Three figures were flying across the desert, the supersonic shockwaves leaving a trail of swirling dust behind them. The rumbling sound as they passed, was like thunder. They were gods of death, slaughtering any Drow or monster that got in their way.

  The beasts were endless, always attacking from a great distance, jumping from deep holes in the ground, and falling from the sky so that even if they wanted to be inconspicuous, the enemy didn’t let them.

  “What are we doing?” John asked after some time. Gerald was flying beside him and Onyx was right behind.

  Instead of answering directly, Gerald spoke in his own way. [I don’t know why, but I feel like things have been… accelerating.]

  John frowned as they flew while keeping his gaze forward. “What do you mean?”

  [You know how I absorbed knowledge of countless people? Thousands of them. How some of them were centuries old? I have memories of the distant past, many of them. Over the years, I have started seeing a pattern.]

  Gerald turned his head, appearing serious. [Change is becoming more common. The Cultivation world is slow. Things take decades, centuries to develop. Even an imminent war between two Sects might take more than a decade to unfold. Things like that just take time.]

  “And?”

  [The time is getting shorter. Things are happening with increased frequency. They are changing rapidly.]

  John hesitated. “Well, that may be true but…”

  “He is right.” Onyx added, backing his Master. “Things have been accelerating. So many unprecedented events happened the last decade, and now with the Drow and the monsters battling the three Clans, it looks like conflict is just going to intensify.”

  Gerald hummed. [The world is reaching a… tipping point? Breaking point? Something is going to happen, I can feel it.]

  “Like what?” John asked. Gerald veered off course, going downward, the other two following right behind. They landed heavily on the rocky ground in the desert, overlooking a vast sandy expanse.

  [I don’t know but trust me, something will definitely happen. While I haven’t experienced it personally, this feels like the start of a new era. If rumors are to be believed, the first human Demigods are about to be born.]

  “You are kidding?”

  “Demigods?!”

  Gerald spoke with a serious tone. [I don’t know if I had mentioned it, but… Before I came here, I used to be a part of the Myriad Beasts Sect. The founder, an old fart over a thousand years old, baited a neighboring Brilliant Sword Sect into attacking us, and then he triggered some grand old trap. He got rid of their top fighters all at once, and then presumably took over.]

  He shrugged. [I don’t know what happened after, but the Ancestor mentioned that he was going to use their wealth to forge a new body for himself and become a Demigod. He was at the peak of Sky Realm and the Sect had been gathering Body Essence for a thousand years, so I am inclined to believe him.]

  “Hmm.” John frowned as he entered deep thought.

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  [Let’s not even mention Dragons. They were already rumored to be the only creatures capable of reaching the Demigod Realm in their lifetime. If humans managed to do the same, even if it’s just one or two individuals, do you really think they would be happy to stay put in their Sects? When everyone in the world would be beneath them?]

  Onyx chuckled mentally. “I certainly wouldn’t. That sounds like the perfect opportunity for conquest. Just take out all opposition and become the Emperor.”

  “Do you think that is really going to happen? A new Demigod being born?” John asked skeptically.

  Gerald shrugged. [Maybe. I don’t know. I’m not worried about a Sky Realm, even a peak one, however, a Demigod might pose a problem to our operations. Either way, I’m going to be ready for it.]

  “And how exactly do you plan on achieving that?” John probed.

  Instead of words, Gerald let his actions do the talking. A grand Formation appeared in the air between them, glowing with energy.

  “Oh, so that’s how it is. I see…” He immediately understood.

  “What is it?” Onyx demanded.

  “To put it simply, it’s an energy gathering Formation. Seven Heavenly Peaks array, copied nine times, and combined into a larger Formation.” John answered before addressing Gerald. “What do you need all this energy for, anyway? I thought you got enough from the Souls. A new base?”

  [Something like that… But it’s not for me.] With that, he began to expand, growing to a height of over fifty meters. Then, he summoned his newest weapon, the Eclipse.

  The giant battleaxe appeared in his hand and then the head of it slammed down. The sheer weight of it was enough to slice through the rocky ground and sink meters deep into the ground.

  “Dude!” John exclaimed.

  “Woah… That looks awesome!” Onyx marveled. “As expected of Master.”

  Gerald’s eyes glowed for a moment, and with a beam from his eyes, he drew a circle around the impact zone. [That’s the center. Help me draw the rest of it, please.] He said.

  John looked at the glowing copy of the Formation hanging in the air, then at the newly drawn circle, and back again.

  He blinked a few times and then shook his head, yet still seemed to remain firmly rooted in reality. It was not a dream.

  “How… How big is this going to be, exactly?” He asked, his voice cracking.

  Gerald smiled confidently. [Haha, big. I was thinking maybe ten, fifteen… kilometers?]

  John facepalmed. The Eclipse, meanwhile, began gradually powering down, the Soul that used to feed it, consumed. After a few moments, the Qi in the area began to be pulled towards it.

  [Oh, it’s starting. We better get to work quickly.] Gerald cheerfully grinned and began blasting the ground with his energy beams, turning the desert sand into glass. He took a handful of empty Spirit Stones and crushed them down, letting the dust enter the lines of molten silica. The magical conductivity of the material immediately spiked, allowing the Eclipse to draw Qi from further away.

  Onyx gladly helped draw the lines, circles, and spirals, leaving Gerald to form the intricate runes and more complex glyphs. John eventually just sighed and began helping too, his knowledge of Formations making it easy for him to check the accuracy of their work as they went along.

  Amazingly, before the sun set behind the horizon, they were done. It took them just over half a day to form such a gigantic Formation, and it was working perfectly. The magic was being siphoned from a vast area of the desert, redirected to feed and empower the Eclipse. The downpour of Qi was significant for a normal person, however, for a weapon of such size, it was somewhat lacking. It could never fully saturate it, but that was the point.

  Gerald simply wanted to improve his weapon for the time when he needed it, and keeping it inside his space pocket fully charged would do him no good.

  The flow of Qi was constant, giving the Eclipse the best chance at gradual improvement. Gerald beamed from ear to ear as he watched his weapon greedily devour the energy while bathed in the orange glow of the setting sun.

  [It’s done! Thanks guys.]

  “You are welcome. I hate to admit it, but that was kinda fun.” John replied. “But now what? We just leave it here?”

  [Pretty much. I’ll set up a warning system, in case anyone gets any ideas, but I think the Eclipse should take care of itself. Not many can touch it and live to tell the tale.]

  John looked at the Eclipse and then at Gerald. The latter wiggled his eyebrows at him, seemingly urging him to poke it.

  “I’m not touching that. The bricks were annoying enough.”

  [Your loss.] Gerald shrugged. [Oh, well… Let’s go back. Maybe the guys back home got a dinner ready for us. I could use some good chow.]

  “Yeah, sure… I’m quite hungry as well. Could use a good drink too.”

  “Let’s go!”