A bit earlier update today as I'll be busy for some hours. Plus, I couldn't wait.
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(General P.O.V)
Like a wave hitting the shore, a black pulse of energy washed out across the whole main dimension. On the tallest point, which was a hill, The White Shadow stood. His vision was overlooking the center of Sanctuary. Further away, the family house, a huge beach house/cottage stood under the rays of the sunrise.
It was morning and the sun, which was just another weird facet of his dimension sent beautiful rays down on the ocean and glittered.
The White Shadow breathed in. He wasn't living. Not in the strictest terms at least but he could appreciate it all, especially what was about to happen next. Or rather what had been happening for the last 10 days.
The emergence of a black wave of energy turned the beauty he could perceive into death. Disintegration of matter followed in it's wake.
The trees shrivelled, the grass dried up and died and the ocean became lifeless. He felt the wave pass through the tiniest grain of sand under his feet, leaving him the sole being alive in tens of miles as the wave spread.
In this world, hope was all that remained. He supposed this was in itself a lesson about life. Luckily the main body was cut off from this influence due to Spark Of Enlightenment shielding his focus from distractions.
And the hope that remained was rewarded when another wave, this one much bigger and greener followed right behind the black wave. So far the cycles of death and renewal had established a strict 10 minute difference.
This wave brought about life. Flesh and glossy fur and coats appeared on the skeletons of dead animals, dried husks of of trees and dead plant life entered a bloom. And the ocean became lively with the aquatic creatures at the center.
He closed his eyes and breathed in the surplus of life. The animals had grown stronger and the plant life more tenacious.
The ground rumbled under him as tectonic plates shifted. It was a tremor he had already gotten used to after a while. Numerous small islands were joining together and forming huge continents that were easily bigger than earth.
He was finally doing it. He was finally upgrading the realm, the progress going faster because of the Multiverse Data Pod he had held on to since his encounter with Future Aden. Zatara had gone out of his way to enchanting it fully and Aden did not waste anytime before using it. 2 weeks had gone by since then.
He teleported to the lone island housing the Sconiad tower. Over a dozen small islands had gravitated towards the island and created a mountain range around the barren island. The mountains had all sorts of rich minerals getting sucked from the deep reaches of the core of the dimension and made readily accessible to the Sconiad tower.
The White Shadow stood on one of those peaks and looked down at the activity going on under him. The source of the life and death waves was of course the Sconiad tower. Each successive cycle brought about more structure and permanence to the realm.
It was undergoing millions of years of evolution and growth in weeks. The Sconiad tower had grown even taller than the empire state building.
Circuits of power flashed around it's length as thousands of drones, looking similar to Eve from Wall-E floated about, adding more structure to the tower along with reinforcing it's foundation.
Others floated away to the mountain ranges around the tower, dragging behind carts of unrefined metal and precious stones to be processed by it.
The White Shadow had had to halt the process of creating the Realm's enforcers that the Sconiad tower had automatically initiated, after enough resources had been acquired. Aden wanted to start that personally. He didn't want to leave it to chance.
But it also came to his attention that he would soon need someone, preferably human who was well-versed in science and technology. Aden had ideas on how to actually start making a difference on earth. And he was wise enough to understand he couldn't do it by himself.
For reference, he pulled up a text box showing the progress of all the directives he had given the tower.
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Analysis of Divine Energy:- 30%
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
Analysis of Demonic Chi energy:- Complete.
Realm Upgrade:- 25%
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Everything was going well. Now it was time to move on to the next thing on the agenda. Creating a warden for the hollow lands. Luckily, Aden had already plotted a course for how the process would go.
He disappeared from the Main dimension to the land under. The Hollow Lands.
The harsh conditions did not affect him as he walked around, looking at the terrain. He flew when he could and teleported at will, trying to reach everywhere his awareness mapped out. The Hollow Lands were impossibly huge. Seriously. Despite the distance fully mirroring the main dimension...it felt like the whole place stretched out infinitely larger.
After 2 days of non stop touring he finally stopped in midair. He crossed his legs and sat on top of a white platform made of fire.
"Time to begin."
There were precisely 300,021 denizens in the realm. 300000 were demons, 20 were foot clan members and 1 was a champion of the gods.
