Beastmaster of the Ages

“You feisty little chicken.” Tianming mocked Ying Huo for a bit before presenting all eighteen manna before it. The entire hall was illuminated by the bright light emanating from them and thick power filled the room. There seemed to be sounds of crackling fire, storms, mountainous rumbles, and waves, suddenly turning the silent palace quite rowdy.

“Divine-grade manna that’s above the level of tribulation manna…. They’re completely different. Otherwise, they wouldn’t work on divine beasts. Normally, they’re called universal manna, because they’re born in the wide expanse of the universe and wouldn’t show up on worlds with a nova source.”

All of them were universal manna. It was easy to distinguish them from normal divine manna.

“It’s said that there were two great miracles in the astralscape of order that resulted in such a prosperous and rich world. The first was the birth of the universe itself. Unclaimed nova sources were precious treasures cultivators would fight for. Securing one would ensure millions and billions of years of prosperity for a star world and birth countless elites. If a race doesn’t find a new nova source before the one of their world expires, even the most advanced and powerful races would fall. As for the second miracle, it’s the existence of universal manna!”

Universal manna could allow lifebound beasts of the rootbeast race, as well as specters, to evolve. While its importance could hardly be compared to a nova source, it was similar in that it was formed from the universe itself. Other treasures, like spirit herbs and ores, on the other hand, formed due to normal objects absorbing nova source. However, Universal manna had nothing to do with a nova source.

“If the universe had a creator, nova sources and universal manna are the only two creations.” Those two elements of the universe were the only things that couldn’t be explained in terms of other things. The formation of nova sources were rather rare, but in the endless void of the universe, the formation of universal manna wasn’t uncommon. It was also a precious resource, not just for the rootbeast race and specters, but also countless other races across the universe.

“In fact, we don’t even have an explanation for how manna forms on the Flameyellow Continent.” The existence of manna was a top mystery. Legend said that they had spontaneously appeared, even those of the lowest grade. They were treasures that could even be used to unlock the bloodline shackles of Primordial Chaos Beasts.

As for distinguishing the effects of them, it was a simple thing. There was an obvious sign of the quality and grade of universal manna. For instance, Tianming was holding a flaming ball a meter in diameter, covered in many complicated patterns. On both sides were a set of horns that were hot to the touch. It emanated a power that seemed like a nova source, or at least a compressed, miniaturized version of it. However, it was clear that the manna was a single source of power. Through the flaming surface, one could see that it was a void of chaotic energy. Within the void were two golden balls of flame that looked like suns.

“This is a two-star universal manna.” The number of balls of energy denoted the number of stars universal manna would be classified as. Among those that Sovereign Xi had given him, this two-star universal manna was of the lowest quality.

Tianming placed them all on the ground. Even though the floor of Origin Hall was made of spirit ores, they still burned from the power of the universal manna. With enough time, the hall would collapse.

He then turned to look at another one that was covered in a blue mist. Deep within the mist were close to a hundred dragon-shaped beasts flying about and roaring. They were chasing water-blue balls of light that emanated the power of frost. There were three of them in total.

“So this is a three-star universal manna, the Draconic Pearl.” As far as Tianming knew, nova sources weren’t limited to balls of flame like Orderia, which was the sun. Violetglory Star’s nova source was purple in color, due to its complex internals that didn’t contain the power of fire.

The ‘stars’ within universal manna looked just like a kind of nova source. Undoubtedly, this manna was a grade higher than the former flaming one, which was in turn many magnitudes better than the ultimate tribulation manna from the Kilostar Domain, being in a completely different league.

Among the eighteen manna he had received, most of them were ranked two to three stars. Sovereign Xi had said that she had given him four four-star universal manna on account of him having four lifebound beasts. As for the rest, they were just backups. Her generosity was shocking, to say the least. Even though Tianming hadn’t spent long in the wondersky realm, he knew that getting four manna of such quality on Violetglory Star would undoubtedly be incredibly difficult for a beginner ascendant. Liu Wanwan, for instance, had a lifebound beast with fifteen hundred stars, and that was through the use of a two-star universal manna.

“Did she give me the entire fortune of the Divine Moon Realm that was accumulated over millions of years? I know they don’t have any use for it, but it’s still too grand a gift.”

Tianming put away the other manna, leaving only the four-star universal manna behind. Within each of them were four nova source-like celestial bodies. The one right before Tianming’s eyes was covered in a chaotic black and red mist. Within it were four black flaming balls moving about like four eyeballs, emanating an evil power of incineration. Those four balls could even turn into four black birds that flew around and even shrieked at Tianming. When he took that manna out, the ground continued to sink and burn as the black ravens flew around the manna and tore at his black arm, causing a clanging sound to reverberate throughout the hall.

“It’s a four-star universal manna indeed.” Tianming recalled that even the five ultimate tribulation manna he had acquired from the Kilostar Domain had powers that were under control, unlike these almost sentient forces of nature. They didn’t look like simple treasures, but entire microcosms in their own right instead.