Lord of the Truth

Chapter 1786 Finally solved?

After another five years- year 560 After Coronation- at the Dawn light Stellar Academy.

”...” Robin, as he had grown accustomed to lately, merely stood there in complete stillness, silently staring at the intricate pattern before him-the solution pattern of the Fifth Cultivation Path, the very design he had poured centuries of effort into perfecting.

Robin had completed the general structure of the Fifth Training Path long, long ago, but two major issues had prevented its mass adoption... The first was that he still didnʼt know how to break into a World Cataclysm at that time, not even in theory, and the path itself offered absolutely no guidance on the matter... The second obstacle was that the success rate was disastrously low, with failure overwhelmingly dominant. The problem lay in a single stubborn spot, a tiny but crucial point for which he could never find a perfect solution: the spot responsible for forming the pattern that carried energy from the gathering center all the way to the skinʼs surface, the final threshold of release.

Any solution he attempted to place in that spot would drastically alter the success ratio-from 1:100, to 1:17, fluctuating wildly each time, until he finally achieved the highest ratio he had ever managed, which was 1:4. Meaning that out of every ten attacks, only about two would succeed while the remaining eight would collapse or misfire!

But today, he was staring at the completed pattern-truly completed.

The technique had been expanded to include the breakthrough method into a World Cataclysm and the steps for using the Fifth Path afterward. Even more astonishing, the success rate of channeling energy without any elixir had reached a flawless 100%!

And yet, despite all of this, he still could not make it public.

The reason was that he had been forced to use a fragment of a Balance Pattern to stabilize that bottleneck point... the same Balance Pattern that functioned entirely through sacrifices!

When he applied the first modification, he discovered that the user would inevitably have to sacrifice a few drops of blood or fragments of life force whenever attempting to unleash an attack.

He had then spent the next five years desperately searching for a workaround... Later, he managed to create a modification that reduced the severity of these sacrifices-by making the cultivator expend double the usual energy for each attack: one portion for the attack itself, and the other serving as the required sacrifice.

Then came another modification, one that allowed the user to carry small external objects specifically prepared to be sacrificed before battle even began! But all of these options were utterly impractical... How could he claim to be solving a problem when every attempt merely created another?

Yet he did not simply sit around doing nothing...

Two parts of Robinʼs four-fold split consciousness had been tirelessly dedicated to developing improvements for the Fifth Cultivation Path, while the remaining two parts were focused on entirely different projects. And indeed, during that time he produced new techniques, advanced ideas, and sketched out dozens of innovative arrays-concepts that would soon redefine the entire nature of space warfare.

Even with all of this progress, the Fifth Path remained the burden pressing heaviest on his heart.

If the Fifth Cultivation Path were completed, it would be the greatest achievement of his existence-something truly worthy of immortalizing his name in the annals of history.

Everything else he had achieved was either an enhancement of existing work, or something he later discovered had been invented ages ago by someone else, long before he was even born-but the Fifth Path...

Robin allowed a dreamy, almost wistful smile to appear on his face.

But he quickly wiped it away and forced his focus to return.

Knock Knock

At that exact moment, a voice echoed from behind the door, amplified with soul energy so it could pierce the quiet and reach Robin clearly:

”Your Majesty, Harper has arrived to receive the soul borrowings. Do you wish to send anything with him?”

”Hm? Ah, yes, yes.” Robin gave a small wave of his hand, dissolving the protective array and opening the door, revealing Morgana behind it with a soft, gentle smile.

With another smooth gesture, he sent a spatial ring drifting toward her. ”Tell him to give this to Zara-place it directly in her hand.”

”Understood.” Morgana received the ring with both hands, then lifted her gaze again to meet Robinʼs eyes. She only got the chance to see him once a year during the soul borrowings handover, a moment she always cherished:

”Your Majesty, youʼve been in seclusion for nearly twenty years now. Why not step outside, even for a short while, and breathe some fresh air?”

”...Iʼm not sure about that,” Robin sighed tiredly. ”There are still far too many things tangled up here.”

”Today is part of Student War Week. How about going out for a little walk?” Morgana spoke quickly, her words coming out with a light eagerness, already imagining which places would offer the best meals and which dishes she could tempt him with.

”Aha, thatʼs an additional reason for me to stay right here. Close the door on your way out.” Robin chuckled while waving his hand dismissively, entirely uninterested-dealing with noisy, overexcited students was the last thing he wanted to do again.

”No, no-wait,” Morgana turned slightly and glanced at him from the corner of her eye, ”what about checking on what your two disciples are doing?”

”What are they doing?” Robin raised a brow. According to the timeline he had set with precise expectations, they should still be studying the First Master Law

up until today.

”Theyʼre testing the new Body-Strengthening Array today on a number of volunteers,” Morgana explained while pointing northward, ”not far, truly. Theyʼre set up right there near the educational zone. Lady Althera, the Academy Head, personally assigned them a dedicated site where they can do whatever they need without interruptions.”

”...?” Robin raised a brow once more, then nodded slowly several times before rising to his feet. ”Alright, some movement wonʼt hurt. A short walk might clear

my head a bit.”

”Excellent!” Morgana stepped back down the narrow staircase, carefully giving

him enough room to descend behind her. Then she called out sharply to Harper, ”This ring is from His Majesty. Hand it to Her Highness the moment you return-directly to her and no one else.”

”Understood.” Harper bowed slightly and was about to leave when he noticed Robin coming down the stairs; he immediately dropped to one knee. ”I greet

His Majesty.”

”Mn.” Robin nodded toward him with quiet authority. ”Tell Zara that if she must choose between producing more warships or modifying the entire operational system to accommodate these upgrades, then she should prioritize the

upgrades first and foremost!”

”...?!” Harper froze for a moment-anything involving warship production carried immense weight-so he straightened quickly and nodded with determination. ”I will depart immediately, Your Majesty. I will head to the Young Sector first, and afterward I will return to distribute the soul borrowings to the Cradle Empire and the Grave Empire.”

”Good,” Robin said with a firm nod. ”Any new updates about the Crucible of Greed? It has been four full years since the last modification I assisted with.”

Of course Robin knew all about Zaraʼs innovation. Whenever Sky Opening City reached a technical dead-end or a point where progress stalled, they would send the designs to Robin through Harper so he could provide the solution they needed. He genuinely felt glad to contribute to a project like this-a monumental system Zara had built completely from scratch. Still, he always tried to reduce his involvement as much as possible, acting like an adult giving only a small, guiding push to a young child learning to ride a bicycle for the first

time.

Harper replied with a warm, confident smile, ”I havenʼt received any new requests, Your Majesty. The first complete version of the Crucible of Greed has already been constructed and is currently undergoing full-scale testing.” ”Hmm, good. You may leave.” Robin then turned his back to him, heading straight toward the door. ”And now... what are those two troublemakers up to?” He chuckled under his breath, muttering to himself, ”Could it be theyʼre actually trying to steal the achievement of the Fifth Path from me?”