Adrian asked, "When is the negotiation?"
Hestia's faint smile returned, and for a brief moment, relief flickered in her eyes. "The meeting is three days from now at the headquarters of the Thousand Veils Sect. To arrive in time, we must depart within a few hours."
"I will be ready," Adrian replied.
Hestia inclined her head slightly, "Thank you, Adrian."
Adrian then extended the spatial ring she had previously given him. The ring lifted from his finger, hovering briefly in the space between them. Hestia accepted it, allowing the ring to settle into her palm.
She looked up at him. "One more thing."
"The leader of the Thousand Veils Sect is cautious, calculating, and deeply suspicious by nature. He will probe you carefully when I introduce you. Make sure to suppress your divine concept. Suppression alone is sufficient to convince them that you have mastered a divine concept. We do not need to openly announce that your primary divine concept is Ultimate-tier. That would introduce unnecessary variables into this situation."
"Members of the Everlasting Pill Sect have already seen it," Adrian replied. "They should know its tier. It is pointless to hide it."
Hestia shook her head slightly, "Based on Lara's report, aside from Marivelle, no one was close enough to confirm its exact tier with certainty. They can only suspect it is higher-tier. That uncertainty will work in our favor. We can use it to conceal the truth for now. Of course, we cannot hide it forever. If an incident occurred in the future and you are forced to use your full power, it will be revealed. But until then, we should avoid drawing unnecessary attention before the sect grows stronger."
Adrian considered her reasoning. In truth, he had been thinking about this issue since the beginning of his journey into the universe. The Source was always detected as an Ultimate-tier divine concept by anyone who witnessed it, regardless of how he tried to mask its nature. That classification alone could attract unwanted attention from powerful entities.
Previously, he had no alternative and simply relied on the Source openly. Now, however, he possessed other divine concepts that could serve as camouflage. Crimson Vital Dominion, Verdant Genesis, or even his devour-based concept, all were viable options for public display.
"You do not need to worry about that," Adrian said calmly. "I can use this."
As he spoke, the aura of Crimson Vital Dominion surged from him. Crimson essence erupted outward, condensing into a compact domain that wrapped around his body like a second skin. He released the full seventy percent authority of that concept.
Hestia, as the progenitor of the divine concept and standing close to him, instantly recognized it. Her eyes widened fractionally, shock breaking through her usual composure. For a brief moment, she was genuinely stunned.
Lara had reported that Adrian could wield authority without deploying a domain, but even that had not unsettled her deeply. Such techniques could exist in great sects, though they sounded like an impossibility. This, however, was entirely different.
She had given him the complete inheritance of Crimson Vital Dominion only a few days ago. The scripture, the spell structures, the foundational understanding, all of it had been handed to him less than a few days prior.
And now, in mere days, he had comprehended the entire divine concept and reached peak mastery.
She had lived for more than a million years and had witnessed countless prodigies, even those from major sects. Yet even the most talented among them required thousands of years to fully comprehend a divine concept from scratch, even with an inheritance. It was not something that could be accomplished in mere days.
Yet here it stood before her, undeniable.
The shock gradually receded, replaced by a complicated mixture of awe and burning resolve. For a fleeting moment, she found herself envying the great sects. If even one individual from such an organization possessed this level of capability, what depths of power did those sects truly hold?
How many beings like Adrian existed within their ranks? How many prodigies had they nurtured over millions or billions of years, each one capable of feats that defied conventional understanding?
The thought was dizzying.
But rather than discouraging her, the thought ignited her ambition. One day, she would elevate her sect to similar heights. One day, the Crimson Vital Sect would stand among the great powers, not as a desperate survivor clinging to relevance, but as a force that shaped the galaxy.
She steadied herself and spoke calmly, "This simplifies matters. If you use our sect's divine concept publicly, there is no need for suppression. In fact, it strengthens our image. Even if the Everlasting Pill Sect spreads rumors about you wielding a higher-tier divine concept, confirmation will be impossible unless you reveal it publicly. This will make negotiations smoother."
Indeed, this development turned into an advantage. Adrian, wielding Crimson Vital Dominion at peak mastery, would make him appear as a hidden prodigy nurtured within the sect itself.
That image was far more politically valuable than a mysterious outsider with unknown origins. It implied the sect possessed hidden reserves, that their foundation ran deeper than surface appearances suggested. It created uncertainty in their rivals' minds.
Hestia continued, "The starship will be prepared in three hours at the landing platform. I will send you the coordinates."
Adrian dismissed his domain, "I will meet you there."
He turned and walked toward the doors. The doors recognized his approach, parting smoothly as they sensed his mana signature.
Once he stepped through, the doors closed behind him with a soft hiss, sealing the room once more.
...
Hestia remained standing in the center of the chamber, alone now. She looked down at the spatial ring Adrian had just handed her.
Before distributing the knowledge spheres to others, she decided to inspect them personally. Her consciousness entered the ring. Inside, the vast internal space stretched before her. She saw the thirty thousand Knowledge Spheres floating within, exactly as Adrian had stated.
