CHAPTER 286: TRUE PASSIVE FARM

After talking with Irana, Darian walked up to her and sent Heaven’s Will’s blessing straight into her rings. When she felt that energy flowing and merging with her, her body trembled in total disbelief.

Her planet had already had blessed ones in the previous generation — her mother was one of them, which explained her immense power. But never in history had a planet had blessed ones in two consecutive generations, so she had already accepted that as an unchangeable fact. Now...

"I’m your older brother now, right? No need for formalities or thanks. I trust you’ll keep this a secret from those who can’t know." Darian spoke calmly.

She nodded, her eyes trembling. "Thank you... I swear you won’t regret it."

Darian agreed. Her being blessed would help him a lot. Since her planet had plenty of resources, they’d give her vast knowledge about that power, and as a consequence, he’d also end up benefiting from it.

The twelve hours were almost up, so they left.

Outside... the whole academy — and almost a quarter of the planet — was now taken over by giant trees and other natural lifeforms. Everyone Athven had brought was already spread across the planet, blending in with the strange vegetation that already existed there.

As for Athven and the sprouts, Darian had other plans. Wherever the World Tree was, natural life would flourish easily, even on a dead planet. The universe’s laws would be drawn to the planet and, after a long time, everything would come back — it was almost magic.

The sprouts, on the other hand, were Foundation Trees, with a similar ability to the World Tree, but on a smaller scale. That’s why Darian planned to spread them on other dead planets; the academy’s planet already had the great inscription, so it wasn’t really needed there.

Darian split everyone into three small, well-balanced groups. He wouldn’t take the newcomers from Celestia Academy, nor the Mannaz and wolves — only the strongest and most capable, forming smaller teams.

The goal was to sneak into the planet and reach the core without being detected. Athven assured him that his roots wouldn’t interfere as long as he was present in the universe; he could sense them and influence that.

Darian took one last look at his younger brother and sister. They stared into his eyes, full of determination and confidence. Darian didn’t say anything — he just trusted them. He had already shown them how to do it before.

"Let’s go," Darian signaled to everyone who was watching him with focus.

The twins were given a spatial artifact and the coordinates to reach their destination, while Howlyn handed them a special academy emblem. With that, they just had to reach the corrupted core to reestablish the connection.

Darian opened the spatial channel, and Niara jumped through quickly with her whole group.

***

When he arrived, that planet looked a lot like the other one he had invaded and conquered. No mystery this time, he moved in with a small group of five people. Irana, Haruto, Matteo, and Veyle were with him, along with their Summoners.

The four were only there so their partners, carriers of the Enfield Bloodline, could help detect the elements and energies of the place.

Darian could clearly sense karma and a bit of the five natural elements, but if traps or different inscriptions had been used, he could be caught off guard. For that, these Mannaz were extremely useful.

The difference from before was that Darian was now way, way stronger and more experienced. He didn’t need to move slowly and with extreme caution anymore; he could feel a vast area around him and easily pinpoint where all the Risen were.

The twins could also locate the Risen. Before, it was just a feeling, but now that perception in them was much clearer and sharper.

Darian moved forward with the group at high speed toward the planet’s center, stopping only when he felt, through contact with the ground, that the Risen’s trap was ahead. Everyone got ready to retreat fast if something went wrong.

But nothing happened, thanks to Athven. And so, they finally reached the core of it all. After so many problems and winning a terrifying battle in a distant place, they arrived at their goal safely.

Darian waited a bit, since the twins would take longer. He pressed the academy emblem, which would send them a message letting them know he was ready.

He waited patiently...

...but those two never disappointed him. In less than ten hours, both of their emblems sent the return signal.

He sighed, relieved.

*Crack!*

With that, in just a few minutes, the last three planets reconnected with the academy. Howlyn, who had been waiting, felt it and instantly unleashed all the academy’s power.

**WOOOOSH!**

The three planets pulsed with intense divine light.

