Ryker’s expression was taken aback, but his control over his Spirit Energy subconsciously took over.

All at once, his Spirit Beasts seemed to form a connection between his dantian and themselves. A loop was formed through them all and the skies overturned.

‘This is…’

Ryker’s lip twitched. He wasn’t the only person getting a huge boost in his cultivation. If he had known that this would happen, he would have done it long ago.

What he didn’t realize was that, in the outside world, this was known as the Ascension Baptism. Usually, before breaking into the Ascended Realm, geniuses would try to learn as many Daos as they could for the sake of breaking through several realms all at once.

The Ascension Realm was incredibly time intensive to cultivate through. As such, it had become a natural process to rely on the Laws of the World to help.

The number of Realms you could leap was directly proportional to how many Paths you had comprehended.

Most would learn one Dao and focus on gathering as many Paths as they could. Upon breaking into the Ascension Realm, they would trigger the Ascension Baptism.

The trouble with this was that the Iterations had no Laws of the World. As such, when Ryker broke through at first, no such thing happened.

However, just now, he had comprehended a Dao for his ninth and final set of Daos, something he should have only been able to do at the Third Mythic Realm, and he had caused a dam to flood.

The combination of still being at the First Ascended Realm, the power of his Daos—especially that of his Dao of Chaos—and the Eldertree…

Resulted in this.

And it wasn’t long before he realized that it wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

Ryker reacted fast, pulling Queen into his dantian.

She was the most at risk. She had barely just left her status as an Infant Spirit Beast because she absorbed her clansmen’s egg and potential. But her body was still immature.

Unlike Prometheus, she and Phoenix had to worry about their fleshly bodies. Progressing too quickly was a problem.

Usually, the Ascended Baptism was an amazing and very gentle process.

Unfortunately, this world had no Laws of the World. As such, the Spirit Energy was akin to unruly criminals, ripping into his body and worming their way in.

He had no choice but to pull Queen into his body so that he could take control of the Spirit Energy for her, or else her foundation would end up entirely crippled.

ROAR!

Phoenix seemed to realize what was happening as well. But the big guy was far more equipped to deal with the situation.

Earth Phoenix pushed Earth Reborn to the limit, causing the Spirit Energy in the immediate surroundings to be forced into submission.

They landed on the ground heavily and roared as they broke into the Second Ascended Realm.

Ryker’s gaze focused as he looked up into the skies. This situation could very quickly get out of hand, especially if others began to understand what was happening.

Third Ascended Realm.

Ryker’s face became slightly red.

He looked down at his arm and realized that the one improving the fastest was Prometheus. It didn’t have a fleshly body. All it needed was Spirit Energy of its type to progress, and that was proved quite quickly… Because it was the first to enter the Elevated Realm.

With the continuous breakthroughs, people began to realize that there was definitely something wrong with the situation. Then they realized that Ryker wasn’t moving at all and it seemed to settle in for them all.

‘Dammit,’ Ryker cursed inwardly.

No matter how cautious he was, it was impossible for him to have guessed that something like this would happen.

Only he could manage to take a happy occasion like breaking through and ruin it like this.

“What are you waiting for?!” The furious bronzed God barked from above, his voice causing the world to shake.

“Kill him.” Ryker suddenly spoke. He looked up slowly, meeting his grandfather’s eyes.

Leopold frowned. But he knew that Ryker would be unlikely to bullshit at a time like this.

After only a moment of hesitation, Leopold’s aura flared.

“What are you doing, Leopold?!” The bronzed God barked. “Are you going to ruin your world like this?!”

Leopold had already made his decision.

The bronzed God’s expression changed. This was bad.

If this projection was injured, his soul would suffer backlash. But worse than that, if there was a God here, unfettered, then their armies and allies would be finished.

He was still a ways away from arriving. Although it would only be a few more minutes, such time was enough for a God to kill these people ten times over.

“DAMMIT!”

BANG!

The projection shattered.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

At that moment, a formation hidden in the depths of the planet trembled. But as it was trying to activate, everyone realized something shocking…

It couldn’t because all of the Spirit Energy was being commandeered by Ryker. Even this ancient formation, planned by the Mystery Master Alliance for centuries, couldn’t take precedent over Ryker’s breakthrough.

But that was part of the problem.

The reason Ryker told his grandfather to kill the projection was because very soon… he was going to be the one that destroyed this world’s environment.

Just to break through from the First to Third Ascended Realm, he had taken over a percent of the planet’s Spirit Energy. If he counted what Phoenix and the others needed, it was even more exaggerated.

Then there was all the Spirit Energy being used to create his grandmother’s Tribulation above. Luckily, the Tribulation of a God was a bit different and was borrowing power from a more external source. But even so…

At this rate, no matter what happened, Planet Valorian was finished.

In that case, why not unleash true carnage.

Leopold, released from his battle of stalling with the bronzed God, suddenly unleashed his aura.

Those aiming for Ryker were crushed in a single bound.

When they realized that a God had suddenly begun to assault them, the panic in those that had overstayed their welcome increased several fold.

They scattered and the region around Ryker, with the exception of Rynn, Nariel, Phoenix, Prometheus, and the Eldertree, was completely vacated.

It wasn’t long before Leopold understood why Ryker had told him to take such drastic action. In the end, he couldn’t help but sigh. It seemed that the Valorians would lose their place in the world. But…

He looked down toward Ryker whose aura suddenly broke into the First Elevated Realm.

If he was so powerful at the First Ascended Realm… how powerful would he be now?

No, it wasn’t just Ryker…

Leopold looked toward Phoenix who suddenly entered the Elevated Realm as well.

This monstrous beast, exuding a demonic aura, was the most talented creature he had ever seen in his lifetime. It made him feel a small bit of pressure even in the First Ascended Realm… and now it was an Elevated too.

