Rise Of The Infinite Sovereign-Chapter 391: New subordinate, New Transcendent

Done with preliminary arrangements, Sidal had Jakin contact the buyer of the top-tier astral elixir to finalize the trade.

Upon receiving the video call, Ezra made himself scarce, staying out of sight but at a range where he could monitor them.

The moment the call came through, Ezra’s eyes narrowed.

The client was a black dragon.

’Well, it has nothing to do with me’

At the other end of the call, Millowan frowned as he listened to Sidal.

In hindsight, he could already see that something else was going on, but that’s none of his business.

Confirming that the top-tier astral elixir was indeed available, Millowan could barely be bothered by the rest of the details.

His cultivation had stagnated for far too long.

But with the use of a top-tier astral elixir, he would finally have a shot at achieving nascence.

After being hindered by the other ancestors for decades, this golden opportunity arrived in front of him and Millowan was willing to pay anything to get it in his hands.

Once it was concluded that Jakin would deliver the elixir, Millowan paid the four hundred million he had agreed upon with Jakin and the trade was finalized.

With the money sent to Sidal’s account rather than Jakin’s, the former CEO couldn’t even cry seeing all his profits snatched away.

But in lieu of his efforts, Sidal gave him three million before bidding him farewell with the black chest.

From this moment, Jakin was to never return to AlphaNova, or else!

With him gone, Ezra called Sidal to his side.

"Tell me. What have you learned from this?"

"...I can’t let my guard down at any time"

"True. But the thing is, you are weak. Very weak"

"...yes..." Sidal meekly replied.

"Then, would you like to become strong?"

"W-W-What do you mean?"

"I have a way to make you stronger, do you want it?"

"I-I-

"Calm down" Ezra intoned. "And choose wisely"

The idea of making Sidal his subordinate had been at the back of his mind, but Ezra hadn’t any real reason to suggest it.

This incident changed that and proved that Sidal staying weak would be the source of a lot of problems in the future.

While Ezra couldn’t say making him a subordinate would take him straight to grandmaster rank, it would at least remove him from the category of a ’random civilian’

Befitting the merchant he was, Sidal mind went into calculation mode.

’He’s displeased he had to come all this way to save me’ Sidal rationalized. ’If I don’t accept his offer...this will be the end of our relationship...’

That thought filled Sidal with dread.

Without Ezra as a partner, all he achieved until now will go up in smoke as he would most likely be unable to reproduce such success in the near future.

And though his heart was warning him that he might be signing a contract with the devil, Sidal couldn’t bear to lose Ezra as a partner.

Resolving himself, his body cooled down and his emotions settled.

Staring at Ezra with unshaken eyes, he replies. "I want it"

A smile sprouts on Ezra’s face. "Wonderful choice"

Activating <Omni-Subordination>, Ezra makes a change to the prompt invite and sends it.

{Bind a portion of your soul to the Silver Star for a portion of his power. Do you accept?}

Spooked, Sidal tries to back away from the prompt.

Ezra pacifies him.

"It’s nothing harmful"

"A-Alright" fidgeting, Sidal steels his resolve and calms his heart. "I accept"

Instantly, his body lit up with a silver glow.

"What is-

Before he could finish his statement, a moan of part pain and part pleasure escaped his mouth and the glow covered him completely.

’Frederick glow was gold, Sidal’s is silver. Why is it different?’ Ezra wondered.

An answer hit soon after.

[Frederick’s was gold because he was your first subordinate. Everyone else after that glowed silver]

’I see-wait. Zydrax? You’re here?’

[I came to see who your first subordinate in the main universe was]

Ezra simply nodded.

The glow receded soon after, revealing Sidal letting out heavy breaths.

From Ezra’s senses, Sidal had experienced a massive change within, but on the outside, nothing seemed to have changed.

"This-This-This..." Sidal muttered, standing upright. "I’ve never felt anything like this"

Still reining the feeling of power rushing through his veins, Sidal stared at Ezra with incredulity.

Suddenly, one of his scales fell off.

"Hmm?"

"Huh?" Sidal was shocked looking at the fallen scale and then the part of his body it fell from.

Where the scale fell off, a patch of light pink skin was exposed.

Without warning, another scale fell off and from then on, they started falling off in succession, until Sidal was nothing but light pink.

But...

"You don’t seem surprised" Ezra questioned.

Nodding, Sidal explains. "This occasionally happens to the higher beings of my race, they shed their scales and gain new ones. I’ve seen it happen quite a few times, but most of the time, the skin was shed over a long period of time. Three months up to a year. I haven’t heard of someone shedding their scales all at once"

"That’s because you broke through all at once" Ezra explained.

