I Can Assimilate Everything-Chapter 607: The Blind Depths! I
The truest type of darkness was not the absence of light. It really wasn’t!
It is the absence of everything that allows consciousness to orient itself within reality. When one cannot see, there remains touch and sound and the sense of one’s own body moving through space. When one cannot hear, there remains vision and the vibration of the world beneath one’s feet.
Even in the deepest caves where no light has ever penetrated, there exists the comfort of knowing that reaching out will eventually contact something solid, something real, something that confirms you still exist within a universe that acknowledges your presence.
But imagine a darkness where sight fails utterly, where sound dies before it can travel an inch from its source, where the very air presses against you with weight that makes movement feel like swimming through stone. Imagine reaching out and feeling nothing, sensing nothing, perceiving nothing beyond the boundaries of your own skin.
Imagine the silence so complete that you begin to doubt whether you still possess the capacity to hear at all, or whether that sense has simply been erased from your existence without your consent.
This is the truest darkness. The terrifying void where consciousness screams into nothingness and receives no echo to prove it ever made a sound at all.
At this moment, Achilles felt like he had arrived in a region of true darkness after he jumped into the swirling mass leading into The Cavern of Existence.
The transition was not gradual. One instant he was falling through multicolored weavings that seemed to contain all possibilities, and the next instant he was simply here, suspended in something that pressed against every inch of his existence with suffocating intimacy.
He couldn’t truly see anything. His perception, which should have stretched across Gigaparsecs and perceived the very waves and strings that made up reality, compressed down to uselessness within moments of his arrival. He could barely make out vague impressions of movement mere inches from his face, and even those impressions felt more like suggestions than actual sight.
Everything seemed to be compressed and constricted. The very space around him felt thick, heavy, resistant to his presence in ways that went beyond simple hostility. It was as if reality itself had solidified into something approaching liquid stone, and he had to push through it with every movement he attempted.
Prompts bloomed before his awareness with information that confirmed his sensory assessment.
|You have arrived in The Blind Depths.|
|Surrounding you is absolute visual darkness that cannot be penetrated by any conventional sight or enhanced perception.|
|Vision is limited to mere inches, and even that produces only vague impressions of movement rather than clear images.|
|Perception abilities that normally stretch across Gigaparsecs are compressed to uselessness.|
|The only reliable method of navigation is sensing with one’s Existence constantly, feeling the vibrations and disturbances in the fabric of reality itself.|
|The atmosphere is thick with oppressive weight that makes every movement feel like pushing through solidified space.|
|No sound travels normally, creating disorienting silence punctuated by sudden nearby disturbances.|
|Temperature fluctuates wildly between regions of burning heat and absolute cold without warning. These temperatures are capable of scorching or freezing even Depths of Civilizations themselves.|
|Proceed with extreme caution.|
...!
The prompts were heavy and terrifying as Achilles truly felt like he was moving through solidified space!
Every step taken was effortful, requiring concentration and force that would have been absurd for someone at his achieved Depth under normal circumstances. He could barely see inches ahead of him, the darkness absolute beyond that pathetic range, and the immense silence pressed against his consciousness with weight that threatened to drive rational thought from his mind.
Not a sound. Not a drop. Not the faintest whisper of anything existing beyond the boundaries of his own compressed awareness.
It was an environment that could make one go crazy. The sensory deprivation alone would drive lesser beings to madness within moments, their minds unable to cope with the complete absence of confirmation that reality still existed around them.
But Achilles held a defiant gaze as he processed his circumstances and calculated his response.
So fucking what?
This darkness, this oppressive weight, this suffocating environment designed to break those who entered, was simply another obstacle to be overcome through the same methodology that had carried him this far.
"Assimilate."
His voice was rough and heavy, the word barely traveling past his lips before the silence swallowed it entirely. But the intent behind the word carried regardless of whether sound could propagate, and his Way of Assimilation responded to his will with the same efficiency it had always demonstrated.
He Assimilated the very suffocating surroundings pressing all around him.
The viscous environment that had been squeezing against his existence began flowing toward him like a thick river finding its way to an ocean that welcomed it home. The oppressive weight that had made movement feel like swimming through stone started pouring into his being, converting from obstacle to nourishment through the unique mechanisms of his Way.
Prompts cascaded through his awareness with information about what he was gaining.
|You are Assimilating extremely pure Existential Density.|
|You are gaining slight immunity to the oppressive weight, allowing you to move more freely than others who enter this region.|
|Your Existence is learning how to compress your own presence similarly, making your Existence harder to detect by predators who hunt through Existential resonance.|
|Additionally, this Existential Density seems to be heavy and conducive to elevating one’s Depth.|
|Your Civilization advances continuously as you consume.|
BOOM!
Achilles opened his eyes wide as he felt like he could see a bit more, his range of perception expanding from mere inches to perhaps a foot or two of vague awareness. More importantly, he felt his whole Existence getting heavy!
Heavy. Heavier. His Depth was increasing simply from consuming the atmosphere of this place!
And then...everything went wrong.
BOOM!
Amidst his wonder at the discovery, his Existence buzzed with warning that arrived too late to prevent what was already happening. An instant later, he felt tremendous pain coursing through him and his entire Existence as something massive and obsidian pierced through his back and emerged from his chest with force that would have killed anything below THE distinction outright.
A massive pulsing spear-like appendage had skewered him while he was distracted by his consumption, sliding through his defenses without sound or warning or any of the signals that should have announced an attack!
