Infinite Realm: Monsters & Legends

Chapter 565: Zach

Direction

“There, and it’s done.”

Zach pulled his hand back as the artificer finished placing the mount at the end of his stump. He turned his hand around, looking at it closely. The biggest part was the mount itself, made out of dark metal and covered in lines that resembled circuits, it engulfed his stump and about a finger’s width part of what was left of his forearm. From it four thin prongs extended and punctured through his flesh, the main parts then attached to his bones, while wire-like extensions from the tips stabbed into his nerves and muscles.

Zach had watched the process of attaching it closely and with great interest, despite it looking fairly gruesome. Thankfully, he drank a potion that made him immune to pain during the procedure.

“What do you think?” The artificer, a dark skinned human, asked. His team waited behind him expectantly to hear his response.

“I can barely feel it,” Zach glanced to Naha who stood at his shoulder. “But it looks good.”

She grimaced. “It needs to do more than just look good.”

The artificer pulled back. “I assure you Mistress, it is at the peak of what an Eternal item could be. It is powerful enough to survive attacks from the strongest individuals in the world. It is a masterpiece, the greatest thing my team has ever created,” the man looked only slightly indignant.

“Of course master Douma, we don’t doubt your craft,” Zach said, though he was very well aware of the limitations. The levels of power that the artificers knew was not the same as the ones Zach operated on. Still, this was the best he could get.

He glanced down at both his arms. Realizing, not for the first time, that he had lost both of his hands. One was a tool, a weapon in his arsenal, and though he had sensations in it, he never forgot that it wasn’t his. The newly lost limb was worse, as he would have to contend with the prosthetic.

They had attempted to heal the injury, Ryun had given him items that encouraged Soul regeneration, and Vitor had brewed the strongest Soul Restoration potions he could, but it wasn’t enough. Not even the best Soul Healers had been able to fix it. Whatever Ra’azel had done had been difficult to recover from.

Though, there was hope. Their attempts had done something, he had felt a slight improvement in his Soul, but it was just not enough. Not yet anyway. Someday, someone might grow enough and figure out how to help him.

A prosthetic was not Zach’s first choice. He had asked Ryun to make him something like his armor, a spiritual instrument, but Ryun had apologized and said that he couldn’t do what Zach wanted. That had struck him as strange, and he had sensed that Ryun was holding something back.

After that, they found the best artificers in the Settled Territories and hired them.

“Here, you should try them out Headmaster,” another artificer, a kreacean, said as he walked over, carrying a large box in his four hands.

He placed it on the table and opened it to present him with three prosthetic arms. Each was made so that it could be slotted into the mount on his arm with ease, and also be quickly replaced.

The first one was a flesh and blood, a dark skinned hand that matched his skin tone. The artificer picked it up and offered it.

“This is the basic one, it is made with high tier flesh and blood Essence, but it has no additional improvements.”

Zach nodded, he knew that it was made by their team’s necromancer. The man approached him and offered the hand. Zach raised his stump and the artificer placed the attachment at the end of the arm into the slot on Zach’s arm.

The moment it clicked into place a stab of dull pain pierced through his arm, but was gone as soon as it came, and then sensation returned to his arm.

He moved it around but immediately realized that it wasn’t perfect. It was strange… there was a numbness to it that he hadn’t encountered before, as if it was removed from his person. Which it in truth was. He didn’t have a part of his Soul to spread through it, it was just an attachment to it.

Still, it was good enough. It would help him in his day to day life at least. He twitched the fingers and rolled the wrist, trying to get a feel for it.

He glanced at the other two arms still in the box, they were identical, both made out of metal and looked like more like they were armored gantlets than arms. These ones were made for combat purposes, with arrays installed to help in such situations. He had commissioned two, just in case he lost one. And he was pretty sure that he would lose it eventually. They were powerful items, but Zach had dealt with attacks that could melt through even his spiritual tool armor, the prosthetics would stand much chance. But that was the best he could get.

“Thank you for your work, master artificers,” Zach gave them a shallow bow.

He would have to adapt, as he always did.

Zach sat in the Academy’s main meeting room, waiting for the last people to come in for the meeting. Naha sat next to him on the right and Bera busied herself on his left.

Zach took the opportunity while they waited to glance at his sheets, more precisely, his Cultivation window. Both he and Naha had gained the options for a Path. And they were fairly interesting.

