He flew up, high enough to oversee the Saint continent in a single glance.

A thousand years of peace and growth had changed the geography immensely. Roads and railways, ports and airports, cities and fields dotted the land, while population numbers had climbed to over half a billion.

In another thousand years, the Monarchy's population should reach saturation, just like Blue Xi continent.

The land would be sufficient to provide for 10 billion people a decent lifestyle, especially with the Legion maize for a staple nutrition.

His cousins and uncles on Blue Xi had already colonized half of the planet's continents, spreading the huge population of the Patriarchy out, exploiting new resources and territory.

However, numbers weren't all good. Cultivators needed more resources as well. Pollution and garbage became huge problems, while technological progress was too slow to keep up.

Beasts were slowly becoming extinct, being hunted out for food and bones. Metals didn't last as long as high ranked bones or skin, necessitating ever increasing numbers of mining and industry sites. But resources were not infinite.

Not sustainable, not for a thousand more years, he mused thoughtfully.

'One child policy?' Pef asked inward.

'That will happen anyway, due to better living standards. And competition for good jobs.' the glove replied gently.

'Except in the Xi family.' Pef added with a smirk.

'Even them, one day. Give it time.' the glove said seriously.

Pef lifted his eyes, and stared at the curved horizon. It was too far, he could see it now.

'Lacrima is too big. A hundred times larger than Ardania.' Pef mused with a frown. Compared to the world of his friend Arden, Lacrima was impossibly large. Like a dreamworld made real.

'About same size as your inner world, I'd guess.' the glove explained with an amused tone, and not actually guessing.

'And Hellsreach was even larger. Damn it. Nothing here is real, is it?' Pef asked rhetorically. Reason had told him so, but seeing is believing. And now he could see for himself.

The glove hesitated for a second. 'It's real enough, as these things go. What it is not, is old enough. Lacrima is only half a billion years old.'

Pef nodded to himself, remembering the lifespan of the worm he'd killed not so long ago.

'Someone placed that worm here, soon after the planet was formed.' he deduced in a flash of brilliance.

'The worm was a mere beast, like a million other beasts. But this one was modified, altered to carry the plague. Much like the mana fruit was modified, to nourish humans.'

'How much stronger do I need to be, to open the door?' Pef murmured to himself, almost too scared to ask.

The glove didn't answer right away, instead calculating other scenarios, much more important. A few minutes later, it came up with a reasonable answer. 'I'd advise at least 4th Tier. Opening the door will certainly expose us to danger. Real danger.'

'A door that separates us from your creator. Unless they're long since dead.' Pef mused inward, while staring at the sky with apprehension.

The glove stayed silent while thinking to itself. 'I fear someone, something, had moved in their place.'

Pef blinked himself into the Monarchy palace, just as his divine messenger returned from the Patriarchy.

A clone of himself, invisible and immaterial, but able to spy and collect information with ease, due to lack of Saints among his Blue Xi relatives.

"They elected Wixtal as the new Patriarch. The knife accepted him as well." the messenger reported with a snicker.

Pef sighed and waved the underling away. What the Patriarchy did wasn't relevant anyway, not unless they became tyrannical and mistreated the people.

His father was known for being a good ruler though, even admired by most locals for his enlightened policies in the Wix province.

Lithos would have been a worse choice, since that uncle was more of a wild, unkempt hermit. And a woman ruler wasn't really a choice, not for that country. Not for a long time.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

A distortion in the air alerted Pef of another messenger, returned from Green Geea. "Hey boss! Father in law is about to reach Monarch rank. And those two cuties had reached Tyrant rank..." the messenger said with a cheerful voice.

Pef smiled, reminiscing about the two druid Empresses that he didn't get. But maybe his son would get lucky. The twins would be quite a catch, for Paragon. Silly boy was still single, which was quite disturbing.

"Great news, my loyal servant! I'll make sure Blossom invites them to the ball." Pef replied with grin.

"... Oh. Oh! Spreading the love to our offspring. I agree completely." the messenger said with a knowing smile.

Pef clenched his fist and crushed the cheeky bastard into soul strings. "My child, not ours." he muttered while absorbing the messenger. In a minute, the memories filtered in, faces and sights refreshed.

The other messenger shuddered and kept silent. It wouldn't do to assume too much, not when the primary was in a bad mood.

Pef glanced at him and nodded. "Keep watch over Paragon. Make sure there's no foreign influence over him." he commanded in a softer tone.

"Sure thing boss. I live to serve!" the messenger replied at once, then vanished with a blink.

