Chapter 424: Genesis

After creating his first sun, Priam continued rising without stopping. He used the Life Thunder he could generate on his own to nourish his body and, in turn, restart the process of creating stars.

Months passed, filled with hard work and training.

Inside the inner sect, Rhys of the Favonian Alliance and Neel of the Seiche Alliance were completely distressed and furious.

They had prepared rigorously and were waiting for the perfect opportunity to crush the Ylisse Alliance. However... Priam and his soldiers weren’t participating in any internal competition for points. Much less were they accepting jobs outside the sect.

What the hell was going on? There was no way they could accumulate any points by acting like that!

But no matter how furious they were, and no matter how much they questioned the Elders about why Priam seemed to "have so many points," they remained completely in the dark.

---

Inside the Secret World, Priam abruptly opened his eyes.

He had just created his hundredth sun, finally reaching Level 7!

A glowing green window materialized before him:

[Secret World evolved!]

[Genesis Energy awakened!]

[Genesis Energy has amplified the power of your Celestials by +50%. They all share this power, and every time they use their power, your Genesis Energy will decrease.]

[To recover and increase the amount of Genesis Energy, the planets within the Secret World must contain complex life on their surfaces. Their natural interaction with the planet will stimulate its emergence.]

Priam read everything, slightly stunned. He had never heard of this so-called Genesis Energy before.

Possibly, there was a vast amount of information about it within the System’s Transcendental knowledge.

Despite having mountains of accumulated points, Priam still hadn’t bought or studied anything new, since his absolute priority had been leveling up as quickly as possible.

"Well... the sect should have some simple, quick summary for me to read. For now, I’ll keep focusing on the levels."

He muttered to himself, sensing that this would be quite a complex subject.

---

Amid Priam’s intense routine of studying and training—in a brief break he took to spend some time alone with Dandara—he received a peculiar piece of news.

The inner sect possessed a secret information network that extended across all universes. Its main purpose was to monitor what was happening in the only universe inhabited by the mortal enemies of the humanoids: the Primordial Chaos Beasts.

This information was shared among all the major humanoid sects.

Something had happened in the mortal plane of the bestial universe.

A new and terrifying figure had emerged among them and attacked a planet in the mortal region, mercilessly wiping out an entire race.

If that had been all, there would have been no reason for them to care or receive a detailed report. After all, it was merely a mediocre race from the mortal plane, and vengeance and bloodshed happened nonstop throughout every universe.

But...

The one responsible for the massacre was the final disciple of the oldest and most powerful figure among all the Primordial Chaos Beasts.

All the great powers followed in the footsteps of that ancient being; therefore, they were closely watching every action of its new disciple.

Upon hearing about the incident, Priam asked for the name of the destroyed race:

Aether-Wood Deer.

Upon hearing that name, Priam could only smile faintly. His little girl really seemed to be growing up fast. He didn’t know exactly what had driven her to take such action, but Mirra had returned to her own race and confronted them head-on.

Something serious must have happened to make her so furious that she decided to destroy them all.

Priam trusted her completely. He had devoted his heart and soul to raising her properly, teaching her the difference between right and wrong. Mirra was a good person and an adorable girl; she would never commit such an atrocity without a justifiable reason.

Surely, there were rotten secrets hidden within that race. Things that made them deserve to be eradicated. Something that, if Mirra ignored it out of mere pity, would cause even more deaths and suffering to innocents in the future. That was why she hadn’t hesitated to stain her own hands with blood.

---

Several months later.

After much effort and continuous training...

In the Secret World, there were already 250 suns radiating light and heat spectacularly.

Priam opened his eyes, amazed and euphoric. He had really done all of that and reached Level 9!

Of course, advancing through the levels was the "easier" part of the Ranks when you had the right resources and methods at your disposal.

Now, Priam had completed the entire refinement of his mind, and his mental energy had reached an almost immortal level. To break through toward the next Rank, he needed to begin the process with his own soul.

At the end of the three Ranks, the body, mind, and soul would reach a peak beyond that of a mortal, paving the way toward true immortality.

Priam studied a little about the best method. Practically speaking, the process of becoming an Exalted Sage wasn’t that complicated. It only required all of his possible celestial bodies to harbor vibrant and complex life, causing the planets to begin accumulating a peculiar energy called Genesis.

