Boom! Muria, having been kicked by his mother, the golden dragon, soared through the air, leaving a long trail behind him before crashing into a crystalline spire of the floating city, creating a neat dent upon impact.
"Ouch, that was a hard kick!" Muria extricated himself from the dent. As he rubbed his waist, he suddenly noticed a pair of long, slender legs appear in front of him, accompanied by a familiar aura.
"Huh?" Muria froze mid-motion. He slowly raised his head, following the length of the legs until a flawless, peerless face came into view.
"Mika, long time no see!"
"Shouldn't you give me an explanation?" Mikaela stared at him with a blank expression. While she was busy leading her newly-formed angelic army in hunting down liches deep beneath the Obistho subcontinent, this guy had gone off gallivanting in the void.
If she hadn't returned to her floating city and contacted her brother, she wouldn't have known that Muria had ventured into the void and even witnessed a massive battle between epic beings.
"What explanation?" Muria asked sheepishly, looking at Mikaela. He racked his brain, but as far as he could recall, he hadn't wronged her in any way. Even when he went to the undead dungeon to hunt liches, he specifically contacted a high-level lich, putting his own reputation at risk, to ensure her safety.
"Why didn't you take me with you on the Titan trials when you went to conquer another world?" Mikaela asked, her tone tinged with disappointment. She had thought they were a team, yet he had gone on without her.
"The void is filled with unknown dangers. I wanted to scout the way first, then let you know," Muria replied with a sheepish smile. In truth, when he gained control of the Yinhuang World and received nine world coordinates, he had never considered bringing Mikaela along for the exploration.
As he said, the void was unpredictable, and he had no idea what could happen next. There was no way he'd risk taking Mikaela into such an uncertain situation, even if he knew how much she loved to fight. If he had taken her, and something had happened, he might have been facing her older brother by now.
"Muria, I'm angry," Mikaela declared, puffing her cheeks slightly, mimicking an expression she had learned from one of her female subordinates. She had seen how effective this tactic was at keeping male subordinates in line, especially her most powerful and long-lived archangel, Asimio, who always gave in to such expressions.
"Whoa!" Seeing the normally stern, battle-loving Mikaela make such an adorable face, Muria couldn't help but gasp in shock. He took a step back, pressing against the tower behind him, as he carefully examined her aura.
It was unmistakably Mikaela's, only slightly stronger than before, but definitely genuine. Still, her expression seemed so out of character. It made no sense!
"What's with that face?" Mikaela's tone shifted to annoyance when she saw Muria's confused reaction. When her subordinate made this face, her ten-winged archangel would rush to comfort her. But now, Muria's reaction was completely different.
"Uh, I just had to make sure no one was impersonating you. I've never seen you make that expression before," Muria hastily explained, trying to cover his surprise.
"What's wrong with this expression? Is there a problem?" Mikaela asked, her face reverting to its usual stoic look.
"No, no problem at all. I actually like it. It's great," Muria quickly replied. Having her make such expressions was a good thing. If she always maintained a neutral face around him, that would be rather dull.
"Really?"
"Really," Muria nodded emphatically.
"Alright, then. I want to stay, and I want the world coordinates you have. I want to help you conquer these worlds."
"This…" Muria hesitated.
"If you don't agree, don't expect to see that face again or any similar ones," Mikaela threatened.
"..." In the end, Muria gave in. After all, Mikaela had already crossed the stargate into Yinhuang World, and there was no way he could forcibly send her back without making a scene. Besides, Mikaela's power wasn't much weaker than his.
To catch up to him, she had been furiously battling in the undead dungeon of Obistho. She had become such a terror to the legendary liches there that they would flee at the mere sight of her.
Mikaela's presence even caused an exodus of undead from the dungeon. Many of the more informed undead knew that Mikaela was an untouchable force. Since they couldn't stop her, the only option was to run.
...
So, Mikaela stayed, and Muria's original plan to conquer small worlds and gather resources continued. He had the coordinates of three medium worlds and six small worlds, with the Sihjin small world already under his control.
Five small worlds remained, and those were Muria's next targets. As for the medium worlds, he had no intention of acting on them just yet.
In the Titan-controlled worlds, small worlds were often rich in resources, while medium worlds were the top-tier ones, filled with countless powerful beings and used as Titan recruiting grounds.
Muria couldn't even fully conquer the Yinhuang World, which was heavily biased in his favor, so there was no way he would try to tackle the medium worlds where he had no advantage. The treatment there wouldn't be as generous as it was in Yinhuang World.
Thus, Muria, his fiancée, and his parents continued their campaign through the void, leading their fleet to conquer one small world after another. Despite the pressure from world rules, the challenges weren't too great. The strongest small world they encountered had only produced two legendary beings.
Resource-rich small worlds generally focused on metallic resources, which didn't give rise to particularly powerful creatures. If a world was energy-rich, it wouldn't be classified as a small world.
Time passed as the family continued their conquests, and Muria's 200th birthday, marking his coming of age, approached.
...
"Little Muria, you're an adult now!"
A grand banquet was held on the central floating island of Synapse. After the celebrations, Muria's mother, the golden dragon, found him, slightly tipsy, with a drink in her hand and a melancholy look in her eyes.
"Yeah, I've come of age!" Muria raised his glass, feeling a bit sentimental. Regular dragons reached adulthood at 100 years old, but for him, it took 200 years.
His bloodline was so powerful that, even if he did nothing, he would automatically ascend to legendary status upon coming of age. Unfortunately, with the way the Titans trained and his mother's guidance, doing nothing was never an option, so he had reached legendary status early on.
Now, as he turned 200, while others were just starting to become legendary, he was already nearing the threshold of Tier 5. Within a century, maybe two at most, he would step into the high levels of legendary status.
At that point, even in Erathia, there would be few he needed to fear, aside from his kin and a select few other beings like the ancient dragons and certain monstrous creatures with powerful bloodlines.
By then, even if a god descended in avatar form, Muria would dare to challenge it head-on, equipped with his legendary armor and weapons.
"Time flies so fast!" His mother's sadness deepened upon hearing his words. "In the blink of an eye, 200 years have passed. You've grown up, and I've grown two centuries older."
Muria felt awkward. He had thought she'd say something about him, but it turned out he was being self-centered. Still, seeing the sadness in her eyes, he felt obligated to comfort her since his father certainly wouldn't.
"Mother, you're far from old."
"Two hundred years ago, I thought the same. But now, my adulthood is almost over, and I'll be entering my prime soon. I'm getting closer to being called an old dragon."
"You still have 400 years to go! No need to worry." Muria rolled his eyes. Grand dragons' life stages were about twice as long as regular dragons. His mother's adulthood was indeed nearing its end, but she still had 400 years of prime life before reaching old age.
"Time flies faster than you think," she suddenly changed the topic to Muria. "Speaking of time, shouldn't you give me a granddaughter before I become an old dragon? It would be so pitiful to have no granddaughter in my old age. You can't expect your father, who only cares about fighting, to keep me company, right?"
"I'll try my best," Muria chuckled awkwardly.
"No, don't just try. You're 200 years old now. You're already a mature dragon, and it's time to settle your personal affairs. You're still a virgin dragon at this age—don't you feel ashamed? You're disgracing the proud bloodline of the dragon race."
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