Over the next 500 years, legends of Ace and the invincible Golden Sun Pirates might spread through the various upper planes.
Many tried to dismiss a lot of the rumours as hearsay, especially when news of Ace's demotion to the Demi-God realm was spread; after all, in the eyes of the masses, it was impossible for a Demi-God to even scratch a paragon, let alone a paragon like Muyan.
But when it was revealed that the magical chimes that sounded through the universe were because of Ace comprehending/creating a new element, it was pretty hard to ignore. Many correctly guessed that upon comprehending the new element, Ace was blessed by the heavens in a similar manner to that of a Paragon, only far more intensely.
After that, ironically, Ace was once again dubbed "The Sun of Heaven". An epithet almost identical to the one he was given as a youth – the only change being the play on the words "Sun" and Son due to his new element reminding many of a sun.
Over the 500-year period since the formation of the Mandate of "Pure Yang," many began trying to comprehend the new element, but exceedingly few were able to succeed in even getting started.
It had to be understood that although "Pure Yang Essence" had found its way into the atmosphere with thanks to Heaven, it was a slow process. It would be a long while before the amount of Pure Yang Essence in the atmosphere was able to match that of the other Laws and Edicts.
It was so difficult that, aside from Ace, those who had succeeded could be counted on two hands, and all of them were experts in the laws of fire and light. Of those, over half of them were Paragon-level Sovereigns of the two respective laws, and the few who weren't were all heaven-defying geniuses, no less talented than the likes of Killian and Linley.
Not even Wodred, a monstrously talented Sovereign, was able to get started despite his best efforts. Still, none of that had anything to do with Ace and his group. Most of those from their group were training peacefully on the Yulan Plane, including the various Sovereigns who had recently joined the group.
Oddly enough, the only ones no longer training on the Yulan Plane were those of the Golden Sun Pirates, minus Ace and Amira.
Killian and Leona led the others to the Netherworld to collect on the bet between Kannal and the Chief Sovereign of Death to help locate and bring their fallen loved ones back.
Ace volunteered to go with them, not trusting any Sovereign that wasn't a member of their group, but Killian and the others didn't want Ace to waste time he should be spending training. Plus, with Aiden having revealed himself to be an Overgod, there was no way the Chief Sovereign of Death would go back on her word.
Remembering that, Ace and Amira let them go with peace of mind. Although they didn't go with them, they weren't particularly worried for their safety. The group had several paragons now, including the ever-monstrous Killian and Leona, who had both only gotten stronger since exiting the Planar Battlefield. At that point, if one wanted to truly threaten their safety, they had to be a Sovereign, none of whom were likely to do anything to them out of fear of Aiden.
Still, whilst the rest of the crew were out adventuring without them, Ace and Amira were training on the Yulan Plane.
And despite their already ridiculously high levels of comprehension, both of their progress could only be described as otherworldly.
As he said 500 years ago, Ace focused all of his attention on his [Blazing Glaive Art], allowing him to achieve a breakthrough and become a paragon in the Concept of Fire only 100 years into their training.
Still, after achieving that breakthrough, he didn't rush to focus on the Concept of Pure Yang, nor did he return his focus to the Mandate; instead, he focused on creating a Glaive Art for the Concept of Light.
There were two reasons behind his decision. The first was because he wanted to accumulate as many units of Will as possible as a Demi-God before breaking through to the next realm – after becoming a paragon in the Concept of Fire, he already had six and should he become a paragon in the Concept of Light, that would go up to seven, meaning when he broke through to the Full God Realm, that would double becoming 14.
Although it wasn't as much as even the weakest of Sovereigns who would have 20 upon becoming a Sovereign, even without becoming a paragon of their respective Law or Edict, when taking into consideration his Gol Clan's Divine Ability, it would double to 24, surpassing even Paragon-level Sovereigns by three whole units.
The second reason for his decision was because he believed that becoming a Paragon in the Concept of Light would set a better foundation for him to better comprehend both the Concept and the Mandates of Pure Yang, and he couldn't have been any more right.
Although he hadn't directly focused on either, as he progressed with his mastery of his [Radiant Glaive Art], he found himself subconsciously gaining insights into both at the same time.
