One of the miraculous features of the Grand Starfall Array, an ancient treasure spoken of in countless myths and legends throughout countless worlds, was its ability to manipulate time. It could be accelerated, decelerated, or stopped entirely through the manipulation of celestial forces.


    The perfect place for seclusion training.


    Everyone had things to do in the morning, and this was going to take a while.


    The array had been activated a couple hours before sunrise, and no matter how many days it took within, when they walked out, they would have time to get home for the morning.


    Jun looked out in the directions his family and friends had spread out to for their transformations.


    Sophie’s brief outburst had not been an exaggeration. Of the many ‘fruits and snacks’ that had been casually consumed, any single one of those precious tonics would have caused epic conflicts and wars within kingdoms of even 8th ranked worlds. Each was a precious treasure of nature, needing hundreds to thousands of years to mature, or elixirs crafted with comparable treasures for even more extraordinary results.


    Lady Cynth had helped Jun organize them as a cultivation full course for mortals under the 4th rank.


    He still remembered the blank look she had given him when he told her how he’d like to use all these treasures. She couldn’t understand his generosity, while Jun couldn’t understand why it was strange. If he didn’t use these treasures on those closest to him, then what was the point? He’d already had a few. They were nice, but with his strange mix of high and low states of existence, it didn’t do much.


    With this and the new manuals, everyone here was about to take a significant step forward. Although he didn’t want his family to experience anything too extreme, Jun knew what kind of age they lived in and what dangers lay ahead. No one could afford to be too weak. If before, Jun had been content to live his life in peace with his family out of the spotlight and away from conflict, now armed with new awareness, he understood the importance of strength that could weather the oncoming storms.


    His heart ached with guilt at not warning them how difficult the challenge lay before them, how close some of them would be to death and insanity to complete their transformations.


    The sense of danger was necessary. He didn’t want them to be affected by knowing that no matter how badly they performed, their own safety and wellness would be guaranteed. There were reasons those elixirs were so revered.


    A thought flashed through his mind of Desi and her sudden obsession for strength that he hadn’t supported. He couldn’t help wondering how she’d feel if she saw her family and best friend about to transform. She’d be so jelly.


    A feeling of dampness on his chest made Jun look down. Ella had fallen asleep in his arms and was drooling on his shirt. His precious was tuckered out after having the best day of her little pain filled life. He looked at her peaceful sleeping face and felt some of the anxiety in his heart ebb away.


    If he could give her as many days like this as he could…


    Those worn and crumpled drawings were still clutched tightly in one hand.


    When would ‘they’ wake up? What would happen when they did?


    “Sophie…” Jun whispered, and handed his new treasure to Nanny Sophie, who knew exactly how to handle a sleeping child. He watched her hop out through a portal to the land of pink cushions and out of the time bending effects of the array. The moment Sophie landed on the pink sea, they would all be stepping out as well.


    Jun could see himself really abusing this treasure.


    While he fell back with nothing behind him, when he landed, it was on his familiar cushy chair. It was fun beyond measure to create straight from his imagination, but the experience was still lacking. His hands were starting to shake. He hadn’t crafted anything in a week. A week filled with crazy inspiration with every experience. He literally could not turn his head and not see something ridiculous that made him want to make something. If he hadn’t been so busy and eager to see his family, he would have brought over some real materials and locked himself away until he was satisfied.


    He sighed. It wasn’t time yet. There was still so much to do and too much at stake.


    His discussion with Nicole and Tiana, main members of two S-Ranked Families, had garnered him new insights and perspectives. The worst case scenario had been avoided, giving him new options to consider.


    Dogadon’s theory that the Crowns of Earth were purposely allowing the planet to wither away in order to hasten the arrival of the Second Wave to harvest new Demons and attain new Keyholders that could access the Nexus, although not completely disproved, seemed a little less likely.


    Finding out that the super famous Guild Master of the Heavens Piercing Guild was not only a fan, but the president of his fan club (which he had no idea even existed), and came personally to Trident Gate City immediately after his live stream out of concern, was a major mind trip. It was infinitely flattering for such an important person to admire him to that degree, but considering her lineage made his head spin.


    Jun had considered for a long time on the possible identities of the five Crowns of Earth. There were many powerful and famous Hunters around the world, with several legendary figures that displayed tremendous strengths throughout the centuries.


