The Empyreal Gem Master

His face turned sour.

He looked at the bloodied remnants of those who followed him as he continued.

"Our remaining forces were further scattered when suddenly, the space around became turbulent with spatial Energeia, massive rifts forming that instantly swept up many others towards a different location. That is all that is currently out there- darkness, beasts, and massive rifts that can sweep you away at any moment!"

…!

A light of ferociousness crossed his eyes as he turned his head down.

"Great Princess, I am sorry that I couldn\'t save more. I…"

He kept his head lowered apologetically as he clenched his fists, but Ryanara only waved her hands with a somber expression as she walked towards Alexander.

[It\'s okay. This Ephesusian Human Ruler, Alexander, has graced us refuge on his Mountain. We will gather more information and begin rescue efforts soon to save as many as we can.]

She naturally came to stand before Alexander as the valiant Alfanian Warrior, Thasana, frowned once more while he looked towards Alexander up and down.

Alexander seemed younger than any of them here, but he was truly a genuine Ruler? One that even the Great Princess treated cordially? Did he not know her status as a Great Princess? That even Rulers of the World of Alfana treated her with decorum?!

Seeing the gaze of conflict and veiled envy in the eyes of Thasana, Ryanara became stern as her authority coalesced around her eyes and smashed into him.

[You will treat those above you with respect! We are no longer in the World of Alfana, nor do we have the positions we used to. Understand?!]

She didn\'t think she had to say this out loud for her people to understand, but such actions couldn\'t continue any further as towards such an outburst, the Tier 9 Emperor, Thasana, held his head down and kneeled as he apologized.

"Forgive me, Great Princess!"

…!

Alexander watched this melodrama play out while shaking his head nonchalantly towards Ryanara who was looking at him with an apologetic expression.

[Forget about it. Check on your injured and get ready for any more surprises.]

Surprises.

After the first set of changes Ephesus went through, Alexander had already begun to anticipate many more surprises so that he could never be caught off guard again.

He just needed to be ready for any surprises as his power simply had to exceed them.

Ryanara smiled brilliantly at his words, her beauty illuminating the surroundings as she made a light bow toward him before she turned around to her people.

They clustered towards a single area while Alexander looked towards the corpse of the Tier 9 Emperor Dragon that Jujugan had dragged over.

Seeing its glimmering nine sockets, he thought of the possibility of performing a Sacred Ritual to transfer these sockets to another!

As he did this, his thoughts continued to confer with the Enneagram in designing Support Ability Gems for the Bonds of the Gold Ruler.

When he had the other thought…

||With the authority of a Covenant of Nature, we are currently able to use it to wrap around the sockets of other lifeforms and transfer their qualities to another.||

…!

The Caladrius Bird could do the sacred ritual while it was a Tier 4 Beast.

Why couldn\'t Alexander- a Ruler, be able to transfer lifeforce at the same level if not exceeding this?

He smiled at such a realization as he looked towards the corpse of the Dragon and sent his thoughts to Jujugan.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

He also sent his thoughts towards Claire as they began to move right after!

Around them, green gold vines rose from the ground and formed radiant leaves tens of meters large, the figures of Alexander and Claire becoming hidden within while Jujugan dragged the corpse of the Tier 9 Dragon into it.

He wanted a bit of privacy as in the distance, an authority leaked from Ryanara who was healing the injured Alfanian Humans as she only spared a single glance.

Everybody had their secrets.

The green gold vines and leaves closed all around them and created a small isolated domain, and Claire instantly threw herself onto Alexander with a hug before she looked at him while expressing incredulity!

"What did you even do?! Is this really a Covenant? Like…what?!"

She had only just heard Jujugan mention this topic not too long ago- this being a stage that the strongest of the Human Lineages would seek for.

And yet…she just had it so easily?

She didn\'t explode in front of others, but in private, she hugged Alexander closely while trying to figure out just how the hell it was possible.

But he didn\'t give any answers as he only smiled while pointing to the corpse of the dead dragon.

"That\'s the least of your worries right now. We have to prepare for your increase in gem sockets."

…!

Her eyes opened wide.

She looked at the corpse of the dragon, and then to herself.

And her mind went blank with shock while in front of her, tendrils of Covenant of Gold began to leak from Alexander and snake towards the corpse of a Tier 9 Emperor, other tendrils sinking into Claire as she came to and blushed when she felt his waves of energy entering her chest!

—

A distance away from the Sacred Gold Mountain- at least a few hundred miles.

[Are you sure it\'s this direction, Lupiso? We\'ve been going in circles this whole fuckin time looking for some gold mountain.]

A massive serpentine Dragon without wings spoke out in a threatening tone as it looked towards a Black Dragon.

The Black Dragon wasn\'t the only other Ruler here as around it, four other dazzling auras of Rulers, including the Wingless One-Eyed Serpent, blared!

Five Rulers in total.

Each of them was a titanic behemoth of a beast as at the forefront, the Black Dragon licked its lips while replying.

[It should be. I can smell it! A gold mountain filled with an austere authority, and puny, weak Rulers actually gaining control of it. I wouldn\'t have gone around searching for others if I could have taken it myself…]

…!

Unbeknownst to those on the Sacred Gold Mountain, a heavy surprise was already heading towards them!