Solaena's [Guided] Journey (Fantasy LitRPG)

The Red Sand Sector neighbored four other Sectors.

The closest, relatively, was the Silver Tempest Sector, as it was located on the same Nexus Strata as the Red Sand Sector, and one simply needed to journey for three to four months at a normal travel pace to reach it.

It was centered around a rift leading to a realm of drifting metallic vapors and perpetual luminous squalls, the very environment able to be harvested, condensed into silver gas, and solidified into highly valuable metal.

The environment was harsh but breathable with proper filtration, water scarce yet reclaimable from the vapor itself, and with the value of the metal produced, real food trade happened.

Still, at the end of the day, the Silver Tempest Sector's population remained limited, confined to fortified harvesting outposts surrounding the Silver Tempest Realm Rift, and it had long become a known fact that prolonged exposure to the metallic vapors, even at extremely low density, blurred one's memories.

The second closest, still located on the same Nexus Strata, though much farther than the Silver Tempest Sector, as it demanded an eight- to ten-month journey to get there, was the Umbral Tide Sector.

The way of life there was completely different from the Red Sand Sector, as the Umbral Tide Realm had completely spilled through the rift, leading to a warped environment of tide-bound expanses where shadow-like currents ebbed and flowed like a darkened sea.

Making the most of it, Civilization ended up settling in clustered settlements made out of ceiling-bound towers along the relatively stable "shorelines", living off the cold and light-starved umbral tides by condensing what scanty water was periodically brought to them and harvesting the residual fungal growth to serve as a meager but reliable food source.

The existence of an entire warped ecosystem that endlessly kept on producing odd resources along with strange creatures brought a steady stream of explorers and adventurers, making the Umbral Tide Sector an unusual hub that saw more than one powerhouse rise from it.

Shifting to the Nexus Strata below, which one could reach by employing well-traveled routes winding through the corroded and crumbling innards of the gigantic metal structure that existed beneath my feet, one would eventually arrive at the Blightroot Sector.

It was described in books as an overgrown rust waste dominated by colossal parasitic flora that fed on even rust itself, limiting any sort of settlements to mobile or heavily shielded enclaves.

Still, by its very nature, the Blightroot Sector produced a colossal amount of Essence-infused biomass, which not even the threat of blight spores infesting the air, rendering survival impossible without heavy filtration or dedicated Aspects, would dissuade Civilization from harvesting.

Some expeditions into the Blightroot Realm had even been carried out with the sole objective of harvesting plants whose Essence had centuries to develop, though most of those expeditions ended in disaster.

And finally, ascending to the Strata above, one could find the Crimson Hollow Sector.

Of the four neighboring Sectors, the Crimson Hollow Sector was unquestionably the most developed, with the Crimson Hollow Realm itself being capable of sustaining a massive population thanks to its abundant crimson water, which could be consumed as is by any form of life.

So long as one did not continuously reside in it for longer than two or three years at a time, in which case the crimson madness corruption would take them, one could live an easy life underground, where dense settlements had been carved into the stone over generations.

Adding to that a vast network of varied mineral-rich depths, and despite the threat of the crimson madness, with mineral water and subterranean fauna, it was one of the more livable Realms one could hope to find before entering the domain of the Prime Realms.

Speaking of Prime Realms...

As in, Realms of theoretically limitless value, whether that value resided in tangible domains such as material value, less tangible ones such as spiritual value, or in domains as elusive as livability itself...

The Everwell Realm around which the Everwell Sector developed was one such Prime Realm.

And despite it being three Sectors removed from the Red Sand Sector, as the nearest Prime Realm, it didn't take much effort to find books discussing extensively why it qualified as one.

It was simply a well that could not run out of resources, no matter how intensively it was exploited, and whose inherent dangers were known and could be evaluated at any point in time.

Supposedly, every twelve days or so, the Everwell Realm underwent what was called a "renewing event", reclaiming everything it contained, whether dead or alive, and reprocessing it all into usable resources by creating a new pristine environment.

This new pristine environment could be literally anything, with tens of thousands of variations having been recorded to this age.

Presumably, those variations ranged from bountiful forests to incomprehensible warped voids to instances where the environments summarily caused anyone who entered unprepared to have their Essence entirely corrupted.

However, no matter the environment, one rule held true.

The more that was materially extracted from the Realm itself, the more exponentially dangerous the Everwell Realm became.

As for the way Civilization took advantage of such a straightforward rule...

It gathered the trash, scraps, and debris of all the Sectors neighboring the Everwell Sector and beyond and turned the Everwell Realm into a glorified recycling Realm.

All harvesting teams who entered the Everwell Realm apparently did so with backpacks and carts loaded with smelly trash and irredeemable scraps...

Only to exit mere days later with their hands filled with juicy fruits, fresh meats, unique woods, and rare metal ores.

