...
{3rd Pov}
Astreo had returned to Lisa's side and immediately resumed his cultivation.
During the period when he was been trailing Qin Yu'er, he had no idea when the situation might suddenly spiral out of control, so instead of cultivating diligently he simply treated the journey as a form of vacation, eating, exploring, and letting events unfold on their own.
Now that Qin Yu'er was cultivated safely within his system's dimensional space, he was free from external distractions and could finally devote himself to his own advancement once more.
Astreo knew very well that if Qin Yu'er managed to break through to the Super Tier, he would still retain superiority over her in a direct confrontation, yet this alone was insufficient for him.
As the leader and future master of a growing force, he demanded that he remain stronger than all of his subordinates at all times, in every scenario, without exceptions.
Already he was slightly behind this personal ideal.
Xyra alone was a Low Emperor, an entire realm above the average Forbidden Tier mage and leagues beyond the Super Tier.
Although this had not created any visible problems within his current hierarchy and everything turned out just more than fine in the end, it had forced him to consider the implications of future growth more seriously.
He did not want his subordinates to surpass him to the extent that it raised uncomfortable "what if" scenarios—what if one day loyalty faltered, what if ambition stirred, or what if factions within his force began to form based on sheer disparity of power.
Such possibilities repulsed him.
He would allow neither internal disorder nor external vulnerability to take root.
'I also need to awaken new elements,' Astreo thought calmly, reviewing his current arsenal of magic and comparing it against the long-term requirements of his plans.
With both his goals and necessary steps aligned, he began to decide precisely which elements would be awakened next and in what order, ensuring that each choice strengthened a strategic purpose rather than merely expanding his magic for the sake of expansion.
He finally settled on the Blessing Element and the Healing Element, having weighed the benefits and limitations of each choice.
His goal was not merely to become powerful in a single field, but to become a perfectly rounded combatant—one who could enhance, protect, and sustain himself without needing external support.
Although Blessing and Healing Elements were categorized primarily as support-type magic, there existed no rule in the known magical systems that forbade their use on oneself.
With Blessing Magic, he would be able to enhance his own battle ability directly, increasing speed, strength, perception, and even casting efficiency if the spell framework developed correctly.
And with Healing Magic, he could rapidly repair injuries, cure internal damage, and maintain his combat endurance during prolonged high-intensity battles; especially in the future, once his attainment reached a stage where spells could be cast in a single thought, he would essentially possess a continuous self-repair mechanism that most mages would envy.
Moreover, this route aligned with his personal philosophy.
He had no intention of adopting the Demon Element the way Mo Fan did, since Demon Magic was directly tied to the Dark Plane and demanded a self-destructive approach to strength, trading sanity and stability for raw, overwhelming force.
While undeniably powerful, it did not suit Astreo's temperament nor his long-term plans.
With the Blessing Element, he could replicate the utility of Demon Magic in a healthier and more reliable way—gaining temporary buffs without sacrificing his life force or risking catastrophic side effects.
And with Healing Magic functioning alongside it, the combined result would be a sustained, enhanced battle state that allowed him to maintain dominance in both short-term clashes and war-scale engagements.
For someone who sought to become a ruler, not merely a lone powerhouse, this choice was the logical path forward.
So Astreo selected an Awakening Stone engineered specifically to awaken both the Blessing Element and the Healing Element.
Under normal circumstances, this would have been nearly impossible—after all, only the Parthenon Temple possessed the proper ritual methods to awaken the Blessing Element.
Without those methods, the awakening rate for the Blessing Element at Novice Tier was even lower than that of the notoriously rare Space Element.
However, Astreo had an overwhelming advantage: his system had already scanned and copied the Parthenon's complete Blessing awakening method.
Creating an Awakening Stone that combined both Blessing and Healing Elements was merely a matter of allowing the system to fuse the two processes together.
Since he had ordered the fusion right after achieving Super Tier, the stone was already fully refined and waiting for him.
When he summoned it, the Awakening Stone floated into existence before him.
