Rex loud, outright arrogant laughter brought the attention of every single being present onto himself, many scowls and some downright surprised faces were revealed, with none too happy about his sudden outburst. Only the spirit of the land itself, the dragon like girl on the throne was somewhat wary, more aware of Rex alien nature.

  "Know your place puny creature!" grumbled one of the dragons further away from him, still clearly annoyed, enraged even at the arrogance of such a foolish and fleeting lifeform. "You should be on your knees and begging to be ignored, lest one of us finds you to be an appropriate snack. All know that's all your species is good for!"

  "A great idea! Appreciate the suggestion!" Rex grinned, disappearing from his spot, only to appear a fraction of a second later right next to the dragon that had spoken just now, his hand touching it's scales, a single word leaving Rex mouth.

  "Drain."

  What followed was a terrifying half roar and half shriek as the enormous body of the dragon scattered like nothing but dust, paralyzing each and every other being present as deathly chill went down their spines. Rex hummed for just a second, before grinning like a madman unleashed.

  "Haaaa!" he exhaled a moment later "How I missed this feeling." he added, turning and slowly walking towards the throne with the seemingly young girl still on it, though it was obvious that even she was clearly trembling in fear of the sight she had just witnessed.

  "Are you scared? Terrified of what you just saw?" Rex calmly asked as he stopped in front of the girl, his frame now looming over her. "Lost in your inability to understand what it was that just happened? Worried if I could do the same with you? It should not be possible, right? You are the spirit of this world after all, right? It makes no sense, you should be the most powerful being present after all. It is your place to allow other gods to ascend, to take control of the concepts and all that, growing the world and making you stronger in the process."

  The fact that the girl just sat there in silence, still trembling and to scared to take action spoke louder than any answer she might have conjured. And for all that she knew that the silence was condemning, losing her any and all advantage she might have, the fear was all too real. In all of her relatively short time of consciousness, there had never been a moment of such danger to her existence, and so, she trembled at the mercy of this alien being.

  "How lucky are you that I am here instead, saving you from your own foolish decisions." Rex smiled, earning downright stupefied look as the girl looked at him for the first time since he stood before her, eyes wide and mouth agape.

  "W-what?" the spirit of this plane personified stammered, all too confused and dumbfounded at his latest words.

  "It is far too soon for you to have concept LORDS appointed, as you call them. You need to reach at least another two, maybee three qualitative changes before doing so. Anything less than two and you will be inviting the eldritch beings clawing at your borders en masse. Don't you already see just how close those candidates of yours are to tearing some holes in the veil separating us from the other side? I should know, my space concept if much further ahead than even yours, and you are the world spirit personified. It's soul and consciousness. You are not ready yet."

  "You think I don't know? Who's fault do you think is it?" she cried out, tears welling up in her eyes as she helplessly glared at Rex now. "I felt it's gaze when you tore open that hole back in that hunting trip of yours! I sensed it's thirst and hunger, it's desire to devour everything of mine! Why else would I do this! You grow too fast, a year more and you would be so far past everything that exists here that even I would not be safe is what I thought! Clearly, I was far too naive, it's already too late, sniff." she cried "Go on then, finish it! Not like I can do anything to resist anyways." she closed her eyes and spread her arms, as if awaiting for the final blow to be delivered, surrendering to the inescapable fate.

  "You drunk or something?" Rex asked, his voice half ridiculing, something the girl instantly caught up to.

  "What?"

  "Why would I devour you? I know I can and all, but that just sounds counter productive. All this life and wonder that you have developed so far, why would I put an end to it?"

  "T-then why are you h-here?" she asked quietly.

  "I told you already. To stop you from creating those LORDS of yours. As I said, it is too soon. With me here, maybe in another couple thousand years."

  "W-why did you come here then?"

  "Just like you, or any other transcendent being, I just want to find a path forward on the road I have chosen. It's just that my path is one where there are no predecessors to follow on. Soul is far too complex of a thing after all." Rex smiled lightly as he stretched out his hand, a recognizable blood red amulet in his hand, presented to the girl. "Think of me as a helping hand you can ask for support should those eldritch entities encroach too much. As horrifying and reason defying they are, there is still a soul of sorts at the very center of them, and that, that is something I can feast on, much like they do with everything else."

