Leon swept the grey crystal with his divine sense but couldn't find anything special apart from the cluster of essence swimming inside it. Leon soon shook his head. Comprehension of the elemental laws wasn't something tangible, so how could it be seen?
"There won't be any problems if I take this crystal with me, right?" Leon asked.
"Yes, there will be no problem, your Highness. In fact, there will be problems if you don't take it instead." Captain Dylan said.
The grey crystal had already been used, and anyone would be able to discern that some of its essence had been absorbed. If the prince takes it, no one will say anything since he is royalty. However, if the crystal stay, someone was bound to be accused for secretly absorbing the crystal's essence regardless of the explanation.
"I see, thanks."
Leon stowed away the grey crystal, flew out of the underground mines and began heading towards the palace. He had things to consult his mother. Also, she was more knowledgeable and may have an idea towards the crystal's origins. There was already a faint guess in his heart, but it was too shocking to believe.
However, after taking a few steps in the palace direction, Leon stopped with a change in expression and looked up at the sky. The weather was drastically changing as the clouds were being gathered towards the central airspace above the palace in a whirling motion like a hurricane taking form.
"Is this another Transcendent Phenomenon?" Leon mused. "It doesn't share the same appearance as Grandpa Don's breakthrough to the Transcendent Realm, but such changes in the heaven and earth can only be phenomenon created from breaking through to the Transcendent Realm. I haven't heard of any other cause for a phenomenon outside of it."
Besides the artificial phenomenon he created from wantonly devouring large amounts of energy of heaven and earth into his Worldspace, there really hadn't been any other irregular cases or news. Furthermore, a more experienced person could differentiate the two.
There was a difference between the gathering of the world's energy and the energy that seemingly came from the heavens. The skies began to glow with a silver light and an immense amount of metal essence could be sensed within it.
"Mother must be the person breaking through to Transcendent Realm."
Leon came to a surprising conclusion. Other than his mother, who was at the level of seven-stars, there couldn't possibly be any other Awakener of the metal attribute breaking through to Transcendence within the palace grounds.
Few minutes later, after the beam of silver light struck down and disappeared silently as the sky began to regain its usually color and shape of the clouds, the Transcendent Phenomenon ended.
As usual, the phenomenon did not last very long, but it never ceases to amaze him. Divine practitioners did not get to enjoy such welcoming baptism and blessings of the world when they ascend a higher realm. Instead, the higher the realm, the great the danger they face as they had to endure the wrath of the heavens.
"Haih… both paths seem to lead to the everlasting, but the difference between them is like the difference between life and death. One was favored by the heavens, while the other goes against it." Leon sighed. Why was there such a disparity between them? What set them apart?
After a moment of pondering, Leon thought, "Is this the so-called balance of the world? The Divine Realm was rich with spirit energy and allowed life to thrive. In return, the heavens of the Divine Realm forbid divine practitioners from becoming stronger. As such, tribulations called the Divine Damnation exists at the latter stages of cultivation to stop them."
"While in this world, the conditions are appalling. The spirit energy is scarce, the lands was perilous, and every other race threatened the annihilation of humanity. In return, if one can gain the acknowledgement of the heavens, they can gain access to untold power and their lifespan could also be lengthened. The greater the acknowledgement, the greater the benefits received."
"But the world is fair, that is why Awakeners had to cultivate to receive the acknowledgement of the heavens, when they reach the prerequisite threshold. However, if one was favored by the heavens and receive the full acknowledgement straight from the start, was it possible for an ordinary person to immediately ascend to the peak of power, becoming almighty and everlasting?"
"The lifespan of a normal human was only a mere 100 years, while the vast universe was seemingly eternal. If one can become with it, they would share life with it and achieve the everlasting, right? Even if they don't, they should still be able to live as long as the sun and moon, right?"
The lifespan of a Divine King Realm practitioner was said to reach 100,000 years, but such lifespan was nothing compared to the billions of years, the sun and moon had.
"Divine practitioners chase the everlasting by recreating their own universe, while Awakeners conforms with the existing one to achieve it. But I have begun to walk both paths. Where would the end road lead me?"
After a moment of pondering, Leon shook his head. He didn't expect the phenomenon to provoke him to ponder so deeply about the big unknowns of the world. If it the past, he would not have spared so much thought. But after being betrayed in his past life, it compelled him to understand the unknown.
If he didn't understand the unknown, then he wasn't in control of his own life. If he had understood the hearts of those around him, his father wouldn't have been betrayed and they would have suffered such an ending.
The unknowns were unstable factors that could potentially harm his life. Only by understanding the unknown would he know how to face it and be in control of his own life.
"Congratulations on your breakthrough to the Transcendent Realm, mother."
Bypassing all guards, Leon arrived at his mother's cultivation room and congratulated. When Elizabeth saw her son return, her mood became jubilant. To her, the breakthrough to Transcendent Realm paled in comparison to her son's safe return.
"My dear son, you're home! Come, let mother have a look at you."
Elizabeth inspected him to make sure he was perfectly fine for her own peace of heart, before dragging him to her nearby courtyard where they could sit down and have a mother-son talk.
"Quickly tell mother, how was your trip to Extreme Misty Forest?" Elizabeth asked.
Hearing her question, Leon shook his head. "Never mind that for now. It seems the Capital had made some great discoveries and undergone some startling transformation?"
"Right, these crystals have completely flipped the cultivation world upside down. I'm afraid once the news spread to the surrounding kingdoms, all the Awakeners in the Human Domain will flock to the Capital." Elizabeth nodded with a heavy expression, not minding the change of topic. "Mother had taken preemptive measures to lockdown the new and kept within the boundary of the Capital, but if there are any spies within the Capital, it would be meaningless."
Rubbing his chin, Leon mysteriously said, "This could be both a bad and a good thing."
"What do you mean, son?" Elizabeth was bewildered. How could it also be a good thing? Such an influx of Awakeners would affect stability of their kingdom and cause chaos. Was getting robbed a good thing?
"Indeed, it would be bad if they are completely unscrupulous and try to rob our resources, but mother is now a powerful Transcendent. You can kill as many as they come. The crucial point is that our kingdom is currently lacking capable hands. Undoubtably, they would come for the crystals once the news spread and they would resort to force to obtain it, if they can get it through normal methods. But if we can recruit them with the crystals as bait, they would be of great help to the development of our kingdom."
"My son, that is a dangerous thought. That is akin to letting fierce tigers into the house. Don't you fear being bitten by them and forced to set the house on fire in order to get rid of them?"
"That is correct, mother." Leon smiled. "But if they come, there is no stopping them from coming. So, we might as well let them in."
Elizabeth crease her brows in puzzlement, "Then your intentions are…?"
"We just have to train these fierce tigers and turn them into tamed kittens." Leon answered confidently.
If the noble cats of the beast race heard Leon's belittling words and inferior comparison to tigers, they would have been enraged and rallied together to wage a war to prove their superiority.
In the Capital, metal was no longer scarce. They were being mined, processed, refined and used for construction throughout the Capital as they spoke. With the spread of so much metal and a Transcendent metal-user at the hem, his mother would have absolute control over the Capital. There was no need to fear things going wrong. This was the reason for Leon's confidence.
Elizabeth was not slow-witted. Seeing her son's expression, she immediately understood his reason and remembered she was now a Transcendent. She had been preoccupied with her son; she had even forgotten about her recent breakthrough.
"This… This could work." Elizabeth mimicked Leon's gesture of rubbing her own chin in deep thoughts.. "Even if they were fierce tigers outside, they have to behave themselves here."