Chapter 48: The Peak’s Foundation

In moments, he stood at the core boundary. He examined the Crucible up close.

It seemed forged as one piece. A massive anvil-hammer hybrid. Seamless, as if nature itself shaped it.

Blunt at the front, tapered at the back.

Square like an imperial seal. Unrefined yet profound.

Pointed like jagged, wind-carved stone. A masterpiece of the uncanny.

One side for forging steel. The other for forging men.

Theo dismissed the thought.

"I don’t know why you called to me."

"But since you chose me, today I take you with me."

He reached out. He gripped the handle.

Boom.

His mind erupted. It felt like a meteor crashing into his consciousness.

Theo’s thoughts blanked. His fingers nearly loosened from the shock.

Don’t let go.

He clenched his teeth.

All thirteen opened meridians surged to life. Every ounce of strength in his body was wrung dry.

The Crucible of Genesis was being merciful.

Against all odds, it budged. Just a fraction, for a mere Body Cleansing cultivator.

Rumble.

The earth quaked.

The entire vault trembled.

And not just the vault. The Armory Peak itself shook.

"Earthquake!"

"Is the peak collapsing?"

"Run!"

Those still inside bolted for the exit. They didn’t dare look back.

Fortunately, most already claimed their weapons.

"Master, what is happening?"

Kaelen exited earlier, but Theo was still missing.

The voice of the Venerable turned grave.

"The vault shouldn’t collapse."

"But that... is the aura of an origin artifact."

Kaelen didn’t fully grasp the implications, but the Venerable’s tone worried him.

"Theo is still inside!"

Kaelen couldn’t stay seated. The peak pulsed with overwhelming pressure.

"So it is him."

Elder Silas’s expression shifted.

He suspected as much. The last time the founder’s artifact stirred, he guessed Theo was involved.

But he never imagined the Crucible would react like this.

An absurd thought surfaced.

Could it be acknowledging a master?

"Oi, Silas."

"Keep your word from earlier."

Vespera crossed her arms. Her eyes narrowed like a fox that just pulled off a clever trick.

"If he can truly lift it, let him take it!"

...

Theo exerted himself to the limit.

He managed to move the Crucible of Genesis. By a hair’s breadth.

That was only because the origin artifact condescended to cooperate with him. That tiny movement was likely the artifact borrowing his physical density to move itself.

"This thing isn’t even that large, but the density is absurd."

"Right now, I can easily lift a boulder. My kinetic output exceeds ten tons."

Theo relaxed his grip and sighed ruefully.

Fortunately, he never planned to rely on raw strength to lift this thing.

If he could move it manually, this artifact wouldn’t have been left at the bottom of the vault, untouched for centuries.

No matter.

He still had his cheat.

"World Seed."

"Right now, I can channel a fraction of its spatial power into myself."

"The duration is short. I will have to act fast."

Theo didn’t stand alone.

Behind him stood an entire dimension.

Though this world was nascent, fragile, and chaotic.

Still.

It was a world.

Crack.

The moment he channeled the seed’s power, his bones erupted with a sound like frying beans. His blood roared like a tempest. His thirteen main meridians surged.

An overwhelming, inexhaustible force coursed through him.

Theo even had the illusion that if the Armory Peak had a handle, he could lift the entire mountain.

"Up!"

Boom.

A resonance a hundred times louder than before exploded.

The Crucible of Genesis.

For the first time in centuries, it left the floor.

Only for an instant.

Theo swiftly stored it in his miniature world.

Then, utterly drained, he collapsed to the ground. He was too exhausted to even lift a finger. Sweat pooled beneath him.

"Thank goodness. Thank goodness origin artifacts don’t count as living beings."

"Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to store it."

"I actually lifted the peak’s foundation."

Theo’s chest heaved like a bellows. Stars danced before his eyes.

A chaotic whirl of thoughts flooded his mind.

Using spatial power that wasn’t his own carried a heavy backlash. Just one more breath, and his body might have started crumbling.

But in the end, he succeeded.

Theo’s consciousness wavered. Drowsiness pressed in.

Just before he drifted off, he heard a hoarse, shrill shriek.

Elder Silas.