Chương 368: Interlude - Pablo’s Virtual Diary (V)

Entry Record - 163 The operation was a success. As expected this far south, we encountered no Xok'al but instead an automaton remnant of the Xayen, with active traps guarding the entrance. I lost one of my summons to a trap, but the cost was negligible given the current availability of four-tail orbs. Between my summons and Leonie, the automaton was neutralised without major complications. Storm Domain is an impressive skill, even at its early stage of application.

Observing it in use made it clear that I will need a skill capable of significantly enhancing my summons if I intend to remain competitive, or possibly a domain-type skill of similar scale. I have begun preliminary work toward this objective. Entry Record - 165 We are heading south again. It is interesting how Leonhard's pending task of defeating the Alpha Wyvern has shifted from an optional objective to a necessary one due to the coordinates we have obtained.

While the lack of access to the knowledge in the Azcoyatl capital is unfortunate, the other five sites have provided enough data to approximate a location, and the overall purpose is clear. For the first time, we are moving with full force. Stephen, Leonhard, Robert, Leonie, and nearly all members of The Shadows. Given the projected strength of the creature, we will not hold back. Entry Record - 166 The creature was formidable.

Our estimates were insufficient, and even a full barrage of long-range firepower failed to produce notable damage against its defences. However, with several of us now at the Third State, our individual combat capability and combined coordination exceeded what the creature could endure. Third State Leonhard under Robert's link, supported by Storm Domain Leonie, with the creature continuously disrupted by Madelaine's interference and my own summons, resulted in its eventual collapse.

We lost two members in the engagement, including one from The Shadows, but the rewards were considerable, both in terms of Stage Progress and external gains. Seven of us, a select group I was included in, divided the creature's seven red orbs. The phenomenon was reminiscent of the boss raids in the previous stage. These orbs granted equipment with Tower-given prompts that enhanced our innate prowess, increasing both Pillar output and physical performance. The surge in power is significant.

With this, Stephen can finally return to the Azcoyatl Empire to claim the Primal Priest position and access their sacred site. But first, we have a ruin here that requires investigation. Entry Record - 167 The information obtained was unsettling. The Xok'al appear to be the true architects of this entire stage, manipulating events from the background and using the human civilizations as controlled cattle for their own development.

This suggests that their recent growth was not accelerated, rather, they were always present. Five-tail and six-tail variants have likely existed for far longer than we previously assumed, remaining dormant until the optimal time to harvest. We also acquired approximate coordinates for what may be their origin nest, where the formation of a possible seven-tail is expected. Time is now a critical factor, and we must make haste.

While the evolutionary structure and behavioral patterns of the Xok'al are subjects I intend to investigate further, what concerned me more was the correlation between the final entry of the diary and the visuals Leonie retrieved from the Ajnal capital. The data sets align too precisely to be coincidental, yet a key component is missing. I presented my assessment, and both Stephen and Madelaine reviewed the evidence, reaching the same conclusion.

To resolve this, Stephen has been tasked with traveling to the Azcoyatl Empire to obtain the final piece of information. I will accompany him. Entry Record - 169 Of all possible discoveries, I did not expect this. A complete overhaul of the State system, dividing progression into three equivalent branches, each superior to the Standard States. The architecture of it is remarkable. Elegant, efficient, and deeply unsettling.

The concept of fusing my brain with the Pillar is something I would have rejected without hesitation before. Now, however, I find the idea… compelling. It feels as if the system itself is exerting a pull, a directive impulse I cannot fully rationalise. The advantages are undeniable. The risk is also absolute. Failure, or even partial instability, would mean the erasure of my current self. Whether I return to Earth or not is irrelevant. Pablo, as a cognitive identity, may cease to exist.

Even so, hesitation is not an option. We require this strength. Still, I will not proceed recklessly. The Xok'al invasion has entered a suspended phase, the kind of silence indicative of a large-scale shift. Stephen and I shared our findings with the others, and Leonie is now evaluating the implications. I made it clear that unless I reach the third of these Extreme States¹, my combat efficiency will drop below its current level. If I succeed, the leap in capability will be substantial.

I estimated ten days to two weeks, depending on access to Warden orbs to accelerate the process. Entry Record - 170 Leonie has responded. She met with the Ajnal Empress. Based on ancient prophecies and current Xok'al activity, Leonie anticipates the emergence of the six-tail soon. Furthermore, if The Tower maintains even a partial narrative pattern, the capitals will be targeted and their leaders eliminated as the poem hints at.

Leonie proposed a coordinated withdrawal to a fortified southern outpost, leaving the capital rigged as a trap while we develop strength through the new methods. A strategic retreat, followed by a decisive counterattack when prepared. The Empress refused to leave the capital. She dismissed the diary evidence and ordered Leonie back to the front lines. Leonie did not accept this. She has withdrawn from the Ajnal entirely.

