Adrian roamed the inner zones of the Azure Garden once more.
This time, his objective was different. He had already disabled the formation mind's logic nodes earlier, but he had deliberately left the divine spell structures inscribed within the defensive formation intact. The formation had utilized a high-level divine spell to attack them in the form of green-gold lances. If Adrian could fully comprehend that spell structure, his mastery of Verdant Genesis would automatically rise to the High Rule Stage.
The mist parted before him as he walked. Plants leaned toward him as he passed, their leaves trembling slightly in response to residual essence clinging to his robes.
He quickly identified the encoded spell structure within the defensive formation. It was the same structure responsible for generating the lance of condensed green-gold essence that had pursued and attacked them before.
Adrian crouched beside a cluster of flowers, positioning himself where the spell structure was inscribed.
Activating his Source Eyes, he began analyzing it carefully. The Source assisted him, accelerating his comprehension process. Even so, understanding the layered divine structure was far more complex than reading arcane truths.
He observed how the divine rules were arranged in multiple interlocking layers. He saw how every fragment was positioned for balance, proper output strength, reduced mana consumption, optimized efficiency, and long-term stability. These were precisely the aspects he had struggled with when constructing his own divine spell from scratch. Now, someone else had already perfected the structure, and all he needed to do was study and absorb it.
Adrian frowned slightly, tracing a particular junction where three divine rule fragments converged. The entire structure of this high-level divine spell was far more complex than the low-level divine spell he created.
As time passed, Adrian realized something significant. Even with the Source assisting him, he required hours of focused study to fully comprehend the spell structure.
Until now, when comprehending arcane concepts or even stellar-level spells, he could achieve results within seconds. In contrast, this took him this much time. But it was understandable in this situation. At those times, he started from planetary comprehension and simple spells, but here he was basically skipping low-level divine spells and directly jumping into comprehending high-level divine spells. That would naturally take time, even for him.
This made him understand how extraordinarily difficult such comprehension would be for ordinary cultivators. Cultivators without his advantages would need hundreds or thousands of years to reach this point. He was sure most couldn't just jump into comprehending a high-level divine spell directly like he was doing. They had to start from low-level divine spells.
After several hours of analysis, Adrian finally reached complete structural understanding. So in theory, his mastery had already reached the High Rule Stage for Verdant Genesis. However, true confirmation required practical execution.
He stood, brushing dirt from his knees, and rolled his shoulders. His willforce felt strained but intact.
He closed his eyes and turned inward, reconstructing the spell directly within his mind. Unlike when he created the devour-based divine spell, he was not starting from nothing now. The reference structure was already clear within his mind. Layer by layer, he replicated the high-level spell. Soon, he succeeded on his first attempt.
The spell coalesced smoothly within his mind, each fragment settling into place without resistance.
Adrian opened his eyes. He activated his domain of Verdant Genesis and exerted authority. He immediately felt the increase in authority.
The domain pressed against reality with newfound confidence, demanding compliance rather than requesting it. Plants within range straightened as though saluting.
To verify more, he activated the UNI-OS Stage Detection System.
The interface flickered to life, holographic text materializing before him with its characteristic blue glow.
› Detected 1 High Rule Stage — Mid-Tier Divine Concept
› Divine Concept: Verdant Genesis
› Estimated Authority Range: 52–53%
A faint smile formed on Adrian's face. He had successfully elevated Verdant Genesis to High Rule Stage mastery.
For himself, the authority increase was not critical. His Source granted him complete authority. Furthermore, if he wished to present himself publicly with a divine concept, he could use Crimson Vital Dominion to appear as a peak Rule Stage cultivator wielding seventy percent authority.
However, this advancement was extremely valuable for his people and for the Crimson Vital Sect.
If he created knowledge spheres containing this knowledge and distributed them, any disciple with sufficient study could master Verdant Genesis to the High Rule Stage.
The sect's entire power structure could shift with this new divine concept.
