Pandora Unchained - a Cultivation Progression Fantasy

Olympia was unlike traditional cities in that it was built long instead of wide to wrap around the legendary mountain, Mount Olympus. The circle didn't fully wrap around the mountain due to the devastation to the north. Half the mountain had been destroyed during the Twilight of the Gods, leaving behind a corruption-filled crater that even demigods dared not approach.

Olympia was divided into an inner city and an outer city. Anyone, even mortals, could afford to live in the outer city. All residents, regardless of cultivation realm, enjoyed the same protection, rights, and taxes as cultivators. According to the Pandoran Government, the idea was to create a 'level playing field' where anything was possible as long as you worked hard enough.

The inner city differed from the outer city in that it could only be accessed with a pass. There were two ways to obtain a pass: securing a sponsorship slot from one of the major clans and associations or reaching the Flesh-Sanctification Realm and obtaining a three-star designation.

Unsurprisingly, this fostered intense competition amongst the residents of the outer city that came off as heartlessly competitive. This, among other reasons, was why Flesh-Sanctification cultivators often left Delphi to assume minor management roles in less important locations.

It took Sorin and friends half an hour to arrive at the tightly guarded entrance to the Inner City. Their target was not the inner city but Hero Square, which lay outside it.

"There are two reasons people journey through the wilderness on their way to Olympia," Sorin explained. The first is to harvest rare goods and accumulate funds before arriving in humanity's capital. The second is to build up achievements and secure a spot on the city's ranking steles."

The semi-circular arrangement of steles lining the entrance pulsed as they set foot on the square. Each of Sorin's companions shot up a silver pillar of light. At the same time, one of the steles in Hero Square began to glow.

Astley, Fenrig, Lawrence, and Gareth's names appeared at the bottom of the stele, along with their achievements. Most of their achievements were carried over from Delphi and included the slaying of the mythical creature Python and their participation in the purification of Delphi. A few other accomplishments were also added to reflect the challenges encountered on their journey.

Sorin noted that Astley and Gareth have redacted results. Normal members of the public can't see them. Because of my relationship with Gareth, I can see accomplishments related to monitoring and protecting me, but what about Astley's? What accomplishments would she need to hide?

Sorin knew little about Fenrig but had heard many stories of his accomplishments during their travels that he'd originally assumed were exaggerations. He wasn't lying when he said he single-handedly defeated and tamed a juvenile Land Dragon and killed a three-star cyclops while still at the Bone-Forging Realm.

As expected, their adventurers in Mildred were also recorded. Though Sorin was the main character in that story, his companions had all participated in cracking the case. After a few minutes of consideration, the stele began glowing with an intense light.

A crowd trickled out from nearby streets and shops. Adventurers who'd been about to enter the inner city decided to remain in the outer city for a little longer to see how things played out.

"Hey! I recognize that name! That's Lawrence Holt, the Underwear Thief!"

"Wait, you mean the same Underwear Thief that Daphne Philips wrote about?"

"That's the one. I'll need to warn my daughters to stay away from him."

"Would it make a difference? Look at how many people he's slighted—the stele isn't even bothering with Flesh-Sanctification cultivators and directly listed two demigods!"

Fortunately, Astley and Gareth's accomplishments are redacted, thought Sorin. He could deal with Lawrence's infamy but would have trouble dealing with certain secrets if they leaked out.

After their achievements were noted, their names began moving up the Hero Ranking Stele. The stele contained over three hundred names at the two-star level, but only the top hundred names were on display.

Bast Philips, Faile Atlan, Joseph Artois, Onesca Mayfair, and Owen MacLeod. We've interacted with all five of these individuals and completed the mission in Delphi alongside them. Since those accomplishments were enough for them to secure a spot in the top 100, Astley, Lawrence, Fenrig, and Gareth should have no issues.

As predicted, their names flew past the hundredth place and slowly crawled their way up. It wasn't long before they passed Bast, Faile, and Onesca's names and began gaining on Joseph and Owen's names.