    One of his prime suspects was the legendary Stellar Star, a small heroic soldier during the Last War that had grown to establish an empire with three Gate Cities under his family’s influence. If he wasn’t a Crown, Jun was prepared to eat his foot.


    Now he learned that the daughter of the Stellar Star was a mega fan.


    From the conversation she shared with the girls, he learned that at least one Crown was actively working to heal the planet. Apparently, several important revitalization research organizations were established in all three Gate Cities under the Luna Family by the Stellar Star himself and that copies of his thesis had been circulating and revolutionizing their own projects, with his name becoming a hot topic within the rune research circles.


    Jun made up his mind to go and pay the Tower of The Stars a visit one day. If he could have a collaborator as powerful as the Luna Family, a lot of things would become easier. But unless he could confirm allies from enemies, he had to ensure he had the strength to face them as equals.


    His week as an Elder had greatly broadened his horizons and helped develop a small understanding of the standing of a 9th ranked existence. While hundreds of thousands of powerful 8th ranked beings roamed the multiverse, less than two hundred had stepped into the 9th, each with the strength to quell any numbers of 8th ranked warriors like ants.


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    Jun, the newest Elder and rising star of the Nexus and peer to demigods, was only a newly awakened 4th ranked mortal. Although the Glimpse had transformed his soul, giving him access to immense power, he was still a child in the face of the truly powerful. It was embarrassing.


    Relaxing into his comfy chair, Jun closed his eyes and pondered.


    What Path should he take?


    If he were a normal 4th ranked being from earth, there would only be one option, to continue refining his body into a treasure, but as the old dwarf constantly reminded him, he wasn’t normal.


    The final trigger for his awakening hadn’t been his personal strength. It was the connection he formed with the World Tree through the act of creation. The foundation of his fire was the birth of a spiritual object, not the destruction of his enemies. But that didn’t mean his strength played no role.


    Jun opened his eyes and looked at the white flames that gently radiated from his body. This was his Spirit Fire, the burning manifestation of his soul, the foundation of his existence, and the first step of a mortal’s rise to divinity.


    The various beings of the multiverse used all kinds of strange and exotic means of awakening the Spirit Flame, but once they did, everyone stood on the same starting line.


    So what did it mean for the mortal that already tasted the goal?


    Jun was in the awkward position of standing at the starting line with all the other newbies who could only dream of the flavors at the end, their imaginations defining the paths they took, while he already went through the all you can eat buffet. His soul was already transformed, his body and training just hadn’t caught up yet.


    He had consulted different Elders about his situation and everyone had different but interesting opinions. Some believed in taking one extreme Path to the limit while others encouraged exploring different ideas. Dogadon often ranted the merits of holing away in a workshop while Lady Cynth lauded gaining new experiences for new perspectives.


    Raising his right palm, the radiating ethereal flames quickly gathered into a single glowing sphere. He snapped his fingers for effect, and the single sphere instantly split into four distinct runes that glowed in different hues of power. Reality was altered and four runes became four elements. A clump of rock with protruding gems and crystals floated alongside a ball of haunting blue fire, a floating pool of crystal like water and a small violet twister that squirmed like an ascending dragon.


    Origin Runes.


    The primordial runes of the World Tree that defined divinity.


    While every other Elder had only Glimpsed the extension of their own Paths within the origin, he was privileged with the full course, gaining insight into the core of origin and all creation and all paths, the wet dream of every demigod.


    That didn’t change the fact that he was still weak. Although Jun now possessed the insight of all paths, that didn’t mean he’d already walked them.


    His mastery of origin runes reflected his insight and strength. These small lumps of pure elements were about all he could currently accomplish with these elements because Jun had yet to extensively study more advanced elemental runes.


    He had seen a bit of the awe-inspiring ways the Elders utilized their origin runes. Compared to them, Jun’s usage of origin runes couldn’t be considered a fart.


    Jun felt his connection with the four elements and, with both hands, began conducting a dance. His left hand directed the water to streak across the sky while his right excited the blue flames to dance atop the new watery stage. A clap exploded the earth into glittering fragments and a flourish had the wind swallow it, transforming into jeweled gusts that reflected the light of dancing flames.


    If this was the only thing he gained from the Glimpse, Jun felt like it would have been worth it.


    The way runes were understood and created on Earth was like a programmable language made from specially designed reagents. He thought it was a stagnant thing to be crafted and activated to appreciate their power. Feeling the liveliness of the origin elements as they continued to perform, he realized he’d been mistaken. Runes had spirituality.


