On the other side of the Hua forest a Mathias Calypses was laying on the grass floor, incapacitated by a heart attack.

In the caves they were awakened in, the three iterations which received the aether from the fallen iterations had their oxygen supply cut and slowly faded into unconsciousness, deciding not to teleport.

It seemed that all of them were completely aware of their plan.

The fact that the gamble did not give all of them heart attacks at the final stage would have given hints about the energy requirement of giving them all eternal heart attacks to Mathias, but because he didn’t know about each iteration’s exact situation, he was unable to discern this point.

At this point all of the Mathiases suspected that the gamble would stop using energy to prevent their bodies’ function and start using it to deal direct damage to their soul but that never happened. This caused them to speculate that the gamble couldn’t actually damage their soul. Through this they glimpsed how Ascetics could be created, it was through this method!

Realizing this, the 317th iteration had a thought, why didn’t the Ascetic destroy my soul then? If he’s become an Ascetic before he should know to destroy my soul. There’s a chance that because he believes me to be a clone he doesn't think doing so would do anything, so it doesn't occur.

Mathias himself did not like that thought very much. This was because it relied on assuming oversight. Mathias Calypses is a person who takes everyone’s intelligence very seriously, meaning that he doesn’t assume things such as, ‘They’re not smart enough to think of this.’

Due to these views, Mathias formulated a different hypothesis: that the Ascetic must have used a different method to ascend, so he had absolutely zero reason to destroy Mathias’ soul core, especially a soul core that exists in a being believed to be a clone.

The term ‘a different method’ sparked a lot in Mathias’ mind. He wondered how else Asceticship could be achieved. This thought brought him back to an ideology he had internalized,

The number of ideas in the world don’t have a number attached to them.

No matter how much he thought about things and how long he thought about things, Mathias could never think of absolutely everything.

The realm of sorcery opens up doors to a lot of possibilities and fantastical truths but it also makes one realize how impossible some things are to overturn.

There are 9 immutable truths that cannot even be slightly altered by anything, they are called the Absolute Principles.

The first one is the finality of time, while manipulating time is completely possible, the past cannot be altered. Once set, things cannot be changed.

Time passed,

Surprisingly Mathias Calypses didn’t have anything attack his soul casing. He thought that even if his soul couldn’t directly be damaged by the gamble, it would at least attempt to damage the casing which was a physical thing. Yet it didn’t.

Not soon after did Mathias realize what this was, it was either that the gamble was applauding him,

or the gamble at the level of a Adept tuning Ascetic considered Mathias dead, since what Mathias did was unconventional, being slightly outside the ability of average Adepts which would trick the gamble. Something which runs in a very mechanical and natural manner, lacking true discernment or intelligence.

Whatever the reason was, it was working in his favor, for once.

Around the golden Ascetic the lights in the forest began to grow dimmer to grow farther, this put an unfathomable expression on the Ascetic’s face.

In a clan pavilion a dead body of Mathias Calypses started to glow like starlight in front of the eyes of another Ascetic.

A dull humming sound pervaded the atmAfter teleporting further and further, Mathias Calypses came to an exceedingly large village, a city.

Mathias was able to traverse such a large distance due to his domain. Among Ascetics, there are 3 different types of domains.

Anchored domains, like the jade marble ascetic had, exist around your body and expand from you. It is the most defense oriented type.

Free domains are a type that the Ascetic doesn't need to be inside. They are constructed based on expansion from an imagined point. You look in the distance and the domain expands from a point in your view. This type of domain is the least defense oriented since the domain starts to break down the second the Ascetic enters it.

Wandering domains, like Mathias’ domain, are an altered form of an Anchored domain, they exist anchored around the Ascetic but instead of the domain moving with the Ascetic, the Ascetic moves with the domain. Domains like this tend to take the shape of lines or corridors and typically have less total area than other domains at the same level.

Using his wandering domain, Mathias Calypses found himself walking towards the gate of a city.

Seeing another cultivator giving pieces of paper to the gatekeeper, Mathias knew he couldn’t just expect to walk through without them. The city was big, very big. If he held the solar realm to the same standard as his original realm, Mathias could believe a city of this scale was at least led by a high-end Apostle but most likely a Sage.

Discerning this, Mathias chose to walk the path back he was teleported to and find another traveler.

After a few hours of waiting in a secluded part of the path, an ox-driven caravan of goods passed through and Mathias walked up to the driver, smiling.

He put him to sleep by using astris to hide certain blockers in the mortal’s body. Seeing him slump over, Mathias searched for papers of identification and swiftly found them

He thought about this, it was a difficult situation. He wanted to go to a city to alert people of the Alchemists, to do this he needed to actually get in the city. Getting in the city entails possessing correct documentation. Mathias Calypses doesn't have that, so he has to pose as someone else, at least to get in the gate.

Yet this person is a mortal, Mathias is an Ascetic. In his previous world, an Ascetic was to a certain degree a powerhouse. They led the greater towns outside of the grand crater. They have responsibility, they don’t just happen to appear as a traveler.

