Heir of Synthesis: The World Mage

Upon waking from his meditation, Priam learned from Dandara that he had been completely immersed in it for twelve straight hours. They only had nine hours left before the return window closed for good.

”Nine hours... That should be more than enough,” Priam said thoughtfully. He turned to his companion with a confident smile. ”We’ll get at least one powerful Primordial Chaos Beast for you before we leave. Any preferences?”

Hearing that, Dandara’s eyes lit up with almost childlike greed and excitement.

...

A short while later, Priam and Dandara appeared in a mountain range filled with steep peaks.

The moment they stepped onto the highest mountain peak, the space around them trembled.

An alarm hidden within the very structure of the terrain was triggered.

*BZZZZT!*

A sharp, deafening roar tore through the sky. The next second, the spatial power around them distorted, locking down the atmosphere across a radius of dozens of kilometers. An invisible barrier rose up, trapping the couple inside a dimensional cage.

Priam and Dandara felt an overwhelming pressure pinning their bodies down, attempting to prevent any escape. Less than ten seconds later, the sky darkened, filled with an endless sea of colossal Beasts that appeared with furious roars.

”A trap?!” Priam exclaimed, putting his hands on his head and wearing an expression of fury and shock worthy of an acting award.

”Hahaha! Yes, a trap! Unfortunately for you, humanoid worm, you realized it too late!” A thunderous voice filled with pure mockery echoed from above.

Hovering in the sky were no fewer than twenty Philosopher Sage-level figures, accompanied by thousands of Enlightened Sage-level Beasts and hundreds of thousands of lesser Mage Masters. The mass of Beasts covered the sun.

”We went to extraordinary lengths to set this ambush for you. You can die without any regrets!” roared one of the Beast Kings, a monster covered in black scales and flaming horns.

After spending so many days failing to capture the two of them, these Primordial Chaos Beasts had set dozens of traps throughout the region. It was quite unusual for this great race to use something like this, but the mechanism was very simple: the slightest release of non-Beast energy would trigger it.

Dandara put on an expression of absolute terror. She hunched her shoulders and clung to Priam’s arm, trembling like a leaf.

Priam, meanwhile, darkened his expression into a gloomy, hopeless frown. He sighed and slowly shook his head. ”There’s no need to waste our efforts... There’s no way we can resist an army this large.”

The leader of one of the races laughed loudly, extremely pleased with the scene. ”You’re pretty smart, ant! That’s right, if you don’t resist, you won’t suffer as much. Come with us obediently and don’t force us to crush you like an insect. I promise we’ll give you a quick and peaceful death!”

The sea of monsters began closing in around them, drooling in anticipation.

”Wait a moment!” Suddenly, Priam roared indignantly. ”I’m a renowned heroic figure. Am I really going to let myself be dragged away like a coward?! No way! You’ll have to agree to one of my conditions first!”

The Beasts stopped in midair, confused and amused.

”Conditions? Hm, what qualifications does a banquet about to be devoured have to discuss conditions?” one of them snarled dryly.

Another Beast mocked him. ”Are you trying to buy time until someone comes to save you? Hahaha! Don’t even bother!”

Priam snorted in utter disdain, crossing his arms. ”Tch! Were your brains eaten by larvae?! Why the hell would some humanoid come all the way into the lion’s den, right in the middle of enemy territory and surrounded by thousands of monsters, just to save me? That wouldn’t be a rescue. It’d be delivering a free meal combo straight to your doorstep!”

The sarcastic response enraged the Beast Kings. That humanoid’s tone was unacceptable. They were the Kings of this planet, and no one dared mock them like that.

However, since they wanted to capture Priam alive in order to extract his memories, treasures, and spatial rings intact, the more patient leader intervened and asked, ”Then what the hell is your condition?”

Priam flashed a radiant smile. ”My condition is extremely simple and fair, just...

All of you kneel on the ground, hand over absolutely everything you own, and give me a foot massage. Then I’ll consider going with you without a fight!”

Silence fell over the place for a second.

At that moment, Dandara’s terrified act completely collapsed, and she burst into laughter.

”You bastard... You were messing with us this whole time?!” one of the leaders growled, finally realizing that he had been made a fool of.

”Messing with you? Well, you’re right,” Priam replied, his expression instantly shifting from comedic to terrifyingly cold.

”I not only deliberately lured you all here, but I also patiently waited for this entire crowd to gather... because I couldn’t leave without testing my true power!”

**RUMBLE!!**

Priam’s aura erupted like the birth of a golden star.

The Divine Concealment came crashing down, and a colossal pillar of Ether tore through the heavens, shattering the spatial barrier into a thousand pieces.

The pupils of every Beast contracted in absolute terror.

His Elemental Physique and Celestial Battle Armor activated simultaneously. All of the Essence of Creation flowed through his meridians without the slightest hesitation. The genuine aura of a Philosopher Sage emerged from Priam’s body, causing the heavens and earth to hum in resonance.

The enemies’ surprise was only natural. To them, that humanoid had seemed like an insignificant ant, but now he had unleashed an oppressive Philosopher Sage-level power. And worst of all, even though he was only at the elemental stage of the Rank, the quality of his aura was enough to make even the Beast Kings, who were several levels above him, feel a deadly chill run down their spines.

That humanoid boy... had enough power to kill them!

”ACTIVATE THE HIGHEST ALERT!”

”SUMMON ALL THE RACES!!”

Panicked roars echoed in every direction.

Without wasting a millisecond, Priam shot toward the sky.

At that very moment, practically every powerful being scattered across the planet was alerted.

Well... almost every one of them.

In a secret valley protected by ancient formations, an old man with an ancient appearance and a little girl were training in the heart of a multicolored forest.

Suddenly, the old man froze in place. He raised his head toward the sky, his expression filled with pure astonishment at what he had just sensed.

’How was this possible?’

That humanoid had been at a lower Rank until just recently. He had broken through the barrier not long ago... but where had such a terrifyingly dense and overwhelming aura come from?

The old man was absolutely certain that, even though he was only at the elemental stage of his new Rank, that young man was capable of killing any opponent at the same Rank without the slightest difficulty.

Only a Celestial could be his opponent. But... he felt that Priam wasn’t exactly a Celestial either. His aura was completely different, something that only he, someone with a perfect connection to nature and the laws of the world, could sense.

Mirra slowly opened her eyes. Noticing the subtle change in her normally impassive master’s expression, a faint smile appeared on her lips.

”Pry must be putting on a show again...” she murmured with a casual sigh, feeling a burning determination ignite within her soul to become stronger as soon as possible.

The old man turned his gaze toward the girl. However, the light in his pupils was completely different from before.

At that exact moment, he understood something deeply.

There was no longer any reason to hold anything back, conserve resources, or hide his trump cards. He needed to give her absolutely everything he had in order to turn that young girl into the most powerful figure he could possibly make her.

After all... the man she considered her father was destined to shake the heavens, shock the world, and surpass him in the extremely near future.

And when that day came, the girl who carried his legacy would also carve her name into history forever—ensuring that the old man’s legacy would never be forgotten, even long after his death.