Not with sound but with the rhythm of the world itself. A humming in your middle dantian. Resonance in the ambient chaos demanding order as it pulls together within you. Blood that draws the qi from your lungs and rushes through your body as a warmth that isn’t heat.
A shimmer that is life itself.
Sun cuts down through the reinforced glass above. Golden rays of the heavens that once were so distant. So impossible. Denied to all below.
Once. No longer.
The resonance pads under the seats slowly pulse green as you and your fellow outer disciples begin to align. Heart rates stabilize. You are your neighbor just as much as they are you. Some small part of your mind still cannot help but glance at the blinking screen in your lap and smile. Your mental clarity has risen by five percent.
You do not stop your meditation as the Elder descends from his pavilion. His qi is gentle, swaddling the room with hope.
It tastes ionized.
Bright.
Far, far beyond you yet so close.
Elder Roan Vell floats downward, lightly stepping upon the ginkgo petals suspended in sunlight. Your Seniors rise and bow before returning to their seated positions ringing the center dais.
Their robes stir slightly, caught in a breeze. A whispered stage cue.
Elder Vell stands as a monument before the assembled Crescent Valley Outer Sect. The pavilion's silence is now wide enough to step inside.
“Welcome to Foundational Ascension Theory,” He says. His voice is calm, but it rings like a bell in the quiet. “Feedback is continuous. Personal Guidance is monthly. By the end of this season you will be expected to have risen to the pinnacle of the Iron Body.”
A murmur ripples through the rows. One disciple leans over and whispers far too loudly, “That's not possible for us!” Other whispers join the fool in small gales laughter. You grimace, knowing of the punishment that awaits them. To interrupt an Elder was sheer madness!
Yet a punishment does not come.
Instead, the Elder simply folds his hands behind his back and begins to pace, slow and deliberate, as if he were walking through something sacred. He completes one full revolution of the inner dais as silence resumes before continuing.
“You do not need to be brilliant to ascend. No extreme body. No excessive spiritual roots. Although, I must admit they will smooth your path and make it faster.”
There are no whispers now.
“You need only be consistent.”
A formation sparks to life above the room. A great spiral of five rings, each glowing with its own color and pulse appears in the air above you. Lines of data cascade through it. Your eyes try to follow the lines that cascade through each one.
Your eyes never leave the formation as this is clearly where Elder Vell wishes you to focus.
“The Ascension process will not reward sudden explosions of power. Rather... progressive refinement.”
The Spiral rotates slowly, throwing soft rainbows of light across your face.
Elder Vell gestures upward. “This is the Ascension Framework. Or at least, a physical representation of it."
You try to grasp the harmonics, but they slide away as if they understand how powerless you truly are. Only the outermost layer does not resist your efforts. You narrow your focus.
"Iron Body. Low pressure. Low density. Minimal alignment. Here, you learn rhythm. Breath. Routine. You build the bones of a better self."
The second layer opens its understanding to you.
"Bronze Form. Your natural alignment begins to matter. You have stabilized your foundations. Now you influence.”
You wince at the sensation of a slap to the back of your skull.
“This is where you stop flinching at feedback. Where you learn that resistance is a gift.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Another layer.
“Silver Mind. Mental focus sharpens. You begin to generate clarity instead of just receiving it. You form internal techniques and personal rituals. Your minds become tools.”
Another.
"Gold Spirit.” Elder Vell's voice lowers even as his presence in the room swells. His qi rests as if it were a hand upon your shoulder. “Ego softens. Clarity separates from correctness. Your mere existence affects others now. Your presence become an anchor to the sect. You become a Leader. Not from command, but from coherence.”
The hand is removed as the words are allowed to settle within you. You try and internalize this overwhelming gift of insight, but still find yourself comparing your gains with others. A few students are attempting to write down the Elder's words. They will regret that; this is too rare an opportunity to waste time scribbling notes. Others just stare longingly at the Spiral, eyes wide and shivering from something deeper than chill. You wish you had that level of sensitivity.
Then comes the hush.
“White Void.”
The light of the Spiral dims until only the center remains lit.
“Only one has ascended to this stage and remained on this mortal plane. Only one chose to remain behind. Only one put aside petty squabbles and jealous hoarding of knowledge. Our Patriarch. His Eminence Halver Quinn.”
You taste salt upon your lips, but dare not tear your eyes away from the formation long enough to wipe the tears of gratitude from your face.
