Lyn leaped thousands of kilometers instantly. The wind pressed around him; he felt extreme cold. But if he could not withstand this, then what else could he do in this world?
He persevered. Midair while falling, he activated the shard once more. He leaped even farther; he jumped on air itself! The only downside was the wind and the bone-deep cold he felt.
Three days passed like this with no pause. He could not afford to stop. What would happen if he got too far and the link formation broke?
Then, suddenly, the magnetic-like feeling grew strong. He stopped activating the shard in bursts, limiting the Essence flow to decrease his leaping speed and height for a slow descent. As he descended, he saw vast mountains adorned with trees made of solidified light, their branches glowing. The entire forest was extremely bright. One could see a pack of wolves high on the mountainsides, each the size of a tree, with golden fangs that burned the ground beneath them.
He then saw silver-long hair—a figure as straight as a mountain's peak.
"Defying Sun!" he shouted.
"Oh, there you are. I was worried you were left behind," he chuckled.
Lyn was furious. In his mind, the shard was more trouble than it was worth. If he'd at least been given instructions...
Milen looked at Lyn, who was extremely pale. "Woah, kid, why didn't you use the fire formation to keep yourself warm? I understand you want to grow strong—not many get a chance like yours—but to this extent?"
Lyn said nothing.
Fire formation? What fire formation?!
After a short silence, Lyn said in a calm voice, pretending not to be agitated, "Everything is an opportunity to grow, Sir Defying Sun!"
"I like your spirit, kid!" Milen said, laughing. Then he stopped and turned serious. "You had no idea how to use the fire formation, did you?"
Lyn said nothing.
"Ah, I can't get mad. You're a commoner, after all. Of course, you wouldn't know how to split your attention to activate the shard while also using a formation. Hmm. Think of this as your first lesson, kid. You saw the consequence of not knowing. I miscalculated—I assumed you had a Notion Shard that would allow you to split your focus."
He then put his left arm straight out. A glass-like line appeared before expanding to the size of a palm. From it, a Heavenly Shard materialized. It looked like a piece of broken glass yet bore unknown, faintly glowing symbols.
"Ah, is that a Notion Shard?" Lyn was very happy at the sight. He needed one badly, especially later on.
What Defying Sun had forgotten was how difficult it was for commoners to acquire shards. Most people lived day to day.
"Indeed, it is. Take it. It's rank three," Milen said, half-surprised to see such joy over a mere rank-three Notion Shard.
"Thank you, Sir Defying Sun!" Lyn said with joy as he took it and placed it inside his Vessel Realm via his Shard Gate. Upon entrance, the Notion Shard was immediately filled with his Essence and could be activated.
He then took the shard out of his Vessel Realm and changed its size to a millimeter, letting it float around him like a satellite. Due to the nature of shards, their forms such as size could be influenced. However, this could not be done with every shard. Most had to be held or, if one was skilled enough, activated directly from the Vessel Realm. A shard could be stolen, which was why many chose to miniaturize theirs. Still, as long as a shard was filled with one's Essence, it could be mentally detonated within a specific range, depending on its type.
Lyn felt immediate ease in his mind, as if it had become calmer and more expansive. He immediately noticed he could focus on multiple things at once.
He looked at the grass, which glowed faintly.
At the same time, he focused on the birds singing.
While also focusing on the light-branched trees.
"Sir Defying Sun?" he murmured.
"Hm? Yes?" Milen said plainly, letting ten or so shards of various appearances float around him.
"What is this place?" Lyn asked calmly.
He had never seen such a place: trees of solidified light, faintly glowing grass, wolves the size of trees.
"Ah, I see you've noticed. This is one of the mountains in the range called Lightbloom. It's a mid-sized resource point for our sect. It produces various materials based on how much life thrives in these forests."
Lyn smelled the scent of burning and thought to himself, So that's why they say the Light and Fire Paths rarely conflict.
Just then, Milen finished a formation, which in turn created a temporary shelter. A building was instantly erected, and they were already inside it. Floors and walls of dark wood, three rooms, two separate beds with basic embedded formations for water, bathing, and other necessities. One could see faintly glowing light veins running through the walls. There were also two windows.
