The murals on the sixth floor’s walls were sketched in simple gold lines. They depicted a pagoda towering into the clouds, out of sight.

  The Skill this floor teaches, said the Spirit, Is the Aegis of Infinity. It’s the most powerful defensive soul Skill this Pagoda has to offer—and, once mastered, it can repel the attacks of even a peak True God!

  It squinted at Zane, as though daring Zane to say something.

  “Nice,” he said.

  Hmph. To comprehend it, one must conceive of the infinite dimensions of the Pagoda. Behold!

  It held up an arm, and up shimmered a vision. Two figures stood on a mountain’s peak.

  The Red Moon Emperor faced a two-headed wolf. Enormous batlike wings spread from a back writhing with muscles, and a crown made of white fur dappled its brows. Smoke hissed from its fangs as it growled.

  Its aura was a bonfire in the Astral Plane.

  That thing was a True God.

  Orthrus, Storming Sky Tyrant (Monster King)

  Essence Level 603

  The Red Moon Emperor stared it down calmly.

  The wolf’s heads howled. Its throats blazed in the Astral Plane—and in both throats, Zane felt the presence of a Monstrous Bone.

  A torrent of shadow and gunk rushed out of its mouth, laced with arcs of jagged black lightning. Crashing down the Astral Plane.

  But the Red Moon Pagoda flared around the Emperor—far larger than Zane had ever seen it go.

  And though it faintly shimmered in the physical realm, it vanished into the skies in the Astral Plane, towering into the heavens—it gave an impression of endlessness. Layer on layer on layer of majestic red and gold.

  The blast struck—and somewhere high up, a layer shattered. Then another. Then another—Zane felt the shockwaves in the Astral Plane; the attack kept crashing through—but with each layer, it weakened more and more.

  Until it was halted in its tracks—dissipated utterly.

  The Emperor stood there, proud and untouched. His Pagoda stood tall. Its aura of endlessness stayed strong.

  The wolf hissed.

  That, intoned the Spirit, Is the power of the Aegis of Infinity! The more you master it, the more layers it obtains. Its strength is not that any one layer can stop an attack. But its layers stack so heavily, one atop another, that it feels impossible to break through the whole thing!

  This pleased some deep-down part of Zane. It was simply too big to fall.

  The Aegis begins relatively weak, said the Spirit. At first, it can only take the attack of one peak Minor God. But it builds fast—and each layer fortifies the last, strengthening the whole… master it, and it becomes nearly unparalleled in the Dragonspire Galaxy. On par with the Black Tortoise’s Sacred Shell technique, or the Nameless King’s Ten Thousand Faces of God!

  Its nostrils flared as it looked at Zane.

  So! What do you think of that?

  Zane shrugged. “Pretty cool.”

  The Spirit sagged, relieved.

  …Good. Thank goodness.

  He cracked his knuckles. “Let’s begin.”

  ***

  Because the Red Moon Pagoda is already a part of your soul, I can impart this Skill directly, said the Spirit. How much you grasp of it will depend on your innate capabilities. Open your mind.

  Zane did—relaxing. A moment later—

  The Red Moon Pagoda would like to impart the Mythic+ (H) Skill ‘Aegis of Infinity.’ Accept?

  Zane did.

  And an impression began to unfurl in his mind. Growing clearer fast. It was a distillation of someone else’s memory—the feeling of wielding the Aegis, drawn from the Emperor himself, he realized.

  Zane’s brow furrowed as he sat with it. Trying to get a good feel for it.

  Its core was the Red Moon Pagoda treasure. But he would activate a new function—a little like flexing a muscle he’d never flexed before.

  Slowly he eased into the feeling. And as he did, he felt the Pagoda humming, brightening, responding to his will…

  The first step, said the spirit, Is to create the first tier. The foundation upon which all the other layers will sit. It needs to be made perfect! Otherwise the entire structure is at risk of crumbling.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  There was a pause. Zane was still digesting things.

  I’ll leave you to it, then, said the Pagoda, turning. I’ll return in a few—

  “Wait,” he said, still focusing hard. “One moment.”

  … The Pagoda looked at him again. …Don’t you dare.

  “I haven’t gotten it yet, no,” said Zane, brow furrowing. “But I think… I’m close.”

  About fifteen minutes later, he held out a hand.

  A faint image shimmered up around him—lacquered red walls and a roof of blemishless gold. It shone much clearer in the Astral Plane than the physical.

  Right! said the Pagoda, throwing up its hands. Of course. Well, good job, and all that. Another of my legendary Skills in the bag! Why not? All in an afternoon’s work!

  It muttered some more. Something about a ‘charmed life.’ Zane sat there patiently and let the fellow get it out of its system. It’d become rather grumpy; it seemed to have some things it needed to work through.

  In the meantime, he examined his foundation.

  “It needs work,” he concluded, scratching his chin.

  It wasn’t nearly as robust as the image in his mind. The outside looked good. It was hard to pinpoint exactly where, but it felt like it had some structural issues. Something internal.

  Of course it does! cried the Pagoda Spirit. What? Did you expect to get it right your first try?

  Zane began to say something.

  Don’t answer that.

  “Okay.”

