Rieren sat cross-legged in the little glen and cultivated. This was the first time she was drawing in Essence on purpose, for no other reason to cycle it through her elixir field and her meridians, since she had turned into—she couldn’t hold back her grimace, even after the time that had passed—into a monster.

It felt strange. The natural spiritual energy of the world swirled around her. Now that she wasn’t stuck inside a dense forest, the Essence wasn’t overwhelmingly filled with any single Aspect. This was pure, untampered Essence.

No, the only thing that was tampered was Rieren herself.

She sighed. Perhaps she needed to stop thinking about her condition so much and start focusing on the actual act of cycling and cultivating and attempting to grow stronger.

With the end of the first round, the Trials of Ascendance had come to a temporary pause. All the competitors who had made it through the gruelling first round deserved some rest. As such, the tournament officials and the judges had unilaterally decided to grant all the competitors three days of recuperation while they decided who would be facing off in the coming round.

It was, supposedly, the Forborne Emperor’s own decree. An Emperor… who wasn’t Rieren had thought. Later. She could investigate that later.

Whatever the source, Rieren appreciated the ruling. She was certain it was granted to not run the still-human competitors ragged. Monsters didn’t have to struggle against fatigue. In truth, neither did the more powerful cultivators. But there was such a thing as mental energy, and some more than others were certainly susceptible to its fall.

More importantly, the three days were just as much about preparing for what was to come as anything else. Which was exactly why Rieren was now cultivating.

Cultivating Essence that didn’t really feel normal anymore.

Batcat meowed softly as it prowled around in the glen.

“Yes, I know, cat,” Rieren said without opening her eyes. “I may be interrupted, but I will be Abyss-cursed before I waste any more time than I need to.”

The winged kitten hissed softly.

“Ah, I suppose you are correct. I am technically literally Abyss-cursed.”

Rieren tried to focus again on her cultivation, despite the Essence making it difficult. She was starting to feel that her transformation had fundamentally shifted her elixir field. Normally, Rieren would have it filled with water-Aspected Essence primarily, with a mixture of other Aspects such as lightning, air, and even Divine.

Now, there was an enormous amount of Abyss Aspect in that mix too. So much so that it had tainted and drowned out the presence of nearly all other Aspects save for water.

Whenever Rieren attempted to pull in the natural Essence from her surroundings, she felt as though she was trying to move a door on hinges so rusted, she might as well tear the door off entirely. That would be easier. Except, she couldn’t exactly do that to Essence.

She had to face the reality. Her meridians and elixir field were no longer suited to normal Essence.

Monster. A monster couldn’t cultivate. Never needed to. In fact, she had never heard of any Abyssal, Aetherian, or even any Anachron cultivating Essence and growing stronger. They were all Spirit Beasts who had sacrificed their Beast Cores to become more powerful. It was like if a cultivator had exchanged their elixir field for a set boost to their power.

Was Rieren supposed to do something similar? Offer up her elixir field to the uncaring system she had grown strong under, just to cap her potential for good?

Batcat meowed and shook its head, as though it had heard Rieren’s unspoken question.

Rieren grunted. “You are correct, Batcat.”

It would have been normal to feel that her initial fears about needing to sacrifice her elixir field were wrong. But she could barely feel anything.

Instead, Rieren relied on logic. She still had the system itself. Even now, all she would have to do was concentrate a little to pull up her age-old [Status] to look up her specific standing within the system. Something no monster had access to.

In fact, her [Status] still maintained that she had a cultivation realm. It didn’t have any strange letters or indicators that she could no longer cultivate, that she would remain stuck at her current realm and stage if she didn’t take the path of a monster. So there had to be some other method Rieren had to follow.

Ultimately, she had changed. She wasn’t a regular human any longer. It made sense that she wouldn’t be able to cycle Essence in the same manner as she had done before.

But she could cultivate still. She just had to find out what was optimal in her new circumstances.

“Do you have suggestions, cat?” Rieren asked, opening her eyes and letting her concentration drop for the moment.

