Infinite Realm: Monsters & Legends

Chapter 599: Zach

Coordinating a War

Zach had spent the last week moving across the Settled Territories, speaking with leaders of factions and sometimes those who wanted to see them fail. Most of those factions were under the control of the Exalted Empire. Either outright conquered or forced to deal them on favorable terms. There were few factions powerful enough to oppose them. Those small, isolated kingdoms that were too strong and therefore too costly for the Exiled Empire to conquer outright, they pressured in other ways—controlling territory around them, imposing trade restrictions, forcing them to rely on factions that were fully under the Exiled Empire’s control.

That built up resentment that Zach could exploit. It was easy in a way. He knew what they wanted, it was as if he could almost pull it out of the air. In actuality, he kept his Soul aligned with the Plane of Knowledge, he walked their cities, listened to their people, knowledge unraveled inside his head. Sometimes it was harder, sometimes a leader didn’t care about the realities of his people. For them, he pulled knowledge from their minds. There were none that he had encountered that could oppose him.

It was sobering to realize that there were so few people in the world now that were truly his equals. Leaders of kingdoms, people who were hundreds of years old, who had ruled and advanced for longer than he had, who could break against a fraction of what he was capable of.

It was a lot of power to hold, and Zach was always mindful of how he used that power. It was his deepest belief that those who possessed it had a responsibility toward the world, to make it better. Though his idealism had met reality long ago, sometimes, people had to be nudged to do good.

The Exalted Empire was abusing their power, they were a xenophobic expansionist force that used those beneath them for their own gain. They limited freedom and imposed restrictions on belief. Their way was the only way.

Zach believed in the freedom of choice, he believed in second chances, believed that people could do better. His dealings with the Exalted Empire had always been strained. He had opposed their will before, stood between Ryun and the Herald of the Machine and forced them to abide by his rules. He knew that the Exalted Empire operated on cost-benefit type of system. They didn’t act without seeing a clear benefit. They invaded and conquered because they knew that the cost would be low, the Core was ravaged by the Dome monsters and war between factions. They’ve decided to attack now because they saw more gain than loss. They believed that they were strong enough.

Zach knew that they were wrong. He was preparing for that moment when they realized that. They had crossed lines, but there were still ways for them to make amends, to pay the price for sure, but peace and improvement of the life in the Infinite Realm was Zach’s goal.

It was why he was preparing the way for the upcoming fight. Planting seeds that Ryun would encounter blossoming as he came this way.

It was dealing with the outside factions that was the issue. The big ones were easier in a way. The Triumphant Hive knew the danger of the Exalted Empire and didn’t need much convincing. Dracael likewise, she was already annoyed at the Exalted Empire for the restrictions they put on river travel through the Core. He didn’t even need to push them on the miniaturized Reaction Engines and the empire breaking the agreement, it was just an addition.

Besides, that knowledge was an issue all in itself. There weren’t many factions left that had signed that agreement in the first place. The Sects were already in conflict with them, the Triumphant Hive had made him promises, most of the rest had been absorbed by the Exalted Empire. Perhaps that was the reason why they had been so bold with use of such weapons in the first place. There were few that could oppose them, or at least they thought so.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Zach had prepared the ground as best as he could, now he could only wait, interfere where it mattered. Meanwhile, he kept his eyes on the empire, there were things about their actions that he didn’t understand, pieces of information that he was missing.

So he walked through the cities in the core, shadows hid him as Naha kept them from being noticed. They listened, they watched, they gathered information.

And Zach Cultivated the Aspect churning within his core—the Pursuit of Knowledge. His Aspect was as complicated as it was narrow, it required only one thing, to seek Knowledge. There were no Essence Crystals for him to find, nor was there anyone else in the world who cultivated it. But that didn’t mean that he was unable to find the Essence he needed. He could open himself to the Plane of Knowledge at any time, pull in the Essence and funnel it to his core. A related Essence, but when coupled with his actions, with the actual pursuit of actively learning more, the Essence transformed around him.

From every whisper of new information he heard, new knowledge he encountered, the Aspect of his core was born into being. It was not a particularly fast advancement, well relative to what he knew was possible. He was still advancing his Cultivation far faster than almost any other Cultivator could. He had an unfair advantage, he knew himself, he had already reached the end of two focuses, his Path was tailor made for him, there was no need for deep contemplation on inspiration, he already had a true name—HE WHO SEEKS TO LEARN.

He marveled at how his body was changing with every Realm, he hadn’t picked up any perks that changed his body in great ways. He wasn’t an elemental of Knowledge, he had picked choices that granted him the most physical benefit. An improvement to his mind’s ability to process information, though he was already very capable, but any improvement at his level was worth a fortune.

His Qi enhanced his mind, it allowed him to retain knowledge better, something that he knew was valuable. He had lost his memories to age once, never again. His techniques were all mental in nature, not combat related. Not all paths were suitable for such things, though Zach could see how he could use them in that way. {Draw Expertise} was his base technique, which allowed him to get an understanding of a craft when he observed it. He could also use it in combat to learn someone's fighting style with greater ease.

{Learn} was his branch technique, a simple one that put him on an elevated state of mind that improved his concentration.

None of his techniques were anything that he couldn’t do without them. He was at the end of his focus, through will and mastery of his Aspect he could already do the same. The techniques just took less effort.

His fruit technique though was a lot more powerful. {Embody Knowledge} allowed him to take someone else’s proficiency in a different way. If he saw a fire cultivator, he could use it and get his ability with Fire Essence, he could even use his techniques, though of course he didn’t have Fire Qi in his core. But he could still manipulate the Essence in the world, could create techniques through free Essence alone to craft those techniques, as he had seen Ryun do before.

The Aspects that were part of his Arsenal were far easier, he could open himself to the planes and pull Essence into his core, which he had reinforced in a way to allow it the ability to survive Essence that was not its native one. It was a powerful technique, and one he had been able to use to a great effect.

Finally, as night fell and people started heading home, Zach made his way out of the city of Leok, a small border city of the Exalted Empire’s vassal faction, close enough to the front that some of their forces made stops here frequently. He had been staying there for a couple of days, hoping to learn more about their army movements.

Once he made his way into the forest outside of the city, Naha stepped out of his shadow.

“We’re moving on?” She asked.

Zach nodded. “Yes, we haven’t learned anything new today.”

“Where to next?” Naha asked.

“Away from people,” Zach answered. “I think that I’m ready to push for the Immortal Realm. Then, after, we can head further east and north. I want to try and enter the Exalted Empire’s actual native territories. I still have a feeling that I’m missing something.”

“We’ll need to be more careful. There isn’t anyone capable enough to detect us here, but there… Stories of their territories speak of a society built heavily on powerful arrays and strange devices. They might be able to detect us.”

“We’ll have to risk it,” Zach added.

“Well, if you’re advancing then I should do the same too. It would be good if we reach the end of all our focuses before everything goes to shit.”

Zach raised an eyebrow at her. “So little faith?”

“Please,” she rolled her eyes at him. “Things always go to shit. No matter how much you’ve planned, something is going to go wrong.”

Zach opened his mouth, then closed it. “I hate that you’re right, but people never fail to disappoint me.”

With that they started moving faster, putting some distance between themselves and civilization. Whatever came, he was going to be as ready as possible.