"Dear, what should we do? It's already been two years, but Atlas won't even move an inch!" A woman cried while leaning on her husband.
"I don't know. I really don't know." He replied. No matter how firmly he tried to act, the shaking of his shoulders clearly displayed his emotions.
They had gone to every doctor they could afford, even trying to enlist some they couldn't, but there was no hope. They all said the exact same thing.
"There's nothing wrong with your son."
They couldn't count the number of times they'd heard the same phrase over and over again, but repetition didn't help them accept it. If there was nothing wrong with their son, then why had he been in a coma for the past two years?
The couple tried everything, but at a certain point, they couldn't even go near his body anymore. It felt like an invisible wall was forcing them away.
They tried and tried to get past it. Daniel even attempted to use physical force to break through the incorporeal barricade, but there was still nothing they could do.
The two were only mortals, after all.
And so the couple could only watch from afar as their son lay in a seemingly unending slumber.
His body slowly grew even without the help of nutrition and he began to look like a proper man, but what could they be proud of when he couldn't see it himself?
They even ended up quitting their jobs, unable to concentrate on anything while the condition of their son was unknown.
Like that, another day passed by as they waited.
***
The ethereal blue cocoon that encased Atlas's body slowly receded. His eyelids fluttered as his mind returned to his body.
But, they didn't end up opening.
'Hmm? What is this?'
Atlas sat up on his bed as he tried to grasp the situation before finally realizing the problem.
'That's right, I'm blind.'
Well, he didn't care much. Even if he was just in the Dantian Establishment realm, he would still be able to use his Divine Sense to see. And as he continued cultivating, sight through the eyes was only the most basic form of vision.
'But I still don't have any cultivation.'
His brows wrinkled in confusion. He remembered how he had absorbed maddening amounts of spiritual energy before falling into his memories. It was enough for him to reach the peak of Qi Seed Realm at least.
'Ah, it must've been the work of that damn thing.'
If that damn treasure was the reason for his awakening, then it must have stolen all of his spiritual energy.
Crossing his legs and entering a meditative state, Atlas once again attempted to begin his path to cultivation. He gathered spiritual energy at a pace that was much smoother than before and promptly allowed it to enter his dantian.
And this time, there were no mishaps. He felt a slight heat bubble from his navel, but it wasn't a level that induced pain. Instead, there was a sort of pleasure to it.
Inside his body, swirls of ethereal essence began to gather and highlight the outline of a small cavity, almost like a container.
The outline of this cavity slowly became more and more pronounced until…
Crack!
A small cracking sound was heard, leading to a rush of euphoria through Atlas's body. A small pressure began exerting itself from within, causing the bed underneath him to creak.
While this should have been the end of his breakthrough, something mystical soon occurred.
The blue essence that had come to signify that damn treasure left his chest and traveled towards his eyes. Even if he wanted to stop it, he had no method to do so.
Arriving in front of his eyes, the essence coagulated into two sharp needles before stabbing into his eyelids.
"Argh!"
He let out a muffled groan as he tried to endure the pain. Even if he had spent both lives fighting for his life in different ways, his eyes had never been damaged like this.
It was a new kind of feeling as if thousands of needles were pricking at the unprotected areas of his eyes, focusing mainly on his irises.
Only after many tens of minutes did the pain finally end. Atlas was a smart kid even before he remembered who he was, and now that he did, he had a generally resolute guess as to what had just happened.
Once again, his eyelids fluttered.
He took his time to do so, but he slowly began opening his eyes.
And for the first time in his life, those eyelids that felt like they had been sewn shut began parting, making way for two storm-grey eyes that held an unknown feeling of profundity.
'This bed has been white the whole time? And those are the clothes I've been wearing? My parents really don't have style.'
It was like he was experiencing the world for the first time. He marveled at every small detail of his room, moving from place to place. He slightly parted the curtains blocking the window to have a look outside.
"Ah!"
He was almost blinded by the intensity of the sunlight, but his vision adjusted far more quickly than it should have. A magnificent sight came into view.
A city spanning farther than anything he could have imagined. Hordes upon hordes of people walking through the streets, and in the middle of it all, a massive tower.
The tower was pitch black in color but its aura wasn't ominous. Rather, it was inviting. It had intricate designs on its surface, with many small etches and depressions on its wall, giving it a colosseum-like design.
As for its most prominent feature? It had to be the height. Just as the stories said, the tower truly climbed higher than the skies themselves. It was more than just enormous, and even its width was around the same size as the entire city.
'That is where I need to go.' He thought. He felt a calling to the tower as if it could answer all of his questions. And he had many that needed answers.
What happened to him? Why was he reincarnated? Why were his memories fragmented? Who was he truly? He needed to know these things, and he felt that the tower was the place where he could find the truth.
'And besides, what is this tower even doing here?'
Before he died, such a structure didn't exist. Not only did it not exist, but there were no records of such a thing being possible.
'Ascending to Godhood through a tower?'
He remembered the stories he heard in this life. It all seemed absurd, but relating it to certain moments of his past, he couldn't completely write it off.
He wanted to leave immediately, but there was something he had to do first. Maybe it was the conflict of egos or maybe he just genuinely wished to do so, it was unknown which was the truth.
He still hadn't figured out what his true identity was. He knew that at the end of the day, he was himself, but what was his true self?
He felt a deep connection with both his life as the Heavenly Emperor and also his life as Atlas Vaun. He couldn't simply throw one away and be done with it.
Grabbing a pen and paper that he had in stock, he began to write.