The second reward was a surprise. Kayden had to remain silent for several days to think it through, and even then, it wasn’t enough. Only after years of meditation did Kayden finally arrive at the best option for himself.
"The creation of life is a realm I have never stepped into. What can you tell me about it?" Since speaking with Luiza, Kayden had come to understand that there was much more to this than he had originally perceived.
"The soul is life. Souls cannot be created; they have existed in this universe and others since the beginning of time. A soul must be in perfect harmony with its flesh; it must be a degree of perfection that only one who understands the laws of creation and the laws of souls can achieve. The gift of creating life has been lost for several universes now. The ability to create life is incredibly powerful. One could easily create an army of ten-ray mages without any difficulty. But the most insane thing is the ability to annihilate existing life. That is beyond the ordinary. The ability to simply snap your fingers and wipe out an entire universe. You are a mage who already possesses the laws of the soul within your own soul, but the laws of creation are something you have never touched before. The heavens do not recommend that you pursue this path, for what you are currently treading is unique," the voice continued.
Kayden nodded and began to contemplate the information he had received. He could have asked for other things, secrets the universe kept hidden, or how to transcend beyond a god, but all of that was just empty and worthless to him. The only thing that truly mattered was his own development, and the path of life seemed to be something of extreme benefit to him.
The heavens offered their own opinion, one that Kayden didn’t exactly understand in terms of origin or reasoning. But after some thought, he understood their arguments. It was simply a path very different from anything he had ever taken up until now. It didn’t make much sense for him to change his course, especially since it became clear that someone had already walked this path before.
"I don’t want to ask for the law of balance. Could you give me the individual laws that make it up?" Kayden didn’t want to receive this knowledge directly in his hands; it would go against everything he believed.
"Yes," came the answer, and with it, Kayden woke up beside Netero, in the same spot where they had been before all of this began. It was easy to tell that not even a second had passed in reality. The heavens truly were the masters of time and all its circumstances.
Kayden felt a chain around his neck and immediately understood that this was his prize for winning the competition. There was no weight or anything of the sort in it, and Netero couldn’t even sense its presence. However, Kayden knew exactly what its purpose was.
"You tricked me well. Since when were you able to do that?" Netero wasn’t angry; he had simply made a mistake and was now paying for it. Moreover, this mistake had granted him new information.
"I created that boy. I’ve been nurturing him to be a true opponent for a long time," Kayden didn’t go into further detail about his story. "I will be leaving now. I hope you understand." Without waiting for Netero’s response, Kayden disappeared with a few teleportations. It took him mere minutes to be in a terribly distant point in the void.
Kayden found a planet and began to study the talisman he had received. It took less than a second for him to understand why so many high-level mages were suddenly emerging. The laws he wanted to grasp were coming to him at an insane speed. Within seconds, he had grasped the foundation of a law—something that would have taken decades with his current talent—he had done in mere seconds. Kayden had expected his training to last several billion years, but it seemed it would only take a few million.
Kayden took ten million years to grasp the foundation of all the laws. It was completely insane—thousands of times faster than learning them one by one. Moreover, he didn’t even have to move from where he was. No mage came to disturb him during this period.
The reason was simple: the universe was in absolute chaos. Dozens of mages wielding laws were emerging without any supervision. Zone 21 refused to accept any law or order. The previous group attempting to dominate it was completely obliterated by other demigods. This was a space dedicated only to the unknown; organizations had no right to step here.
This situation allowed new mages carrying laws to grow without supervision, and indeed, it happened. The emerging new mages were starting to stand out, consuming entire zones with their powers. Some of these zones were now entirely under the control of these mages. The majority of the lower-ranked demigods were killed without mercy. Weakness had never been, and would never be, tolerated in this universe.
Atlas continued with his zone, unshaken. He faced some mages during this period, but none of them were even able to make him fight seriously. The same arrogance that led a mage to challenge him was the same arrogance that led a man to his death.
Alliances began to form between the new mages and the demigods. The latter were primarily interested in winning the ten zones and being crowned emperors. The final prize was much more important to them than it was to the ordinary mages. For these mages, becoming gods was merely a matter of time.
The truth was that these mages would never become real gods, at least that was what Kayden believed. All their laws were acquired in an incredibly easy and senseless manner. They hadn’t fought for their strength. How could they elevate themselves to the divine level? At most, they would become gods without the strength of one—practically sacrificed gods.