Adrian dismissed the domain. With this resolved, He shifted his focus to Crimson Vital Dominion. Hestia had given him the sect's full inheritance earlier, but he had not yet taken the time to properly comprehend it.
Now he had some time for it. He retrieved the scriptures from the spatial ring Hestia had given to him. The scripture resembled a skill scroll inscribed with a knowledge symbol. There were multiple volumes, one for each level of divine spell, along with separate texts detailing authority techniques for movement, defense, and offense.
Adrian examined the collection spread before him on the ground. He began with the scripture containing the low-level divine spell. He could directly jump to ultimate-level divine spell, but a low-level divine spell had the crucial information of what rules were needed to form the divine concept in the first place.
This was the starting point for anyone wishing to cultivate the Crimson Vital Dominion divine concept.
He infused mana into the scripture. Instantly, knowledge flooded his mind. It was fleeting, and he had to focus carefully to retain it before it dissipated. Unlike imprint transmission, this was temporary knowledge infusion requiring immediate processing.
The information rushed through his consciousness like water through cupped hands, if he didn't grasp it quickly, it would slip away entirely. Adrian's eyes narrowed in concentration as he committed each fragment to memory.
The scripture first outlined the necessary arcane rule fragments required to form the divine concept itself. This was essential because cultivators needed to use this pattern to construct their Rule Core.
After that, it explained the structure of the low-level divine spell. It was not merely the layout of the structure. It described how to begin constructing the spell internally once the Rule Core was formed, how to initiate, how to connect rule fragments, how to close the structure to ensure stability. The instructions were designed for beginners.
Adrian absorbed the methodology, recognizing immediately how much easier this made cultivation compared to his own experimental approach. No wonder sects controlled power; they provided frameworks that eliminated years of trial and error.
For now, he skipped the details about the divine spell and began by forming the divine concept first. Within his Source Seed, he created a new empty chamber. From the arcane chambers corresponding to Vitality, Blood, Force, and Pressure, he extracted the required rule fragments.
Adrian reached into the Vitality chamber first, his consciousness brushing against countless rule fragments until he identified the precise ones the scripture specified.
From Vitality, he drew fragments related to Life Surge and Cellular Reinforcement. From Blood, he extracted Circulatory Acceleration and Internal Flow Amplification. From Force, he selected Directed Impact, Momentum Projection, and Vector Stabilization. From Pressure, he gathered Compression Amplification, Surface Concentration, and Containment Stability.
Each fragment shimmered as he pulled it free, glowing symbols that represented fundamental truths about reality. Adrian handled them carefully, knowing that improper assembly could cause the entire structure to collapse.
One by one, he placed them within the new chamber. Vitality fragments settled at the core, forming the energetic heart of the structure. Blood fragments aligned around the core as a circulating ring, accelerating output. Force fragments extended outward like spokes, defining projection vectors. Pressure fragments wrapped around everything, compressing and stabilizing the outgoing energy.
Adrian watched as the fragments began to interact, their individual radiances bleeding into one another. Initially, the symbols resisted alignment. Adrian adjusted their positions carefully, fine-tuning resonance relationships. Gradually, the structure stabilized.
Minutes passed as he made minute adjustments, his willforce focused entirely on maintaining coherence.
A deep crimson radiance filled the chamber, and the divine concept solidified. His Mana Sea stirred faintly, expanding by another three thousand units.
Unlike Verdant Genesis, which emphasized growth and regeneration, Crimson Vital Dominion was oriented toward combat efficiency and explosive projection of strength.
Adrian observed the chamber. Although he had assembled the divine concept, he did not yet fully understand its practical usage. That was natural for any newly formed divine concept. To address that, he turned again to the scripture and infused mana into it.
This time, he directly chose the Ultimate-level divine spell. He didn't need to climb the stairs step by step when the Ultimate-level divine spell already contained every knowledge needed within it.
The knowledge flooded back, this time much denser than the low-level divine spell scripture. Adrian's mind raced to capture every detail before the information faded.
