Back within the meditation chamber of the rented estate, Adrian cultivated peacefully, drawing in the dense ambient mana of the Providence Hub.
The high-density ambient mana here and the use of the devour concept filled him at an extreme speed. If he had attempted to absorb this much energy back home in the Andromeda Galaxy, due to the ambient mana's lower density there, the process would have taken days, perhaps even weeks.
But here, within just a few hours of relentless consumption, Adrian could feel his Mana Sea approaching its limit.
Suddenly, without any conscious command on his part, an overwhelming golden essence erupted from deep within his Source Seed, autonomously covering his entire body in a luminous layer of conceptual energy.
The arcane concept of Fate had awakened and moved entirely on its own.
Adrian's eyes snapped open, "What is happening?"
He had no idea that an Astral Stage diviner was actively attempting to scry his future at this very moment.
Before Adrian could check what was even happening, his Source Seed pulsed with a heavy, ancient resonance. White-grey essence flooded his veins, rippling across the unseen fabric of fate that surrounded him. The presence of the Will of the Source rose up, standing as an impenetrable wall against the probing gaze of the Astral Stage diviner.
Only now, feeling the violent clash of conceptual essences and the will of the concepts around his own body, did Adrian finally understand the reality: someone was using the arcane concept of Fate against him.
The clash lasted for only a few tense, breathless seconds before the invisible pressure abruptly vanished, and things returned to normal. The white-grey Source essence and the golden light of Fate smoothly retreated back into the depths of his body.
Adrian immediately pushed himself up from the cold floor, his mind racing as a sense of danger washed over him.
"Who was it?" Adrian thought, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the empty meditation chamber. He had no idea who had just tried to peer into his future. Could it be the UNI-Sect? The three Major Sects that he sent away? Or perhaps was it a random, ancient faction from the deeper universe, acting on the newly spread rumors that he possessed the backing of a 'hidden organization'?
Whoever it was, the sensation of someone looking at his fate left a bitter taste in his mouth. The will of the arcane concept of fate obeyed him and even protected him, but actively at the same time, someone was able to use that same concept against him.
Adrian felt like he was a target for many unknown, unfathomable predators, and he himself had no idea who they were or where they would strike from. The suffocating realization of his own vulnerabilities rushed back in, and the need for power increased in his mind much higher than ever before.
He could not linger in this hub any longer. With that resolve anchoring his thoughts, Adrian immediately exited the rented estate and began to navigate the sprawling streets of the Outer Commercial Continent, moving swiftly toward the exit gates.
The dull grey token he had purchased from the guards was valid for thirty days, meaning it could be used to exit and enter again at any time within the time limit without drawing unnecessary scrutiny.
Passing through the massive silver-white archway, Adrian stepped out into the cold, silent vacuum of the intergalactic void. Once he was a safe distance away from the immediate scanning arrays of the Providence Hub, Adrian raised his hand and created a spatial portal, calibrating its coordinates to lead to the intergalactic void a little farther away from the Andromeda Galaxy, and stepped into it.
He could have opened this portal and departed back in his rented estate itself, but for now, he had no idea what kinds of things were actively being watched, recorded, or traced within the Hub. Given the sudden scrying attempt on his fate, he felt this cautious step was necessary to ensure his true destination remained untraceable.
Adrian stepped out of the violet-threaded portal, the rift closing silently behind him as he floated in the familiar, empty expanse of the intergalactic void. He looked out into the distance, where the spiraling disk of the Andromeda Galaxy glowed faintly against the eternal darkness.
He immediately activated his Source Domain. Then issued a direct command to reality: "Change my altered facial structure and mana signature back to my original state."
Reality obeyed instantly, and a blinding, excruciating pain exploded across Adrian's face. His jaw cracked, his cheekbones shifted violently, and his flesh tore and knitted itself back together in a gruesome fraction of a second as his body forcefully changed back to its true form.
