Chapter 100: Blessed

The room became quiet.

Truthfully, the answer wasn’t complicated.

After all, the death mana hadn’t come from a skill.

Nor from a treasure.

Nor from an attack.

It had come from him.

Specifically, from him adapting to the environment he had just left behind.

Cassian thought about how to explain it before finally speaking.

"I integrated into a Death Zone."

The moment those words left his mouth, Louis’ expression changed.

"A Death Zone?"

Cassian nodded.

"Not only that."

"The entire territory is heavily aligned toward Death."

"The density of death mana there is significantly higher than normal regions."

Louis immediately understood part of the problem.

When a Lord spent enough time in an environment, traces of that environment naturally attached themselves to the Lord.

The stronger the environment, the stronger the influence.

Normally, this wasn’t a problem.

But Cassian wasn’t normal.

The amount of death mana he had accumulated was absurd.

It was like a mortal walking through a volcano and bringing the magma home with him.

Louis frowned.

"That still doesn’t explain the magnitude."

Cassian simply shrugged.

"I adapted."

"You adapted?"

"Yes."

The young Lord answered as though it were completely ordinary.

"I spent enough time there that I stopped noticing it."

The Overseer nearly laughed.

A Death Zone.

A place most newly awakened Lords wouldn’t survive for a single day.

And this monster sitting before him had adapted to it so thoroughly that he forgot the environment was abnormal.

Louis suddenly understood why the pressure had felt so terrifying earlier.

It wasn’t because Cassian had intentionally released his mana.

Quite the opposite.

The young man had simply arrived home.

The death mana naturally leaking from his body was equivalent to bringing a fragment of a Death Zone into a peaceful residential apartment.

For ordinary people, the effect would’ve been catastrophic.

Louis let out a long breath.

"I see."

For once, his curiosity was satisfied.

Unfortunately, that satisfaction only created a new question.

A far more troubling one.

How exactly had a newly awakened Lord survived, and apparently thrived, in a Death Zone?

The Overseer’s gaze narrowed slightly.

Cassian could easily guess where the Overseer’s thoughts were heading simply from the look on his face.

So, before Louis could formulate a question, Cassian spoke first. "As for how I developed my territory so quickly..."

​He leaned back slightly against the sofa, his tone deliberate. "...let’s just say it was the Domain’s favor. Nothing more."

​Louis frowned.

​The Domain’s favor?

​For a fleeting second, he didn’t grasp the true weight of the words. Then, realization struck him like a bolt of divine lightning.

​His eyes widened in sheer disbelief, and his breathing abruptly hitched in his chest. ​Louis stared at Cassian, his lips trembling slightly before he finally forced out a single, heavy question.

​"Did..." His voice sounded strangely solemn, almost fearful. "...did you receive a Divine Blessing?"

​This time, it was Cassian’s turn to be caught off guard.

​His brows shot upward. "How do you know about Divine Blessings?"

​Cassian had learned about Divine Blessings directly from the Eternal Serpent, knowing full well that only a microscopic fraction of existences across the vast cosmos ever possessed them.

Yet in both his past life and his current one, he had never heard a single soul openly speak of such things within the mortal realms, no rumors, no ancient records, nothing.

​Not even the absolute peak Lords of the Astral Dominion had ever been publicly associated with Divine Blessings.

​So where, exactly, had Louis Ferdinand learned about them?

​The Overseer didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he simply stared at Cassian, a desperate spark of hope slowly kindling deep within his weathered eyes, a dangerous kind of hope, the sort born only after centuries of silent despair.

​Cassian had neither confirmed nor denied the question, but to a man like Louis, that didn’t matter in the slightest.

The fact that a newly awakened Lord recognized the exact terminology was more than enough proof.

​Divine Blessings truly exist.

​They weren’t just ancient myths, nor were they fabricated legends, they were real.

​For a brief, staggering moment, Louis felt his aging heart pound furiously against his ribs.

​’Perhaps... perhaps there really is still hope for the Dominion after all.’

​The heavy thought surfaced before he quickly and forcefully suppressed it.

He had governed the Astral Dominion for over a century; he knew better than anyone how lethal unvetted expectations could be.

​Taking a slow, deep breath, Louis organized his thoughts before finally breaking the heavy silence.

​"There are very few people who know about Divine Blessings," his voice dropped into an intensely serious register. "The information is strictly restricted to the absolute highest levels of the Dominion’s leadership."

​Cassian leaned forward, listening attentively as the Overseer continued.

​"This was during the Astral Dominion’s earliest years within the Lord’s Domain," his voice grew noticeably heavier. "I had only recently become an Established Lord at the time."

"Back then, the Astral Dominion was still fragile and weak. We had only just gained formal recognition as a Tier II Interplanetary Civilization."

​"However, before we could even stabilize our territory, a galactic war broke out."

​"A war between two Tier VII Civilizations."

​Cassian’s expression finally shifted.

​A Tier VII Civilization...

​Such monolithic empires possessed Sovereign Lords, godlike existences capable of ruling entire galaxies with an iron fist.

A full-scale conflict between powers of that magnitude was almost beyond mortal comprehension.

​By all logical standards, a newly integrated Tier II civilization should have been completely irrelevant in such a war. At best, they would serve as manual laborers; at worst... expendable cannon fodder.

​Cassian thought precisely that, though he kept the dark realization to himself.

​"We were forcibly recruited into a coalition," Louis explained, a bitter edge entering his voice. "A gathering of lower-tier civilizations serving under one of the Tier VII powers. We weren’t powerful enough to participate in the actual battles, of course."

​"So, we served as reserves, supply lines, emergency reinforcements and cleanup crews."

"Because of our low standing, we never witnessed the main frontline directly."

​"But news traveled. Rumors, official reports, and terrified accounts from fleeing survivors..."

​A subtle trace of lingering awe appeared in the old man’s voice. "They spoke of beings whose clashes shook the foundations of entire galaxies."

​"I remember standing on the outer edge of a fortress world. The primary battlefield was over three million light-years away."

​Cassian nearly choked. Three million light-years... that distance alone was far vast for most mortal civilizations to even comprehend.

​Yet Louis continued calmly, his tone eerie and precise. "And even from that unimaginable distance..."

​"We felt it."

​"Felt what?"

​Louis answered without a second’s hesitation. "The shockwaves."

​"We couldn’t see the battle," Louis murmured softly. "We couldn’t perceive the individual combatants with our senses. But every single collision caused reality itself to tremble. Entire star systems vanished into nothingness. Spatial corridors collapsed, and the surrounding galaxy shook as though it had become a restless ocean during a tempest."

​Louis unconsciously clenched his withered fist, his knuckles turning white.

​"I still remember it vividly. The raw fear. The complete helplessness... and the horrifying realization that if either combatant so much as glanced in our direction, our entire civilization would vanish from existence."

​Cassian listened intently without interrupting, visualizing the terrifying scale of such cosmic monsters.

​And yet, Louis wasn’t finished.

​"The most shocking part came afterward," his voice dropped into an almost reverent whisper, "when rumors finally reached the rear lines."

​Cassian leaned forward slightly as Louis looked directly into his eyes.

​"Both of those beings," the Overseer stated slowly, "were Blessed."