She had ideas of her own she would try, but it felt… well, no, it felt like nothing. Try as she might, emotions were even less graspable than the Essence she was trying to gather.

But nevertheless, talking with Batcat was right. A part of her daily life that was still normal, natural. The little Spirit Beast was intelligent, after all. In fact, as soon as she had voiced her question, Batcat had gone ruler straight, looking at a gap in the trees around her.

Rieren looked in the same direction but couldn’t tell what was significant about it. She would have thought it had spotted some sort of critter that had activated its predatory instinct, but Batcat wasn’t truly a feline. It had never hunted anything or shown any inclination to do so in all the time it had spent in Rieren’s company.

Rieren was about to try her own ideas when a sense buzzed off. Her electroreception signalled that someone was coming. Several, in fact.

Stolen novel; please report.

Distantly, she had to admit that it was good that she had retained one of the senses she had grown. Though, another part of her wondered if she would develop completely new senses thanks to her new Arisen form.

Most of her attention was fixed on the little entrance into the glen, through which several hulking forms attempted to squeeze their way through.

“Why do secret yourself in this tiny hideaway?” the Darkstalker asked as it stumbled a little once it managed to get past the entrance. It glared at the surrounding trees as though considering burning them all with the fire in the pit of its eyes to create some more space for itself.

Batcat hissed at it. The cat’s angry expression made the Darkstalker take a nervous step back, but it stood its ground after the winged kitten made no move to attack.

Other monsters came in behind the Darkstalker, some trying to push others away as they all wished to be second into the little glade. Rieren sighed. Monsters.

She stood up, which made every Abyssal, Aetherian, and Arisen in the area freeze. “If you wished to talk, you could have sent a message. Not all of you had to come.”

“We felt it was best not to disturb too greatly, Destroyer,” one of the Arisen said. The former Blightmane had merged with a Fellserpent so that it now had an overlarge serpent’s head and scales running along its back instead of a spiky mane.

“Felt?” Rieren snorted. “If you could truly feel, I doubt we would all be in this mess. But you would be correct, I have no intention of wasting my time. Speak. What is it that you want?”

The brusqueness of her tone didn’t matter. She had already done the worst thing possible by foregoing her “responsibility” to the monsters and qualifying herself for the next round. In fact, she had nearly sold them all off to the human competitors just so she could submit her own token and take her place in the tournament’s second round.

Of course, not all of them had succumbed to the effects of that betrayal. Some had managed to get past the humans coming for their heads and squeeze into the tournament’s main round. Some, like the Darkstalker, had even qualified before that last battle had happened.

And yet, they still claimed her as one of their own. If they saw any fault with her, they couldn’t call it out because the majority of the monsters who had survived in the tournament would have done the same if they had been in Rieren’s shoes, would have prioritized their own progress through the Trials of Ascendance over their so-called side.

They couldn’t call her out without appearing as major hypocrites.

Still. One would think they would possess some level of self-respect not to continue reverentially referring to her as the moniker of their supposed saviour.

“We want to exact a promise from you, Destroyer,” another Arisen said. This one had golden plates covering a smoky body.

“A promise?” Rieren asked, raising an eyebrow. “From me?”

“Yes. An oath. From you to us.”

“Why would I ever do such a thing? And how would you ever take my word for anything I promised?”

The Darkstalker looked around at its companions as though it had asked the exact same questions before coming here. But then it turned to Rieren with its fires intensifying to a blaze. “Goals.” Its skull seemed to grin as Rieren’s attention was caught. “We all have goals, yes?”

“What of it?” Rieren asked.

“We can help each other. Something we have already been doing, of course. You led us to the penultimate battle against the cultivators, before making your own way into the rest of the tournament. While we provided cover for you to submit your token, we wouldn’t have made it as far as we did—and qualify—if you had never taken us that far to begin with.”

Rieren supposed that wasn’t wrong in and of itself. That was certainly a valid perspective. She just had no wish to entertain it. “Allow me to presume. You want something similar again?”

