As Matthias put himself back together mentally, he came to several realizations.

  The first was that what used to feel like a constant influx of mana now felt like a trickle. The mana flowing into him felt like a soothing balm to his aching mind.

  The second thing he noticed was that creating things now cost significantly less mana. He had conjured ice cream for his fairies to apologize for worrying them. To his surprise, Lucy preferred death by chocolate, and Chloe preferred vanilla.

  The final thing he noticed right away was that the amount of will it took to cause something to be created was so much less. It was not at passing-thought levels of ease, but if he pictured something too vividly, it would just pop into existence. That was how Serenia had gotten a new bicycle. She was currently riding leisurely through the winding paths of the Forbidden Garden with the grin of a mischievous child.

  “This is going to be a problem,” Matthias noted.

  “What is?” Lucy asked, a bit of chocolate on her nose and cheekbones.

  “Everything is different,” he began.

  “I would expect as much,” Chloe added. She was pristine, eating smaller, more controlled bites. “You just had a massive upgrade. While you still have a long way to go, your base power is now leagues above where you were at.”

  “It is almost too easy to create things now,” Matthias added.

  “Think about how easy it is for Mythic or Legendary dungeons,” Lucy said.

  “Is that why they sound so sedentary?” Matthias asked.

  “Mostly,” Lucy admitted. “At their levels of power, creation is as easy as thought.”

  “Then what are these truths about?” Matthias asked.

  “They are the core fundamentals of who you are,” Chloe interjected. “They are how you are categorized by the system. Your four truths are all about knowledge, practicality, and order. Mind over Matter is a bit fuzzy, as that is a common demonic truth.”

  “It is also common on the divine side,” Lucy admitted.

  “Really? That is kind of surprising,” Chloe mused.

  “Not really,” Matthias cut in. “Both sides seek to mold the world with their will. And really, that is all Mind over Matter is at the most basic level—the willingness to push ahead even when the physical is in the way. It is also about problem solving. I am sure both sides have proven that enough guile can subvert even the best-laid plans and well-built fortresses.”

  “You do have a point,” Chloe admitted as her hand went to her chin. “Everything has a failure point.”

  “Well, that is because stuff is made of stuff,” Matthias said with a chuckle. He felt something caress his mind when he said that, but the sensation pulled away like a hand pulling back from a hot stove.

  His fairies chuckled at his statement.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “Isn’t that obvious?” Chloe noted. “Of course stuff is made of stuff.”

  Matthias felt his truth of Knowledge Is Power growing warm as he contemplated his answer.

  “All physical things are made of matter. Matter is made of atoms, and atoms even have their own building blocks,” he began. “Even light and air are made up of things. Heat is just how those things vibrate, which is also sound. Vibrations imply kinetic energy. I am vastly oversimplifying, and the math gets messy, but all things are connected because all things are made of something. It is why the effects of a natural disaster can be felt from so far away.”

  Knowledge Is Power grew warmer within him with each statement, like each fact reaffirmed his truth.

  His fairies looked at him with shocked expressions as he talked. The more he spoke, the farther their jaws fell. Then Chloe’s eyes narrowed.

  “Matthias, do you know the secrets of reality?” she asked cautiously.

  “I know the interactions. I do not know all the answers. No one really does,” Matthias admitted. “And I think that is the point—a giant cosmic joke to keep us all guessing.”

  “What do you mean?” Lucy asked.

  “Like how light is both a wave and a measurable particle,” Matthias offered. “Depending on how closely you look, the properties of light change. The only constant is that light has no mass; thus, it is also the fastest thing we can measure.”

  Knowledge Is Power felt scalding hot in his soul at this point. It was not uncomfortable, surprisingly, but more like it was being amplified by something. That sensation of something trying to reach out to him came back and once again flitted away just as fast.

  They both just gave him vacant looks, as though they had no idea what he was talking about.

  “Anyway, why did affirming truths give me passive points?” Matthias asked.

  Chloe’s eyes narrowed. “I will let you change the subject this time. But we will talk about this more later,” she warned. “The reason you get more passive points is because you are pruning yourself. Think of all your possible futures as a massive tree. By affirming your truths, you are narrowing what your futures can be. In mortals, this either lets them cultivate or gives experience bonuses. You do neither of those things, so it instead grows your soul. And a bigger soul can have more passives.”

  Matthias’s mind paused on one detail. “Wait, cultivation is a thing here?”

  “You know of cultivation too?” Lucy asked.

  “Maybe,” he allowed.

  “It is a means for mortals to get stronger,” Chloe explained. “Instead of leveling, they seek to grow in a way similar to a dungeon core. They amass mana to empower themselves. Honestly, once news gets out about your dungeon, I expect many cultivators to want to come here. Vitality is a very common ideal to be cultivated. Cultivators must find compatible mana types to purify and absorb or risk tainting their core and jeopardizing their future growth.”

  “Wait, so cultivators literally have a mana core inside them?” Matthias asked.

  “Much like magical beasts,” Chloe said with a nod. “It was demons that taught this method to mortals, after all.”

  A pit of dread opened in Matthias’s stomach.

  “So cultivators are demon-aligned?” he asked tentatively.

  Both fairies laughed.

  “Mortals are not expected to pick sides,” Lucy replied. “So there are just as many cultivators on each side. It is just that not all people get stronger the same way.”

  “Indeed,” Chloe continued once she got her giggles under control. “Some people only excel in combat. Some excel via meditation and self-reflection. Some people choose not to excel at all.”

  “And how does it compare to leveling in terms of power?” he asked.

  “It is not that different,” Chloe admitted. “There are tiers and steps. Every ten steps is a new tier. So a second-tier, third-step cultivator is equivalent to level twenty-three.”

  “So it is one to one?” he asked to confirm.

  “Not entirely,” Lucy responded. “Cultivators do not have classes, so they get other kinds of bonuses. Cultivators start with a lower baseline, but can reach a higher skill ceiling. It really comes down to the individual. Generally, the more disciplined a cultivator, the scarier they are.”

  “Indeed, that is the rule of thumb,” Chloe agreed. “How can you keep your internal energies calm if you cannot even control your emotions? By the way, Lucy, you have chocolate all over your face. You should go wash it off.”

  With a cry of embarrassment, Lucy flew down to the moat to clean herself. Matthias, on the other hand, drifted deeper within himself and added another item to the growing list of things he had to worry about.