Chapter 1057: 1056: A Fortress Within
The Abyssal Soul Fortress was a defensive technique built within the practitioner’s sea of consciousness.
Its outer walls reinforced the mind’s existing barrier. A separate formation at its centre extended protection to the soul, helping resist spiritual attacks, possession, and attempts to interfere with the connection between body and soul.
Simon turned the page.
A diagram showed a square fortress suspended above a sea. Four towers occupied its corners, connected by thick walls. Within them stood a smaller, enclosed tower, separated from the outer defences by a deep trench.
The structure looked simple.
The inscriptions covering the following pages suggested otherwise.
Simon began reading more carefully.
When an attack struck the mental barrier, the fortress would help bear its force. Rather than letting the entire impact hammer one point, the connected walls and towers spread part of it across the formation.
If an attack broke through a section, the trench inside could catch its remaining power.
It wouldn’t make that power disappear.
The practitioner still had to destroy it or force it out. The trench merely kept it from spilling directly into the sea of consciousness.
Simon’s eyes narrowed with interest.
That alone could prevent a dangerous situation from becoming much worse.
He knew what happened when foreign mental energy spread through someone’s mind. His own techniques had made good use of that weakness.
He continued reading.
The central tower served a different purpose.
A seal formed with a trace of the practitioner’s soul energy linked it to the soul. Through that connection, the formation could sustain a protective layer against spiritual attacks.
It did not require moving the soul into the fortress.
Nor could it heal a soul that had already been injured.
Simon paused at the warning beneath the diagram.
An improperly formed soul seal could turn the technique into a threat to its own practitioner. Too much force through the connection could injure the soul instead of protecting it.
"That would be a fucking unpleasant way to discover a mistake."
He read the instructions again.
The costs were considerable too.
Mental energy condensed into the fortress remained committed to it. He couldn’t use that same energy to form a Mind Spear or sustain an illusion without weakening the structure.
Maintaining it required a small, continuous supply of mental energy. Resisting attacks and repairing damage consumed much more.
And if the entire fortress collapsed violently, the backlash could leave him unconscious.
Simon leaned back slightly.
Powerful defences, but certainly not something he could build carelessly and forget.
He remembered using the Eternal Mind Maze against Sunless. Her injuries, fear, and fury had made her vulnerable enough for a technique that should never have troubled her so badly.
A damaged defence was dangerous.
A defence that failed at the wrong moment could be worse.
He turned to the next section.
Additional walls could be built around the first fortress as his proficiency improved. Each layer offered another obstacle to an intruder, but also demanded more mental energy and better control.
For now, he would begin with one.
———
Simon spent several hours studying the diagrams.
He followed the routes connecting the towers, checked where the walls joined them, and examined the soul seal until he could picture every line without looking at the page.
His experience with the Eternal Mind Maze helped.
He already knew how to build something from mental energy. The difficulty here was making that structure remain stable while it was being struck.
Eventually, he set the book before his crossed legs and closed his eyes.
The cultivation chamber faded.
Black waters stretched beneath him.
Above, the seven stars hung in their familiar positions. Farther away, the beast Wills moved across the surface of his sea of consciousness.
One of the black gnawers noticed him and began approaching.
Simon waved it away.
"Not now."
It stopped, then turned toward the others.
He chose a quiet stretch of water and extended his hand.
A dark current rose.
He flattened it into a square platform, then compressed it until the rippling surface became smooth. More mental energy gathered beneath it, forming a foundation just below the water.
The structure settled without sinking.
Simon moved closer.
Four narrow columns rose at its corners.
He thickened their bases first, then guided the remaining energy upward. Flat tops formed above their straight sides, and the columns gradually became towers.
His mental energy responded readily.
Keeping all four at the same density required more attention.
Whenever he concentrated on one, the energy in another shifted slightly. He corrected it before drawing the walls between them.
Black surfaces rose from the edges of the platform.
For a moment, he had something resembling the diagram.
Then he began joining the inscriptions.
The front wall stiffened.
The tower beside it tilted.
Simon frowned and tried to correct the imbalance, but a crack spread across the adjoining wall.
Pain stabbed behind his eyes.
He stopped.
The unfinished fortress shuddered.
Simon loosened his hold and carefully let the walls dissolve, returning the mental energy to the sea before the entire structure broke apart.
His awareness returned to the chamber.
He pressed two fingers against his temple.
That had been close enough.
After waiting for the pain to ease, he picked up the book.
His gaze moved between the diagram and the explanation beneath it.
He had completed one section before the neighbouring towers were ready to bear its pressure. When the circulation began, the finished wall pulled against the weaker connection.
The problem wasn’t a lack of energy.
He had built the parts as separate structures when they were meant to support one another.
Simon exhaled and returned to the beginning of the instructions.
This time, he read the sequence more slowly.
———
On his next attempt, he left narrow channels within each tower.
