Michael's twentieth birthday eventually came causing huge events to happen in Aterna. It could be simply be said in a single word - spectacular. The celebrations were held grandly and even a huge number of god-beasts were involved in the ceremony. It was also decided as the day Michael would marry Ashley and Maria.
The significance of this ceremony was too huge and thus, no one truly wanted to miss it. Thus, almost all immortals in the plane gathered for it. The ceremony was definitely to celebrate - but only on the surface. The real purpose was the distribution of resources for the foreseeable future. Almost everyone wanted to gain advantages. Thus, this was a ceremony where all the powers had sent their representatives.
The ceremony was performed by Mubal. One could see the happiness in his eyes as he married Michael and his two partners. It was because, in Maria's dowry, there were many resources that could extend his life for at least another 50 years. Adding on the various cultivation resources, it was possible for him to even reach the perfect realm and get a huge boost in lifespan. For a man at his last breath, this was like a ray of hope. Thus, he could not help but be happy about Michael's marriage.
Marriage was not something Michael was very interested in. While he had been attracted to the two ladies, it was far from love. But his rise to the top had been so sudden that the entire plane was having trouble adjusting. The political situation was extremely tense in Aterna - not only between the different empires but also within each empire. While Michael's strength was a serious deterrence, it was not enough. If the situation was not handled properly, the entire plane would possibly erupt in a huge war. While Michael was confident in winning against all odds, the plane could not sustain a huge war with the devil's invasion this close. Thus, it could be considered that he was using his marriage as a tool to create political stability in the plane. Historically speaking, this was not something uncommon in Aterna.
People in Aterna were quite open about their relationships even among mortals. Thus, marriages and divorces were not too tightly binding. Especially in the case of powerful people who were the leaders of different races, marriages were mostly a way to gain political power or merge different bloodlines. As for love, it was quite fickle in the cultivation world. Loving another till dying breath was extremely uncommon. Usually, the cruelty of cultivation and time would dissolve true love.
Thus, Michael did not have any objections either.
After the ceremony, all the immortals gathered together where Michael proposed the new resource distribution. He did not try to get more resources from the other empires as many people were expecting. Instead, he ordered the extreme use of these resources to create more and more experts. This was a strict order! Thus, the several races who had accumulated quite a lot of resources had no choice but to spend them on the younger generations.
Michael also clarified that for the next hundred years, the god-beasts were allowed to use their ancestral wealth but they too must produce the required number of experts during future battles. He also used the god-beasts' influence and power to micromanage the other two empires. But he still did not cross the line. In return, he also promised resources to those who could produce results. This proved quite useful for subduing the smaller races completely. As for the super races, he was using various diplomatic methods to deal with them.
Of course, Michael did not have any experience in managing or ruling but that did not mean that others did not. High Priest Mubal was an expert in the art of ruling as he had been the chief advisor of human emperor. Secretary Darif and Ambrose were also very good at handling these matters. Thus, the meeting managed to stabilize the political situation in the plane.
Following that, the immortals returned to their races' territories. Some left satisfied and others indignant but all of them had sufficient hope for the future. The meeting also made Michael the truly recognized overlord of Aterna.
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Michael's wedding night also came and he finally managed to do something that was his obsession for two lifetimes - Ashley. And it was indeed the best experience he had ever had. Ashley was already mesmerizing. But Ragnar's methods had tweaked her in just the right ways that anyone would want. Thus, she was the ideal trophy wife - one who could be used to arouse envy among others and boundless lust in oneself.
What made the experience even more incredible was Maria's presence. She had plenty of experience in the matter and so she fit just right in. Perhaps the only one to suffer was Ashley due to her lacking experience, Ragnar's seals and lower stamina.
Also, due to their cultivation, their stamina was also quite high. Thus, it was quite a long night.
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The things in Aterna settled down with time and under the centralized leadership, the different races began to expand and grow. Due to Michael's influence, the races had more and more intermixing among themselves leading to a confluence of the different cultures and practices. The economy grew by huge bounds and the living standards throughout the plane improved. Even in this energy-low plane, the races prospered.
Of course, the most prosperous were humans. In the next 10 years, both Reez Zenid and Jerome Miller stepped into the immortal realm!
This was the strength of two immortals. From the inception of the race, humans had wanted a single immortal expert but now, there were two. The forest base and Rageberg city became extremely tough. The flame of hope along with the illusory formation made it possible for the race to hold the place with just a single immortal. As Maria also lived there, there were already three immortals in the Rageberg city protecting it even when Micahel was not around.
