Tower of Heaven

'It is quite good that I can access the Tower Forums inside the Xuanying Treasure Pagoda.'

Atlas was currently looking through said forums to see how the attacks against Dusk were progressing. Since they mostly happened in hidden worlds and other such planes, there wasn't too much information, but a decent amount had been leaked to the public.

More importantly, Atlas could receive updates directly from the source when he wanted them.

He wasn't close enough to the leaders of Sky Garden and Euryale to contact them regularly, but there was a potential for cooperation between them, so when he did occasionally contact him, they told him what he wanted to know.

'For the next two months, there isn't necessarily anything for me to do. I can basically guarantee that the Society Legend will be bolstered enough on its own, but I still must contribute.

Atlas' deed of securing the Death Relic, along with all of the deeds and accomplishments he made when he eventually found his way to the Underworld, would become a part of said Legend. He would have his own part in it regardless.

Nevertheless, he couldn't let the entire founding Legend of the Society be based on the actions of people who weren't even a part of it. He'd only done a small amount of work in the attacks against Dusk, and he hadn't even faced retaliation for it.

'It is almost as if they don't know that I was a part of anything.'

Had his presence been so thoroughly overwhelmed by the actions of others? The Legend of the "white-masked man" was growing and being attached to him, but did it truly belong to him?

'Not yet.'

He could claim it, though. If he showed himself in the world and lived up to the Legends that were being created about him, they would truly be ingrained in his own Legend. That was something that would be very useful for Atlas in many ways, so it was definitely a part of his plan.

'However, this comes first.'

He looked around in satisfaction. The second floor of the pagoda was no longer empty. There were no longer four corridors leading into four large rooms. They had been removed and the space had been widened into one large area.

The ceiling was no longer an ornate thing filled with the beauty of man, but a scenery that looked no different from the outside world. The illusion of the sky came complete with a time flow that was adjusted to Atlas' body and even varying temperatures that Atlas could feel with his body.

There was an area in the distance where a huge waterfall crashed down into a river below, which snaked through a hilly terrain that flowed into a large, open field. There was a volcanic region where Atlas could train his flame qi, a cavernous area where he could train his earth qi, and a large and expansive forest where he could train his wood qi.

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Nature wasn't the only thing he made. Atlas wanted to comprehensively increase his strength, so he needed more than just the natural world.

The wonders of man that he needed were present inside of one large building that decorated the sky above the natural scenery. In that place, he could find any training mechanism he required, as long as the mechanism itself didn't use qi.

Right, the only thing missing from the realm was qi. Atlas knew it would be like this from the beginning, but only started to rue its nonexistence once this entire scenery was built.

But, when he asked the pagoda spirit about it, he only received a cheeky response.

"If you're interested in that, go find the Heavenly Mt. Tathagata."

With a cackle, the artifact said such words. Atlas knew that name, since it was included in what Aeon told him about the Supreme Heavenly Treasures, but the name was really all he knew. Thinking that he could find it was a joke.

Supreme Heavenly Treasures weren't supposed to be easy to find. There were only ten of them in all of existence, for crying out loud!

Essentially, the pagoda spirit told Atlas to be satisfied with what he had since this was already the work of a Supreme Heavenly Treasure, and he had no choice but to accept it.

'Putting that aside, I should stop thinking and start working. With a space like this, I cannot waste a single second.'

What was Atlas lacking in the current moment?

Well, he hadn't had too many opponents to test his strength against ever since he defeated Cain, but he was roughly sure that he didn't have any inconsistencies in his power at the moment.

Other than the obvious problems that stemmed from more mysterious sources, there wasn't any single part of his power that was weaker than any other.

'My comprehension in the Dao of Earth is the only thing that is weaker, but comprehension is not the goal now.'

Not every training session was about balancing out one's strengths. This time, rather than expanding on what he already knew, he was planning to learn new things.

'New techniques, new skills, and new movements.'

He was going to become stronger in every aspect.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

'And for that, these environments aren't nearly enough.'

They would do their part fine, but on top of them, what he needed most was practice partners.

And unlike qi, the pagoda spirit was more than happy to give him practice partners.

The scenery that looked like a beautiful world built for training was teeming with beasts. Each and every one of them was currently at the Law Sea Realm, but that was due to change.

After all, if it went as the pagoda spirit promised, every beast in this realm would match its strength to his own.

Every single opponent he faced would be worthy of his full power.

"Huu…"

Atlas stood up and looked over the cliff where he sat.

"I must set a baseline."

Where did his strength currently stand?

With a light hop, Atlas found himself in the air just barely off the edge of the cliff. After only a second, he dropped rapidly and slammed into the ground below.

There, waiting for him as if it had been set up for this moment, was a beast that looked like a large bull with even larger horns.

It was sent stumbling backwards by the shockwave of Atlas' landing, but it only shook its head in annoyance without taking damage.

Rather than injuring it, Atlas' entrance only served to anger it.

OOOH–!

The beast let out a cry as its eyes turned red. Without waiting to ascertain the situation, it charged.

Bang!

They made their first contact.

Atlas slammed his shoulder into the bull's forehead, forcing it to keep its horns to the side.

"Keugh…!"

Atlas was able to meet it directly, but from that single confrontation, he was able to confirm that everything the pagoda spirit said was true.

This was not a beast that would fall in a few seconds just because Atlas decided to use his full power.

If he wanted to defeat it, like he did when he fought against Cain, he'd have to truly give his all.