The Absolute: Humanity's Second Chance

Time went by just like that. Damien went through the garbage dump, and returned in bitterness. There was nothing worth noting there.

And thus while waiting for the world to evolve, Damien and Juliette absorbed Mana while being entertained by the group of pixies, and spoiled rotten by them.

At first, they absorbed Mana in the five hundreds every second. And in just five days, they accumulated terrifying levels of Mana that went over to fifty million units.

And on this day, before the World Transformation into a Tier 1 Realm took place, Juliette and Damien had a conversation of their own.

"Big brother, what actually are we doing here?" Juliette inquired out of curiosity, and this time, Damien gave her an answer, "For all the three rewards they mentioned."

"For a wish, a special power and the Faith Pool. They would all come in handy to us. But most importantly, for the Mana, and for you to learn Mystic Magic." Damien said.

"Mystic Magic?" Julie inquired in curiosity once again, and Damien patiently explain, "A unique branch of magic that pertains to godhood. With faith, you can practically do a lot of things."

"And yes, like giving out ordinary level wishes. Once strong enough, maybe even powerful wishes. Or sharing power, or other mystical powers." He added.

"It's that powerful?" Julie exclaimed in surprise. "It definitely is. It's also called as the power of miracles that gods use to feign being different from others."

"I see. And I'll have learned such powerful magic. But in the meantime, what would you be doing?" She asked, looking at him intently.

"I'll go do my trial, meet an old friend, and recruit an entire race if possible." Damien casually said, then added, "I'll do this before we even begin with the other rewards."

"I'll go immediately after the world finishes its evolution, and when I'm at least ready enough to use a single Unique Ability without much of a problem." He further explained.

"So you're leaving me behind?"

"Yup."

"For how long?"

"Around... a week. If the time is different here, then make that a day for you. If not, just make it a week here for you, and around two months for me." Damien explained.

"..."

Juliette thought about it, then a moment later, gave up. He would still go even if she begged him to stay, so instead of becoming a burden, she might as well as just, "I'll do my best."

"You do that." Damien nodded at her, then continued sorting out the artifacts they had, and the resources as well. It was the complete treasures of the Gray Family, the Gray House and Juliette.

They were a lot, and if broken down to individual pieces, and used by a powerful forger, they could obtain around slightly over fifteen godly artifacts.

Most likely enough for every member within the Gray House and the Gray Family, Juliette and Damien included. Oh, he also took her bracelets as well and the storage ring.

"I'll return this to you once I'm back." He added, and Juliette hurriedly waved her hands, "No no, it's fine, you can keep it." She clearly was still half doubtful if his previous actions were serious or just a joke.

"Alright." With that, they both kept quiet and went back to their own work. Minutes later, the World Finally finished its first cycle of Evolution, and it was similar to a Realm.

Boom!!

And such an explosion occurred within the core of the World, as it expanded to more than being double its size. The world also expanded more than double its size as well.

Countries became two times more further apart from one another, Lakes and Rivers became twice as deep as and as wide, mountains twice as big, etc.

The world really expanded, and what followed next, was a burst of Mana that was seven times thicker than before. It was so thick, one could easily fill it within their breathe.

The level of The world had also advanced to the point that even the person without qualifications to cultivate, could now cultivate as the lowest of low leveled cultivators.

There was no longer "unqualified" people to cultivate. And most importantly, within the world core, Universal Rules spread out and circulated around it like typhoons and hurricanes.

There were countless numbers of Universal Rules, countless numbers of each Universal Rule, thus making them immeasurable in numbers and density.

The world core was no longer just a World Core now, but something grander. And to not give such a grand thing a name, would be blasphemy itself.

< The Reality World Core >

A neutral voice rang out, as The Reality World Core named itself, and gained sentience that was far beyond just being a Will. It was Omniscience, Omnipotent and Omnipresent within this world.

But due to the low level of The World, it was still far weaker than The Primordial Source, hence demoting it to becoming just nigh-omniscient, nigh-omnipotent and nigh-omnipresent.

But even that was impressive in its own right. As it was now second only to one entity. Yet even then, they were not free to do as they please as of yet.

Back within Damien's City Stronghold, the humans suddenly felt pressure from all directions and they got pressed slightly down.

They felt like they had a burden placed upon their shoulders, yet was not that heavy burdening. It was similar to constantly wearing bag full of books.

Those that were First League Combatants suffered no pressure whatsoever, and instead felt the abundant Mana that exploded out everywhere.

Within a minute, some absorbed seven times more Mana than they were expected to absorb, and felt genuinely surprised and happy.

Not only this City Stronghold, but the whole entirety of humanity had the same experience. And not just them, even the wolf tribe nearby had similar experiences.

Their evolutionary process were also enhanced seven times, making them evolve even faster, into terrifying supernatural wolves that could spit out ice, breathe fire or even run on wind as if they were running on clouds..

More species experienced genetic variations, while those that were sapient experienced greater Mana levels, and World pressure than normal.

The world had changed inside out.

Meanwhile, Juliette also experienced similar changes as well, but much more than she had expected.

This place was like a separate Realm before, and with the world evolving, it became something much greater, more like a level above the current world.

Hence within this place, Julie could absorb terrifying Mana every second. It was ten times more than before, being almost five thousand units of Mana per second.

"Amazing... this is just purely amazing." Juliette exclaimed in amazement, and Damien besides her also could not help but open his eyes in shock.

They then exchanged gazes, and continued to do nothing but cultivate. And by the same time tomorrow, the couple had vast amounts of Mana, that threatened to explode their being.

According to Damien's guess, their Mana reserves were inching closer to mid staged Third League Combatants, which were nigh-godly individuals.

The children of gods.

The powerful ascenders.

The limit breakers.

And yet, they were but First League Combatants. And because of this, Juliette finally succeeded in the Epithet Evolution Trial.

Her Grand "Pioneer of Mana" evolved into the Mythical "Grand Mana Pioneer".

[ TING!!! ]

[ Yoi have succeeded in your Evolutionary Epithet Trial. Your Grand Epithet "Pioneer of Mana", has evolved to the Mythical Epithet "Grand Mana Pioneer" ]

[ Grand Mana Pioneer (MYTH¹) :- Grand Mana Pioneer, someone loved and adored by Mana more than even spirits. Increases the cultivation of Mana per second by 250%. Increases the control and affinity towards Mana greatly ]

'This alone makes me stronger than ordinary people, and gives me a big head-start compared to my peers.' Juliette thought.

And as she had such a thought, Damien suddenly stood up and flexed his muscles to loosen his joints. Juliette opened her eyes and inquired, "You're leaving?"

"Yeah." He agreed, then added. "Be a good girl and behave yourself. Who knows, if you succeed, you might be rewarded." He joked.

As for who would reward her, him, or the pixies, Juliette did not mind either way. Both were great. "Hm. I'll be sure to behave myself. You take care as well."

"I will. I'm only meeting a few half gods, that's all." He said, and took a small luggage bag and left. Juliette bitterly smiled and finally realized the main reason she was being left behind.

'He's going to fight gods already?' She thought, looking forward to the day that she would seem capable enough to fight gods as well, from Damien's perspective.

Damien though, had no such thought. To him, Juliette was more than ready to fight half gods, or rather, defend herself against demigods and similar leveled beings.

He just believed that staying behind would be more probable for her.

"Ah? Unfortunate hero, you're leaving?" The pixie prince flashed besides him and asked in intrigue. Damien nodded, "Yeah. But I'll be back."