Myriad Heavens: Rise of the Rune God

Chapter 228: Chapter 229: The Day of the Exchange

The testing dimension had never held this many beings at once.

They had been arriving since dawn. FTL ships dropped out of warp at the designated coordinates Willith had distributed — massive fleet carriers from the larger races, sleek cruisers from the merchant civilizations, ancient vessels that predated most current shipbuilding standards by several thousand years. The stronger cultivators didn’t bother with ships. They arrived through pure speed, breaking space as they traveled, appearing at the coordinates with nothing but their cultivation and whatever they carried on them.

By midmorning the testing dimension was full.

Every race in Willith’s universe had sent representatives. Ancient races that rarely left their home systems. Younger races that had never attended anything at this scale. Enemy races that hadn’t occupied the same space without fighting in longer than most civilizations had existed. They were all here — separated into their respective groups, maintaining careful distance from the ones they had history with, but present.

Willith’s decree had been clear. No infighting from the beginning of the event to the end. The weight behind those words kept everyone in line. It didn’t stop the stares. It didn’t stop the posturing. But nobody moved past that.

The wormhole ahead of them glowed steady and silver-gold, vast and permanent, leading into William’s universe where the first tournament rounds would be held. The opening ceremony would happen here first. Then the crossing would begin.

Near the front of the gathering, the Supremes had assembled.

Thousands of them, from different races, their combined aura pressing outward and making the space around them uncomfortable for anyone below their level. Even quasar realm cultivators (The realm below Universal realm)in the surrounding area were maintaining distance without being told to.

The Supremes were talking among themselves — observations about the wormhole, the energy signature on the other side, what William’s universe felt like from here. Most of it was measured and professional. Some of it was competitive. That was expected.

Then one of them turned to the human delegation.

He was from one of the ancient races — tall, grey-skinned, with the particular stillness of something very old. His name was Elder Ross and his race had been in conflict with humans at various points across history, though the current period was technically peaceful.

"I have a question," he said.

The lead human Supreme, Crimson Lotus, looked at him.

"The person responsible for this event," Ross said. "The one who created the wormhole and negotiated with both Universal Wills. I was told he belongs to the human race." He looked around at the gathered humans. "Where is he? Several of us would like to offer our thanks personally."

"He’s in closed cultivation," Crimson Lotus said. "He’ll arrive when he’s done."

Ross was quiet for a moment. "Closed cultivation. On the day of an event he created."

"Yes."

"That’s an interesting choice."

"It’s his choice," Crimson Lotus said.

Another Supreme from a different race — a large insectoid being named Kael-Thon — spoke up. "We’ve come from across the universe for this. The least the architect of it could do is be present for the opening."

"He’ll be here," Eternal Scholar said, calm. "When he’s ready."

"And when will that be?" Ross asked.

"When he’s done."

Ross looked at the other human Supremes. "Is he perhaps not strong enough to stand among us? Is that why he’s absent? There’s no shame in it. If he’s below Supreme level, he can still be acknowledged from a distance."

The human delegation didn’t react to this visibly.

"Below Supreme level," Crimson Lotus repeated.

"It’s a reasonable question."

"It’s not," she said. "But you’ll understand that when he arrives."

A Supreme from the aquatic races — blue-scaled, twice the height of the humans — leaned toward Kael-Thon and said at a volume everyone nearby could hear: "I heard he’s a young genius. Impressive for his age but perhaps not ready to stand with elders."

"You heard wrong," Eternal Scholar said pleasantly.

"Then enlighten us," Ross said.

"Wait for him," Eternal Scholar said. "It won’t be long."

Ross looked at him for a moment. "You’re very confident for someone whose representative isn’t here."

"I’m confident because I know who he is," Eternal Scholar said. "You’ll catch up."

The tension stayed where it was. Nobody pushed past it. Willith’s presence above the gathering was a constant reminder of the ceiling, and everyone in the Supreme realm was intelligent enough to respect it.

But the conversation had been noted by everyone nearby. Several races were now watching the human delegation with new interest.

