"Garon, you are on the brink of becoming a deity of strong divine power."
"I extend my congratulations in advance."
In the Heroic Domain, within the Sky Garden, in the divine kingdom of the Dragon God of Time, which occupies the former site of the Hall of Heroes.
Deity Garon and the Wind Elemental Queen engaged in a relaxed and cheerful conversation within the temple.
Gazing at the Wind Elemental Queen, the silver dragon bathed in a radiant glow smiled and nodded. "I can feel it. Within a century, I will fully ascend to the level of strong divine power and stand on the same tier as you."
The Wind Elemental Queen also smiled, her face composed of swirling winds, and said, "I look forward to it."
"How is your conflict with the Earth Elemental Lord faring these days?" Garon asked during their conversation.
At the mention of the Earth Elemental Lord, the winds around the Wind Elemental Queen intensified, sharp and fierce, exuding the aura and majesty befitting the ruler of the Wind Elemental Plane.
"After the Dawn War, the Earth Elemental Lord sought to make peace with me."
She laughed lightly. "He took advantage of my absence, invading the Wind Elemental Plane and causing the deaths of many of my subjects. Now, feeling the pressure, he wants to make amends? It won't be that easy."
During the Dawn War, the Earth Elemental Lord took advantage of the Wind Elemental Queen's absence—while she was combating the Primal Wilds on the Prime Material Plane—to launch a retaliatory invasion of the Wind Elemental Plane, causing considerable destruction.
After the war, with the Pantheon rising to prominence and contemplating action against those who had betrayed or hindered them, the Earth Elemental Lord sensed the impending danger and sought reconciliation with the Wind Elemental Queen, offering to join the Pantheon as well.
However, the Wind Elemental Queen rejected the Earth Elemental Lord's overtures, despite the compensations he offered being far greater than the damage he had caused.
Similarly, the Pantheon did not accept the Earth Elemental Lord, despite his notable strength among the deities of strong divine power.
At the most critical moments, when their strength was needed the most, the Earth Elemental Lord and some other gods had worked against them. Now, after the gods had paid a heavy price and the war had ended, these entities sought forgiveness and admission into the Pantheon.
But the Pantheon did not welcome every deity. There would be a reckoning.
"Once the Pantheon regains its full strength and consolidates its power, there will be judgment and punishment for the Earth Elemental Lord and other gods like the Devourer of Hearts."
"When that time comes, I may have already stepped into the realm of strong divine power, and I can join you in settling the score with the Earth Elemental Lord," Garon said.
The Wind Elemental Queen smiled softly at his words and said, "I eagerly await that day."
After a pause, she looked at Garon and said, "When you become a deity of strong divine power, shall we announce to the multiverse and proclaim our union as partners?"
Garon was slightly taken aback but then nodded with a smile on his faceplate. "Then I must hasten to become a deity of strong divine power."
Over the years, the bond between Garon and the Wind Elemental Queen had grown increasingly intimate, and their followers had long regarded them as partners. It was just that the deities themselves had not yet officially proclaimed it.
In the temple, the Wind Elemental Queen transformed into a lithe, curvaceous humanoid form, leaning gently against the side of the silver dragon.
The two deities conversed affectionately.
After some time, Garon suddenly felt a sensation and lifted his head, his gaze piercing through the Sky Garden and towards the upper layers of the Heroic Domain.
A vast, pent-up aura, like a volcano ready to erupt, was brewing, expanding, and bursting forth.
This aura instantly transcended the boundaries of the divine kingdom, bypassing all defenses, freezing everything within Garon's domain. Only the Wind Elemental Queen and Garon, who shared the same origin as this aura, remained unaffected and conscious.
"It can bypass the divine kingdom's defenses and directly affect its interior," the Wind Elemental Queen remarked, her eyes narrowing in surprise.
"My true form… is finally breaking through," Garon murmured, deeply moved.
In the Dragon Court of the Heroic Domain, a realm without land where the sky stretched endlessly.
Countless true dragons soared through the drifting winds and clouds, their faces alight with pride, their scales shimmering with the glory of true dragons.
Suddenly, a vast and ancient dragon's might, seemingly existing in the past, present, and future simultaneously, erupted, sweeping across the Dragon Court, the Sky Garden, the Land of Fire, and the Underworld.
Time halted across the entire Heroic Domain.
In the Dragon Court, the winds and clouds, the various types of legendary dragons, the floating dragon islands—all froze in place. In the Sky Garden, the dense forests and flowing rivers, and the myriad of spirits that inhabited the realm—all were suspended.
In the Land of Fire, the endless volcanoes, the thick lava, and the billowing black smoke—all came to a standstill.
Everything, all existence, in this moment, was immobilized.
