Creating a bloodline resonance between the seven bloodline orbs and the continent above, Rowan began to drain the entire continent of his essence and channel them into the orbs, while creating billions of linking threads between the orbs and his children below.

The continent above rippled, but due to the time dilation everything that had been happening was still inside the time frame of a single second and so this event was missed. The continent shrank, but it was so subtle that it could be ignored if one was not paying attention. Less than an inch of mass was lost across the entire continent that stretched for tens of thousands of miles, but it was that missing inch that was the backbone of this land, it was Rowan’s essence.

When his bloodline had been scattered all around before, now it was being focused on these bloodline orbs which would then process these powers and then give it the worthy among his children, the ones who desired power and had the strength of mind and body to pursue it.

Rowan was a being of fairness and he knew that not every person wanted or deserved power, even amongst his children, and most people did not have the fortitude to fight for power.

Nothing good would come to giving power to the unworthy or to those who just wanted to live a simple life. There was nothing wrong in the desire to live a simple life, one that was devoid of the pursuit of power, if that was what one sought, and this was the ideal state of things that Rowan wanted to create.

These bloodline orbs would carry all the remnants of his bloodline power and funnel it to his children who were worthy and desired more power.

The vanguards below the earth that fought against the serpent calamities had proven themselves worthy time and time again in the past and so they could upgrade their bloodline freely when they began fighting against the calamities, but now with his bloodline power concentrated in these orbs, his children who craved power, who wanted to rise to the heavens and shatter the skies with their fist, would have to fight for it, and if necessary, die for it… the road to eternity contained the skulls of multitude.

Rowan looked down on the multitude and he went on one knee and he smiled sadly, “My children, most things people believe about the world are lies, but in all your hearts, I have planted a grain of truth, and when the right time comes, you will know it and you shall come to recognize it, even amid the darkness. There is a light in all your souls that is stronger than anything in existence, and that is my light. One day you shall all know me. Hold on for a while longer.”

With the bloodline connection between the seven orbs and his children below finalized, a golden seven-pointed star tattoo appeared above their hearts that soon faded underneath their skin, and with a wave of his hand, they all vanished, and time seemed to resume its match once more.

Rowan shrank down and nearly staggered as relentless waves of pain and exhaustion swept through his mortal flesh, his bones were crushed to powder and his blood turned to steam, he endured the pain and sat cross-legged, his body slowly beginning the recovery process.

His consciousness was now more powerful, but it could not handle the strain of what he had just done without any repercussions. He needed to rest, and for the next six months, he did not move from this position, allowing the passage of time to heal him of his wounds. What he did might have seemed simple on the surface, but even his battle with the Divine Ascendant was not this pressing.

Thinking of the Divine Ascendant made him recall the prophecy that he had given to Nyla,

Eyes seek the ring, as giants of gold and blood wander the castle.

He looked at the bangle in his left hand, “Is this the ring? If it is, where is the castle, and whose giants of gold and blood would wander it, mine or someone else?”

Prophecy and fate were hidden areas that would always baffle the mind.

In the time he spent resting, he had come across a revelation about the progression of Ascendancy, that had transformed his path forward.

To reach the Ascendant stage, an Explorer would need to merge their Natal Treasure to a continent. The reason behind this was simple: Ascendant’s bodies were shifting away from solid matter, including their Natal Treasures. Their entire power system depended on discarding the flesh and becoming a Spirit being, although their unique power system made them Soul beings.

A soul was never meant to dwell in the material realm, and even if it did, its state of existence was different from everything around it, life and death should not coexist, and an Ascendant was as close to a soul as there ever could be.

The merging of their Natal Treasure to a continent bounds them to the earth, it gave them a tether to channel their Aura to affect the material world in a way that their new state never could. Without their Natal Treasure, an Ascendant could still tear a continent apart, but it would take much more energy for them to do so.

Rowan was on the path of Ascendancy, and the next step forward would be to bind himself to a continent and lose his mortal flesh, and at first he wanted to bind this continent with his Natal Treasure, but during his time resting, he had asked himself, why should I bind myself to dead rocks when I could rise on living flesh? Although I am powerful as a single entity, my greatest strength has always lied in the collective.

Above him were billions of his children, they were linked to him, yet their roots were also bound to this realm. An Explorer could never merge their Natal Treasure to people because none could have the ability to spread their bloodline over such a vast amount of people to ever make such a concept applicable, but Rowan was a Creator, he was never meant to walk alone.

A mortal might seem to be a simple creature, but every one of them had the potential to become immortal. Rowan would be building his Ascendant level on that potential, and as he rose, so also would they. His eyes opened and his decision was made, and he sent his sights upwards to observe the changes above, and as expected, they were plentiful.

The six months that had passed created great changes across the surface, at first, the fact that every Blood Bound had vanished for a second was not felt by everyone except the Blood Bounds themselves, who felt a new raging power inside of their bodies.

Their dormant golden blood that flowed through their veins like jagged pieces of metal now flowed as smoothly as hot wine down the throat, and every moment they spent breathing, it was as if they were growing stronger. All diseases had been wiped out from their bodies and the aged began to grow young.

Their body felt lighter and their heartbeat was strong when they placed their hands against their chest they all felt a warmness that was like the hands of their parents or loved ones wrapped around their bodies on a cold night.

They all knew inside them with such profound clarity and understanding that they were loved and protected.