Heir of Synthesis: The World Mage

After storing the Exalted Spear in his spatial ring, Priam spun on his heels and dashed toward the stairs.

Since he had spent so much time looting everything without leaving even a speck of dust behind, there were now less than five minutes left before the Vessel pierced the void and disappeared forever.

Emerging onto the bow’s deck, he ran toward Mo Lan. The flow of bestial energy connecting the young woman to her ancestor was rapidly fading.

The moment Priam reached her, the skeleton’s colossal aura completely evaporated.

Mo Lan collapsed backward, still unconscious, but Priam reached her in time.

His Yang barrier had remained active and stable the entire time. Without that defensive shield, the Death Yin would have invaded Mo Lan and Arvid instantly within seconds.

The two of them never would have made it to this place without Priam’s help. And during those few minutes, both had been protected by the aura of their ancestors.

When Mo Lan’s consciousness finally cleared, her eyes widened as she realized she was being held firmly around the waist under Priam’s arm. She struggled in sudden alarm, and Priam released her without ceremony.

Right in front of them, Arvid was also finishing his ancestral trance. Unlike the girl, he didn’t pass out, but he was breathing heavily, his eyes shining with newly awakened power.

Priam sighed in relief, then silently observed the two of them.

[Name: Mo Lan]

[Race: Black Shadow Serpent]

[Bestial Level: 13]

[Karmic Title: Lady Knight]

[Bloodline: 95]

[Anima: 60]

[Wheel of Fate: 30]

[Loyalty: High]

---

[Name: Arvid]

[Race: Arcane Astrapids]

[Bestial Level: 13]

[Karmic Title: Lord General]

[Bloodline: 95]

[Anima: 25]

[Wheel of Fate: 65]

[Loyalty: High]

Priam smiled in satisfaction. In the previous days, he had gotten a look at Arvid’s attributes: the young man’s Bloodline had been 75, a number already far higher than the others of his race, whose Bloodline didn’t exceed 50.

Mo Lan shouldn’t have been much different. Now, the direct inheritance had raised both of their Bloodlines to an impressive 95 points.

When the two finally stood up, they stared at Priam without being able to utter a single word.

The leap in power within their essences was like the difference between heaven and earth. Both had received their ancestors’ most secret techniques and high-level knowledge. Once they returned, the transmission of this wisdom would irreversibly propel the strength of their entire races forward.

”Enough sightseeing. We’re out of time!” Priam warned hurriedly, snapping the two out of their daze.

The trio quickly moved toward the edge of the ship. They exchanged glances, and the next second, jumped simultaneously, still remaining inside Priam’s barrier.

They hit the ground of the plain with a solid impact.

Looking around, they saw that the landscape had changed drastically. Dense sand covered the area like a fog, and the energy fluctuations were chaotic, exploding in every direction.

Priam focused on the ground. Then he sensed the pure signature of Great Mist energy permeating the earth around him.

The Vessel was only minutes away from disappearing. The excess of this energy brought from outside had already collapsed over the region, merging with the earth and creating Great Mist Stones.

Noticing that the Death Yin radiation was much weaker on the surface, Priam dispelled the Yang barrier. A few meters ahead of them, however, the lethal temporal distortion at the epicenter was still pulsing fiercely.

”Let’s get the hell out of here,” he ordered, and the three of them began marching toward the edges of the plain.

In the distance, the ranks of the two great races couldn’t see through the sandstorm, but their senses immediately picked up that the trio had returned.

”THEY DID IT!”

Cries of pure euphoria and visceral roars erupted from both armies.

It seemed like an unbelievable dream; for thousands of years, every attempt had ended in death. They had never even imagined they would live to see one of their own reach the legendary Heavenly Vessel and return from it unharmed.

As the three crossed through the dense curtain of sand...

**BUZZ**

A violent buzzing tore through space, accompanied by an intense earthquake. The ground shook as if the realm itself were about to collapse.

