Then, a faint glow surfaced from her chest, gradually taking the form of a translucent, shimmering orb, it was the Mirage Realm.

For all the time she had remained in her slumber, the clones within had been completely motionless, locked in stillness as if waiting for a signal that never came.

The moment her consciousness entered this space, she gave them a command.

1. To create a skill to temper her body

2. To create a skill that allowed her to switch back and forth from weak to strong freely or a skill that could shield her breath.

The clones immediately responded. After months of stillness, they moved as if a tightly wound machine had been unlatched.

Within the first hour, they had burned through several mental tanks, pushing themselves to their limit without hesitation.

And finally, a new skill was born.

[Star Furnace Physique] [Tier 7]

Its function: to absorb the immense heat and energy produced by stars and channel that power into tempering her body, bones, and soul, strengthening every part of her being. Possessing so, this skill allowed the user a full control over the body, everything within at the user's disposal.

There was a limit, of course.

Since the clones had tied the technique to her mental energy reserve, it could only push her body one tier beyond its current strength.

Similar to how her mental strength allowed her to fight across tier 9 before, true emperor realm.

But for Mize, that was more than enough. To contain the backslash from her huge mental strength, having a tier 8 body could reduce the burden greatly.

Then, there was the full control over her body. This was what she wanted, an ability to become weak, to appear sick, and more.

The goal?

Points.

Once a skill was created, she could give them to her clones. Especially those important ones such as Lyshell, Cahaya, and Angela.

Earning points was the ultimate goal, nothing else.

Now came the question: where exactly was she supposed to find a star to draw power from?

Fly into the sky and bathe in solar fire?

Perhaps having a suit with an S symbol over her chest?

Of course not, she's not superman.

This was where the Star Diagram came into play.

Her clones would perform the Starry Link and Star Gathering Technique simultaneously, inside the Mirage Realm.

Through this, they would draw in stellar energy not only to replenish her mental reserves but also to temper her body.

With each absorption of the Star Diagram, the gathered energy would stream through the link and directly affect her real body.

In effect, she had hundreds of tireless workers inside her mirage world, steadily refining her physique without pause until it reaches the limit.

Mize exhaled softly and leaned back onto the bed.

The wooden frame gave a quiet creak under her weight. With a thought, she ordered the clones to begin.

Her body stilled.

Then, deep beneath her skin, something shifted. Slowly, like a moving snake, thousand of them.

A creeping warmth emerged from the depths of her core, subtle at first, then intensifying.

Heat surged, as if invisible forges were hammering against her bones, muscles, and flesh.

Oddly enough, there was no discomfort.

Instead, her entire body felt lighter with each passing moment. The state of nullification that had blocked her skill usage dissipated almost instantly.

She opened her eyes, sat upright at the edge of the bed, and lifted one hand in front of her.

There was a subtle gleam to her skin now, a faint reddish shimmer beneath the surface that hadn't been there before.

Controlling it, everything returned to normal.

She sat upright, eyes gleaming.

Strength flowed through her arm naturally.

Her fingers clenched, "Yeah, that's more like it."

She tilted her head slightly and did a mental calculation.

"1 more hours?" she muttered. "That’s all it’ll take?"

And indeed, it made sense.

She had hundreds of energy converters, her clones, working in unison to channel and distribute power, each one feeding refined energy directly to her.

And by design, each clone was a master of energy manipulation.

The process was so efficient that barely any energy was lost in the conversion. Instead, what returned to her was purified and potent energy.

With that task handled in the background, Mize shifted her focus elsewhere, "Now, it's time to look around, properly without a finger stuck in my butt," Mize blushed.

Her gaze turned outward, bypassing walls, reaching through the layers of cloud and mist.

Her all-seeing eyes cut through every obstruction like sunlight through fog.

A familiar landscape came into view, but everything appeared to be different...

She blinked, taken aback.

The borders had expanded. The hills she remembered had stretched farther.

Roads had formed where none existed before. Distant structures stood across newly occupied land.

She leaned forward slightly, her eyes discerning around.

“…It’s already twice the size,” she murmured, her voice laced with a mix of surprise and quiet satisfaction.

The main city had changed, its sheer size had ballooned to something entirely different. From where she stood, the transformation was unmistakable. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Towering spires had risen from the ground, older buildings were replaced or upgraded with reinforced materials, and the once scattered layout now stretched outward in neat layers, almost like rings growing out from a center.

