Divine Apostasy Book 12 - Chapter 51

Chapter 51

The house's screen door clicked shut behind them as Ruwen and Grandpa Pine stepped onto the well-worn path that led toward the avocado grove. The late afternoon sun touched the treetops, painting everything in warm golds that softened the surroundings. As they entered the grove a light breeze rustled the leaves, shifting their shadows on the packed earth.

Pine moved with the grace of a Bamboo Viper Master and seemed in better health than a few days ago. Ruwen guessed all the company was good for the old man.

The humid air held an earthy smell, and the quiet sound of their footfalls relaxed Ruwen with every step.

Pine spoke softly. "You'll want to settle your mind if you can. Chakra work requires focus, and contaminated energy gains strength with agitation."

Ruwen nodded, trying to ignore the minimized Notifications at the bottom of his vision. After he addressed the chakra contamination, he’d go through them. His Root and Sacral chakras still carried traces of the leprechaun manipulation magic, and the thought of permanent chakra damage from that decision made his stomach clench.

Blapy stepped onto the path from behind an avocado tree, as if she’d been waiting there all day. She wore her usual dress, and her pigtails bounced as she stopped in front of them.

“Perfect timing,” Blapy said.

Pine raised an eyebrow but remained silent.

"You triggered those Outerverse quests and new displays,” Blapy stated to Ruwen.

Ruwen repressed a blush, but didn’t apologize. "I did.”

Blapy tilted her head in thought. "There’s something funny going on with the System here. It seems different, and now with this new information, it’s like a third one arrived.”

Blapy waited for Ruwen to respond.

Ruwen didn’t hold anything back, despite Pine’s presence. “I believe the Material, Creation, and Destruction Realms had their individual Systems’ merged. This combined System had limitations and some of those guardrails broke when I Fortified to Angel. I might have broken the System more with my transformation in the Destruction Realm. Which is just one more reason for me to stay out of the Creation Realm. I agree this planet feels different, though, but I don’t know enough to determine if it’s another System.” He considered the lepre-kabab Title and the Cooking skill advancement. “I can tell you I don’t like its sense of humor.”

“Do tell,” Blapy said. “That sounds interesting.”

“No way,” Ruwen responded. “The last thing we need is for you to learn new tricks. Master Pine says I need to remain calm and you’re agitating me.”

Blapy pouted but Ruwen knew better than to believe her manipulations.

“Fine,” Blapy finally said with a stomp of her foot. “While the displays the System provided are quite useful, Pen’s template for chakra information still seems better for tracking chakra development, auras, and alignment."

Ruwen blinked. "Pen had a chakra template?"

Blapy answered the question with a question. “Don’t you customize your displays?”

Memories of Hamma’s multi-colored and strobing display made Ruwen wince.

Blapy mistook the expression but ended up at the right conclusion anyway. “Of course you haven’t. Sift runs around with virtually no displays and you use the default. How do you two succeed despite these self-imposed limitations.”

“A blind monk sees no doors,” Master Pine said.

Ruwen turned to the old man. “Thank you.” He faced Blapy again. “I’m a blind monk.”

Blapy bowed to Master Pine. “They see no doors but find every wall. Painfully, in my experience.”

Pine grinned and returned Blapy’s bow. “This is also true.”

"Would either of you like it? It integrates with your current display but adds precise information on chakra states, aura flow, and alignment." Her expression grew more serious. "Given what I suspect you've gotten yourself into, you'll probably need the extra detail. Ash is using it, and his brain hasn’t melted yet. I think it’s probably safe-ish.”

The offer didn’t surprise Ruwen as deep down Blapy wanted the best for him. Her gifts always came with complications, but he trusted her. "Yes, I'd like that. Thank you."

Blapy reached into what appeared to be empty air and withdrew a small crystal that pulsed with soft white light. She held it out to him. "Just touch it. The integration is automatic."

Ruwen accepted the crystal, and the moment his fingers made contact, his main display appeared and it contained an additional tab labeled Spiritual. He handed the crystal to Master Pine and glanced quickly at his Spiritual details.