Path

Description

Path of the Grand Spirit (Knowledge) (Et)

Follow the path of that which you defeated, harness the piece of a Grand Spirit that dwells within you.

Path of the Sliver of Knowledge (Knowledge) (Et)

Follow the path of knowledge, harness that which is known.

Path of the Endless Pursuit (/) (Et)

Follow the path of the pursuit, harness the desire for more.

The choices were interesting, both his and Naha’s. They had offered a glimpse into many things that they had wondered about. They were still discussing and thinking about what they would choose.

After all, Naha’s meditation and introspection after she finalized her Oath had led to her discovering her True Name. He could almost feel something inside of him, as a whisper in the back of his head. He was close to something

He had expected the choice about the Grand Spirit. He knew that some Cultivation paths could allow people to turn into elementals or even spirit-like beings. The choice made sense in that context, though Zach would never actually pick it. That wasn’t who he was or what he wanted to be.

The second one felt tailor made for him, it carried the name of his Class. But Zach was hesitating, the last choice was interesting. Something about it made him think.

Two of his choices seemed to be linked with the Aspect of Knowledge, if he was reading the choices correctly. Which was what he had been expecting. The last of his choices though, that one seemed to be a choice. He was confident that he would be able to choose which Aspect he wanted for it.

And that intrigued him. His second choice seemed like it would be the obvious one, something that was completely in line with his meaning, with the fact that it was the same as his Class there would be no imbalance no disparity between focuses.

But Zach and Naha had been thinking about it a lot. They no longer believed that one had to have that much synergy between their power. In fact, their current states proved that to be false. Zach’s power had shifted often, his Classes were varied, as were Naha’s. They didn’t follow a singular focus, like for an example someone that was a strict Swordsman did. Zach’s power engulfed several different Aspects and ways of using them, Naha’s did as well.

They suspected that what they were seeking could be done in that manner, by having focuses that were singular and narrow in scope. Perhaps that way would even be easier, but they suspected that there was more to it.

It was about the way one brought all of their power together to serve a singular ideal, an idea, a meaning of ones life and Soul. Their focuses had to fit that inner drive, and they were pretty sure that one had to know it first for it to work.

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Zach believed that if he didn’t know what was his drive, his idea, he wouldn’t be able to avoid imbalance and madness. It was an introspective part that was required, a revelation that somehow forged a bridge across different focuses.

He was also certain that the skills were not a third focus in the way that the other two were, but a means to help discover that revelation or to create it in a more directed and intentional way. By sealing parts of oneself into a skill, one could fashion their idea, their meaning, and force it to engulf both focuses.

But as with all things, the Framework allowed freedom. One didn’t need to do things in any order, but that which they wished to.

And the more he looked at the last choice, the more he felt like it could fit well. It was perfectly aligned with what Zach’s goal was, the Pursuit of Knowledge, not the Knowledge itself.

He felt a shudder pass through him, as it often did lately when he thought on what his meaning was. It felt familiar, and similar to what he felt during the fight with Ra’azel, when Ryun, Selia, and Erdania did something.

It reminded him of the pure life he led while trapped in the prison. The thousands of years that he had spent simply pursuing the knowledge of the mysteries that surrounded him. He had become obsessed with it. He knew that he was on the right path, but Zach was still lacking something, even if he was close.

He turned his attention to the room as other people entered. With a thought, he banished the windows in front of his eyes and watched as Berion, Okim, and Leandra—the head builder hired to help augment the academy and the surrounding territory for them—and a tall and lanky cloaked figure that floated above the ground, arrived and took their seats. Or in the case of the spirit kinda floated near the table.

“Now that we’re all here, we can start,” Zach said then turned to Bera who put her tablet slate on the table and looked around the table.

“Welcome,” she started then pushed her glasses over her snout and glanced at the end of the table where a short drake woman sat with her back straight. “Leandra, any updates?”

The drake builder nodded her head. “Yes, we’ve completed the northern training yard, and Master Berion,” she nodded at the minotaur who sat across from her and who nodded in return. “Has finished installing his spatial formations and has linked the portal to the Academy system this morning.”

“That puts us a week ahead of schedule,” Bera noted, she picked up her tablet and her eyes flickered as she used the array device.

“We are ready to start on the towers,” Leandra added.

“Good,” Bera said.

The towers were a defensive and scouting structures that will be spread out over the entire territory. To watch both the future students and to watch for any threats.

