Theora formed a complex scripting circle in her mind's eye and cast it out over the papers neatly stacked upon her desk. Instantly the qi from her crafted art imprinted itself into the pages, ready to receive her thoughts and impressions from her meeting with the newly ascended.
Ascendant Log
Date: Day 17, Month 4, Year 987 in the Age of Upheaval
Spire 18 (Vanaxis the Defier): Formation completed Year 962 in the Age of Upheaval. Active for 9.6 years.
Ascendant: Samantha Cray (Case #: 18 - 987 - 1 - 98576648331)
Floor 1 (*Floor of Origin): Time Compression = 1024: 1
Unlocked Cultivation at age 17
Time elapsed before ascending: 3 months spire time (10.5 minutes true time)
Rank at ascension: Low Bronze (Unique Core - Rebirth)
Current Bonds: Lunar Wolpertinger (Rank 5 - Low, Mongrel Bloodline)
Past identities: Unable to be determined at this time
Approximate spirit age: 3000-4000 years
Additional notes:
* I detected at least 5 Divine grade arts stored within the ascendant’s memories during my short time within their dantian. The contents of these arts were heavily warded, and I was not able to determine whether their nature was combat or utility oriented. The ascendant also retrieved a flawless healing technique using an unspent Low Bronze insight. These facts lead me to believe that the ascendant was alive during the Golden Age of Divine Beasts, and perhaps was taught directly by one of them. The flawless technique, even at such a low level, suggests a specialty in healing arts, though more observation will be needed to confirm.
* Ascendant reported current Ruler of Location 315 (‘Yivesh’) is hindering and obscuring progression to the second floor. Ruler reported to be near Low Silver. According to the ascendant, this has been an issue for ~250 years spire time (~ 3 months true time).
Recommendations:
* High priority ascendant. Requesting permission to be permanently assigned to her case.
* No action needed to liberate Location 315 at this time. Over 80% of first floor locations are still performing as expected. Expected time until the Ruler of Yivesh is replaced: ~200 years spire time (~2.3 months true time)
Floor 2: Time Compression = 512: 1
Pending. Estimated time to third floor based on past progress: 1 year spire time (16.9 hours true time)
Floor 3: Time Compression = 256: 1
Floor 4: Time Compression = 128 : 1
Floor 5: Time Compression = 64 : 1
Floor 6: Time Compression = 32 : 1
Floor 7: Time Compression = 16 : 1
Floor 8: Time Compression = 8 : 1
Floor 9: Time Compression = 4 : 1
Floor 10: Time Compression = 2 : 1
End Report.
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Reporting Agent: Theora Rangiir
Theora smiled happily to herself as the words appeared neatly across the report as quickly as she thought them. With a minor exertion of her will, the forms lifted themselves from her desk and floated through the air to the appropriate bins where they would be reviewed by her superior in the next hour or so.
She really hoped that she would be assigned to Samantha’s case for the long term. She would finally have a promising candidate to support, which could boost her standing in the hierarchy of the Ministry of Preservation. If she managed to bring an old soul back into the war effort, who knows what previously lost knowledge they could recover? She had to stop herself from immediately telling her colleagues about her lucky find, else one of them might try and take on the case themselves. It wouldn’t be the first time something like that had happened.
“What’s got you in such a good mood Theora?” her desk neighbor asked.
“I’m not allowed to smile?” she protested.
“Not at all! You’re just usually so morose whenever you finish convening with an ascendant. It’s nice to see you happy.”
Theora’s expression faltered slightly at that admission.
“Ah–I’ve ruined your moment, haven’t I? Sorry. I’ll let you get back to work.”
As her neighbor returned to his assigned tasks, Theora’s thoughts returned–as they always eventually did–to that place of remorse anchored deep within her mind. She never had enough time with the newly ascended. There was so much she had to cut out or leave unsaid just so they could have the bare minimum knowledge to move forward. There was so much she wasn’t allowed to say to ensure that they didn’t lose hope before they had truly begun their climb. The worst part was that almost all of them asked the same question–the same question that she had asked her own representative when she ascended– ‘Will I be able to return someday?’.
She still remembered how heartbroken she had been when she had emerged from the spire and had her own suspicions confirmed. Though it had only taken her 30 years to ascend from the third floor, she had spent too long on the 10th. By the time she emerged into the outside world, over 1000 years had passed on the third floor. Any mortal family she had was long dead, and she wouldn’t be surprised if even her family name was lost to time. To add insult to injury, even if she did decide to descend, she likely wouldn’t survive long after she had reached her destination. The spire’s lower levels were never meant to contain an individual with the vast powers she had acquired. To ensure that her reintroduction would not disrupt the spire’s delicate balance, with each level she descended the cultivation she had worked so hard to foster and grow would be torn away from her–lost forever. Not only would this severely weaken her, but the loss of vital energies would cause her to rapidly age and degenerate.
Perhaps if someone were born on an upper floor and miraculously avoided madness or mutation it would be worth it to return home, but she had never heard of such a case in all of her many decades working in the Ministry. The sad truth was, once the ascension process began, there was no good way to go back. The only way to truly ‘descend’ the spire was to die and start anew.
The dull Jade tablet set into the center of her desk began shining with bright blue light, bringing her out of her thoughts. Theora charged her eyes with an Inspection art to get an idea of who she’d be speaking to, and was pleased to see it was another one of her candidates who had just ascended to the fifth floor. She had been worried about this one–Theora had expected an ascension weeks ago–but it seems like he had pulled through after all. From the time when the light shone from the tablet to the moment she placed her hand on top of its jade surface, not even two heartbeats had passed. Speed was of the utmost importance, after all, since any delay on her end could seem like minutes or hours had passed to the other party. She felt a moment of disorientation as she pushed a splinter of her consciousness through the connections of the tablet and the spire altered her perception of time to match the candidate’s.
The familiar door appeared in front of her as she stood just beyond the boundaries of her candidate’s dantian. She pushed all thoughts of Samantha Cray from her mind as she reoriented herself to the needs of the current ascendant, then knocked on the door twice.
“Come in, Theora. I’ve been looking forward to discussing some pressing matters with you.”
-End of Book 1-