The Quantum Path to Immortality-Chapter 195 - 194: Aftermath and Acknowledgment 2

Chapter 195: Chapter 194: Aftermath and Acknowledgment 2
The four of them began walking toward the faculty residential area, cutting through crowds of students who parted before them like water around a stone. Some whispered as they passed. Others bowed respectfully. A few brave souls called out congratulations to Aria on her trial performance or her successful mission.
Aria acknowledged them with small nods but didn’t engage in conversation. She was too tired, too drained, too emotionally exhausted to handle social interaction right now.
They walked in comfortable silence until they reached the residential area, where Kaelen and Sarah’s shared quarters existed in their own pocket dimension, isolated from the main academy grounds.
The moment they crossed the threshold, the chaotic energy of the academy faded. Inside was peaceful. Quiet. Home, in the way that mattered.
"Bath first," Sarah directed, pointing Aria toward the bathing chamber. "Then food. Then sleep. In that order. No arguing."
"Yes, Sarah," Aria replied meekly, too tired to protest.
She vanished into the bathing chamber, and the sound of running water soon followed.
Elias watched her go, then turned to Kaelen with an expression that conveyed complex emotions—relief, residual anger, protectiveness, and something that might have been guilt.
"I should have been here," he said quietly. "Should have anticipated the Hierarchy might target her."
"You can’t anticipate everything," Kaelen replied, taking his hand. "And you responded immediately when she needed you. That’s what matters."
"Four seconds too late. If that necklace hadn’t activated—"
"But it did. Your preparations worked exactly as intended." Kaelen squeezed his hand. "Stop second-guessing yourself. You saved her. You destroyed the threat. You protected our daughter. You did everything right."
Sarah moved to his other side. "She’s also more capable than you sometimes give her credit for. Did you see what she did before you arrived? She broke through mid-combat, fought an Infinite cultivator to a standstill, and protected her entire team. She’s not a child anymore, Elias. She’s becoming what you’ve been training her to be."
"I know," Elias said. "Intellectually, I know that. But the emotional part of my brain that remembers holding her as a baby keeps insisting she’s too young to face Infinite-level threats."
"She’s over a hundred years old," Kaelen pointed out with gentle amusement.
"Like I said: too young."
Both women laughed softly, and the tension finally broke completely.
"Come on," Sarah said. "Help me in the kitchen. You can chop vegetables and pretend it’s meditation."
"Chopping vegetables is meditation if you approach it with proper mindfulness," Elias replied.
"Of course it is," Sarah said indulgently, leading him toward the kitchen area.
Kaelen watched them go, a fond smile on her face. Then she moved to check on Aria, finding her daughter soaking in the dimensional bath—a tub that existed partially outside normal time, allowing hours of subjective relaxation in minutes of external time.
"How are you really feeling?" Kaelen asked, sitting on the edge of the tub.
Aria was quiet for a moment, her eyes closed, just letting the warm water soak into her exhausted muscles.
"Scared," she finally admitted. "When that Infinite appeared, when I realized my strongest attack had only scratched him... for the first time since starting cultivation, I felt genuinely outmatched. Not just ’need to try harder’ but ’cannot possibly win.’"
"That’s not a bad thing to feel occasionally," Kaelen said. "Healthy, even. Keeps you cautious."
"Father doesn’t seem to feel it."
"Your father spent his first forty years as a mortal physicist facing certain death from brain deterioration. He’s intimately familiar with feeling outmatched. He just doesn’t show it anymore." Kaelen’s expression turned thoughtful. "And honestly, at his current level, there aren’t many things in this realm that outmatch him. The number of cultivators who could genuinely threaten him is probably countable on one hand."
"Do you think he’ll reach 100%?" Aria asked. "The Infinite realm?"
"Eventually, yes. Your father is nothing if not persistent. He’ll find whatever final insight he needs." Kaelen smiled. "The question is whether he’ll do it in decades, centuries, or millennia. With him, it’s genuinely hard to predict."
Aria absorbed that, then asked the question that had been nagging at her: "Do you think I pushed too hard? Forcing breakthrough mid-combat, burning through energy like that, risking everything?"
