Chapter 423: Unshakable Pillar (2)

Dandara’s consciousness slowly awakened... until her sense of smell caught a delicious, intoxicating aroma, making her eyes snap open.

She found herself settled on Priam’s back, and a huge cauldron stood right in front of him. Priam was calmly cooking, patiently waiting for each of the soldiers to wake up from their deep sleep.

"Since you’re the first one to wake up, give me a hand."

Priam’s voice sounded gentle as he stirred the cauldron. The irresistible smell rising from the mixture made Dandara shiver with anticipation.

She slowly got up and began arranging wooden plates and utensils for everyone.

Within a few minutes, the entire army was already awake and seated around long improvised tables, chatting happily as they waited for the meal.

At their level of power, none of them really needed to eat, drink, or sleep; however, doing so went beyond a simple habit—it was a sacred ritual that allowed their minds and souls to relax after so many hardships.

Besides, they had all already heard Dandara’s almost legendary descriptions of Priam’s cooking. If they had only heard those stories, they would have thought she was exaggerating endlessly and without reason.

But Flaris, Shione, and Lumiere, who had already tasted his dishes in the past, enthusiastically confirmed that the flavor was truly far beyond anything they could have imagined.

Just from that tempting aroma filling the air, everyone felt their stomachs rumbling and their minds buzzing with pure anticipation.

Priam finished preparing the meal, and Dandara helped him serve everyone. It was a rich, steaming soup made with noble beast meat that he had gathered in the outer sect, combined with exotic spices and rare herbs.

After the first spoonful, silence fell for a second, followed by absolute frenzy.

People practically devoured their meals within seconds, overwhelmed by pure gastronomic euphoria.

Priam watched everything with a slight sigh. He himself didn’t consider himself a great cook, but back when he lived as James—bedridden and weakened in a hospital on Earth—he had a lot of free time, so he spent entire days reading and studying all kinds of subjects on the internet. One of his pastimes was watching videos about recipes, cooking techniques, and preparation methods from various chefs.

In that earthly life, he had almost never had the chance to actually cook. Now, he had started practicing simply so he could properly feed Mirra, and he genuinely found it fun to bring back and test everything he had studied in the past.

Before he knew it, he was constantly cooking for Dandara, endlessly improving his skills.

’A world inhabited by powerful beings who live for thousands of years and don’t need to eat also has its downsides. They lose the pleasure of life’s simple things, and they never developed a true culinary culture.’

Alcoholic beverages were quite well-developed in this world. That was because some people enjoyed relaxing by drinking and getting drunk. Because of that, most men always had some kind of drink stored away.

The women of this world, on the other hand, were strangely more serious than the men. Some of them drank as well, but most simply didn’t do anything specific. Flaris, for example, whom Priam knew well, simply trained and trained, even when she didn’t need to.

As for Dandara, she had found pleasure in reading and getting new clothes. That was until she met Priam... now, eating his food had become her absolute number one pleasure. Perhaps because they always stayed together afterward.

Back to the present.

Fortunately, anticipating the group’s reaction, Priam had prepared three times more than necessary. That way, everyone could have seconds with enthusiasm, eating their fill until they were completely satisfied.

After cleaning the cauldrons, a celebratory mood took over the place. People talked, laughed, and shared jugs of wine and rare drinks they had stored in their spatial rings, freely passing them around.

As they celebrated, they could feel the profound changes taking place within their bodies and proudly assessed the Paragon Art they had just perfectly assimilated.

The atmosphere around Priam was radiant and lively. The faction’s young men approached him in groups, raising their glasses and mugs with loud laughter and genuine respect.

Yes, Priam was forced to drink with them as well. They drank with him in a lively and cheerful manner, showing sincere affection and treating him like an older brother—the kind of leader they would follow to the ends of the universe.

The women of the faction also wanted to drink with him in groups. They chatted with him about random things, wearing gentle smiles and eyes filled with admiration.

Priam had genuinely learned how to talk to them and ask about the things he felt they enjoyed talking about. Before long, talking to him became incredibly easy, leaving them completely enchanted.

To them, Priam was not merely the leader of the faction, but an immaculate, untouchable figure—someone they wouldn’t even dare entertain improper thoughts about. Simply being in his presence, fighting by his side, and tasting food made with his own hands was already a blessing.

Priam was, without a doubt, the one who drank the most, since this time he had to give everyone his attention.

There were more than two thousand people, yet Priam knew every single one of their names, understanding at least a little about their personalities, origins, and life stories. He talked, laughed, and shared that moment with all of them, strengthening the bonds within his faction even further.

...

After an entire day of resting and celebrating, everyone returned to the sect.

However, their destination wasn’t the faction’s residence, but rather the registration building that provided access to the Celestial Cloud.

