Any thoughts Damien had were blown away and his mind became clear. The clarity he felt was exhilaratingly pleasurable.
He watched as the two unique types of magic power fused into one before infusing into the link that connected them. As more and more mana entered the link, it slowly solidified.
Although the connection was still ethereal in its nature, Damien had the feeling that no matter where he went in the universe, no matter how far he went from earth, he'd always be able to feel this connection.
It wasn't just a link anymore, it was more apt to call it a bond.
Damien was so caught up in the sensation that he didn't even notice that his concealment had been blown away. He was standing in plain view of the scientists, who panicked about his presence.
"Who is he and how did he get here?!"
"Someone call backup!"
Meanwhile Lynn looked at Damien with interest. 'They might have missed it, but I saw that burst of magic power. He must be the source of the connection.'
Lynn thought for a minute about what to do, before a sly smile crept onto her face.
"Everyone! Run away! He's trying to destroy the bunker!"
After her words registered in everyone's heads, the scientists immediately bolted for the exit. They no longer cared about the experiment nor did they care to alert anyone. They just wanted to preserve their lives.
Looking back at Damien one last time, a strange glint appeared in Lynn's eyes. And then, without another word, she left as well.
At this time, Damien was still basking in the sensation of this new connection. He felt he could exert his will on this planet with ease and things would get accomplished. The scale was unknown, but he felt that he could even create natural disasters if he so felt like it.
[Congratulations. You have become a Star Master. You have taken the first step towards truly becoming a Celestial.]
[A Celestial cannot be titled as such if they simply gained a connection to celestial bodies. They receive this title due to their ability to bind and become the master of these celestial bodies. Each and every Celestial walks a path towards domination. Your legends have been enhanced.]
Damien read through the system window with wide eyes. He knew that it would be important when he bound the earth, but he didn't think it'd be anything this major. From the simple act of binding the world, he felt that his mana capacity had drastically increased.
He wasn't aware of what other benefits he received, but that was something he'd need to find out in the future. He was just a fledgling Celestial and the earth was just a fledgling world.
In the first place, the reason the earth's will requested to be bound was out of sheer instinct. As a world's will, the most important thing to it was survival. And something attracted it to Damien, telling it that he was the key.
Damien also knew that he wouldn't get answers from the world's will, so he figured he needed to try something else.
'Would Apeiron's will accept this? And is it old enough to have proper sentience?'
Even if it wasn't, Damien wouldn't fret. There were countless worlds in the universe waiting for him to conquer them.
'I don't even want to be an emperor though. That's way too much responsibility. But since I have to conquer worlds anyway, can't I just leave all the political stuff to the people in those worlds who already know the political stuff?'
He liked that idea. What was the point in replacing the emperors that already ruled those worlds? Damien had no interest in upsetting the power balance due to his pursuit of power.
Damien tried to summon his magic power, only to realize that he had used it all to bind the earth. However, this wasn't a problem. Now that he had become the star master of earth, he felt there were certain perks he could use.
Raising hit hand, Damien made a cutting motion through the air. And following that motion, the atmospheric mana became a massive blade and destroyed the equipment that was drilling into the earths core.
He didn't even need his own mana reserves while he was on earth.
'Is this what it feels like to have infinite mana?'
But he quickly shook off this thought. His mana was nowhere near infinite, nor was it immeasurably vast. The privileges he had on earth would stay on earth, so he couldn't get too conceited. Not to mention, the earth still needed to grow.
He couldn't go wantonly using its mana as if it would immediately regenerate it. A world's mana capacity might be leagues higher than any other existence, but since earth was still in its early stages of development, he needed to be more careful.
Especially because those old fogeys from the Cloud Plane were going to be stealing some of the atmospheric mana.
At this time, another change began to occur. Within Damien's body, his mana heart began to thump wildly.
Ba-dum! Ba-dum!
Damien clutched his chest. Every last bit of the mana surrounding him was absorbed into his body as if by a starving beast. And this mana was directly from the world core, containing the mystical properties Damien had sensed previously.
He had a gut feeling that this mana wasn't supposed to be used by humans, lest they kill themselves.
But his body wouldn't listen to him. The mana kept rushing towards him as if it had been waiting for this moment. The usually formless energy took shape and drilled into his mana circuits, injecting itself into his bloodstream.
"AGH!"
Damien let out a strange grunt as he tried to hold himself back from screaming. The mana raged through his body like a wild beast, attempting to destroy him, but also rebuild him.
And then, something that hadn't happened in ages happened once more. Damien's void physique acted, sucking in every last bit of the mana within Damien's body.
Damien heard an audible crunching sound from within his body that continued for a minute before the mana re-emerged. Rather than the gaseous energy or the solidified pieces the mana became earlier, it was now a stream of liquid.
This liquid poured into Damien's mana heart before revolving through the circuits he had created. It was almost like he gained a second type of amethyst colored blood.
Damien didn't know exactly what this meant, but when he summoned his raw magic power, it felt denser and heavier. He felt that the destruction he could cause with a simple mana infused punch was much greater than what it was before.
[Your Mana Circuits have evolved.]
A single line of text appeared in his line of sight. It was then that Damien finally remembered his specific goal when creating his mana circuits.
'They evolve when I evolve. It's a system I'll never need to replace.'
The evolving mana circuits he'd created had even become a trait acknowledged by the system. It was just that since it didn't have any active uses, he had nearly forgotten about it. If he took this into consideration, it made sense for something like this to happen.
The evolution of his mana circuits did indeed increase his power. It wasn't a boost, but more of a fundamental change. The density and purity of mana running through one's body had a direct correlation to the damage output one could produce.
Shaking off his thoughts, Damien used his power as a star master to locate Rose and Elena. They were currently on the 90th floor, pretty close to reaching him.
'I don't know if the commotion I caused has alerted those 3rd classes yet. I guess I should summon those old men so we can properly destroy this place.'
Damien directly teleported outside of the Niflheim headquarters and summoned Rose and Elena before also summoning the old men from the Cloud Plane.
This kind of teleportation wasn't too taxing for the world core, and Damien could even use his own magic power to perform it. He simply used the world core as a medium to expand his range to cover the area he needed.
All 5 of those who were summoned wore confused expressions on their faces, but Damien didn't give them time to think.
Even though the immediate threat to the world core had been removed, the entire thing wouldn't end until Niflheim was destroyed.
Xiao Zhen was currently in an extremely wary state. He felt the spatial fluctuations surround him, but he was unable to resist them. He didn't know how it was possible, but he didn't like what it insinuated.
The other two old men were the same. It was only when Damien's voice rung out that they were snapped back to reality.
"Alright, since everyone's here, let's talk about Niflheim. First, we'll discuss what we found inside, and then we can start the important part of the plan. It's time to destroy this annoying pest of an organization."