But the design, she frowned, "Why are there so many alleys, crisscrossing paths, and even several layers of area. This... is a maze"

Mize took one glance at the sea of rooftops and teeming streets and made a rough estimate, "Whatever the case, the current population is simply breathtaking."

“Six million,” she murmured, eyes narrowing faintly. “At least six million people live here now…”

It was an absurd number, at least by the standards of the era before her sleep.

But knowing Elias and how meticulous he was, it didn’t surprise her. Though the design concerned her a little.

His ability to manage a territory, organize people, and structure growth was absurd in its own way.

So, while the population boom was shocking, it was also expected, "The more, the better. My personal points factory."

Her thoughts drifted elsewhere as she floated lazily inside the room, her body glowing faintly in the ambient light.

She hadn’t used the points she accumulated just yet. The remaining points after she upgraded her charm, she had a different plant for them.

At first, she wondered whether she should upgrade immediately or wait until she’d saved up one million for a full 10 points increase.

From 70 to 80, it required over one million.

After pacing in a slow circle around the room, bare feet brushing against the polished floor, she made her decision.

“I’ll wait,” she concluded quietly.

It wasn’t like she lacked points nor time.

In fact, with how easily Liam poured resources into her, especially through her beauty passive, she could farm points endlessly from him just by existing near him.

But of course, the occasional finger actions couldn't be avoided.

A faint smirk touched her lips.

Her current beauty alone was enough to keep the points flowing steadily. No need to rush, "Then, there were also my clones outside. I wonder how the clone I assigned to Klein was doing, I hope she wouldn't let me down."

"As for Angela," her eyes brightened up, "Yes, the plan must continue."

She drifted over toward the window, her presence calm and unhurried.

The tempering process was still running in the background of her body, like a passive breathing rhythm she didn’t need to think about.

Her eyes scanned the interior of the room.

Compared to the past, it was notably more empty now, fewer furniture, less personal items.

Mize raised a brow.

“So he’s missed me that much, huh?”

The tone was light, her voice amused but distant.

She sat beside the window at a simple wooden table and rested her elbow on its edge, chin in hand.

Moonlight spilled in across the surface, painting her skin with a soft glow as her eyes turned upward to the silver disc above the clouds.

She didn’t ask where Liam was. He didn’t leave many details.

And she didn’t really care. Whatever business he had out there, it had nothing to do with her right now.

Her mind wandered freely.

“The next event... still unknown,” she whispered to herself.

“The world’s fate was spared last time... so now its direction is uncertain.”

“And the lords... their reaction to our victory was less than pleasant.”

Mize ran through the pieces of information Liam had left behind before his departure.

She let the silence stretch between each thought, watching how the moon’s position changed ever so slightly as time passed.

Her expression remained unreadable.

The territory had changed in more ways than one.

It was now classified as Tier 7, Liam had upgraded it while she slept. And with that, the very foundation of her own power shifted once more.

But power wasn’t the only thing tugging at her senses.

Something else caught her attention.

"Huh? a distress signal?," a strange pulse. It came like a whisper, faint but familiar... "Titrus"

She frowned slightly, then closed her eyes.

Stretching her consciousness outward, she activated her all-seeing eyes and followed the connection she had with him.

Her vision tunneled across space until it landed on a place still inside the territory... yet curiously sealed off.

Surrounded by huge towering walls, gigantic crossbows for every 100 meters.

Mize narrowed her gaze.

“This place... " she muttered.

It didn’t take her long to recognize it. It was the battlefield where the event had taken place.The ground there had swallowed millions of lives, the very soil soaked with blood.

Even now, the earth refused to recover. No green sprouted. But that wasn’t what drew her attention.

She glanced again, this time paying closer attention to the strange mist that hovered in the air like a ghostly curtain.

It clung to everything. A thick red hue.

There was no smell, no sound, just a strange silence that settled over the area like a suffocating blanket, "I never thought this area could be affected to this point?"

Mize's brows furrowed deeply.

“What is this...?”

She reached out with her divine mind, extending a strand of energy into the fog.

Immediately, there was a violent reaction. Her divine energy made contact with the mist, and the air around it sizzled like acid meeting metal.

She pulled back instinctively, eyes flashing. The miasma didn’t resemble anything she’d seen before.

There was no warp energy in the air, no intent laced into it, but it resisted contact from anything foreign, as if instinctively repelling by nature.

She gazed over the sealed area, carefully scanning every inch.

Her eyes flickered, "Yeah, seems more and more like the warp's doing."