Regardless of the Empress's personal strength, remaining in a predicted impact zone, with no reliable data on the enemy's upper-tier forms, posed unacceptable risk. We either obtain information or obtain the power to compensate for the lack of it. The directive has been issued across all fronts. Even Leonhard's group agreed, following their unsuccessful attempt to negotiate with the Beastman Warchief. We are to vanish from sight and prepare through the new system.

Once Leonie reaches the Third Fusion State, she will initiate the counteroffensive. As for me, I have been assigned a single objective: focus exclusively on reaching the Third Extreme Pillar State. And I will accomplish it. If the process costs me my identity, then that is the required price. Sacrifice is no longer a foreign concept to me. Entry Record - 171 I… I am back. I did not realise how much of me had been missing until the moment everything snapped into place again.

For a second I just stood there, breathing like a drowning man reaching the surface after too long underwater. My mind feels warm again. Alive. Free. The First Extreme Pillar State… I thought it would sharpen me. I thought it would simply refine the lattice and polish the output. Instead, it has removed something I never understood was restraining me. The rigid structure of the Standard State acted like a cage around my emotions, silencing them until they became faint echoes. I believed that was clarity.

I believed that was discipline. I believed that was what I needed to function. But now that the bindings are gone, now that I can actually feel again, I realise how terrifying that cold version of myself had become. A chill runs down my spine whenever I think about it. The trap was never the evolution. The trap was the normal state we trusted. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. My thoughts were straight lines. My reactions were too smooth.

My empathy was muted, almost absent. And I honestly did not notice. I should have noticed. I should have questioned the numbness. I should have felt something. But I did not. And that scares me more than anything we have seen in this world. Now everything hits me at once. Relief. Fear. Hope. All tangled. All loud. All real. I am the true Pablo once more. So this is the true way. Hidden beneath the light, the real path was buried in the shadows of this stage. This makes me rethink everything about The Tower.

How much is truly scripted? Is there really one intended path or many? Entry Record - 172 Reaching the Second Extreme State was quick. I can tell I have regained a large portion of my strength, but the difficult part starts now. Leonie sent me four Warden orbs. I did not expect that. But I appreciate the trust and reliance she has placed in me. I will not disappoint her. The boost gave me a surge of confidence. Enough to push faster toward the next stage. Enough to meet what this war will demand from me.

I have been reviewing what the Extreme States actually change. It is not only the increase in Pillar output. There is also this widening gap between mind and body. The fused brain–Pillar system draws on the body like a reservoir. Vital functions feel… less essential. Less tied to survival in the usual sense. If this continues, I wonder if the mind could exist on its own, without a body. Maybe even without a physical vessel at all. Thinking feels smoother now.

My natural emotions and my calculations no longer fight each other. They blend. I take risks again. I create again. It has helped my progress with the skill and with the push toward three parallel minds. My summons have also benefited more than I expected. The difference compared to the Standard States is enormous. Even at the Second State, I can control four-tails and raise them past 45%. It makes me eager to see what will happen when I reach the Third. Entry Record - 175 It has started.

The six-tails have appeared, and as Leonie expected, under their lead, the Xok'al have attacked the Ajnal capital. It is unknown if the Empress is dead or alive. Leonie says she has been receiving long-range transmissions luring her out. She has ignored them. We remain hidden until necessary. Entry Record - 178 Leonie has reached the Third Fusion State. She is the first of us to do so, something that does not surprise me.

She is preparing an attack on the Ajnal capital, assisted by all The Shadows who have reached the Second State. Finally our counter attack starts. As for me, my battles lie in my head. I have made huge progress lately, and my Chorus of Thoughts has passed the 12% threshold. I can finally control three summons at once. The Third Stage is close. I can feel it. Yet with the pending battle that will decide our fate in the far West, it is hard for me to focus right now. I hope all goes well. Even if they fail…

Leonie must live. Entry Record - 179 I just received the visuals of the fight. She… she won. What an incredible battle! It has shattered the limits of anything we have seen before by a wide margin. While the strength of the Overseer was astonishing, even more so than expected, the prowess of Third Fusion State Leonie was equally remarkable. She managed to fight the Overseer one on one, and with the assistance of The Shadows, she eventually finished it off.

She reported that she gained additional Stage Progress and items with Tower-granted boosts from it. However, she has acknowledged that she may now be a priority Xok'al target, so she will remain hidden until we have one more Third State powerhouse for the next fight. And I… I will make sure we do not have to wait for long. Entry Record - 181 So this is what it feels like. I… I feel invincible. This EM output, this level of thought, this clarity, and this sharpness in how the world appears.

Is this truly the world through the eyes of a Third Extreme State? No wonder the difference is so dramatic. The 80% quantitative boost from the previous state is enormous, but the qualitative improvements are just as significant. I feel the divide between this state and all others is so wide it makes battle between them virtually impossible. I attempted a task I had left pending: summoning the wyverns. It worked almost too easily, with their boosts exceeding an astonishing 85% from their base values.

