The blinding light that shone from Sierra's body made almost everyone shield their eyes. Only the semi-spiritual lifeforms—Vekas, Lynera, and Augustus—and Revan were unfazed.
Then, her body disappeared in a flash. Immediately, everyone jolted at this unexpected turn of events.
"What? Where did she go?!" Augustus roared, his eyes darting everywhere around him. "Her Vyr signature is gone!"
"What?" Vekas widened his eyes as he also searched for her, activating [Vyr Perception] to the max.
"Did she...?" Lynera's words trailed off as she stepped back slightly.
Vekas turned to her. "She what?"
Augustus couldn't pay any heed to them. He kept searching for Sierra. His fists were clenched hard as he turned in every direction possible.
[Vyr Perception] isn't working... It's as if she has suddenly stopped existing.
His oathweight flared slightly, but he then sighed, stabilising it. He stroked his beard, though his brows were still furrowed as he gritted his teeth. He then turned to Revan, noting how his gaze remained where Sierra once stood.
The chef narrowed his eyes. Did Revan perhaps know what was going on? He could tell that the man before him was most definitely a spiritual being. From what he heard, spiritual beings comprehended far more than a semi-spiritual lifeform could ever hope to.
This could potentially mean that he knew what happened to her, right? After all, Revan's smile hadn't faded, nor had his brows raised. It was as if he had been expecting this.
Before he could open his mouth to ask Revan about it, however, his gaze snapped to where Sierra once stood. Why?
Because Sierra had just appeared once more, as if she had never left. It had only been a few seconds since she had disappeared. However, there was a clear change.
Her long black hair was no longer disheveled from the battle, neat and straight as ever. Her skin was spotless and seemed to shine in the moonlight, while her black robes, once ruined by the battle with Athyma and several rebels, were pristine and in perfect condition.
It was as if she hadn't just fought a spiritual being and won at all.
As she turned to him, Augustus saw how her eyes seemed to be shining in a brilliant light. She looked absolutely breathtaking in her current form, from the height of her figure to the striking features of her face, the curve of her breasts, and even her robes that accentuated her figure perfectly.
She soon spoke, her voice low and soft. "I... I have evolved into a spiritual being."
The atmosphere grew cold immediately. Everyone there stiffened; their breathing hitched. The soldiers, majors, generals, Marcus, Charlie, the semi-spiritual lifeforms, all had their mouths hanging open, eyes widening until they threatened to pop out of their sockets.
"W-What? How?" Augustus stuttered, his lips quivering from the sheer shock that the woman he had taken under his wing had just ascended to a level he never could.
"It's just as I thought..." Hearing Lynera's murmured words, Vekas turned sharply to her, observing how her eyes were wide and dazzling with a brilliant light.
"Just as you thought?" Charlie cut in, stepping towards her. "What do you mean?"
"My father had evolved the same way in front of me. I remember how his body shone in a bright light, and then he disappeared. I could barely even start searching for him till he suddenly reappeared as if nothing had happened. He told me that this was because he had just ascended to a higher level of existence."
Tehrun's eyes widened. He hadn't been there when this had happened, but both Lynera and his father had told him plenty about it.
"I believe Father told me that the reason we couldn't see him was that his physical body ceased to exist... and we simply couldn't comprehend his spiritual form." He spoke in a low, rather timid voice.
"You are correct, Tehrun," Lynera replied before turning to Sierra. "I never thought I'd see another person ascend to the level of a spiritual being within just a few hundred years."
Charlie narrowed his eyes at this. "From what I heard, Karun De Voldero had only ascended to such a level three hundred years ago."
"Indeed... and seeing how rare it is for spiritual beings to appear, seeing one ascend to that level right in front of us is..."
"It's a miracle." Vekas finished Tehrun's words. "Especially after we just dealt with another spiritual being."
Augustus remained silent; he walked to Sierra, stopping just a few steps before her. His eyes shone in admiration as he observed her figure.
He soon pursed his lips. His question hadn't been answered. Of course, it hadn't. After all, every spiritual being had an unspoken rule. That rule was not to let anyone else know about the criteria for a person to evolve into a spiritual being.
Even the soldiers here and the royal prince and king, physical lifeforms who had studied a lot of information sources about spiritual beings for a long time, were well aware of how secretive it was.
There was a reason why spiritual beings were so rare, and that the possibility of one ascending to such a level was nearly impossible. The knowledge of the method and criteria was known only to the spiritual beings themselves.
Lynera turned her gaze to the ground. She was also oblivious to the criteria and method, since her father was faithful to its secrecy.
Augustus sighed. "You surpassed me a long time ago. But now... you have reached a level I had long since given up on reaching."
He reached out his hand, petting her head gently. The woman smiled, leaning into his touch. She closed her eyes as she surrendered herself to his hand.
"I guess... Athyma's existence was the only thing holding me back," she muttered softly as she looked up at the chef, at the man who had raised her for a thousand years.
"I had already reached the pinnacle of a semi-spiritual lifeform, and nothing was stopping me from ascending to this level in terms of power. I was keeping up with Athyma during the battle as well, even though she was a spiritual being already. I defeated her as a semi-spiritual lifeform..."