When I first read about it, I didn't dare to believe such a Realm could exist.

When I read about it for the hundredth time, along with the megacity built around the Everwell Realm Rift and the presence of branches from hundreds of factions described as equals of the Faith Of The Aspects, I had already made up my mind.

How far away the Everwell Sector was and how long it would take to get there, ascending multiple Stratas and flying for months on end, was irrelevant.

For it was clearly where I would find answers to my Essence overdevelopment issue, and much more beyond.

That the Fairy House already intended to migrate there only furthered the practicality of my decision to follow through with departing the Red Sand Sector.

Altogether, if the Fairy House's timeline held...

I still had two years to develop my Essence, hopefully three.

More time than I had yet to live.

I couldn't imagine a scenario where I wouldn't be ready by then.

I could only envision the opposite transpiring, actually.

Two years from today...

I would feel confident undertaking the journey towards the Everwell Sector by myself.

◇ ◈ ◈ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◈ ◈ ◇

My breathing was not long for this world.

I felt it within my chest, which once spasmed uncontrollably whenever I dared to deprive my lungs of their rightful mouthful of air, but that presently acted like being empty was its natural state.

I knew it with my mind, which once so intensely urged me to breathe at the slightest indication of my [Cycle] breathing failing to bring my body sufficient oxygen.

I perceived the imminent change from the absence of pain, my steady [Focus], and above all, I discerned it from my serene [Cycle] and [Guided]'s silence.

I pulled in everything from the surrounding air without distinction.

[Guided] decided what to throw out and what to keep.

Then, it was only a matter of measuring up to [Guided]'s expectations.

Expectations born out of the combined knowledge of all my failed and successful [Exertion]s.

As such, my [Cycle] was initiated from my heart, suffusing as much of my blood with the nutritional particles and oxygen I pulled as it could assimilate.

It then went on to flow alongside my arteries to ensure my blood was properly filled with sufficient air and nutrition to sustain the rest of my body.

Once my blood was brimming with only good elements, the role of my [Cycle] shifted to pulling all the carbon dioxide that my body had naturally produced and couldn't eject anymore, as my lungs were empty and thus unable to exchange noxious gas for oxygen.

From there, the complexity soared by multiple orders of magnitude, as I had to bend my [Cycle] towards my waste-removing organs, taking away whatever foulness was present while still passing by my veins to strip my blood of any excess carbon dioxide.

After that, that was biologically it, and whatever my [Cycle] was loaded with, I naturally discharged outside, the process ready to be repeated anew.

How many attempts it took me to get to this point, I genuinely had no idea.

All I knew was that even if I had been told from the beginning that this was the form my [Cycle] ought to take to have a good chance of achieving embryonic breathing, I would not have been capable of implementing it.

Because it would have only been a theoretical explanation.

In practice, it was outrageously hard and filled with complications that only thousands upon thousands of [Exertion]s allowed me to overcome.

Without [Guided]'s persistent reminders of my anterior failures and all the hundreds of ways I could still fail if I failed to make my [Cycle] pass by this or that vein, I would most certainly still be struggling with the basic circuit my [Cycle] ought to follow.

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Nevertheless, after months of agonizing [Exertion]s...

Something finally clicked.

From the world...

To my heart...

To my arteries...

To my organs...

Back to the world...

I could feel my [Focus] being pushed to its utmost limit, supported by my [Exertion] Aspect, all so that my [Cycle] settled into a harmonious rhythm.

Eight seconds...

Thirty-two seconds...

A minute...

Two minutes...

Four minutes...

Eight minutes...

I opened my eyes.

My breathing had stopped.

My heart was still beating, its every pulsation sending gentle echoes through my flesh and bones.

I stood up.

My [Cycle] contorted, nearly broke, but it endured.

I made it endure.

"..." I tried to say something. No sound exited my mouth.

That was it.

That was truly it.

From this day onwards, no longer would I be constrained by the troublesome, wasteful, and inefficient act of taking shallow gulps of air that only ended up colliding and mixing chaotically with air that my blood already failed to consume all the oxygen from due to the poor biological architecture of my lungs and their constituent alveoli.

Stupid body.

And accessorially, I had also officially achieved the [Cultivation] Aspect's minimal synthesis threshold.

Something [Guided] appeared distinctly excited about, considering it was urging me to stop feeding my blood with nutritional elements and manifest my [Will] with the sole intent of purging my body of even the slightest bit that could be considered "impure".

Oh well.

I assumed all my [Cycle] [Exertion]s had just been replaced by [Cultivation] synthesis [Exertion]s...

◇ ◈ ◈ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◈ ◈ ◇

I felt my Essence pulse while I was battling with my entire [Cycle] against the encroaching residual heat from one of the fifty-eighth floor's harvesting towers belonging to the Faith.

