Perfecting Life's Cycle

They walked down the hallways of the compound together while Regius explained everything Valentine had told him almost immediately after returning, but he was also the same person that convinced his father to not come here right away. Regius was more than just a boy who now had a second chance with his family. He was a King to many, but he was a God to most and his word was in fact law. He had forbidden death mana and for good cause, over the years, the atrocities committed by necromancers had even reached the first layer. Now, as cultivators, they were no strangers to death, but it was the way that they went about it that caused others to realize that Regius may have been on to something. One of the most polarizing instances and what had caused Regius to send Valentine was, in fact, a Necromancer that people referred to as the neighbor. The neighbor had created clones of himself and spread them among the second layer, having them start to live next to the homes of promising individuals with talents hidden or widely known.

He would kill one member, whisking their bodies away to his lab and killing them while extracting their talents for his own use. He would then send a video to the family so that there was no doubt that their loved one was dead and then several months or even years later he would come and claim the other, whether they had the talents he was looking for or not. He would reveal that he was the person behind their grief and take their lives with ease. It was a feat only possible because the second layer was still developing, there was no global news on the first layer or investigators yet, a fact that would have ended his plan just as swiftly the moment someone noticed that each of them all lived next door to the same man. Something that Valentine was able to pick up very easily and solve the issue while he purged the second layer in search of the source of the necromancers.

Leon led the conversation with changes that Regius would need to make while Rowan chimed in and he listened. Leon spoke with a certain confidence that made everyone pay attention when he spoke. "The problem right now is that without death mana, your cycle of life is incomplete, the mana and strength from the dead is not cycling back into the ark properly and being fed back into the denizens of the ark or the Ark itself if it continued over time then you would weaken the entire Ark lowering the potential of everyone born. Regius nodded his head, "It's an easy change, I can snap my fingers and make the change, literally everything here is within my control, but the real issue is that the denizens of the Ark are constantly evolving, how can I stop the death mana from effecting the denizens that can not handle it and become corrupted." Leon never got a chance to speak up, but instead it was Rowan that took over.

"It's not your choice master, you limit more than the potential of the ark but also of evolution. My attunement is a combination of several regular elements, but it gave birth to the storm. People are going to abuse death mana, and the odds are you are going to blanket the first layer in death and chaos like never seen before, but you have no choice in the matter. You can tell the people whatever you want as to why you are doubling back, but at this point, we are past that. You need to not control everything or it will be your downfall." Now Rowan's voice grew some bite as he finished his statement. The ark may be your endless plate, but without a true cycle of life, you only harm everything you are building on the back of these people you sacrifice."

Everyone went silent while Rowan had not even noticed and kept walking like he had not just said something important, but even Leon could only look at him and shake his head. Which one of them could not be accused of the exact same thing? Leon had helped humans that found him dive into death mana so that he could take their research for himself and apply it to bringing back his family and Rowan allowed endless wars to be waged in the sake of making himself more powerful to build the future that he wanted regardless of the loss of life. They were birds of feather; they stepped over those that were weaker than them in the pursuit of their own goals. It was the way of cultivators; it was just not the way that Rowan wanted to be.

Rowan looked back after realizing he wasn't being followed anymore and that all the Lowes were looking at him. He could only shake his head and stare directly at his master. "I know why you did what you did. Empry did everything he could to explain to me that you were just a victim of circumstance. You became the person you are because of circumstance but I don't know. The you in my mind was this all powerful god who would stop all atrocities, but after finding out that we were in the Ark I realized that it's not the case you are the god that lets atrocities happen because eventually atrocities give birth to experts and that's just one more person for you to devour and become stronger from." Rowan had wanted to get all of this off of his chest from the moment he saw his master and now it had just all poured out but he was not done yet.