"That must be it" Sidal concurred.

By Ezra’s estimate, Sidal was at the early-master rank according to Orion’s ranking or a rank four Incipient according to universal ranking.

’So, right now, the base power boost is from rank one to rank four incipient’ Ezra noted. ’With <Loyalty of Strength> at play, those who get stronger independently draw more power’

...!

Something suddenly occurred to him.

’Wait a minute! Then...!’

Immediately, Ezra utilized <Gatekeeper>, and upon entering his universe, he activated <Sovereign’s Movement> to appear at Frederick’s location.

Upon arrival at Black Sky, Ezra spreads his energy, and in the next instance, confirms his suspicions.

Facing Frederick, a genuine smile blooms on his face.

While he was thinking of the effects brought by the synergy between <Omni-subordination> and <Loyalty of Strength>, a startling possibility hit him recalling his recent advancement to the 4th rank.

If with every breakthrough, the base power boost from <Omni-subordination> rose and in conjecture with <Strength of Loyalty> those nearest in power to him receive the best benefit, wasn’t there a good possibility his advancement could’ve have catapulted Frederick to the Transcendent rank?

The possibility had Ezra excited. So much in a rush to confirm his thoughts that he instantly left Sidal’s side.

Ezra was elated.

"Congratulations on becoming a Transcendent" said Ezra, giving Frederick a handshake.

’This changes everything’ Ezra thought.

But before that, Ezra turned to the second fellow in the room with his smile intact.

"It had been a while" he says. "Hasn’t it? Cabrera"

Cabrera, his first partner in this life and one of the most instrumental people in his life so far.

"Ezra. You’ve grown" Cabrera replies in a merry tone as both men embraced one another

"I can say the same for you. Congratulation on reaching getting stronger"

Cabrera had risen to the mid stage of Grandmaster rank.

The last time he came to Orion, Frederick had informed him that Cabrera had gone into secluded training in one of Black Sky’s cultivation rooms stacked with mana stones.

More than that, Ezra couldn’t help but notice the large hole in the roof.

"That?" he asks, pointing towards the roof.

"The breakthrough to Transcendent rank came too suddenly, so I had quickly leave the building to avoid destroying it"

...And the quickest way to do that was to burst through the roof.

Ezra nodded. "I have to return somewhere, so we will talk another time"

"Then until next time"

"Surely"

With that, Ezra used <Gatekeeper> to appear beside Sidal, scaring the shit out of him, though he didn’t show it.

"So, Sidal, how do you feel?" Ezra asked.

Clenching his fist, the now pink lizard cheered. "I feel invincible, like I can do anything! This is electrifying!"

Ezra clapped. His face neutral.

"Welcome to the world of higher beings"

"Do higher beings feel like this all the time?" he asked.

"Only when we make breakthroughs in cultivation"

Sidal nods.

"From now on" says Ezra. "You must build your body and learn to fight in your spare time, because I won’t rescue you the next time for something like this"

Silence pervaded for a few seconds before Sidal replied, "I understand" lowering his head.

"I will do my best"

’Good’

Sidal was startled to suddenly hear Ezra’s voice in his head.

’Now that you’re my subordinate, we can communicate with the mind like this. Try it’

’Mr. Sylvester’ said Sidal, slowly.

’Good. Just like that. Use this when you have something very important you want to convey to me’

"Haa..." Sidal let out a breath in exhaustion, holding his knees in an attempt not to fall.

Sidal thought Ezra was mysterious before, but these surprises were just too much!

Someone who could turn normal people into higher beings, has very powerful spatial abilities and can also speak into the mind!

Moreover, he’d only shown this few, who knew how many more abilities he had left?!

’Just where did such a person come from?’

But with surprises big enough to have him exhausted, Sidal gave up trying to guess Ezra’s origins.

Although, when thinking about it...how can someone who could slay an astral beast single handedly be simple?

From now on, Sidal decided that he would simply devote himself to the tasks he was given and nothing else.

From experience, he judged that only trouble would come from knowing too much about Ezra’s background.

After that, they spoke a bit more before Ezra parted ways, returning to Polaim after almost three hours, defying his estimate of ten minutes ten times over.

But he held no misgivings, having obtained a new subordinate whilst Orion obtained a new Transcendent.

The effects of such changes going forward would undoubtedly be massive.

It was worth the time spent.

Unsurprisingly, upon arriving back in Polaim, he discovers that the black dragon had left.