"It's not something other semi-spiritual lifeforms can do." Sierra turned her head to Revan, who approached her with his hands casually resting in his pockets.
"There are a few conditions for evolving into spiritual beings for semi-spiritual lifeforms," he continued. "You had already fulfilled most of these conditions, such as strength, proficiency with Techniques, Authorities, and other forms of Art and Magic, maturity, strong willpower, and... damn, there's a lot."
He seemed to be counting on his fingers, raising them repeatedly as he continued listing each condition in his head. His brows furrowed as his counting seemed endless.
He soon raised his hands in exasperation. "Bah! You know what, just know that there are many conditions to ascend to a spiritual being that require strength, intellect, proficiency, maturity, and other shit. But there is one major requirement that is the basis of this ascension."
His smirk widened as his eyes—those ruby-red gems that seemed to shine with brilliance—skimmed through everyone present. Everyone's breath hitched, realising what he was doing.
He is about to share the secret of ascension!
Revan laughed, turning his gaze back to Sierra. "The biggest condition... is to let go of any major emotional grudges or oaths. You must free your soul from what burdens it. In your case, your revenge burdened your soul for a thousand years. Even after achieving the rest of the conditions, you were unable to ascend because of this need for revenge."
He stepped closer, stopping merely three steps from her. "Any promise that you value or make your reason for living will hold you back. A spiritual being must be free from such burdens. They cannot be held down by promises they made that are emotionally connected to them. Remember, spiritual beings aren't meant to indulge in emotion as much as normal mortals or semi-spiritual lifeforms are meant to."
He raised his index finger, playfully poking her nose, which made her recoil. "Evolving into a semi-spiritual lifeform mainly concerns exceptional physical prowess and greater maturity than normal. Some semi-spiritual lifeforms can even be defeated by normal beings, although the latter would have to be geniuses among geniuses. Talented among talented. Blessed among the blessed. You get the point, don't you?"
Sierra frowned. She had already learned of all this after receiving that abundance of information from her ascension to a spiritual being. Still, she didn't plan on revealing it to the whole crowd here.
Revan's smirk widened. "You are an interesting woman. You didn't plan on fully adhering to the unspoken rule yourself, did you?"
She blinked in response. "What?"
"Oh, come on! Don't go saying that you weren't going to tell Augustus about the secret so that he could find a way to ascend as well." He chuckled softly as his eyes gleamed with mischief.
Sierra clicked her tongue, frowning. She turned her gaze to the chef, who was staring with wide eyes, his mouth hanging open.
Her gaze softened. She could understand how it must be difficult for him to take in all this information that had been secret for an immeasurable period of time.
"You're right..." She gazed back at the smug man. "I was going to reveal it to him, but only when it was just me and him in a private setting. But you decided that it would be a good idea to reveal this information to everyone present."
She gritted her teeth. "You broke the one rule that spiritual beings had. I won't say that I am pissed at this, but I am confused. Why would you do something like this when you are also a spiritual being yourself?"
Everyone immediately turned their heads to the enigma who stood with a carefree smile. The question was something they all shared. Why did he reveal this information?
He grinned, flashing his pure white teeth. "I never cared for this rule. It has no importance to me. Hence, I didn't mind revealing it. Besides..."
He giggled, placing his hand over his mouth like a mischievous child. "Seeing all of your reactions was worth it."
Sierra blinked once. Twice. Thrice. She couldn't believe what this man was saying.
Did he truly not care about keeping the criteria of evolution a secret? Why not? Keeping the secret was a logical opinion that every spiritual being shared, so how come he was the opposite? For reactions? For...
"... you wanted to be entertained?" She asked in a low voice.
"Hehe, you got me." He laughed cheekily, raising two fingers of his right hand to form a peace sign.
Everyone was stiff, their eyes as wide as they could be without falling out of their sockets, as they heard him reveal that treasured information. They all understood that this was the reaction he had been fishing for.
Marcus's gaze flickered as a thought crossed his mind. What if his words were false...? No. He doubted the possibility, reason being that Sierra had confirmed his words as authentic.
Still, there was another possibility: Revan had lied, and Sierra was simply going along with it, but knowing Revan, the idea that he was telling the truth wasn't far-fetched.
And Sierra's own reaction didn't seem fabricated. He ultimately concluded that this must be the truth, which meant....
"What he revealed was priceless information that could never have an estimated value..." He finished his thoughts aloud, his eyes wide open.
No one could ever hold this information, and now, this random wanderer had just revealed it as if it were a random Tuwosa. No one here could believe their eyes or ears.
"Anyway." He placed his hands back in his pockets. "What now?"
Sierra blinked. "What... now?"
"Yeah. Your long-time nemesis is dead, and you have evolved into a spiritual being. Seeing that your revenge is over, what do you plan to do now?" He smiled, tilting his head as he kept his gaze fixed on her.
"What now..." Sierra's voice trailed off. Her mind clicked in realisation.
She had indeed not thought about what to do from here. Now that Athyma was gone for good, she had nothing else to do.
She turned to Augustus, who looked at her with an unreadable expression. She looked back at Revan, his eyes shining in anticipation. She then scanned her surroundings, finding everyone's eyes on her.
Everyone had one question in their minds....
What now?