Chapter 38: The Heart of the World
The Central Spire of the Divine Sky Academy was a needle of white jade that pierced the very heavens of the Middle World. It was the axis upon which the entire floating continent of Aurelia spun.
It was also a giant straw.
The Spire was built directly on top of the Planetary Ley Line, sucking the purest spiritual energy from the world's core and pumping it into the cultivation chambers above.
We stood at the base of the Spire.
Prince Valerian was gawking. "The walls... they are made of Solidified Mana. You could chip a piece off and buy a city."
"Don't touch it," Seraphina warned, slapping his hand away. "The defense arrays will vaporize your fingers. This place is guarded by the Academy Spirit."
We approached the massive golden doors of the Alpha Chamber.
Two Guardian Golems—ten feet tall, made of Platinum—crossed their halberds.
"Halt," a mechanical voice boomed. "Present credentials."
I held up the Golden Key we had won.
The Golems scanned it. Their eyes turned green.
"Access Granted. Welcome, Rank 1 Students. You have 24 hours of cultivation time."
The doors groaned open.
A blast of air hit us. But it wasn't wind. It was pure, vaporized Qi.
It was so dense it looked like white fog.
"Breathe slowly," I instructed Lyra and Kael, who looked like they were about to pass out from oxygen toxicity. "If you inhale too fast, your meridians will explode."
We stepped inside.
The Alpha Chamber was a cavernous circular room. In the center was a pool of glowing blue liquid—Liquid Spirit Essence. Floating lotus pads made of stone hovered over the pool, serving as meditation platforms.
"It's... it's beautiful," Anya whispered, her eyes wide. "It smells like blueberries."
"It smells like power," I corrected.
I turned to my team.
"Listen up. We have 24 hours. In the outside world, that's a day. But the energy density here compresses time perception. You will feel like you are here for a month."
I pointed to the outer ring of lotus pads.
"Valerian, Lyra, Kael. Sit there. Cycle your Qi slowly. Your goal is to stabilize your foundations. Do not try to break through forcefully."
"Understood," Valerian nodded, looking serious for once. He sat down and closed his eyes.
"Anya, Seraphina," I pointed to the inner ring. "You two can handle more pressure. Sit closer to the pool. Anya, feed your Phoenix Fire with the ambient Qi. Seraphina... try not to corrupt the pool with demonic energy."
Seraphina rolled her eyes. "I promise nothing."
"Ria," I said. "Guard the door. No interruptions."
"Acknowledged."
Once everyone was settled, I walked to the very center of the room.
There was no lotus pad here. Just the bubbling blue surface of the Spirit Pool.
I wasn't here to meditate. I was here to steal.
I checked my surroundings. The team was in a trance. The cameras were disabled inside the private chambers.
Perfect.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the Eye of Truth.
The gemstone eye hummed. It sensed the massive energy source beneath us.
"Kassandra was right," I whispered. "The Eye isn't just a key to a box. It's a key to the floor."
I activated my Void Eyes (Silver).
I looked down into the pool.
To a normal cultivator, it was just a deep pool of mana.
To me, I saw the Formation Lines. Millions of glowing threads weaving together to form a seal. A seal that capped the Planetary Core and only let a tiny trickle of energy up.
"Open," I commanded, channeling Qi into the Eye of Truth.
I dropped the Eye into the water.
PLOP.
The Eye sank.
It hit the bottom of the pool.
A golden light erupted from the depths. The water began to swirl. The seal on the floor unlocked.
CLICK. WHIRR.
A secret passage opened at the bottom of the pool. It wasn't a physical tunnel; it was a Data Port. A direct connection to the vein of the world.
"Feeding time," I grinned.
I sat down on the surface of the water, hovering an inch above it.
I raised my left hand. The Ouroboros Ring flared to life.
Inside the Ring, my clone, Chronos, opened his clockwork eyes.
He was hungry. He had been processing the Time Laws from the Chimera, but he needed raw fuel to burn.
'Technique: Heaven-Devouring Sutra.'
'Mode: World Siphon.'
I thrust my hand into the water, directly into the beam of light coming from the Eye.
WHOOSH.
It didn't look like cultivation. It looked like a drain.
A massive vortex formed in the pool. The liquid spirit essence began to spin, faster and faster, spiraling into my ring.
The Ouroboros Ring acted like a black hole. It drank the liquid Qi. It drank the ley line energy.
