Defiance of the Fall

war arrays.
Emily noted Zac’s hesitation, and a scowl started to appear on her face.

“You told me you would take me with you after I gained a class, and now I have!” she said with a glare.
“You have already found your family, but I am still looking for mine!”

Zac sighed as he looked at the irate teenager.
What she said was true.
A big reason why she worked herself so hard was that she still hoped to find her two siblings.
Zac knew that the likelihood of both of them still living was slim, even if they were both cultivators.
But she had the right to look for them.

“How about this,” Zac said after mulling it over.
“I am going to Westfort tomorrow, the base of operations of the Marshall Clan.
They have as good an information network as The New World Government.
Why don’t you come with me? Perhaps they have found the town where your siblings were dropped off”

“Great! I’ll start packing,” Emily exclaimed, her demeanor making a complete turn.
“I’m going to go pack!”

The next moment she left the courtyard like a whirlwind before Zac had a chance to change his mind.
He didn ’t even have time to ask about her level and titles.
But Kenzie apparently knew what was on his mind and explained Emily ’s situation.

’

“She can protect herself against most warriors already, she ’s stronger than you think.
She has pushed herself extremely hard since she gained her level.
She even managed to kill a level 51 beast as her first kill,” Kenzie explained.

“What?” Zac said, extremely surprised.
“How the hell is that possible?”

He knew that the only reason that he was able to get the ’Slayer of Leviathans ’ title was that he lucked out on his roll against the Herald.
For Emily to defeat such a powerful beast by herself was shocking.
He remembered how he barely survived the fight against Vul, the Barghest Alpha.
At that time he was almost level 20, and he had a slew of titles to empower him.

“She gained two very strong advantages before even turning 16.
She both attained a Dao and upgraded her race.
You know how good those titles you get from that.
After that we found a very weak beast on Mystic Island,” Kenzie explained.

“She formed a Dao Seed!? ” Zax exclaimed before calming down.
”But still. ”

“Between an offensive Dao and a high-quality weapon she almost killed the beast in one surprise strike,” Kenzie continued.
“After that, she slowly killed it with the help of a fireball skill she bought from the Nexus Crystal.
The beast only managed to get in one blow, but she used her defensive gear.”

Zac slowly nodded, realizing that Emily had quite a few advantages that he never had when fighting Vul.
An offensive Dao added a huge spike in power, and it was such a Dao Seed that allowed him to kill an E-Grade beast in his Draugr-form.
Using a Dao Seed to kill a level 50 beast made sense.

Still, he hadn’t expected Emily to even attain a Dao seed before officially embarking on the path of cultivation.
According to Ogras, it was practically unheard of on his own homeworld.
With all those titles Emily might actually be stronger than the Valkyries by now.

Learning about Emily ’s situation was like a rock having been lifted off his shoulders.
He truly felt he had made the right decision.
His only regret was that she seemed to have gained a hybrid class that was part-support.
Such a class would be invariably weaker in battle compared to a pure combat class.

“Has anyone else on the island managed to form a Dao Seed before turning 16?” Zac suddenly asked.

“Not that we know, but Alyn increased the amount of meditation for all children in the Academy after learning of Emily’s situation.
I think it’s extremely rare, even with the help of Origin Dao,” Kenzie said hesitantly.
“But perhaps we can luck out and get another one.”

’

Zac simply shrugged in response.
He didn ’t hold too high hopes for that happening.
Once was already a miracle without the help of a powerhouse showing the way.
Besides, the Origin Dao would disperse and integrate with the world the following years, making the window of opportunity pretty brief.

“Speaking of meditation,” Zac said as he started walking toward the teleporter on his compound.
“Come with me for a bit.”

“Wait, what about those things?” Kenzie said and pointed at the gardening golems idly standing in a corner of the courtyard.

Zac stopped with a start since he had completely forgotten about those things.
When Kenzie and the gnomes had taken the golems out they were completely lifeless unlike when Zac snatched them from the Alchemist’s mountain.
No matter what kind of prodding they tried they were completely inert, so they simply placed them to the side before moving on.

After some hesitation, Zac put them into his private pouch.
He did sort of want to leave them there to see whether they would wake up by themselves and start cleaning, but he was afraid they would freak out instead and start demolishing the whole place.
He needed to be present in case that happened.

Soon the two stepped through the teleporter and appeared in Azh ’Rodum.
They quickly exited the town before they attracted any real attention and then entered the mines from a side-tunnel.
Zac then quickly led his sister through the winding paths inside the mountain until they stood in front of the unassuming rock leading to his cultivation cavern.

“These mountains really are amazing,” Kenzie said with a sigh when they stopped.
“Jeeves says this place is probably among the top ten Zones on Earth for cultivation.
After they have been doused in the Cosmic Energy for a few centuries they will become true Sacred Mountains.”

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“If you the mountains are good you’ll like this,” Zac said with a grin as he undid the arrays hiding the cavern before he moved the boulder out of the way.

Dense cosmic energy poured out of the cavern like a punch in the face, and Kenzie’s eyes widened in shock as she took a deep breath.
Zac indicated for her to go inside, and then placed the boulder back behind them to hide the entrance again.
Next, he quickly activated the arrays again to prevent the energy from leaking out.

“This place… It’s crazy!” Kenzie said as she looked around in wonder at the extremely dense flora growing in the cavern.
“Even the mundane plants have gained spirituality from the enormous amount of energy.
Did you make this place?”

However, Zac didn’t answer as all his focus was on the pond with Cosmic Water.
His heart quickly hammered with wild elation as he hurried over, only stopping right at the edge of the pond.
His mouth curved upward as he looked at the sight.

A lotus no larger than his hand lazily bobbed on the surface.