Chương 30: Immortality

The day following Mason's meeting with Daredevil and Lady Bullseye, since he could only wait for news from the vigilante hero, Mason decided he might as well make use of the free time and visit Baxter Building. Mason had been visiting the building on and off for a while now. Although the day had ended up derailing into a big fight with the Hulk and Doctor Doom, Mason's initial goal in visiting the Baxter Building had been to better understand his cultivation.

So, he had started working alongside Reed Richards, also known as Mister Fantastic, visiting every so often over the past month. So far, he had mostly been going through tests to allow Reed to better understand his condition, as he did need to understand it to give feedback.

With his fame having died down quite considerably over the past month, Mason walked through the front entrance without so much as a second glance, only a nod from the receptionist, who unlocked the access to the upper five floors for the elevator. Going straight to the 34th floor, Reed's lab, Mason was surprised to find him not alone, but alongside the three others of the Fantastic Four.

Through his sporadic visits in the last month, Mason had gotten introduced to every member of the team, but he had only exchanged a few words with the Human Torch and the Thing. He was mainly acquainted with Sue and Reed. Since he had warned Reed he was coming on such short notice, Mason guessed he had caught them at a bad time, so as all four heads turned his way when he arrived, he said, "I can come back later if you want."

Johnny Storm, also known as the Human Torch, scoffed immediately, "Why, so you can bring your little Victor along?" Mason had decided to be forthright about Doom's apprenticeship to him. He knew that if he kept this to himself, it would inevitably come back to bite him in the ass later on. If anything, Doom could easily use it as leverage against him, framing him as a sort of spy. Reed had seen the purely pragmatic nature of his deal, and Sue and Ben had appreciated the honesty.

Johnny, though, had been much less accepting. It could not quite be called betrayal, since the two of them had no prior relationship to speak of, but he made his disapproval quite clear the only time they had met face to face. Sending a glare at Johnny, who ignored him, Reed raised a hand, stopping him.

"No, no, I wanted everyone to be present. Please." Mason looked at the scientist and his family with interest. Walking up to the group, Mason glanced at the large screen and the five readings on it. Naturally, they were incomprehensible to Mason. He was not even sure what he was looking at, only recognizing that it pertained to five different people through pattern recognition. The logical assumption was that he was seeing data of the Fantastic Four and himself, but what he was supposed to see, he had no idea.

"Ever since we received our powers, I have been researching the applications of cosmic rays and the effects they have on human bodies. I never shared it before, but my results are indisputable and uniform: being showered in cosmic rays on the scale we were, we should have died." Johnny stared at Reed with wide eyes, immediately quipping, "Jeez Reed, good morning to you too!"

Reed returned Johnny the favor, ignoring him, "For the longest time I have wondered why exactly we not only survived, but developed these powers. Our genes experiencing mutations is unsurprising, but for it to be so stable is statistically impossible. My theory so far had always been that the mutation had been 'guided'." The revelation came as a shock to the Storm siblings, and probably equally as much to Ben.

However, the hulking man made of rocks scoffed, "I think you're just trying to excuse your mistake, because the great Reed Richards couldn't have possibly miscalculated, could he? Must have been God instead." Mason watched on uncomfortably, suddenly feeling quite out of place. Even more so when he internally believed Ben's sarcastic argument.

Although Mason did not remember whether some godly entity had been behind the Fantastic Four gaining their powers, seeing their immense significance to the universe, it was far from improbable. Ignoring the Fantastic Four themselves, Susan and Reed's child would one day become a cosmic entity standing on equal footing with Galactus, fated to see the end of this multiverse and the beginning of the next.

Although the guilt tripping usually worked wonders on Reed, the scientist shook his head this time, explaining, "Before, my only theory had been that this 'guidance' had been external, which was why I never shared the theory. Even I know how absurdly self-centered it would be to believe some cosmic deity chose to grant us powers." Susan, although shaken by the revelations as well, had kept her expression schooled so far.

Looking at Mason with interest, piecing the puzzle together, she mused, "And yet, you chose to share it with us today." Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Reed nodded with finality, staring at Mason as well.

"Indeed. As you can see here," he pointed to a part of the chart with an elongated finger, speaking as if he was pointing out something obvious, "Mason's bio-electrical field is magnitudes higher than that of a normal person. This is something we share to a certain extent, although the difference with the average person is negligible once we take Mason into account. Mason, would you test our Three Treasures?"

"What three treasures? Kid, you better not-" Mason smiled at Ben, who quickly stepped back, and although he felt tempted to mess with him, he started with Reed instead, quickly tapping his forehead, heart and kidney, which housed the Spirit, Breath and Essence respectively. According to some of Mason's readings, they were sometimes also called the three Dantian: Upper, Middle and Lower. In the end, it was another name for the Three Treasures.

