Chapter 366: Manufacturing A Fortuitous Encounter (1/2)

The Cyborg had utterly destroyed his shield with its final punch, and Zac didn’t have any good replacement. He had been using much weaker spare during the battles, and he realized that using a low-quality shield weakened his class skills to a certain degree.

This hadn’t proved too large a problem against the Incursions so far, but Zac was afraid that it would negatively impact him if he encountered a real threat like the Dominators or the natives in the Mystic Realm. He was already leaning toward the idea of his undead form focusing on dueling strong opponents, but that would prove difficult if he didn’t have the equipment to match his power.

Zac finally closed down his screens with a shake of his head before he closed his eyes. There was no point in worrying about his gear as things stood. He could only hope to either loot it somewhere or buy a better one when he visited the Tower. For now, he would rather focus on the things he could improve; the Dao.

The demon leader’s frenzied bladework felt like the final clue that Zac needed to push his Seed of Sharpness to the peak. The demon was a true warrior, and his will to cut seemed to affect reality itself as every swing of his passed through all his defenses. It was this sharp and indomitable will that Zac wanted to incorporate into his Dao Seed since it felt perfect for his fighting style. It also reminded him of the axe-man, whose very being radiated an unquestionable faith in his axe, the surety that anything he wanted to cut would get cut.

The hours passed and Zac didn’t move a muscle, as he was completely absorbed in searching for the truth to sharpness. Finally he reached some sort of tipping-point, and he sensed that his gains were successful. The half of the axe fractal in his chest that contained his Seed of sharpness gained a burst of intensity, and he felt that the whole fractal was finally balanced.

Both his Seeds of Heaviness and Sharpness were finally at the peak, meaning that the next step was to fuse them. Zac breathed out in relief as he opened his eyes. He was worried that the Splinter in his mind would ruin his attempt, but his mind was like a calm pond.

The past day's relentless battle seemed to have exhausted the negative emotions that accumulated from first seeing Alea get wounded and then meeting Void's Disciple. It allowed him to think clearly for a bit and meditate without lapses in focus.

It felt like he had latched onto a small clue on how to survive the continuous corruption from the splinter in his head. The Dao of Oblivion was the purest form of destruction, the end of everything. It seemed that adapting to that Dao through actions would lessen the negative effects to a certain degree.

Shutting himself off from the world to find a calm center might actually have the opposite effect of what he desired, creating a constant conflict in his mind. If he was right he realized he was already self-medicating to a certain degree, since he was constantly fighting one enemy or another.

There was also the issue of balance. Even if it was true that fighting and killing helped him to get rid of the corrosion in his mind, he couldn't just keep following his impulses to continuously slaughter. He felt there was a real risk that he would end up like a murderous lunatic if that happened.

Zac knew he would have to keep experimenting to figure out the best solution, but for now he had accomplished his goal. A lot of his plans somewhat hinged at improving this seed to peak mastery. He wanted to utilize the Dao Funnel before he headed for the Tower of Eternity, and now he had a chance to actually form a Fragment if all went well.

He had already realized that he most likely wouldn’t be able to gain more than one Dao Fragment before entering the tower, and he already knew that gaining Dao Insights inside the tower itself was impossible without finding a treasure or having an epiphany.

His Fragment of Death was especially far off, with both Rot and Hardness still being at High mastery. His Fragment of life was a bit closer along, with Seed of Trees already being at peak mastery.

So Zac chose to focus on the Fragment of Axe, or whatever came before axe in that line of truths. A Fragment of Axe would hopefully increase his offensive power by a huge degree, which would allow him to climb much further in the Tower. The other two fragments might have great potential in the long run, but Zac was forced to look for quick powerups as things stood.

Even if he didn't manage to fuse his other two fragments before evolving it would still allow him to base his upgraded classes on the Fragment of Axe. From there his Hatchetman upgrade would hopefully be influenced by the life-attuned Dao seeds, and Undying Bulwark would rely on Rot and Hardness.

Zac would certainly have preferred to gain all three fragments before evolving the classes, since he believed that would ultimately lead to better choices, perhaps even two Arcane classes. It would also follow the advice he gained from Yrial. But he was simply out of time, and the path he chose would hopefully at least provide him with two good Epic-Graded classes that would allow him to fight the Dominators and the Lich King.

The old gamer inside him once again felt bad about not being able to grind for a few years extra to push all three Dao Fragments and his skills to the peak. The fact that he was forced to upgrade his class before he had exhausted his potential was truly a waste.

But such was life. There was no such thing as a perfect path in an imperfect world. Perhaps if he was the son of some great hegemon he'd be able to leisurely cultivate for a decade or two before he felt ready to Evolve. But if he did that now he'd probably condemn his whole planet since so much relied on him getting stronger quickly.

Zac sighed and got up on his feet, immediately walking out of his courtyard. The sound of laughter could be heard from the distance, and Zac immediately flashed over with relief flooding his heart. It was Ogras and Kenzie who sat by a patio table having a drink, probably having returned while Zac was meditating.

”Oh, you're out?” Ogras said as he looked up from the table, a glass of champagne in his hand.

Kenzie sat opposite of him, one of the information crystals on arrays placed on the table in front of her. Seeing his sister again was like having a weight lifted from his shoulders. He knew that the risk for something happening to the army was small, but it had been a constant worry in the back of his mind since he went ahead of the others.

”I'm glad you're okay. Did everything go as planned?” Zac asked as he sat down on one of the free chairs, grabbing one of the fruits on the table.

”We came back twelve hours ago,” Ogras nodded. ”There was no activity worth mentioning. We were assaulted by a pretty massive wolf pack led by a few E-Grade Alphas, but it was dealt with easily since everyone was well rested by that point. If there's one thing our people know by now, it's how to kill wolves. More importantly, I've heard you've been busy?”

Zac's brows rose when he heard they had been back for so long. He quickly took out a watch from his cosmos sack and realized that he had been meditating for well over a day. It had only felt like an hour or two, but he would need to return back to the Underworld pretty soon.

”I took care of the underworld Incursions,” Zac explained. ”I still have the flame golems to deal with, but afterward I'll be able to move the Union and Council armies to the surface to help with the situation with the undead. In fact, we can probably start sending people from the Union immediately.”

Ogras nodded in agreement.