A week passed, and yet no more chimaeras bothered them, but Icy and Mala fully believed that the creator simply didn’t have any suitably powerful ones stationed nearby. That gave them time to prepare themselves and compose the team a bit better.

On the other side of the spectrum, that being the one which involved training and learning, Icy guzzled down a whole gallon of mana gatherer tree sap as his need for life essence rose explosively.

[You have now entered your third growth stage. No major changes to state]

It was finally time for him to get his wings!!

You know… in about 3 months which was how long the growth phase would take even with all the life essence he obtained. A lot better than the year and a half it usually took at least, proving that an entire year of collecting all that essence was worth it.

The road to their target was long, and on the way, they routed through many major monuments as well as several unique cities.

First city on their list was actually a type of city they wanted to visit since coming to Trefir. Just like the Ultra-precise architecture, which called for ridiculous feats of maintenance and engineering, there existed the Oaken style, which the elves were known for.

These cities are precisely as they sound. Great trees, which fell into a class called ‘Behemoths’, were hollowed out and transformed into small towns for many to live in. A single tree cannot sustain the population of a city though, at most housing 10,000 elves if cramped together in small homes. And so, the elves came up with two solutions.

Enlarge the cities with more large trees, as well as treehouses… Or just shrink everyone inside the tree so that 10 to 20 million now fit inside. Surprisingly, guess which is less expensive and preserves the authenticity of the tree more?

Well, even if no longer technically shrinking magic, the results are the same in the end.

They planned to stay in this city for just a few days before heading off once more, the Oaken city of Felethar to be exact, named after the forest it resided in. Meanwhile, the behemoth tree itself was of a species called gratas, this one stood at three kilometres in height with a diameter of a hundred metres. Its wood blended in well with the surroundings, a smooth complexion like beech trees, but far darker like the timber of mahogany.

But perhaps it’s more fitting to say the surrounding forest matched this behemoth instead…

When the group entered the forest, they met no opposition, making it all the way to Felethar’s basecamp. This was an area with tents and arrays used for simple guards to defend. Superficial in nature, in reality, these guards acted more like guides and explained how the city worked in more detail.

However, as Mala and Icy already explained things in great detail, they refused this help and continued inwards. With every step, the group of seven realised that their distance to the tree seemed to remain the same, meanwhile, the large opening leading inside only grew in size drastically. This was one of the strange quirks of the spatial magic applied to this place.

But eventually, the world’s size set in place, and they took a few steps filled with mana to cross the remaining distance to the massive, gaping doorway.

It was now that they could properly see just what the city appeared as. A miniature world that may be mistaken for a dollhouse for those giants outside, with people the size of ants and buildings even tinier than birdhouses for blue jays and robins.

Hardly was this the first place on their list of places to go.

What took first place was an interesting obelisk built of aquamarine stone they all recognised on sight. Carved onto it was the memoir of a Primordius warrior who fell at that very spot many years ago, supposedly.

The tale on that gravestone was not deeply inspiring or sad, but the way he passed is remembered quite fondly. It stood out far too much amongst the swathes of powerful beings that perished in the search for new heights or in the case of some war which benefited them.

He died of old age.

To those who knew the secret of the elves, and the stream of Sages created by the sacred peach tree, this was no real surprise. Furthermore, for Icy and the group, it only served as a reminder that they couldn’t take sizable shortcuts on their path to this peak, every rank and tier had to be ascended by their own hands, or paws in the dragon’s case. And it reminded them deeply of the offer granted to them by the pillar when they chose their rewards a couple days after killing Frellsae.

* * *

2 years ago, within the dragon pillar subspace

“Do take your time selecting. We offer a huge selection of prizes, and you’d naturally want to pick what’s best for yourself. Like for the poor man who lost his arm, I would recommend using part of your reward for a full-body restorative, to use after that Scourge power is completely purged,” after awakening for a few days, the pillar spirit grew unbelievably talkative. Perhaps it realised that this might be the small time in its life where it was freely allowed to stay awake without some dragon asking favours.

That analysis was entirely accurate at least, in the future it might be lucky to have some dragon invoke the request passage every century or so.

“I wanted to ask… This item here, the ‘Vivid fruit of clarity’? It says it can instantly supply enough bloodline energy and transform my body as desired to reach master tier. Does that mean I could become a Starlite warrior instantly?” Jaren asked a fair question, breaking the monotony of only Mala, Icy, and Korridan asking them instead.

