"Well, I don’t mind having another younger sister," Elysia said with a playful smile, floating closer to his shoulder.

Ash chuckled softly at Elysia’s tease, the sound low and warm as he leaned back against the tree in the peaceful oasis.

His reddish-purple eyes glinted with amusement as he cast a glance her way.

"We’ve got roughly an hour before the assimilation kicks in," he remarked, his voice carrying an easy tone despite the underlying focus.

"Until then, let her believe whatever she wants... and in the meantime, let’s take a look at what we’ve gained from this bond."

By now, Ash was long past the point of expecting or even wanting ridiculous powers from those he formed bonds with.

If it didn’t elevate his level of existence or help him reach the ultimate state of Meta—shattering the 5th wall—then it held no real value for him.

But wait, who was Minx again?

She was the Treasury, and technically the very first being to exist—and not exist—across all of reality.

So, whatever she gave him was inevitably going to be of some benefit.

He opened his status with a thought, the familiar interface materializing before him in glowing golden text.

And the changes were just as he thought.

----

[Treasury of All Things - You now possess complete control over the Treasury of Existence, upgraded into the Treasury of All Things.

Aside from the obvious benefits, this allows you to withdraw narrative weight from any being, concept, or event, effectively making them unimportant or diminished in the greater story.]

[Primordial Transactions - You can now initiate Primordial Transactions with any being. Offer deals that inherently play in your favor, with prices that the target must pay — whether they realize it or not.]

[Meta Stage 1 – Triune Meta - You have reached the first stage down the road of Meta.

This grants you greater resistance to narrative manipulation and the ability to exist partially outside the story’s rules.]

[Audience Sense - You can now faintly sense comments and audience reactions around specific events in the Novel.

At this stage, they appear as distant whispers rather than clear voices.]

----

Ash read through the updates with a calm, appraising gaze.

He nodded slowly, not particularly surprised by the scale — he had expected something substantial, but nothing overwhelmingly higher than what he already possessed in various forms.

"Not bad," he murmured.

"While the Treasury is pretty much the same as the Infinite Resource Fountains... the other things are definitely substantial enough."

Aside from the Treasury and Primordial Transactions, everything else was something that could directly help him.

Even now, he was already thinking of ways to put the Treasury and its abilities to use.

"Maybe something for Nullen? Or maybe another MC?" he wondered to himself.

Elysia snuggled closer, her golden eyes scanning the status alongside him.

"Audience Sense," she murmured, a spark of excitement in her tone.

"I think that’s the neatest one of them all. I wonder what kinds of thoughts the readers have about us?"

Ash leaned back, a faint smile tugging at his lips as he closed the status screen.

"I must admit... it’s strange," he said. "We’ve known for some time now that we were in a Novel but actually being able to sense the audience... that makes it feel more real."

He paused, his gaze growing distant. "Almost as if we’re on the verge of reaching the peak..."

Elysia nodded, resting her head on his shoulder. "I agree... well, the current peak, at least."

They both understood there was no true settling for simply being the strongest.

Not just Ash, but every wife, every being within his Pantheon... each of them would ascend to a level of power that could never be surpassed—at least, not under normal circumstances.

Ash’s reddish-purple eyes drifted toward the peaceful meadow around them, his expression thoughtful.

"She also brought a neat addition to the Unus Race," he said, noting that the race no longer embodied only Existence and Nonexistence.

Now, they also carried the essence of the First Absence.

But it wasn’t as straightforward as it had been with Nonexistence—Ash didn’t yet have a ’First Absence’ within his verse.

Until he created it, the race would once again remain incomplete.

Still, that didn’t diminish their current state in any significant way; they simply hadn’t gained much beyond the ability to remove themselves from the Greater Narratives for short stretches of time.

That, however, was bound to change the moment Ash redefined what the First Absence meant for Pantheos.

Elysia smiled softly, her voice carrying a warm, quiet confidence.

"Well, I think it’s fair to say these True Realities have nothing left to offer us."

And she was right.

Staying within the True Realities wasn’t just about giving others a chance to join Pantheos or helping Ash further break free from the author’s influence.

It was also about gaining more power, because, as had been mentioned long ago, Ash had sworn never to enter another realm unprepared like he had on Astralis.

Every new realm from now on would become his territory—his stomping ground, his backyard.

"Hm," Ash paused for a moment, a smile tugging at his lips. "If NovelGeek2 was never planning to control me... doesn’t that mean there’s no reason for me to change my ways?"

Even without hearing him say it, Elysia already knew exactly what was running through his mind.

She simply rolled her eyes with a light chuckle.

"I suppose so..."

Ash let out a low laugh, the sound rich and full of mischief as his reddish-purple eyes gleamed with playful intent.

For a brief moment, his thoughts wandered toward the idea of trolling various beings across the verse — subtle manipulations, harmless chaos, and watching the reactions unfold.

But before he could get lost in that thought, his gaze drifted toward Emma in the distance.

The young world weaver was still steadily climbing the trials he had set for her, her focus sharp and determined as she wove new laws into the floating platforms.

Ash’s expression softened slightly as he watched her.

"I must first focus on cultivating them fully," he said, his voice calm and resolute. "The Ten Boundless Stars... they need to be ready."

Snap!

With that, he snapped his fingers.

Time across the entire verse adjusted in an instant.

One year outside now equaled a full trillion years here — or, in other words, an entire Era.

The meadow around them seemed to hum with the shift, the grass swaying a little faster as time accelerated within the oasis.

Then, in the distance, a massive burst of energy erupted from the amusement park.

A brilliant, multi-colored light exploded outward as Minx began her assimilation with the Akashic Records.