The elder overseeing the ceremony snapped his gaze toward me.
So did my father, Leon, and my mother, Elina.
So did the heads of the major clans. Even some elite members of the royal family had their eyes locked on me.
"It's starting," the elder muttered.
"He's awakening… his Martial Spirit," my parents whispered in near-unison, their expressions caught between awe and disbelief.
Normally, when someone awakens, mana surges outward, forming the shape of the spirit as it reveals itself. But this... this was different.
The mana wasn't pouring out. It was being dragged in.
As if the world itself was feeding me.
Everyone present was stunned. No one had seen anything like it—not the elder, not the clan heads, not even the royal observers.
The phenomenon only intensified.
Slowly, my body began to rise—levitating off the ground. Countless multicolored motes of mana gathered around me, swirling into a vortex. The air shimmered. Light bled into brilliance.
It looked like the heavens were responding.
A storm of pure mana formed above me, roaring and swirling like it was tearing through the sky itself. The pull wasn't just on ambient mana anymore—it was yanking mana directly from the people standing nearby.
Even they felt it—their own reserves being drained against their will.
Gasps spread.
The elder squinted, trying to peer deeper into my soul, to see what kind of spirit I was awakening—but something blocked him. A veil. A force too dense to pierce.
His surprise turned to disbelief.
My body, meanwhile, kept absorbing. Mana compressed tighter and tighter inside me, fusing with my bones, my blood, my very being. I could feel it—changing me.
A fundamental transformation.
Then something snapped.
The vortex surged again, bigger, stronger. The ground cracked beneath the altar. Trees bent. The skies trembled. And my cultivation base—nonexistent just seconds ago—began climbing.
Novice Rank 1.
Novice Rank 2.
Rank 3. Rank 4.
The numbers climbed in rapid succession.
Rank 7… 8… 9…
Peak of Novice Rank 9.
Then it stopped.
But the awakening wasn't over.
This was the final stage: the manifestation.
The true form of my Martial Spirit.
The mana pressure rippled outward like a tidal wave. The surrounding energy was compressed again, drawn in violently, until the air in front of me began to shimmer. Slowly, a figure began to take shape—first ethereal, then solid.
And then it arrived.
A mech.
Pure white and glowing with icy-blue energy. Sleek, almost serpentine in build. It had a vaguely humanoid structure—but its head resembled a dragon, fierce and regal. At nearly 30 meters tall, it towered above everyone.
A long, dual-bladed sword hung at its waist. One hand already held it, as if ready for war.
The sheer pressure it released made the entire crowd flinch.
This wasn't just any Martial Spirit. It was master-level. Two full ranks above my current level. A terrifying difference.
Everyone watching felt it. The fear. The awe. The unspoken question:
What kind of monster had just awakened in front of them?
And from there, I began my journey to reach the peak.
From Novice Rank to Apprentice, Warrior, Master, and Grandmaster — I achieved them all in just a few years. Less than a decade. All because of my talents, the enhanced physical body granted by my true Martial Spirit of Creation, and the absurd cultivation speed powered by my manifested Mecha Spirit — Aurora, a Transcendent Grade Martial Spirit.
To others, Aurora may have seemed like a Divine Grade spirit, a level above the Saint Grade. But only I knew the truth: Transcendent Grade was beyond classification — beyond even the control of the universal laws. Aurora wasn't just a spirit. It was a fragment of creation itself.
After reaching the peak of the Endite World, I ascended to the Spirit Realm — a more stable and powerful plane of existence. There, I continued my cultivation journey with one goal in mind: reach the true peak — and surpass it.
Spirit Realm Progression:
Spirit Lord
Spirit King (achieved within a decade)
Spirit Emperor (within another decade)
Spirit Sovereign (in four to five decades)
Spirit Enlistment (within a century)
At the peak of Spirit Enlistment, I prepared for another breakthrough. Soon, I transcended into the Divine Realm. I stayed there for around 10,000 years, advancing through:
Divine Realm Stages:
Divine Warrior
Divine Master
Divine Grandmaster
Divine Lord
Divine King
Divine Emperor
Divine Sovereign
Divine Ancestor
A few centuries later, I transcended again — into the Immortal Realm, where I remained for 20,000 to 30,000 years, cultivating through:
Immortal Stages:
Immortal Ascension
Bronze Immortal
Silver Immortal
Golden Immortal
True Immortal
Eventually, I achieved Supreme Sovereign Realm, which marked the final refinement of my foundation. Within a mere thousand years, I advanced through:
God Ascension (1st–9th level)
Supreme God of the Heavens
But even that wasn't the end.
