Chapter 39: Yume Returns - The Dawn Citadel
With the world of Kalpa steadily drifting toward a shared ambition of domination, Akasha found himself wandering the strange expanse of Dream Land.
After departing the Nova Caldera, he made his way swiftly back to the Academy of Veils but chose to remain unseen.
Slipping his mask back into place, he set his course for the Silent Peak.
The disguise was clearly meant to keep him hidden from the unpredictable Liliana and to avoid drawing any unnecessary attention, as his true purpose here was to address the Ruins.
Once that was resolved, he would turn his focus to settling his unfinished business with Harlan.
---
CRRRACCCCK!!!!!!
Luna and Akasha stood together in the serene expanse of Dream Land, looking upward as the massive cocoon housing Yume.
The cocoon — once pristine and glowing — now had deep, glowing cracks running across its surface like fractures in reality itself.
HUMMMM!!!!
With a final, resounding crack, the cocoon shattered completely, releasing a brilliant wave of soft purple and white light that rippled outward across the entire First Tiered Land.
Yume emerged gracefully, her long flowing purple hair drifting as if underwater, her soft features glowing with gentle shifting light.
The moment her eyes fully opened, a warm, radiant smile spread across her face.
A powerful ripple washed through the Land of Dreams, the soft clouds beneath them shimmering as if the entire realm itself was breathing a sigh of relief.
Yume descended lightly and dove straight into Akasha’s arms, laughing with pure delight as she hugged him tightly.
"Hehe Master, thank you... thank you so much," she whispered, her voice warm and filled with genuine happiness.
At the same time, a status screen appeared before Akasha.
[Congratulations, you have successfully broken an established rule of Pantheos.]
[Deviant Star - Your Star has entered the first stage of freedom.
While the rules of Pantheos state that Stars cannot go beyond Above Origin, that restriction only applies to the birth of new stars.
No star can be born beyond Above Origin.
However, if a Star ever transcends that limit and becomes God Ranked... it becomes a Deviant.
A Star whose end meaning is warped.]
[You have acquired a new innate power.]
[Seeds of Potential (God) - You can implant or extract latent potential into or from any target (living being, object, techniques, or the abstract).
Implanting gives the target a powerful seed of Latent Potential according to your adjustments.
Extracting removes whatever potential you want from your target (future paths of a target’s growth).
For example, if a being is destined to have a God Rank bloodline one day, you can extract that rank of the bloodline.
Activation Condition
The implanted seed remains dormant until the bearer or you complete nine specific tasks.]
----
"Just what kind of verse commends its inhabitants for breaking its rules?"
Akasha muttered to himself as he rubbed Yume’s back gently, his voice low and thoughtful.
Luna looked on in quiet shock, slowly shaking her head.
"Yume... perhaps she was closer to this Deviant Star than we knew," she said, her tone composed but laced with genuine surprise.
"Being able to appear in physical form like this... it makes sense now."
Akasha nodded, his bloody eyes softening as he looked down at Yume, who was still hugging him tightly.
A gentle smile touched his lips.
"Oh... look like you’re not so afraid of me anymore, are you?"
Yume suddenly realized how closely she was holding him.
Her cheeks turned a gentle shade of pink as she quickly stepped back, slipping shyly behind Luna with a small, embarrassed smile.
"I-I’m sorry, Master!"
Akasha chuckled warmly, shaking his head with genuine amusement.
"Yume, oh Yume," he said with a smile, smoothly shifting the subject. "So, did anything else change... besides your rank becoming God?"
Yume stepped out from behind Luna, still a little shy but growing more confident.
She nodded softly.
"Of course.... as now the peak of our Lucid Dreaming is no longer at the Universal Peak... but the Multiversal Peak."
Akasha raised a brow, listening intently.
Yume continued, her voice steady and clear.
"While the Universal Peak was essentially determining potential... the Multiversal Peak is all about commanding potential itself."
Akasha paused for a moment, letting the weight of her words sink in.
’I guess that explains why I have this new innate power, huh?’ From what he’d read about it; the ability simply allowed him to manipulate and determine potential.
