Ian didn’t stop. He grunted and raised his leg, spinning hard and launching a kick full of power. The space around them trembled. The shockwave alone bent light and cracked the fabric of space.
But Adam simply took a step back.
Ian’s foot missed by a hair.
The kick kept going, shooting out a wave of force that flew far into the distance. A second later, a galaxy millions of kilometers away was torn apart. Stars shattered. Planets melted. Everything was gone, swallowed by the force of Ian’s missed kick.
"...Oops." Ian blinked. "That might’ve been too much."
Adam didn’t react. He kept watching Ian, arms behind his back, face as blank as before.
"Stop holding back," Adam said flatly.
Ian gasped. "Holding back? I just kicked a galaxy away!"
Adam opened his eyes. For the first time, Ian felt a pressure that pushed down on him like a mountain. His knees bent slightly from the weight of Adam’s gaze alone.
"You’re still wasting energy," Adam explained. "Power means nothing if you swing like a wild beast. If I wasn’t here, you’d kill millions by mistake."
Ian growled. "Fine. Then I’ll aim properly."
This time, Ian calmed his breath. He gathered the Divine Ki in his core. The dark and light energies danced in harmony. Black mist and silver sparks covered his arms. He lowered his body, eyes locked on Adam’s chest.
Not fast. Not slow. Just clean. Direct. A single punch.
Adam raised his hand. The two forces met.
A blast of energy spread out like a sun being born. Ian was thrown back hundreds of kilometers. He flipped mid-air, stopped himself, and laughed.
Adam, completely unharmed, nodded slightly. "That was better."
Ian floated closer again. "So? How was my level?"
"You’re strong," Adam admitted. "Among young gods, you’re above most. But you have no control. Your power leaks. Your mind isn’t steady. Your soul isn’t in tune with your energy."
"So I still suck, huh."
Adam shook his head. "You’re a seed. A good one. But still just a seed."
Ian smiled and cracked his knuckles. "Then let’s water it."
Adam gave a small nod. "We begin with three core things. First, full control of Divine Ki. Second, mind-body link training. Third, soul resonance."
"It is. If you’re weak, you will break. But if you’re strong, you will grow beyond limits."
Ian clenched his fists. "Bring it on."
Adam looked up at the distant stars.
"Tomorrow, your real training starts. Rest for now. You’ll need it."
Ian sat down in space, legs crossed, eyes closed.
For the first time, he felt something stir inside.
The path to the True God had just begun, right? Ian chuckled.
At the age of 300, Ian officially began his training under Adam. The focus of the first stage was control over Divine Ki. Adam introduced a method called Ultra Flow Ki Technique, which was designed to stabilize and refine energy without waste. Ian found it difficult at first, but with constant sparring, quiet meditation, and painful corrections, he slowly adapted. Adam pushed him to his limits every day.
At the age of 311, Ian finally succeeded in using Ultra Flow Ki continuously for one full day. His control improved, and his Divine Ki became smoother and more precise. Adam was satisfied, but raised the training difficulty. Around this time, several Divine Beasts were born in the Outer Realms, shaking many godly territories. A minor war between rival True Gods erupted in the Third Universe, but it did not involve Ian.
At the age of 328, Ian’s power output became stable. He could now fully control 100% of his Divine Ki without it leaking or shaking space. With this, Adam allowed him to move to the next level: soul training. The task was to fuse a portion of his Divine Ki into his soul, a dangerous process that had caused many failures in the past.
At the age of 347, after nineteen years of daily soul meditation, Ian finally achieved partial fusion. His soul began to emit a soft black-silver glow, showing that the fusion was real. Adam was shocked by how fast he progressed. According to him, most gods failed even after thousands of years. Ian’s unique energy control, along with his system, helped him avoid many common errors.
At the age of 400, a major shift happened. Ian’s blood, which had been True Vampire purity all along, evolved into Higher Vampire Blood. This change came without warning. Adam believed the soul fusion triggered a natural evolution in Ian’s body, but he couldn’t be more wrong as it was the Vampire’s natural evolution route.
Ian understood that even thought Adam had an extremely deep accumulation of knowledge, He wasn’t all-knowing. He’s far from omnicient. So, it’s natural not to know some things. Ian was quite relieved to know that even Adam didn’t know everything.
As a result, Ian’s base form power increased by ten times. Even without transforming, Ian’s punches could now break apart stars with ease. His senses sharpened, and his regeneration improved greatly.
At the age of 410, Ian returned to sparring practice. This time, he was able to match Adam’s speed and strength for short periods. Adam admitted that Ian had now reached the level of a peak God (Base form alone).
At the age of 451, Ian completed the full mastery of Divine Ki. His Ultra Flow Ki Technique had reached perfection, allowing him to use god-level energy without disturbing space. Even other Devil Attendants began to take notice of him. Some offered to train him, but he stayed under Adam’s care.
At the age of 470, the partial fusion became deeper. 17% of his soul had fused with Divine Ki. Adam noted that if Ian continued at this pace, he would become a True God far earlier than anyone in the last hundred eras. Of course, even at this time, Adam still didn’t know about Ian’s ability to transform into Nine Paths God and assumed that Ian’s base form was his true strength.
At the age of 490, Ian began training in inner void silence, the step needed before full soul fusion.
At the age of 501, he reached a deep state of calm, ready for the next phase.
"Adam, you know a vampire named Xenos?"
At this time, Ian suddenly recalled the Ancestor of All Vampire. Could it be Xenos also became a God? After all, Adam said once that there are two who ascended from Curtained Imperium before him. Could it be Xenos, the Progenitor of Vampire was one of them?