Chapter 28 Core Nurturing

After they returned to the Empire, they met with Aliyah. She told them that she was going to divide her armies into 100 Legions of the Eternal Night. After giving her some advice, they went to their room and focused on the changes they had gone through. The Soulbrands had disappeared from their bodies. Just as Azrael had anticipated, the Paragon Cellula Sigillum really completed his Paragon Art. It had somehow fused with the Eternal Embodiment of Soul Embrace and had gone through a profound change. Azrael could feel that every fiber of his very being was connected to Lily and vice versa. After a few days of dual cultivation with Lily, he discovered that their efficiency had increased by at least ten times.

The tattoos themselves had changed and he could feel that this new design was more compatible with them than the previous one. His energy was being filtered twice before reaching his core. The first time was when it was absorbed from the surroundings into his cells. Then it would pass through the tattoos before being absorbed by his core. Before, his cells would passively absorb minute amounts of his blood as it flowed inside his body. But now, the tattoos were actively absorbing and releasing his blood. The blood that was released was slightly better than the blood that was absorbed. It was like the tattoos had turned his cells into minuscule hearts.

Azrael wasn't sure how this was happening because he was the first of his kind and had the purest Cosmari Stellarium Celestia blood. The only possible conclusion that he could think of, was that his bloodline was slowly evolving. The waste blood and energy that were left in the tattoos were absorbed by the worlds in his cells. He used the embryonic Planar Wills to check what was happening inside the worlds and found that the waste was being used as fuel for the World Cores and as a result, their foundations were strengthening. The small piece of Nihility had integrated itself into the Crystal Walls, of each world, multiplying their defenses. Attacks below a certain level would simply disintegrate after coming in contact with them.

A few years passed and the construction of the academy finally began. It would take almost 700 years to be completed. According to Dwarven Builders Inc., this was one of the biggest projects they had taken on. Azrael and Lily focused on expanding their chamber of commerce. They realized that to form the greatest academy, they also needed teachers that matched that caliber. It would be too tough to find them one by one so Lily had an idea.

She thought that it would be better to raise the teachers themselves. Over 10 years, they adopted 10 million orphans under the age of 13 and started raising them. They taught them according to their standards and provided them with pills and cultivation manuals to increase their strength. Just like that, another hundred years passed.

Both of them broke through to the third stage of the Paragon Core realm. When they reached the peak of the Condensation realm, Azrael had put a seal on all of them that prevented them from breaking through. Despite their cultivations, each one of them had become a teacher that met Azrael and Lily's high standards. One day, Azrael took them all to a building near the Lightning Crucible. He looked at them and said, "I put a seal on all of you when you had reached the peak of the Condensation realm. I did it because I knew that all of you don't have the same potential and I wanted to give you a chance. I know that you all are confused. The seal only prevented you all from breaking through, not from accumulating more energy. It not only stabilized your foundations to limit but also prepared you for this chance. You all will receive Nirvanic Rebirth Pills and undergo your tribulations in groups of a million."

The orphans had heard about the Nirvanic Rebirth Pill. It could enhance their cultivation potential at the expense of their cultivation base. All of them were already very grateful to Azrael and Lily because they both had taken them in when they had no one else to rely on. This was also why they agreed without hesitation to undergo their tribulation in groups of a million even after knowing that death was their most likely result. What they didn't was that Azrael had already upgraded the pills. The new versions also protected the consumers' lives.

The first group climbed the Lightning Crucible and consumed the pill at the same time. Immediately, dark clouds gathered above them. Azrael could sense that the Planar Will was amused by their fearlessness. 81 bolts of lightning struck them each before the clouds dispersed. Many orphans' appearances had changed due to the awakening of a dormant bloodline. After a week the second group underwent their tribulation and so on.

After all of them had successfully passed their tribulations, Azrael looked at them and said, "All of you now have the strongest potential in all of Novaria but don't get arrogant. This is just a mid-level Mortal Realm. Now go and cultivate, we will start accepting students in 600 years. And remember that you will be the Elysian Mentors in the future. "

Another 100 years passed. The Twin Dragon Chamber of Commerce had successfully opened branches in all of Novaria. At first, they faced some resistance from the Royal Families of the Western, Northern, and Eastern Continents but with the introduction of some special products that resistance turned into acceptance. Especially in the Northern Continent, where Azrael introduced a new pill, the Transformation Pill. It allowed beasts of any cultivation to take a humanoid form. The unique thing about this pill was that they could transform into their true form at will.

Azrael and Lily were ready to break through to the fourth stage and go through the second change of the Paragon Core realm. They arrived at the Lightning Crucible. Azrael checked the formations and confirmed that they would turn into natural formations after their breakthrough but fusing into an array would take some more tribulations. They sat on their respective platforms and initiated their breakthroughs.

To break through to the fourth stage they had to merge a part of their souls with their cores. They would carve the patterns and nurture them in the fifth and sixth stages. Right now they faced a dilemma because of the special situation of their souls. How were they supposed to cut a piece from their souls when they were already in pieces? It was Lily that came up with a potential solution. They would take a small piece from every independent soul in their body and merge them with their cores.

It was fairly easy for Lily because she only had seven independent souls. Azrael had to separate a small piece from trillions of independent souls and if it weren't for his extraordinary pain tolerance, he would have failed. They didn't fuse all the pieces together before merging them with their core. Dark clouds gathered above them and just like before they were struck by 81 bolts of lightning 81 times. They could feel that their cores had become slightly spiritual. It was as if they had come to life.

Suddenly the mountain started humming. All the formations started glowing brightly. They were evolving into Natural Formations. Witnessing this phenomenon was very beneficial for Azrael as a Rune Master. He slowly fell into an epiphany. The world disappeared from his vision until only runes remained. He subconsciously tapped into the energy reserves of the mountain and used a whole 10% of his processing power to comprehend what he was seeing. He felt like he had returned to the days when he was comprehending his Intents. He comprehended all of his Intents again. He felt like a fool because his arrogance had led him to think that he had completely comprehended the Intents of the Six Origin Elements when he hadn't even comprehended half of them. He continued to comprehend them until he was sure that he had completely comprehended them this time. Their representations manifested on his core once before disappearing. He would have to carve their patterns on his core to perfectly utilize them.

He didn't know how much time had passed when he woke up. The world felt different to him. It felt alive in a way that it wasn't before. It was as if a veil had been put on his eyes before that restricted him from seeing this beautiful sight. Lily arrived in front of him and asked, "How were your gains? It has been 50 years since our breakthrough." Azrael was a bit shocked by the time that had passed but replied, "Even 500 years wouldn't have been too much for them." Lily understood that he must've gained very much to say such words.

Azrael asked, "How's Aliyah and the Empire?" Lily replied, "She just recently broke through the eighth stage of the Essence Core realm and decided that she would complete the third change before breaking into the Essence Spirit Awakening realm. She is going to start a war against the small neighboring empires. Her 100 Legions of the Eternal Night have grown so strong that any one of them can defeat a small empire by themselves. After signing a Soul Contract with every member, she used many resources to nurture them. Because of them, her reputation has also spread and she has gained the moniker 'Eternal Empress of the Night'.

But her fame has also created a big problem for her. The Noxcor Clan has become aware of her existence and they want her to return to their ancestral house. If she doesn't return by her own will, they will take her against her wishes.

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