Chapter 339: Celestials

When Priam opened his eyes, he took a deep breath. He finally understood the true nature of his own class.

Celestials were beings genuinely blessed by the Sovereigns. No one knew exactly how or why, but when someone condensed their Jade Core to become a Mage, the laws of the world intervened, subtly altering the result. That was how a Celestial Core came to life.

This was the Inborn Celestial.

At first, its primordial ability was to shape the Ether within its own body to simulate the power of any other class. The Mystic class even possessed a similar ability, but a Celestial could replicate a class’s abilities at a level superior to those of someone who actually belonged to that class — there wasn’t even a comparison.

Besides that, the most terrifying aspect of a Celestial was their limitless talent and potential. They were like gods among mortals: they learned anything in the blink of an eye, possessed unmatched combat ability, and, above all, had luck that defied the very heavens.

It was as if legendary treasures were begging to be found by them. Anything that could possibly go right for a Celestial always would.

However, the abilities of an Inborn initially stopped there.

After all, that was merely their basic power — a blessing deliberately calculated to ignite the envy of other Mages and make everyone wish they possessed what the Celestial had.

This wasn’t an assumption. A Celestial, whether Inborn or Acquired, was an entity with a huge target on their back. Every commoner wanted to kill them at the first opportunity, driven by envy and greed.

When a Celestial was killed, in the case of an Inborn, their Celestial Core would condense into a mark. That mark could be absorbed by a common person, transforming them into a Celestial as well.

However, it was common knowledge that only 8% of assimilation attempts succeeded. And the reason behind such a low success rate lay in the class’s ultimate power.

The exact moment an Inborn Celestial awakened, they received one of the 12 Sovereign Manifestations. Since each of the 6 Sovereigns had created two of these manifestations, only one of them would be perfectly compatible with that individual’s soul.

Thus, when a Celestial died, anyone who attempted to become an Acquired Celestial had exactly a one-in-twelve chance of being compatible with the mark left behind.

When an Inborn died, and the absorption failed, that power simply disappeared.

But why would the Sovereigns choose someone, only to allow them to be killed and have their power stolen by someone else?

No one knew the exact answer. However, it clearly seemed to be a test.

That was because an Inborn Celestial could only unlock the true potential of their class if they survived thousands of brutal battles. At some point during this trial, the Sovereign Manifestation would finally awaken.

Hiding in fear of death was completely useless. If an Inborn Celestial spent too much time without fighting or pushing themselves to their limits, the very laws of the world — the same laws that had elevated them — would strip them of that blessing.

There were records of sects that excessively protected their Celestial disciples. In less than 50 years, those disciples would simply die on their own, erased from existence by the laws of the world as punishment for their cowardice.

As for Acquired Celestials, the dynamic was completely different.

When a common person successfully assimilated the mark and transformed, they received the title of Initial Acquired Celestial.

Unlike the Inborn, an Initial Acquired Celestial was born with a fraction of the class’s true power. Not the Sovereign Manifestation itself, but an overwhelming passive force.

They could activate the Celestial Mark to suppress common people with absurd ease. Furthermore, killing them was one of the most complex tasks in the world. Even if their physical body was completely destroyed, the Celestial Mark would regenerate it from scratch.

Did this healing have any limits?

None.

The only way to kill an Acquired Celestial was to destroy their body and immediately attempt to absorb their mark. There was a window of just a few seconds during which this was possible, before complete regeneration took place.

And what if the killer wasn’t compatible with the mark?

There was nothing that could be done. That Acquired Celestial simply would never die.

The only alternative for an infinitely stronger opponent would be to capture them and keep them imprisoned. All they had to do was wait 50 years, and just like what happened with cowardly Inborns, the laws of the world would make them perish on their own.

Beyond the Initial level, there were the Veteran and Specialist levels, forming the three basic stages. With each advancement, the power of an Acquired Celestial became even more monstrous.

Above them was the Supreme Level. This was the peak, the moment when the Sovereign Manifestation could finally be learned.

Inborns, on the other hand, were technically born at the Supreme Level, but with their power sealed. For them, awakening this strength through the baptism of fire brought by countless battles was infinitely easier than for an Acquired Celestial to painfully climb from the Initial level all the way to the top.

There was another extremely important point: there was a way to create Inborn Celestials, but it was absurdly difficult and rare.

This only happened when a very special mission from the Sovereigns was completed. These weren’t ordinary missions, but rather incredibly complex tasks that appeared once every hundreds of generations — or missions that no one had ever managed to complete.

If someone actually completed one, they would receive a Blessing from the Sovereigns.

"That golden egg."

Priam remembered the reward he had received after returning from the mission, finally understanding all the commotion within the sect back then.

From that blessing, it was possible to create not just one, but up to a dozen Inborn Celestials.

Priam had handed it over to the Main Sect, and now he knew exactly what they would do with it. In this generation, the sect would have more than a dozen Inborn Celestials.

"I absorbed that Sorcerer’s Celestial Mark, but I didn’t feel anything different. It’s as if the System absorbed it for some other purpose."

Priam sighed. That power, even if it was only at the Initial level, was already far too valuable. It was a shame he hadn’t gotten to keep any of it besides the points.

"Anyway... at least I’ll never have any trouble against Acquired Celestials. They won’t be able to keep healing endlessly in front of me. Just like I did before, I can simply remove their Celestial Mark, and it’s game over."

Priam snorted. This world was truly unfair. Celestials were ridiculously overpowered compared to common people. Surely, there were countless of them throughout the universe, hidden within the greatest sects.

After some time, Priam realized he had spent more than a day meticulously analyzing all those memories. He then turned toward the nine Sorcerer Elders and began harvesting their memories.

...

Less than an hour later. After examining only the most recent memories of the nine, an excited smile appeared on his face.

Without wasting any time, he sent a message to Dandara, ordering her to move the entire fleet farther west, positioning it exactly at the central point between three galaxies.

One of those galaxies was precisely where Dandara’s home planet was located.

When he arrived in the command room, Priam joined her and explained the situation:

"I discovered the true objective of the Sorcerers. They don’t want to conquer the greatest possible number of the sect’s planets. They only want eight of them at all costs. All those random attacks are nothing more than a distraction to reach their real targets."

Dandara’s expression changed instantly.

Priam nodded. "Your home planet is one of those places, and the enemies have already failed to capture it once. That’s why they’re so tense and taking so long to attack again."

"Our army has been tasked with protecting three of those eight special planets. Now, we’ll position ourselves exactly at the center of the three, since, by coincidence, they’re located in neighboring galaxies."

"Boss is...?" Dandara murmured thoughtfully.

He nodded. "We already know that the Sorcerers are constantly tracking the location of our fleet. Now, when we settle exactly at that neutral point between the three planets, close enough to reach any one of them in mere moments... they’ll all panic, suspecting that we’ve discovered their objective."

"That..." Dandara placed a hand against her chin, an astute smile appearing on her lips. "They’re going to... gather together and try something desperate."

Priam smirked. "Exactly. If everything goes according to plan, we’ll see the results very soon."