"It's just like the life cycle that you have ignored for all this time, it has to work for you but as a god you are supposed to be impartial, you should do what helps your people move forward as a whole not just yourself. I don't know, I was just disappointed. I built this version of you that was a hero in my mind, but at the end of it all, even though you aren't committing horrors like necromancers, aren't you doing the same thing?" No one else said a word as Rowan just slowly slumped his shoulders and walked towards the training courtyard that they were approaching and took a seat while Regius stood there. He looked to Empry, who could only shake his head.

"The past year has been tough on Rowan. This world is in the farthest reaches of the second layer and so he had to go by plenty of worlds in his travels and he saw all manners of things , he fought insectoids, phantasms, other humans, zombies. He has seen the darkness of war more than once, but he is not you Regius, he took so long to get here because if he could help someone he stopped and did it. He built his strength on his own not on the back of anyone expecting to get here and fight some great evil that he had built up in his mind only to be met with his master's father and you appeared to then feign anger, you made him seem like a pawn instead of your disciple."

Regius looked perplexed as he said nothing and began to walk towards the training courtyard while Empry, Leon and Balthazar shared a conversation. Regius had told them that Valentine had told him the secret the moment he returned, but Regius had really been too busy to make the time to come down here. It was why Valentine had rushed back after setting Rowan on his path; he had taken his father's place in the army and was leading their forces in the ongoing war with the insectoids giving him time to be here. Regius had also been giving his father time to perfect the resurrection technique without any interference and because of his rules it was not something that could be continued on the first layer, but it was something that he had helped his father with while he did not notice. He had taken the vestiges of their home and swept them here for him to find; he had employed the spirit race to help him move fragments of his siblings' souls here so that they could be reborn. Leon and he had also shared a moment over the passing of his mother, but Leon chose to respect her wishes to pass on, or at least that's what he told his son. What the true future held no one truly knew. The Ark would soon be entering a new Era heralded by death mana.

Regius sat down next to Rowan and took a deep breath. Regius was a mass of defined muscle while Rowan's lithe figure looked tiny in comparison, but he sighed and spoke. "I am only human." Rowan interrupted him almost immediately as he turned to him with his mana flaring. "NO, you are a god. You transcended just being human." Regius held his gaze and nodded his head. "You are right, but still, I am not perfect. I never wanted to be anyone's hero. I cultivated for revenge and when I finally had it, I cultivated for survival and when I finally had that, I cultivated for domination. I was young and dumb, but I don't regret my decisions and I would make them again. You understand it because you too are a cultivator. Might is right. The biggest fist makes the rules and my fist is the biggest. No one has been able to rise and be my equal, but I have given everyone the same chance to. Yes, I could have saved plenty of lives, but my plans do not stop here, my cultivation is not over and this is the path I embarked on. I devour and the Ark puts my meal in one spot so that one day I can make something even better than this, but I need help. I admit that I am flawed, which is why I want you to be the one that helps me complete it."

Rowan looked at his master and took a deep breath. He knew his master was not wrong. He was still looking at the situation like a mortal and not a cultivator. If he wanted people to be better than he could rise to his masters level and show others that he could be better. He was not his master, but his master gave him the platform to tell all cultivators that they could be better, that his path worked, too. Regius looked at him with those rainbow eyes that seemed to see through everything, "Rowan Raid, would you accept a new quest and become my check and my balance and a true role model for this Ark?" Rowan took his hand and gripped it and stared right back at him. "Under one condition, when I become a god, I want equal control of the Ark."

Regius was about to open his mouth to disagree when his father and everyone else showed up. "That seems like a great Idea! Rowan understands souls so well, he perfectly balances a cultivation nut like you." Regius opened his mouth to disagree but all of a sudden mana flared and Leon looked him dead in the face with a serious look. "I invoke the Lowe family only law. All disagreements are to be settled with battle. We can do it here before we all follow you to the first layer, if the boy manages to make you use more than 70 percent of your power with the cultivation gap that exists between the two of you then you agree to his request. If not then Rowan you let it go." Rowan's battle intent blossomed and the berserker gene began to stir as he looked his master in the face and smiled while they both said at the same time with complete confidence. "DEAL!"