It radiated a lime-colored brilliance interlaced with subtle white motes that swirled continuously in the air.
It farmed aura continuously—practically screaming of its high quality and rarity.
One glance was enough to understand the truth: this was an Awakening Stone promising a Support Class of the highest possible tier.
Astreo pressed his hand against the surface of the Awakening Stone, guiding the refined elemental energy directly into his Spiritual Sea.
A surge of power erupted inside him, and moments later two new clumps of stardust formed within that vast internal space—one nearly transparent, its presence betrayed only by a faint white luminescence, and the other shimmering with a lively lime coloration.
Both clouds contained the embryonic structures of seven tiny stars, scattering about like excitable sparks.
Without wasting a moment, Astreo directed his attention toward the lime-colored cluster—Healing.
The seven infant stars began trembling wildly as he focused his spiritual will upon them, as though resisting his attempt to tame them, as if he was forcing himself on them.
The struggle was short-lived.
Astreo's spiritual will penetrate straight through their resistance, forcing the seven stars into proper alignment and unlocking instant access to Novice Tier Healing Magic.
Next, he turned toward the nearly invisible cluster—the Blessing Element.
Those stars, too, quivered in agitation before succumbing in the same fashion and falling neatly into place, joining his harem of stars.
Ahem
With both star clusters successfully aligned, Astreo gained immediate casting capability for the Novice Tier of both elements.
Satisfied, he withdrew his consciousness from the Spiritual Sea and prepared to begin cultivation with the intention of advancing both elements to Intermediate Tier before the day's end.
However, moments before he could begin his routine, the system chimed in sharply and issued a sudden warning.
[Warning! The Astral Plane is attempting to establish a connection with the System's Dimensional Plane!
Authorize access to the Astral Plane?]
Astreo's eyebrows shot up.
'A new Plane is trying to access my System's Dimension?!'
The thought alone made him tighten his guard.
For a moment, a chilling possibility flashed through his mind—'Did some Plane-Dominating existence discover this place?!'
Just the idea of a higher-realm entity breaching his private dimension pressed a cold weight against his spine.
Instantly, he demanded through his link with the system:
'System, what is happening?! Who is trying to access this dimension?!'
The system responded in its flat mechanical tone:
[The System has been granted direct access privileges to the Astral Dimension by the Will of the Astral Dimension.
Would Host like to initiate a full scan?]
He was still baffled by the situation, completely unsure why the system had just announced that some "Will of the Astral Plane" wanted access to his private dimensional space.
After taking a moment to think—slowly connecting the dots in his head—he finally parsed out a rough explanation.
'So it wasn't a Plane-Dominating being trying to invade me… but the Will of the entire Astral Plane itself? Why would the Astral Plane try to connect to my system's dimension in the first place?' he wondered with a frown tightening across his face.
Several possibilities surfaced in his thoughts, most of them concerning, but one in particular made the most sense:
'It's either trying to invade the System… or it's trying to give me a new Elemental connection?'
That second option wasn't as far-fetched as it initially sounded.
After all, in the Main Plane where humans lived, every Element drew its power from its corresponding Plane—Fire Magic from the Fire Plane, Ice from the Ice Plane, Space from the Space Plane, and so on.
The Main Plane was flooded with mana from all these connected planes, but the source remained external.
To form a legitimate link, however, permission had to be given from both sides.
Since the System's Dimensional Plane wasn't a place the Astral Dimension should have been able to touch, the only explanation was that some form of consent was already granted on the Astral side.
And sure enough, the system prompt made that clear: the Astral Plane had already given access to the System's Dimension—explaining why the system was currently offering a scanning option.
After running through the logic one more time, Astreo made his decision.
'Fine. Let's see what this is about.'
He mentally selected the scan function and authorized it to begin.
[Running Scan Process… Completed!]
Astreo's eyes widened in shock.
'That fast?!' He genuinely couldn't believe what he was seeing.
Even though the System was capable of scanning entire planes, the process was not instantaneous.