Absorbing this energy in large quantities would cause the soul to evolve.

Yes, the same energy that had begun awakening within his Secret World.

In other words, everything was now interconnected. He needed to make life flourish within his Secret World. However... the suns had only just appeared, and for natural life to spread across the surfaces of the planets and make the survival of weaker races possible, it would take thousands of years.

For any normal person, it would also take several hundred thousand years for their planets and suns to develop true life.

There weren’t enough people available to populate thousands of planets. Because of that, they had to wait for the planets’ nature to develop naturally and only then send small groups of races to each place, waiting for generations to pass as they multiplied.

Sages lived for a very long time, so waiting through hundreds of generations of simple Mages multiplying wasn’t a big deal.

Fortunately, humanoids were almost always highly fertile and reproduced quickly. That was a colossal advantage that Demons and Primordial Chaos Beasts didn’t possess.

After sighing, Priam made up his mind. ’There must certainly be an easier way. But for now, I’ll focus on the other things.’

Priam had many, many tasks to accomplish, and reaching Level 9 was just another goal he had surpassed.

...

When Priam returned to his faction, Dandara was already waiting for him in his room.

"Boss, everyone’s ready." Her tone was filled with confidence. "I can’t guarantee that everyone will succeed, but at the very least, the vast majority won’t disappoint you."

Priam nodded. "They need to go through this on their own if they want to truly break through. I trust they won’t do badly."

That same day, he moved with calm steps, leaving the building and finding all 27,000 soldiers gathered outside. They had been divided into 6 massive armies, each led by a general.

From that day onward, Priam’s faction would accept the Sovereigns’ Missions and set out for other worlds. They would go on their own, and the experience of not having Priam or Dandara nearby would be invaluable for allowing their minds to reach Nirvana in the future.

They had to complete the mission and win with their own hands.

Priam took a deep breath, reflecting.

Would this be the same as destroying other worlds?

No.

The final missions given by the Sovereigns—where victory truly meant the end of a world—were known as Celestial Missions. They appeared once every three hundred thousand years or so, and all the sects could participate.

All the other missions that came before them were small objectives scattered throughout each universe within a world, which, once all completed, led the Celestial Mission to its true conclusion.

Each world received thousands of these small missions over the course of millennia, each one in a different universe, creating an even larger crack leading toward the inevitable end.

The mission Priam had previously gone on was special. Many unusual things had happened in that world, and the Sovereign Goddess was to blame. There shouldn’t have been such a grand mission where simple Mages could participate.

Would sending his people out with the goal of winning mean that he was contributing to the destruction of worlds in the future? In theory, yes.

But that wouldn’t happen anytime soon, and he was absolutely convinced that the resources obtained from these expeditions would ultimately help him break this cycle.

After a few seconds of reflection, Priam spoke calmly:

"I won’t give a long speech, because this isn’t a farewell or anything like that. I just want you to come back quickly, victorious."

"YES!"

Everyone roared in perfect unison.

Three Sovereign Missions were already available in the sect, waiting for volunteers.

The first one had appeared 8 months ago, and that was precisely when Dandara had suggested sending the army. Priam had accepted and used his status as a Principal Disciple to have the sect hold the spot for all this time.

Now, he had also accepted the other two.

The other factions were more than happy to see him claim all three. Although the rewards were always monumental, to ordinary people, Missions to other worlds were equivalent to jumping into an abyss with a 90% chance of never coming back.

The risks were extremely high, and if they could, they would never go on a mission to another world. They lived safely and were important figures within the sect; why risk dying and losing everything?

But if no one volunteered, the sect would forcibly choose those who would be sent.

To normal people, missions were a nightmare. But to Priam, it was an opportunity.

Thus, Priam’s 6 battalions split up, with two battalions departing for each mission.

Shione and Lumiere, being siblings who knew each other perfectly, went on the same expedition.

Flaris and Sallya marched toward another. And Daraen led the final group alongside Inigo.

Nise and Safira stayed with Daraen and Inigo, since it was considered the most complex mission.

After watching everyone leave, Priam and Dandara took a deep breath and turned around to head back...

That was when Priam’s emblem resonated.

He received the message, and his expression changed instantly.

*The mission that the external disciples had accepted more than two years ago had finally been declared complete.*