“It won’t work,” another monster said. This one appeared to be a purer Aetherian. One of the Nebulae, just instead of being a dark, humanoid-shaped void filled with stars, this one had a pinkish-orange cloud of energy trapped in the manlike shape. The stars glittered bright red. “This is the second round. Everyone’s out for themselves. We might be pitted against one another.”

Another valid point. The tournament’s main round would be a series of one-on-one elimination matches. They were at the mercy of the organizers who would decide the matchups.

“We can still help each other,” the first Arisen said, adding a hiss from its serpentine mouth. “All we need is to trust. Not each other, just our goals.” It turned to face Rieren head on, the slit-pupiled eyes staring into her own as though they were intent on plumbing the depths of her very soul. “Tell us, Destroyer, why did you choose to participate in the tournament?”

Rieren’s face fell marginally. Goals. Didn’t goals need motivation? Didn’t that motivation come from feelings, strong emotions that drove a person? She certainly had none of those anymore. Neither personhood, nor any strong emotion she could truly claim as her own.

Just a machine. A windup toy set to perform one action, over and over, until it wore itself to dust.

Just like a monster, in truth.

Rieren raised her head. “I participate in the tournament to win. To claim my seat at the head of this empire. To rid my world of the corruption that has taken root within it. And nothing will stop me from attaining that goal.”

The Arisen tilted its head. “Not even your loss in the tournament?”

“This tournament is merely one means of achieving my goal. If it fails, I will simply resort to a different means.”

One she had employed in her previous life. Disastrous, destructive, terrifying though it had been, it had ultimately been successful. Something worth repeating, if needed.

“And do you know of our goals?” the Arisen asked.

Rieren didn’t have to think for long. She had heard them in the previous round just a day ago, after all. “You truly wish to build yourselves a home in this world? In the Elderlands?”

The monsters didn’t reply. They didn’t have to. The intent stares Rieren received from all around confirmed that it was the truth. They really did want a place they could call their own here, and they intended to achieve it through winning the Trials of Ascendance.

“Not all of us can win,” the Arisen continued. “But we don’t have to. Only any one of us needs to claim the same seat that you seek. One of us, including yourself. If you can swear an oath that you will advocate for us when you claim your place of power, then we can aid you in reaching it.”

Rieren wasn’t convinced. “How in the world do you intend to assist me?”

“We can figure that out in time,” the Darkstalker said. “First thing’s first. Intent.”

It was right. Intent mattered. These monsters understood that Rieren wasn’t going to be stopped in her climb to the top. The only thing they could truly do was try to claim a bit of that peak through her. And the best way to do so was by laying claim to a sense of obligation that she might still retain. Problem was, that part involved feelings. Emotions.

Something that she sorely lacked in her current condition.

“What would you even do with the land you would claim?” Rieren asked. “I suppose you have not learned how to build a house that can fit your monstrous selves or farm crops that can only grow in the Abyss.”

They all stared at her. Rierne shook her head. What was the problem in giving the monsters a tract of land where they could do whatever they wished? The Elderlands had more than enough space to spare.

Sure, there were more moving parts to the equation that she ought to account for. One would need to consider how and when and where more monsters might appear in the world, what exactly the monsters would perpetrate in the home that they were granted, and what might be their ultimate objective through this acquisition of land.

But that was beyond Rieren’s present circle of concern. She intended to find a way to Vanharron and uproot the corruption there.

If the monsters would offer her a hand in that pursuit, she had no reason to decline them.

“Fine,” Rieren said. “I will promise to vouch for your wish. In return, I will exact one promise from you as well.” Her acceptance of their offer, and the counteroffer of an oath in turn, made them all tense. “I want you to swear to me that you will no longer plague the Elderlands with your habitual death and destruction once you have been granted a proper home.”

There was no hesitation on the monsters’ part. The Darkstalker stepped forward.

“We will cease our former ways,” it said. “Provided our condition of attaining a land of our own is met.”

Rieren summoned a small smile. “Then we have a deal.”