It’s too suspicious. If the person at the head of this city is an Apostle is it within the realm of possibility that Mathias’ Asceticship wouldn’t be detected but if it’s a sage, forget about it. He’d be found out the second he stepped inside.

Sages have extraordinary detection abilities, that’s why they’re called sages, it stands for all-knowing.

But whether the sage actually cared was another thing. If they just see an Ascetic wandering in the gate, there’s a chance that they wouldn’t pay it much notice.

Still, Mathias didn’t want to risk it. 

The 317th iteration sighed and made another iteration and molded him into the shape and body temperament of the stranger rather than himself. He planned for the 323rd iteration to break in under the guise of the trader.

About thirty minutes later, the ox-driven caravan approached the gate and Mathias Calypses, in a different face, passed in his papers and entered the city.

Mathias wanted this face to not be something that lasted a long time and opted to get his real identity identification papers.

This was partly because Mathias Calypses was obsessed with appearances. His own appearance most of all. 

The city was mostly wooden, it was in the same style as the buildings from the Hua forest but more exquisite and fancy.

Sorcerers, upon becoming Initiate, no longer possess major communication barriers. They are able to derive intended meaning from all sorts of sounds and languages. Due to this fact, Mathias often forgets that those languages have writing systems he can’t immediately decipher. 

He recalled this due to the symbols on the paper lanterns draped among the wooden slanted rooftops.

Mathias asked around and eventually walked in a building he discerned to be the correct one.

Met with a red robed receptionist, Mathias then engaged in conversation.

It turns out in order to get identification here you need some proof of your existence, this can come in many forms. Any form of legal receipt, a written land deed, etc. essentially nothing that Mathias Calypses had.

He then posed a question to solve his dilemma, “Are you saying that an Ascetic needs to show identification to mortals?”

“An Ascetic!” She responded in shock.

“No, no, no. Cultivators should check in with the scarlet magistrate, it’s the biggest building in the city.” She added, still with a hint of shock.

Mathias smiled, “I’ll see to it.”

He took the caravan and headed back out of the city to where the 317th iteration was held up. Parking the caravan the exact same way he found it, the 323rd iteration fell apart into bright blue dust.

Mathias placed back the documents with the sleeping trader and set him to wake up in a few hours.

Walking up to the gate they asked him a question, “name and papers.”

“I’m here to check in with the scarlet Magistrate.” Mathias responded.

He considered this to be the perfect answer, the fact that he knew of the scarlet magistrate was proof he wasn’t really unfamiliar with the customs of this city.

And just as he predicted, the guards let him through with a respectful bow.

Arriving at a giant wooden pagoda which breaches the clouds, Mathias Calypses knocked three times on the wooden doors, they were answered by an attendant whose brown hair was in a bun.

“I am Luo Zhou Xiang Cha, the primary receptionist of the scarlet magistrate. How may I assist you, young master?” She asked Mathias

“I’d like identification documents that can be used here and I wouldn’t mind if you told me something about this city, I’m pretty new to this area.” Mathias responded

“Of course, of course. Follow me to the records room.” She said, leading him to a higher level in the pagoda.

“This place of course being the great velvet pavilion, we are home to the esteemed Immortal Velvet Skies and strive to perform everything in her image. You’ll find that there are many fantastical things here, the most prominent one being the upcoming festival.” She explained.

“What’s the festival for?” Mathias asked.

“Only for one of the three heavenly kings! A direct consul to the one who embodies kings of gold is set to visit us!”

They seem super important, assuming the one who embodies kings of gold is a God, the three heavenly kings are probably Evangelists. Using that logic, Immortal Velvet Skies is most likely a Sage.

Mathias was soon led to another room in the pagoda, it was a wooden room with a collection of different colored rocks lined up upon shelves. In the middle of the room was a young woman sitting on a pillow by an extremely low desk. 

From her aether he could tell that she was an Ascetic.

“See something you like? I’m sorry, but these rocks are not for sale.” She said to Mathias

Mathias was surprised when he saw those rocks because they were all too familiar to him, some of them were rocks from the lunar realm.

“Oh, that’s too bad.” Mathias said. He didn’t really care about the rocks, he was just slightly shocked by their presence. 

“So why are you here? What is an Ascetic doing here?” She asked Mathias.

“I come to warn you of a threat, a threat on the relative level of the three heavenly kings.”

“And what may that threat be?” She asked, clearly unamused.

At this sight Mathias smiled sadly, “I know you don’t believe me and strictly I don’t need you to, I didn’t come here for protection. As I have said before, I came to warn you.”

The woman on the floor looked really confused before smiling, “I see. Well, your aether signature has been recorded. Astris, that’s a rare path to be chosen for. Have a nice visit here and be sure to stay for the festival, it’s not everyday you get to breathe the same air as a heavenly king.”

Mathias stayed silent for a second, “Oh. Yeah, I’ll be sure to do that.”