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  It seems that Leviathan worked very fast. I hadn’t goo che him yet, but he was w hard and diligently. In just a day, he was already gathering me some Faith. He was a good worker. He aying his sentence well enough. I’ll let this Faith accumute until I use it again to upgrade my Divinity Tree.

  I am fairly sure the Upgrade might help my Divinity increase its rank or perhaps its stage a bit more. I would have simply not cared about these things before, but seeing how powerful a Divinity be and seeing how it was something I didn’t have before, which wasn’t eve within the world of Murim, it is of vital importao grow it.

  I might have been fighting all kinds of weaklings until now, but I want to tinue growing stronger because I know there is something out there capable of killihe Heavenly Will was not sin. I only escaped his grasp.

  And if this os is so vast as for dimensions and other realities to exist, the presence of beings that could match my power or even surpass it is not outside of possibilities.

  Maybe I am paranoid or something, but after seeing how vast everything truly was after stepping out of an already vast world such as Murim, being ready for anything should be my priority.

  Two gods have been sin, but there are at least a hundred more to go for; maybe some might not be the same as the others, and I might even ally with a few if their sins are not big enough.

  But evehe number of foes I must fight remains over a hundred, and eae will tinuously have more incredible and strange abilities.

  Growing stronger is a priority, so I adapt to any situation.

  I wish I could simply chill with my family, but unfortunately, the tower exists.

  “e here now; touch the tree. Yeah, just like that.”

  After the talk with the elder, I ended up taking a decision. I wanted every single member of this tribe to awaken their iential. Even if some weren’t fighters, they could be useful in other ways for their tribe. So I opened a portal to my Inner Realm a every person touch the Spirit Tree.

  Just like that, after an hour and a half, all of the members of the tribe awakened Spiritual Hearts and gaiheir unique Spirit Abilities. Some were simir to Hekita, others could wield elemental spirit energies. Others could summon a single elemental spirit; some could summon spiritual ons, armor, or other tools.

  The possibilities for how the powers of the Spiritual Hearts maed were almost endless. I was uo form one myself, as this ower of their bloodline and ary. I could try to imitate it, but I felt it was not really worth it.

  Instead, I simply absorbed the Spiritual Energy and made it i with my Mana and other energies, attempting to refine my Primordial Venerable Essence.

  And it worked; the dew drops I ofteed rather slowly were now being made even quicker than before. At least three were fast. However, that wasn’t where it ehe new dew drops were formed differently than before, had a small rainbow-colored aura, and were loaded with spirit energy.

  It persisted despite having been merely used as fuel, showing how iing this energy is. Could it give new abilities or effects to already existing powers? I’ll have to try them out ter once I fight a slightly worthy oppo; a wild monster shouldn’t really be something I waste my stro abilities against.

  “This is amazing…”

  “Our tent power—we always had this within us?”

  “I hought this was a thing!”

  “Woah, did I jure some spirit fme?!”

  “Mama, look! I made a bird out of winds!”

  It would be an uatement to say that the people wereed about their newly discovered spiritual powers. My family had also naturally tapped into that. My mates, the twins, had touched the tree right after Hekita, and theheir grandmother, who didn’t really want to fight anymore.

  They awakened unique abilities that were somehow attuo their cultivation. Their inner martial core fused with the spiritual heart and gained a crystalline cover around it instead of having two cores inside of their bodies.

  This upgraded their cultivation to new, never-seen levels, as they had reached a pseudo rank, perhaps oween Rank 2 and Rank 3. But they were already clearly strohan Rank 3 Cultivators, probably as strong as Rank 4.

  Their elements received boosts to their power, and they gaihe ability to jure spiritual ons and spiritual magibined with the elements they could jure with their cultivation abilities.

  Merkite gaihe ability to jure a Wind Spear, and Urbosa the ability to create a Thunder Sword, both could be sidered perma, tracted Spirits to them, but they were born out of their cores, iingly enough.

  “These little guys are amazing; we even make them float around ahem flying in a dire!” Urbosa said.

  “I hought we had such talent inside of us…” Merkite nodded. “More importantly, they grow stronger?”

  “I’ve analyzed how everything works, and yes. I believe the method of cultivating Spiritual Hearts is by letting the Spiritual Energy of your body circute through all your Meridians stantly for many days or years. Also, you slowly absorb spiritual energy from other sources to increase your maximum pool. However, that be hastened now that your Spiritual Hearts have fused into your Elemental Cores.” I expined.

  “It is very iing.” Urbosa methodically analyzed it. “However, I was w if you could get something simir, dear?”

  “No, I don’t possess the same abilities as your bloodlines, unfortunately. But that doesn’t really matter; I did gain more than you imagined. Seeing you twer is already a great joy.” I smiled. “Now, shall we prepare? week is in two more days. Tomorrow I’ll be going to the city to meet Peperina, and then we’ll move to the sed floor. Mom, Ruby, do you want to join?”

  “Of course we’re joining, Katherine. We’re on this together, my daughter.” My mother said, “After hearing that the God of the Sed Floor was like that… Well, I kind of want to see it with my own eyes first.”

  “Me too; we’ll see.” I nodded.

  “ we bring Juan? Do you want to e a carried?” Ruby asked Juan shamelessly.