The entire Spire shuddered.
"Rudra?" Seraphina opened one eye. "The room is shaking."
"Just turbulence," I lied through gritted teeth. "Focus on your cultivation."
Inside the Ring, the landscape changed.
The influx of energy was massive. The floating mountains grew. The artificial sun burned brighter.
And Chronos...
Chronos began to age.
He shifted from a young boy into a teenager. His translucent skin solidified. His clockwork eyes spun so fast they blurred into gold.
'Time Law Comprehension: 10%... 15%...'
As Chronos grew, my own perception of reality shifted.
I saw the "Frame Rate" of the universe.
I saw the dust motes in the air moving frame by frame.
I saw the vibrations of sound as physical waves.
'New Ability Unlocked: Time Skip.'
'Effect: You can skip the "activation time" of any technique. Instant cast.'
I laughed. This was broken. Absolutely broken.
Normally, to cast a fireball, you need to gather Qi, form the seal, and release. It takes 1-2 seconds.
With Time Skip, I could delete the "gathering" and "forming" steps. The fireball would just appear at the destination.
"More," I whispered. "I want more."
I pushed harder. The vortex expanded. I was drinking so much energy that the pool level began to drop visibly.
Suddenly, a deep, resonant hum filled the chamber.
It wasn't a sound. It was a Will.
WHO DISTURBS MY SLEEP?
I froze.
The voice didn't come from the room. It came from the Eye of Truth at the bottom of the pool.
It came from the Planetary Core itself.
The Guardian of the Middle World.
"Crap," I muttered. "I woke up the landlord."
The pressure in the room spiked. It wasn't physical gravity. It was Soul Pressure.
Valerian and Lyra instantly fainted, foam coming out of their mouths.
Anya whimpered, hugging her knees.
A giant, spectral eye opened in the water beneath me. It was the size of the pool.
It looked at me.
It saw the Ouroboros Ring. It saw Chronos.
A THIEF? the voice boomed. A PARASITE?
A tendril of white energy shot up from the water, aiming to impale me. This was the wrath of a planet. Even a Demigod would be vaporized.
"I'm not a parasite," I shouted, my silver eyes flashing. "I'm a guest!"
I didn't retreat.
I activated Chronos.
Time Art: Reversal.
I targeted the tendril of energy.
I rewound its time by three seconds.
The tendril shrank back into the water.
The Giant Eye blinked. It was confused. It had attacked, but the attack had un-happened?
YOU WIELD... TIME?
The voice changed. The anger vanished, replaced by curiosity.
ARE YOU AN ARBITER?
"Do I look like a faceless bureaucrat?" I spat. "I am the Sovereign."
I reached down and grabbed the Eye of Truth from the bottom of the pool.
"And I'm done drinking. Thanks for the refreshments."
I yanked the key out.
CLICK.
The seal slammed shut. The connection to the core was severed.
The spectral eye faded, its voice echoing away.
INTERESTING... WE SHALL MEET AGAIN... LITTLE ANOMALY...
The room went quiet. The shaking stopped.
The pool was half-empty.
I sat there, panting.
I checked my internal status.
My Void Core was saturated. It was glowing with a dangerous, unstable light.
And inside the Ring, Chronos was now a fully formed 16-year-old, sitting in deep meditation, radiating an aura of absolute stillness.
"Status," I gasped.
[Cultivation: Peak Core Formation (Limit Breaker)]
[Time Law: 20% Mastery]
[Ability: Time Skip (Active)]
[Ability: Chrono-Stasis (Active)]
I stood up. My legs felt shaky, but my power... my power felt infinite.
"Ria," I called out.
"Master?" Ria stepped forward. "Sensors detected a massive gravitational anomaly. Did you engage a planetary entity?"
"We had a disagreement about property rights," I wiped sweat from my forehead. "Wake everyone up. We're leaving."
"Leaving? We still have 20 hours of time."
"We drank the pool dry," I pointed to the half-empty basin. "If we stay, the Academy Elders will come to investigate why their utility bill just spiked."
I looked at the unconscious Valerian.
"Carry the baggage. We're going back to District 9."
As we exited the Alpha Chamber, leaving behind a drained pool and a confused planetary consciousness, I smiled.
I had the power.
I had the team.
And now, with Time Skip, I was faster than anyone in this world.
"Aethelred wants a war?" I cracked my neck. "I think it's time I gave him one."