  The Pagoda Spirit took a walk around him, frowning at it.

  It’s a start, it said. It needs some tweaking. You could dissect it. Break it apart, but it together again, over and over. Until you’ve got it right.

  It considered Zane. It’d take a while, though. The quickest way to suss out its weaknesses would be to stress-test it directly.

  He nodded. “Bring it on.”

  It’s dangerous, said the Spirit. And it’ll be strenuous—oh, who am I kidding?

  It waved a hand.

  All the light was sucked out of the room in an instant, stranding Zane in darkness.

  He wasn’t sure what all that was about. But there wasn't much time to think on it.

  A new world was coming to life around him.

  Silk threads slicing through the air, each as thick as bridge cables, slick with moonlight. A spun web cascading all around him, weaving together to make some massive nest stretching far into the gloom.

  It wove around gnarled trees so giant they seemed to belong to a prehistoric time.

  Above, the night sky was empty save for a sickly sickle moon.

  Presenting, said the Spirit. The Crawling Hunger swarm!

  Somewhere in the far distance a wolf howled, long and somber. Then it choked off abruptly—and there was only silence.

  Spooky stuff.

  He looked around, curious.

  Then came the first light besides the moon’s weak offering.

  Giant eyes opening in the dark. A glaring red not five feet in front of Zane. So bright they illuminated the rest of the beast, and he saw it in full—big as a barn, hairy legs thick as tree trunks.

  Mandables jutted out of its mouth like fat scythes, a milky poison shimmering at its ends. Sacred Bones.

  Great Tormentor Spider

  Essence Level 577

  Zane blinked at it.

  It was pretty sneaky—he hadn’t felt it until that moment. It had to have pretty good cloaking.

  Then its mandibles opened up. And with a silent shriek it clamped down on him.

  But that was no physical attack.

  Its force came in the Astral Plane—chomping down on Zane’s new Pagoda formation.

  CRACK!

  White, shining seams split the walls in two.

  …That wasn’t great.

  The spider struggled, frothing at the mouth. Visibly losing power. But the cracks split wider and wider.

  Zane noticed where the cracks spread. They seemed to coincide with its weakest points. It was quite illuminating.

  He was still studying the walls when the whole thing shattered.

  Then the spider’s jaws closed over his head, and shredded into his soul. CRACK!

  He groaned, head ringing.

  Instantly he felt a bit sleepy, a bit wobbly on his feet. Some great unseen weight had descended on his mind… his eyelids wanted to close and weld shut. His thoughts came sluggish, as if they were going through mud. Some dark force tried to drag him under…

  He growled.

  His heart gave a fierce thump. Then another. And a shot of life blazed through his head. The fog burned away instantly. And he was wide awake again, breathing heavy, flush with sudden vitality.

  It was his body, he realized. One of its powers—he couldn’t be sedated.

  Figures. The scene faded, and there was the Pagoda Spirit, arms crossed.

  A bite from the Great Tormentor Spider can put Minor God Heavenly Elephants into a coma, you know.

  “I do feel a bit sleepy.”

  ‘Course you do. The Spirit sighed. Then it looked at Zane, a bit miffed.

  Alright, so you know what's wrong now—get to correcting it! Go on.

  “…Are you okay?” said Zane, blinking. The fellow seemed increasingly annoyed with him.

  Sorry, said the Spirit, deflating. It’s been… it’s been a… weird… few months…

  Zane sat down and got to it.

  It took an hour to get the shape mostly right, and another half-hour to hammer out all the kinks. By the end, he had a shining layer of Pagoda—totally encasing him in the Astral Plane. A little fortress unto itself.

  A sturdy foundation to build on.

  Skill learned!

  Aegis of Infinity [Mythic+ (H)]

  Level I

  The Spirit examined it from every angle before giving a nod of approval. Right. Let’s run another test, shall we?

  They tried it against the fangs of the Giant Tormentor Spider. But this time, its mandibles only managed to punch a crack in the walls. The cracks grew to about halfway down the pagoda’s walls.

  Then the spider’s jaw shattered.

  Eight massive eyes blinked at him in shock.

  Then it shrieked, turned, and vanished into the night.

  “That went alright,” mused Zane.

  Yes, yes, said the Spirit. It seemed less miffed now, but still a little over the whole thing. Onto the second!

  ***

  Now that Zane built the first layer, it only took him another hour or so to make another and weld it under the first. Once he did—

  Level up!

  Aegis of Infinity Level I -> II

  Let’s take it up a notch, said the Spirit.

  Their next test dropped him into the Tormentor Spider nest again. But this time, two Great Tormentor Spiders came out of the gloom.

  They descended on him in a mad rush.

  But once more their mandibles shattered before they could touch him. He’d doubled his soul defense in the space of an hour.

  Zane nodded. He was pretty pleased with how things were going. They were already getting close to the Pagoda’s base soul defenses.

  Onto the third layer.

  By then he was getting the hang of making it.

  This time it only took an hour or so.

  Level up!

  Aegis of Infinity Level II -> III

  The fourth came similarly fast.

  Level up!

  Aegis of Infinity Level III -> IV

  By day’s end, he’d built out a pretty strong base.