In fact, when it scanned the Summoning Plane and later the Main Plane, it had taken several full minutes.
The System itself had reported that scanning the Main Plane required nine minutes and forty seconds.
That was already considered incredibly fast.
But now?
The System had completed a full scan of an entirely new Plane in just a few seconds.
That felt outright unreasonable, bordering on impossible. It immediately raised his suspicions to the highest level, making him wonder if something unusual—or outright insane—was occurring behind the scenes.
'System, what exactly did you find in that Plane?' Astreo asked quickly, not bothering to hide the urgency in his tone.
'What kind of resources does it contain? And what type of creatures dwell within it?' His questions piled up rapidly because in his mind, only those two things could justify the Astral Plane taking the initiative to connect to another dimension.
The System replied without delay:
[Master, System has analyzed the Plane and has reached the conclusion that the Astral Plane is a small and relatively weak Plane—most likely a newborn Plane. It possesses no living creatures at the moment. However, it contains an extremely high abundance of Astral resources. Further analysis indicates that the Astral Plane is attempting to form a connection with System's Dimensional Plane due to System's Dimensional Plane emitting the same energy signature as a small Plane.]
That explanation caused Astreo to stiffen, his brows digging further down as the implications sank in.
According to the System, the Astral Plane wasn't trying to invade, fight, evolve, or enslave anything.
It was simply reacting instinctively—like a newborn creature trying to latch onto the nearest thing resembling its parent or habitat.
Even so, Astreo couldn't deny it: the most concerning part of the message wasn't the lack of beings or the abundance of resources… but the final line that the System's Dimensional Plane was registering as a "small Plane" in the eyes of another Plane.
That meant his System's dimension wasn't just a glorified storage space or artificial pocket anymore, although Astreo did think his System's Dimensional Space was more than a mere Pocket world, he didn't knew it qualified to be considered as a plane.
'No wonder only Plane Dominating beings can break system's Dimensional Walls', he thought, and then focused on the current situation.
'I see', Astreo analyzed the System's words carefully and finally understood the intent behind the Astral Plane's actions.
The Astral Plane was not attempting to invade or challenge his dimension.
Instead, it was trying to establish a connection with his dimensional space because it had mistakenly identified it as another newborn Plane similar to itself—one it could latch onto in order to develop and grow together.
After all, what usually happens when a small Plane connects itself to a bigger Plane?
If the larger Plane does not have a Plane-Dominating Being overseeing it, then the small Plane might survive and coexist peacefully.
But if there is a Plane Dominating Being present, then the fate of such small, weak planes was always the same—devoured.
The larger Plane would consume the smaller one completely and incorporate its resources, essence, and foundation into itself.
This was the exact tactic that the Dark Plane had used against the Main Plane for countless years.
They did not immediately invade or destroy it.
Instead, they lent the Dark Magic to the Main Plane, allowing countless mages to cultivate with their element.
But when those mages died, all the resources, mana, and accumulated cultivation were taken away by the Dark Plane.
In simpler words—it was parasitism and gradual resource stealing, a slow weakening of the Main Plane over time while strengthening the Dark Plane in the long run.
Understanding this comparison made Astreo realize that the Astral Plane could be both an enormous opportunity and an enormous danger for him.
If the Astral Plane truly was a newborn Plane with no intelligence or guardian, then Astreo could benefit greatly from its resources, perhaps even nurture it into a subordinate Plane under his control in the far future.
But if the Astral Plane was merely pretending to be weak, or if there was a hidden expert, a Plane Dominating Being, or some unknown Will behind it gaslighting him by playing harmless, then connecting his System's dimensional space to it would be suicidal.
If Astreo now travelled to the Main physically, the Plane or the possible Pretender might recognize that Astreo possessed this Plane and, noticing his true strength was only at Super Tier, might very well decide to eliminate him instantly and seize the System Plane for itself.
In the case of Planes, mercy, negotiation, and equality did not exist. Only power and devouring existed.
After all, the best option for a Plane-Dominating Being to take advantage of him would be when he was still not very strong.
