— — — — — —
Once his emotions finally settled, Ryo began going through the spoils of his latest battle.
He pulled out the white Gift Card he had taken from Mithras' body and began laying out everything stored inside, one item at a time.
There were twenty-three flags in total.
Aside from Arcadia's banner, the rest seemed to belong to the communities that Ouroboros had secretly wiped out. Those flags could easily be sold through Thousand Eyes as intermediaries—some affiliated communities would even pay a high price for them.
Next came the deeds to several outer gates in the four- and five-digit regions, totaling over three hundred thousand square kilometers of land.
A large portion of that land once belonged to Arcadia.
"In a way, I guess this is just returning things to their rightful owners," Ryo murmured with a sigh.
What remained were some odds and ends—items whose meanings were unclear.
Fragments of some unknown armor, Gifts with drawbacks so severe they outweighed their powers, and a few unusable shards of divinity.
Among them, Ryo found keepsakes that had once belonged to elders of his community—like Lily's mother's divine core and the familiar ring left behind by Jin Russell's father.
He quietly sorted these out and set them aside, planning to return them when the time was right.
When everything was finally organized, Ryo frowned down at the Gift Card still in his hand.
"Mithras… didn't die completely, did he?"
There were a lot of things stored inside, but it didn't feel like the entire Ouroboros vault—more like one of its smaller treasuries.
Had the rest been destroyed by Indra's attack? Or had Mithras, possibly still alive, taken them?
Ryo leaned toward the latter. He even suspected some of these items were things Mithras hadn't wanted anyone to see.
Otherwise, why would a god-king ranked in the three-digits—someone who had descended to the lower layers—be stuck as a glorified warehouse guard? That role was far beneath him.
Which meant that vault must've held something far more important—something Mithras couldn't leave behind, even if it meant exposing that he was still alive.
What could it be…?
Lacking any clues, Ryo eventually pushed the thought aside.
His attention turned to his spirit core—to the final and most precious piece of loot.
The Sun Authority of Leo.
It looked deceptively simple: a miniature sun, radiating steady, golden light.
If one ignored the blazing surface and peered deeper, they'd see a great lion's silhouette sleeping within the heart of the star.
"Huh. Surprisingly ordinary," Ryo said with a note of wonder.
Hard to believe that something so unassuming was one of the highest-ranked authorities in all of Little Garden.
He held it in his palm—it was small enough to fit easily in one hand—and began sensing the power within.
"First ability… I can control whether the Leo constellation rises or sets? Wait, what? I can literally move constellations?"
Ryo blinked in disbelief.
In Little Garden, constellations truly existed.
Beyond the main continent—the heart of the layer where the Little Garden City stood—lay the "starry sky" region.
All the constellations revolved around the continent as their center, following a circular orbit.
That was because Little Garden was built upon the geocentric model—the belief that the universe revolved around the "Earth."
Here, the Little Garden's central continent was that "Earth."
And that very design flaw, that outdated worldview, was what had once become the Little Garden's greatest cosmic weakness—one that allowed Shiroyasha to rise to a two-digit being as humanity's Last Embryo.
After all, in the real universes, Earth wasn't the center. The Little Garden's structure contradicted reality itself, making it the greatest imperfection in a "god-created" world.
"So… all fifty-two stars in Leo's system are under my command? Even if I can only decide whether they hang in the sky or not, that's still absurdly powerful."
He let out a low whistle. "We're talking about controlling fifty-two star systems. That's insane."
After the initial awe faded, Ryo kept exploring the authority's functions.
The second ability allowed him to summon divine or stellar spirits connected to Leo—and to command them to a certain extent.
Foremost among them was the mighty hero Heracles.
Considering that Heracles was about to break into the four-digit ranks, that alone made the authority a terrifying trump card in the lower realms.
And Heracles wasn't the only one.
Narasimha, the man-lion incarnation, and the sun god Apollo were both within its summoning range.
Granted, he would probably only summon their avatars, but those avatars were still beings of immense strength—easily top-tier five-digits.
"So basically… a super summons machine for heavy hitters," Ryo muttered wryly, before turning to the third ability.
The third power granted the holder a Gift of invulnerability—immunity to blades and weapons.
The degree of protection depended on how well the holder's essence resonated with Leo.
For example, Izayoi's Leo Gift granted him immunity not only to weapons but also to slashing attacks altogether.
No divine or celestial weapon could harm him—he was completely immune, even to long-range cutting effects.
Highness' version, on the other hand, was far stronger: "Deflects all weapons in the world." Every attack, every weapon turned useless before him.
The difference between the two was staggering.
Highness' synchronization with Leo was much higher, thanks to his Another Cosmology, which let him wield the constellation's power more effectively.
"So… the Leo authority's strength scales with the user's Another Cosmology," Ryo realized.
That made him think of his own power—the Cosmos.
Shiroyasha had once called it an unprecedented Another Cosmology. So what kind of potential could his Leo bring out?
Silver light began to shimmer around him as he ignited his cosmos.
His Cosmos burned pure silver now—the mark of a sixth sense honed to its peak.
As the energy stabilized, Ryo's perception expanded outward. He saw it—the great lion of Leo, its fifty-two stars burning brightly in the celestial void.
In that instant, his eyes widened as understanding flooded in.
With his Cosmos as an amplifier, Leo's power revealed itself fully.
The first ability: reflection of all weapons and even their inherent powers.
The second: the full support of the constellation itself.
All fifty-two stars that formed Leo became his engines, feeding his cosmos—fueling his strength, his battles, and even his very flames.
Realizing that, Ryo could only stare in astonishment.
.
.
.