Adrian returned to his suite.
As he entered, he noticed that the entire building was quieter than before. He did not summon everyone to gather like before. Instead, he called only Marivelle to his suite and asked about the situation.
"Tell me about the situation," Adrian said. "Have any of my people left their suites since I departed?"
Marivelle stood calmly before him and replied, "No one has left their suite since you departed. They appear fully focused on cultivation."
Adrian nodded slowly. He understood this kind of atmosphere well. During the war against the demons in the Milky Way Galaxy, his people had entered similar phases of intense focus. Some had remained within their chambers for months or even years, dedicating themselves entirely to cultivation.
The silence in the building was not unusual. It was the sound of warriors preparing for what lay ahead. It seemed that urgency and pressure had returned once more. The universe was no longer a distant concept for them. They had seen its scale and felt its weight. Naturally, they were responding.
"Good," Adrian said quietly.
Marivelle inclined her head again, waiting.
Adrian then asked, "What about Aerin? Has she come out?"
Aerin was different from the others. She was still a child, and unlike the rest, she had grown up in a relatively safe environment. True urgency and existential pressure were foreign to her. Adrian still remembered how difficult it was for her to remain still and cultivate for even a few days. She would grow restless, wander off, ask questions, or invent excuses to explore.
The idea of her sitting quietly for days seemed implausible.
Marivelle replied, "The child has also not come out. I am uncertain what she is doing."
Adrian found that strange. What is she up to now? he wondered.
This was not their home galaxy. He could not afford for Aerin to cause any trouble. The UNI-Hub incident had already proven how dangerous carelessness could be. If she wandered off again, or triggered something she shouldn't, the consequences could be severe.
He decided to check personally.
"You prepare to travel," Adrian said. "We will be leaving in three hours."
Marivelle nodded, "I will prepare immediately."
One of the main reasons he had hired Marivelle as a mercenary was precisely this. When navigating the wider universe, it was valuable to have someone experienced at his side. He could not consult Hestia or other elders for every minor matter. Even though the forums contained vast amounts of information, much of it was scattered, outdated, or unreliable. Having someone knowledgeable about sect politics and galaxy-level customs was far more efficient.
Marivelle turned and departed, the door sliding shut behind her.
Once she left, Adrian stood alone in the suite's common area. He exhaled slowly, then blinked and instantly appeared inside another suite. This suite was shared by Sentinel, Aurelia, and Aerin.
He concealed his aura and presence entirely so as not to disturb anyone. Even so, he felt slightly awkward entering a family's private space unannounced. However, he needed to confirm Aerin's condition personally. If something was wrong, he would rather discover it now than later.
Through the building's internal network, he had already identified which room she occupied. The smallest chamber on the left side of the suite.
He blinked again and appeared within her room.
There, he saw her small figure seated cross-legged on the mat.
A faint vitality essence surrounded her form, circulating gently around her shoulders and arms in slow, deliberate spirals. Her expression was serious, focused. Her eyes remained closed, her posture steady.
A flicker of surprise crossed Adrian's mind.
It had been only a couple of days since he passed her the Knowledge Sphere. Yet vitality essence already flowed around her. That meant she had at least reached Basic Galactic comprehension of the Vitality concept and had formed a vitality essence seed. Only someone who had successfully formed an essence seed could manifest essence outside their body.
Of course, he understood the underlying reason. Her comprehension speed had always been unusually fast due to the miniature Source Seed within her.
Still, what truly surprised him was her discipline.
Aerin cultivating seriously for days without wandering or complaining was something he had never witnessed before. She had always been restless, curious, quick to lose interest in anything that required prolonged stillness. Yet here she sat, unmoving, her small hands resting on her knees, her breathing calm and measured.
She is growing, Adrian thought quietly.
The mischievous child who once caused issues and didn't sit still for hours was now radiating steady focus. Perhaps the recent incident within the sealed space had matured her more than he had realized.
She had been helpless then, forced to watch as her parents struggled to protect her. Perhaps that helplessness had ignited something within her, a desire to grow stronger, to never be powerless again.
Adrian can understand it. He, too, had been in the same helpless situations before. He watched her for a moment longer, then nodded to himself. Maybe this is inevitable and needed for her growth.
So he did not disturb her and blinked back to his own suite.
Adrian crossed to the viewport and stared out at the sprawling residential district below.
