Pandora Unchained - a Cultivation Progression Fantasy

The Shrine of Delphi was located five miles outside the city proper, on a heavily sloped section of Mount Parnassus overlooking the coastal city. Trees and vegetation were plentiful, especially considering the soil's relative infertility. Moreover, it was a pure wilderness with undomesticated wild animals that were completely free of corruption.

In their party, only Sorin was qualified to see the magic of it. He was highly sensitive to corruption and could sense a sort of vacuum within these creatures, wanting something unavailable. This applied to squirrels, goats, wolves, and a strange type of groundhog that made their home in stone instead of soil. Everything was perfectly balanced. Everything was wrong.

On their way up the steps to the shrine, each member updated the rest on their activities in the city over the past four months. The last time they'd gotten together was a good two months back, and it was necessary to familiarize themselves with any new items or abilities gained.

There were also accomplishments to consider. Each of their names, which they saw in passing on the Hero Stele just outside the city, now glowed with a more vigorous silver light than ever. Sorin's name shone bright with a tarnished gold light—something no one could see, as most of his achievements had been redacted.

Sorin's achievements mainly revolved around his development as an apothecary and the events at the apothecary examination. He'd invented poisonous mana potions and healing potions and had even submitted the recipes to the public, as the clan cared little about such trifles.

He also created a healing poison meant solely for his personal consumption. He made no mention of his redacted achievement—fooling the Divine Medical Codex using fused divinity and corruption and forcefully extracting its secrets. Out of all his achievements, this one shone brightest.

Daphne's achievements were mostly research-based. In four short months, she incorporated subsidiary elements into three popular fire spells to create entirely new spells. She had also successfully improved upon an S-Rank spell, though not enough to generate an entirely new spell.

Stephan's achievements were naturally related to his winning streak in the arena and unearthing the hidden potential of his bear forms. His achievements vaguely referenced the Lineage of Arktos. Their party learned that three skills were far from the norm; most beast-shift warriors only ever managed to unearth a single skill for their various forms, if any at all.

This only left Lawrence and Gareth, both of whom had investigation-related missions. The ways in which they succeeded differed vastly. Lawrence, for example, had gone out of his way to thoroughly offend Flesh-Sanctification cultivators. His successful provocations and survival of these encounters had netted him three achievements on the hero stele, as by doing so, he'd managed to obtain carefully guarded information that was otherwise difficult to obtain.

Gareth, on the other hand, solved such cases by remaining mostly undetected. He also had a few cases where he eliminated wanted Bone-Forging criminals of a higher forging while remaining undetected.

One thing Sorin found curious was that like his own achievements, Gareth's didn't add up. This meant that he also had at least one redacted achievement Sorin and the others couldn't see.

"Man, these steps are really something," said Lawrence. "I mean, I know there were warning signs at the base of the steps saying our cultivation would be suppressed, but is this really necessary? And why are Daphne and Astley breathing fine while the rest of us are exhausted?"

"I believe it has something to do with the preservation magic enveloping these lands," volunteered Astley. "Our cultivations would risk corrupting this untainted wilderness; suppression is the only way to leave nothing to chance.

"As for why Daphne and I are unaffected, I thought that much was obvious."

"It's our encumbrance, Lawrence," said Stephan between labored breaths. "Having our cultivations suppressed means having our strengths sealed. My gear is heaviest because of my armor, so I'm having the hardest time."

"Honestly, though, you're carrying just a little more than Daphne. Also, Sorin is carrying a lot more than you. You don't see him breathing hard, do you?"

"Has our little rogue been overindulging in local pastries?" Daphne ribbed.

"Thirteen and a half pounds," Sorin volunteered. They all looked at him. "What? That's how much weight he gained." His companions eyed him warily, especially Stephan, who'd gained the most weight of them all. Thirty pounds of solid muscle gain was tough to hide.