In the depths of the Dragon Court, within the Eternal Hall of Heroes.
A massive silver dragon, dormant for centuries, slowly opened its platinum eyes.
At that moment, the frozen world resumed its flow.
The wind continued to blow, the clouds drifted again, and the dragons and spirits resumed their activities as if nothing had happened, oblivious to the momentary suspension of their world.
Garon slowly rose from his coiled position.
With each movement of the silver dragon, the River of Time flowed, its invisible, intangible waters seeming to weave through the gaps between his scales, imbuing him with an aura of eternal mystery.
Now, after a three-hundred-year slumber—far longer than any previous sleep—he had successfully broken through, becoming a quasi-strong divine power, a Time Dragon of immense stature.
As a quasi-strong divine power, Garon's appearance had not changed dramatically, but his aura was now profoundly deep, like a serene lake in a dense forest, clear and unfathomable.
The most significant change was the transformation of his life form.
Suddenly, the silver dragon vanished from his lair.
More accurately, he had fully integrated into the River of Time, becoming a being that could not be perceived with mortal eyes.
Buzzing softly. In the dragon's lair, the silver dragon's body flickered, appearing and disappearing, as if it had become a non-existent phantom.
The frequency of this flickering increased, surpassing billions of times per second, beyond counting.
As the waters of the River of Time flowed, each flicker brought reflections of the past, present, or future onto the silver dragon's body. Each of Garon's scales seemed to transform into a world, a complete timeline, all of which truly existed somewhere in the infinite multiverse.
He could remain in his lair, his true form unmoving, yet perceive all, traversing the boundless planes and worlds. However, this observational ability was somewhat random outside the Grand Ring Multiverse and lacked precise control.
With this ascension, Garon's connection to the River of Time had become so close that they were inseparable, yet his own will was not overwhelmed by the infinite temporal knowledge and information contained within the River of Time.
When he was first caught in the temporal vortex, Garon had experienced the sensation of merging with the River of Time.
It was a feeling that transcended humanity, dragonhood, and even godhood, an indescribable sensation of becoming a pair of lofty eyes, coldly observing the workings of all things. With a single thought, he could collapse time into non-existence, deciding the fate of an entire multiverse.
However, losing his own will was unacceptable to Garon, so he had resisted and rejected merging with the River of Time back then.
In the next instant, the phantom-like silver dragon solidified, his scales etched with patterns resembling temporal rings, exuding an aura of timeless permanence.
Garon raised a dragon claw and gazed down at it.
Buzzing softly. The dragon claw, covered in fine silver scales, began to blur and flicker at high frequency until, with a mere thought, it returned to normal.
Now, with his natural growth and development, Garon had become a form of life akin to, but not entirely the same as, a temporal manifestation, all while retaining his own will.
A part of Garon's consciousness now resided within the River of Time, completely integrated.
As long as the River of Time existed, even if his body were utterly destroyed, Garon would not die.
He had become a true, eternally immortal being.
"Quasi-strong divine power is a major threshold."
Sensing his leap in progress, Garon reflected inwardly.
This ascension had propelled him far beyond his previous state.
The leap from weak to medium divine power could not compare to this.
"Even without the Prime Material Plane, countless previous versions of myself might not be able to harm my current self."
"This is a gulf of difference."
"No wonder, the truly powerful deities stand at the pinnacle of the divine hierarchy, as the true rulers of the multiverse."
Buzz!
The silver dragon's body began to glow and dissipate in layers, phasing through the Eternal Hall of Heroes like a dream.
Meanwhile, throughout the four layers of the Heroic Domain.
Some ancient dragons and spirits with keen senses felt a momentary illusion, seeing the sky take on the outline of a dragon
scale.
This was not an illusion.
The River of Time covering this outer plane had, in that moment, rippled, transforming into the vast and awe-inspiring outline of a silver dragon.
The Heroic Domain seemed to exist within the body of the temporal dragon.
The temporal dragon, eyes half-closed, raised its invisible wings, encompassing the Heroic Domain, and exhaled a breath that transformed into waves.
"Everything is under control."
"...What a marvelous feeling."
Gazing at the Heroic Domain from within the River of Time, Garon whispered silently.
After this ascension, Garon's fully revealed true form was a magnificent temporal manifestation capable of enveloping the Heroic Domain.
This was connected to Garon's absorption of the Heroic Domain's life energy during his slumber and ascension. The section of the River of Time covering the Heroic Domain had now become a part of him.
"I have a premonition that if I could integrate the entire Grand Ring Multiverse's River of Time into my being, even if I cannot become a God of Gods, I could be the single most powerful being below that tier."
"However, this still falls far short of true mastery over the River of Time."