Everyone looked up just in time to see the colossal Heavenly Vessel pierce through the fabric of reality on the horizon, disappearing into the void without leaving a single trace behind.

Within seconds, the phenomenon ceased.

A suffocating, deathly silence took over the plain.

Priam let out a deep sigh as the dust storm at the center began to settle.

In less than two minutes, the ground revealed a mesmerizing sight: an area spanning several kilometers was glowing with a radiant, multicolored light.

Millions of Great Mist Stones sprouted from the ground, covering the entire land.

It was an incalculable fortune. However... Priam knew that the crystals stored inside his spatial ring were worth thousands of times more than that entire plain put together.

Immediately, the atmosphere between the two armies changed. Both sides began releasing their energy, their battle auras rising.

”Don’t move!” Mo Lan’s voice echoed like thunder, filled with cold authority.

She turned toward the Calamity Beasts’ army, her gaze firm. ”We’re not going to fight. I made an agreement! Our races must unite against the invaders!”

Her words, however, slammed into a wall of hostile stares. No one there seemed willing to go along with it.

”Divine Daughter...” An ancient Black Shadow Serpent spoke calmly.

It was the respected Leader of the race, the mind behind the race’s tactics. His eyes glowed with an icy blue hue.

”Even if a truce against the invaders is necessary, the resources on this plain are essential if we want any chance of changing our future. There is absolutely no possibility of a ’friendly division.’”

The math was simple and cruel: for a young heir to fully awaken the Immortal Mark and have a chance of going to the Central Region of the realm, they needed to use at least 60% of all the Great Mist Stones created by the Vessel.

The remaining 40% was the bare minimum needed to nourish the tribe and cultivate the heir for the next cycle.

If they split it 50/50, neither race would reach the minimum quota needed to awaken the Immortal Mark. The result? Both would fail in the ancestral mission of trying to restore the world.

In the past, the war over these resources had always been the climax of the generation. The winner would take the majority of the resources, allowing them to attempt to complete the mission.

Of course, in every attempt, the person sent would always return without their memories, and nothing would change.

But the Great Races couldn’t stop trying. It was the only possibility they knew of to try to restore their world. It was the mission given to them by the will of the heavens when the entire world collapsed.

They had to fight to send a young heir every cycle. Dividing everything simply wasn’t an option.

Mo Lan and Arvid knew all of this. The threat of the invaders demanded unity, but the math of the resources made peace impossible.

Not knowing how to untangle this deadlock, the two turned their heads in sync, fixing their eyes on Priam.

Priam, who had spent days studying the culture and needs of the beasts, understood the dilemma perfectly. And luckily for everyone, he had the solution in his spatial ring.

”?”

However, before Priam could take even a single step forward...

A repulsive vibration sent the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.

He sensed an energy signature he knew all too well emerging out of nowhere.

’Corruption!’

Priam abruptly turned his head toward the south.

The fabric of space on the horizon twisted, creaking before tearing open into gray, distorted rifts.

From within the distortion...

A monstrous army marched out of the rift.

There were thousands of massive Corrupted Beasts, their eyes bloodshot and black veins pulsing beneath their skin.

At the front of that army marched nearly a hundred Sorcerers, wrapped in dark robes and radiating sinister auras.

The shock was instantaneous. The two Great Races, positioned to the east and west of the plain, froze in horror at the sight of the horde emerging.

They could sense that they were Calamity Beasts, Heavenly Beasts, and Impure Beasts... but at the same time, they seemed to have become something completely different.

Priam let out a dry snort.

The numbers of this army of Corrupted Beasts were smaller than those of the other two armies.

But even if the Impure Beasts and Calamity Beasts forgot centuries of hatred and fought side by side with perfect coordination... the only fate awaiting them was absolute slaughter.

After all, the Sorcerers would create more and more soldiers throughout the battle, gradually turning the tide.

”HAHAHAHAHA! Unbelievable! Look at all this wealth... WE’RE RICH!”

While terror paralyzed the native beasts, a deafening laugh filled with sickening mockery echoed across the battlefield.