Zachary Atwood/Cultivation

Zachary Atwood is a Mortal who has all the hallmarks of being a Defier.

## Zac's thoughts on Cultivation as a whole

   *I guess I think it’s fun, for the most part? I like the feeling of discovery. The feeling of pushing past your previous boundaries. I kind of wish I’d have some periods of calm, though. Where I could just cultivate for the sake of it, rather than to avoid getting hunted down by some old monster or die in a war forced down my throat.*

*I can always find a purpose (for cultivating) if I lack one. Like if I reached a point all my enemies were gone, and I wasn’t rushing toward anything, I could look for purpose elsewhere. Like pick up hobbies. Improve the lives of the people on my planet. I don’t know, start a family.*

*Can’t family be another sort of fuel for your cultivation? Like you work harder because you have something important to protect, something more important than your own life. As for fate, I don’t really believe in something like that. Fate is malleable. If it doesn’t suit you, you change it.* **Chapter 920**

## Mortality and Affinity

“You are beyond trash. You have absolutely no talent in any way, manner or form. How are you even alive? I don’t know whether to call you ultimate garbage or a genius.” - **Chapter 283**

“I know I’m a mortal, but I have been pushing along just fine until now. And with my special core I don’t think I’ll be worse off than any cultivator, even if my road will be bumpier.” - **Chapter 283**

“I seem to have pressed on fine, though? I even have a pretty good tolerance of energy, I can absorb crystals pretty damn quick even without being a cultivator.” - **Chapter 283**

"It looked like he wasn’t meant to cultivate, even in his Draugr form. He had honestly known this was a very real possibility after meeting Yrial, but it was still a disappointment. Zac shook his head with a wry smile, realizing he might be the only Draugr in the multiverse without any inherent connection to miasma." **Chapter 294**

"Zero. No affinity at all, not to any element, which technically shouldn’t be possible. Cosmic Energy is the basic building block of the universe, and it should be impossible to at least not have a small connection to it. Especially you who have already walked on the path of cultivation for a while. Yet I can’t find a speck of spirituality in your body." - **Chapter 283**

“The Zero Affinity Container has a complicated relationship to the Kayar-Elu and the Root Compact, but it is still our blood flowing through his veins. **- Chapter 664**

"It was all thanks to the shadowy motes in his cells. He was still unable to cultivate, but his body exerted an inherent pull on the ambient energy." **Chapter 1163**

### Dao

"When it came to the strength of his Daos Zac felt pretty confident. Two Dao Fragments should by all means be pretty strong, even compared to the Floor Guardian of the 6th floor. The problem was his control, or rather lack thereof. His amateurish finesse was already all too apparent from his inability to learn **[Cyclic Strike]**, but that wasn’t the real problem.

He was still utterly incapable of infusing multiple Daos into a single skill or attack, which was the hallmark of a skilled cultivator. His sister was able to do it since long ago, and Ilvere was getting close as far as Zac could tell. He couldn’t be sure, but he also believed Thea mastered that technique going by their time traveling in the hunt ...

... He knew that he wouldn’t be able to beat some enlightened cultivators through finesse, and there was no chance of him suddenly becoming a masterful Dao controller in an instant. He would have to rely on brute force and hope that his Daos and mental strength along with some creative tactics were enough to force his enemies to give in." **Chapter 424**

It really seemed his progress was a lot worse compared to even normally talented people now that the Origin Dao was gone. It was like his Dao Progress was extremely quick as long as it had some fuel to run on, be it Origin Dao or treasures, but the moment there was no fuel supplied, progress simply stopped. **Chapter 660**

"He now found it absolutely possible to activate two Dao Fragments at once without straining himself. However, his control over them wasn’t any better than before, which essentially meant that Dao Braiding still was an impossible goal. " **Chapter 670**

"Instead of using his Dao as the guide and his Mental Energy as the fuel like normal cultivators, what if he did it the opposite way? Form the braid with streams of mental energy with the help of his unusually powerful soul, then infuse the streams with Dao like they were some sort of cables. From there, you could infuse your skills with the newly formed Dao Braid. The moment the thought ignited, Zac was completely unable to let it go. If this truly was possible, then the biggest detriment of his abysmal affinities would be solved. Truthfully, Zac felt that having no affinities for Daos wasn’t that bad in terms of cultivation. He could still gain insights from battles, and he suspected that he would be able to keep improving as long as he kept getting his hands on treasures." **Chapter 670**