The scripture clearly described what kind of spell this is, how to layer the complex divine rule fragments, what each rule fragment's role was within the spell structure, etc. These things were also within the low-level divine spell he read some moments ago, but its understanding and explanation of rule fragments were only a quarter of what he was seeing in this.
Hours passed. When he completely understood everything explained in the ultimate-level divine spell, it felt like all-knowing of the divine concept! There was this inexplicable satisfaction and fulfillment!
With this renewed energy, he started forming the spell structure. Soon, the structure stabilized. The spell sat within his mind like a loaded weapon, ready to be deployed at will.
Adrian opened his eyes, and he teleported away from the Azure Garden to a distant, empty region of the planet.
Floating in the sky above a massive stone mountain, he extended his hand. Crimson essence gathered above his palm, forming into a long spear. Casting this cost him around five thousand mana units.
It streaked through the air and struck the mountain, which was over one thousand kilometers tall. Upon impact, the compression layer released inward first, condensing energy before detonating outward in a controlled shockwave.
BOOM!
The mountain was completely destroyed. Fragments the size of large buildings tumbled through the air, trailing dust. The shockwave rippled outward, flattening smaller peaks in the distance. When the dust finally settled, only a crater remained where the mountain had stood.
Adrian analyzed the result carefully. The result was, in a way, underwhelming. He had just cast an Ultimate-level divine spell, and it merely only destroyed a mountain over a thousand kilometers. In the Milky Way, he had achieved similar destruction with just SSS-rank spells.
He slowly processed the truth. This planet was fundamentally different. It had been nourished by chaotic mana for over a million years. Its structural density was far higher than ordinary planetary matter. Even if he had used a Stellar-level spell here, the effect would have been far weaker. This showed the power difference to him.
This ultimate-level divine spell might appear moderate on this planet, but if unleashed upon a planet within the Milky Way galaxy, it would not only destroy that planet, but it could also devastate the entire star system the planet was within, and even the shockwave could destroy the surrounding star system. This spell was that strong.
Only because the environmental density drastically altered perceived power, nothing like that happened here. He also recalled how, during the battle against the formation mind, high-level divine spells had caused only localized damage of less than a few meters. That made his understanding more clearer. The higher the ambient mana density and structural reinforcement of a place, the more resistant it became to destructive output. There was also the factor of what kind of divine spell and divine concept was used in this.
To further test his understanding, he teleported to a larger mountain range, similar to this one, and formed a green-gold lance. This was the high-level divine spell of Verdant Genesis. He threw it. The lance pierced forward, and upon impact, it destroyed nearly five hundred kilometers of terrain.
The destruction was far less compared to the ultimate-level divine spell of the Crimson Vital Dominion divine concept. Moreover, the mana cost was high, approximately six thousand mana units, just for this.
Adrian frowned slightly. Six thousand units for five hundred kilometers of destruction. Five thousand units for nearly a thousand kilometers of destruction. The efficiency ratio was different. But this made sense. Verdant Genesis was primarily growth-oriented, and its spell structure was not optimized for pure destruction. In contrast, the Crimson Vital Dominion was a combat-oriented divine concept, so its destruction output and efficiency on mana cost were different.
Overall, this test showed 2 different factors in the play: ambient mana density and divine concept specialization.
"Which means," Adrian murmured to himself, "cultivators from powerful sects are fighting on fundamentally different battlefields."
The implications were staggering. If minor sects operated in environments like this, what kind of planets did great sects face? How dense were the worlds they cultivated upon? What kind of spells were they using to fight on such planets? And beyond the Rule Stage lay the Astral Stage, so how strong a spell from an Astral being would be?
Adrian straightened, his expression thoughtful. He understood what the Guardian Spirit had said: The shockwaves of two powerful cultivators fighting could destroy your entire galaxy.
This made Adrian realize how terrifying someone from a great sect could truly be.
As he floated above the now destroyed mountain, he looked up and muttered, "Astral stage... Great sects... Just wait!"
In that moment, his will surged violently. One day, he too would reach that level of power!