Michael's parents broke into the perfect realm through the complementary law inheritance - ice and fire. Of course, the dual law of ice and fire was different from the standalone law of ice and fire taken independently. The earlier would reinforce each other while the later would cancel each other out. During the next ten years, they also used the law lake reaching peak perfect realm! Of course, they could only do so because Michael used many resources to rejuvenate their longevity. Mubal was at the peak of saint realm and sublime-soul hoping to make a breakthrough to obtain more lifespan.
The Rageberg family also managed to cultivate many saints of their own making the Ragebergs more and more powerful. Apart from this, the race benefitted as a whole. Almost all the nobles were now in the saint realm and many among them managed to reach the perfect realm under the guidance of powerful experts. Most importantly, many young warriors emerged and swiftly reached the emperor realm making the entire race strong.
The progress of other races was quite limited but they were not weakened and even managed to solidify their foundations.
In the ten years that followed, Michael did not focus on cultivation. There was a reason for it - an information piece that Igor had provided to him after the marriage was conducted. It was about a teleportation formation.
Teleportation was extremely profound and used the laws of space. Michael was incapable of doing it and so were others as well. Thus, it was mostly seen as a myth. Igor's information said that the god-beasts had an ancestral teleportation formation - one that led to a different plane!
This was something that no one apart from the top brass in the god-beast race knew. Even Astang and people of his level were unaware. According to the information, the god-beasts' ancestors had managed to leave the plane and even explored other planes. They had even formed friendships with otherworldly experts. This was an ancient space formation that used space energy to directly transfer someone across the law ocean to another plane. Evidently, in the past, the ancient ancestors had visited other planes and one of them was much much bigger than Aterna. It was so huge that the ancients did not dare to reveal their own home to the residents of the plane. Apparently, they could use mystical powers and they had many powerhouses that were so strong that a single one of them could conquer the plane-will! Remember that this was when the plane-will was not injured and at its peak. Even the injured plane-will was so powerful that Michael today was no match. It was hard to imagine if the experts of the other plane were really that powerful or if the records were exaggerated. But in any case, the ancient ancestors adventured in that supermassive plane and gained many benefits.
One of the ancestors who cultivated space laws used many resources to form a teleportation formation to that plane. Of course, it was extremely limited in use as huge amounts of space crystals were used for each trip. What happened to that ancestor was unknown but the formation is still within the god-beast race. They would have used the formation to escape if it would have been possible. But they did not do so because they couldn't. The space crystals left by the ancestors had already run out and was only left for one use. That too was not enough for those who had too high a cultivation. Peak-saint was the limit of their resources. Igor had given the information about this to Michael because it was one avenue where the plane might find survival in case the devils were too powerful to be countered. Of course, they would have sent someone of their own normally but in terms of battle power, Michael was clearly at the top of the plane. Thus, his chances of succeeding in getting help from the other plane were much more likely.
Michael too knew of this. That was why he did not bother cultivating too much and focused on other ways of increasing his battle power. He mainly worked on his martial arts and his law cultivation. After ten years, Michael had already completely mastered his Flowing River Art giving him complete control over his physical power. He also completely mastered the first two chapters of life and death scripture. Thus, he had reached a bottleneck in his growth. If he could cultivate, that would not have been the case. Thus, Michael began experimenting in a new direction that he could envision.
According to the several ancient manuals from the god-beasts, the body, soul and conscient were what made an individual. The conscient was something ethereal and abstract. It existed but could not be interacted with. Only in very special circumstances could one perceive the conscient. The power of laws, dao or persona came from one's conscient. Then came the soul. It could be said as a semi-ethereal entity that could be felt and even seen. The soul was like a house that housed the conscient. Then was the corporeal body that mortals perceived themselves as. Michael could feel his body and soul - almost all cultivators could. But perceiving the conscient was so hard that no one in the history of Aterna had ever done so.
From this, one can imagine how powerful the devil ancestor was who could see Michael's conscient across billions of miles through the law ocean!
What the manual said was basically this - leaving the conscient aside that was not understood much, the body and soul were extremely compatible. Thus, when one managed to reach sufficient confluence between the body and soul - they would be able to merge their physical energy with soul energy making something known as the internal energy! This was exactly what Michael was trying.
As the plane progressed, the tension on Michael's mind increased more and more. Initially, he would spend time with his wives and enjoy as well. But Igor's information had already made him feel a very bad premonition. Adding to the fact that the advent of devils was approaching, Michael got more and more focused on his training and getting to a higher level of power.
While others were unaware and enjoying the bliss of peace, Michael knew deep down that this was the calm before the storm.
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