"Mind, body, Dao. It had all converged into a singular entity, and two streams had been braided into a strike of unmatched might. It was the first time he had managed to infuse an attack with his reverse Dao-braid. He had succeeded in forming the twinned energy before while practicing, but never quickly enough for it to be usable in battle. But now it had all crystallized somehow, though Zac honestly wasn’t sure whether he’d be able to replicate the deed unless he was pushed like he was in this fight. In either case, he had confirmed that his theories were correct and that this was a viable way to cultivate. His braid was as crude as they came, but it did work. It might display less than half of the boost compared to the intricate braids Kenzie managed to create with her own Dao Fragments, but Zac was just on his first Reincarnation. He would probably be able to create proper braids by the time he evolved his soul the next time, and even Dao Arrays wasn’t an impossible goal." **Chapter 679**

"His crude Dao Braids were extremely powerful, but it was a crutch that he needed to be in an excitable state like when he fought the Octopus for the braids to form fast enough. Another reincarnation would hopefully shore up that weakness, allowing him to freely use Dao Braids in battle." **Chapter 741**

"Zac immediately had an idea, and streams of Mental Energy emerged from the eight fully-formed cores. It felt so natural, so easy. Before, he could arduously control two streams, to form his crude Dao braids. But now, he was actually controlling eight of them, though their movements were a bit stiff." **Chapter 801**

"With him being able to form up to nine strings of Mental Energy by now, he had long since conquered his limitation of only infusing one skill at a time with his Dao." **Chapter 883**

## Constitution

"That incident should have killed him by all accounts, but instead, he emerged with the duplicity core. There were also various times that almost anyone would have fallen due to excessive wounds, but he just passed out and woke up a bit later in decent condition. He was like an unkillable tank, even though it was only just recently his Endurance started to become monstrous.

Had his mother somehow fiddled with his constitution to make his body able to endure when it would normally fail?" **- Chapter 274**

After all, he had long realized that his pathways had a much greater ability to recover compared to most people's. Some pathway adjustments that would require a cultivator to rest for a month were dealt with in a couple of days, speeding up the process significantly. **Chapter 885**

His cells were pure, dense, and incredibly stable, like he'd spent the last decade solidifying his foundations. **Chapter 1,150**

## Core

### Cultivator Core (Evolutionary Core / Inexorable Core)

Zac built a quantum core that could exist in two different states

Evolutionary Core: Core based on war and life, supported by the void of death

Inexorable Core: Core based on war and death, supported by the void of life

However, in completing his ascencion to D-Grade, the Duplicity Core installed into him by the Kayar-Elu atempted to merge his two states nearly killing him and forcing him to separate his two personas into two separate bodies. Now both cores exist at the same time in his two bodies in a quantum state. In which they are both in both of his bodies at the same time while also being in neither body and thus not producing a negative reaction by the interaction of life and death

## Soul Strengthening

For Soul Strengthening cultivation Zac uses the [Nine Reincarnations Manual] that he obtained as a reward from the Tower of Eternity

For Spiritual Body Zac uses [Thousand Lights Avatar] , a trophy Eidolon Technique (**Chapter 796**). Using the avatar as a bridge, improving the harmony between himself and his Dao Avatar, is a system of his own creation, something that takes advantage of both his refined soul and talent for improving his technique. To fuse his soul and link it with his Dao Avatars, essentially a fusion between Man and Heaven (**Chapter 826**).

Benefits of Soul Cultivation for Zac:

* Withstanding the remnants, essentially a stopgap to avoid going insane. **Chapter 826**
* Defense against mental attacks, to the point that Zac's soul became even sturdier than his body. **Chapter 823**
* Performing his crude version of Dao Braiding. Nothing special, even at the 3rd step of manual his braiding was worse than what some F-grade talents could perform. **Chapter 826**
* Spreading his soul throughout his body strengthens Zac's technique, and also increases the pace he improves it. **Chapter 828**
* Upgrading his soul had once more improved his control over Mental Energy, and forming his crude Dao Braids was effortless and instantaneous. Not only that, but the current layout of his soul allowed for faster extraction. **Chapter 1,005**
* The spiritual domain that he could naturally form was also a huge help. It stretched hundreds of meters around him, even passing through the mountain walls with their strong energy-isolating properties. Better yet, it barely required any energy to run. It provided an additional sense that helped him scout the path ahead for dangers. And being a passive domain, Zac suspected that only Mentalists would notice it, in contrast to Domain Skills that would give off clues from how it used Cosmic Energy. **Chapter 1,005**
* Even in an unstable post-breakthrough state [3rd Reincarnation], his soul could match that of elite Peak E-grade Mentalists. **Chapter 1,007**

## Path

The Path of Conflict

[*Law of*] Impermanence was the inviolable rule his Evolutionary Path railed against and his Inexorable Path emulated. **Chapter 1,149**