Chapter 30: A Three Body Problem Seed.
Chapter 30 - A Three Body Problem Seed.
'A Three-Body Problem?' Levi raised an eyebrow in confusion, 'I think I have read about it briefly in one of my mother's physics textbooks. What does it have to do with those seeds?'
Levi knew that The Three-Body Problem was a classic problem in physics and celestial mechanics that involved predicting the motion of three celestial bodies (such as stars, planets, or moons) that were influenced by each other's gravitational forces.
Unlike the two-body problem, which had a clear and straightforward solution, the three-body problem was much more complex and almost always chaotic, making it nearly impossible to figure out the exact calculations and predictions of the stars' movement.
'Everything.' Ash'Kral uttered calmly, 'While you don't need to solve the problem and predict the movement of those seeds, you have to create a perfect balance amongst them as you feed and grow each one separately.'
'Your seed is the coalition of three unique alpha seeds, each one desiring to lead and own the full rights of the host. If you dare to give more attention to one seed, the other two will rebel against you and show you a fate worse than death.'
'However, if you try to play it smart and give each seed the same amount of attention, their roots and branches will grow simultaneously throughout your soul. If they were to get entangled or get in each other's path, you would experience a fate worse than death again.'
'This is my eternal dilemma and how all of my past partners ended up dead, failing to find the best solution to deal with those three Divas without getting themselves killed.'
'Now, the torch has been passed to you.' Ash'Kral smiled innocently, 'I have high hopes for you, don't disappoint me.'
'...' Levi merely kept staring at him speechlessly.
He had listened to everything and at the same time, he didn't understand anything. It wasn't that he didn't understand what he meant, but how the f*ck did he get himself involved in such insanity.
Three seeds? A three-body problem? Perfect balance? Entangled roots and branches? Not in his wildest dreams did he expect to hear such terms when dealing with a seed.
He knew that Ash'Kral was a special entity, and he expected to deal with some unfamiliar matters, but he believed they would be related to a mutated Shadowlife seed or even another different seed, not freaking three seeds!
Just as Ash'Kral was about to carry on with his ludicrous explanation, Levi swiftly stopped him, his mind already failing to keep up.
'Wait, wait, wait, I think you have skipped a whole damn lesson!' Levi exclaimed, 'What are those seeds? Where is your shadowlife seed? how did you even get three seeds in your body? How will this craziness work? I know one seed allows a Daywalker to embark on a single evolutionary path, does having three seeds mean I need to embark on three evolutionary paths simultaneously?'
Ash'Kral wasn't bothered by his questions as he was already used to having his partners lose their crap over his unique situation. He answered his questions one by one.
'First, I never had a Shadowlife seed in my life. I was born from the crimson seed, which I call the Nine Senses Seed.'
'Second, the other two seeds are called The Void Origin Seed and The Sun Origin Seed. You don't need to know how I got them.'
'Third, I might have been able to maintain all three seeds in my body, but the other two are considered dormant since I have no connection to darkness or light. That's why I have been seeking partners with such unique connections to activate all three seeds at once. You cutie are one of the few entities with the best connection to all three seeds.'
'Fourth, you will indeed embark on three different evolutionary paths. One related to dark energy, one related to light energy, one related to all known and unknown energies.'
'Each evolutionary path will result in us obtaining correspondent abilities and powers related to a seed.'
'Is everything clear?' Ash'Kral paused, allowing Levi to process everything.
Hearing his answers, Levi went silent, taking everything in and reanalyzing it. First, he understood that Daywalkers' standard evolutionary path consisted of nine ranks:
Starting with a Rookie Daywalker, Junior Daywalker, Pathfinder Daywalker...And ending with being an Eternal Daywalker.
The cultivation system might be complex in nature, but it was simple to understand. The Daywalkers must harness the absorbed sunlight into the seed, feeding it every single possible chance through direct sunlight, luminos snacks, growth totems, natural treasures, and any source of purified sunlight.
