Whilst the others were still reeling from the surprise of Ace's revelation, Linley suddenly gasped in shock and excitement, causing everyone to turn to him, wondering what caused such a reaction from him.
Linley then revealed that after Ace mentioned that he could be considered the heavens of this dimension, he had attempted to refine his Willpower to rid himself of heaven's influence once and for all. When he tried, he did it without expecting much, but it turned out he had been successful. Although, in the grand scheme of things, it was less than a fraction of a fraction of a single percent, the fact remained that he had been successful.
Linley's words caused everyone, Ace included, to be taken aback. None of them thought for a second that they would be able to achieve something so spectacular just by being in Ace's dimension, but whether it was Killian, Osiris, or Millianna, they were all able to achieve similar results.
The only ones who had failed were the Sovereigns. Ace speculated that there were two possible reasons for that conclusion. First, because the Sovereign Sparks they had fused with were created by Heaven in the first place, it was impossible to break free of Heaven's influence. The second potential reason was that they were too strong.
Although Ace was stronger than just about every Sovereign in existence, they had a lot more Willpower than even monsters like Killian and Linley, making the extent of Heaven's influence on them far deeper. If that were really the case, then since the power of his dimension was directly tied to Ace's power, when he grew strong enough, they, too, would be able to break through.
As hopeful as each of the Sovereigns was, they knew that there was nothing that could be done for the moment; as such, everyone let Ace get back to his training in peace after making sure he didn't intend to pull any more crazy stunts.
After pacifying the concerns of his family, Ace retreated to a peaceful and secluded corner of his dimension and sat down cross-legged.
Although Ace had told his family and friends there was no longer anything for them to worry about, he knew that wasn't the whole truth. Whilst he hadn't lied about anything he had said, he hadn't exactly told them everything either.
The truth was, although he did have almost 16,000 years' worth of time to train, the Laws of Space and Time were hundreds, if not thousands, of times more profound and complex than any law he had ever encountered. Even so, he wasn't worried; he already had a contingency plan to ensure his victory – he had promised his wife that he would ensure the universe their child was born into would be safe, and he had every intention of making sure that he would uphold his promise.
As such, he calmly entered a deep meditative state where he allowed every fibre of his being to focus on the profundities of the Laws of Space after realising that although both laws were technically on the same level, the Laws of Time were a level or two above in terms of complexity.
Whilst Ace was in seclusion, time flew by. By now, word of Ace's upcoming battle against the current Overgod of Darkness had spread to almost every corner of the universe. And thanks to the feats and promises Ace had already made, the vast majority of people began to hope that Ace would create yet another miracle.
That in and of itself wasn't a problem, but it had to be understood that people's hopes were intrinsically tied to one's faith. While Ace slowly found his faith increasing and, by extension, his perception and powers of comprehension, the opposite was true for Phueus.
Originally, with the promise of help from the other Overgods who stood against Ace to help him condense his Overgod body when he was ready, Phueus originally intended to postpone the creation of his Overgod's body for as long as possible so he could comprehend as many Concepts as possible beforehand.
Although each concept comprehended would only reward him a single unit of Will, it was still an increase in power, which would only serve to increase his chances.
But now, with his faith slowly but steadily decreasing more and more by the day, he knew he couldn't hold off anymore.
Phueus obviously knew the reason behind his decreasing faith; he also knew that it was caused by those on Ace's side. Still, there was nothing he could do to fight it. When he was still a Sovereign, although he had a significant amount of Faith compared to the rest of the experts in the universe, his actions could and would never do anything to cause the faith he had access to to fluctuate, but now it would.
The moment Phueus and his allied Overgods began to condense his Overgod body, Aiden and the other Overgods on the side of the Yulan Plane obviously felt it.
Aiden was in the middle of practising his glaivesmanship at the time. Although he didn't stop, a teasing smirk took shape. Phueus was right; news of his battle with Ace was spread thanks to Aiden's subtle actions, which he had done for that exact reason.
Although, with his disciple having decided to face the Overgods on his own, there was little he could do to protect Ace directly, he would still do whatever he could to tip the scales in Ace's favour. Now, though, he really had done everything he could to support Ace – the rest would be up to him.
Slowly, time continued on. With all the major powerhouses of the universe retreating into seclusion, there were no major incidents taking place, but that changed a few thousand years later.
There were only 3000 years left until Ace's battle with Phueus, but on one unsuspecting day, Lance arrived in front of Ace.
Because of the importance of the battle, no one had any intention of disturbing Ace unless absolutely necessary, and as someone who loved Ace as much as Lance did, Lance obviously knew that. In fact, Lance didn't want to disturb Ace for this, but Ace had already explicitly warned Lance that the day the next paragon of True Yang was born, he should tell him as he wanted to be the one to award them their Sovereign Spark personally.
When Lance appeared before him, Ace didn't even have to ask to understand what Lance had come to tell him. As a result, Ace simply tore a hole in the void, which allowed him to return to the Yulan Plane.
Ace immediately returned to his Gol Clan's palace, where he saw a small group of people calmly waiting for his arrival. All of those present were, at the very least, paragons of a single law or concept, but aside from Lance, he only recognised two others – his little sister and her grandson.
Still, when he arrived, he only had eyes for the woman patiently waiting in the middle of the crowd. Of those present, she was the only one without his Gol Clan's bloodline coursing through her veins; aside from that, Ace could sense a very familiar aura emanating from her.
At his current level, not even Sovereigns were capable of hiding anything from him, so he was instantly able to see that she truly had become a Paragon of True Yang, but what he found even more interesting was the nature of her body.
According to his senses, not only was the woman's affinity to the Mandate of True Yang reached a level that surpassed that of even his and Amira's affinities to their respective elements, but he could also tell that her body was innately suited to the power of True Yang, to the point where she would see a 50% increase in power when using it when compared to others at her realm.
Aside from the various bloodlines in existence, there were also others born with unique physiques. The main difference between a bloodline and a physique was that, whilst the bloodline of a parent could be passed down to their children, those born with a unique physique weren't capable of passing down their physique to their children.
Still, the heavens were fair. Since those born with unique physiques couldn't pass on their physiques to their child, they were able to have children with just as much ease as a regular person, and even though their children wouldn't be born with their physiques, they would still be born with the talent of a genius.
At Ace's current level, not even Overgods were capable of spying on him, so when he arrived, no one in the hall had noticed. It was only when he cleared his throat that everyone noticed him.
Ophelia could be considered a supreme expert wherever she went, even here on the Yulan Plane, which had, for a long time, been considered the gathering place of powerhouses; she could be considered a powerful existence.
From the moment she arrived, she could sense that there were a few present that were stronger than her. Even so, she was able to remain calm and composed. Still, the moment she heard Ace clear his throat from right behind her, her eyes constricted into pinholes.
She couldn't remember the last time someone was able to approach her without her noticing – had they wanted to, they could've killed her without a second thought. Still, what was even more shocking was the fact that even as she laid eyes on him, Ace appeared to be a mere mortal.
She didn't need him to introduce himself; she instantly knew who he was – the most revered expert in the entire universe, Gol D. Ace!
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