This was proven correct when one of Felix’s paws disappeared out of nowhere, there was no sound or blood, it just disappeared. Next, it was Felix’s tail that turned into absolutely nothing.
Fortunately, the lightning ended before Felix’s technique consumed more of his organs. The cat began to fall unconscious in the air; Kayden trapped it on a mana platform in the air and watched as the animal went through the advance.
His body was entirely remodeled by a golden ray, characteristic of all who passed into the fourth kingdom. In the lightning, there were some streaks of black that Kayden was unaware of. Within minutes, Felix was a realm above and exuded a strength that should not be found in the abyss.
Kayden took out a fifth realm pill from his spatial ring. He only had three of these, one of his rarest treasures, currently useless to him. At the moment, he gave this pill to Felix not for good reasons, but to test his theory.
The cat’s body, which was damaged, was healed. His broken bones healed, and his fur grew back. This time, its fur was entirely black, with white lines that looked like runes outlining the animal’s entire body. However, the tail and one of the legs only had a small growth, nothing more.
"They will grow, but it will take a few years," Felix said, as he woke up to Kayden noticing his missing limbs. Then he began to test his body’s strength.
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"Get out of my head, you furball," Kayden ordered directly as Felix appeared above him instantly. The speed was too great, and Kayden could only subconsciously keep up.
"Be careful how you talk to me, human. Right now, I am the god of the underworld," Felix replied, boasting. He felt his heart sink as he saw that Kayden’s chains still bound him and that his threats meant nothing. "Forget it, we’re just going to get something to eat," he added, moving down to Kayden’s shoulder as if nothing had happened.
"Dad!", called Astolfo, gathering the courage to talk to Kayden. Kayden’s presence was still something foreign to him, while for Kayden he didn’t mind it at all. There were no feelings in their relationship, even if Astolfo saw him as a father.
"Tell me, Astolfo."
"What is your power level? Even the god Felix has to bow his head to you", asked Astolfo, automatically regretting it when he saw Felix’s threatening look.
"Below six rays, anyone cannot be considered my match. At the moment, I am in the second realm, but all my effort put me at a level of strength between the third and fourth realm", replied Kayden, surprising Astolfo, who didn’t expect his father to be in such a low realm.
"How can you be so strong in such a low realm? What do I have to do to become equal?" Astolfo asked, taking advantage of the courage he had gathered.
"You must discover your path in this world. This will allow you to synchronize with something on a completely different level, and your strength will increase tremendously. There are two great moments in your life: when you are born and when you discover why," Kayden explained. Astolfo had already studied the path, but he didn’t find anyone who had developed it in society, and Kayden was, most of the time, inaccessible.
Even though the population was extremely talented, none of them would be able to develop a path due to Kayden’s influence. In a way, they weren’t even living and learning about their own will. It was practically impossible to discover something about yourself when you were not driven by your will.
"Thank you, Father", thanked Astolfo, ending the small event. Kayden returned to his room to learn concepts.
The years passed again at an absurd speed. This time, Kayden was already seeing the seventh generation take the lightning tests, and the degree of talent had decreased over the years. People with two rays appeared constantly, and three rays became the high-level average again. While those with four rays were rare and five rays non-existent.
It took Kayden a while to understand the reason for this, but when he understood, he had to slap himself in the face for stupidity. The generations were comfortable, there was no longer any desire to win. Everyone had the right to a good life, even if they weren’t exactly strong. Furthermore, they were not afraid of dying, as Kayden eliminated people with the excuse of it being a disease.
There wasn’t much he could do at that moment other than cause some traumatic event, such as a war against animals, and kill several hundred people, including those with potential. That’s exactly what Kayden did.
He faked a big fight with one of the animals that controlled the surrounding areas and caused the other four to attack him by surprise, appearing to seriously injure him. This shocked the entire population and only got worse when the animals began attacking the city in sporadic waves.
With each attack, dozens of people were killed, and the city’s structure was destroyed in some areas. After that, Kayden simply let this situation go; the city had already been founded for more than a century and that would not be what would make it collapse.
His training was taking place with Felix during these years. He was managing to win one or two fights out of ten, and only when the feline made serious mistakes. This was still impressive, as the feline had five rays and incredible innate talent. Probably, if Kayden faced people in the starting fourth realm and with little lightning, he could have a higher win rate. It was completely bizarre to think that he was skipping two entire realms. What he forgot to take into account is that his number of concepts was something never seen before in the history of humanity.
Currently, it has been around 130 years since Kayden had been in the abyss, and he was around 150 years old. This meant more than half the normal age for someone in the second realm. His body matured in that time and became that of a middle-aged man. It still seemed like there was a long time before he died.
Milena looked the same age as ever, but she was older than Kayden by a few decades. She had at most 160 years to live, considering the technique that increased vitality. With all the investment of resources Kayden gave her, she would probably be able to advance to the kingdom. Furthermore, Felix personally trained her in combat and forced her to improve. Kayden had plans to take her out of the abyss with him, as her abilities would be extremely useful. He expected it to advance in a few more decades.
Meanwhile, Astolfo has frozen his level for all the years that have passed and followed Kayden’s advice in seeking his path. It was proving to be truly difficult. He made several trips that lasted entire years and still didn’t make it.
Julian hasn’t made any great progress. Kayden had no interest in taking it with him, at most he released some resources sporadically. Furthermore, Julian spent a lot of time using hallucinogenic substances. Kayden was sure the man’s talent could make him have five lightning bolts, but his addiction destroyed any chance of that happening.
Kayden was normally studying in his room when he felt someone advanced just two kilometers from where he was. This was prohibited as advances had to be made outside the city when it was for the second kingdom. He wasn’t going to pay much attention, but he saw the clouds form into a very large size and as soon as he got close, he was surprised to see a child advancing into the first realm. She was part of the eighth generation and would be the first after the war.
Kayden didn’t understand why she was moving forward so soon. He seemed to be at most nine years old, and there was still some time left for him to advance to the realm. His doubts were removed when he saw the boy face an incredible five rays using the fire element masterfully.
The boy had Kayden’s black hair and eyes, and his features were practically a copy of his childhood. Instantly, he recognized that the boy had managed to develop a path even at this young age. That was the only reason his fire spells were so potent. As soon as the boy finished the realm advancement, Kayden gave him a healing pill.
Within seconds, the boy’s body, which was severely damaged, was perfectly reconstructed by the effects of the pill. He opened his eyes and was surprised to see Kayden. The god’s vision of this world was rare for most people, but everyone would recognize him at any time.
"From this day forward, you will be called Han Heart and you can call me father. You no longer need to worry about your health or family. The state will provide for all your needs," Kayden said as if he were speaking to an adult. He realized his mistake with Han’s answer.