Fenrig was the first to be ranked and achieved a respectable Rank of 88. Gareth secured Rank 72 and Lawrence's name surprisingly overshot Joseph and Owen's names and stopped at Rank 61.

To Sorin's surprise, Astley's name continued to crawl up the rankings. Though many of her accomplishments were redacted, it was evident that those redacted accomplishments held a lot of weight.

In the end, she exceeded Stephan and Daphne, who were ranked 48th and 44th, respectively, and secured rank 42. Just what did you accomplish to be ranked so highly? Sorin wondered. More importantly, why is it being hidden from the public?

"This group is pretty strong," said a member of the crowd. "It makes me wonder why they'd bother hanging around someone who the stele didn't bother ranking."

"Dead weight should be left behind," another agreed. Also, you're forgetting that this is all based on accomplishments and has nothing to do with strength. Lots of things are considered accomplishments as long as you're weak enough."

"But everyone knows that more silver light typically translates to more potential."

"Potential is only potential."

"Wait, I think I know why that guy didn't get ranked. He's glowing. He's glowing gold!"

Hero square had dozens of ranking steles, which could rank anything from professional achievements and demon kills to financial statistics. Achievement steles were the most comprehensive and divided people into the mortal, hero, and divine classes. Each class had four steles corresponding to the Blood-Thickening Realm to the Demigod Realm.

Though there are a few dozen active God Seeds in Olympia at the Bone-Forging Realm, it's extremely difficult for a God Seed to cultivate all the way to the Flesh-Sanctification Realm. There are only thirteen names currently on the stele, three of which I recognize. As for the Demigod Realm, only five God Seeds have managed it. From what I've been told, that's more Demigod-level God Seeds than we've ever had.

The first two names he recognized were Charles Hargrave and Michael Pollen. Their names were at the very bottom of the stele. Just above them was a name Sorin had not seen in a very long time: Gabriella Michka.

Whereas heroes collected Silver Light, God Seeds accumulated God Light. Sorin's name appeared on the Divine Achievement Stele and began glowing with an intense light.

As before, he saw many redacted achievements appear, including his breaking of the second cultivation shackle to produce tarnished gold bones, all achievements related to corruption, and mercifully, his acts of producing and publishing tinctures for the public to use despite the fact that this was very much against the rules of the Kepler Clan.

Next came his recordable achievements like defeating—not slaying—Melinoë, resolving the curse in Delphi, assisting in the slaying of Python, and, more recently, his resolution of the situation in Mildred. Killing anything other than a fully functional enemy a full realm above me doesn't count. The bar for what qualifies as an achievement for a God Seed is very high.

Sorin looked forward to seeing his name shoot past Charles's, but to his surprise, his name didn't move. It simply stopped. Though he could feel that his name was trying to move upwards, he could also feel another force working against this: the fox head amulet on his chest.

Why would it prevent me from moving up? thought Sorin as he inspected the rankings list. Don't my achievements warrant it? Then again, Charles and Michael have racked up a few achievements since then that are comparable to what we did in Mildred. If we don't consider my secret achievements, it would make no sense to rank me above them.

Though Sorin could remove the medallion and correct this, he didn't dare to. Doing so would risk revealing his corrupt status and might even incur punishment from the city-wide lightning formation.

In the end, he chose not to fight it. His name settled down at 14th pace, the lowest among current God Seeds.

Sorin very much wanted to brush this matter under the rug. Unfortunately, the attention he'd attracted while entering the city was working against him. A clapping sound cut through the confused murmurs in the crowd to reveal a man in physician robes and long black hair. His green robes were adorned with a violet-gold Kepler Clan insignia that identified him as a high-status individual.

"Congratulations, cousin!" The man looked genuinely happy to see Sorin. "After so long, our Kepler Clan finally has a God Seed. It's too bad you're at the bottom of the barrel, but I suppose beggars can't be choosers."