“By his divine grace were the Heavens conquered. By his will alone were the tribulations of old rendered harmless. By his infinite empathy was the path to immortality paved so that any might reach its peak. Advancement is measured through a single variable. Your Refinement Quotient.”
The air snaps and letters dance in your vision, unfolding themselves like a blooming lotus.
RQ = (ED × RA) x CP^2
“Three metrics. No mysteries. ED. Essence Density. How much energy you can hold at once. RA. Resonance Alignment. How well your presence harmonizes with the world around you. CP. Cognitive Pressure. The mental weight you can carry. How much you can endure without snapping."
His words grind upon your soul. A whetstone for your spirit.
“Raw power without alignment? You burn out your spiritual roots. Perfect resonance without being able to weather pressure? You shatter your dantians.”
The Spiral tightens. The rings converge.
“But when all three rise together? You refine.”
Elder Vell's voice doesn't change, but the words are gravity.
“Do not focus your sights upon the White Void.
Just aim to refine. The rest will come automatically.”
The Spiral vanishes. For a moment, there's only sunlight. Breath. Heartbeats. Then Elder Vell steps forward into the stillness.
“Elders will track your RQ weekly. Some of you will rise quickly. Some slowly. It doesn’t matter. You will all receive the same resources.”
Qi reassures you. A proud father consoling their child.
“I understand. I was like you once. A mere perpetual Outer Sect disciple as you all are. No matter how committed I was, no matter the training, the pills, the effort, I never grew in strength and was seen a failure in the eyes of the Sect. A waste of resources. Some of my Seniors had nearly killed me before a wandering Elder intervened and took pity on me. He took me in one of his personal disciples.
At first I feared my lack of potential. I confided this in my new Master. He told me not to worry. I told him that I feared the wrath of the Heavens. He told me to consolidate my cultivation in front of him rather than behind closed doors if I was so worried. I continued to question his wisdom. He never rebuked me. He simply laughed and told me that nothing bad would happen as long as I remembered his teachings and followed them.”
You collectively inhale.
"I did as he commanded of me. Under his guidance I reached the Silver Mind stage in fourteen months. My Master watched over me while I rose through each stage. The Heavens never dared to show their tribulations.”
You gasp as your knuckles turn white under the strain. Your display shatters under them, but you do not care. You don't even notice that the same event was happening across the entire pavilion.
“My Master, his Eminence Halver Quinn, discovered the means to ascension that even the heavens would not deny.”
No one speaks.
One student weeps openly. Another adjusts their breath just a little deeper than before.
Someone lucky enough to still have a working tablet flinches as it pings softly. It is quickly muted.
Elder Vell smiles without pride or warmth. It is a simple thing.
Everything in you knows that something real has started as Elder Vells speaks again.
“The Framework doesn’t judge you on your background or potential. It is just there to refine you.”
He turns toward the exit, but pauses just before crossing the threshold.
“Remember, you don’t need brilliance or strength.
You just have to keep moving forward.”
He step into the air, and is gone.
The silence left behind is not empty. It is thick with soft whispers.
Silent promises to you.
The world's chorus returns at the edges of your body in the way your chest rises and falls, the pulse in your fingertips, and the warmth of the sun pressing into your skin through glass. You look again upon the harmonic instruction laid atop the outermost ring of the formation listing high above.
You close your eyes.
You stop thinking.
You begin.
One breath.
Another.
Deeper this time.
Slower.
You shift slightly in your seat, feeling the resonance pad beneath you vibrate in subtle tones barely felt. Something in your chest unknots. Your jaw unclenches. You feel…
Clearer.
Not smarter. Not stronger.
Just… more tuned to the music of everything.
Inhale again.
Exhale.
You open your eyes.
And you see them.
All of them.
Everyone in the room.
Breathing together.
Refining.
One student cradles himself as he mutters sutras. Many have salty lines drawn upon their face from tears that fell unheeded. A tall boy near the back has both palms open and is whispering something to the remnants of the formation still burned into the air. Even the skeptic who laughed earlier is completely still, brows furrowed, lips slightly parted in awe.
You are not alone.
You are part of something vast.
And for the first time ever you believe that you can rise despite your lack of spiritual roots. Despite your humble beginnings.
Not all at once.
But a little.
Right now.
You breathe again.
something out there.
completely finished. I'll be polishing things up in the next week or two, then will schedule all 13 to automatically release.
Please wait until the entire book is posted before reviewing or rating.
I've got something planned and looks can be deceiving.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/64430/oak-origins
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/82888/mutia-and-gee
https://kitsunesinkwell.ink/