Anne watched Ethan’s reaction closely, her sanguine eyes searching for even a flicker of doubt. "I thought you might be disappointed," she said softly. "To find out that after all your struggle, you are still only at the base of the mountain and not the summit."

"Hahaha!" Ethan’s laughter erupted, echoing through the cold industrial vault with a vibrant, manic energy. "Depressed? Anne, I’m motivated! If flattening a mountain range is just a light warm-up for my fists at this level, what happens when I reach the top? Can I shatter a continent with a single strike? I’m not disappointed—I’m hungry. I can’t wait to get out there!"

Anne smiled, a rare expression of genuine approval crossing her face. "I knew my evaluation of you wasn’t wrong. You truly are an interesting variable. So, what do you say? Will you come with me to the Crimson Heaven Kingdom?"

Ethan wiped a tear of laughter from his eye, though his gaze remained sharp. "You said it’s impossibly far. How would we even get there?"

"Every major country has inter-continental teleportation matrices," Anne explained, her tone becoming practical. "It will be a long journey through various territories, but we will find a way to navigate them."

"And what about my family?" Ethan asked, the levity in his voice replaced by a low, steady seriousness.

Anne sighed, a hint of frustration leaking through. "Those women up there? The ones who haven’t even moved past Body Refinement, and only managed that because you fed them the Queen Worm’s nectar? Are you still clinging to them? I told you once before, Ethan: drop that weight. They will only slow you down. When your brilliance eventually fades, or when you face a true storm, they will be the anchors that drown you."

Ethan let out a soft, dry chuckle. "I told you the same thing last time, Anne. I won’t leave them behind. If I can’t go with them, I’d rather not go at all. So, once again, I’m turning down your offer."

Anne’s eyes narrowed. "Even after everything I’ve shown you? Even knowing the gap between you and the rest of the universe, you still choose to stay in this cage for them?"

"I won’t say I’m not tempted," Ethan said, looking up at the high ceiling of the vault. "But I won’t abandon anyone on my path. I can annihilate every enemy that stands before me, but I will never discard those I’ve accepted into my life. That is the one line I don’t cross."

"You are a naive fool," the Matriarch spat, her form suddenly dissolving into a dark, swirling sanguine mist.

Ethan watched her go. He remembered the first time he saw that movement—back when she was wounded by the Black Skull assassin. Back then, it had been a blur he couldn’t track. Now, his amethyst-void eyes saw everything. He could trace the path of the bloody mist as it threaded through the air. He wondered briefly if he could trap her in a spatial fold—and if he did, would her body be shredded like silk, or would she simply reform? It was a ’fun’ thought, a tactical curiosity.

Ethan turned away, heading toward the elevator. He stopped briefly to address the lead technicians. "Keep up the work. Not a single word of what happened here today—or what you heard—leaves this floor. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Boss!" the technicians shouted in unison, bowing their heads.

As the elevator doors hissed shut, one of the younger techs slumped against a console, wiping sweat from his brow. "The Boss’s power is... it’s nightmare fuel. I’ve never been so terrified in my life."

"No kidding," an older engineer replied, his hands still shaking as he adjusted a laser frequency. "I can bend a steel bar with my bare hands, but I couldn’t even bring myself to look him in the eye. It felt like my soul was being weighed and found lacking."

Ethan ascended, the weight of the spear wound in his gut now nothing more than a dull memory, while the weight of a thousand-fold larger world pressed down on his shoulders. He didn’t mind. A larger world just meant a larger throne.

Ethan stepped out of the elevator and felt the cool night air on his face. In the silence of his mind, he reached out to the only entity that truly knew the depths of his soul.

"Crul," Ethan whispered. "How much of what the Matriarch said is true?"

[Everything, Master. Those are indeed the realms above you. Would you like me to catalog the stages that lie even further beyond those?]

"Are there many?"

[Do you truly wish to know?]

Ethan let out a long, heavy sigh. "No. I already feel an immense pressure just knowing there are beings out there who look at me the same way I look at an ant. It’s terrifying. I’ll learn as I go. Just tell me one thing... in comparison to this supposed ’King’ she mentioned, how strong was my ancestor?"

[Lord Amethyst? Hahahaha!]

For the first time in history, Crul laughed. It wasn’t a sound of joy, but a sharp, clinical burst of mockery.

[They are nothing before Lord Amethyst, Master. What they call a ’King of the World’ is likely not even the ruler of a single continent in the grand scheme of things. To dominate the world, he still has a long way to go. Lord Amethyst did not dominate a world, or many worlds, or even star systems. He governed entire universes.]

The revelation hit Ethan like a bolt of lightning, rattling his very psyche. The path ahead wasn’t just long—it was infinite. But as the shock subsided, it was replaced by a roaring fire of motivation. He had climbed from being a lowly repair technician struggling to survive, to a man selling himself for system points he didn’t understand, to the ruler of a territory, and now, the master of a planet.

Ethan threw his head back and laughed, a wild, predatory sound. He launched himself into the sky, a sonic boom trailing behind him as he streaked toward the center of the dark, vast ocean.

He hovered over the waves and unleashed his maximum power. The gargantuan silhouette of the Void Nightmare manifested behind him once more, its presence turning the water black. Ethan began to bombard the ocean with his bare fists.

Colossal shadows stirred in the depths. Ancient, legendary beings—the Leviathan, the Kraken, and mythological horrors that had lived in the lightless trenches for eons—surfaced to challenge the intruder. They were met with absolute annihilation. Ethan’s punches turned the titans into minced meat and crimson spray. He didn’t stop, raining down blows until the sheer force of his strikes parted the sea, revealing the jagged floor of the ocean miles below.

Ethan let himself drop, using the chaotic depths as his personal pool. A massive tsunami of blood and seawater converged toward him, drawn in by his gravity. He floated in the center of a gargantuan whirlpool, a tiny speck of darkness in a sea turned crimson, savoring the destruction.

While Ethan enjoyed his bath and his bloody feast, the world above was falling into absolute chaos.

----------------

From this moment forward, to avoid confusion regarding cultivation ranks, I will include this footer with the current established levels.

Note: These are only the ranks mentioned so far to avoid spoilers.

Body Refinement Realm

Skin Refinement / Bone Refinement / Organ Refinement

Spiritual Gathering Realm

Spiritual Perception / Spiritual Mist / Spiritual Condensation

Spiritual Core Realm

Core Solidification / Core Awakening / Spiritual Collapse (Half-step Spiritual Core) 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Spiritual Soul Realm

Spiritual Soul Awakening / Soul Nourishing / Soul-Core Fusion

Golden Core Realm

Prime Fusion / Core Perfection / Core Destruction

Spiritual Sea Realm

Stage 1 ?? / Stage 2 ?? / Stage 3 ??

Dao Manifestation Realm

Stage 1 ?? / Stage 2 ?? / Stage 3 ??

Spiritual Transcendence

Stage 1 ?? / Stage 2 ?? / Stage 3 ??