If the Astral Plane truly had some hidden intelligence or a higher existence behind it, it would logically try to approach him now rather than later when he became too difficult to deal with.
Another thing that bothered Astreo was that he did not know whether the Astral Plane had the capability to invade the System's Dimensional Plane directly or indirectly.
Just the possibility alone made his head throb.
If the Astral Plane could forcefully breach his System's dimension, then the consequences would be unimaginable.
Astreo clutched his forehead and felt an actual headache coming from the sheer number of "what ifs."
He did not have enough information to make a concrete judgment, and that lack of information frustrated him more than anything.
After a brief moment of internal conflict, he finally decided to take the safest route available to him.
'System, the moment Astral Plane tries to do anything harmful to me, make sure to protect me,' he ordered inwardly.
Astreo knew this was probably the only move he could make at the moment.
If there truly was harm coming his way, then he would rather face it directly now instead of living with an unknown variable that could stab him in the back when he least expected it.
Being harmed immediately was better than surviving with paranoia forever and then played like a puppet to his death.
Sometimes the hardest choices required the strongest of wills!
[Understood.
Astral Plane is attempting to access the Dimensional Plane. Grant access?]
"Yes," Astreo muttered aloud without hesitation.
The instant the permission was granted, space in front of him distorted violently.
A swirling vortex formed in midair, expanding outward like a tear in reality itself.
Through that distortion, a storm of purple glittering dust surged out like a tidal wave.
The dust moved unnaturally fast, almost as if it had consciousness of its own.
It shot directly toward Astreo at a speed far faster than his reflexes could keep up with.
He widened his eyes, taken completely off guard.
Even before he could order the System to intervene—before he could even inhale sharply in shock—the glittering purple dust impacted him head-on and enveloped his entire body in less than a heartbeat.
The time taken for the purple glittering dust to move toward him from the moment of its appearance was so short that it could be counted as less than a thousandth of a second.
It moved so absurdly fast that Astreo had absolutely no time to react.
One instant he was standing in his room, and in the next instant he found himself pulled into his own Spiritual Sea as if his consciousness was forcefully relocated.
The familiar ocean-like void of his Spiritual Sea rippled violently, and then something new appeared.
A swirling cloud of pinkish-purple dust materialized in the center of the vast space.
The dust spread outward in a circular motion, almost like it was dispersing and integrating itself into the fabric of his Spiritual Sea.
It was unmistakable—this was the birth of a new Element.
[System has scanned a new Element!
Unique characteristics detected!
Assigning a name to the new Element based on Master's name and Dimension's name.
Astral Element has been connected with System's Dimension!
Astral Dimension has chosen Master as its spokesperson—blocked.
Blocked! Blocked!
Permission required from Master to grant Astral Dimension access!]
Astreo listened to the mechanical voice of the System as the pinkish-purple dust finished swirling and condensed into a cluster, surprise, surprise without any stars.
However, the main thing that shocked him was not the Element awakening itself, but the implications hidden behind the System's announcements.
He replayed the words in his mind several times until it sank in: the Astral Dimension's target had never been his System's Dimensional Plane—it had been him from the beginning.
'So that's it… Astral Dimension was trying to form a link with me directly,' Astreo thought, tension building in his chest.
But then another question surfaced immediately—how did the Astral Plane even locate him?
The System's Dimension was completely isolated from all other planes in theory.
Even Forbidden Tier monsters or Plane-Dominating entities shouldn't be able to detect him normally.
And more importantly, why did the Astral Dimension choose him of all people?
What benefit did it gain by selecting him as its so-called spokesperson?
The situation had turned into something far more complex than just an Element awakening, and the more Astreo thought about it, the more questions were piling up.
Astreo suddenly remembered the meaning behind his own name.
His name literally meant "Star" in Greek, and he had always joked internally that someone naming a protagonist-tier child like that obviously hinted at some cliché overpowered background.
He had even entertained dumb jokes such as maybe his long-lost father was from a Voldigoad-like family and would one day return from some absurd "milk quest" to claim him.