However, what confused her was their appearance. All of them were white-grey spheres, indicating that they were formed from a single essence.
That immediately raised questions. Previously, Adrian had mentioned that only compatible essences could carry specific knowledge. Yet these spheres did not radiate life essence or any identifiable arcane signature.
She withdrew her consciousness from the ring and opened her palm. A single sphere materialized above it, hovering gently in the air. The essence resembled the same mysterious energy Adrian had used against her when they first met. And even now, she could not identify its arcane origin.
Her fingers closed around it. Without hesitation, she absorbed the sphere herself. Knowledge flowed into her mind instantly.
With her mind's capability, she didn't feel any strain. The knowledge got stored within a part of her mind, and she could clearly perceive every layer within it.
She examined its contents carefully.
First, it contained the full arcane concept knowledge required for Verdant Genesis. The foundational truths unfolded before her awareness: Life, Water, Light, Plant. Each concept was presented not as abstract theory but as lived experience, compressed into digestible fragments.
Then it revealed the divine concept itself. The structure was well refined. The rule fragments interlocked seamlessly, each supporting the others without waste or redundancy. That alone was impressive.
However, what truly shook her was the structure of its divine spells. The inheritance extended all the way to high-level divine spells. That meant a cultivator who mastered this knowledge could ascend to the High Rule Stage.
Her breath caught. She had expected basic comprehension, perhaps mid-level at most. But this… this was a complete inheritance. The kind that sects guarded jealously, passed down only to core disciples or direct successors.
Then she noticed something even more shocking. Verdant Genesis was perfectly compatible with Crimson Vital Dominion. It was as though both divine concepts had been designed to function and complement each other.
She traced the overlapping rule fragments mentally, comparing them against her own comprehension. Vitality and Life shared foundational principles. Blood and Water flowed through similar channels. Force and Growth operated on parallel trajectories. Pressure and Light reinforced structural stability.
Hestia swallowed unconsciously. The implications were enormous.
Once a cultivator reached complete mastery of a divine concept, further growth along that path ceased. To advance beyond the Peak Rule Stage and ascend to the Astral Stage, one had to comprehend a second divine concept and fuse the two Rule Cores.
However, this process was extraordinarily dangerous.
One needed to begin again from arcane comprehension, construct a second divine concept, and ensure compatibility between both cores. If the compatibility was poor, the fusion could damage both Rule Cores severely.
She had read about such failures before. Cultivators who had spent millions of years spending on comprehension, only to shatter themselves attempting the final leap. Their Rule Cores would be fractured, and their overall power would drop significantly. In extreme cases, some died instantly.
Even worse, once a cultivator formed a divine concept, the arcane components used to construct it were locked. If the divine concept turned out to be suboptimal, the cultivator could lose access to certain arcane fragments that might have been necessary to create a better, compatible concept later.
This risk alone prevented many from attempting ascension. It was precisely why, throughout the entire history of the Andromeda Galaxy, no Peak Rule Stage cultivator had successfully ascended to the Astral Stage. Most were unwilling to gamble their lives and power.
Many sect leaders were not even the original progenitors of their divine concepts. They lacked both the courage and the flexibility to take such risks.
Yet now, before her, was a divine concept already upgraded to High Rule Stage and perfectly compatible with her Crimson Vital Dominion.
If she comprehended it fully and achieved peak mastery, there was a genuine possibility she could ascend to Astral Stage.
Astral Stage!
Within the Andromeda Galaxy, Astral Stage represented supreme authority. If she achieved it, the Crimson Vital Sect would rise beyond anything it had ever known.
No longer would they struggle against rivals. No longer would they scrape for resources or negotiate from positions of weakness. An Astral Stage cultivator commanded respect across entire galaxies. Even the major sects would acknowledge her existence.
Her thoughts slowly drifted back to Adrian. He had casually handed her such an inheritance, and to him, this seemed almost trivial. This showed that beings from great sects could create powerhouses like this with a wave of their hands.
This realization pressed heavily on her mind. She had spent a million years clawing her way to Peak Rule Stage. A million years of struggle, sacrifice, and loss. She had watched her clan fall. She had carried the weight of their deaths across galaxies, searching for a place where the survivors could live without fear.
And Adrian had handed her the key to the astral stage as though it was nothing. This showed that, even if she ascended to Astral Stage, in the broader universe, it might mean little compared to the true great sects.
The thought was humbling.
Still, for this galaxy, such advancement was monumental. A quiet sense of happiness surfaced within her. She allowed herself a faint smile.
Perhaps it didn't matter if the great sects possessed beings far beyond her reach. Perhaps it didn't matter if Adrian's origins rendered her achievements insignificant by comparison.
What mattered was that her people would survive. What mattered was that the promise she had made to her fallen clan could finally be fulfilled.
For the first time, the weight she carried felt lighter.
Then her thoughts shifted once more.
What would happen when she introduces such a being to the galaxy? What would follow? Would the Andromeda Galaxy even be prepared for someone like him?