I Can Assimilate Everything

The Sea of Thalassara now stretched across the havens like a second sky, a living curtain of cerulean light veining through clouds and atmosphere alike. It shimmered as it flowed, undulating in slow, steady ripples that spread without resistance across the Cenotaph Wild Lands.

Its expansion did not cease with the departure of the Ancient Ones from the Adrastia Continent.

Even as the dragons, high elves, panthera lions, dwarves, and slimes returned to their distant continents, the sky above them continued to change. They looked up, and they saw it. That vibrant sea, alive and humming with mysterious energy, crept outward without end. Fifty thousand miles of it spread- until, finally, it seemed to pause, hovering in silence.

Yet even then, it was not finished.

Isolated Pools of Thalassara, like massive floating sapphires, began to branch out like lanterns scattered by glorious hands. They hovered gently above forests and valleys, mountain peaks and open plains, reflections of starlight winking across their surfaces. They moved slowly, drifting across territories as if carried by the will of something far beyond mortal comprehension.

No one needed to come to the Adrastia Continent anymore.

The voice of King Primal whispered across the land, subtle and heavy!

You want power? Then reach for it!

And they did. Forces from countless Ancient Lineages continued to approach the floating pools and radiant seas with reverence and skepticism. They dipped in. They evolved. Cautious observers watched every movement of the newly formed Thalassarians, scanning for abnormalities, for control, for madness.

They found none.

The result was a tidal wave. Tens of thousands entered the waters in a single day. Tens of thousands emerged with wings, oceanic runes, and glowing starlight surging through their veins.

A day later…

On the far edges of the Adrastia Continent, at the place where the land kissed the infinite blue above, stood the Monkey King.

Sun stretched lazily on a violet stone slab embedded in a raised garden. He leaned back against a massive glowing fruit tree, its bark a lustrous shade of radiant purple-gold. The leaves shimmered with prismatic hues, and hanging among them were the famed Primordium Evolutius Fruits- each one pulsing with life and raw advancement.

Waterfalls of energy flowed nearby, spilling from the towering cliffs in a constant rush of primordial essence and Evolutius light. Their fall sculpted the air, forming misty ribbons of power that wove between the crystalline foliage like a weaving of stars unraveling.

And amidst all of it, standing with a quiet grace, was the Primordial Avatar of Achilles.

The version of him carved in quiet majesty and terrifying serenity. His body radiated power with each breath. Waves of Primordial Energy and Evolutius Energy drifted from him, feeding the land, nurturing the forest of miraculous trees that had begun to root into the very fabric of the continent.

Sun turned his gaze from the farmland to the skysea that blanketed the world above. His lips parted in a slow whistle.

"Fifty thousand miles," he murmured, his eyes narrowing at the cerulean stretch. "You're not subtle, you know."

Achilles said nothing.

Sun shifted his weight and tilted his head. "Be honest with me. You've got spores in there, right? Some mind-binding trick or molecular brand that'll let you snap your fingers and make all those Ancients bow?"

Achilles smiled, the faintest rise of his lips. "Do you really want the answer?"

Sun blinked, then nodded once, golden eyes gleaming. "Yeah…I do."

"There are no spores in the Sea," Achilles said softly, folding his hands behind his back. "Not a single one."

Sun straightened slowly, his eyes narrowing. "No spores?"

"None," Achilles repeated, voice even.

The Monkey King studied him for a moment longer, gaze unreadable. "Then you're giving this away for free? That doesn't sound like the you I know, from the little that I do know about you.."

Achilles turned back to the sea, his golden robes fluttering faintly in the wind. "No spores," he said again. "But… there are other gifts hidden in the water. Other... marks. With the right authority, I can reach anyone who has evolved within it."

Sun's brows lifted.

He whistled again, low and long.

"So you weren't lying, but you weren't exactly telling the whole truth either."

Achilles didn't answer.

The Monkey King laughed. "They're walking right into it, you know. One after another. Giving up their freedom because the fruit tastes sweet."

His tone carried no malice. Just an amused resignation, as if he were watching the world turn in ways it always had.

"You," Sun said, pointing a finger lazily toward Achilles, "are one of the most terrifying beings I've ever met. And I've met many. But you?" He chuckled. "You win without even fighting."

Achilles' eyes shimmered as he stared at the vastness of the Thalassarian sea. "Oh… someone interesting just entered a Pool."

Sun blinked, then turned to look, but could not see anything as the one that had entered entered from a pool over a hundred thousand miles away.

Achilles' gaze sharpened. "A Royal Panthera Lion. Empyrean Star Nexus Transcendent."

"...Seriously? They went through with it? Have they come under your control?!" Sun's grin faltered.

Achilles' only reply was a soft laugh. It wasn't mocking. It wasn't cruel. It was the sound of inevitability.

Sun didn't need to ask. That laughter told him everything.

Somewhere across the Plane, a being that once stood above nearly all others had just bound themselves to the Sea of Thalassara.

And they didn't even know who the tide answered to.

The Monkey King turned his head slowly, watching the sea ripple. His voice dropped to a murmur.

"How's this Plane going to look in a few weeks?"

"…"

The question hovered in the air.

He continued, the weight of his words pressing against the soft breeze. "If things keep going the way they are… you'll be standing above Ancients and humans alike. The protector. The ruler. All of it will fall on you."

He turned his head, fixing Achilles with a piercing stare.

"So tell me, King Primal. When the Planar Barrier falls, and the Crimson Eyes pour through… how confident are you that you'll still be standing?"

A silence followed. One that even the sea dared not disturb.

Achilles said nothing.

But his golden eyes shimmered, staring forward with a calm too deep to be faked.

As if… he already knew.

He fucking knew!