Bloom

How depressing.

I now understand why cultivators on this planet who can see the future, refuse to divine their own.

My first attempt has such a depressing outcome, no wonder no one does such a thing.

When I entered the Ocean of Eternity and moved forward to see what may be, I was shocked.

The surrounding sea got smaller, and smaller, and smaller, until there was only a single tiny river. A single future led across a massive dam that spanned eons of time.

It took sacrificing three sub-branches after stripping them of leaves to push enough Chaos power to see past the dam. Seeing past the eons of emptiness and through the tiny river of possible success cost me. However, it has also given me a way out.

Now, back in my own body, with three less sub-branches I am very depressed. It takes great amounts of energy to look into what may be, and thus the loss of appendages.

After careful thought, I have come to a few beliefs.

This future is unstoppable.

This future is unavoidable.

This future holds massive benefits and dangers.

According to what I have seen, I will eventually be trapped and sealed within the Void by the Divinities. They control countless Universes, and the resources of entire civilizations will ultimately push me to extinction.

Given enough time locked inside it, the Void will devour me, as not even I can travel within it forever even on my Voidship.

Eventually my body would disintegrate, my power feeding the nothingness of existence.

The result of the ‘sea’ I witnessed the Ocean of Eternity as, growing smaller and smaller, is the result of different times when this entrapment occurs.

If it happens at the most opportune time, I will have a fraction of Time during the sealing within which I can act.

I will have to gamble everything on this moment.

I witnessed myself throwing a creation out from the endless Void before the seal finalizes and I am trapped.

After that, eons later the seal breaks and I am free.

This is why it is a gamble.

I know the creation I have made, it already exists now in a raw form. I know the time I can strike with it, with such clarity I can almost taste it. I have, zero clue though how to improve my chances of success, if there is even such a thing.

It is very uncomfortable to know that my fate lies in the hands of a complete unknown. Somewhere, outside my sight, someone will take my creation and help me.

All attempts to see who it is are fruitless, as one of the problems is that I have to make my weapon to escape unable to be seen by Divinities. Unfortunately that also seems to blind me as well.

The other option though, is death. Prolonged over a great amount of time, and with no escape.

I hate choices which aren’t choices. No wonder everyone wants to kill Oracles!

Well, I have Time, forewarned is forearmed I guess.

A few hours later after pulling enough Chaos and refining it into new sub-branches before attaching the leaves I get serious.

Reaching out through my energy senses I contact Neferti through the Runes I have laced into her very bones.

Neferti.

W-Wha?

Here is a set of plans for how I want the entrance to my lair handled.

Understood.

These are the codes to access funds from the humanoid species banks and institutions of credit in the surrounding Eight Great Domains. These codes will also get you into several top level treasure auctions, as well as almost all shops in the surrounding area.

Weren’t you a reclusive expert with few ties to worldly matters?!

Recluse my left fiftieth Root!

The nerve of some vampires, thinking whatever they wish to think about their employers!

With that minor matter taken care of I can push forward with my project.

Water, Earth, Space, Lightning, Metal, Light, Darkness, and Air are the remaining Daos Roots.

Air will breakthrough within a century if I leave it alone. Now that I am a bit strapped for time and have a clearer picture of the paths the future can take though, I’m speeding this up.

Runes encircle my body as I open up access to the full Chaos System. Organizing the backlog of Air breakthroughs that all races connected to my system have experienced, I push the metaphorical big red button.

The sensation of being mentally hammered with a trillion thoughts at once is not describable in any language I know.

Not even Chaos runes.

Someone nearby is screaming in a most disturbing voice, and I am quite glad to allow my mind to retreat into darkness.

An indeterminable amount of time passes in the darkness before I once again see the small tree of my Dao Soul appear in front of me.

All the Dao Roots are visible, but the ones for Flame and Time are clearest.

I watch as the single Root for Air grows clear. The golden shackle surrounded in Runes of unknown make shatters deep within my soul. The moment it breaks, the Air Root comes into perfect focus.

Flame.

Time.

Air.

Three of the ten Roots are visible now. I feel my soul strengthen, enough that I must place even more Soul Seals down.

I observe the tiny copy of myself while enjoying the break here.

So much work remains. Gathering resources, eating the Worldheart, arranging for the Cult of Wood to spread across multiple Universes. Seeding caches of resources, placing inheritances, planning for my end.

All so that I can grow past my foreseen future.

Sometimes, when I have time to rest like now, I feel a bit tired.

The darkness evaporates like morning dew and I find myself within the central core of my lair once more.

My senses stretch out as I adjust the Soul Seal on my trunk to handle the new influx.

When everything is set, for one brief moment, I open the Seal pushing my senses out to expand to their limits.

I stretch outward in ways not visible in merely three dimensions as I push to see further.

Past the edges of my Domains, past the Lizards with their bright blue Guardian, past the human tribes, the beast tribes, and others.

Further.

Farther.

I reach outward until the entire world is finally encompassed within my range.

Like I thought.

This world is big.