Once Kain slept for…according to his phone nearly 20 straight hours, he immediately sent his consciousness back into his star space, wanting to investigate the changes.
The familiar sensation of weightlessness enveloped him as his awareness slipped into the star space.
Immediately, Kain was struck by the huge changes before him, which he hadn't been able to fully process immediately after his breakthrough due to how exhausted he was.
The planet at the center of the star space was colossal now, far larger than it had been before. Its surface radiated a natural brilliance of jewel tones greens, blues, and yellows that seemed almost unreal. It was as though every corner of the planet pulsed with life.
Surrounding the planet, the four stars orbited it in sync. Their light spilled across the surface, casting an aurora-like glow that danced along the clouds, seas, and vast landscapes. It was beautiful.
Kain focused on the planet itself, descending his consciousness toward the surface. What he saw made him pause in awe.
It was no longer a barren sparsely populated place—it was a paradise untouched by the scars of human civilization.
Enchanted forests stretched endlessly, their sky-high canopies shimmering under the lights of the stars above. Rivers, so clear they seemed like liquid crystal, snaked gently through emerald-toned valleys.
But what truly caught Kain's attention was the sheer abundance of life. For the first time, he could sense the presence of spiritual creatures aside from Aurem.
Most of them were aquatic, concentrated in the vast oceans that made up the majority of the planet's surface.
The most plentiful spiritual creatures in the ocean were jellyfish, their translucent bodies glowing faintly with the hues of the spiritual power that suffused them.
Kain couldn't help but think back to the jellyfish he had fed the Bloom of Ascension. Likely these were its descendants.
These jellyfish descendants displayed incredible diversity. Some were massive, their bell-shaped bodies spanning several meters, while others had developed long, trailing tendrils that glimmered and shone like cords strung with Christmas lights.
Although varied, all of them were still at Black-iron quality and had not managed to surpass white-grade spiritual power.
In fact, Kain could sense that, despite being latecomers, there were some spiritual creatures and plants in the water that surpassed the jellyfish in quality and level.
There were other aquatic spiritual creatures, too—sleek fish with scales that shimmered like rainbows, serpentine eels coiling gracefully among coral formations, and even enormous, turtle-like creatures with shells that gleamed like polished onyx.
Kain's gaze shifted to the land, where a smaller number of spiritual creatures lived—by far, the majority of land creatures were still ordinary.
He observed agile, fox-like animals with golden fur that shimmered faintly and antelope-like creatures with spiralled horns that pulsed with faint energy.
Birds with luminescent feathers soared in the skies, their calls resonating with a soft, almost musical tone.
What truly shocked Kain, however, was the number of spiritual plants on land. Scattered across the surface, but most dense around the tree of life, they grew in extraordinary abundance, outnumbering the spiritual creatures on land and in the sea several times over.
From glowing ferns to trees with fruits that radiated gentle light, the spiritual plants were all unique species that Kain had never seen before.
As he observed the plants. He realized that he could instinctively sense their effects due to his control over all creatures on this planet.
Most were designed to increase spiritual power, but some had unique properties—plants that exuded calming auras, fruits that sped up healing, and flowers that seemed to give a chance at obtaining a specific elemental attribute if eaten.
None of these plants or creatures exceeded red-grade spiritual power, but their sheer presence was a remarkable shift from the planet's previous desolate state.
Kain was marvelling at the transformation to the planet when something drew his attention—a connection far greater than the others and only slightly inferior to his connections with Aurem and the Tree of Life.
It came from a region close to where he had sensed Aurem, but he could confirm that it was not him.
Kain willed himself toward the source of the pull. He instantly appeared surrounded by a dense forest near the base of a small mountain, not far from the Tree of Life.
The pull became stronger as he approached, and when he broke through the last line of trees, the sight before him stopped him in his tracks.
There was Aurem, still bearing its signature radiant, golden form. The dragon now exuded a more overwhelming presence than before, and this time it wasn't alone.
Standing nearby was a magnificent azure dragon, its scales shimmering like sapphire gemstones under sunlight.
The dragon's lithe, serpentine body moved with an almost regal grace as it carefully gathered various items—berries, roots, spiritual plants, and even the remains of recently hunted creatures—and presented them almost reverently to Aurem who was lounging under the shade of the tree of life lazily.
"Finally this lazy dragon took the initiative to form life," Kain thought, as he compared the new blue dragon, the Azure dragon in the eastern myth. But it got harder to compare this servile blue dragon to the mighty Azure dragon in the myths the longer Kain watched.
A dry smirk tugged at his lips, "Figures that you would only take the initiative to create life in order to just be more lazy…"
Aurem's creation clearly wasn't motivated by a desire to populate the world. No, this dragon wasn't a companion—it was a servant that Aurem had created to serve its needs.
Kain's attention shifted back to Aurem who had noticed Kain's presence. Its golden aura pulsed faintly and its long tail wagged leisurely back and forth as it raised its chin as if to proudly say: Look at what I've done.
Not wanting to discourage more creation, Kain only pat him on its massive head with a wry smirk while taking out some of the highest quality fruits he'd collected along the way.