Chapter 582: A Farewell

Chapter 582: A Farewell

Max opened his eyes slowly, a faint light flickering in their depths. ‘With this… my physical strength should now reach the peak of Expert Rank,’ he thought calmly. His muscles pulsed subtly, his body now infused with the raw might of dragon blood.

‘Now I need the Chaos Stones,’ Max thought, his gaze drifting across the quiet chamber as he noticed the absence of Princess Lenavira from the Tower of Truth.

A flicker of disappointment passed through his mind, but it was quickly replaced by deeper thoughts. Her absence reminded him of the conversation he’d had with the elf Supreme Master, particularly the cryptic words about the Heavenly Luminance Divine Bloodline and the Heavenly Luminance Royal Bloodline.

But Max shook his head, brushing aside those tangled thoughts. ‘I’ll deal with that later,’ he resolved. For now, the priority was the Chaos Stones.

Seeing that Lenavira was nowhere in the tower, Max raised his hand and called out, “Xolo.” Instantly, the golden spirit materialized in front of him, its ethereal form shimmering with a calm radiance.

“If Princess Lenavira of the Elf Kingdom arrives at the tower,” Max said, “notify me immediately. I’m going to train for a while.”

Xolo nodded without hesitation. “Alright,” it said, vanishing as swiftly as it had appeared.

A faint smile touched Max’s lips. With the notification in place, he let his consciousness sink deeply into the Dimension of Time.

Inside that separate realm, time flowed differently—days stretched into years, and years into decades.

Max sat cross-legged in perfect stillness, his mind utterly focused as he began comprehending the new techniques he had obtained: Lightning Manifestation Armor, a technique that wrapped his body in a living armor of lightning, crackling with both offense and defense; the Severing Flow Sword Art, a sword technique that built up severing force with each flowing strike, until the final cut could split through concepts themselves; and the Void Severance Slash, a space element technique that allowed him to tear through layers of reality in a single strike, attacking both body and space.

In the blink of an eye in the real world, three days passed. But inside the Dimension of Time, decades had flowed by.

Max’s understanding deepened far beyond what was normally possible in such a short span, and when he finally emerged on the fourth day, his aura was more refined, more composed, and more dangerous than ever.

The moment he returned to reality, he felt a presence—Xolo had already appeared in front of him. “She is here,” the golden spirit said calmly.

Max nodded and closed his eyes briefly. In that instant, the air in the secret chamber shifted, and moments later, the figure of Princess Lenavira materialized before him, her expression filled with surprise.

“Max!” she exclaimed, visibly startled to see him there. She hadn’t expected to be summoned into the chamber—especially not so suddenly, and especially not to find Max waiting like a ghost from the past.

“How are things here?” Max asked, his tone casual but steady. He knew he had only been away for a month, but in the Tower of Truth, it wasn’t unusual for geniuses to spend several months in seclusion, meditating within the Chamber of Concepts.

From the outside, it would have seemed like Max had simply followed the same path as everyone else—just another genius silently training.

“It’s… very complicated,” Princess Lenavira said with a troubled frown, her elegant brows creased. “I don’t know if you’ve heard of them, but there’s a myth in the Lost Continent about a group called the Rulers of the Lower Domain—guardians, said to be sent by the Four God Nation to keep balance in this part of the world. No one really believed in their existence for centuries, but a few weeks ago… they suddenly appeared here.”

Her tone carried a mix of disbelief and caution, as if she still hadn’t fully grasped the implications herself. “After speaking with them, my father learned that they too intend to enter the Citadel, and in the meantime, they’re ensuring that no war breaks out between the Valora Continent and our own. They’ve positioned themselves like peacekeepers—but we all know peace backed by overwhelming force is just controlled silence.”

She hesitated for a moment before continuing, a strange light flickering in her eyes. “What’s even more concerning is that, according to my father, these so-called guardians are convinced that the last key to the Citadel was found by someone from the Lost Continent. They’ve begun actively searching and asking questions. Whoever has it… they’ll find them, sooner or later.”

“I see,” Max said, his expression darkening as the pieces clicked in his mind. ‘So the Rulers know about the Lost Continent holding the last key? Or… maybe they always knew?’

It was hard to tell whether they had just discovered the truth or had been watching in silence all along, waiting for the right time to act. Still, if they were focused on the Lost Continent, things could become dangerous fast.

He pushed those thoughts aside for the moment. “Anyway,” he said, shifting the subject, “did you collect the Chaos Stones I asked for?”

Lenavira nodded and tossed him a storage ring with a light flick of her wrist. “That ring contains about two hundred Chaos Stones. I got them from one of the underground spirit markets here.”

Max caught the ring and scanned its contents, nodding with satisfaction. “Thanks,” he said simply.

Then, without warning, Lenavira said, “By the way, I’m heading to the Middle Domain.”

Max blinked, caught completely off guard. “Ah—what?” he asked, stunned for a moment. He hadn’t expected that—at all.

A gentle smile touched her lips at his reaction. “My father’s worried,” she said, her tone softening. “With the appearance of the Rulers, and how unstable things have become, he thinks anything could happen next. So he’s sending me to the elf faction in the Middle Domain—somewhere safer, and better prepared for what may come.”

She paused before adding, “Even if he hadn’t, I would’ve gone anyway. I’ve been feeling for a while now that I haven’t even begun to tap into the true potential of my Heavenly Luminance Royal Bloodline. But in the Middle Domain… I believe I can.”

Max nodded slowly, truly happy for her, but his thoughts immediately shifted to logistics. “How are you going to get there?” he asked.

Despite his own strength, he had no clear plan for ascending to the Middle Domain, aside from the rumored path through the Forsaken Wilds, which was more of a death sentence than a real option.

Lenavira gave a knowing smile. “Through a teleportation rune. It’s ancient, and only connects to specific elven territories in the Middle Domain. But there’s a catch—it only works for those with elven blood.”

Max nodded thoughtfully. ‘I guess I’ll have to find another way,’ he thought, filing the information away for later. “So you’re leaving now?” he asked.

She nodded. “Yes. In fact, I only came to the Tower of Truth to tell you this before I left.”

Max smiled warmly, appreciating the gesture. “Alright,” he said. “After I handle things here in the Lower Domain, I’ll head to the Middle Domain too.”

Lenavira beamed. “Then I’ll wait for you,” she said, her voice quiet but firm. “Now, send me out of this secret chamber.”

Max nodded, and with a single thought, her figure shimmered and vanished from the chamber.

Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!