'Being angry at your own divine messengers is stupid. They are you. If a bit sillier, somehow.' Reason said in his mind, reminding Pef of her presence. Just like the glove, she was always in his mind, judging and analyzing his every thought. But sterner and less complacent.

'My angel speaks! And her words are always reasonable. Now tell me how to reach Tier 4.' he asked inward.

'Meditate. Practice. Love. Or explore and get into fights. I suggest meditation though. Meditation brings wisdom.' the weapon whispered in his ear, her words seductive and wise.

Pef glanced at his inner stats, where wisdom was still the lowest, and 50 times lower than his strength. Perhaps a few months of meditating wouldn't hurt.

'Lack of meditation brings ignorance. But more strength.' the glove advised him from his other ear.

Pef sighed and closed his eyes. Angel and devil agreed on something. Perhaps they were on to something.

Fine! Meditation then.

With some effort, he opened his mind to the universe, and drifted into Dao.

The battle of the sun and his abysmal performance against the Archdemon flashed against the canvas of his mind, the horrid sound of his Void skill failing against the impenetrable core...

The ease of his loss against the Golith sting, as it pierced through his mental shield and maze with impunity. And at the last second, the Heaven's intervention, a blanket of light and lightning.

Pathways burning, lightning coursing through his veins and meridians, and effortlessly obliterating an invincible enemy. Pain unending.

The pain was the key, as always. Who benefited from all that pain? What did it feed?

Was all life only suffering?

The General always wins. Her tools fed of Heaven's punishment, recharging their energies while the user suffers.

To win, you have to give everything, everyone. Even yourself.

Embrace the pain, and emerge victorious on the other side?

Pef wasn't very smart, not when compared with smart people. He wasn't wise, everyone said so.

But he wouldn't back away from a fight. If he couldn't win, the method wasn't good enough. He would have to make a way, create his own victory.

So what if his cultivation wasn't enough? If his skills were too low.

He will just have to ascend even more. Tier 4? Why not more?

Pain was an old fried by now. He wasn't scared of pain. Losing his loved ones would be worse.

Slowly, a wall of willpower enveloped his heart, compressing it into a harder material. Mortal dust coalesced into crystal, then cracked, and compressed even more.

The weight of the world pushed even harder, compressing the shards into clear white diamond.

Time stood still, yet millennia passed, and the inner chart changed as well, reflecting the transformation into mere words. Crystal heart. Flawed diamond. Cracked heart. Diamond heart.

For every millennium of suffering, the wisdom stats climbed by a single point.

For every point of wisdom, the Dao evolved and grew, allowed deeper access into the mysteries of heavens.

A month passed on Lacrima, most people unaware of the changes occurring right beside them.

Then three more weeks passed, as one by one Pef's wives came to visit and stayed to observe their husband ascend through pure willpower.

A halo of silver light engulfed his body, keeping everything at a hand distance.

Inside his inner world, a miracle occurred. The three children managed to strike Vulcanis once, by acting as a single unit, their actions in unison. Their eyes now glowed blue, and had the same exact hue.

The miracle then repeated, and again. By the third week, Vulcanis gave up, and stopped fighting.

The three children couldn't hurt him, due to low strength, but at the same time, he couldn't evade them anymore. Three Sovereigns, when combined into a gestalt mind, were sufficient to stalemate a Tier 1 god.

Pef opened his eyes, his irises now contoured by a thin line of blue.

"Hey girls, what's up?" he asked with a curious voice.

"Your aura. Is all silver now." Aria said with wonder in her voice.

"Really?" Pef wondered, jumping to his feet and examining his hands. They were glowing a faint silver, just like Aria appeared in his soul sight.

'Your original aspect has gained dominance.' Reason explained with a whisper.

Pef was a bit wiser now, and focused his coresense on Aria. Unlike everyone else, the former druid was a controller foremost, and even had the Garden artifact to provide unending minions.

"I see. My role will be to command troops, probably the Legion Soldiers." he mused out loud.

Lia blinked and smiled at him benevolently. "We are not ants and bees." she said with a light tone.

Pef nodded but kept observing Aria. "Bees too?"

"Yeah. Last week I achieved that. Now I'm training with spiders." the green haired goddess explained with a slight blush.

"Soon you'll have a frog mount, again." Pef joked lightly, as he looked around the room. The wives seemed less worried now.

"You're being silly, you silly. I can fly now." Aria said with a careless wave, making everyone laugh.

"I bet you're all hungry." Pef said randomly. A dozen hungry eyes focused on him in response.

Pef opened his arms and swiped them all into the inner world.

He could make some dinner, and make plans for the ball. And somehow figure out what the controller aspect did.

  Take over cultivators, and have them fight for him, like Aria did with insects?