"Kid, the bed on the right is yours," Milen said while stretching his back. He then opened his Shard Gate once more and let another shard out—it looked like a miniature bag made of glass.
He squeezed the shard, and it shattered. Suddenly, a table appeared with two chairs, as well as simple, nutritious food and water.
"Man, I love this Simple Dish Shard," Defying Sun said in a joyous tone.
Lyn smiled. Indeed, it had been the right choice. This guy was a good stepping stone.
"That's... woah. That's so cool!" Lyn acted as if he were in awe. People loved when others praised them.
"Come, let's eat. We'll talk over food," Defying Sun said in a relaxed tone.
"I won't say no!" Lyn replied joyfully before taking a seat
As they ate, Defying Sun explained that they would need approximately three more days. The Restless Mountains were another 4.32 million kilometers away.
This world was simply too vast.
Its scale defied comprehension. For perspective, the Ashen Light Sect claimed territory spanning roughly 40 million square kilometers—a domain larger than the entire Asian continent. Hundreds of distinct cultures and millions of lives existed under its single banner. And this was the profile of a mere middle-class sect.
"Finish eating. We'll sleep and leave at first light," Milen said with a yawn.
Lyn smiled, a flicker of excitement mixed with profound unease. This world was simply too huge. How could he ever hope to reach its peak? He hadn't even formed an exact goal yet, but the simple objective of advancing forward suddenly seemed not just difficult, but impossible.
With these thoughts weighing on him, he went to bed and immediately fell into a deep, exhausted sleep.
It felt as if he had only just closed his eyes when a snap jolted him awake. The structure around them dissolved into ten distinct shards, which Defying Sun promptly summoned into a gate and stored away.
Lyn found himself lying on the faintly glowing grass. "You could have at least waited until I was standing," he muttered, pushing himself up.
Defying Sun laughed. "Time is a luxury, boy. You aren't my only student." He spoke with relaxed finality, then vanished.
Lyn didn't move immediately. He lay there for a long moment, staring at the clear blue sky, breathing in the faint, ever-present scent of sulfur that clung to the Lightbloom Mountains. Finally, he stood, focused his intent, and vanished after him.
As he was flung thousands of kilometers through the air, Lyn injected his Essence into the Notion Shard, splitting his attention while in mid-flight.
So he wasn't lying, he thought, a wave of calm settling over him. There really is a fire formation.
He focused the newly divided part of his mind, locating and activating the embedded fire formation using the stream of Essence Defying Sun continuously supplied. A faint, perfect warmth spread over his entire body, not cold, not hot, but a precise equilibrium.A soft, reddish glow emanated from his skin as he hurtled through the sky. Inwardly, Lyn sighed.
Not the only student? he thought. That could be troublesome. Or... perhaps not. It might just be another kind of opportunity. Depends on my skill, I guess.
The thought settled like a stone in his stomach, heavy with both caution and cold calculation.
And so, two more days passed without rest.
"The magnetic pull is getting stronger," Lyn noted plainly, beginning a slow descent while scanning the ground below for Defying Sun. He spotted him quickly.
The man stood rigid, staring at what appeared to be just another forest. Most of the sect's territory was open plains; it held few mountain ranges in comparison to its neighbors.
"This forest... hmph." Defying Sun's voice was clipped. "Kid, we must make a wide turn around this entire region. It will add a day to our flight, but it cannot be helped. This area... and the towns here are..." He trailed off, shaking his head. "Never mind. Just follow me."
Lyn was confused. What's the difference?
They had passed thousands of villages, towns, and forests just like this one. What made this one so different? What secret did these particular towns hold?
Nevertheless, he gave a mental push and leaped back into the sky. The journey resumed, now bending in a wide, silent arc around a territory that Defying Sun refused to name.
Four days passed in a blur of constant travel, broken only by brief pauses of a few hours. As the magnetic pull finally became a direct tug, the world fell away beneath them, revealing a wall of mountains so vast it seemed to hold up the sky itself.