    Satisfied, Jun lowered both arms, and the elements faded away. Although his profound insights into most runes were limited to base levels, there was one that Jun had a lot of experience with.


    Snap.


    Runes appeared below his right eye. Once angular and sharp lines of the old Demon spatial rune were long gone. In its place was a profound set of runes that couldn’t be recognized by mortals.


    The third level origin rune of space did not tear the fabric of reality the way the Demon rune had. Instead of a gaping maw into a separate space where no other living thing could exist, the fabric of reality was gently pushed aside like a thin curtain into a hidden room where anyone could enter with his permission.


    Inside were the messily stored miscellaneous objects and tools that he’d collected since his childhood as well as the hordes of miscellaneous items and gifts that had yet to find a home within his domain. Every time he peered into this space, a painful shot of regret threatened to tear him apart. If only he had stored all his treasures away instead of storing them all at home…


    He couldn’t help sighing for the thousandth time.


    While he could now create a number of these new pocket spaces, this main space was tied directly to his personal rune and thus shared a more direct connection. It was this connection that allowed him to perceive the minute changes that occurred with every gradual increase in strength.


    Jun had thought the old space created by the Demon rune was large at roughly half the volume of his old studio, but looking into the growing void that could comfortably store a coliseum, he wondered just how large ‘large’ could get.


    Letting go of the veil, the fabric of reality smoothed and space was made whole again.


    Standing up, the sofa vanished, and he stood alone. Carefully feeling the state of his body, Jun slowly moved into a low stance.


    The Beginner’s Body Refinement Manual was the most comprehensive method with the lowest threshold that could be practiced for Awakening. Its methods were mild and the resulting foundations would be weak but stable, but for a people with no other methods, it was enough to transform the world.


    With profound study, the Beginner’s Body Refinement Manual could be refined and reinvented. The world was led to believe that it was this ability of insight that separated the solo S-Rankers that climbed with the Beginner’s Manual and the S-Rankers that could establish families with the creation of their own custom body refinement technique. But Jun now knew the truth.


    Those ‘genius’ awakened that could extrapolate their own methods were most likely Keyholders, lucky Hunters that encountered a Demon, gaining access to the Nexus Marketplace. Those bastards bought their cheap ass techniques, called them Family Arts and made a big deal about how smart they were, when in reality, only 5th ranked beings had the general insight to compose new stable methods for awakening.


    The only exception to the generalization were martial geniuses. Like his father.


    Complete manuals bought from the Nexus could only be shared within the bloodline, while cheap martial fragments could be shared a limited amount.


    Manuals created on one’s own could be shared as he wished.


    Crack.


    Snackle.


    Pop.


    Sweat rained like bullets as Jun performed one contorted movement after another, sometimes slow and graceful, others fast and rapid, each stressing every part of Jun’s body structure in profound ways, producing disturbing sounds a human body shouldn’t make as it moved.


    If there was one clear disadvantage of the Beginner’s Body Refinement Manual, it would be that one would have to rigorously train the body from a young age before the body was prepared enough for cultivation, which in most cases was around fifteen years of age.


    Yu Min, a young university medical researcher, wondered if there was a way to safely cultivate from a younger age with gentler methods, to begin the transformation process, as the body was still developing for a stronger foundation. Years of prior research and inspiration gave him the confidence to find out. The result was untested but theoretically sound. A new body refinement manual that could compare to the S-Rank Families’ methods was quietly developed by an unknown researcher and his mysterious assistant turned wife.


    The final set of movements was progressively slower and more relaxed as Jun’s body was manually brought back to a state of perfect rest. His strained breath flowed calmly, and the rapid thumping of his over strained heart slowed its tempo.


    This nameless cultivation technique couldn’t begin to compare to the methods his family and friends were currently practicing, but Jun never considered changing. This cultivation technique was the result of his parent’s dedication to a dream that they ended up dying for.


    A quick rinse of flames burned away all the impurities and made him clean again.


    Since the foundation of his ascension lay separate from his cultivation, the strength of his transformed soul all but guaranteeing his eventual growth to the 9th rank, Jun made a very casual decision.


    He wanted to see how far he could take his parents’ legacy. Jun would walk the Path that his mother and father died to pave and take it all the way to divinity.