The Heart of Thalassara!
Achilles accepted it as it felt boundlessly heavy, but he still didn't assimilate it as he looked up at his grandfather.
His mind buzzed with countless thoughts as he tried to put them into words.
"I have… so many questions. The moment I assimilate this, I'll likely be gone. You'll be gone. I don't know if I'll return to this exact memory… or an entirely different one. I…"
Achilles felt stifled.
He didn't know this man.
And yet it felt like he was speaking to family he'd long missed.
He didn't want to go so quickly.
"I have questions about our lineage. About those who killed generations of us. About—"
The thick hands of his grandfather landed on his shoulder.
His blue eyes were weighty- stern, filled with love… and with duty.
A duty Achilles couldn't yet understand.
"The will of all Adrastia Emperor Kings lives within you. And as much as I want to speak with my grandson, to share so much—I can't. The Adrastia Imperium Vitae Ascension Codex must come first. It's critical that you obtain it because I don't know when this Dream will end. And it would be an unfathomable loss if we miss the chance to give the Last Adrastia Emperor King the wings he needs- not to be a cripple, and not to be weak."
Achilles looked into his grandfather's eyes.
There was love there. But the duty buried within it eclipsed everything else.
Thalsian gave him a kingly smile, one that softened just enough as his massive hands ruffled Achilles' hair.
"If I can leave any advice to my grandson until we meet again… it's this."
Thalsian's voice trembled, like a storm restrained by will alone.
"An Emperor does not rule by might alone, but by clarity. Cherish your allies- not for their strength, but for their loyalty when your world begins to crack. Shield your people like a father shields his child, for home is not stone—it is soul. But when enemies rise… when they dare threaten what is yours… show no mercy. Strike like the tide- relentless, final. Rule with heart, yes… but never forget: hesitation is the death of empires. Never hesitate. Be the storm, my grandson. Be the shield… and the sword, all at once."
"Now, do it. Before it's too late."
And Achilles nodded with a heavy heart, closing his eyes as he held the dazzling Heart of Thalassara in his hands.
His voice boomed out, commanding.
An eruption of unfathomable blue brilliance tore through everything- blinding light exploding from the Heart of Thalassara, flowing into Achilles.
And when Thalsian, the 7th Adrastia Emperor King, saw this…
A beaming smile bloomed across his face as he laughed.
"Haha… that is my grandson. My grandson!" Thalsian's laughter rumbled deep from his chest- laced with pride and warning. "Able to assimilate even from long-collapsed memories and fractured records, he draws strength from what time itself tried to erase." His gaze sharpened, voice turning cold and cruel. "He is your worst fears made flesh. The storm you all prayed would never come." He stepped back into the dream's fading light. "He will rise, unrelenting, and bathe your tall, brittle thrones in endless blood. And when he does- remember...he carries my name. My legacy. And nothing will stop him. Adrastia will ring… across the stellar seas!"
Achilles barely heard his grandfather's final words before everything distorted, his existence swelling until...
On the Primal Neon Tower.
In the mystical forest, at its very center where the Life Spring rested.
On this golden-purple spring that steamed with brilliance, Rose's figure remained submerged in the waters. She held the head of Achilles, who still lay dreaming.
His body rested on top of the spring, somehow using the shimmering waters beneath as a bed, suspended above without sinking.
At this moment, Rose hummed softly, her long wet hair glinting with flaming green brilliance as she leaned forward.
She was using her glowing strands to draw a makeshift mustache and beard on Achilles' face.
A goatee, then a long wizard's beard. Just playing- creating versions of Achilles she might love seeing.
Primordial Energy and Evolutius Energy bubbled quietly around them.
A burst of light erupted as Achilles' eyes snapped open!
Rose nearly jumped in surprise, blinking at the sudden glow.
His eyes, normally radiant with golden and purple light, symbolic of ancient times and the present age...
Now shimmered with a breathtaking, glorious hue of blue.
But the sea within them faded just as quickly, like a tide that surged and then receded all at once.
Even Rose sounded surprised.
She had expected a terrifying burst of power, like last time, but the energy surrounding him was incredibly calm.
As though… everything was finally aligned.
It was only after the blue light vanished from his gaze that Achilles blinked, his awareness fully returned.
He sat up, perplexed, his mind buzzing.
His grandfather's words echoed, so did the advice, and the parting message at the edge of the dream, where Thalsian cursed the ones responsible for slaying their bloodline for generations…
He sat up, shaking his head as Rose floated beside him, wordlessly joining him on the edge of the spring.
She didn't ask questions.
Achilles steadied himself, shaking off the dizziness as memory returned.
The Heart of Thalassara.
The most important thing it contained.
The very thing his grandfather said he lacked, the reason he remained so weak, despite Assimilations at Echelon 5.
He opened his status panel.
At the very top of his panel…
A brand new Assimilation shone, one unlike any other before it.
Vastly different in color, in form, in complexity.
Alongside it, a sub-Assimilation related to water, so significant it wasn't absorbed into the Nirvana of the Sun and Moon.
But the change at the top consumed all his attention.
Adrastia Imperium Vitae Ascension Codex (Null Echelon – Diluted Record)
Unlocked Qualities: Basic Adrastia Bloodline Refinement
Current Level of Refinement: 0
Progress to Next Stage: 0% – Imperial Embers Initiation
Locked Qualities (due to Incomplete Inheritance): Unknown. Unknown. Unknown.