Author Note:
This is a side story. The first arc of the second main storyline will begin once this concludes.
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"This needs to be reported to His Majesty!" In the Frokuin World, a mighty Dragon woke from his slumber and mumbled in a tender yet respectful voice.
As someone who achieved Sainthood through his Soul, Grandmaster Ruu was one of the top combatants of the Verse, in addition to being an Alchemy Grandmaster.
No one in the Verse was worthy of receiving such respect from him, aside from the Heavenly Lord.
Thousands of years ago, a Heavenly Lord came to watch over their Verse at the request of the Creator.
It was meant to be a peaceful era, but out of nowhere, the Lord of Chaos went mad and insisted on attacking the Verse.
This made the Heavenly Lord furious, but instead of just killing the Lord of Chaos, he devised countless plans to strengthen the Verse.
Establishing Underworld, Hiring a Path Master, Creating Source Ki, Gathering all Saints, Starting the Ascension Program,...
...…
...….
Uniting all Races, Increased Contract with Source Energies, Helping Saints get in touch with various Organizations spread across the whole Universe and so much more.
The things the Heavenly Lord did for the Verse were endless.
"Grandmaster is out!!"
"Saint has woken up."
"Greetings, Lord Saint!!"
"Grandpa is finally awake!"
"Grandmaster, congratulations on becoming a Saint!!!!!!!"
Before long, thousands of people from various races gathered to greet Grandmaster Ruu.
"Which one of you has tried out Heavenly Gifts?"
Looking at the group of his grandchildren, students, disciples, and subordinates, Grandmaster Ruu asked.
He needed to confirm the information he had received from one of his Avatars before reporting it to His Majesty.
"Grandmaster, I recently acquired my second S-rank Gift."
"Grandfather, I passed the Heavenly Trial and obtained my fifth S+ rank Gift."
"Teacher, this student also recently acquired an -S-rank Gift."
Before long, voices began to echo through the garden.
Heavenly Gifts are similar to Secret Arts. However, Secret Arts have many restrictions, such as high talent requirements, needing hundreds of years to master and consuming countless resources.
Gifts on the other hand, especially S rank ones, are like being handed a Secret Art at full mastery.
The best part about Gifts ranked -S, S and S+ is that they don't operate by relying on the bearer's energy. Instead, they draw power directly from the Verse.
"Quiet down! I need someone with this Gift." Grandmaster Ruu's Soul power leaked slightly, and the information about the D-rank Gift [Ki Control] appeared in everyone's minds.
"Eh….?" For a moment, there was complete silence.
No one could figure out why Grandmaster Ruu would need someone with such a useless Gift.
After all, for Transcendents like them, wasting one of their precious slots for anything below S-rank was utter foolishness.
As everyone considered finding a junior to waste one of his precious slots, a space crack appeared above them and the Heavenly Aura descended.
Looking over, everyone saw Grandmaster Ruu's great-grandchild undergoing the Heavenly Trial.
Seeing this, everyone was shocked; even the boy's uncle and aunts looked at him in disbelief.
The boy was from the direct bloodline of Grandmaster Ruu and was the son of his most beloved granddaughter, Pruu.
The boy was destined to be extraordinary.
However, Pruu had fallen in love with a mortal man and gave birth before her bloodline was fully sealed.
This resulted in the fetus draining all of Pruu's bloodline energy along with her Soul power, turning a mighty dragon into a lifeless corpse.
If Grandmaster Ruu hadn't been nearby, Pruu would have died giving birth.
Absorbing all that pure Soul power along with the noble bloodline caused the baby to be born with a Pure Mortal Soul and Body.
So, he was unable to form a connection with Source Energies or strengthen his body with natural treasures. He was destined to live a short life.
However, the sudden creation of the Gift system allowed the boy to borrow the power of the Verse to strengthen himself and live a little longer.
"Good! Fruu, come here." Seeing his great-grandson undergo the Heavenly Trial and gain [Ki Control], Grandmaster Ruu called him over.
Fruu, who looked like an old man, slowly walked toward his great-grandfather with anticipation in his heart.
Ever since he was picked up by his uncle and brought to the Ascension Verse forty years ago, Fruu had heard countless legends about his great-grandfather.
Unfortunately, he never had the chance to meet him before. From what he'd heard, it seemed that his great-grandfather was very upset with him.
"Try getting its essence out," Grandmaster Ruu said as he materialized a Sunlit Blossom using the power of magic and asked Fruu to extract its essence.
"...How?" Fruu kept staring at the Sunlit Blossom in his hand, having no idea what to do. Since he was born with a Pure Mortal Soul, he couldn't use Soul power. So how was he supposed to extract the essence?
"Use Ki Control." Grandmaster Ruu was surprised at the stupidity of his great-grandson. For once, he began to doubt the Heavenly Lord's saying, "Mortals mature faster than Immortals."
"Oh!" Hearing those words, everything clicked in Fruu's mind. No wonder his great-grandfather wanted someone with [Ki Control].
Knowing what to do, Fruu used the [Ki Control] and brought out a golden-colored Ki from his body.
The moment Golden Ki left Fruu's body, it radiated a holy aura, urging mighty Transcendents to kneel down.
Even Grandmaster Ruu, a mighty Saint who reached the pinnacle of Soul Path, felt his Soul tremble.
Something he had only experienced when facing the Heavenly Lord.
Seeing that the situation could get out of hand, Grandmaster Ruu released the restrictions on his Soul and suppressed the Holy Aura.
While containing the Holy Aura, he also erased the memories of all the present Transcendents and planted new ones.
Meanwhile, unaware of everything that was going on, Fruu concentrated on extracting the essence of the Sunlit Blossom.