Mason infused his own energy through his finger, stimulating Reed's Three Treasures. The man remained unmoved, having already experienced this before. Reed's Three Treasures were identical to before. His Essence was slightly above that of the average person, but it did not reach the level of the average martial artist either. His Breath and Spirit were a step further, but it was nothing extraordinary. Turning towards Susan, he took the precaution of asking first, "May I?"

This was a courtesy he did not extend to the others for obvious reasons, and quickly, all four of them had their Three Treasures overstimulated. Just like Reed, the breadth of their Three Treasures was well within normal parameters, but Susan, Johnny and Ben were looking at themselves like they had suddenly been thrown into a stranger's body. It was not surprising; Reed had had a similar reaction the first time it happened to him.

By stimulating the Three Treasures, the energy they governed, be it Chi, Divine Sense, or Spiritual Energy, became energized enough to be felt even by the average person. It was easily imagined how someone would react if they suddenly felt a strange energy inside their bodies. This was harder to do than it seemed, or rather, it held stringent requirements on the Three Treasures.

Mason's cultivation was technically still between the Body Refinement and the Awakening Realm, because his Three Spirits remained unbalanced. However, that was purely because Mason's Spirit was so utterly monstrous. In reality, his Essence and Breath had long since surpassed the realm of Body Refinement, and had advanced well into the Awakening Realm. To recap, the Body Refinement Realm aimed to balance the Three Treasures, while the Awakening Realm would awaken the Treasures, pushing their limits.

To quantify things, a normal person in the Body Refinement Realm would strive to push all Three of their Treasures to a value of 1. That would be the Peak of the Body Refinement Realm. Then, awakening the First Treasure, Essence, would not only grant them greater control over that particular Treasure, but also allow them to push their Three Treasures to a value of 3. Awakening the Second Treasure, Breath, would do the same, and push the limit to 6.

Finally, reaching the peak of the Awakening Realm and awakening all Three Treasures would allow one to reach a value of 10 in them all. Mason was an abnormality because his Spirit had already been standing at this value of 10 since the day he took over. It was this utterly abnormal situation which had allowed him to advance so rapidly in his cultivation, as his Three Treasures sought to reach a balance.

It was the case for everyone, but it was only so pronounced when the difference between the Three Treasures was so vast. Presently, because he had awakened two of his Treasures and further trained them, both of Mason's Essence and Breath stood at 6. So technically, he was not yet at the peak of the Body Refinement Realm, because his Spirit was at 10, but in terms of power, his Essence and Spirit were at the peak of what someone who awakened two Treasures could achieve.

For Mason, reaching the peak of the Body Refinement Realm would mean reaching the peak of the Awakening Realm also, as only when all three of his Treasures stood at 10 would they reach balance. But to go back to the Fantastic Four and their testing, it was only because Mason's Essence and Breath had reached this value of 6 that the four could feel their Three Treasures so clearly. Anyone with their Treasures worth under a value of 4 would be unable to replicate what he had done in an untrained person.

It was yet another major roadblock on the road of cultivation. Because Awakening Masters were so rare, and most were selfish in their cultivation, most practitioners of cultivation, or Internal Alchemy, would have to strive to feel their Three Treasures by themselves, which required years of training. Actually, for many, even with a lifetime of training, they would fail to feel Chi for themselves.

That was also why someone like Lady Bullseye, Mason's fellow disciple, remained stuck at the peak of the Body Refinement Realm. Although all three of her Treasures had reached the value of 1, because she remained unable to feel them, she failed to take the next step forward. In this particular case, considering she was a homicidal maniac working for a cult of assassins, it was a good thing, but the point stood.

Unaware of Mason's internal musings, Reed asked him, "Have you felt anything special regarding our conditions? Any abnormalities in our Three Treasures?" A tinge of hope appeared in Ben's eyes, which made it harder for Mason to shake his head. He explained, "There are abnormalities, but they are effects, not causes."

"Could you elaborate?" Somehow, Reed did not appear surprised, or even disappointed by this. Passing a hand through his hair, Mason sighed, struggling to put it into words, "The sources of our power are different, so it's complicated to thoroughly explain, but if we take Ben for example, his Three Treasures feel… slow, and steady."

"Are you calling me dumb?" Mason chuckled, "Not slow in that sense. Maybe 'still' would have been a better term. Everybody's Three Treasures naturally leak over time, especially among untrained people. You can see that as your lifeforce slipping away. Yours doesn't. This means that you are functionally immortal. But this immortality does not stem from this stillness in your Three Treasures; the stillness stems from your immortality." The four stared at him, and Johnny shouted, "W-wait a second. Back up.

What do you mean by immortality?"

"Huh?"

"Huh?"