Tower of Heaven

"Huu…"

Atlas took a deep breath.

He really had no sense of how long it had been since he lost his mind. He only knew that at some point, he regained a semblance of awareness and recognized that the world around him was different.

He slowly calmed his mind. [Perfect Adaptability] was working much better than it did in Purgatory. The process was similar to alchemy. Atlas felt like he was containing several energies and turning them into one perfect product.

Those several energies were not energies, but strands of thought that diverged from his main consciousness. If it was viewed from a different perspective, those strands of thought could even be considered the vestiges of the spirits he was interacting with.

They had to meld into his mind and lose their significance. Only after they became a part of Atlas’ psyche rather than forces attacking it did he find some peace of mind.

"Huu…"

He took another deep breath.

He couldn’t remember everything that happened. He could hardly picture the imaginary space where his mind was. However, he remembered everything and everyone he needed to remember.

’I cannot…go through that again.’

He was lucky that his mind grew. With the Spirit-Severing Art, his soul actually became several times stronger as it coped with the effects of those interactions. He was able to deal with that last trip through Purgatory, but what about the next one?

The forces in his mind only became stronger and stronger with the passing of time. The door of light that disconnected him from Purgatory saved him from certain destruction.

’I should put it aside.’

He wanted to put it aside, but his trait wasn’t at full strength. He couldn’t ignore things just because he wanted to.

He had been resting for an indeterminate period of time. Still, his mind was weary as if he would collapse the moment he felt some comfort.

’I cannot collapse.’ Continue your saga on My Virtual Library Empire

He couldn’t even stay where he was.

He didn’t recognize his surroundings at all. He didn’t feel life aura, making it obvious he was in a land of the dead, however, it wasn’t necessarily bleak.

Atlas awoke seated in a cave far away from anyone or anything, but when he left and started exploring, he almost believed he had returned to the real world.

He found a city that looked just like any other.

’Were there meant to be cities in the afterlife?’

Was it meant to be so…lively?

Atlas was flabbergasted by the seemingly life-like ambiance coming from the city. It possessed a great vitality that came from the people within as if they weren’t all unliving entities.

The undead, the spirits, and all others of the same sort walked the streets, ran stores, and seemingly had their own families in this place. They drank, ate, and gambled as they did when they were alive, simply enjoying the pleasures of life in a place without obligations.

Atlas stood out. His face was not covered by a mask, as his physical body had become a subsidiary entity. Rather, his face looked like a blur, a mix between the features he had in both lives.

He emanated a strange aura that others didn’t possess, considering his state as a living soul. He got many, many strange looks, but nobody tried to approach him.

They glanced at him secretly as if he was some sort of ticking time bomb. Evidently, it wasn’t their first time seeing a living soul, but it surely wasn’t a common occurrence.

’Is there…no gate?’

Atlas needed to find Artemia and Horus. Through his experience with Anubis, he figured that asking at the gate if his friends were present was his best bet, but was there anything like a gate here?

The first thing he saw when he arrived was already inside of this world.

’I have no clues in an environment like this?’

He had been wandering for barely any time, and he’d already discovered a hub like this city. Just how many more were present across this realm?

How many souls and spirits passed through these lands every single day?

’I have nowhere to go. Do I explore this land ordinarily?’

Was he meant to walk through these plains and ask around until he found a clue about his friends?

’No. Something like that won’t be effective.’

That didn’t mean he wouldn’t stay on the lookout for any mention of other living souls, but he wasn’t going to wantonly ask around without understanding the environment of this afterlife.

Sometimes, the afterlife was a place of punishment. Other times, it was a place of reward. Some afterlifes combined aspects of both, while others seemed like they mimicked life more than anything else.

When those kinds of things were left unspecified in the Legends that birthed them, the afterlife became a chaotic place that couldn’t be defined easily. Pleasure and pain mixed together. The line between reward and punishment blurred, creating an atmosphere that was anything but healthy.

As Atlas walked the city, he determined that this afterlife was likely a combination of punishment and paradise. For the most part, people lived ordinarily while entertaining their vices, but that didn’t mean everyone was granted peace.

’Hmm

If he stayed here for some time…

’Nothing will be accomplished. They were sent to the Underworld so they could rot and die. They would not be in such a peaceful location.

He had to be honest with himself. Six months ago, Artemia and Horus were confirmed to be safe, but were they out of danger?

Nobody was willing to swear that to him. He already knew that they were fighting their own battles somewhere in some Underworld that he had yet to access.

’Right. I need to search for the Underworld they entered, but more importantly, I need to find where battle occurs.’

Where conflict was most prevalent, cultivators were always present. Even if they had no desire to be involved in such conflicts, their fates as people who aimed for the Heavens would always lead them into such circumstances.

Atlas knew his body and mind were weary. He knew his soul couldn’t stand being tormented in the atmosphere of a realm that only welcomed the dead and undead.

Nevertheless, he also knew that now was the best time to move.

’I am wide awake. The strain that I feel with every step is what keeps me sane. I am still able to think properly after everything I only just experienced. I need no more proof that this state is useful.’

If he was lulled to sleep, he was afraid that he would be swallowed by the atmosphere.

It had almost happened several times already, after all.

Shaking off his thoughts, Atlas left the borders of the city. There wasn’t even a small fence separating it from the surrounding wilderness, so it wasn’t difficult at all.

’They fear nothing.’

What was there to fear when they were already dead? This wilderness existed, but those living here were the same. They had the same mentalities, so realistically, traveling this seemingly dangerous environment was almost entirely safe.

He shot through a dark forest, wondering where he was even planning to go.

But, the Underworld didn’t have the same laws of distance as the world outside. It was capable of shortening and lengthening any distance as needed. Atlas had no set location, sure, but he was looking for someone who could confirm or deny the presence of his friends.

Once he found that, he had to find a way to leave this realm. These were the only two goals he was entertaining.

The Underworld read his thoughts. It knew where he needed to go, and as he was a warrior on a quest for glory, it showed him some favor.

His steps crossed so much more distance than he could have ever imagined. The environment turned into a blur of dark colors, making it impossible for him to tell where he was going.

However, without questioning it, Atlas charged ahead to his destination. He moved through planes of damnation and planes filled with the glories of life that no common man could ever experience.

He passed through every possible state a soul could reach in a realm like this before arriving somewhere that possessed nothing of the sort.

In the end, when the mosaic faded back into a true picture of the environment, Atlas was in a plain of jagged black rock. It looked similar to Alfros if the volcanic realm lost all of its connection to fire.

It was actually very similar to that place. It had a similar origin as well.

There were curiously shaped mountains in the distance. Atlas approached them, wondering why his steps brought him to such a location, when he realized something crucial.

’Those are not mountains.’

No, those things in the distance that looked like mountain ranges were limbs and torsos.

They were the corpses of beings that existed on a scale that Atlas simply could not fathom.

And they…

They were scattered across these plains in every direction, numbering in the thousands at the very least.

Atlas’ eyes narrowed into pinholes.

’Where have I found myself this time?’

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