The Primeval Era-Chapter 139: Choices and Advancements II

Damian did not know exactly what conclusion the Holy Daughter came to.

But she nodded with her pupils burning brilliantly, staring at him for far too many seconds in silence. Whatever thoughts moved behind those winged eyes, she kept them to herself. The intensity of her gaze made him want to say something else, but nothing came to mind.

He scratched his head and nodded back.

Then he rose to sit opposite his beast form again.

He took out the medallion and held it in his hands.

The crimson crystal pulsed with faint light, corruption contained within a shell his flames couldn’t breach. He had a theory about what uses it could potentially have, connections to demonic forces that might reveal themselves with further study. But for now, it was a distraction.

He laid it on the ground before him.

The stone swallowed the medallion, lands parting to accept the object and closing over it without leaving any trace. The mountain had his blood running through every vein of rock and soil. It was an extension of him, as much a part of his body as the leonine form resting above or the human shell he currently inhabited.

He felt everything on it. He could control everything on it. He could naturally store whatever he wanted as if this entire raised mountain were his pockets.

Afterward, he closed his eyes and breathed out.

He thought of himself and his Doctrines.

He did not step into Vessel Completion like others, with his Second Doctrine focusing on the external rather than the internal. So far it had worked tremendously well. He could cultivate through his environment. He could extend his essence into structures and weapons and even other living beings.

And of course, the thing behind it all was the Primordial Tongue.

That letter.

Persevere.

His mind felt brighter just thinking it.

He wondered which direction he could take things now when the capabilities of this letter seemed limitless. It had raised mountains. It had forged second bodies. It had replicated Land and Sky Physiques and elevated others to Vessel Completion in moments rather than years.

What else could it do?

"..."

He had many ideas, but his mind seemed blank at this moment. Too many possibilities competed for attention, and none of them crystallized into clear direction.

He could almost feel the sharp eyes of Serala behind him, her gaze pressing against his back as if asking a silent question.

Hey, why didn’t you get started, big guy?

Since his mind was blank for now, he decided to simply act.

"Persevere."

He uttered the letter while he began to draw in the surrounding Mana.

HUUUM!

Blue flames erupted around both his bodies with intensity that turned darkness into day. The sacred fire roared into existence, wrapping his human form in radiance while simultaneously blazing across his massive beast form on the peak above. The flames spread outward in waves, reaching toward Serala and enveloping her in warmth that sank into her flesh and elevated her cultivation.

In the distance, the walls of the tribe flickered with faint blue flames.

They began to grow taller and grander, the barrier expanding upward as Mana poured through structures saturated with his blood. Huts within the perimeter glowed softly. The mountain behind the tribe pulsed with sympathetic light. Everything he had touched responded to the letter, everything he had painted with his essence drinking deeply from power that seemed to have no end.

Grandmother Essun and Uncle Adam remained inside the tribe.

Both felt exhilarating flames coursing through their bodies, sacred fire igniting their cultivation without conscious effort. Essun cackled somewhere in the darkness, her sharp yellow teeth catching blue light. And Uncle Adam, that weathered old warrior approaching his limits, began advancing toward the Fourth Circle.

Marrow Crystallization.

The deep transformation that would make his bones themselves into reservoirs of power. Damian felt it happening through the connection his blood had forged, felt his uncle’s cultivation barriers crumbling before flames that refused to acknowledge them.

Everything touched by his blood was affected.

Back on that mountain, his beast form had become something beyond description.

A storm of Mana swirled around the massive leonine body, currents of energy spiraling inward from every direction. The golden fur blazed with light that made the sun seem modest. Nine tails crackled with power that left trails of radiance in the air. The mane of blue flames roared higher than before, tongues of sacred fire reaching toward the heavens as if trying to ignite the sky itself.

Radiant and incandescent.

Glorious and terrible.

His human form opened its eyes to see all this as power rose within both bodies simultaneously. The night sky above had been dark moments ago. Now even the clouds were illuminated, their undersides painted blue by flames that refused to remain earthbound.

He smiled at this beautiful scene.

Oh?

He blinked.

His mind hadn’t had any ideas, so he simply uttered Persevere. But as he looked above, as he watched light paint the heavens, a thought crystallized from nothing.

If he painted his blood on the ground and people and weapons, why couldn’t he paint the skies as well?

...!

"..."

The thought was ridiculous.

But air was composed of things just like the ground, right? Particles and currents and invisible substances that filled the space between lands and heaven. If he could saturate stone with his essence, why not atmosphere?

His mind buzzed with possibility.

Subconsciously, he raised his palm.

Blood flowed out like a river, crimson fluid sparkling with blue luster as it swirled in the air before him. He tried to push it outward, tried to make it disperse and paint the sky the way it had painted mountains and walls.

Nothing happened.

The blood simply hung there, droplets suspended by Mana but refusing to spread into the surrounding air. It couldn’t find purchase. It couldn’t grip anything solid enough to hold onto.

"Hmmm..."

He frowned.

Was air itself too hard for him at this moment? Did he need something a bit more clear? A medium that could carry his blood where pure atmosphere could not?

As he thought of this, he looked up to the skies again.

Toward the clouds.

And his eyes brightened.