The Evolution

Rowan's mana space was where the real change was happening, so as he left the mindscape and returned to his body, the real change began to take place in the same instant. The first thing to happen was that instead of just the arm that was in front of his mana space, it was now a full person. It had no features on its face, but it was covered in the same tribal lines that now bound Rowan's galaxy like body. It also had changed slightly and seemed like it was slightly closer to a light purple than the vermillion that represented the berserker in him.

Rowan's mind inspected his body and the changes that had taken place over the course of his time in the mindscape. The soul force that had zoomed its way around his mana space had devoured his mana completely now a single drop of soul force, less than even what was there before began to zoom around once more but this time much quicker and more violent than it had been before. After the thousandth time spinning around the cloud circle, its rotation became more violent, like an overstuffed washing machine. His mana space began to shake and while it was shaking, golden cracks began to spread through it.

All of a sudden, the entire thing shattered with a massive boom that, even in the state of the cocoon, hurt Rowan so badly that he almost passed out. At the same time, though, the body stopped being so illusory and more solid and it reached out. It lightly grabbed his mana space, careful not to further break the already broken thing and placed it to his chest. There was a shining golden light and information flooded Rowan's mind and all of a sudden the faceless storm body had a shining golden cloud emblazoned on its chest and Rowan could feel his mana surging back to life as pure mana poured into him.

All of a sudden, the entire second layer turned once more toward this unnamed resource planet because the pure mana that Rowan was absorbing was, in fact, such a massive amount of mana that his surroundings were not enough. He was absorbing mana on a scale that not even the second layer had seen before. Slowly but surely, it began to show a change. The storm body became less vermillion and more purple with each passing moment, while at the same time the cloud on his chest revealed that its golden state was it being empty. Instead, like water dripping from a stalactite, a single drop of pure platinum mana fell into the cloud. Followed by another and then another after that. The three drops were hardly even noticeable in the bottom of the cloud when they were followed by another seven.

The ten drops now had filled the cloud by less than a centimeter, but at the same time Rowan knew that the him now would be capable of slapping the him of ten minutes ago to death with a single thought. As he could feel the power that his entire being radiated he felt his wrist buzz and then a voice.[I have broken down your new cultivation system thanks to being reconnected to you and using knowledge from my master's breakthrough along with others that have broken into the god rank. You have bypassed the building of an inner world like experts before you in favor of this new mana space that is this other version of you in your mana zone. I suspect that going forward as long as you cultivate you will naturally ascend right to rank 12 with no obstacles.]

Rowan nodded along with Empry, he had realized most of this when he got the information from it, the being that existed in his mana zone was not only his new mana core but at the same time was his full spirit king ability, he had fused the two together by finding soul force as early as he did, making it so that everything from here to the demigod rank would be a cakewalk. The true hard part he had understood would be treading where his master did, by stepping into rank 13, the True God level. His master had told him that the true god level was equal to beings born at the beginning of the universe known as astrals, and it was the height he reached. His master told him that after that point, one grew stronger through different means unique to them. His master told him he had met other cultivators at that level and all of them were completely unique.

[That being said, it means that while you just need mana right now, to fully step into rank 13 and become a true god from the dimensional god rank you will need to not only entirely fill this cloud with soul force but at the same time you will need to fuse this other body into your body to complete the process and become a true god. Failure would mean death but more than even that, it confirms that you will also need to complete the evolution of your fairy race and consume all of your fleshly body in favor of this new form you are currently taking.] Rowan nodded to no one and stopped cultivating as the process was finished and slowly began to shake the cocoon off as he stood up on top of the ship.

"Thanks Empry. If you can factor all of these changes in and all the changes that just happened and reflect them on my status page." The bracelet buzzed again [Understood, update coming within 24 hours, congratulations on reaching rank 8. You are just two steps away from becoming a demigod and one step closer to ascending to the first layer.] Rowan smiled at no one and got to work on exactly what he had talked about as he opened an inventory on the bracelet and looked skyward. "Alright then, I guess it's time to leave this place then." Rowan jumped down from the top of the ship and made his way inside of the ship. Everyone else went to separate rooms to recover other than Genma, who had stayed in the cockpit of the ship with Em."

Genma looked at him like he was looking at a monster as Rowan noticed the same amazement as before, but this time there was something else, something distinctive that was easy for Rowan to catch. It was fear. Genma was looking at him with fear in his eyes. Em, on the other hand, treated him just the same and somersaulted from her current position, messing with the cockpit and into Rowan's arms. "Ya know, one day you will be too big to do that, you know?" Em looked at him like he was stupid as she grinned from ear to ear. "Oh really? I'm pretty sure I just saw you conjure an arm so big that I would be able to do that even if I was the size of Raid Tower." Rowan looked at her speechlessly due to her foiling his attempts to tease her. "Has anyone ever told you that you are way too rotten for a little girl? You must be a bad apple and bad apples must be TICKLED!" Em screamed at the top of her lungs the moment the last word left his mouth "NO!" She tried to jump down and book it but the moment that her feet touched the ground Rowan had returned her to his arms and commenced with his words.

She giggled until she fell asleep, proving that she was just as tired as the rest of them. She was immensely talented in her own right, but she too was tired from the battle that had taken place. Rowan slowly caressed her hair and looked up at Genma. "I have indeed gotten more powerful, but I am the same person I was when the day begun." Genma nodded his head "I can see that now, It's more like when you first walked in, your entire presence felt foreign and for them who have hardly even stepped foot into cultivation currently they were not able to feel the immense pressure that was just here but I was able to. It felt like the entire world had collapsed down on me for several seconds and there was a feeling of power so strong that I almost bowed subconsciously."

Rowan nodded, ``I have indeed stepped past anything that should have been possible but I also learned a great many things, and considering your position with the Interstellar academy, they should be things that you, too, are privy to." Genma's eyes lit up with a gleam, "See now boy, you are worth talking to! Come, let us talk about the Ark and its history. I think there's a great many things that I can tell you."

Rowan agreed with those words. A time cultivator who had lived on the second layer his entire life would be invaluable in teaching him about things that would have been out of his grasp before this moment. At the same time, though, he thought to himself of the truth of the Ark and thought. "While I can't tell you, I bet there are a great many things I could tell you as well." Instead, Rowan just shook the thought from his mind and began to listen to the recounting of the Arks' history while everyone recovered in preparation for what was their departure from this planet.