Priam led them, and the entire army quickly crossed over into his secret world.

One hour later...

Priam nodded happily as he gazed at the green system window that appeared before his eyes.

[Total: 64,200 Germination Points]

Everyone had successfully mastered new celestial bodies, reaching Level 2.

But the Life Tribulation they had absorbed earlier had nourished their bodies to such an extraordinary degree that they could go even further. Once everyone had finished consolidating Level 2, Priam instructed them to master even more celestial bodies right away, as their foundations could now easily support this advancement.

Within just a few minutes...

[Total: 191,400 Germination Points]

Priam felt his chest pounding with excitement when he saw such a massive amount of accumulated points. Everyone had ascended to Level 3, and, on top of that...

[Secret World Evolved!]

[All of your powers and abilities have doubled!]

Priam took a deep breath. He then turned toward the Sun he had been trying to condense in the sky of his secret world for some time.

After a few minutes...

He immediately noticed that the speed at which the cosmic mist accumulated and compressed had increased exponentially. However... at that rate, it would still take a few years for the star to fully form.

Priam didn’t really care; he simply turned toward his soldiers and ordered everyone to return. ℯℯ𝑙.

When they arrived back at the faction’s territory, Priam gathered those 2,120 elite soldiers, already planning their next step.

He had studied a little about the Great Mist Energy in the inner sect, the energy that the Sages absorbed from those stones that came from another world. Priam had countless crystals filled with it, and even the Central Elder was more than happy to accept some of these crystals in exchange for his services.

The truth was that this energy possessed certain characteristics that, once absorbed by the body, allowed a Sage to achieve much greater compatibility with and understanding of the essence of creation.

Leveling up wasn’t simply about constantly mastering new celestial bodies. That was indeed the most important practical part, but without an understanding of the essence of creation, a Sage wouldn’t truly be able to advance through the levels.

Since everyone took thousands of years to advance a single level, this second stage usually wasn’t an insurmountable obstacle. Everyone had plenty of time between each level to study this energy within their own bodies.

As for the sect’s core disciples, they received unique resources brought from other worlds, similar to the Great Mist Stones, both to nourish their bodies and to help them understand the essence of creation more easily.

Of course, these resources were extremely limited. That was precisely why the sect rigorously selected only a very small number of core disciples in each generation.

As for Priam’s soldiers, who could easily master a celestial body...

Now they would receive the exact same treatment.

No.

It would be infinitely better. After all, Priam wouldn’t give them raw Great Mist Stones or impure resources to nourish their bodies.

He synthesized Divine Ether from the crystals and distributed it among them for everyone to absorb.

After a few days, when he felt that everyone was ready, he gathered the entire army on another rented planet.

"Get ready. You can’t waste anything." Priam spoke as he floated above everyone, wearing a calm expression.

The people took deep breaths, completely focused.

Then, he spread his arms and released only the Life Thunder upon everyone.

The soldiers’ eyes widened, but they soon realized that the energy was incredibly gentle and docile. It contained not even a trace of the Destruction Thunder, and all they had to do was guide it into their bodies and calmly absorb it.

...

The cycle of physical nourishment, Divine Ether, and mastering new celestial bodies repeated.

Again, and again.

Priam burned through all the accumulated Life Thunder, as well as half of all the crystals he possessed.

But every drop of effort was worth it.

[Total: 455,000 Germination Points]

All the elite soldiers reached Level 9 of the Enlightened Sage Rank.

Priam gained mountains of points. And, as a bonus, his secret world evolved more than five times.

The ordinary soldiers, who were core disciples, were already Philosopher Sages between Levels 2 and 4. Now, the gap in raw power within the army had been drastically reduced.

Priam ordered everyone to return to studying the Paragon Arts and find new techniques to assimilate. Meanwhile, he headed toward the registration area that led to the Celestial Cloud.

Upon entering his Secret World, Priam finally put everything he had into the process.

"!"

Within just a few minutes, a pulsating, radiant, and warm light erupted in the center of that world’s darkness.

"HELL YEAH!"

Priam roared excitedly. His first sun had been created.

It was a colossal bluish sun. It should be several times larger than Earth’s sun.

Now... all he had to do was keep creating more and more stars to advance by leaps and bounds.

His only immediate obstacle was that the faction’s elite soldiers couldn’t force their way into becoming Philosopher Sages. They had to reach the Nirvana state on their own. Because of that, the growth speed of his secret world would stagnate for a while.

However, that wouldn’t last long. The outer sect had deep meditation chambers specifically designed to help Sages reach this state much faster.

Of course, using one of those places for a single day cost an exorbitant fortune... but that only applied to ordinary disciples, not the Principal Disciple.