At the same time, the defensive power of the inscription was activated. It’s worth remembering that the runes of the three planets were only sealed; their energies remained intact and fully charged with power the whole time.

With that, all the Risen on the three planets felt an invincible power strike them mercilessly, wiping them out completely.

...

Darian returned to the Academy, and shortly after, the twins arrived too, with proud expressions on their faces.

Endi was waiting for them anxiously. Niara ran straight to the Academy’s core and then poured all the power of her Bloodline into boosting the inscription’s capacity.

With all that power, the runes of the inscription pulsed ten times more intensely.

In no time, the whole galaxy trembled as the inscriptions began gathering an immense amount of energy from the universe at incredible speed.

The Risen Lords realized it too late. By the time they started mobilizing their troops...

...looking toward that galaxy, they saw nothing but a celestial blue barrier appear and expand at the speed of light, covering everything.

In just seconds, a new primordial barrier surrounding the entire galaxy had formed, stopping any powerful Risen from getting in.

All the countless Risen already inside the galaxy’s planets weren’t directly affected, but they lost their connection to the Risen Lords outside and were now trapped inside the galaxy, like turtles in a jar.

Howlyn and all the Mannaz in the Academy were so euphoric they couldn’t even form any understandable words. A second galaxy protected by the inscription had appeared!

"Hehehe... easy, we’re not done yet. We’ve got a lot of work ahead to wipe out all the Risen on the planets. This will take years." Niara said, laughing at everyone’s expressions.

Darian took a deep breath. All the Risen on the planets were Risen Chief level or lower. The wolves, sprouts, and Mannaz had the ability to take them down on their own, as long as they were careful.

Now, he could return to Earth. Howlyn would handle everything in that universe, conquering one planet at a time and collecting anything useful to store until Darian came back. It would be like a true passive farm — Darian wouldn’t have to work.

Wasting no time, he went to the three member planets alongside Howlyn. That’s where the weapon factories with Risen cores were located.

Just like before, there were hundreds of traitor Spiritual Guardians who had been captured and used to make those weapons. Darian repeated the process, placing a shadow rune on them.

Almost two-thirds accepted their mistakes and chose to pay for their sins; so Darian stored them away. In total, he now had over three thousand sleeping souls, waiting for a Summoner to use them.

Fortunately, there weren’t any light souls, since his white ring had disappeared and the fate of such souls would be uncertain.

After that, he gathered all the weapons with corrupted cores from the place. Unfortunately, he no longer had white power to purify them and remove the corruption. So, he just sealed them and stored them in his spatial ring for the future.

But that wasn’t a big problem. Those weapons were made from low-quality materials, and now Darian had a forger capable of crafting high-level items.

Haruto would go back to Earth and keep training with everything Darian had given him. Eventually, he’d be able to create rune seals. Also, Darian already had countless high-level weapons he brought from Earth and had placed cores into.

In the following days, Darian spread Athven and his sprouts across the planets, placing them on the four member planets of the inscription. That would be their new home, and soon enough, they would become living, nature-rich planets.

Although... without a sun, strange things would be born, just like on the Academy’s main planet.

That was the galaxy’s main problem. Without suns, the only way to force life to grow was almost artificial — like making a controlled greenhouse on a hostile planet. For other Mannaz without power to live in that galaxy again, he’d have to find a way to fix it.

Thinking it over, Darian saw an obvious solution. No one could bring anything from Earth or other universes into this place... but he could. If he searched well enough, he’d surely find Supreme Artifacts capable of solving the problem.

After that, he helped Howlyn conquer the first planets of the galaxy.

Soon, Darian’s thirty days in that universe came to an end.

With many gains and a great loss, he could say he had achieved his goal. Then, his soul was taken back home...

***

And at the exact second his soul returned to his original body...

On hundreds of planets in the Universe of Heaven’s Will, all under demon control, a huge commotion suddenly erupted, leaving everyone in shock.

And yes, it definitely wasn’t a coincidence.

*The Devil Lord has been born!!!*