Celestia, Cassia, and Nyla were standing fifty meters back from the Supreme cluster, close enough to hear most of it. They were protected by Supreme Scarlet Crimson.

"They want to meet him," Nyla said.

"Everyone does," Cassia said. She was watching the ancient race Supreme with the focused attention she gave things she was still calculating. "The ones asking loudest are also the ones trying to read the human reaction. They’re not just curious. They’re assessing."

"Assessing what?" Nyla asked.

"Whether the humans are worth being cautious of."

Celestia was quiet. She had listened to Ross’s implication — below Supreme level, too weak to stand among elders — and felt nothing except mild amusement.

"He told us to go ahead," she said. "He’ll catch up."

"He said that three hours ago," Nyla said.

"He’ll be here when he’s done," Celestia said.

Through the soul link she could feel the training dimension in the background — something large and compressed, held in place, approaching the point of release. She couldn’t tell exactly when. But it was close.

They moved through the gathering while they waited. The variety of races assembled was significant even by universal standards — Cassia identified twelve distinct species in their immediate area, Nyla counted more and lost track. An ancient race with crystalline skin moved past them in a group, ignoring everyone else. A cluster of cultivators from a nomadic race had set up a small formation to block the pressure from the nearby Supremes and were arguing about whether it was working.

Nyla stopped at one point and watched a pair of beings from a race neither she nor Cassia recognized run through a combat form together. The movement patterns were completely unlike anything in either universe’s standard catalogue.

"Different system entirely," she said.

"There are more of those here than I expected," Cassia said.

"Good," Nyla said. "More to learn."

The official opening began.

Willith’s presence settled over the gathering — not heavy, just present, the particular quality of a Universal Will acknowledging a moment. The signal was clear. The ceremony was starting.

The wormhole ahead of them expanded slightly, accommodating the incoming crossing traffic. Still vast, still permanent, but now actively open for passage. The Supremes at the front began moving toward it. The gathered races followed in their groups, an orderly progression that was more controlled than anyone would have predicted given the variety of beings involved.

The first Supremes almost stepped through.

Then the universe suddenly began to shake.

Not a small tremor. The entire universe shuddered — a deep, structural vibration that went through everything simultaneously. The wormhole rippled. Beings mid-crossing stumbled and caught themselves through cultivation. The Supremes at the front stopped and looked around.

Several of them looked at each other.

"What was that?" Kael-Thon said.

Nobody answered immediately because nobody knew.

The shaking came again. Stronger this time.

Willith felt it before anyone had finished asking the question.

She knew immediately. The training dimension. The sealed space she hadn’t been able to look into for three weeks. The energy that had been building against its walls for three months, held in place by a fraction of his attention while the rest of him focused on comprehension.

It was releasing.

That man, she thought. He’s breaking through. Inside my universe. Right now. While I’m maintaining a wormhole crossing for thousands of beings from every race simultaneously.

She pushed more of her power into the wormhole to hold it stable through the vibration. It cost her more in this moment than anything had cost her in a long time. The shaking was coming from inside her own domain and she couldn’t stop it — couldn’t even interfere with it, because whatever was happening in that training dimension was operating at a level that her interference would only make worse.

He couldn’t wait one more day?

She already knew the answer.

A Breakthrough.

Breakthroughs didn’t wait for schedules. When the conditions were ready the crossing happened, and if the conditions happened to be ready on the morning of the inter-universal exchange while thousands of beings were mid-crossing through a wormhole she was personally maintaining, then that was when it happened.

The shaking intensified.

The wormhole rippled again. Several beings who had been mid-passage emerged on William’s side and immediately turned around to look back through the tunnel, confused.

Willith held everything together through pure will and felt the energy inside the training dimension continue to build past what she had been sensing from the outside for weeks, past what she had thought was already the ceiling of it, past any point she had a reference for.

How much did he accumulate?

The answer, judging by what she was feeling, was: more than she had realized.

He is going to owe me, she thought, holding the wormhole steady as the testing dimension shook around it, an extremely significant apology.

The energy kept building.

She held on and waited for it to release.

End of Chapter 229

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