Upon reaching quasi-strong divine power, Garon realized how much further he still had to go.
The stronger he became, the more he understood, and the more insignificant he felt.
The River of Time spanned the infinite multiverse, and there were infinite Rivers of Time in countless alternate timelines, layers upon layers of infinity. The thought of fully mastering it was suffocating.
Compared to the River of Time across the infinite multiverse, the section within the Grand Ring Multiverse was like a drop in the ocean. Considering the infinite timelines, it was less than an atom within that drop.
"The road ahead is long."
The silver dragon's eyes were deep as he sighed.
Setting aside the infinite timelines, even mastering the River of Time within the main timeline of the infinite multiverse was like scaling an insurmountable mountain.
"I wonder if there are any success stories in other timelines."
"If it can be done, it would surely lead to the God of Gods status or even surpass it."
Garon shook his head, temporarily setting aside this notion.
One step at a time.
Garon decided to set a small goal first—to fully control the section of the River of Time within the Grand Ring Multiverse.
Achieving this would at least make him the most powerful quasi-strong divine power, second only to the God of Gods.
"Mount Celestia, the Sea of Chaos, Elysium, Mechanus, the Beastlands, the Nine Hells, the Windswept Abyss, the Bottomless Abyss…"
"If I could become the ruler of a plane, with the plane's will cooperating, I could master time more efficiently."
This recent ascension had been possible because Garon was the ruler of the Heroic Domain. Without this, such a leap in power would have been impossible.
Like a fish born to swim, Garon knew instinctively how to grow more rapidly.
He could immerse his will into the River of Time, like ink diffusing into the ocean, gradually expanding his influence.
However, this required full concentration and progressed slowly.
Becoming a planar ruler would dramatically increase his efficiency.
Otherwise, he would rely on the passage of time, growing slowly through the endless years. But even Garon, having reached quasi-strong divine power, could no longer progress by leaps and bounds.
For instance, to reach quasi-strong divine power from his current peak state of quasi-medium divine power, he had spent over three hundred years in a single slumber.
This was despite the endless infusion of life energy from the Heroic Domain.
Without that, it would have taken him several more centuries to achieve quasi-strong divine power.
Moreover, Garon was now over 820 years old, an ancient dragon, having bypassed the elder and great wyrm stages in his sleep.
"Becoming a quasi-strong divine power in the ancient dragon stage—is this growth rate considered exceptional compared to other versions of me across alternate timelines?"
Garon pondered, his face composed of the serene contours of the River of Time, his inner thoughts untroubled.
Initially, Garon had estimated that he would achieve quasi-strong divine power in the primordial dragon stage.
But now, even before reaching the great wyrm stage, he had met his goal.
"Given the opportunity, I should try to become a planar ruler in other planes."
True planar rulers were rare.
A true planar ruler is the embodiment of a plane's will or an agent recognized by that will.
Garon was not the embodiment of the Heroic Domain's will but its recognized agent. In fact, the Heroic Domain's will could no longer contend with his.
He was the true ruler of the Heroic Domain.
Apart from Garon, true planar rulers were few among the outer planes.
The Beastlands' Beast Lord, Mechanus' Singularity Sovereign, and Mount Celestia's Archon King were among the most well-known planar rulers. The Chaos Sea's self-styled King of Chaos lacked the true will of the Chaos Sea.
Of course, the conditions to become a planar ruler and gain the plane's will's recognition were often obscure. Achieving this was no easy feat.
Otherwise, there would be more than just a handful of planar rulers.
Garon's rise to become the ruler of the Heroic Domain was a stroke of luck.
"If I don't get the chance, I'll go with the flow and grow naturally."
"In my current state of true immortality, given enough time, I will undoubtedly witness even more splendid vistas."
Buzz!
The outline of the temporal dragon dissolved, and the silver dragon's physical form manifested in his lair once more, settling down and closing his eyes slightly.
"The Haotian God is honored as the Supreme of All Realms, the Undead King demon lord has fallen, the Usurper Alliance has formed, the Earth Elemental Lord seeks peace with the Wind Elemental Queen…"
"The White Dragoness has finally reached the legendary tier in her ancient dragon stage. My three sisters have all become demigods… Urbis, supported by the Dragon Gods, has ascended as the new god of serpent dragons with weak divine power…"
With a mere thought, Garon became aware of all events in the Grand Ring Multiverse over the past three centuries, as long as they were not intentionally shielded by beings of sufficient strength.
Insight into the multiverse was typically a capability of strong divine powers or elder strong divine powers and was quite energy-consuming.
Although Garon had only just reached the level of quasi-strong divine power, his abilities were already on par with or even surpassed those of many ancient strong divine beings.
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