At the peak of the Supreme God Realm, I realized something profound: what we called "the heavens" was only one of many such realms. There were countless others across infinite dimensions — endless possibilities and realities. So, I left.
I wandered the infinite chaos, visiting universe after universe. And in one of them, my Martial Spirit of Creation finally awakened its true form. It smiled — a chimed resonance that echoed in my soul — and told me: "My true power is still limited by your current realm. Keep ascending."
That was when I truly understood: Supreme God Realm wasn't the end.
I began to study the laws of every universe I visited. Each world's rules were fundamentally the same — yet different in nuance. I cultivated, adapted, and refined my understanding across these laws until they no longer felt foreign. They became mine.
Eventually, I transcended everything.
The rules of reality obeyed me. Creation and destruction, time and space, all bent to my will. Infinite realms, dimensions, timelines — I could create them as easily as drawing breath.
And only then did I understand the essence of true creation.
People believe that before anything existed, there was only darkness — that both creation and destruction come hand in hand. But that's wrong.
What would there be to destroy — or to create if there was truly nothing?
True nothingness implies the absence of everything — no matter, no energy, no space, no time, no laws of physics.
If there were truly nothing, then not even the potential for something to exist or emerge would be present. This directly contradicts the theory that creation and destruction are merely two sides of the same coin.
for there is turly noting at the start
No time → no change.
No space → no context.
No laws → no causality.
No potential → no possibility of transformation.
In this case, even the concept of "two sides of a coin" fails, because there's no coin.
Therefore, at the very beginning, there must have been something — meaning that creation is the true starting point, while destruction can only follow after something has come into existence.
Creation doesn't follow destruction. It precedes everything. That's the truth I uncovered through my spirit. And that's what took me beyond gods, beyond immortals — beyond even the concept of power.
And I'm not saying this out of ignorance — far from it. At my level of comprehension, I have not only perceived the state where even 'nothingness' did not exist, but I have transcended to that realm myself. I stood in pure emptiness — the absolute absence of all things, beyond existence and non-existence.
And there, I witnessed the first spark of creation. From true nothingness, something emerged: space, time, law, and the very possibility of potential and transformation. From that seed, chaos was born. And from chaos, infinite dimensions unfolded. Within that boundless expanse, destruction took place for the first time — and yet, creation continued, cycling endlessly, birthing universes, new laws, new times, and ever more realms of being.
Though I had reached the true peak — transcending the limits of power itself — it took me less than 100,000 years to become an omnipotent being.
Though I had reached the true peak — transcending the limits of power itself — it took me less than 100,000 years to become an omnipotent being.
With nothing left to challenge me, I lived a leisurely life with my family — the ones I had kept alive across the eons. They were happy. We shared countless memories, timeless moments, and an endless peace.
But time, even when irrelevant, changes everything.
Eventually, I began to feel detached — from the world, from life, from emotion itself. And one day, my parents and loved ones approached me with words I never expected:
"We've lived long enough."
After millions of years, even they felt it. The weight of immortality. The emptiness of a life where nothing was new, and nothing could surprise them anymore. They weren't cultivators chasing eternal life — they had lived for love, for experience. And now, they were ready to move on.
I respected their choice.
So I let them live normally. Without interference. Without barriers. And one by one, over millions of years, they passed — not because of weakness, but because they chose to.
Their passing left a hollow in me deeper than any void I had ever seen.
And so I drifted. For eons, I wandered in solitude. Sometimes visiting new realms for brief amusement. Sometimes watching young talents struggle and grow, even secretly helping them — giving them a nudge, a chance to rise. I suppose… in a way, I was creating new protagonists. Trying to feel something through them.
But even that lost meaning.
And then… I don't even know why, but I made a choice. Not to die. Not to sleep. But to reincarnate.