The Stoneborn's demand for his full Earth Core data hung heavy, forcing Elias to confront the ultimate price of trust. He had agreed in principle, but the weight of absolute transparency was crushing. Before he could hand over the core, however, he needed to understand the true nature of the primordial karmic shard the cult had given him. Its localized reality edits offered a tantalizing, yet terrifying, promise of control over the unraveling ley lines.
He found an isolated, unassuming street in Jadeheart, a place where the ley line distortions were causing minor, yet visible, chaos. An orphanage on the street was on the verge of collapsing, its very foundations subtly weakening as the underlying ley line vibrated erratically. The children within, though not yet directly harmed, were suffering from minor spiritual ailments, their youthful Prana flickering erratically. This was his experiment.
Taking the karmic shard, Elias focused his will, guiding its ancient power. He directed it to stabilize a single street's karma, to counter the ley line distortions and prevent the orphanage's collapse. He imagined the chaotic energies settling, the Prana flowing smoothly once more, the subtle shifts in reality aligning with a more stable pattern.
The shard hummed with a low, deep vibration, pulsing with a pure, untamed energy. A wave of cool, clarifying Prana washed over the street. The orphanage's foundation shuddered, then solidified. The children's flickering Prana stabilized. It worked. The immediate effect was precisely what he intended.
But then came the side effect, subtle at first, then chillingly clear. Every cultivator on that street temporarily lost their powers. Their Prana channels felt blocked, their connection to the karmic flow severed. It wasn't painful, not like the vortex, but it was absolute. A Rank 2 cultivator trying to spark a flame found their hand empty. A Rank 4 healer trying to mend a wound found their touch inert. Within hours, the powers returned, but the momentary void was undeniable.
The realization slammed into Elias with the force of a physical blow: the shard doesn't fix karma—it resets it to zero. It doesn't mend, it doesn't restore. It doesn't re-establish balance. It simply erases the existing karmic state and sets it back to a primordial blank slate. It was a localized, temporary voiding, a mini-version of what Arthan's experiments had created, but for karma itself, not just individuals.
The cult was right. The primordial shard was not a tool for restoration; it was a tool of ultimate, fundamental reset. Using it on a larger scale, against the spreading karmic vortex, would not heal the ley lines. It would strip every cultivator of their powers, plunge the Realm into a literal dark age of magic, and unleash the direct gaze of the very primordials it emanated from. The true nature of the ultimate weapon was not destruction, but a terrifying, absolute obliteration of all cultivated power.