Ryu walked out of the portal in tatters. His black robes, as expected, were shredded to pieces. Only the semblance of sleeves remained while his lower half was a smorgasbord of tears and holes. If it wasn't for his relatively intact Ice Silk flexibly armor, Ryu might have been baring too much for female eyes.
Though his back was just as tall and straight as when he entered, the fatigue was clear in his eyes. The elders didn't notice because they were too enraptured by his performance, but four days had passed since Ryu entered the trial realm. The fact he had held himself together for so long wasn't something the elders would be impressed by until they noticed this striking detail they had missed.
Suddenly, a strong WENGWENG sound rung through the Awoken Moon Sect. No, it was safe to say that everyone within Valor City's territory heard it clearly.
A golden light enveloped Ryu's body, gently healing his accumulated injuries.
A Throne was an existence that stood above even the Castle Master. The reason was simple: even a Castle Master could never accumulate as much Faith as Ryu could for their Sect. This was the reality of the Throne. They were meant to loners, shouldering the weight of their future as well as the futures of those who stood below the Throne they claimed.
Ryu was perfectly ready to receive nothing for his days of effort. After all, shouldn't having unlimited access to the resources of the Sect be enough? And that much was true. To anyone else, there would be no further reward. Aside from his actions being tied to the Faith of the Sect, nothing else should have happened. That was why Ryu was so shocked when he felt his pupils begin to heat. And, he was even more shocked when a familiar popping noise resonated.
'Ailsa…?' Ryu was confused. He called out to Ailsa, asking for her opinion.
'Hoho, Little Ryu is asking for my help? I must mark the date.' Ailsa clapped happily. 'You just released the second of the 999 seals.'
'But, why?'
'It seems that your pupils respond very well to Karmic Energy. Just now, your Karma was tied to this Sect. In all likelihood, when you completed your Rite of Origin, resulting in the first seal being undone, you barely fell short of the momentum needed to undo the second seal. The surge of Karma just now knocked the already loosened seal completely open.'
'Is there a difference between Karmic Energy and Karmic Qi?'
Ailsa would be lying if she said she wasn't surprised. Though she had felt Ryu's intentions shifting slightly after her piercing speech and the matters with the Ember Clan father-son duo, she hadn't expected him to do this complete 180. He was… relying on her.
Of course, Ailsa also knew that this was in large part due to the matter Ryu just learned of. He had already been pushed to knock his own pride down a notch, but after hearing what happened after his death, it seemed a single notch was no longer enough to explain it.
Their intimacy didn't rise, this much was obvious. After all, it wasn't because Ryu trusted Ailsa more that he was acting like this, it was rather because his sense of urgency had raised substantially.
Despite this, Ailsa couldn't turn his earnestness down. He was the one person she couldn't say no to…
'Yes and no.' Ailsa responded. 'In reality, there's no difference between energy and qi, they're simply two different words used to describe the same thing. However, what I was referring to changed in this context. I simply used a new term so that you wouldn't be confused, but kept the terms familiar at the same time for the same reason.
'This Karmic Energy I was referring to is an intangible thing tied to Faith while your Karmic Qi exists, it can be manipulated and collected. Karmic Energy exists in the ethereal, only a rare few can see its movement, including you thanks to your Heavenly Pupils. Karmic Qi is just a throwaway name I gave your cool qi for simplicity's sake.
'Simply put: Karmic Energy is what constructs those Lines of Fate you can see when you activate your Karmic Qi.'
'I see… Thank you for the explanation.' Ryu was silently communicating with Ailsa, completely oblivious to the stares of the elders around him as he basked in golden light.
'So is this the path I have to take to release the remainder of my seals?'
'It's a start, but it isn't the full picture. Your pupils also responded well to Origin Qi, it's possible that it would respond well to all high forms of energy. Other Heavenly Pupils are restricted in this sense – for example, the eighth ranked Fire Pupils can only absorb high quality yang qi. But, the second ranked World Pupils don't have qi type restrictions, it only seeks quality. Your pupils may be similar. After all, Karmic Energy technically makes up everything in existence, having restrictions doesn't make much sense.'
Ryu nodded in acknowledgement. Finally, his eyes opened, their piercing glow sinking into the Castle Master that sat just several meters ahead of him.
Castle Master Toria smiled down at Ryu gently. "Congratulation, Throne Ryu. The doors of my Awoken Moon Sect will be opened to you fully, whether it be our resources or our Core Teachings, we will hold nothing back. I wonder if you have any immediate requests?"
"I would like to enter the Moon World." Ryu spoke without hesitation.
Toria's pupils constricted, her gaze inadvertently scanning across the elders. This young man sure seemed very familiar with something he should know nothing about.
"I'm sorry if I've mentioned something I shouldn't, but one of the perks of being a Throne is learning much of the secrets of the Sect. This is so that…" Ryu began to explain.
"Ah, so it's like this." Toria waved Ryu off. This system was obviously put in place so that Sects couldn't take advantage of Thrones by hiding resources. "It's not something well known even amongst our elders, but I'm sure you understand the past of our Sect now. So, you should understand that the Moon World isn't a mere Small Realm, it's a portal to a True Realm, no different from the Realm we're in right now in substance and reality.
"The only reason we've been able to protect our path to the Moon Realm all this time is thanks to this." Toria raised her blue marble ring. "It's protected by the Faith of our Ancestors, so our enemies cannot take it… The issue is that though the portal remains ours… We no longer have the necessary resources to open it…" Ryu could swear he saw Toria, the mighty Ice Ghost of the Battlefield, blush in shame.