However, as the whole group flipped through the lists of information transferred to their minds, eventually, everyone found that single fruit and grew just as suspicious… Why wouldn’t every young dragon consume this thing?

Even if it worked similarly to the elves’ peach tree, the side-effects had to be so much lighter.

“It is great if you need power, and it indeed works that way… But would it be power you obtained? Of course, I don’t mean literally. You rightfully earned the reward and all, but there becomes a lacking mindset if you jump too high without experiencing height first.” The adults understood what he meant straight away, and Icy too figured out what the sentence implied.

Whether a hidden meaning existed, he did not know. While Raccelline remained completely lost, she fell into a weird category of people who obtained ridiculous power with little effort, but still put in several times more work than ordinary talents.

Calling her a freak wasn’t out of the question.

“You said mindset… Do you have an item that allows me to awaken the True Will of a Dragon? Or at least a book which explains how to acquire it?” Icy asked this sudden question from desperation, as he still sought out anything to better understand just what the damn thing even was.

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The pillar’s glow softened from his question, and for a moment, he feared that the question forcibly sealed it to stop some information leakage. But eventually, its voice rose up in a distraught fashion, “I… can’t. Sorry, but please don’t ask about the True Will again. It is taboo for those who know to ever talk about it with those in the dark.”

Everyone revealed confusion, but clearly, Icy would never acquire information on such a thing from the dragons. Just why did this rule exist?

“Okay, I’ve decided.” “Same, you lot?” “Yeah, wish the stuff here wasn’t mostly for dragons though.” “Is it really okay for me to take what I think is good?” All in a row, four people spoke up. Those being Mala, Korridan, Jaren, and Raccelline, respectively. Her question was met with a gentle tail stroking her head while settling the question.

Rebecca and Darak needed more time though, with the latter asking, “You really don’t have any more divine spells here?”

“No… But we do have a rather unique skill. It allows the storage of almost any energy within your bones, do note that it replaces your marrow, so use it with care. This includes condensed divine power.” Darak thought about taking it immensely, that skill alone only took a portion of the ‘reward marking’ offered to him.

Everyone picked a strange yet unique and powerful skill like this, with the rest of every reward going into a very interesting fruit called sage’s eye.

This fruit, upon consumption, transformed your eyes to look at the runes of a great language without danger. It allowed regular humans to read and learn any great language providing they had talent for it, something which usually required immense amounts of trouble as temporary potions merely overcame the blinding aspects of such runes.

Usually, it hurts like hell, even with the potions.

The fruit also granted some minor secondary effects, like photographic memory, eyesight which allowed UV and thermal vision, and various things which either required spells or mental training. Icy didn’t need this though.

So, he took an extremely interesting spell which wasn’t included in his memories, some sort of potion which strengthened his soul similar to how devouring the fumes of burnt souls worked, and most importantly, a High-rank magical tool which collected mana and compressed it into a form usable for arrays.

This single tool saved him from spending months on end learning sufficiently advanced mana gathering arrays, it couldn’t be described as less than a lifesaver.

Raccelline honestly just requested several technique manuals known for being notoriously difficult as their mana requirements exceeded anything normal for their respective ranks. And she also asked for a single spell called ‘Summon Destruction Particle’, why she picked this Adept true spell was beyond the group, but no one raised a fuss.

Very few of the items available would even affect Raccelline from what the spirit told them, so those manuals by far made the best use of her talent.

Lastly, Icy did request some help in finding a way to overcome the problem with a Formed soul, namely that it blocked him from acquiring further armaments. The spirit didn’t even seem to know about this though, and in the end, suggested a simple, throwaway solution which it knew couldn’t really be taken seriously. It told Icy, “If the Formed soul creates a wall, then why not try and create a door or gate to pass through?”

Obviously, if he could do such a thing, he’d have done it already. But controlling the elements after they entered his soul simply wasn’t possible. In the end, he refused to make an inch of progress in soul training, and it annoyed him more than anything.

After everyone selected their rewards, they continued to make frequent use of the subspace as a hunting ground for the future. As the unintelligent beasts offered way more experience than most outside the subspace, everyone easily reached level 53 in all that time. Meanwhile, the loot from both dragon and demon practically doubled their assets instantly.

