, we managed to escape the crowds and hid away in a small nook in what looked to be a well-maintained public park.

The skull at my waist had its jaw locked open. I thought I had maybe hit something and tried to push the mouth closed but Ledge sputtered at me. “It’s weird that he can do that without a mouth,” one of the panting party members commented. I looked at the group, focusing on them properly for what might have been the first time.

The woman who spoke was the only female in our group. Not inherently due to sexism, at least not on my part. The humans were still slow to let the women get involved in the “dangerous business” but they would need to learn. Or they’d be shown by the ones who broke free of the patriarchal structure of Earth, like Vee here. Despite my arms length approach, I had decided to learn names, at least.

“Technically Ledge is a they/them, sometimes an it, on account of the myriad souls which make up their personality. All of the souls are pretty similar, though.” I shrugged as I corrected Vee, not really knowing why I bothered. Ledge was clearly not listening, just staring each time I moved a little and gasping at each new sight.

Vee was a more classic fantasy powerset than myself or Serge. With an Aspect of Earth bound to her Speed attribute and a fantastic level of mana control, Vee was one of the few genuine mages I had seen on Earth so far. Her powers were lessened anywhere she couldn’t pull debris from the ground, but it had yet to be a problem.

Taking the quiet second as everyone caught their breath, I sized up the final two members of the party. Javed and Toulou were more of a pair which was attached to the group than separate members. Brothers by birth, they both filled important roles. Javed, the older brother, was fantastic at stealth while Toulou had the rarest powers of us all. He could heal. The caveat was that his Aspect of Blood meant that it cost him his own lifeforce to cast spells. We all did our best to avoid damage so Toulou wouldn’t become anaemic.

I flicked the skull, hard. Ledge’s cultivation kept up with my own, so it didn’t even scratch the solid bone at my hip. It shook the skull out of its general stupor, though. “What? What? Yes? What’s wrong?” I chuckled, the skull clearly in a world of its own when I had spoken to them before.

“What is going on?” I repeated, though my own thoughts were probably as valid as the skull’s. “Do you recognise any of this?” Of course, I had assumed this would basically be a higher level run of the last time I did this dungeon. No such luck, as a bad feeling settled in my stomach.

“This is… this is…” Ledge’s many voices trembled as they spoke in a whisper. “This is Segacea! Oh, they must have broken through the barriers which we never could!” I had guessed as much, but now it wasn’t just my assumption. I looked at the group and shrugged. Did this change anything, really?

“I guess we won’t be fighting beasts and undead, but… it’s still a dungeon.” Every single data point we had said that dungeons weren’t real, but I saw the doubt in the eyes of the others and couldn’t ignore the small fault which wormed into my own conviction. The beautiful parkland we were huddled within didn’t feel very dungeonesque. “Look, I have a quest to conquer this place, changes or no changes. It’s just a dungeon.”

“Mmm…” Toulou was the first to speak. “Did anyone else manage to analyse any of the people as we ran?” I blinked, glad that my scales didn’t blush. I definitely should have done that, but I wasn’t alone in my shame as everyone else looked confused, too. “I thought not. While I have no doubt Lord Dragon could raze this city to the ground with enough time…”

I didn’t encourage the name Lord Dragon, but I wasn’t going to discourage it once people had started using it. It wasn’t me who responded, in any case. “What is it?” Javed asked, seeing concern on his brother’s face.

The younger man leaned in closer and spoke quieter. “Not a single one was under level thirty…” The four of us who hadn’t realised we were surrounded by monsters before shuddered and exchanged looks of worry. I shuddered a little.

Damn. If it was just me, I wouldn’t be worried about moving around but in a group of five…

Luckily for me, my ponderings were wasted as all the foliage in a thirty foot radius vanished. One second lush, lovely park and the next we found ourselves stood in the centre of a dead circle. The air filled with energy, like a lightning bolt was about to strike. I quickly threw my gaze around, finally seeing the source of the strange magic in the air above. “Watch out!” I shouted, shoving Toulou out of the way as the individual above started falling like a boulder.

A craterous impact sent a shockwave of stone, dirt and sound in all directions. The group fared as well as the dirt and were scattered by the impact. I had been slow in reacting, but my body exploded with power as I sent mana screaming through my body. It was an inefficient use of power, basically making me slightly stronger for twice the effort, but every little counts in a life-or-death battle.

Monster - Segacean Guard - Level ???

“Fuckin-” I didn’t bother finishing my sentence, throwing myself at the newcomer with all the ferocity I contained. As the dust cleared, I got a better look at them. Long amber hair fell down to the shoulders of a handsome individual. Their features were not quite human, with a much more pointed nose and ears which sat higher on the head. Once my eyes met theirs, the features all made sense.

They were the eyes of a predator.

“I think you’ll all be coming with me,” the man said, casually dodging my first attack. I was just about piecing together the idea that we had walked into a death trap when a fist caught me in the gut. I sailed high into the air, all my breath punched from me with one blow. There was a flicker of movement underneath me as the party tried to retaliate.

I landed throat first into the guard’s grip. A harmony of my four groaning party members told me they had been dealt with while I was airborne. An arrogant tutting came from the guard, as though he were dealing with petulant children. “Resisting arrest on top of trespassing in the holy city? That’s not going to look good on the report.”

I had no interest in getting an in-depth look at this dungeon-made city’s legal system, so I did the only thing I could. Hating myself, I started slapping at the man’s arm lightly. So timid was my attempt that he laughed and shook me. “Are you the pet? Feisty one!” I feebly kicked my feet against his bright white chestplate, my claws catching on the golden filigree. It only took a moment for the potential energy to build up.

“Fucking idiot,” I choked out through my constricted airway. The energy had built up, and with the Dao Pool of Antiquity within my core, I had far greater control over Divergent Strike. Only enough to hold the damage back for a few seconds, but with the frantic pace I had scratched and kicked at the man? It was devastating.

More than ten of my hardest strikes landed at once, stolen from timelines in which I had been able to do damage. My mana dipped massively, leaving my inner pathways feeling parched immediately. The Dao Pool in my core rippled as its energy was used, and the motion made my body, mind and soul all feel their own version of nausea. I heaved and held my head as an instant migraine came on from the use of my Dao.

The guard was worse-off by a mile. His arm disintegrated, shredded beyond the elbow, while his chest exploded. I hadn’t had a chance to use the full powered combo of Divergent Strikes but to say it hit above its level was an understatement. I frowned, reaching for my collar and pulling at the weight around it. I flinched and dropped the extremity as I realised it was the guard’s hand.

He didn’t get to release a shout of worry or panic, which was good. Looking at my allies, I threw my hand over my face. Whatever the guard had done had knocked them all out. I shuddered as a higher tier of kill energy flooded into orbit around my core, the guard quickly succumbing to his wounds.

I could tell that this energy was inherently different to the energy I had received from killing tier 1s, not just by the amount but by where it rested around my core. Instead of searching to fill the already perfected core, the energy became the start of a new, second layer to my spirit. I felt my muscles tighten as my body tried to use this new power, but it was mostly locked away.

I didn’t receive levels like the System-based cultivators. My strength grew with each tickle of power I could force into my core. Finding the new reservoir was amazing, but I was unable to properly delve it. While my spirit, my core, had reached the highest level of the tier, I was still locked behind my evolution quest. I flexed my fingers and looked at the four unconscious bodies of my party, wondering what I should do.

The sound of sirens approaching made my choice for me.