In essence, when Yume ascended to God Rank, he gained the power he would have eventually reached at the Universal Peak—the ability to discern and shape potential itself.
He didn’t question it further, accepting the revelation with a small, understanding nod.
Turning his gaze to Luna and Yume, he willed them all out of the Dream Land with a single thought.
Akasha smiled softly as he embraced Yume, feeling the weight of the newfound power settling into him with a quiet sense of belonging.
----
The group appeared at the very spot Akasha had left when he first entered Dream Land.
Before stepping inside, he had done much of the heavy lifting, and now they stood atop one of the countless mounds of shattered rubble scattered across the Silent Peak.
He had followed the Dreamer’s Compass, its purple trail guiding him straight to this spot, and now its needle pointed down. In front of him, glowing in the air, were words written in purple.
[The ruins lay hidden beneath the rubble, accessible only through a secret rift that appears under specific conditions: unleashing 2 million Divinity Points in a single massive burst.]
Akasha scanned the instructions with a faint, curious smile, the cool breeze teasing the strands of his crimson and white hair as he glanced over at Amber.
"Well... looks like the ruins are hiding underground."
[-5,000 DP - Greater Ranked Construct]
HUMMMMMM!!!!
With a single thought, Akasha spent 5,000 DP on a Greater ranked construct.
BOOOOOM!!!!!
Before them, a massive purple hand formed out of swirling violet energy, towering and imposing as it slammed down into the rubble with earth-shaking force.
The ground trembled violently beneath their feet, sending cracks racing through the broken stone as the hand effortlessly cleared a wide path, pushing aside massive boulders and debris like they were nothing more than loose dirt.
And what opened before them was nothing but an entrance to a normal underground cave system — dark, narrow, and unassuming, with the faint, cool dampness of underground air wafting out.
----
Once inside the dimly lit cave, the cool, earthy scent of wet stone and moss filling the air, Akasha stopped and turned to her.
"There must be quite the formation or something hiding this place," he said as he truly couldn’t believe that ruins were within one of the many mountains of the Silent Peak before the invasion.
At least he assumed this to be the case.
"Perhaps the Pantheon left behind some sort of mechanisms that ensured their legacies be protected." Luna replied as she stood next to Yume.
She herself didn’t quite know how ruins or anything work so at this moment she was learning just as much as Akasha.
"Master, you should really just Dream up some knowledge later," Yume advised, her voice gentle but with a hint of playful teasing.
"It’s a bit tiring hearing you question Mistress Luna all the time... it ruins the sightseeing!"
Akasha turned around and looked at Yume with a look of pure disbelief, his bloody eyes widening slightly.
"Yume.... you’re taking her side now?"
Luna let out a soft, melodic laugh, drawing Yume into a gentle, affectionate hug.
"Well, why wouldn’t she, my love? She’s picking things up quickly."
Akasha simply shook his head, a faintly amused smile playing at his lips as he turned back toward the depths of the cave.
He then went on to activate one of his innate powers.
|Veil of Dreams (Above Origin)|
HUMMMMM!!!!!
In that moment, a protective veil drawn from the Dream Land surged outward, wrapping around him and the surrounding 6,100,000 kilometers in a shimmering, dream-like barrier of soft violet and white light.
It was clear this was just a distraction to mask what was coming next.
If he suddenly unleashed two million divinity without any protective measures, it would surely attract far too much attention.
Besides, he was determined to have these ruins thoroughly cleared out before anyone else truly discovered them.
[-2,000,000 DP]
HUMMMMM!!!!!
The sheer amount of Divinity erupted from him like a tidal wave, the air around him igniting with a brilliant purple glow that lit up the dark cave in ethereal light.
The ground trembled faintly beneath their feet, loose pebbles and dust shaking loose from the ceiling as the massive surge of power coalesced inside the cave.
The cool, earthy scent of the cave grew sharper, almost electric, as the raw Divinity pressed against everything, making the stone walls hum with latent energy.
In the next moment, a rift appeared—a swirling tear in space, its edges shimmering with glowing runes that pulsed with otherworldly energy.
"Well, shall we?" he said, gesturing for the women to step into the rift. "Ladies first, after all~"
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