Leopold closed his eyes, taking a breath. It seemed that one way or another, the Valorian Clan would have to rely on the strength of Ryker’s future.

There was no way a Clan could be raised on a planet without Spirit Energy, they would definitely need to move. But all of the best cultivation regions were already occupied… which only meant one thing:

War.

Leopold opened his eyes, a flash of malevolence pulsing within them.

So be it.

“Formation.” Leopold commanded.

The Valorian Clan Corps retreated like a tide. The armies of their enemies were already receding, but Leopold raised a palm and slapped down.

Everywhere he attacked, enemies died by the hundreds. Ships fell from the skies and the skies overturned.

The Valorian Clan felt their blood boil. This was their Patriarch.

They knew why he was doing this. Maybe very soon they wouldn’t have the luxury to rest at all.

In fact, the situation could be said to be getting worse.

With all the Spirit Energy being sucked away, the strength of Ascendeds would plummet because they wouldn’t be able to rely on atmospheric Spirit Energy control.

This would make their enemies weaker as well… but the problem was that once they couldn’t replenish their Spirit Energy, the ones that would fall first would be those with fewer numbers.

If their enemies came in waves, they would truly be finished.

To make matters worse, this gap would be even wider for Gods. Their enemies would almost certainly be bringing more than one, and even if Ryker’s grandmother managed to finish her breakthrough, she would just be a newly advanced God, one that wasn’t a match at all for the well-established Gods.

They slowly grew solemn as they realized that this would likely be their Clan’s last stand.

It was either they managed to make it through this…

Or this would be the final frontier of the Valorian Clan.

The Second Elevated Realm.

Ryker and Phoenix broke through again, but Prometheus was already at the Third Elevated Realm.

All the while, his new contract, the Eldertree, didn’t show even the slightest sign of movement. Even now, Ryker couldn’t quite tell what its cultivation realm even was.

However, he simply didn’t have the time to think about it.

The more powerful his cultivation became, the larger the gap between his Spirit

Energy and Dao grew.

It was an odd feeling. If before 90% of his strength came from his Daos, it was now quickly closing in on 50/50. And the moment he reached the Third Elevated Realm, their roles swapped.

Ryker knew why this was. His Daos were too low leveled.

Even his best Daos were only peeking into the Third Level, which, if his guesses were correct, were only equivalent to the Third Ascended Realm.

He felt a little off balance in this situation. He didn’t like the feeling at all, but right now, he had his hands full dealing with all of this Spirit Energy; he simply didn’t have the luxury to care about anything else.

All he could promise himself was to use his Dao of Chaos to improve his Daos as quickly as possible. Having his Daos be so far below his Spirit Energy made it feel like he was wasting too much of his potential.

By his measurements, by the time he reached this high into the Elevated Realms, he should be able to toy with Gods like children.

But he had neglected to factor in that his Dao would be just as important to that. Otherwise, even if he became a Third Mythic, fighting it out with Gods would be a pipe dream.

Suddenly, everything was put into perspective.

If he wanted a chance at bringing his family out of this prison, his best bet certainly wouldn’t be Spirit Energy alone.

He had to force his Daos into whatever their God Realm equivalents were…

No matter the cost.

Ryker roared as he shattered the barrier to the Mythic Realm.

A 22-year-old Mythic was something the Valorian Clan had simply never seen before.

Ryker no longer held back. He pulled in the Spirit Energy faster and faster, swallowing up everything that he could get.

For him, comprehending Daos was easy. However, by comparison, gathering so much Spirit Energy was a huge pain in the ass.

He would reach the Third Mythic Realm first, then consider his Daos later.

The skies boomed and at that moment, Ryker’s senses were so expansive that he felt the powers entering their solar system.

They were here.

Prometheus entered the Third Mythic Realm.

Phoenix entered the Third Mythic Realm, stumbled before he couldn’t hold himself up and fell into a slumbering heap.

Queen entered the Third Mythic Realm soon after and fell into a deep sleep next.

Suddenly, Ryker had lost two of his strongest Contracts, leaving him with a tree he didn’t know how to use and a Silver Mirror that was now likely his only contract still in the Enlightenment Realm.

‘It’s going to have to be just you and me then, I guess…’ Ryker thought, looking down at Prometheus.

Temporal Weave rushed through his body and soon he looked as though he was nothing more than skin and bone, almost all of his blood having been sapped up.

The only method he had of avoiding a fall into deep sleep like his Spirit Beasts was this. One way or another, he would have to stand out in this battle…

Otherwise, his Valorian Clan wouldn’t stand a chance.

He looked up toward his grandmother who was stuck in the midst of snaking dragons of lightning. She was well on her way to success, but he knew that it would take longer.

There wasn’t enough time.

Ryker took a shaky breath, gripping his fists.

He waved a hand and Nariel, along with Rynn, vanished into the prison.

He turned an eye inward toward the Eldertree lurking in his dantian, but it felt completely dormant.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

High in the skies, three battleships the size of moons suddenly appeared.

Ryker gazed toward them almost indifferently, his expression calm for a moment before a fiery light began to blaze within him.

BANG!

A spiraling cyclone of dark violet energy rumbled out from him, forming a world of shadows and black holes.

He took a step forward, his Dao of Chaos pouring into his Ascension Domain.

What the world didn’t know was that earlier, his Water Dao Ascension Domain was only a quarter of his True Domain.

Now, he had no choice but to give it everything he had.

On the helm of the ships, there were three Gods.

Ryker pointed and his finger landed on the true form of the bronzed God.

“I want that one, old man. I hope your bag of bones can handle the other two.”

Ryker stomped a foot onto the ground and the planet shook.

In a blink, he had already appeared in the sphere of the battleship, his gaze malevolent.