Seeing his people cultivating with such dedication strengthened his resolve. Even Aerin had chosen to grow. He should not fall behind!
Adrian turned away from the viewport and walked toward his private chamber. He had three hours before departure. That was enough time to make progress on the authority techniques Hestia had provided.
His willforce had fully recovered. The passive recovery spell continued circulating through his body, maintaining his mental clarity. He could afford to push himself again.
Adrian entered the chamber and sat cross-legged. He summoned the scripture from his spatial ring, and three scrolls appeared in front of him.
He placed them on the floor before him and just activated the Defence Authority technique. He didn't care about checking the movement authority technique first; he was ultimately going to check everything, so starting anywhere was fine.
Instantly, knowledge flooded his mind. It was fleeting, and he had to focus carefully to retain it before it dissipated. Adrian focused on the knowledge, processing the information.
The technique taught how to temporarily shift one's body into non-matter by modifying specific rules within a domain. It was the same method Lara had used during the battle, transforming into liquid state to avoid physical damage.
The scripture also provided multiple variations that one can do. One can choose to either modify the rules of Fire, Liquid, or even the Steel rules. It's up to the cultivator to select and master which rules they need and use it at specific times.
Adrian absorbed the information, processing each fragment. In just a short time, he fully comprehended the technique.
Adrian stood and activated his Crimson Vital Dominion Domain. He needed to test things with this, since this is the domain he is going to use publicly for now. He focused on the three rules and began modifying them.
His body shimmered, then dissolved into Fire. He existed as pure flame, nearly formless and intangible. A blade materialized in his hand, passing through his chest without resistance.
Adrian held the state for several seconds, then reversed the modifications. His body solidified, returning to flesh and bone.
The technique had cost him approximately three hundred mana units for a second, far less than he expected. His seventy percent authority made the cost of rule manipulation much more efficient.
Satisfied, Adrian dismissed the Defence scripture and activated the second scroll.
The Offence Authority Technique scripture.
This one proved more complex. It taught how to make the afterimages real by manipulating the Rule of Spatial Vacancy, the same technique Marivelle had used against him. However, the scripture also included advanced variations, multiplying attacks through Temporal Echo, projecting force across distances using Spatial Projection, and compressing it into singular, devastating strikes.
Adrian spent another hour studying the variations, his Source Eyes dissecting each rule modification. The Temporal Echo modification intrigued him. After making the afterimages real and by creating echoes in time, a cultivator could make a single afterimage strike an opponent multiple times simultaneously, each attack originating from a slightly different temporal coordinate.
Thinking about this, Adrian felt he could do similar things by just using his arcane time concept. He also saw a warning about it in the scripture. This Temporal Echo rule was a Sub-Rule within the Rule of Time. Any rule related to time is extremely hard to comprehend, and for a cultivator to use it, they have to resist the will of the time concept. If one failed, it would cause immediate backlash, resulting in instant death.
He tested it within his domain. He blinked multiple times around the chamber, creating afterimages, and then swung his blade. Instantly, six strikes landed at once from each afterimage, carving deep gouges into the chamber's reinforced walls.
He could see the difference. Each afterimage looked like hitting a single attack, but what landed was actually multiple attacks simultaneously. The cost was also higher than the normal Offensive Authority technique without using Temporal Echo, approximately one thousand mana units.
Adrian dismissed the Offence scripture and reached for the third one.
The Movement Authority Technique scripture.
This technique taught how to manipulate spatial rules to compress distance, allowing instantaneous travel across vast ranges. It was the method the pirates had used to flee from him. It had nothing new within it.
Adrian didn't even feel like testing this. He can just do this with his arcane space concept, or he could even just create a divine concept specifically for this.
He glanced at the time. Two hours had passed. One hour remained before departure.
Adrian stored the scriptures back into his spatial ring and stood. He walked to the viewport and stared out once more.
His people were cultivating, and the sect was stabilizing. Everything was progressing as it should.
But Adrian knew this was only the beginning. The Thousand Veils Sect negotiations would reveal how the wider galaxy perceived the Crimson Vital Sect's rise. And beyond that, the Everlasting Pill Sect still existed, wounded but not destroyed.
He also created the WillForce Recovery spell that he needed to market soon to earn money.
Threats remained, and Challenges awaited!
Adrian turned away from the viewport and prepared to depart.