The walls rose between them, but he didn’t harden any section completely. He connected their inscriptions first, allowing a thin current to pass through the entire formation.
It moved around the square.
One tower received too much.
Simon narrowed its channel and widened the one beside it.
The current steadied.
Only then did he begin compressing the walls.
They darkened, their surfaces becoming firm while the channels inside remained open.
The fortress held.
Simon waited through several more circulations before letting himself relax.
"Better."
He walked along the inner edge and began shaping the trench.
It formed between the outer walls and the space reserved for the central tower. Its bottom was sealed, keeping anything caught within it separate from the waters below.
Fine inscriptions crossed its sides.
When activated, they would hold foreign mental energy in place while he dealt with it.
There was a limit to that too.
Something powerful enough could break the trench or overflow it. He couldn’t simply let an enemy keep attacking and expect the formation to contain everything.
Simon finished the final line.
Then he built the central tower.
It was shorter than the others, with thick walls and no windows. A small chamber waited inside.
That was where the soul seal belonged.
He stopped before entering.
"I have to be careful with this part."
He gathered a thin thread of mental energy and drew the seal upon the chamber’s floor. The pattern was much smaller than the outer formation, but completing it took him longer.
Then he reached toward his soul.
He had used soul energy before in his past life, but that didn’t make him eager to bind a new formation to it.
Following the book’s instructions, he guided a tiny amount into the seal.
The first line brightened.
A cold sensation passed through him.
Simon reduced the flow at once.
He wasn’t supplying an attack. He only needed enough to establish the connection.
The cold eased.
He continued more slowly.
One line joined another. The seal spread across the floor, then climbed the inner walls in narrow bands.
Simon felt the connection settle.
For a moment, the central tower seemed closer to him than the hand before his face.
He moved his fingers.
Nothing resisted.
His awareness remained clear, and the small amount of soul energy within the seal stayed steady.
He waited before allowing mental energy into the completed formation.
The bands thickened.
A faint pressure gathered around his soul, following its presence rather than dragging it toward the tower.
Simon examined the sensation carefully.
The protection was thin.
He could feel where it needed more work, but it was there.
He had formed the first soul defence.
His fingers relaxed.
No tearing pain. No disturbance spreading through his soul.
He still checked the connection twice before leaving the central chamber.
———
The next part was testing the fortress.
Simon began before linking the outer structure to his mental barrier.
A small Mind Spear formed above the water.
He kept it weak and directed it toward the front wall.
The point struck.
A sharp sound echoed across the sea.
The wall trembled, and the inscriptions carried the strain toward both neighbouring towers. Their bases shifted slightly, but the spear broke before it penetrated.
Simon approached the impact.
There was a shallow mark.
He supplied more mental energy, and the damage closed.
The cost was noticeable.
He formed another spear, this time increasing its power.
It punched through the wall.
Simon immediately caught it before it could strike the central tower.
The broken tip dropped into the trench.
Its inscriptions tightened around the fragment, holding it above the sealed bottom.
Simon watched for a moment.
Then he tried to pull the fragment free without releasing the restraint.
The trench shook.
A crack appeared along one side.
He stopped the test.
It had caught the weakened remains of his attack. That did not mean it could hold an intact one of the same strength.
He destroyed the fragment under his own control and repaired the damage.
His temples were beginning to ache again.
There was no need to test a stronger spear.
He had already learned what he needed.
The fortress could withstand and contain attacks, but a sufficiently powerful one would still break through. It would give him protection and time to respond, not permission to ignore whoever was attacking him.
Satisfied with the structure, Simon followed the book’s final instructions and linked its outer formation to the existing barrier of his sea of consciousness.
He felt the connection spread.
The barrier remained where it had always been. The fortress rested within the sea, supporting it through the formation rather than replacing it.
Simon pressed gently against one part of the barrier.
A section of the outer wall answered.
He tried another.
A different tower responded.
His eyes brightened.
That would let him concentrate the defence where it was needed, rather than feeding every wall equally during a single attack.
He would need practice to do it quickly.
For now, keeping the whole structure stable was enough.
He lowered the flow to the amount needed for maintenance.
The fortress dimmed but remained intact.
A portion of his mental energy was tied up within it, and there was a faint weight on his mind. He could tolerate it, though using several demanding techniques at once would require more care.
He wasn’t going to build a second layer today.
The soul protection needed further cultivation as well. A stable connection proved that he had formed it correctly, not that it could withstand every soul attack.
Simon returned his awareness to the cultivation chamber.
The book remained open before him.
He checked his mind, then his soul.
Both were steady.
He closed the book with a small smile.
Within his sea of consciousness, black waters moved quietly beneath the new fortress. Its towers stood firm, and a narrow current continued through the walls.
For the first time since he had begun studying the book, Simon let his attention move elsewhere.
The fortress remained.