  Rex then glanced towards the rest of the beings present here, his black and yellow eyes inflicting true fear in anyone his gaze fell upon. "Do take care with that sloppy control you have over those concepts you wield, for one small mistake and you will invite a catastrophe into this world. And while I will be there to clean up after you, there is a heavy price attached to it, for I will devour the fools responsible. Do I make myself clear?"

  Rex could see how these arrogant creatures shied away from his gaze, both aware of the truth of his claim as well as the threat that it was. His words alone were a promise enough of a guaranteed death should they push too far too quickly, slowing down their progress by at the very least several magnitudes. Rex disappeared from his place and appeared before another dragon that froze the second it realized that Rex was before it now.

  "You have made some pretty interesting sites in your pursuit of knowledge. Places that serve your purpose while not endangering the world all that much in the grand scheme of things and furthering along your own research. A commendable act and one I would like to learn more of." Rex tapped the dragon's scales as he spoke. "A small way to track you should my curiosity grow too large one of these days."

  With that, Rex disappeared once again, reappearing in front of the world spirit. "Anything else you have for them now, or will you send them back from whence they came?"

  "I... I will do that." she spoke, moments later the dragons starting to disappear one after another, a few dozen minutes later leaving only her and Rex there.

  "W-what happens now?" she timidly asked, still slightly scared of Rex though notably less than before.

  "Hm? Nothing much, besides what has been going on already as is. Do whatever it is that you do, growing and evolving, developing the strength of the concepts. You might have a general understanding that allowing LORDS to rise could eventually endanger your own position, so don't do that as I have already warned and advised you. Call for my assistance should any fool invite any of the eldritch entities inside, you happen to know what goes on where around this plane after all, and don't be too scared to to learn what you can from the concepts radiating from me. Though do stay away from the soul path. It has some extremely unique requirements that could, if pursued out of turn, harm you more than do good and since I have found some people I have grown to care about, that is not something either of us wants to see. Lucky for you that last part."

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  "Would you have cared if I had sabotaged myself out of fear for you had you not acquired such people?"

  "Very likely, yes."

  "I suppose I should thank them somehow then to show my gratitude."

  "Do not worry about that. You will have the chance to do so soon enough, all you have to do is allow them to claim their place as LORDS once they reach that level."

  "Did you not just say that I should hold back though?"

  "Ha ha ha. I did, yes, but that only matters for beings not from my circle. I don't just assist anyone, and those that I do, are forever under my watch and protection, be it for good or bad. I have deemed your life to be valuable, and as such you too are now under my protection, and my people don't seriously fight against each other, period."

  Understanding dawned on the world spirit's face and she finally smiled lightly. "You are indeed as greedy as you have stated multiple times, so much so that you even put most elder dragons to shame."

  "And I am proud to admit it any day." Rex grinned in return "You know where to find me should the need arise. Until we meet again." he waved his hand, disappearing just moments later.

  -------------------------

  "So, what did I miss?" Rex asked as he appeared out of nowhere right next to his girls who were walking along the street within the sect of Dawning Sun, each holding a few skewers with different tasty looking snacks on them. "Having fun I see. I am glad." he added, leaning in and stealing a bite from one of Danica's skewers "Not bad at all." he rated it after chewing for a while.

  "Of course it's not bad. My nose never fails me when it comes to tasty food!" Danica proudly stated, her nose slightly rising towards the sky in a clearly over exaggerated manner "So? What was all that disappearing about?"

  "I could tell you two now, though let's finish this small excursion of yours first. I would like Ria to also be present for the debriefing after all."

  "Ain't that take quite some time for us to get back then? Or is the way you disappeared earlier somehow usable to solve the issue?"

  "The latter. Since the world has stepped one step further, I can access more of my power over the concepts than before without exerting ever growing strain on my body. So, prepare to see some pretty trippy stuff in the near future."

  "Wait, you mean to say what we saw so far was not?" Eve asked, one eyebrow raised as she locked her gaze on Rex.

  "Not even remotely close." Rex grinned as he replied.

  "Dear me." she sighed in response, a light smile forming on her lips "I had to go and fall for the crazy one." she added and laughed heartily "Sometimes I cannot believe my own luck." she finished with a grin of her own as the trio proceeded to enjoy the rest of the day scouring the streets of the sect's headquarters, taste testing all manner of interesting foods and deciding on their own favourites as they did.

  Eventually, they returned to Sebastian's manor where they retired for the day, though in all reality Rex just held both women by their waists, pulling them closer and disappearing from the place, moments later appearing in an entirely different place as the trio stood in the middle of a relatively large room, surrounded by Lights Oak's party members who were reasonably startled at their appearance.

