Epistemic Towers

The Epistemic Towers are 100 tower shaped treasures that exist on the mortal plane. Each quadrant can only have one tower though not all quadrants have a tower. Each tower is in the gate between two universes making that area a prime battleground between forces. Whoever controls the epistemic tower in a gate can change the cultivation level and teleport to anywhere in the gate. Controlling the epistemic tower of a quadrant is incredibly important as it is the primary source of high level cultivation resources in the 100 tower quadrants.

The origin of the epistemic towers is unknown. They were created around the beginning of the Golden Era. The biggest hint about their origins is that they are related to Abraxus's first disciple and would not exist without the Holy Arc. Their true purpose is still unknown but Abraxus Jafari took them over with the intent to train cultivators for the the fight against the chaos path and the end of the mortal plane.

Keys
In order to control an epistemic tower, one must get its key. A key can be obtained one of two ways, the first is by conquering the tower during gate battles. Doing so will grant them the key, assuming it isn't already owned. The second way is to defeat the current key wielder in battle. This can happen anywhere but conquering the epistemic tower during a campaign will automatically teleport the current key wielder for a fight. Key wielders have special privileges both inside and outside the tower. Outside the tower they are the ones who control the gate. Inside the tower they have special access to places others cannot go. The prime example of this is the god trials. It has also been said that having a more powerful key wielder gives their quadrant access to more resources though this has yet to be seen.

Floors
The towers are divided into levels based on cultivation and age. The Saint floor has an age limit 1000 while the Celestial floors have an age limit of 5000. The age limit on each floor is how the floors are what stop high level cultivators from bullying those on the lower floors. Theoretically, as long as someone hasn't ascended to the Celestial floors, a dao expert under 1000 can be on the Saint floor. This won't happen because the cultivation resources on the Saint floor are only useful for Saints and a dao formation cultivator under 1000 without the help of the tower is next to impossible.

The Celestial floors are split four ways, lower, mid, high and peak. These correspond to the four major realms in Celestial cultivation and provide the appropriate level of cultivation resources on each one. These resources commonly come in the form of danger zones. These danger zones are split into 900 bronze, 90 silver and 9 gold zones with gold being the most difficult. Each danger zone helps cultivators train different things such as energy control or will utilization.

To move up to a Celestial floor one must pass the celestial gate trial. This means fighting an enemy based on the difficulty level of your choosing. The difficulty levels correspond to the seven noble levels. The faster one completes the challenge and the higher the challenge level, the better the rewards given are.

First Floor
There are five trials on the first floor which correspond to Abraxus Jafari's five Origin level techniques. They are Temporal Lock, Cycle of Reincarnation, The Aurora, Ethereal Permeation and True Empathy. Passing these trials allows people complete access to these techniques. Without them nobody could unlock their full potential in these abilities.

Noble Trials
While noble trials are not their real name, it is the best way to describe them. They are trials that can be taken anytime though they are usually completed shortly after entering the Saint level. This is because the trials scale with age and the gap between the trials and ones actual strength will only increase as most people get older. This can be attributed to low quality of talents.

There are seven levels each containing five trials. The level one complete and how fast they complete it determines ones standing in both the tower and the martial world in general. These trails are the greatest test of talent the tower quadrants have.

Other than to display one's talent, the trials have two real purposes. The first is to help talents develop presence. It is the only known way to develop presence in the tower quadrants. The second is to test one's heart and see if they have any chance of transcending.

The seven levels of trials also correspond to the levels of presence. There are two levels of presence lower but they are so weak most people don't count them.
 * Viscount
 * Earl
 * Marquise
 * Duke
 * The highest starting trial a non key wielder can take. They must pass this trial before moving on to the king and emperor trials
 * King
 * Emperor
 * God
 * Only accessible to key wielders
 * Helps develop King level presence

Trial One: The Eternity Maze
The eternity maze is the first god trial and tests a person intelligence. The maze is a constantly moving construct and passing it takes an incredible amount of time with a perfect score being 10 years. This trial helps develop perception which is the first step in comprehending presence.

Trial Two: The Angel Clan
Trial two is both the longest and the hardest trial to complete. In this trial, the trial taker becomes the ruler of the angel clan, a clan that is about to be destroyed by enemies. The goal of the trial is to ensure the survival of the angel clan by defeating their enemies. The only problem is that their enemies are vastly stronger making survival rather than victory the general strategy of the trial.

Before Dyon, nobody had ever completed the trial before. Success was measured by how long one could survive with the longest being almost 100 years. Time within the trail to sped up so only 1 year passes outside for every 10 within the trial (only trial two). Dyon managed to complete the trial in seven days, defeating the enemies of the angel clan.

This trial is the biggest hint to who created the towers and why that we have so far. The first hint is that the most powerful member of the angel clan, the "trial takers" father transcended after Dyon completed his trial. After doing so, his statue appeared on the top floor of the epistemic tower alongside that of a woman's, presumably that of his wife. They are facing 117 other statues with just the two of them. This man also has the same appearance as Dyon's mortal father.

The other clue we are given is that after Dyon completes the trial, it disappears. Though only a character currently in her trials knows at this point, the second trial no longer exists.

The purpose of this trial is to get the trial taker used to leading/ruling over others. This is very important in developing presence.

Trial 3: Presence Battles
The third trial is split into two sections, beast waves and individual combat. This trial is where presence actually forms and grows.

Beast Waves
The first part is 100 beast waves in five sets of twenty. Each set consists of an increase in the number of enemies from 1 to 2 to 4... until the last wave in the set is reached. Each set has stronger and stronger beasts with the usable cultivation of the trial taker increasing as well. Trial takers must complete each set before they are allowed to leave for the fourth trial but only those who survive all 100 beast waves will experience the true trial. Without unleashing the presence to intimidate the beast waves it would be impossible for anyone to defeat the hundreds of thousands of beasts in the later waves.

Presence Battles
After the beast waves come the presence battles which are the true trial. These battles are 1 on 1 and are a fight against those who can utilize presence themselves. It starts with Viscount level but can work its way up to at least the emperor level. Only with a strong enough presence themselves can trial takes move forward. Though emperor level battles do exists, only Dyon has ever experienced it and he forfeited right away. The trial taker can leave at any point during each fight, they don't need to wait until the end.

Trial 4: Self Battle
The fourth trial is one of combat strength and unique abilities. In this trial a transcendent supervisor in the tower takes control of a clone of the trial taker and utilizes the same cultivation, skills and wills as the trial taker to fight them. In general, the more talented one is the faster they can defeat the clone. This can take anywhere from a few weeks to months or even years. This trial gives the trial taker a better understanding of themselves and their abilities.

Trial 5: Death
The fifth trial is incredibly difficult and is often considered the most important with regards to transcending. This trial tests the dao heart by killing the trial taker over and over until their mind can't handle any more deaths. There is nothing the trial taker can do to avoid death. 80% of trial takers give up after the first death while 95% give up after 2. Reaching 10 deaths means one has a roughly 10% chance of transcending.