As for Amira, her progress was no less impressive than her husband's. Helping Ace with his comprehension of the Concept of Light allowed her to take a look at the [Bright Stance] of her [Bright Sky Sword Art] in a whole new light, which in turn allowed her to become a paragon of the Concept of Light. As for her [Sky Stance], although it was yet to reach the same level, it wasn't far off.
Still, although she hadn't become a paragon in either the Laws of Wind or Light, it was actually her comprehension of the Laws that saw the most improvement.
It had to be remembered, with the breakthrough of her Gol Clan Bloodline allowing her to use her Willpower before becoming a Paragon, she was now able to use her Will to power her Visual Manifestation, allowing her to create three drops of Fused Sovereign Power.
Although the increase of power was nothing short of Heaven Defying, the best part about her new ability was that by focusing her [Observation Haki] on that drop of Sovereign Power, it allowed her to get a better insight into the fusion of the Laws of Wind and Light.
Because of that revelation, she chose to ignore the idea of focusing on either Law individually, instead focusing on the Inter-Law fusion; as a result, although she was yet to become a paragon of either law, she had actually managed to start the fusion process of all 12 mysteries and had progressed almost a third of the way to its completion.
Ace was in the middle of what could only be described as a one-sided beat down by his master, who was taking no small amount of pleasure from aggressively pointing out the flaws in Ace's [Radiant Glaive Art].
On the side, Amira sat with her master, Arianna, peacefully meditating over their respective Laws, all but ignoring the brutality that was taking place in front of them.
All of a sudden, the heads of all four of them snapped towards a certain direction.
A helpless smile appeared on Arianna's face when she noticed the descent of the natural laws coming from the location Orloff (in Augusta's former body) had closed himself up in.
In the last 500 years, training with her Overgod-level husband alongside their respective disciples, Arianna's progress was far from slow. She had become a paragon of the Concept of Light around 100 years ago and was only one step away from becoming a paragon of the Laws of Light and, by extension, becoming the new Overgod of Light. Unfortunately, judging by the intensity of the natural laws descending, it was obvious that Augusta had broken through to become a paragon of both paths simultaneously.
Seeing her master's disappointed expression, Amira said not to take it too badly. Even if she couldn't become an Overgod, she would at least become the new Chief Sovereign of Light – referring to Augusta's former, now ownerless, Sovereign Spark.
Amira smiled and said her spirits weren't so easy to break. Whilst it was true that she was disappointed she wouldn't be able to reach the same level as her husband, it didn't matter too much.
The group of four then proceeded to head to Augusta's location. When they arrived, they found a giant, golden Divine Spark flawlessly radiating the laws of Light with unprecedented intensity.
Just looking at it, both Amira and Arianna were hit by sudden inspiration, and just like that, both master and disciple both achieved breakthroughs.
Even though he was clearly the first to make the breakthrough and, by extension, the clear winner of the competition, Orloff hurried to drip his blood on the Overgod Spark in case Aiden decided to take action to allow his wife to become the new Overgod by force.
Ace could guess what was going through Orloff's head, but ultimately, it just made him chuckle.
Ace knew his master would never resort to doing something so low. Still, seeing the revered and all-powerful Orloff acting like a scared child was nothing if not funny.
But the chuckle quickly turned into a pensive frown. He knew that Augusta was very much on their side, but Orloff was different.
Orloff was well-known for his amiable demeanour, his lack of greed, and his mostly peaceful nature, but he didn't know if that would translate into him staying on the fence, unwilling to pick a side, or worse, taking the side of the Overgods who apparently saw him as a parasite.
Due to the precarious nature of his current standing, Ace needed all the help he could get from Sovereign and Overgod-level existences – that included Orloff.
But if Orloff, after becoming an Overgod and no longer fearing his master being as they were on the same level, decided to side with the other Overgods and try to kill him, his position would quickly go from bad to worse.
Ace had every faith in himself – he genuinely believed that he would one day surpass all the Sovereigns and Overgods, but he also knew that day wouldn't come for a very long time. Until then, he still had to tread carefully.
Able to guess what was going through his mind, Aiden turned to his disciple and told him not to worry. Until Ace had finished maturing, he could count on his master to hold the sky up for him.
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