"I need to find a way to improve Big Cat's strength. I can't keep leaving her in the rear all the time!"
Muria toyed with a small crystal statue in his hand. The statue depicted a large winged cat with a contented boy lying on its back—an image of his younger self.
Suddenly, the sky above lit up with billions of starlight beams. Muria put away the statue, watching as the starlight coalesced into a dragon made entirely of stars. The second Dragon King had arrived, but none from the Titan or Seraphim clans had arrived yet.
"Starshine Dragon King!" Muria bowed slightly upon seeing the starry dragon before him. This was their third meeting.
"Muria, congratulations! You've managed to marry a seraph princess, something countless beings only dream of. Most wouldn't dare imagine it could happen, yet you've succeeded."
"Thanks to your assistance back then." Muria expressed his gratitude, remembering how the Starshine Dragon King, along with the Mountain King and the Azure Sea Dragon King, had come to his aid.
"You're thanking the wrong person. Although I came, I didn't contribute much. It was mostly thanks to the overwhelming power of that Titan Lord and, of course, your own strength."
The Starshine Dragon King laughed heartily and extended his claw, handing Muria a glistening crystal. "This is my wedding gift to you. It's just something I made out of boredom—some trivial trinkets and a few observations of the Void. Nothing too valuable, don't hold it against me."
"For me, this is the most precious gift I've received today." Muria's expression grew solemn. To him, rare resources and powerful weapons were incomparable to the personal experiences of an epic Dragon King.
"You're overstating it. To legends aspiring to reach epic status, my experiences might be invaluable, but to someone like you, born divine, they don't mean much."
The Starshine Dragon King burst into laughter, pleased by Muria's words. He knew that nearly every influential force in the world was sending Muria gifts, and hearing this made him feel genuinely delighted.
As if it were all planned, the Mountain King Dragon arrived shortly after the Starshine Dragon King. His arrival was grand—he carried an entire mountain range with him, shimmering with metallic hues, and placed it before Muria.
"Mountain King, what is this?" Muria immediately recognized the massive range as a huge mineral deposit, already refined.
"This is my gift. I thought for a long time and couldn't decide, so I figured I'd just give you a mountain!"
"Tsk, Mountain King, isn't this the place where you used to sleep?" The Starshine Dragon King clicked his tongue in surprise, inspecting the mountain.
As an earth-element Dragon King, wherever the Mountain King slept would naturally accumulate rare minerals due to his power. His resting places became massive, mobile resource points. The longer he slept, the larger and more precious the mineral deposits became.
"Looks like we had the same idea, but I'm not as generous as you. You're willing to dig up your own resting place, but I wouldn't do that."
The air filled with thick moisture, and Muria looked up at the sky, where a shimmering water curtain rapidly spread out. Inside it, various aquatic dragon beasts swam, and a deep blue dragon silhouette loomed within.
Along with this voice, another mountain, infused with potent water elements, descended from the sky, adding another peak before Muria.
"Muria, I'm rather lazy, so I didn't know what to give you. While coming here, I explored my domain's seas a bit and dug up these water crystal veins for you. I refined them a bit—should be enough, right?"
"More than enough."
...
After the three Dragon Kings had arrived, Muria waited for a long time. Just when he thought he was about to welcome a fifth Dragon King, seven comets with long white tails shot down from the sky. Sensing a familiar presence, Muria quickly looked up.
In fact, not just him—the guests waiting for the wedding to begin on the continent of light, built from a thousand floating cities, all looked up at the sky in awe of the phenomenon.
"Something akin to a Dragon King, but different in aura. The Seraphim have arrived. It seems they have plans," a red-robed archbishop from the Dawn Church remarked reverently, sensing the powerful presence descending from the heavens. These beings were on par with the deity he worshiped—true gods walking the earth.
"Muria, where's Mikaela?" As the seven floating cities descended, a figure flew out from the central one—Ylvister. "You'd better bring her to meet them."
"How many Seraphim are here?" Muria asked, his expression becoming somewhat intrigued as he observed the seven floating cities.
"Seven."
"I'll notify Mikaela right away."
"Grandfather," soon, Mikaela arrived, and together with Muria, they entered the floating city to meet her grandfather, the Seraphim Arudiba, and the other six Seraphim.
"Time flies so fast. In the blink of an eye, you're getting married." Arudiba's eyes softened as he looked at the elegant young woman before him. For him, the span of hundreds of years was brief—lost easily during moments of deep contemplation. It was as if ages had passed in an instant.
After his sentimental reflection, Arudiba turned his gaze to Muria, who was feeling slightly uneasy under the weight of the seven Seraphim's overwhelming presence. It was as if they were deliberately exerting pressure on him.
"Muria, Mikaela is the first ten-winged Seraphim in our history to marry outside the clan. You're quite lucky. Ten thousand years ago, not even the Ten Lords could have secured a relationship with her."
"I know. I will take good care of her," Muria replied without hesitation.
"Good."
"Since you're marrying our Seraphim princess, we'll be giving you appropriate gifts. We've prepared many, so brace yourself. Here's the first one."
Arudiba reached out and gently touched Muria's forehead. The action was slow, but no matter how Muria tried to dodge, he realized that the outcome was inevitable—Arudiba's finger would reach him.
The moment Arudiba's fingertip touched Muria's brow, an enormous surge of information flooded into his mind, quickly condensing into a radiant crystal.
"This is…" Muria stared at his grandfather in confusion, instinctively sensing that the information within the crystal was incredibly important, but he couldn't comprehend any of it.
"This is how we Seraphim ascend to epic status, along with the secret techniques we use to draw primordial energy from the world. For now, this knowledge is too advanced for you, so you won't be able to access it."
Muria's face froze. He had never imagined that the Seraphim would gift him something so monumental—a method for achieving epic status, along with their secret techniques for extracting world energy. Such knowledge was accumulated through lifetimes of experience and sacrifice.
"Surprised, are you?"
"I'm... I'm alright," Muria clenched his fists, feeling his voice tremble slightly. The Seraphim had just entrusted him with something that was essentially the foundation of their existence. To give away something so crucial as a wedding gift was utterly astonishing.
"For now, you don't have the qualifications to examine this knowledge alone. If you want to access it early, you can seek your grandfather or a Titan you know."
Muria blinked in surprise, his expression relaxing. He realized that he was merely a carrier of the knowledge. The Seraphim were likely seeking deeper cooperation with the Titans, and this gift was a kind of trial.
"That's your first gift, but since it's not immediately useful to you, here's the second one."
Once again, Arudiba's finger touched Muria's brow, and another torrent of information surged into his consciousness. This time, Muria could understand it: it was the complete design history of all 39 generations of floating cities constructed by the Seraphim, from the very first to the most recent, including improvements and adaptations for different situations. The sheer volume of knowledge was staggering, and its value was immeasurable.
Very few races could remain calm in the face of such advanced knowledge. Aside from the Titans and a handful of others, most would go mad for it.
"Our third gift to you and Mikaela is an army of a million angels. Don't think it's too few—given Mikaela's current strength, this is more than enough."
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