"I think you did what you needed to survive," Kaelen replied honestly. "Were there risks? Absolutely. Could things have gone wrong? Yes. But they didn’t. You made decisions in the moment, adapted to impossible circumstances, and came out stronger. That’s not recklessness—that’s growth."
"My teammates though—they sacrificed so much—"
"And your father restored them and rewarded them beyond what most cultivators receive in lifetimes. They’re fine, Aria. Better than fine. They’ll probably advance faster over the next few years because of the insights Elias gave them."
Aria finally opened her eyes, meeting her mother’s gaze. "I was so focused on tempering myself against the Devourer that I didn’t see the bigger threat coming. That’s a mistake, isn’t it?"
"It’s a learning experience," Kaelen corrected. "Mistakes are when you fail to learn. You’re clearly learning—already analyzing what happened, identifying areas for improvement. That’s the scientist in you, inherited from your father."
She reached out and gently brushed wet hair from Aria’s forehead.
"You’re allowed to be shaken by this," Kaelen said softly. "You’re allowed to feel scared, or overwhelmed, or uncertain. You’re over a hundred years old, yes, but you’re still young by cultivation standards. Still learning. Still growing. Don’t try to be your father—be yourself. Your own version of strength."
Aria felt tears prickling at her eyes—not from sadness, but from relief at being given permission to be vulnerable.
"I love you, Mom," she said quietly.
"I love you too, sweetheart," Kaelen replied. "Now finish your bath. Sarah’s cooking something that smells incredible, and you need proper nutrition."
She stood and left Aria to her bath, closing the door gently behind her.
[One Hour Later - The Dean’s Office]
Elias stood before the most secure door in the entire Epochal Ascendance Academy.
The office of The Timeless Scholar—the Dean who’d founded this institution fifty million epochs ago, who’d achieved 100% Infinity Law comprehension when the current realm was young, who’d trained countless generations of cultivators including twenty-five who’d reached The Infinite themselves.
An Infinite cultivator whose power and wisdom were legendary even among legends.
Elias knocked.
"Enter," came a voice that somehow sounded both ancient and ageless simultaneously.
The door opened, and Elias stepped into a space that shouldn’t exist.
The office was infinite. Not metaphorically—literally infinite. It extended in all directions without bound, containing libraries that stretched into impossible distances, meditation gardens that existed in more dimensions than space should allow, and artifacts from eras so ancient that even the Infinity Realm’s current residents had forgotten them.
At the center of this infinity sat a simple desk.
And behind that desk sat an old man.
The Timeless Scholar appeared as a elderly human male, dressed in simple robes, with a long white beard and eyes that had witnessed the rise and fall of countless civilizations. He looked grandfatherly. Harmless.
Elias’s quantum senses screamed otherwise.
This being’s aura was so perfectly controlled that it appeared as nothing—complete absence of presence. But beneath that absence, Elias could perceive power that dwarfed most Infinite cultivators. Not just 100% comprehension, but something beyond. Something that had continued growing even after achieving what the realm considered "complete."
"Elias Vance," The Timeless Scholar said, gesturing to a chair that appeared across from his desk. "Please, sit. We have much to discuss."
Elias sat, maintaining respectful posture while keeping his analytical mind active.
"I appreciate you seeing me on short notice," Elias said.
"Short notice?" The Dean chuckled. "Young man, I’ve been waiting to have this conversation since you first appeared in the Infinity Realm. Today’s events simply provided convenient excuse."
He steepled his fingers, studying Elias with ancient eyes.
"You killed three Infinite cultivators today. Dismantled an organization that has plagued this realm for billions of years. Shook the fundamental structure of reality hard enough that every being above Master level felt it. All in approximately four seconds."
The Dean’s expression didn’t change, but his next words carried weight:
"Would you care to explain exactly what you are, Elias Vance? Because you’re not a normal Sovereign. You’re not even a normal anomaly. You’re something the Infinity Realm hasn’t seen before."
Elias met the ancient cultivator’s gaze without flinching.
"I’m a physicist who refused to accept death," he said simply. "And everything that came after is just applied optimization."
The Timeless Scholar stared at him for a long moment.
Then laughed—a sound like bells ringing across infinite distance.
"A physicist who refused death," he repeated. "Young man, you might be the most interesting thing to happen to this realm in fifty million years. Let’s talk about what happens next..."