Three human silhouettes filled Ruwen’s vision. The left one displayed his eight chakras, each a different color. It started inside the figure with red at his Root and purple at his Crown. The Divine charka floated over his head with a white color.

A circle represented each chakra and inside this circle were eight smaller circles. This reminded Ruwen of the Blood magic of the Destruction Realm. There, instead of chakras, he’d had eight Arrays, and each Array had slots for eight gems. His focus brought up more information.

Chakra: Root

State: Awakened

Percent to Level 1: 2%

The first of the eight smaller circles inside Ruwen’s Root chakra had a barely perceptible shade of red. He glanced at the Sacral chakra and it contained similar information.

Chakra: Sacral

State: Awakened

Percent to Level 1: 1%

All Ruwen’s chakras looked similar to this.

Mater Pine stood with his eyes closed, his hands moving in the air, pushing and flicking nothing. Ruwen realized the old man was using actual movements to control his display.

Master Pine spoke, his eyes still closed. “My Dormant chakras are dark, and the Activated ones are an empty circle. My Awakened chakras all have eight smaller circles. Is that what yours looks like?”

“Yes, and you can keep your eyes open when you do this.”

“Thank you, Grandmaster Sift explained that to me, but this is less confusing right now.”

“Understood, and what you described fits my display as well.”

Underneath the figure the following values were listed.

Chakra Alignment: 76%

Chakra Sifting Effectiveness: 1%

Aura Purity: 1%

Aura Density: 1%

Aura Power: 0%

The Vault Guardian had used its Aura as a weapon and these values described how Ruwen could eventually do the same.

The figure on the display’s right side described Ruwen’s Soul and a tetrahedron floated in the middle of the chest. To his surprise six attributes were also listed.

Level: 4

Form: Tetrahedron

Transparency: 9%

Particle Concentration: 1%

Output Intensity: 1%

Angular Momentum: 0%

Ruwen needed to research Pen’s notes to see if the man had detailed what these values meant. Pen was handing the crystal back to Blapy so Ruwen quickly took in the center figure.

Twelve circles arranged like a clock represented Ruwen’s Meridians, and all of them had labels under ten percent. He’d spent very little time Refining his Spirit into the twelve different essences so that didn’t surprise him.

The five Meridians associated with the Destruction Realm had become three dimensional. They rotated slowly, revealing the eight sides each Meridian contained. The Hardening glyph Ruwen had earned in the Destruction Realm glowed softly and took up one side on each of the five Meridians.

Under the Meridians the shape Ruwen had discovered in the Destruction Realm appeared, a bottle that’s top turned and passed through itself before connecting to the bottom. Values were listed here as well.

Core Type: Dimensional

Level: 4

Core Density: N/A

Core Velocity: N/A

Ruwen guessed Pen’s template didn’t know how to handle a higher dimensional core. Perhaps Rami could incorporate some of the Outerverse displays’ attributes.

Under the Core were Ruwen’s pathways. Twelve small circles surrounded a larger circle labeled Center. A line ran from the Center to each small circle and back. Underneath the picture the attributes were listed.

Scarring: 0%

Inflammation: 0%

Throughput: 120%

The cocoons Ruwen had bought in the Destruction Realm had fixed the scarring and inflammation and polished his pathways to perfection.

Ruwen’s chakra display glitched for a moment and new attributes appeared next to his Root and Sacral chakras.

Contamination: 13%

Type: Malevolent

Source: Creation Realm

Chakra Suppression: 7%

"Thank you, Blapy" Ruwen said, closing the new display. "This will prove very useful."

Blapy nodded once, then looked at Pine. "Good luck fixing whatever he’s broke. I swear he destroys as much as he saves."

With that, Blapy vanished, although Ruwen could now clearly see the dimensional warping she employed. He considered following her through the dimensional ripple she caused to show off his new dimensional understanding but decided against it. Nobody liked a showoff.

Pine shook his head slowly. "The young goddess appears at the most interesting times." He gestured for Ruwen to continue walking. "Come. Let's determine the damage to your chakras."