Lyn's breath caught. They flew alongside cliffs that rose endlessly, their faces scarred by ancient glaciers and veiled in mist. A flock of crimson-feathered birds, their eyes like burning coals, swooped past with a hiss of warm air before disappearing into the chasm below.
High on a colossal shoulder of rock, a fortress squatted. It was a brutal, square-cut thing of dark stone, its walls merging with the mountain as if grown from it. Directly beneath it, vast training yards and obstacle courses were carved into the mountainside like steps for giants.
Defying Sun descended toward the fortress's outer wall, a sheer face of seamless rock fifty meters high. Lyn followed, landing lightly beside him on the narrow stone walkway that ran along its top. The defensive formations that should have hummed with lethal power were silent and dark.
"Defensive formations are off," Defying Sun said, his voice flat in the thin air. "Hop on the wall and follow me to my office. And don't lag. The patrols will reset the perimeter soon."
Lyn stepped on the outer walls and saw 100s of people they leaked a rank 5 aura proudly while wearing white armor and wore masks made out of faint light.
Lyn stepped onto the broad outer wall and stopped. The walkway was lined with hundreds of armored figures, standing at rigid intervals like statues. They wore polished white armor and masks of solidified, faintly glowing light. Each one radiated a Rank 5 aura with open, disciplined pride.
A full division of the Ashen Light Sect's soldiers, Lyn realized. Or at least a small, elite legion of them. Their presence here was a statement. Were they Defying Sun's private garrison? Or were they stationed here for a purpose that went beyond a single Expression's training ground?
"Kid, follow me. Let's get this damned paperwork over with. I hate this part."
As they began to walk, a masked soldier stepped forward from the line, saluting with a fist to his chest. "General. You are needed urgently. There have been fatalities during training on the lower obstacle course."
Defying Sun didn't break stride. "Send a detail to bury them. Deduct the cost of disposal from the Merit Points of every participant involved."
"Understood, sir." The soldier melted back into the line without another word.
"Come on. It's just around the corner," Defying Sun said, his tone shifting back to that false, relaxed ease. He led Lyn down a wide set of stone stairs carved into the fortress's interior wall.
At the bottom, Lyn saw it. Nestled within the fortress's inner courtyard, surrounded by the grim, functional barracks and training halls, stood a building so out of place it seemed like a dream. It was constructed of flawless white marble, its surfaces so polished they caught the cold mountain light. A beautiful, arched door of dark wood stood open, flanked by tall, leaded glass windows. A graceful terrace wrapped around its second story, overlooking the bustling courtyard below.
If I didn't know any better, I'd think this was a castle from a painting, Lyn thought. Around it, the fortress teemed with activity. Disciples in grey robes like the one bundled under his arm moved with purpose. Others in varied dress, nobles, mercenaries, commoners many clustered in groups, sparred in rings, or bartered at makeshift stalls. The air was thick with the scent of sweat, steel, and a dozen different cooking fires.
"Administration," Defying Sun said, gesturing toward the marble building as if it were a necessary nuisance. "Where potential gets weighed, logged, and turned into a number. Let's go make you official."
Lyn observed the disciplined ranks of sect soldiers and the sprawling, diverse crowd of disciples, his mind clicking through the implications.
This is bad, he thought, but not unexpected. Over a hundred students, at least. A private training ground that is clearly not private. Merit points as the only currency. And Defying Sun is a 'General.'
The title changed everything. This wasn't just the secluded retreat of a reclusive immortal. It was a military outpost. A testing ground for the sect's most promising and expendable tools. Defying Sun wasn't merely a mentor with a grudge as Lyn had hoped, instead he was a commander cultivating weapons for a war Lyn couldn't yet see.
The polished marble of the administration building no longer looked beautiful. It looked like a polished bone, a clean facade over a brutal machine.
He followed Defying Sun through the ornate door, the chaotic, vital noise of the courtyard giving way to the hushed, orderly silence of clerks, scrolls, and the soft scratch of pens.