Bera turned her attention to Okim and spoke to him next. “Any updates?”

“Nothing new. I’ve recruited a few more people as guards, and have been working with Hailos on integrating the spirits,” he glanced at the spirit floating across from him.

Hailos was one of the more intelligent spirits from the Castle of Knowledge. And one that Zach had put in charge of helping organize the various spirits that were crossing over from the Ethereal. He had made deals with some to serve the academy, while others were just curious and wanted to explore.

For now, Zach was willing to allow it, since they didn’t have any students yet and he wanted to see how spirits would interact on this side and prepare for the future.

“Any issues?” Bera asked.

“Nothing so far,” Okim answered. “Honestly, my people are getting bored, there isn’t much to do yet and no real danger since we culled the wilderness. We are just doing drills and patrolling.”

“Keep it up,” Bera added. “You won’t be bored for much longer.”

Zach raised his eyebrow and Bera somehow sensed it and gave him a look.

“Hailos?” Bera continued without elaborating.

The spirit spoke from within its cloak, its voice coming out like a gust of wind, which was to be expected seeing as how Hailos was an Air spirit. It wore the cloak so that people could perceive it better.

“There is interest from among the some more violent and martially inclined spirits to join your academy. The word that they would be able to cross over into the Real Realm without forming bodies has started to spread.”

Zach grimaced. Spirits related to combat or violence were peculiar. He didn’t know if they could abide by his rules.

“Tell them no,” Bera glanced at Zach and he inclined his head but didn’t speak. She was his administrator and basically right hand as far as the Academy was concerned. “Tell them no, for now at least. We can’t afford having them coming in and looking to fight everything in range. In the future we might get some on board to help teach, if that is what they want and they are able to adhere to our rules.”

A soft surge of air circled the room, the spirit’s way of showing agreement.

Bera then turned to look at Berion. “Any updates?”

Berion cleared his throat, clearly looking uncomfortable, then responded. “The portal grid is stable, I’ve added additional protections in case of… unconventional attacks,” Zach knew what he meant by that—Ra’azel. “I’m going to switch focus to the Academy rooms next, expanding space within.”

Berion could do a lot of very interesting and powerful things, like make a room be bigger on the inside than the area it took up on the outside. Their Academy was large, and they had a lot of plans of expansion in the future, but more space was never unwelcome.

“Good, I’ll have my assistants pass you the lists of which rooms are a priority,” Bera added.

Berion simply inclined his head.

Her eyes then slid over to Naha. “Anything?”

Naha shook her head. “There are no new threats, or at least nothing spoken where I can hear.”

She had been monitoring their territory, their town and anyone who traveled through the wilderness. Her ability to listen through the shadows was invaluable. They had a few low tier spies come in, nothing too dangerous. People were just curious what they were doing. Most of them they didn’t do anything about as they usually just pretended to be merchants that came through and acted interested about what the Academy was and their plans—most of them probably were merchants in the first place.

The only reason why they even knew that they were spies was because Bera had some powerful perks related to information and being able to detect when someone was looking into things that she was involved in.

Finally, Bera glanced Zach and raised an eyebrow.

Zach raised his arm. “I got a new hand.”

She blinked at him, then narrowed her eyes.

Zach chuckled. “Sorry,” he said, the corners of his mouth turned upward. “I’ve started filling up the library. I’ve been transcribing the relevant books from the Castle of Knowledge, the ones left by the visitors from Real Realm. Once I’m finished up with that, I’ll switch over to making tomes from my personal knowledge. I’m going to need to figure out what I want to be readily available to everyone.”

As much as he wanted to make knowledge free, there were things that he knew should only be accessible to those on the higher tiers.

Bera gave him a nod. “Good. Now, I have a list of potential students, I need you to pick twenty five of them for our first test class.”

Zach blinked. “Already? I thought that we are going to wait?”

“No point,” Bera shrugged. “We need to start and see what we will be needing. The first class will be an experiment, and we’ll learn more from it than from trying to plan everything out in advance.”

She pulled out a piece of paper from her storage and slid it over to Zach.

“Most are warden kids,” she said as he read through the names and the short notes added to the side. “Some from the surrounding sects from people that have agreed and know that this is an experiment. Obviously, these children will be getting the education for free. I tried to make the list as varied as possible.”

All the kids were young, a year out from getting access to the Framework. They had talked about starting them that young to get them some achievements for good classes.