It left Icy speechless that this single demon possessed as much individual wealth as the ruins he looted. Ancient ruins of a rather powerful group of beasts…

And this overlooked the stored wealth that this organisation held, and in turn, what Frellsae had access to, only furthering the insanity of his wealth.

That pretty much concluded everything they used the subspace for in those two years though, occasionally grabbing some materials from the place for weapons or armour when necessary. And sometime after a year, the subspace automatically kicked them out for hunting somewhere around 1000 beasts, thinning the population far too much.

But they already had all they needed from the pillar at that point.

* * *

In the stone citadel of the eternals’ largest empire, an attendant rushed through hallways and up staircases to meet the emperor in a hasty fashion. The smile on his face could not be missed, even if hard to see as Eternals had no lips, but far more important was the wad of documents he carried in hand.

After a whole year of his supposed failure, something finally came up.

Two years spent on this dreaded mission, one he refused to accept a mediocre result for, and that paid off. The resources available to him only thinned by the month as other operations grew in importance… But on his last legs, they’d finally come across something.

As the attendant entered the pitch-black chambers with a heavy pant, he ignored the darkness and simply held out the documents. Somehow, they too vanished and could no longer be seen. But he silently waited as the emperor read these papers.

“So… She is alive. But it is troublesome, we cannot move until those last demons are cleared out. Simply track their movements, there is no need to watch over them. When things calm down, and we can get away with things, we only have the remnants left to fear.” He spoke confidently, happy that this final thorn had finally been tracked and identified. Once dead, the alliance of Eternals could easily destroy what remained of the empire, and then sweep through the continent.

However, he looked up at the attendant who remained in the room. And eventually they spoke, “I’ve heard rumours from our priests as well… Specifically from one of the Great bearers.” They did not elaborate, as the emperor was known for only partially respecting any of the eternal gods.

It is hardly a unique concept, although other races do generally hold great respect for their own gods, even if not reverence.

“Go on.”

“They have been warned to not kill Raccelline Manus under any circumstance… If she dies, the race will be marked with an Order for Execution.” The shaking in his voice grew more extreme by the word, an amplification of knowing his lord and the fact that he stated a direct threat to their goals.

Against all expectations, darkness in the room receded, and the attendant saw light return. As though controlled, the receding shadows all collected into a singular black orb which hovered in the air, but quickly morphed into a new shape. It returned to the body of an eternal, his silver patterns glittered for a few moments but suddenly faded to blackness, the body appeared more like a golem of black metal than any of their race.

Faster than the attendant could see, a hand pressed against his chest and his lord’s voice spoke with great enunciation, “Who claimed so?” He could feel it, how just the tiniest push ended his feeble life. Already the fingers on his chest shattered the ribs and sternum beneath, a single offence resulted in his heart’s extraction… A kindlier way to put his death.

“God of Eternus, Asharvad… And the God of Man, Manus. Humans will hunt us if she perishes, they both promise it.” This information only came about two or three nights ago… Just after he came to learn of Raccelline’s survival. Naturally, hearing that threat utterly infuriated his lord, anyone would be mad after hearing what could be presumed as betrayal from their own racial god.

But just a few moments of thought allowed him to gather a different insight.

It meant that the former knew what the latter would do if this girl died by their hand, proving some incredible value that even a god refused to give up. So much so, that this top rank god would break their covenant purely for revenge, and the statement he posed was simple, really.

‘Capture and hold her ransom, if you please. But her death is yours too.’

They might not be able to end the Manus bloodlines so easily, but to win this war by capturing a single girl? They’d be stupid to continue their original plans and doom their species.

“They are accompanied by a dragon, right? His strength is a bit of an outlier but nothing ridiculous… Just hold off for now. We have at least a few years, even if they’re a bit strong, they can’t suddenly become peak powers without great costs.” The calmed emperor removed his hand from the attendant's chest and stretched his bipedal form.

This did not last long though, as the black body burst into a fine mist and eventually coated the room in pure darkness once more. Within that endless darkness, a humanoid figure remained meditating.

To think that even after five years he hadn’t perfectly grasped this ability, as shown by his body reverting to primal elements when re-merging… The limit of his peerless talent truly left him frustrated.