[Dragon: 40/100 (+25)

Titan: 40/100 (+25)

Phoenix: 40/100 (+25)

Order: 40/100 (+25)

Chaos: 40/100 (+25)

Space: 20/100 (+5)

Time: 20/100 (+5)]

The retreat of five weeks had been fruitful.

Varian didn't try very hard. He just fought with his wives at day and bonded with them at night. Synergy was done whenever it was possible.

The resulting progress in just a month was him going from a new mid rank 1 to crossing more than half the distance.

Unlike a low rank 1 whose strength was definied between 1-15, a mid rank 1's range was between 16-50. A total of 35 units and Varian crossed 25 of them already in five weeks. Unfortunately, his speed was inevitably slowing down.

Firstly, the distance between Varian and his wives narrowed greatly. Even though they were technically in a higher sub-rank than him, his current strength allowed him to fight against them without any handicap from their side.

Secondly, the divine ranks itself were much more intricate than Varian imagined.

If celestial ranks were simply the development along the path one had chosen, like painting a single stroke with the brush, the divine ranks were a painting one had to make with all the strokes the brush could possibly make.

It wasn't just enough for him to understand the life path and death path, he also had to figure out the greater whole, of how they linked together, interacted with each other and fit in the grand picture.

That…was harder than he liked to admit.

"If it goes like this, instead of reaching peak of rank 1 in twelve weeks, I'll need almost fifty. To spend a whole year to cover the divine ranks, damn it, is this what talentless people feel?"

On a summer midnight, floating on a pink lake under the moonlight, Varian uttered in melancholy.

And his words, which were meant with absolutely no ill intent woke up Sia who was sleeping on a large white lotus.

Without a word, she grabbed a dagger and jumped at him.

"Hey! Why are you resorting to violence?" "Talentless? A full divine rank in a year is talentless?" "I-I mean it's too slow in a rank for a whole yea—ouch!" "We spent a full thousand years for two sub-ranks! And you! You are talking about a year for the whole rank!"

Varian grabbed the angry cat from throwing more tantrum and locked her in a tight hug so she wouldn't wave that fake dagger around. Who was she trying to fool by waving that dagger made up of cotton-like darkness?

"Don't be so depressed. You're all very talented. Divine rankers take hundreds of thousands of years to make the progress you made in a thousand years! And this is under intense emotional turmoil! I sincerely believe you four could've reached the peak of rank 1 in a thousand years."

Varian rubbed her cheek gently, looking into her eyes with a doting gaze.

"I..." Sia had a lot of things to complain about. "Were you serious about what you said?"

She thought his narcissism died out but who knew he would be bragging like this. Worst of all, she didn't really know if he was flexing or really thinking that way.

Sia could guess Varian's emotional pulse like no one else. But even she was confounded when it cto this topic.

Instead of bragging to piss her off, what if he was really feeling sad over his so-called slow progress?

"Yes." To her utter surprise, Varian replied a solemn expression. "You might think my progress is fast. Relatively, it is. But the man I'm going to face is a god-like being. With everything that transpired, I just don't understand why is he lettingbe?"

"…Like interfering with your destiny and then not intefering at all?" Sia's gaze grew dark, her breath stopping for a moment.

By letting that wolf out, the God Emperor changed Varian's life forever. And even though Sia still blamed herself for what happened that day, it's undeniable that the God Emperor was responsible for the death of Amanda.

The suffering she went through due to Roxanne, the seperation from Varian, the heartbreak she had to endure when he forgot her completely…

This one man, someone she never harmed, afflicted her so much pain that she didn't mind killing him a thousand times.

Varian gently rubbed the back of her head, just as she liked it. Sia closed her eyes, shoulders relaxing and breath smoothing out.

With a wry smile that stemmed from ignorance and helplessness, Varian hugged her tighter, trying to bury the rising restlessness in his heart.

"Sia, he knowsbefore anyone did. I thought I was hiding from him and had to confront him only at the end.

But he knew abouteven before I got the slivers. He pushedon this path that I walked.

Now that I'm planning to defeat him…if I really posed him a threat, why would he leavebe?

If he's doing it, it means that he's confident that I don't stand a chance.

Or maybe this is all a part of a grander plan?"

Without a word, Sia looked at him under the moonlight.

Varian's face was pale and his eyes dull, showing weakness and despair that didn't match his usual self.

"I tell myself it's going to be alright, that I can do it. A large part ofis brave, willing to risk it all. But…" Varian lowered his head and pressed his forehead against hers. "A part ofdoesn't know. It's scared. Sia, I'm scared."

"Hmmm," Sia cupped his cheek and gently stepped back, locking her eyes with him in the process.

Then she stared at him with the sgaze she held thousands of years ago.

Perhaps it was an irony of fate that after coming so far, accomplishing so much, this scene still seemed like one from that night.

That night when Varian tried and tried to awaken before falling into despair, when he felt hopeless against the force of nature he seemed to have no control over, that night a thousand years ago…

When he was confused, hopelessness and weak…

Just like now…

He said the swords.

"I don't think I can do it. It is an impossible thing to achieve." Sia held him tight and looked into his eyes with a loving gaze full of belief. She interlocked her hand with his and said with a sweet smile the words that let him fight even in the face of mounting despair.

To the squestion raised a thousand years ago, she repeated the swords today, a thousand years later. Under the snight, with the ssmile, holding the sgaze.

"The nine year old I met was strong, with a dream to do the impossible.

But the older you now, are stronger."

Varian froze for a moment before he relaxed, the tension in his body melting away. He lifted her up by the waist without warning and spun her around. And he said the exact swords that he did back then.

"Whatever happens, I'll keep going, if only for you."

Somethings didn't change.

"Oh? Then I'll tell those concubines who's the wife here." "Wait, wait!" But somethings definitely did.