It was like watering a plant that never got tired or harmed from water...The goal was to help the seed grow into a Shadowlife Tree within the confines of the soul and body.
To reward the nightcrawler for helping the seed grow into its final form, it assisted him tap into his ultimate potential by accelerating his evolution.
It was a win-win-win situation.
The seed became a tree, the nightcrawler evolved into his final form, and the humans obtained strength, powers, and longevity that would have been deemed impossible before.
That's why the Shadowlife seed or any other type of seed seemed to have a will of its own.
The nightcrawlers were simply carriers, which forced them to seek out sunlight to evolve, but as citizens of the Shadow dimension, direct sunlight was their ultimate enemy.
A conundrum that could be solved only through possessing a human or another entity capable of absorbing direct sunlight.
On the other hand, we have Ash'Kral and his f*cked-up three-body problem seed. He didn't want to just help one seed grow to its final form, but all three seeds together, which would cause Levi to end up with three trees within his body.
All those trees had a will of their own and from his explanation, they didn't like sharing one bit.
'I kinda get the gist of it.' Levi held his chin thoughtfully, 'All early Daywalker ranks are separated into three stages; first, second, and third. To reach the first stage, one needs to hit a 5% target, and as a reward, we obtain the ability to shapeshift the nightcrawler into a permanent weapon and unlock the first random innate ability of the nightcrawler.'
'If I am using three seeds and each seed allows me to travel on a different evolutionary path, does that mean I need to hit the 5% target on each path to obtain three different abilities and three different weapon variants?'
'Yes, you catch on quick.' Ash'Kral nodded, 'You will be much slower than others when it comes to reaching the third stage and evolving me, but you will be obtaining three times the rewards on each rank.'
'Also, the Daywalkers had two weapon choices, one unlocked at the start and the other called awakened weapon in the middle of the evolutionary path.' Ash'Kral smirked, 'My seeds are different. You will have three weapon choices, one at the start, one in the middle, and one near the end. Since you have three seeds, it means you will possess nine weapon variations at your peak.'
'No one in the history of Daywalkers could reach this number.'
Levi was left dumbfounded at the insane number of variations, knowing that just possessing three weapon variation was too much to ask for.
After all, each weapon needed to be mastered as it defined a unique fighting style that depended on the unlocked innate abilities and specially the learned arts techniques.
Nine variations? It was a bit overwhelming.
'Don't overthink it boy, you should feel delighted if you unlocked your first awakened weapons.' Ash'Kral said.
Felix felt his heart skip a beat, realizing that if he were to unlock his awakened weapons, it implied that he had already helped the seeds grow into young trees.
At that time, he would have three young trees, and he could already imagine the shambles of roots and branches entangled.
'Ah, this sounds like it's gonna be an agonizing experience.' Levi smiled wryly.
'Only if you allow it to be.' Ash'Kral cheered him on, 'I will help you in the early stages, but as we reach the middle, we will have to figure out a solution to deal with the three-body problem and commit to it.'
'Is this how your past partners have done things?' Levi asked, 'How far did they reach?'
'My latest partner made it to Warden Daywalker and was stuck in it for more than a decade. In the end, he couldn't deal with the chronic pain of the young trees' roots and killed himself.'
'...' Levi went quiet for a second and then asked, 'Isn't Warden Daywalker the 4th rank?'
'Yes.'
'You are telling me your best partner out of the dozens reached his limit at the 4th rank.'
'Yes.'
'He committed suicide from the chronic pain?'
'Yes.'
Levi lifted his head and remained staring at the infinite darkness in silence. After a few moments, he inquired with a bitter smile, 'How screwed am I?'
'Well, objectively 99%.' Ash'Kral showed an encouraging smile, 'But, for some reason, I feel we will pull it off. You just have to remain positive and think of it as you having a whole 1% to beat the odds.'
'Are you f*cking with me?' Levi glared at him in vexation, realizing that he might have simply prolonged his death sentence.
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