"You never shared the details behind your accomplishments, Astley," said Daphne, diverting the conversation. "Oh wait, I haven't seen any new ones since you arrived in Delphi."

"There's no need to be so vicious," Stephan said, trying to diffuse yet another argument.

Astley shrugged. "That's because I haven't had any notable achievements since my arrival. I've mostly been reading and compiling information to lay the groundwork for my upcoming research. Ferreting out ancient secrets is tedious work. Even now, I'm still missing some critical pieces of information."

"Is that why you decided to participate in the Shrine Descent?" asked Sorin.

"Indeed, it is," said Astley. "As for the nature of the research… it revolves around a very simple but very important aspect of our society: names."

"Names?" asked Sorin, intrigued. "Have our names changed as well?"

"It's been speculated for a while, but no one has ever managed to prove it," said Astley. "That's because normal families have limited historical records. Only famous clans can be used as reference points. To date, I have 43 theoretical ancient names for various famous clans.

"Theoretical ancient names?" mocked Daphne. "You wouldn't use the word theoretical unless you had very little tangible evidence."

Astley did not deny this. "It's difficult to determine the truth of this matter when all writings short of divine writings seem to have been retroactively changed. Divine writings are carefully guarded, however, leaving me few opportunities to delve into the matter. That leaves only one route of investigation: ancient ruins. With luck, we'll be able to find some during the Shrine Descent."

"I've never heard anything about ancient names or whatever you call them," said Stephan. "What's your guess about my York Clan's ancient name."

Astley shook her head. "Honestly, your York Clan is more of an accumulation of talented individuals. But one of your lineages resembles the Ancient Arktos Clan that was lost to legend. It would explain your proficiency in beast-shifting cultivation and your affinity with bear forms. Conversely, your rivals, the Atlan Clan, have a much purer heritage. The common theory is that they were once known as the Artemis Clan."

When Sorin heard this, a shiver ran down his spine. "And what about my Kepler Clan?"

Astley smiled. "Come now, Sorin. I don't need to spell it out, do I? Your clan shares an emblem with the medical association and the medicine god, and I'd wager a small fortune that your cultivation art bears that same symbol. Though not nearly as noble as the Pollen Clan here in Delphi, which bears the inheritance of Apollo, your Asclepius Clan is no slouch. They say your Asclepius Clan was capable of thwarting death, something that caused no small uproar in Olympia before the Cataclysmic Emergence."

"This is such a waste of time," muttered Daphne. "A bunch of nonsense founded on the unproven theory of divine lineages."

"Maybe you should tone it down a notch," Stephan agreed. "The Shrine is just up ahead, and there will be many influential characters in attendance, mostly from prominent families."

The shrine was a massive building with architecture that defied current societal norms. For one, it bore the ribbed pillars that were commonplace before the Cataclysmic Emergence. It was also built out of unreinforced concrete, something any engineer worth his salt would condemn with all his heart.

No one knew exactly which came first, the shrine or the city, but regardless of the current physical separation, Delphi and the shrine were typically considered a single entity.

The Pollen Clan, the shrine's protectors, were also known as the guardians of Delphi. According to Lawrence, the city's administrator and demigod protector was infatuated with the shrine's chief oracle. He spent most of his time lurking around the shrine, hoping for things to proceed further, even though he knew that a relationship between them would be impossible.

They found many teams already waiting at the shrine. Like their own team, they were also composed entirely of first-forging heroes.

There was one obvious divergence from this trend: the God Seed they had encountered at the Hero Association. She and her team stood apart from the rest of the heroes, likely due to the golden aura she let off that would inspire reverence even in Flesh-Sanctification cultivators, let alone Bone-Forging heroes.

"Speaking of names, hers is an interesting one," said Astley as they chose a spot to settle down in.

"Interesting?" asked Sorin. "How so?"

Astley shrugged. "She's made no secret of it. It's not an English name like ours, but something I'd expect from the Divine Era. She calls herself… Melinoë.