Cultivation

Kade moved through the dimly lit corridors of the clubhouse, his boots barely audible against the concrete floors. The air smelled faintly of metal and sweat, a testament to the chaos outside and the people crammed into the shelter. He checked every corner, his senses sharp as he made his way to the reinforced steel doors at the front. They loomed large and imposing, riddled with the marks of past battles. Originally designed to hold off police raids and rival gangs, the doors now stood as a fortress against the horrors of the new world.

Satisfied with the front, Kade made his way to the storage areas. He climbed up the walls of adjacent spaces, checking that every back entrance was sealed tight. His fingers brushed the heavy locks as he inspected the seals, and he let out a breath of relief. Everything was secure. The defenses Griggs had put in place to deter law enforcement were now a crucial line of defense against the nightmare outside. The brief moment of calm allowed his thoughts to wander—to Zeke, to the Ascendants, and to his own survival.

His rounds complete, Kade ascended the scaffolding leading to a hidden maintenance room nestled above the storage area. This spot had been his sanctuary once, a place to lie low when things went south. The familiarity of it brought a strange comfort, and as he shut the door behind him, he felt the world's weight lessen, if only for a moment. He lowered himself onto the floor and pulled out the worn leather-bound book Westler had left behind.

Opening the book, Kade skimmed the densely packed pages. Symbols glowed faintly in the dim light, their strange allure pulling him deeper into the text. As he read, the book revealed the nine stages of power that defined Rift Walkers. The descriptions made his pulse quicken.

The Nine Tiers of Ascension

The First Tier of Ascension: Harmonizing the Blood

Resonance Energy integrates with the bloodstream, enhancing physical attributes and requiring breathing techniques to stabilize its chaotic flow. This stage lays the foundation for further cultivation.

The Second Tier of Ascension: Fortifying the Flesh

The energy strengthens muscles, tendons, and ligaments, significantly increasing strength and durability. The body becomes a finely tuned weapon, capable of incredible feats.

The Third Tier of Ascension: Engraving the Bones

Resonance Energy reinforces the skeletal system, making bones nearly unbreakable. Internal transformations provide enhanced endurance and resilience.

The Fourth Tier of Ascension: Tempering the Core

Energy pools within a central core, acting as a reservoir of power. This tier enhances energy control and output, allowing for more precise attacks and defenses.

The Fifth Tier of Ascension: Resonance Flow Mastery

The user gains the ability to channel energy seamlessly throughout their body, amplifying power explosively in combat. Movements become faster and more fluid, almost preternatural.

The Sixth Tier of Ascension: Dimensional Awareness

The mind begins to expand, perceiving the rift energy and fluctuations in dimensional planes. Reflexes and combat intuition become supernaturally sharp. Paired with a strengthened mental fortitude and capacity for resonance energy manipulation

The Seventh Tier of Ascension: Rift Dominion

At this stage, the user gains the ability to sense and manipulate small rifts, traveling short distances through dimensional tears. Energy control reaches a level of mastery unparalleled by earlier tiers.

The Eighth Tier of Ascension: Riftborn Sovereignty

The body and energy reach near-perfect harmony, allowing for immense power and mastery over Resonance Energy. The user can directly influence lower-tier beings and even rift phenomena.

The Ninth Tier of Ascension: Ascendant

The pinnacle of power, where the user transcends physical limits entirely. Ascendants are god-like beings, able to reshape worlds, command Resonance Energy, and traverse dimensions at will.

Kade leaned back, his mind reeling. He had only reached the first tier—Harmonizing the Blood—but the journey ahead was staggering. The text explained that advancing required rigorous physical training, controlled absorption of Resonance Energy, and the deliberate circulation of energy throughout every cell of the body. Muscles, bones, cartilage—every part had to be fortified through painstaking effort.

Turning the page, Kade came across the descriptions of the mutant tiers. His pulse quickened as he read about the monsters warped by Resonance Energy, their power levels divided into nine tiers.

The Mutant Tiers:

1. Wretches – Grotesque, malformed creatures drawn to energy, dangerous in groups but individually weak.

2. Rendclaws – Larger, more predatory mutants with deadly appendages and a natural hierarchy over lower tiers.

3. Aberrants – Twisted, intelligent creatures with unique abilities and significant power.

4. Ravagers – Apex predators with crystalline growths that enhance their durability and lethality.

5. Resonant Lords – Commanders of mutant hordes, with immense strength and the ability to emit energy pulses.

6. Rift Monarchs – Rift-tied creatures capable of reshaping their surroundings and exerting massive influence.

7. Dimensional Titans – Colossal beings whose very presence destabilizes reality.

8. Catastrophy Leviathan – Mutants rivaling Ascendants in power, existing partially outside reality itself.

9. Unknown

The ninth tier was unknown, but Kade didnt even want to imagine what anything past tier 2 was...Kade's breath looked back to the description of Tier 2 monsters. The beast he had killed earlier fit perfectly. Tier 2 mutants, called Rendclaws, were engorged with Resonance Energy to the point where it solidified into metallic crystal growths called Riftsteel. These crystals were highly durable and carried traces of stored energy. Kade now understood why the creature's back had been studded with jagged, metallic formations. These monsters evolved by consuming Resonance Energy and life force, their warped forms a result of their inability to process the energy fully.

His thoughts drifted back to the crystals he had pried from the creature's back. Riftsteel. He would need to ask Griggs if his forge could shape it into something useful.

The book's detailed explanations deepened Kade's understanding of his situation but left him with more questions than answers. The science—or what passed for science—behind cultivation was as fascinating as it was mysterious. He thought of Julia, of the survivors, and of the growing need for allies who could help him decipher these complexities.

As the night wore on, Kade decided to test what he had learned. He focused on his breathing, visualizing the energy circulating through his body. Each inhale pulled Resonance Energy into his core, and each exhale pushed it outward, spreading it to his limbs. His muscles burned as he pushed himself through a series of exercises: push-ups, pull-ups, squats. The strain was intense, but he could feel the energy strengthening his body, weaving into his very cells.

Finally, drenched in sweat and trembling from exertion, Kade leaned back against the wall. The journey ahead was daunting, but for the first time, he felt like he had a path—a way to grow stronger, to survive, and to fight back.

Before drifting to sleep, one thought lingered in his mind: The Ascendants may have taken Zeke, but this world isn't theirs. Not yet.