Village Head's Debauchery

However, there was a group of women who refused to return. They were women who had passed the age of fertility, among others whose youthfulness had been restored.

With the influence of Orion's identity and knowing how he treated his women, regardless of their race, he had become the template of the ideal man within Paradise.

As such, they would much rather return unknowingly than do so themselves.

With such numbers, the next generation would be filled with children of formidable divine lineage, and Paradise would become far stronger than what a newly created cosmic structure should ever resemble.

Orion's mind was at ease.

According to his assumption, one of his enemies had access to a method capable of creating subservient mechanical lifeforms capable of eliminating divine beings and spirit beasts, and the other could create Vylkr entities that could endlessly evolve as long as they consumed lifeforce.

As a former Vylkr energy barrier, he was already aware of its limitations.

He didn't yet know how many divines were in the secret dimension that the bizarre white flame had spoken to him about. He doubted that they had numbers comparable to those of Paradise.

Orion still didn't forget about Iyriath Zi'ria's words, that there were more Mysteries out there apart from Paradise's and the Divine Mysteries.

One of which he already suspected was the Spirit realm.

Any being capable of creating a cosmic structure and its Mysteries wasn't someone that could be treated lightly.

So the White Flame Ascension would serve as Paradise's last line of defence. In which case, every resident would be given a chance to attain divinity should the cosmic structure face an imminent collapse.

Still, as they were only just becoming accustomed to their powers, they couldn't remain within the domain of the gods for long. Their presence risked triggering a calamity that could harm the mortal beings still residing within it.

Fortunately, that day, Nazelita informed him that the White Flame Cosmic Tree was now open for settlement. And it was also on that very day that Sylvalis had awakened.

Orion gathered his wives, Grace, and the rest of the high-ranking officials, who were all now in true godhood, and godhood, and took them to meet her.

They swiftly arrived at the location where Sylvalis had been placed.

"I can't wait to meet Sylvalis," Grace said, hopping around in the air around Orion.

"I'm sure she'll be happy to see us after this long," Orion responded with a smile.

Suddenly, a rift in the sky opened, revealing the metaphysical plane of the intertwined roots of the cosmic trees.

The atmosphere immediately went silent as everyone stared at the brilliance emitted from the rift. It was so bright that even they, who had become beings at the apex of divinity, could only squint their eyes to avoid becoming temporarily blind.

Moments later, a woman walked out of the blinding light. It was a beautiful nymph with a golden upper body and a black lower body, dressed in attire seemingly woven from many luminescent leaves and flowers that appeared to have been sculpted from the cosmos.

Behind her was a glowing halo that spun and hummed intensely at a mysterious frequency. She was Sylvalis.

The rift sealed behind her.

When Sylvalis emerged, Grace could no longer hold herself and disappeared, teleporting beside her.

"Sylvalis, you're back!... Woww! You look like an adult! How are you doing? Are you feeling fine? If you aren't, tell me, and I'll inform Nazelita. Do you know her? She's my new little sister?! I am now the big sister to many, many brothers and sisters! Haha! You've got to treat me with way more respect in the future, even if you're now an adult..." Grace spoke, her gaze shimmering with excitement as she bounced beside Sylvalis.

Sylvalis smiled and listened to her words attentively, while subtly glancing around her surroundings with a sharp intelligence in her gaze.

Orion noticed this and couldn't help but ponder what had transpired to Sylvalis during the past few weeks.

He had learned from Nazelita that, due to Sylvalis' role as a Boundary Will, receiving support about the Material Realm and the White Flame Cosmic Tree, and its Mysteries, she was unable to interfere directly with whatever was happening to Sylvalis unless she came into agreement with the Will of the Twelve Step Stairs and him.

But even then, she could sense the current state of Sylvalis' well-being and relay the information back to him. Nonetheless, she was sure that her mother had already arranged everything perfectly, which was why she had been confident nothing bad would happen to her.

Rather than come up with his own conclusions, he decided to wait and ask her directly. He didn't want to interrupt his daughter's reunion.

"Hehe! I'll wait until you're also an adult so we can have a more adult conversation. We can still play. I'll have enough time, so you don't need to worry," Sylvalis said with a chuckle.

Grace snorted. "I would've become an adult long ago if it weren't for the fact that my parents wanted me to grow more naturally. But I'll wait till then."

Sylvalis nodded. She finally looked ahead to face the others with a smile. Initially, she was taken aback by the terrifying auras of the divine beings gathered around her.

But, after receiving information from Nazelita and the Will of the Twelve Step Stairs, she understood the tremendous changes that had occurred within Paradise over just a few short weeks.

Sylvalis soared toward Orion and his company and immediately bowed respectfully the moment she arrived.

"How do you feel?" Orion asked with a smile, stretching his hand to her shoulder so he could help her raise her head.

He still remembered taking her to the Spirit Realm when she was just a child, and he had already considered her his daughter due to her relationship with Grace. Seeing her fully grown up, he couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

Was this how he would feel once all his children came of age?

Orion pushed the thought to the back of his mind.

"I feel better than I felt previously. I've already gotten in touch with Nazelita and the Mysteries of the Twelve Step Stairs, which has helped me better understand the responsibility of my task. I'm confident that I can fulfil it to the best of my abilities," Sylvalis responded, her tone serious. "One more thing that I would like to add is that I seem to have recovered my memories."

The moment she mentioned this, Orion's gaze sharpened. Though he had already suspected it, having Sylvalis confirm the information herself brought him a sense of relief, because it meant she would now understand what had happened to her in her previous life.

At the same time, it was precisely that which made him worry, because it meant Sylvalis had remembered what had been done to her by Naka.

Sensing the ripple in her eyes as she spoke, Orion realised it was already too late to act. Still, her memories could contain valuable information about Naka.

Orion sighed inwardly.

"Let's talk about this privately," Orion said, gesturing for the others to leave.

One by one, they gave a respectful bow and vanished from sight.

Suddenly, the once-crowded atmosphere became silent, with only Orion and Sylvalis remaining.

"Tell me what you remember," Orion said, his tone serious.

Sylvalis nodded and began to narrate. "It was after Naka's failed experimentation with the villagers to create the perfect race. I was one of many tree nymphs tasked with providing food to the races that had also failed due to their bodies being unable to handle the mother seed cells. These cells transformed them into tainteds."

"I remember that Naka had stayed behind to work on another private experiment. And the only reason I remembered this... was because he eventually shifted his focus toward the nymphs, to see if 'we' could produce the perfect race of his creation."

"It was an idea he had after the emergence of the tainteds, and he became obsessed with seeing it come to fruition. Due to the unique way our race is designed to nurture the future generation collectively, the tree nymphs showed promising results... I was one of his test subjects."

She paused, clenching her fists tightly as she struggled to compose her emotions, then continued.

"He dissected us and did all manner of things to us until we were no longer the same. He even went as far as implanting Omnithrialian's tissues and bones into our bodies to prolong our lives, strengthen us, so we could accomplish such a task. Regardless of how unbelievable it was, he actually succeeded."

"However, when the Vylkr spawns emerged, they lacked reason and were just as senseless and vicious as the tainteds. And all of them were like the villagers, though they were more powerful than the apex of the strongest mortals; they were still weak when compared to those who had attained divinity."

"Because of this, he began another experiment. This time, he focused on the Divine Apostle Crest to re-engineer it so that he could control the Vylkr spawns and have them consume other life forces to grow stronger, rather than depend solely on his own power."

.....

Yes. Orion will be meeting Naka soon.