964 Silent Undercurrents
Evander opened his eyes and glanced at the little girl. Even though there are many girls with blonde hair and blue eyes, this little girl had a lot of resemblance to Sarah.
Perhaps that’s the reason why the ‘silent’ grandpa who didn’t talk much in the park had no problem talking to her. Even though he wouldn’t admit it, he enjoyed every
second of the little girl’s company.
Sometimes, it made him wonder…if Sarah had a child and he became a grandpa for real, how would he feel. That feeling of anticipation rose before it was crushed and a silent grief filled Evander.
“What is it, Mia? Do you want to hear another story?” Evander got down from the boulder and crouched down to meet the little girl’s eye-level.
Mia threw her hands up and cheered. “I want to! I want another Hero adventure!”
But she seemed to remember something and made a surprised face.
“I almost forgot, that big brother and big sister are calling you.” She pointed to a skinny young man and a cute young woman. Both were almost the age of his daughter.
Evander glanced at them and fell silent for a moment before he rubbed Mia’s little head and said. “Thanks! I’ll tell you a good story next time.”
“Promise?” Mia put up her little finger.
Evander’s lips curled up and he hooked his big finger with hers. “Promise.”
“Yay!” Mia ran off to her mother with a smile.
Evander glanced at the two teenagers and nodded.
“…We can either provide immediate power to many awakeners or we can use it on two peak level 9s and get a Sovereign a year later. Which one is better?”
‘By then, I would be a Sovereign anyway. But there’s no safety before then. So…’
“Can you tweak the potion so that it only helps in clearing bottlenecks and not in progressing the existing sub level? As in, a high level 9 that hit the wall can reach peak level 9, and a beginner high level 9 doesn’t have to progress much in high level 9.”
Kyle and Maya looked at each other for a moment and nodded.
“Excellent. Do that. We’ll need every high level combat power we can get.” Evander clapped his hands.
“Erm, is there any confirmation of a war?” Kyle asked cautiously.
“No. There isn’t.” Evander shook his head. “Even if it’s tomorrow, we can’t predict it. The only thing we can do is prepare.”
Saying so, he looked at them with a serious gaze. “There is a heavy responsibility on you two. You may not realize it yet, but if you do what you should, your actions might end up saving our race.”
Kyle gulped in nervousness and nodded.
For the next two weeks, the couple, along with Dr. Thomas worked day and night.
Instead of using the two blood samples for potions, they created an elixir of sorts that could help one in overcoming bottlenecks.
There’d be no talent change after taking it.
If someone took the original potion, they’re almost guaranteed to reach the Sovereign state and even had a shot at the Celestial Rank.
But with this potion, other than getting through the bottleneck, there’s no other use.
The participants even need large amounts of aura crystals and high-energy herbs to properly get through the bottleneck.
In simple terms, the if the bottleneck is a gate stopping them from reaching the next room, the potion would be the mechanism that would raise the gate. The participants would’ve to gather the energy to walk through the gate themselves.
Even so, when the military announced this elixir, the powerhouses wondered if it was a prank.
By not compromising the functionality, two hundred and fifty drops of elixir were made.
This was distributed to powerhouses struck at the bottleneck all across the federation.
This amounted to a fifty high level 9s, seventy mid level 9 and a hundred low level 9. The remaining went to peak level 8.
The federation, unlike ever before in its history, spent its precious resources. Once the trials were done and the medicine was found to be functional and harmless, tonnes of materials were given to each and every single awakener taking the elixir.
Everyone got just one chance to take this medicine. Only one drop. If they failed, then that one of the only two-fifty drops would be wasted.
The federation decided to overspend and waste resources than fail in making a high awakener advance.
Thanks to the generosity, the high awakeners from Mercury to Neptune, all had a 100% success rate.
Since the advancement would take time to finish, awakeners were selected in batches for taking the elixir.
Each day, two awakeners advanced. Sometimes, there was only one. But there was continuous progress every single day.
However, since they’d just advanced, they were instructed to lay low and get used to their power. It’d take at least a month for good proficiency. So, these awakeners didn’t provoke their abyssal counterparts and kept to themselves.
The changes were so surreal that even the people that advanced felt absurd. The bottlenecks that held them back for decades were suddenly removed. And across the solar system, hundreds of powerhouses advanced.
This was nothing short of a miracle.
Enigma and Varian were clever. But they weren’t scientists. Even the potion that she had was taken from Roxanna.
Unlike them, Kyle and Maya were true scientists. And as someone who saw plenty of powerhouses getting stuck in bottlenecks throughout his life, Evander’s guidance was really on the mark.
Thanks to this remarkable cooperation, humans clearly outpaced abyssals and gained an edge over them.
However, none of the Sovereigns called for war despite having confidence in winning.
Because if they really waged a war to the end, most of humanity would be gone. The abyssals never surrendered or ran away. If they’re going to die, they’d rather take the enemy down with them.
If the abyssals were really on the verge of losing, they’d destroy everything they could. So, even a ‘victory’ would set off human civilization back by hundreds of years.
Besides, the abyssals might be hiding their trump cards. Invading them without sufficient edge in strength was risky.
So, despite the growth, the human army remained quiet and concealed.
pAn,Da-n0v e1,c
And it’s happening in Pluto.
On the small planet, an Undead body was floating in the sky. Across Pluto, tens of thousands of corpses were placed in painted circles and various altars were built with esoteric runes.
With each second, small black threads left the dead bodies and entered the Undead in the sky.
After nearly dying under Varian, the Undead’s strength dropped to level 7. Now, it’d been two and a half months since that battle.
Since then, he’d been asleep.
Until now.
The Undead’s eyes flew open and the sky dimmed for a moment before a bright light akin to a sun emanated from him.
After a long rest and taking countless precious resources, the Undead finally reached a strength that surpassed peak of level 9.
Even though he’s still lacking compared to a Sovereign, with the abyssal kings and queens blocking out their human counterparts, he’s invincible.
He’d still need some time to reach the Sovereign state. But the abyssals already provided all the help they could.
The only way he could take that final step was by killing millions. He needed a war!
Upon his recovery, the abyssal rulers contacted the Emperor and asked for instructions.
For the past two months, the Emperor didn’t contact them much except for the occasional check ups.
The abyss kings and queens feared the Emperor might ask them to stay put to prevent high casualties. But instead, he nodded with a tired face.
“I’ll…send the reinforcements.” Abyss Emperor said with a neutral expression but his eyes were heavy and his voice showed his exhaustion.
What’s more, there were several thin sword marks on his cheeks that haven’t yet healed.
Even though they knew they absolutely shouldn’t, the abyss rulers still asked. “Y-Your Majesty, how is the situation there?”
The Abyss Emperor leaned back on his throne and his shoulders slumped. “The situation is under control. But the losses are enormous already. Entire provinces are lost, slaughtered, and burnt. The fairies lost a third of their army. Yet, they still keep coming like rabid dogs.”
A heavy atmosphere filled the air and the Emperor finally smiled, “Don’t worry. We’re going to win this war. You win yours. The reinforcements will be there soon.”
“Long Live The Emperor!”
“Long Live The Abyssals!”
“War And Glory Be Our Wars!”