The whirlwind only lasted a few minutes, and then Licht’s soul couldn’t take it. As soon as the prison collapsed, all the souls exploded outwards, creating a dazzling scene where dozens of meters were filled with different types of souls. Most of them didn’t even have time to blink before they were collected by the heavens and thrown onto the path of reincarnation again. This was something natural for all souls and one of the universe’s greatest mysteries.
Nyc’s soul was one of those thrown into this path. In the end, it was Licht’s strength that led to his downfall. He had never directly consumed a soul; it had always been a temporary use, which meant that Nyc had never been able to break through the barrier that separated the nine rays from the ten rays. Thoth had made a bet with this mage because if he could start absorbing souls, he would become something special and eventually break through the nine rays. However, in the end, it was just a plan that failed. Thoth didn’t even waste a second thinking about it, because he had trillions of other plans in motion, and this was just one of them.
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One of the souls on the path to reincarnation was Kayden. The boy had no idea what was happening. He just sensed his surroundings for a millisecond and then found himself being swept away in a river of souls. It was an absurdly large amount; the river was made entirely of souls; not an inch of it was without souls. Kayden didn’t know exactly why it was a river, but something provided this information directly to his mind.
The friction with the surrounding souls had done something directly to his soul, beginning to break certain parts of it and forcing out his ingrained memories. Fortunately, his time in Licht’s prison had given Kayden more than enough time to learn how to control his soul enough to resist the river. At first, it had taken all of his attention, but as time went on, it had become easier and easier to resist. After a ridiculously long time, Kayden was no longer affected by the river.
Although it seemed simple, it took him millions of years to study the soul and millions more to learn how to defend himself from the river. Time had long since lost its meaning to Kayden; he could no longer even tell the difference between seconds and hours. Once he got used to the river, Kayden began to study the souls around him. It didn’t take long for him to understand the process used by the river. It was very simple: the deep-rooted memories were subdued and placed as old lives.
It was very similar to the way he manipulated the soul, but done in such a perfect way that it seemed completely natural, without the intervention of any rational being. After a while, he gave up on messing with it, as it would do him practically no good. Now, all that was left was to wait for reincarnation and hope not to fall into some desolate and lifeless place, or be reborn as an animal.
In terms of talent, Kayden didn’t care, and his body wouldn’t matter in the end either. He would shape his existence according to his own choice, just as he did with his soul. The river of rebirth finally began to reach its end. Kayden didn’t know where this information came from, but it was present in his mind and soul. Finally, the day had come when he would be alive again.
---
After the Aries battle and the universe was all but in ruins, many things changed. Resources were still abundant, but the number of gods had dropped to a dangerously low level. Only 1,000 gods remained, a number far fewer than anything the universe had ever seen. This left each of them with an incredible amount of space and an even greater number of people to rule over.
Mortals had a very short life cycle and it did not take long for them to repopulate the universe with large numbers of wizards in all the kingdoms. Those with nine rays were still present in large numbers. These became practically kings on their planets, because, even though they were a minority, they were much stronger than the others. The number of planets also grew rapidly.
All the gods were tasked with producing more gods, and this was ridiculously difficult. There was no point in wasting time cultivating mortals one by one; it was simply easier to roll thousands of lucky dice and hope that one would succeed. This resulted in some planets simply growing without any direct observation from the gods, where only the law of the fittest reigned. The beings in these places did not even acknowledge the existence of deities.
The "numbers" still existed, but they had become much more select. Only a select few had the right to be numbered, especially considering that the average radii had dropped noticeably. Without the constant intervention of the gods, many wars broke out, considerably delaying the development of the planets. Four radii became a common metric in most places again, and the fourth realm once again became the average realm, with the fifth realm barrier once again erected for the mediocre.
Although it was still superior to what it was before, this represented a huge fall, and it would take an absurdly long time to be elevated again. In the past, only the cream of the crop was chosen for the new universe, but at this time, only the survivors were chosen, and Aries killed the strongest.
On a large, intermediate-grade planet, there existed two great civilizations that had been at war since the world was created. One side was light and the other was darkness. In a way, they followed their respective colors perfectly. Those in the light had a more just and egalitarian society, while in the darkness only strength reigned. They used a numbering system very similar to that of the federation to separate their talent.
Kayden’s soul was reborn directly in one of the dark side imperial capitals. It was one of the richest and most mana-rich environments he could choose on this planet. Each capital city had a mage from the sixth realm as its representative. Considering that the strongest person on this planet was only in the seventh realm, it was quite impressive to have a mage from the sixth realm. This planet did not have the intervention of any gods.