  “G-Get carried? No, no, I would never!” He said. “Sorry, but I wouldn’t be able t myself to be so shameless… Just please take care of Ruby.”

  “You’re not ing?! e on!” Ruby pined.

  "Sorry, Ruby, but I think it would be unfair if I came with you and leeched off your sister and your aplishments. Unlike all of you, I am rather weak…” Juan sighed. “I’ll go to work and make money as usual. Once you e bae, I’ll have you something tasty for dinner.”

  “Geez…” Ruby sighed. “You’re shaping yourself to be a good house husband, huh?”

  “E-Eh?!” Juan blushed a bit.

  Holy, I guess he wasn’t half bad for a man. Yeah, he was alright. He genuinely cared for and loved my sister. And he was a humble man; he didn’t want to leech off our success. That was something I could respect.

  “Hahaha! You got all red like a tomato, dude!” Ruby ughed, patting his shoulders. “It’s fi’s fine! Make sure to grow strohen; you have yet to reach the max level, right?”

  “Hmm… If you prove yourself worthy and reach the max level, I will let you apany us through the path of cultivation.” I told Juan. “For that, I will not give you any aid other than the armor everyo before.”

  “R-Really?” Juan wondered, gripping his fists tightly. “T-Then, I will! I will grind on my own and show you that I mean it when I say I care about Ruby, Katherine!”

  “Hmph, you better prove your worth, young man.” I smiled.

  I noticed Ruby looking at me rather angrily.

  “Big sis, did you have to give him such a trial?! His Css Level is 200! He won’t be able to reach it any time soon on his own.” She pined. “’t I help him at least?”

  “No,” I said. “You are not allowed to help him, Ruby. He must do it on his own. This is his trial and the path he chose to walk through. What is his css anyway?”

  “My css is Fsh Spearman,” Juan said. “It is a spearman that specializes in fast movements and secutive strikes. I’ve read ohat I learn a Blink Skill eventually and another Skill named secutive Strikes, that’s why I took it despite the high level it o be maxed.” Juan said. “And yeah, I’m not an Avatar.”

  “I see, iing!” I nodded. “A spear is a good on with ge. It keeps you safer, as you always have some space between your foe and yourself. If you’re precise, you strike a oint and deal massive damage. However. It also be easily overpowered. A strong strike into its handle break a spear. Here, let me give you oake this.” I gave him a pitch-bck spear with a red jewel at the end.

  “T-This is…?!” He was shocked.

  “I am not gifting it to you… I am renting it to you.” I smiled. “It is a spear made with the bck scales of a powerful dragon. That jewel is the core of a Bzing Ogre, it let you release some fmes with each strike.” I said. “That’s all you’ll get. This spear shouldn’t easily break.”

  “Thank you, sister-in-w.” He said with eyes full of admiration.

  “Who are you calling your sister-in-w?!” I roared back. “You’re not getting married to my sister! Now, show me you’re worthy of doing that.”

  “Yes!” He nodded. “I’ll get going onove to the sed floor.”

  “Good.” I nodded. “Ruby?”

  “Y-Yes?” She wondered, looking at me while half-expeg some reprimand from me.

  “He’s good.” I her.

  “Eh? Ah…” She quickly realized what I meant.

  “Sorry for judging him badly before. He’s an alright man.” I patted her shoulders, as Juan had already walked away. He began practig his spear teiques with the other warriors of the tribe. I’ve seen him spar with them sometimes.

  “Oh, it’s ok…” She said. “Did you have bad experiences with men before, big sis? I know you’re lesbian, but you never really were this wary of guys.”

  “Maybe… It was a long life, full of hardships after all.” I sighed. “It was a world pletely and utterly dominated by men that treated women as nothing but tools, materials, or... just sves to satisfy their libido.”

  “Ugh…” Ruby sighed. “D-Did something bad happen to you? Did you…?”

  “No, nothing like that.” I smiled back at her. “I fought tooth and nail for them to never do anything to me in that regard. But I still had bad experiences in other forms: beatings, being tricked, beirayed... Women had barely stood in that hellish world; despite being able to grow strohemselves, it was a society made around discriminating against and using women.”

  “Sounds worse than fug Earth, Jesus.” Ruby groaned, patting my shoulders. “Did you... you ge that world, right?”

  “Of course I did.” I smiled. “Oook over it, all such traditions, all of such beliefs. They died alongside all the old men who ahem. I tried to create a world where both genders could stand on equal terms. And where bloodshed aru weren’t daily occurrehat you had to get used to, I protected that world. Despite hating it deep down, there was also a part of myself that grew to love it.”

  “…” Ruby gasped, looking into my slightly sorrowful eyes. “Do you miss that world?”

  “Not at all, haha.” I ughed. “There were very few good memories about such a world, but I do think about it sometimes. If not always, anyway, let’s get this over with. You and Metting to Rank 3 now.”

  “That fast?!” Ruby asked.

  “Indeed. Now follow me.” I said. “Mother, please e with me!”

  “Huh? Katherine, what is it?” She followed me.

  As we ehe tent, I decided to finally let them take aep into their cultivation journey.

  It was time for Rank 3 to let them fe their own Physiques.

  -----

  Pach