Then, he issued a second direct command, "Teleport me back to the Crimson Vital Sect Headquarters without being detected by any artifacts, arrays, or entities."
He felt the immediate, staggering drain as nearly 50 million mana units were instantly ripped from his reserves to pay the universe's toll for such a direct command. The void wrapped around him, folding inward, and Adrian's figure disappeared completely from the intergalactic void.
…
While Adrian returned to the Andromeda Galaxy, back within the Providence Hub, deep inside the lush and hidden Elyrian Sanctuary, the fires of retribution were beginning to burn.
Mariska stood at the head of a grand, white-stone chamber, her majestic, luminescent wings folded tightly behind her back.
Surrounding her in the chamber were Levi and the loyal subordinates of her elite team. These were the same hardened warriors who had previously invaded the Outer Private Continent and successfully saved their fellow race beings from the auction block.
"Princess," Levi began, his voice a low, respectful rumble as he bowed his head. "The rescued prisoners are stable. The healers assure us they will survive, though the trauma to their minds... it will take centuries to fully heal."
Mariska's jaw tightened. "Survival is not enough, Levi. Not anymore."
She stepped forward and looked into the eyes of every warrior present, seeing her own pain and rage mirrored in their faces.
"For millions of years, we have hidden in this sanctuary like frightened prey," Mariska's voice rang out, "We watched from the shadows as the Yiphraen scum hunted our kin. We sat in silence as they strapped our brothers and sisters to their vile formations, bleeding them dry, drop by drop, decade after decade, just to refine their pathetic Life-Blood Pills!"
Her hands clenched into fists, "My father, the King, believes that endurance is our only path. He believes that because their leader possesses second-stage consciousness mastery, we must cower in the dark and wait for a miracle that will never come."
"But I say the time for waiting is over. It is time we make the Yiphraen scum pay for all the atrocities they have committed against us!"
A fierce, unified murmur of agreement rippled through the assembled team. Levi's hand instinctively drifted to the hilt of his weapon, his wings flaring slightly with battle lust.
"What are your orders, Princess?" Levi asked, his voice thick with killing intent. "Do we march on the Inner Continent? Do we strike the golden spire itself?"
"No," Mariska replied, her tone immediately cooling into a sharp, calculated pragmatism. Even in the depths of her blinding rage, she clearly understood the wisdom in her father's words. She was not a fool. She knew that she could not directly fight against the leader of the Yiphraen yet. An Astral sovereign with second-stage consciousness mastery would crush her mind before she even drew her blade.
"We are not going to throw our lives away in a suicidal assault against their leader," Mariska stated, tracing a glowing line across a holographic map of the Hub that hovered over the central table. "Until I grow stronger, until my willforce can pierce the veil of the second stage, direct war is impossible. So, for now, this is our path."
She pointed a slender finger at a heavily fortified sector located in the Outer Private Continent.
"Instead of just watching everything silently as my father does, we will tear down their infrastructure piece by piece," Mariska declared, "Today, we will strike one of their main alchemy factories in the Outer Private Continent. It is one of the primary facilities where many of our race are currently kept as prisoners and bled dry."
The team leaned in, their eyes locked onto the projected blueprints of the facility.
"We will breach their defenses, slaughter every Yiphraen overseer inside, free our kin, and burn the factory to ash before their elders from Inner Continents can even mobilize."
"We will show them that the Elyrians are no longer just livestock waiting for the slaughter. We are the predators now."
"For the Princess!" Levi roared softly, striking his chest in a crisp, unified salute, a gesture immediately mirrored by every subordinate in the chamber. "For the blood of our kin!"
"Prepare the stealth artifact and ready your blades," Mariska ordered, turning toward the doors of the hall.
With their resolve hardened, the team fell into a flawless, silent formation behind their Princess. The heavy doors parted, and together, they stepped out of the Elyrian Sanctuary, leaving the safety of their hidden world behind to wage a phantom war against the rulers of the Providence Hub.