Aiden opened his eyes the next morning.
He turned and saw the veil of darkness was still there, blocking the entrance to the cave. His bones cracked as he rose, protesting about the uncomfortable floor.
"I don't remember falling asleep," Aiden muttered as he tried to comb through his hair. "The last thing that I remember… is being enveloped with violet energy."
Aiden opened his Desire Meters.
[Void: 33%]
He looked at it and sighed.
"I guess the meditation worked, but it left me… hollow," he said. "I guess that my wish is still what I desire the most, no matter how much I tried to love this world."
Aiden rose from the ground, feeling like his head was heavy. Genevieve told him about this side effect of first generating desire since it was usually the strongest.
After the first meditation session, obtaining desire from his own memories would become more difficult. That's why seekers needed to keep moving forward with their lives and experiencing different things to become stronger.
A seeker stops growing once he stops seeking.
"Desires grow stronger the more you feed them," Genevieve said with saddened eyes. "The more I kill monsters and Hungerborn, the more my desire to eradicate them grows."
"What about me?" Aiden asked, moments before he fell asleep.
"You… will grow stronger the more you hate this world," she said.
"That's a lie, isn't it?" Aiden asked.
Genevieve was silent.
"I'll grow stronger the more I hate myself," Aiden said, and those were the last words he said before falling asleep.
As he remembered them, Aiden felt embarrassed by his little emotional outburst yesterday. It took great efforts to create a confident persona in front of the Guild Master, and now he ruined it.
"I'll act nonchalant like nothing happened," Aiden muttered. "That way, I'll keep whatever dignity I have left."
After cleaning himself, Aiden walked out of the cave and straight through the veil of darkness. The glaring sunlight forced him to squint, but he greeted nonetheless.
"What's cooking, good looking?" Aiden greeted. However, he received no response. As his eyes adjusted to the light, he found no one outside. "She left me again?" he asked with a sigh.
Then, he noticed a small boulder that had been cut in half, turned into a table. He walked toward it and found two items: a letter and a box. First, he opened the letter.
[Dear Aiden,] it began. [I apologize for leaving you alone once more. However, I received terrible news about the calamity that you have warned us about — and I came to the realization we could do nothing.]
"That sounds like she's giving up," Aiden said with a frown.
[A Radiant Seeker has died fighting the monsters from beyond,] the letter continued. [In order to save Argan, I have decided to let go of my pride and visit the only Aetherial Seeker I know.]
Aiden was silent as he read the next few lines. Genevieve realized that no mission or items could save them from the calamity ahead, and decided to seek her ex-fiancé.
[Your journey has just begun — and I believe that you are bound for great things. You will overcome the past and build a future that you hate a little less. I left a gift to help you.]
He turned toward the box, and found that it had a strange seal on top. His fingers touched the seal and it dissolved, letting the box open to reveal some kind of grimoire with a text he couldn't understand on its leather cover.
[This cultivation technique belonged to my master — one specialized in redirecting the void and seeking enlightenment. Its conditions are strict and it requires the user to abandon their attachments to this world: something you two have in common.]
"Don't give me this crap," Aiden muttered as his lips pressed into a thin line. "I never thought she would give up on her plan so easily."
Aiden said those words, but he knew that her choice was the most logical. Between an Aetherial Seeker who already had the power to save Argan and relying on a dungeon's loot, the right choice was obvious. But for some reason, Aiden hated that she had to make that choice.
"I'm being an idiot," he said with a sigh. The letter still had a few paragraphs. "I should focus on surviving, not what other people do with their lives."
Aiden placed down the letter and picked up the cultivation technique. Windows appeared in front of him.
★ [VOIDHEART SUTRA] ★
[Type: Cultivation Technique]
[Grade: Legendary (Sealed)]
[Source: Aetherial Legacy]
[Status: Unbound]
[Requirement: Void Desire ≥ 10% | Essence ≥ 2 | Acknowledged Emotion: Self-Hatred Confirmed]
[DESCRIPTION:]
[Voidheart Sutra is a cultivation method born not from the rejection of emotion, but the resolve to confront it. It teaches the user to transform unresolved pain, grief, and self-hatred into clarity — refining Void Desire into Essence not by escaping suffering, but by moving through it. This is not the path of forgetting. It is the path of surviving — and choosing to grow.]
[CORE FUNCTION – VOID CONVERSION (Passive):]
[Void Desire becomes an active fuel source. Instead of consuming joy or connections, the Sutra draws strength from confronted pain. Each refinement converts Void Desire into Essence, scaling with the user's Starflame of Void level.]
★ [STARFLAME OF VOID (Cultivation Modifier):] ★
[Lv. 1: Consumes 33% Void → +1 Essence]
[Lv. 100: Consumes 4% Void → +1 Essence]
[Starflame of Void levels up each time Void is used meaningfully — through meditation, reflection, or breakthrough moments involving the user's emotional past.]
[At higher levels, Essence refinement becomes smoother, faster, and emotionally less taxing.]
★ [ACTIVE STATE – VOID TRANCE (Meditation Skill):] ★
[Enables structured meditation on one's past, guilt, or pain.]
[Consumes 1 Recovery per minute.]
[Completion triggers a cultivation attempt. If the emotional weight is acknowledged fully, Void is consumed and Essence is refined.]
[Interrupting Trance or emotionally resisting reflection results in failure (no Essence gain, minor [Inner Turmoil] debuff).]
★ [PASSIVE TRAIT – VOIDCLARITY:] ★
[User gains resistance to illusions, false memories, and emotional manipulation while meditating or when Void ≥ 50%.]
[Emotional triggers may now be consciously redirected toward cultivation instead of disruption.]
[At advanced levels, the user may unlock "Resonant Moments" — hidden insight events tied to their past.]
[NOTE:]
[Voidheart Sutra does not suppress or interfere with other Desires (Bond, Rise, Rift).]
[In fact, using Void as fuel may increase emotional resilience — allowing the user to bond more authentically, rise more clearly, and rift more freely.]
[This is not the path of escape — it is the path of endurance.]
[Would you like to bind this technique to Aiden Valero? This choice is permanent.]
→ [YES: Begin the Voidheart Sutra]
→ [NO: Store in Inventory]
★★★
Aiden read the technique's description and realized that Genevieve had given him a treasure. It must have belonged to her master, who also carried the same wish as Aiden.
"This technique isn't about hating the world or myself," Aiden muttered. "But… about transforming that hatred into hope."