Riya seed enthusiastic to get started!
Noah stood before the illusory diagram of the Bastion of Mana, his perception drinking in every detail.
One hundred Nodes at minimum 1,000 Quintillion each.
The number alone was staggering because achieving it at scale presented challenges that even he would have to pause at.
Is it even possible to raise that many beings to 1,000 Quintillion before The Fallout arrives?
The thought circled through his consciousness.
He'd been climbing through the Quintillion ranges himself, and the experience had taught him brutal lessons about the limitations inherent in existential advancent.
There was the clear Ceiling that Ruination spoke of in detail!
Not a soft limit that could be pushed through sheer effort...a hard ceiling built into the fundantal weavings of Existence.
Devouring beings at 5 Quintillion Complexity and Purity would only ever get you toward that level. It didn't matter if you consud one such being or a thousand...you'd approach 5 Quintillion, but never exceed it through that thod alone.
This had been made clear.
Which ant traditional looting and devouring, while effective for early advancent, beca increasingly inefficient past certain thresholds!
His own ans were more effective.
The Cultivation Citadel of The Early Creature could grant harvests exceeding 5 Quintillion per day if used optimally.
The pressure-based advancent combined with his Principle of Perpetual Harvest created multiplicative effects that showed the glory of his way.
If I could get many in My Civilization to reach the 10 Quintillion threshold sufficient to withstand the Citadel's pressure, their power would begin rising rapidly.
The strategy ford itself naturally in his mind.
Bring all his Civilization mbers into the Citadel's crushing environnt, let them grind under impossible weight while Perpetual Harvest amplified their gains, and watch them skyrocket toward the thresholds necessary for the Bastion's Nodes.
Of course, that assud they had ti!
That assud The Fallout wouldn't arrive before sufficient numbers reached necessary power levels.
Too many unknowns. Too many variables he couldn't control yet.
He turned slightly, his analytical gaze shifting from the diagram to Riya, who stood nearby watching him with intensity.
Her jewel-blue eyes tracked across his form with focus as if she was studying him, or trying to see or confirm sothing that she was not being entirely clear about.
Their gazes t, and a slow smile spread across Riya's features.
"Are you checking out, Ancestor?" she asked.
Before Noah could respond, another voice cut in from the distance.
"Why would the Ancestor want your scrawny ass, Riya?"
...!
Behind them, Kael and several other Seed mbers materialized as they had been close behind.
An older woman floated among them, her form blazing with 50 Quintillion Complexity.
She looked at Riya with cold smiling eyes.
Riya's expression transford to match hers.
"At least my 'scrawny ass' reached 61 Quintillion without needing to hide behind the Council's pathetic complexity cap, Aunty Elina," she said sweetly. "How's that 50 Quintillion treating you? Still comfortable sitting down there?"
Elina's face pulsed, her aura buzzing with indignation.
"Why you little..."
"Enough."
Kael's voice cut through everything.
He floated forward!
"Ancestor," he said, turning to Noah while deliberately ignoring Riya, "this troublemaker should have told you a decent number of things by now. The Repository of Ford Authority and the Bastion of Mana represent just the beginning of what we've accomplished."
"With you in the lead, with your Infinite Mana guiding our efforts, what we can accomplish has beco infinitely grander. We have systems, techniques, principles...all waiting for the final component that only you can provide."
Noah nodded, his tyrannical gaze sweeping across the assembled Seed mbers.
"Yes," he said. "This is just the start. We will take what you all have accomplished here and bring another part of this Civilization...The Infiniverse, to reach this sa height."
WAA!
He paused.
"They did not have the millions of years you all had. They have just
begun walking on the Way of Mana in the last day. But with the systems you've developed, with the Repositories and Glyphs you've
refined, we will compress their advancent tiline to match your own achievents."
Kael and the others showed expressions of astonishnt.
Bringing an entire separate Civilization to their level in short period of
ti? It was audacious to think of!
But this was the Ancestor speaking.
The one who'd given them Mana and told them to build sothing magnificent in isolation. If he said it could be done...
They nodded, their expressions transforming into determination.
Noah's voice took on commanding weight.
"Prepare the Repository of Ford Authority to transfer at least half
of all stored Glyphs here. And any other ans of rapid elevation you all have designed...ready everything for imdiate deploynt."
Kael bowed deeply. "It will be done, Ancestor. We will-"
"You all take care of these minor things."
Riya stepped forward, her voice cutting through Kael's response.
"I'll take the Ancestor to the place I designed specifically for his advancent. Don't even try to follow, okay? I've blocked off all
access."
Her jewel-blue eyes sparkled with mischief.
Before anyone could respond, before Kael could voice the objection
already forming on his lips...
Riya moved.
HUUM!
Faster than anyone present could track, her form blurring with speed
that transcended their considerable perception.
Mana wrapped around both her and Noah in complex, and they
disappeared!
WHOOSH!
...!
Kael's expression transford into frustration once more.
Voltrax, Riya's father, materialized beside Kael with a slight smile, his hand raised in a calming gesture.
"Let's just do our part," he said, "You know how much Riya adored The
Stories of The Ancestor more than anything else. She probably morized every detail you shared about him over the eons."
His smile widened slightly.
"Let her have her fill of his presence. She'll settle down afterwards
and beco manageable again. Co on...let us prepare the aid packages for the advancent of the Ancestor's other part of Civilization. That's where we can actually contribute aningfully." The others sighed collectively, their frustration dissipating into weary
acceptance.
They dispersed, floating toward different sections of the Repository to begin the massive undertaking of packaging millions of years of accumulated advancent for transfer!
Noah's vision cleared as the teleportation of Mana completed, and he
found himself standing atop one of the massive ring-shaped buildings that floated in the skies of this grand Civilization. Rivers of blue mana flowed through the air around them.
They cascaded past the building's edges and circled back through the
loops. Riya sat down on the building's surface, her legs dangling over the edge as she used her fingers to play with the flowing mana.
The blue currents responded to her touch like living things, wrapping
around her fingers, forming complex patterns at her silent direction. "For ," she said quietly, "when too many mana signatures cluster in one place, my sensitivity actually overloads my senses."
She manipulated the flowing mana into a spiral, watching it spin with distant focus.
"It's like... imagine if you could hear every individual conversation in a crowd, every breath, every heartbeat, every rustle of clothing...all at maximum volu, all demanding your attention simultaneously. That's what large gatherings feel like to . Overwhelming.
Exhausting." Her jewel-blue eyes remained fixed on the mana spiral.
"I prefer purity. Singular, focused signatures rather than chaotic
clusters. That's why I've been taking you away from large crowds since you arrived. Not just to show off or be irreverent..." She paused, then looked at Noah directly.
"When it cos to purity, your existence gives off a sense that's
unmatched. Like... concentrated essence of mana itself, undiluted by any other authority. My sensitivity actually calms down around you.
Since you appeared, your existence has been drowning out the noise
of everyone else."
...!
Bursts of rivers of Mana blood right after as this entire region beca even more radiant!
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