To match that sort of force, he needed someone competent. They couldn't be weak either. In fact they would have complete terrain control of the whole Hollow Lands, second only to him. And because the hollow lands were so huge, they would have to have access to an ability that could help them manage the whole place more effectively.
Typhon, the father of all monster's essence appeared from the hammer space to land in The White Shadow's hands. His essence was only superceded by Echidna in utility.
With it as the foundation, Aden could create a new being subservient to him. A new child. The thought made him snicker. Gosh, he'd come really far from the boy whose only thought was how to get girls and college. That made him stop short. He hadn't even graduated high school!
All distracting thoughts left him. There wasn't a science or art to this. Everything he did was backed by his hardened will. He wished and so it became. His words were law and his thoughts were fate's decree.
So he focused all of that will into Typhon's essence.
"Break."
The red ball of primordial force trembled before cracking apart into shards. Pure primordial energy was left behind, held in place by Aden's will.
"Cleanse."
A sudden shrill escaped the red energy. It scintillated and trembled. Then the energy separated into red and a dark gold color with flecks of white stars shining on it.
The red took on the form of a big dark being with multiple limbs and eyes waving around in pain.
"Devour"
The space around it fractured into numerous limbs and mouths that bit off chunks of the remnant will from Typhon. The being feared by gods howled in pain before eternally dying. His whole being was submerged into making the Hollow Lands even drearier.
"Reform."
The dark golden energy with flecks of starlight danced in the air before him. The primordial energy was the only thing left behind upon Typhon's exit. The essence contained all the power and potential of the father of monsters. It twisted and compressed into a pulsing deep blue core.
"Create."
The White Shadow entered into a trance. Unknown to him, Aden's consciousness fell away into the deep recesses of his mind. His eyes flashed white as the Order Avatar State took over. It was not premeditated or planned at all. However, Aden must have felt it deep in his soul. And following his intuition and instinct had yet to fail him.
He didn't even notice the difference while in his main body. It felt like he blinked his eyes open and found that 6 hours had gone by and sitting before him was...
The White Shadow smiled.
"You turned out even better than I imagined."
(Elsewhere)
(a Few Minutes Later)
The chains fell off his form with a sudden clang.
His body twitched. The brows rising up to reveal deep hateful eyes under a face covered by long hair and a bushy beard.
The drain on his deep reservoirs of power ceased and Black Adam took in a deep breath. He was finally free! Free to take his revenge on...!
A pressure only less powerful than Aden's spread out across the barren wasteland. A keening sound spread out and Black Adam realized he was screaming in fear and pain. An alien feeling had gripped his very soul. What was this?
Whoever this new being was... everything had changed.
"Attack, If You Hope To Live."
The order came in, the voice soft yet audible. It spread out across the whole dimension, hitting every single one of the hollow lands denizens. Chains loosened and fell. The mist casting illusions of pain and suffering cleared up and clarity returned to every prisoner.
This was their only chance. And they knew it. So they took it. Each and everyone saw a roiling smokey cloud of scarlet and black flashes descend from the very heavens, the dark clouds covering the dimension being swept away by the aura.
The Warden had arrived.
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Air (Grandmaster)
Flight
Sound
Space.
(Path To Godhood Trial Unlocked)
(Divine spirits hold shallow control over the concepts of reality. Popularly known as gods or titans, these beings exert greater control over their chosen divinities than mortals or ot beher beings alike. Divine spirits are born holding authority over domains due to their heritage. Divinities can be attained by a mortal when their realm of existence is elevated to a higher being by either a Sky Father or a being stronger than one.)
Air:- Commence Advancement Trial?
Fire:- Commence Advancement Trial?
And now the question remained. Was I ready for this? Was I ready to shed my mortality and actually become an immortal being? This wasn't a simple elevation of power. This would definitely change me.
The safe thing would be to wait for the realm to finish analysing divine energy and then plot a course for me to use to ascend. However, that felt impersonal and insulting to a ritual that touched upon my metaphysical aspect. So I decided to go with my gut.
However, the recent events had made me greatly despise gods.
I wasn't impressed by Zeus and his ilk. But like everything in the world, there was always the good and the bad side of a particular thing.
So maybe the Greek gods didn't suck because they were gods but rather sucked at being gods.
So I asked myself the question again, was I ready for this?
I smiled.
"Yeah. Of course I am."