Yet they are not what I am focused on. I feel I finally have the means to make it real. To finally control the Wardens and infiltrate the Xok'al net. I have sent Leonie my intentions. She has agreed. Entry Record - 183 The Azcoyatl Overseer has fallen. Its Eclipse made our waves useless, but my links are not EM in nature, and by controlling three Wardens under a 40% boost and pushing them to go all out, together with Madelaine's interference and Leonie taking the vanguard, we dispatched it quickly.

Leonie is now stronger than them with her items and current Stage Progress. In the end, I was surprised that she told me to take the orb instead of Madelaine. Madelaine did not take it well, but I cannot say I care. I reached the Third State before her, and I also believe I have now surpassed her and all EM users in this stage. The benefits from the items and Stage Progress have made me even stronger. I can now resist the Xok'al neural network in its entirety and inform the others of their plans in advance.

We know this will not last, but while it does, we have the advantage. Five Overseers remain. As long as we prevent them from joining forces, we have this. Next target: the Beastmen. Entry Record - 184 Leonhard has reached the Third State. We are ready. I have detected through the scrambled Xok'al neural network that they are preparing an ambush for us, with not one but two Overseers positioned in the Beastmen main village, or what remains of it.

Yet we are three now, with Leonie and I enjoying the benefits of the new items and Stage Progress on top. I have pushed Chorus of Thoughts further and finally broken the hard 14% barrier thanks to my recent boosts. While the limit has not increased beyond three parallel minds, their synergy and their capacity to pull from the Pillar has risen considerably. This translates into stronger summons under coordinated output. I also confirmed that my summons receive the same item boosts I do.

With all this accounted for, my three Wardens, each holding over a 60% overall boost, now stand capable of confronting an Overseer, or at least stalling it for a significant amount of time. Yet I feel I can go further. My attempts at a new technique are close to success. I am trying to make fuller use of my Pillar and its enhanced efficiency. Sun Pulse and Eclipse are impressive, but I did not develop the necessary framework for their use, nor do I intend to. I will develop my own system.

Entry Record - 185 Two more Overseers have fallen. Our counter-ambush was a success, and with Leonhard and Robert stalling one of them, Leonie and I finished the first quickly before turning to deal with the second. With this, four of the seven Overseers are now dead. Only three remain. However, we are unsure how much time is left before the seven-tails awakening. While I believe I could use more time to refine my technique, Leonie was firmly against waiting.

We have the means to fight three Overseers as we are now. And so, we will end this. The risk of running out of time is one we cannot afford. Next target: the Origin Nest. Entry Record - 187 The final war took its toll. All around us lies a field of corpses. The Xok'al went all out, with nearly a thousand Wardens and the Overseers working together with a level of synergy I had never seen from them before… but so did we. And we won.

After we took the Overseers down, the Wardens kept pushing with maddening defiance, no matter how many fell. Yet once they were gone, the rest finally scattered. We did not pursue. There was no need. We lost many in the fight, more than in any battle before. Out of the more than 90 who began this stage with us, only 29 remain. Yet we overcame The Tower's trial. We have defeated the Xok'al. Everyone gave everything they had. We sacrificed, we pushed forward, we worked together, and we held nothing back.

The cost was heavy, but those who remain have the strength to bear it. As we entered the final chamber, we saw the cocoon birthing the seven-tails. It was an abomination made of rotting flesh, with faces and limbs still visible in the mass. However, when I saw the timer above it, a cold shiver went down my spine. Only 26 hours remained. If we had delayed even slightly more than a day… would we have failed? … Leonie had made the right call.

We also saw the stairs beside it, a smooth white surface forming a stark contrast to the rot and blood around it. Leonie ordered us to wait before climbing and to use the time we have left. I can finally turn fully to my technique. I gave the abomination one last look. A thought crossed my mind. Could we fight it? Yet I dismissed the idea immediately. Three Overseers pushed us to the absolute limit.

Even if Stephen were to reach the Third State in the next 24 hours, I doubt we could face whatever would emerge from that cocoon. I remained silent and kept the thought to myself. Neither Leonie nor Leonhard told anyone to prepare for another battle, so perhaps they reached the same conclusion. Entry Record - 189 I have done it. My new technique: Field of Echoes. It does not rely on a lattice in my body or brain for its structure.

Instead, it uses my Pillar as the primary node and the Pillars of my summons as secondary nodes. By mimicking the Xok'al system, I have created my own neural network. It is not for information exchange or perception transfer, those were already available to me. Its purpose lies in synchronising EM fields between all connected nodes. Through controlled interference patterns, I can create zones of maximum and minimum wave propagation.

Some areas behave similarly to Eclipse, others resemble Sun Pulse, but on a much larger scale. I tested it repeatedly, and The Tower eventually recognised it as a skill. With this, I can say it plainly: I am strong. My prowess now stands at the same height as Leonie's. My path has matured. Meanwhile, Stephen has become the fourth among us to reach the Third Extreme State, but it is unlikely that anyone else will achieve the same within the two hours we have left. I looked at Leonie. What will it be then?

Will we fight or…