Henry, Liora, Kazuhiko, Erikson… his mother, his Queens… all of them.
Bob..well, not Bob, he was still being experinted on by another one of Khor's bodies.
But all others, yes!
They smiled, their expressions a testant to a faith so profound it was its own form of power.
Why would they not walk his path?
Noah watched them, a faint, proud smile on his lips. With a wave of his hand, hundreds more Sparks blood across the Radiant Shore. Thousands. Tens of thousands. A celestial, blue snowstorm of pure, unadulterated potential.
|You are exerting the authority of an Architect.|
|The Weavings of your [Infinite Mana] are being utilized to forge [Sparks of the Way].|
|This is a monuntal act. The [Principle of Perpetual Harvest] recognizes this effort.|
|For every one hundred Sparks forged, your own Mana is being refined and amplified|
|You are not just giving your power away; you are making your own ocean deeper with every drop you give.|
|Sparks Forged: 100,000… 1,000,000… 10,000,000…|
The numbers were a glorious, unending cascade!
Noah looked at the swirling, azure blizzard of his own design and spoke, his voice a calm, absolute command that was heard not just by those on the Shore, but by a single, silent servant who was his eyes and ears across much of existence.
"Spread the Sparks. Not just in the Infiniverse, but across the Folds. To those attacking the Aegis right now. To any and all who would choose a new Way."
…!
|The Quintessential Servant, Malphas, has received your command, My Lord.|
|His network of crows will be utilized. The Sparks will be delivered with a speed and an efficiency that will make the very concept of distance seem like a quaint, provincial notion.|
|The seeds of your Civilization are being sown.|
As the prompts faded, Malphas himself appeared before Noah. A single, radiant Spark floated before him. With a deep, respectful bow, he took it, and a brilliant, azure-blue light, tinged with a deep, obsidian crimson, wrapped around his form.
"Anything for the Master," he said, his voice a smooth, cultured purr of absolute obedience.
Noah smiled. "And I will do anything for my people."
He raised his hands, a glorious, tyrannical gesture, and his voice was a booming, irrevocable declaration that shook the very foundations of the Radiant Shore.
"My Mana shall help you all across the Edicts of my Way!"
…!
BOOM!
|A grand, tyrannical declaration has been made!|
|The [Principle of the Cheating Architect] has recognized a loophole in the standard progression of your Way.|
|Protocol: [The Tyrant's Favor].|
|Effect: As the Architect, you can choose to directly fuel the advancent of your most trusted followers, bypassing the standard, arduous process of cultivation.|
|The effort required is… significant. But your Mana is infinite. So… who cares?|
|You can now directly elevate your chosen followers to Edict 5, granting them 1,000 [Mana Glyphs], a [Mana Heart], and a nascent [Mana Haki].|
|This is, to be clear, a ridiculous and existentially unfair advantage.|
WAA!
The mont the prompt faded, Noah acted.
Rivers of pure, boundless cerulean Mana erupted from him, a glorious, chaotic storm of pure potential. They were not just streams of energy; they were lifelines, conduits of his own, infinite power!
They shot out, connecting with Malphas, with Henry, with Moiraine, with Adelaide, with Sigrid, and with a dozen other of his most trusted, most powerful allies.
The Shore was bathed in a blinding, beautiful light, a network of azure rivers that was a testant to his boundless, tyrannical generosity.
In a distant pasture, Heidrun, who had been arrogantly observing the proceedings, saw a stray Spark floating her way.
She snorted, a sound of profound, ancient disdain. But then, she sniffed the air. The Spark… it slled delicious. With a final, reluctant huff, she consud it.
A brilliant, white-gold and azure light erupted from her form.
|The Land Lifeform, Heidrun, has embarked on the Way of Mana.|
|Her unique, primordial nature is being reforged.|
|She will no longer produce Sacred ad of Existence. She will now produce… [The Sacred Mana ad of Existence].|
|Effect: Each drop now contains a significant infusion of pure Mana, in addition to its other reality-bending properties.|
|Heidrun is… pleased with this upgrade.|
Nearby, Yoshinami, in her colossal, terrifyingly beautiful spider form, watched. She took a Spark, and her obsidian body flashed with a brilliant, dark blue.
|The Land Lifeform, Yoshinami, has embarked on the Way of Mana.|
|Her [Crown of Inevitable Retribution] is being infused with your [Infinite Mana].|
|The complexity of the beings she can instantly kill is being scaled upwards. The final paraters will be determined upon the forging of her [Mana Heart].|
…!
Noah observed it all, a quiet, profound satisfaction settling deep within his being. His people, his family, were not just growing stronger; they were becoming a part of his Way, their destinies now intrinsically, irrevocably, linked to his own.
But as his gaze swept over the transford Shore, he saw one figure who had not taken a Spark.
Khor. She stood beside him, a tiny, silent, and infinitely powerful presence. A faint, almost lancholic, smile was on her lips as she watched the glorious, chaotic birth of his Civilization.
"Outsider," she began, her voice a soft, lodic hum against the vibrant, joyous energy of the Shore, "I am proud of you. Many powerful entities, in the Earliest Folds and beyond, were paralyzed by the sheer, overwhelming weight of choice. They feared being wrong, feared that the Way they chose would be a dead end. But you… you simply chose. That is a strength that is rarer, and more profound, than any amount of Complexity or Purity."
She paused, her abyssal eyes, which had seen the birth and death of concepts, now holding a deep, ancient, and almost paternal warmth.
"Your journey truly begins now, Outsider. This is the first step on the road to the next Scale of Civilization. But for … I must continue on my own Way."
Her Way.
She had already chosen her Way!
Noah looked at her, at this impossible being who was both his weaving and a sort of… ntor, and he nodded.
"I understand. I have my Way, and you have yours. But in the end, we both seek a singular destination. We simply have to reach it together."
Khor smiled, a brilliant, genuine expression that seed to make the very light of the Shore shine brighter.
She floated over and gave him a playful, almost teasing, pat on the arm.
"You are beginning to say so grand things now, Outsider," she said, her voice filled with a light, genuine amusent.
As they stood there, two impossible beings in a garden of their own making, they watched as the first seeds of Noah's Civilization, the first radiant Sparks of his Way of Mana, began to spread out from the Radiant Shore, and then to the Infiniverse, and then beyond as they were carried by the silent, shadowy wings of Malphas's crows, ready to infect a desperate, dying existence with a new, beautiful, and utterly tyrannical hope!
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