Somehow, Zach only now realized that this was going to take a long time. Years until they would get through even this first class. They haven’t set on the length of the education, or how it would even go. Right now they wanted to let the kids choose their path after their first year, then be separated based on focus. Then they would be provided a general education and a basic martial training, with the rest of the classes being dedicated based on their chosen field. They had a variety of people on contract to teach, but they couldn’t really know cover everything. So the initial classes would be limited somewhat. Though Zach would do his best to find and get the necessary people, or failing that learn and teach himself.

“I’ve done my best to pick kids that will want to pick similar fields. Mostly combat,” Bera added.

Zach nodded, inwardly, he was relieved. He didn’t know if they could handle anything more just yet.

“Well,” he started. “I guess that we are doing this then.”

Bera gave him a look.

“Uh,” Zach paused. “I’ll have the names for you by the end of the day.”

“Good,” she said, then looked at the rest of the people around the table. “Then we are done for today. See you all at the next meeting. I’ll be in my office in my usual hours if you need anything.”

As people stood and started to leave, Zach caught Bera’s arm. “Stay for a moment.”

She blinked at him, then glanced at Naha who hadn’t moved either. Bera returned to her spot with a questioning look on her face. Once they were alone, Zach cleared his throat and pulled out a tome from his storage and slid it over to her.

“What’s this?” Bera asked as she picked it up. She obliviously recognized it as one of his ability tomes. The gray covers were a giveaway.

“That is a report on the subordinate factions of the Exalted Empire. Or at least those that are… not fully integrated or are having doubts.”

Bera frowned. “Where did you get this?” She asked as she read through it.

“My new perk,” Zach said, then filled her in on how it worked. The room they were in was warded, so he didn’t fear that anyone would be able to overhear them.

“That is some perk,” she said. “But why did you get this information and what do you want me to do with it?”

“That’s the thing,” Zach grimaced. “I don’t know. So I need you to go over it and perhaps look into things. How much of the old Warden network do you still have access to?”

Bera tilted her head. “Officially? Not much. In practice, there are a lot of people that owe us favors, or just me personally. Wardens had kept the peace in the core for a long time, our name still holds power, even as diminished as we are. And of course, everyone knows about you.”

Zach tried not to react. He wasn’t sure how to feel about everyone calling him The Warden. He hadn’t been a warden for long, relatively speaking.

“I felt danger in the Exalted Empire, or at least that is the only thing that I remember. I can’t tell how urgent it is or if it is even something that will impact us. I don’t know what it is in relation to. Is the Exalted Empire the danger itself? Is there something coming for them? Or anything else really. All I have to go on is that report. I had to have retained it for a reason.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Bera said.

“I’d also like for you to reach out other former wardens, see if they would be willing to come back,” Zach added.

Bera raised an eyebrow. “Why? We don’t need peace keepers, not more of them. The ones that are here are more than enough.”

Zach nodded. “I have an idea that I’ve been trying to work out in my head. If we want to be relevant, to have influence and impact in the world, we are going to need more than just the school.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“I was thinking of forming teams, groups of former wardens that I could send out to search for information, for knowledge, to seek out talent even. And if needed, perhaps deal with threats to the Academy.”

Bera blinked, then looked at Naha who spoke too.

“The two of us are powerful deterrents, but we can’t be everywhere, and you know how the Infinite Realm is. Someone will take issue with the Academy and try something dumb.”

“I thought that’s what the guards are for,” Bera added.

“They are here to defend the Academy, but I’d prefer if we had agents everywhere to prevent things from reaching us here.”

“I can make some inquiries,” Bera said, then her expression turned thoughtful before continuing. “You know, we could reach out to the Seekers of Knowledge. They might be perfect for gathering information, and they have a lot of knowledge about advancement in general.”

Zach blinked, he had heard of that organization, but didn’t know a lot about them.

“You think that they would be interested?”

“They had been hit hard by the wars in the core. And my sources in the core say that they’ve been pushed out, the Exalted Empire controls information and knowledge tightly. They don’t allow them to operate in their territories, and the Empire has taken over most factions across the core, and those that still resist are at least heavily influenced by them.”

Zach tapped the table with his new arm, then nodded. “Alright,” he said finally. “Do that, and let me know if you have any more ideas.”

“Will do.”

Zach left the meeting with a lot more on his mind, but he pushed everything away and focused on the list in his hand. He had to pick twenty five names for his first class.