However, at this exact moment those jokes didn't feel so comedic anymore.
For the first time in his life the possibility that he actually had some kind of hidden background, destiny, or weird cosmic link felt disturbingly realistic.
The Astral Plane personally connecting to him was not something a normal person from a normal family should ever experience.
Dozens of questions shot through his mind one after another.
Did he really have some background? Was his father someone ridiculous? Or was it merely coincidence tied to his name? Or was there some other mechanism at work that he didn't know about?'
The sheer number of unknowns gave him a headache.
Then he suddenly realized something simple and asked the System:
'Hey System, can other Dimensions detect me if they have affinity towards me?'
[Positive. All Dimensions possessing affinity toward Master are capable of detecting Master. The same phenomenon occurred with Edison, resulting in his awakening of the Light Element approximately two thousand years ago. This event triggered the Light Plane to connect with the Main Plane, allowing the Light Element to be awakened by others. For that reason Edison is historically regarded as the founder of the Light Element.]
The System gave its answer calmly, as if this phenomenon was something completely normal, even though the implications were anything but normal.
Astreo began wondering whether things were really as simple as him merely having an affinity toward the Astral Plane, or if the Astral Plane had chosen him specifically because of his name.
After all, his name literally meant "Star," and now a Plane with the same basic theme had decided to reach out to him. That didn't feel remotely normal.
'Coincidence? I think not!' Astreo thought, narrowing his eyes while trying to connect the dots.
The entire situation screamed of narrative-level convenience rather than real-world logic.
Of course, on another hand it could just be a stupid coincidence that only made sense in the context of some badly written plot device.
'Damn, I miss my Omniscient Viewer's Point,' Astreo sighed internally, acting as if his entire existence was nothing more than a badly typed novel chapter written by an overworked author who didn't understand pacing, foreshadowing, or character development.
In the end he approved the Astral Plane's request and officially gave it access, which effectively made him its "Chosen One."
The type of Chosen One that in any other fantasy world would immediately end up as a harem protagonist, surrounded by dozens of women competing for his precious unborn seeds while he walked around with plot armor thicker than a heroine's thighs.
It made him feel both amused and irritated, because the universe apparently had no shame when it came to comedic timing.
With this development Astreo had now awakened three elements in total.
Not long ago he had genuinely believed that awakening more than two elements for himself would be outright impossible, so seeing the third one manifest made him extremely confused and curious.
Naturally, he immediately questioned the system about it.
[Insufficient data… However, Master's soul structure appears to have been forcibly expanded by the energy from the Astral Element, temporarily allowing the capacity to awaken three elements within the Super Tier.]
'So it's like that, huh?' Astreo thought, then instantly asked the next question with clear curiosity, 'Then can I awaken any more elements beyond this? If my soul has already expanded once then maybe I can pull off four or five elements, right?'
However, the system's answer crushed his expectations with the force of a boot stomping on a cheap paper cup.
[Impossible. The strain placed upon Master's soul has already exceeded the acceptable threshold for normal cultivation. Without the Astral Element's unique awakening conditions supplementing Master's Spiritual Sea, awakening a fourth element is unsustainable and would cause collapse.]
Astreo felt water being dumped directly over his dreams at subzero temperature. He practically wanted to flop on the floor and cry.
'Why is it,' Astreo grumbled internally, 'that whenever something big happens to those cliché protagonists in novels, they immediately get some random upgrade, some mysterious inheritance, or some awakening of bullshit god powers—while I'm over here getting hit with logical explanations and system balance patches!'
It should have been him—not those brain-dead, plot-armored protagonists with the IQ of a stunned fish—receiving free gifts from the universe!
After spending a respectable amount of time mourning in silence for his shattered fantasy of multi-element awakening (which lasted roughly seven seconds), he finally decided to focus on the important matter: how exactly to utilize his so-called Star Element, which despite being given the signature name "Astral" apparently had no stars whatsoever.
Only swirling purple dust and weird cosmic vibes.
To be continued...
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