Convinced this pulse did not signify my [Cycle] Aspect advancing to Tier 3, I kept to my heat removal [Cycle] [Exertion] until I teetered on the edge of unconsciousness, and I was at last [Guided] to [Will] the heat pervading my body gone.

[Clarity] returning to my mind, I was [Guided] to spiritually appreciate the tangible difference brought by my recovery from brain overheating, grasping any [Insight]s I could eventually need to synthesize my [Focus] Aspect into the [Clarity] Aspect, without forgetting to reflect on the fundamental difference between [Insight] and [Comprehension].

Then, finally, I opened my [Perception] to the chaotic environment around me and, without looking, without remembering, merely from my hazy [Awareness] of how the heated air around me flowed, I spread my wings and allowed myself to be taken, embracing the mindset of becoming one with the air itself, my existence subsumed by something greater than me.

Like that, in one series of [Exertion]s, I worked on my five Aspect syntheses, covering seven out of eight of my Path Aspects.

There wasn't a more optimal anti-overdevelopment [Exertion] than that.

It was perfect—

My Essence pulsed again.

Except this pulse felt different from the first one.

Too different.

As if it originated from a completely different Aspect.

And as though to make fun of what I increasingly suspected had just transpired, my own [Perception] revolted against what I was making it do, leaving me with naught but a fragment of [Awareness] as to where I was.

I opened my eyes at the same time as I adjusted my right wing, the motion carrying me through half a rotation, shifting me from a wind-riding drift back to being in full control of my flight.

My [Cultivation]-synthesis [Cycle] failed to hold through the sudden shift, forcing me to take a deep breath of the scorching air travelling through the residual exhaust tunnel of the harvesting tower.

My throat burned.

My lungs felt like they were on fire.

My brain urged me to exhale everything to prevent further damage from being done.

[Guided] told me the opposite.

I knew which to obey, even if I didn't have the time to process the whys, considering the suddenness of the situation.

Also, my eyes were useless, the [Darkness] of my environment so deep as to be absolute, unequivocally informing me my [Perception] Aspect had truly pulled one on me at the worst moment.

I tried to slow down, folding my wings and increasing the resistance my body put against the air.

It accomplished nothing.

Worse, the chaotic airstream violently tried to throw me off.

I held on, adjusted my wings, balance, and direction so that I could be naturally escorted towards rejoining the main airstream harvesting complex.

I had done this hundreds of times already by this point, so I knew what to do and where to go.

Eventually, I left the responsibility of my decision-making to [Guided], which apparently knew exactly where I was and amended my trajectory so that I was headed steadfastly towards a maintenance tunnel exit.

When [Guided] to, I abruptly folded my wings and [Will]ed my momentum to be dispersed back into the surrounding air, slowing me down just right to spread my wings again to make a tight turn.

The deafening sound of the chaotic airstream cut off, informing me I had just zipped inside a maintenance tunnel exit.

The [Darkness] inside was still absolute, and while there was no rationale for things to take a turn for the worse, I was still [Guided] to land and wait for the advancement disorder paralyzing my [Perception] to pass.

Sitting in total [Darkness], waiting for time to pass...

Fascinatingly, for a brief moment, it felt like I had been teleported to someplace very familiar.

A place where only maintaining the [Secrecy] of my existence mattered, above everything else.

Probably because if things came down to it, I had my [Will] ready to impose itself on the world, forcing my eyes to be able to peer through absolute [Darkness], I held no fear, I even somehow found the moment to be...

Enlightening.

A reminder of what once was.

Then my [Perception] finally returned, the [Darkness] instantly pushed back, and...

[Guided] informed me it was a perfect opportunity to meditate on what I had just lived through.

I... completely agreed, to the extent of not even bothering to stand up as I started feeling for all those strange thoughts and sensations I had just had or been reminded of.

How the vanishing of my [Perception] had translated into the total loss of my proto-[Awareness].

How for those short few minutes, the world had been thoroughly hidden from me despite existing physically.

How it had been... months since I last completely abandoned myself to the familiar [Darkness].

How the weight of my insignificance had momentarily surged to unseen heights when I was told to simply wait things out.

How I had come to accept my [Will] as my sole anchor beside [Guided] when things became dire.

My meditation was messy, jumbled, disorganized, but from it, I derived surprisingly prominent and intimate [Insight]s that I did not doubt for a second had just advanced my Aspect synthesis by days of [Exertion]s' worth.

It was truly a shame how such unexpected events couldn't be fabricated while removing all the inherent dangers they posed.

In any case, now that my [Perception] Aspect advancement disorder had temporarily abated, I emptied my lungs, reestablished my [Cultivation]-synthesis [Cycle], and took off right back into the chaotic airstream.

