While the first recruits underwent indoctrination into the Legion, Pef explored the captured wealth formerly belonging to his prisoners.

Unlike Pef, who originated from a lower ranked universe and had to carefully manage his resources, the Shin were pirates and plunderers, and sometimes mercenaries for hire.

They had an astronomical amount of wealth stored in their space rings or their inner worlds, and all that wealth had to be inventoried and catalogued.

Luckily, Pef had his glove and a curious Alchemist willing to help, as otherwise it would have taken thousands of years to identify and appraise everything.

"To make it simple, I placed all valuable items in this ring. That means pills, weapons and other artifacts useful for Elder and Dian Gods. That violet-gold armor is incredibly valuable as well, although you won't be able to use most of its hidden abilities until you ascend again. I believe it was a Dian Royal House lifesaving artifact, at the origin." Rejin explained as he handed over a gilded ring with a cauldron insignia.

Pef raised an eyebrow at his new companion. "You're sure you don't need any of this loot?"

The old Alchemist just shook his head, seeming amused. "Do you think Dian Gods go around robbing people?"

"Hmmm. I heard things like 'might is right' though..." our hero answered with a snort.

"...haha. It used to be so, before your General started breaking heads and hearts. You know, I've met her in her first life? She was only a Universe God, albeit one with a gigantic horde of insects in tow...and pretty green leaves. She besieged our guild and demanded we stop selling pills to evildoers." the Alchemist reminiscenced with a far-away look.

Pef smiled at the old history. "And what happened?"

"Our guild fought back, of course. And we lost, like we would expect now in hindsight. Not right away, but in a million years our business was failing and the entire multiverse had turned against us. By that time the General had already reached Dian rank and transformed into her human form." Rejin mused with his eyes closed.

"Nice! So she was a plant beast in her first life?" Pef wondered with wide eyes.

"There are a millions of scholars that still debate her origins. She was certainly a type of lotus, with telepathic abilities or some form of control over insects. Pheromones maybe. Doesn't really matter now, does it?" the Alchemist muttered with a thin smile.

"I suppose not. It does answer one question though, why the Legion's cultivation resembles a lotus plant with the leaves crowning in my head." Pef replied with a snort.

The Alchemist sighed. "Anyway, your General began creating the new order. Millions of sects were destroyed, especially those that used dubious methods like living human pills or soul enslavement. She died a hundred times during her crazy crusade, and many of her allies died as well...until she ascended to the Xian realm. And then her Veritas Legion became a superpower almost at once, her Captains armed with Word Guns...and you can guess the rest."

Pef nodded. "Might was right. But this time as a Tier 8, it was her version of right. She wouldn't tolerate piracy or kidnapping either."

"Not even a Tier 8 can supervise the entire multiverse, but she made an effort to keep tabs on every single Dian rank deity and pacify the less civilized ones. A period of enforced peace followed, which in turn led to the Great Alliance...and the current war against the golith menace."

Pef hugged Yue to his side, noting his wife was rather mesmerized by the story of the General. Perhaps she did make a great role model.

"And speaking of war, I do need a way to raise billions of Soldiers fast. Starting with my lovely wife." Pef proposed with a knowing grin.

The Alchemist glanced to the left, as if exploring for something very far. "The Devils use bloodline awakening to raise armies of Highgod devils. Tier 3 soldiers, if not very strong or skilled, they are still better than your ordinary Legion Soldiers."

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Pef hummed gently. "Some sort of blood sacrifice?"

"I don't know the details, and the devils aren't very public with their race security. Dragons and the Fay also use blood to accelerate the growth speed of their troops, and the Ghouls...well. They use death rituals. Not very pretty, I imagine." the Alchemist explained in a level voice.

The Taotie specter appeared beside them in a red flash. "Give me that dead Elder Shin, and I can raise my sweet Yue to Universe rank. Can't help other mortals but my host has privileged access..."

Pef and Yue exchanged a surprised look, and then Pef produced the still-warm eagle corpse from his glove pocket.

"Stand back, or your minds will erode...not that I care." the specter badger grumbled as an indigo sphere covered Yue and the dead Shin Admiral.

Pef blinked back a good distance, to find the Alchemist had relocated as well. " The dead badger seems quite strong, for a dead beast." he said with a questioning tone.

"About that. Taotie is a special type of beast, with domain in Devouring. Be careful around it, as they can devour anything, from life and qi to space and even time. Also, I don't think it is dead, maybe it is imprisoned in that ring..." Rejin warned Pef in a gloomy voice.

Pef glanced at his glove, which stayed suspectfully silent this time.

'Remarkably similar to our Legion's cultivation method, I might say. Do we use Devouring as well, when we absorb the essence of our dead enemies?' Pef wondered inward.

'I cannot say. The Legion Method is not like any other in the multiverse, but it has traits from many cultivation methods, millions of separate traits, that our General has gathered over billions of years.' the glove admitted in a sour tone, like it tried to avoid the subject.

Pef's coresenses were also absorbed into the indigo sphere when Pef tried to peek on the events inside, so he gave up. Damn badger was strong enough to keep his secrets, for now.

However, by the time the Shin Admirals had finished their indoctrination, a violet lightning bolt fell onto the indigo sphere and Yue emerged from her cocoon, holding a red feather in hand and fanning herself with obvious delight.

"I've also reached Universe God realm, hubby!" she announced happily.

The spirit beast had returned inside the ring, so Pef bravely advanced to kiss and measure the body of his divine goddess spouse. "I like it. So, any new abilities from your aura?" he whispered in her warm ear.

"Oh, yes! Watch!" she exclaimed as she Blinked away and began speeding up, until her shape became a blur even to Pef's powerful senses.

Then the blur vanished and a slap resounded on Pef's buttocks. "Hehe! Aren't I really fast?" Yue giggled as she returned to normal speed.

"Time Acceleration? Nice! Anything else?" he asked while rubbing his ass. Damn woman left a bruise...luckily he could heal it in a second.

"Hmmm. I'll have to try it on Lord Rejin. You might die, sweet hubby..." his wife muttered with a guilty look at the Alchemist.

The old man chuckled amused. "Oh? What do you have, that time forcefield?" he asked a bit curious.

"This!" Yue shouted and slashed with her red Godbeast feather. In mid-swing, the feather split into a dozen identical feathers that struck the Tier 7 Alchemist from a dozen sides at once.

Of course, even without a combat specialization, the Alchemist was still nigh-invulnerable to any damage, purely due to his higher cultivation realm. The feathers bounced away harmlessly, but the Alchemist seemed impressed anyway. "Good! A multi-dimensional attack, only at Universe rank. And you even got one of my selves in the eye, he is rather confused" he laughed.

"I want that skill too!" Pef exclaimed with a pout.

Yue flickered to his side, and rested her head on his shoulder, eyelashes fluttering with mirth. "I am great, right?"

Pef leaned in to kiss her juicy lips. "Imagine what I could do with this skill...in bed." he whispered softly.

Yue blushed as her imagination ran wild. "Scoundrel!"

Pef grinned back.