  "Holy shit Rex! You scared us!" cursed Samanta as she realized that it was Rex and his girls. "Where did you come from by the way?" she asked, only to be interrupted by a happy squeal, followed by a flying blur of blonde that tackled Rex.

  "Ahhhh." Ria melted into Rex, happily humming as she hugged him "I missed you." she whispered, light blush forming on her face, just barely noticeable for Rex due to the strength of his soul and insanely sharp senses.

  "H-hi Rex." from the side shyly waved Allurial, her form filling out nicely, a glint in her eyes as she looked at the group of now four people.

  "Come on then, I can see you want to." Rex released Eve for a moment as he waved towards the half elf woman, who quickly scurried over to hug him and Ria together, more than content with just this much for the time being. Ria had accepted her eventual joining to their family, but there was still Danica and Eve to truly win over for the half elf.

  "Come with me girls. Have a few things to tell you about." Rex ushered his women to follow along with him a short while later, bringing the group to Eve's personal bedroom since Light's Oak stayed in her mansion during their own stay in the capital. There, Rex did little to conceal things, explaining the general gist of things. How he spilt a small fragment of his soul and sent it to another world to experience a different life and understand the ways of soul path better to grow ever closer to a his goal of ascending as a true transcendent being of soul path. How he sensed that the world spirit was about to make mistake in fear of his exponential growth and everything else that happened after that.

  "Wait, so there are no actual LORDS just yet? What are the people worshiping then?" Ria asked a fair question as Rex explained.

  "A concept of a deity i suppose. It helps many to believe there is a higher power looking after them or giving a clear cut set of rules that one should live by to earn a guaranteed good life after they pass on."

  "But if the gods exist, are they wrong then?" Ria asked once again.

  "Yes and no. There is no guarantee that said god one worships, even if it exists, will pay said worshiper any attention. Especially so if there is no clear cut benefit in doing so. To begin with, in general only those super ambitious and driven could hope to reach that level of both confidence and results."

  "What now then?" Allurial asked "Are you heading back out again once we are done here?"

  "Yes and no." Rex smiled as he replied "Now that we are in this stage, while we will still be exploring the world, we will aso be back here, to you two, every evening, most of the time at the very least. I need to watch over you two as well as you delve deeper into the concepts that will call out to you. That and to drop off any Empowerment crystals I will hunt down."

  "We will hunt down is what you meant." Danica grinned as she pinched Rex's side.

  "Yea, my bad there. The crystals that we will hunt down."

  There was a short moment of silence as the group took it all in until Alurial asked a rather important question that had somehow skipped the other women minds.

  "Uhm, Rex?" she started a bit cautiously, as if scared of something she might trigger with her question, though scared even more not to ask "If what you said is true and you have recovered that blocked link, should we be worry you will suddenly disappear one day?"

  The question instantly got the attention of everyone present, the four girls looked at Rex with worry for but a brief moment, though noticing the calm smile on his face also relaxed just moments later.

  "And why would I do that? The understanding and knowledge I attained, while extremely important, is already with me no matter where I am. It is not as though I am either here or somewhere else. I am in two places, actually more than just two now, at the same time. The same me, that would make the same decisions and everything. Just a step closer to omnipotence, though in much more limited shape and form. Not that i would want to be everywhere at all times. Having a physical form comes with a few special advantages that I have come to enjoy very much so, but that is indeed something all of you but Allurial are already well aware off." Rex smiled as he explained that as well, adding a small joke in a form of promise that she too would soon have the chance to understand what he was talking about.

  "What matters here girls is that I plan not only to stick around these parts, or world to be precise, for quite the long time, but to also help you do the same alongside me. Companionship is quite the reliable reason to want to go forward, for no matter how long and arduous can one's journey be, it is much harder to get lost on a path to nowhere when you are not alone. And I? Now I am never alone." Rex added, bringing the girls along with him on to the balcony of the room, a beautiful garden appearing before their eyes, though the girls had their eyes on Rex alone.

  "And since this world is one that we have to live in, I do believe that it is my task to make it just a little better for us all." he added as liquid mana condensed around him, taking the shape and form of black ravens, their eyes as though swirling galaxies were hidden deep within, flying away in all directions.

  "Our very own eyes to track and punish those that would harm our home. We have plenty of adventures still ahead of us, though that I believe, is a story for tomorrow."

  --------------------------------------------------

  THE END.