In a matter of minutes, I located my usual exit and, following a dozen sharp turns that put my flight abilities to the test, found myself out of the harvesting tower and back on the fifty-eighth floor proper, the world illuminated by the red afterglow emanating from the Red Sand Realm Rift.

To not risk making matters worse, [Guided] and I unanimously opted to swiftly return to the Prime Temple.

A [Will] manifestation sustained over two minutes was all it took to turn that decision into a reality, and from there, the infirmary was just a short familiar flight away.

Once there, I first landed on top of a cabinet, where I communed with my Essence to confirm its state.

My [Perception] Aspect was advancing.

Alongside my [Tempering] Aspect.

I knew my Aspects advancing was something bound to happen sooner or later, regardless of how I constrained my [Exertion]s to be more and more specifically aimed at my five Aspect syntheses, but still...

When mere days prior, I dared to hope I would soon relegate my early Essence overdevelopment disorder to a controlled background balance [Exertion] whose only reason not to be eliminated altogether was to start forming an Aspect capable of forcefully stabilizing my future Essence disorders...

That was...

Well.

Not actually that unexpected.

It was just bad timing.

Two Aspects advancing at once wasn't even that big of a deal.

It was only rare when one had yet to have dozens of Aspects floating around in their Essence.

For those who had too many Aspects to count, it was a likely occurrence for them to have two, three, sometimes four Aspects advancing at the same time.

What I learned from those cases was that the Aspect advancement Essence disorder caused was neither relatively bigger nor relatively smaller than if the disorders had taken place individually before being combined into one.

So, at worst, I was looking at two months and some of anti-overdevelopment [Exertion] routine treatment.

And...

That was it.

My worries put to rest, I remained in the infirmary just long enough to receive a basic [Assessment] ascertaining I was fine, before taking off towards the sanctuary.

My Essence being subjected to two Aspect advancements, my [Exertion] routine would have to transiently be altered by considering the two concerned Aspects invalidated.

The thing was, with the two Aspects concerned being [Tempering] and [Perception]...

Nearly the entirety of my [Exertion] routine was sequentially negated.

No [Tempering] meant no practical benefits to pushing my boundaries and driving myself beyond my limits.

No [Perception] meant I could passingly consider myself blind and deaf.

The former was crippling.

The latter was... moderately inconvenient, with arguably some novel [Perception]-deprivation [Exertion]s that could be experienced.

The combination, in the end, was [Exertion]-wise ruinous, with not even the relatively gentle [Secrecy]-synthesis [Exertion]s being spared, and solely the [Insight]-based, low-intensity [Exertion]s remaining untouched.

Concretely, that meant...

Books.

Lots of books.

And reading.

Lots of reading.

More specifically, lots of doing nothing but reading.

Because while a dual Aspect advancement Essence disorder purportedly would only set the resolution of my Essence overdevelopment disorder back two months or so, [Guided] and I both agreed that we had no reason not to at least discontinue any kind of Essence development until the situation resolved itself.

Better to be idle than risk my Essence truly entering a state of overdevelopment.

Thus, deciding to make the most of those couple of days of [Insight]-based, low-intensity [Exertion]s, I headed for somewhere [Guided] and I kept postponing our visit to for lack of an appropriate timeframe.

The Logistics section of the Seeker sanctuary.

With my decision made to journey towards the Everwell Sector in two to three years by preferentially tagging alongside the Fairy House's last convoy, even if I was pretty confident they would be happy to have me be in charge of nothing, that sort of thing wouldn't fly for me.

If I were to be part of a convoy of a hundred-odd fairies bound together for a year, possibly years-long journey, then there was no way I would settle for not pulling my own weight, both literally and figuratively.

I already had a healer qualification, so that was one thing, but no amount of healing could solve the two great afflictions that were starvation and dehydration.

Or at least, the healing required for these two kinds of afflictions was so intensive [Will]-wise as to realistically be unmanageable for me.

I may be able to sustain myself off of nothing but air, but even sustaining myself to the best of my ability to recover my energy as quickly as I could, healing young giants from starvation and thirst during my Sentinel assignments had proved that it was a lost cause.

Healing starvation and dehydration directly was but a last-ditch solution.

Even [Will]ing water to be condensed from the air was more efficient than attempting to heal dehydration.

Hence, better yet, why shouldn't I tackle the issue at its root?

So...

It was finally time to acquaint myself with "the systematic coordination, allocation, and optimization of resources, personnel, transport, and information flows to ensure the efficient planning, execution, and sustainment of complex, multi-variable operations across constrained environments."

This was going to be a long couple of days...

Nevertheless, who knew?

Perhaps my initial opinion on logistics, formed from mere primers on the subject, had been totally wrong, and I was on the verge of discovering I actually liked it?

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