Chapter 1287: Breakthrough! Refinement Mortal Stage!

Sunna's torment lasted for over an hour before Eva finally stopped with a satisfied sigh. During this time, the flesh on her back, which had been as fair and soft as a marshmallow, had become completely bruised beyond measure, with the skin wretchedly torn in places, along with hints of the flesh within peeking out.

The edges of Sunna's mouth leaked blood as her organs had been thoroughly battered within her torso, her eyes full of agony despite being locked in a conscious daze. Eva tacitly allowed her to fall into such a daze because all Sunna could think about now was how she had ended up in this situation and what her fate would be.

Such despairing thoughts only enhanced the physical torment Eva laid down upon her, which was naturally very welcome for Eva. Seeing that Sunna's craze had completely been submerged in pain and fear for her future, Eva realized it was time to stop.

She then tied Sunna up using psychic shackles in a posture similar to how our lord and savior was bound on the cross. With her upper body stripped naked and her remaining garments barely covering her lower body, which was completely soaked with blood, she really did look tragic.

This imagery could completely become the guiding altar of a new religion.

Eva paid the surroundings no mind and opened a portal to the Morningstar World, taking her prize back to set up the next stage of her 'play.'

Sunna's agony was just beginning.

Meanwhile, the rest of the main Morningstar Family decided to stay to take a look around. Shuangtian had been busy working on the territory development for the Divine Umbra Pantheon until she felt her hair turn white, so coming out for a stroll seemed nice.

Likewise, the trio of Hikari, Zaine, and Roma had been busy comprehending their laws while also supporting their children in becoming the heirs they were destined to be. Now that their children had passed through the difficult early stages and were currently in the stage of accumulation, they too could come out for a breather.

Draco had been working on Refinement before the two idiots came bawling to him, achieving a progress rate of 5% overall efficiency compared to his previous 2% before setting out for revenge on the War Maniac Pavilion.

Ten days had passed with him working on Refinement nonstop. After being beaten up for deciding to split up his time between adventuring and practicing Refinement for 8 hours a day, the fellow's restlessness had been tempered, allowing him to focus on what Norma wanted him to do all those years ago.

But now that he had been interrupted and even dragged out to see such an interesting scene, how could he go back easily?

"Hehe, it seems that some people are not happy with Eva's antics," Draco commented with a chuckle as he glanced at the auras that exploded all over the city, surging with fury and madness.

It was naturally not possible for Eva's Heavenly Extinction to kill all beings with its power that was split into smaller streams, mostly extinguishing the lives of the various mortals that worked in the city as well as all True Gods below the Supreme Rank.

Even the Supreme Rank fellows mostly lay in ditches, wailing and crying with severed limbs or pierced bodies, their life force keeping them alive despite the pain. Given time, they would recover back to full, and this experience would be something that would haunt them for the rest of their lives.

After all, even against the grey rot, Supreme Law True Gods didn't have much worry. While the overarching problem was worrisome, their power made it such that even if they couldn't beat the grey rot, they could gracefully retreat down to the main plane.

To be put so close to death in direct combat… it was something else. Only Origin Gods could vanquish them this easily, and Semi-Origin Gods could suppress them but would definitely hesitate to waste their precious Origin Energy that they struggled to accumulate on them.

If even Supreme Law fellows survived, then the Semi-Origin fellows who ran this entire joint were certainly alive and well. Even when facing the reborn Squad 1000, Draco had to employ cunning and invest an actual Origin Crystal reserved for his own use, an inheritance given by Norma.

The auras seemed to lock onto the family's position as they rushed over madly, not even holding back the little bit of Origin Energy they had accumulated. Clearly, they had gone mad with revenge and were looking to teach the Morningstar Family a bitter lesson.

Draco rubbed his chin. "My darling Shuangtian, Hikari, Zaine, and Roma, what do you think the most painful thing would be for these fellows right now?"

Shuangtian pondered. "To beat them up despite being stronger than us?"

Zaine smiled. "To create a barrier around us that prevents them from coming closer."

Roma also seemed thoughtful. "Maybe to detonate the souls of their loved ones that we've accumulated? Or hold them hostage and watch them beg for the souls back?"

Hikari was silent for a while before speaking softly. "To run away."

Draco snapped his fingers. "Hikari is correct, to run away! To let them, with all their fury and having already wasted the Origin Energy painstakingly saved for who knows how many years, go to waste because we disappeared right in front of them."

Saying this, Draco opened a portal and collected the Morningstar family into it, leaving not even a shred of hair behind.

KRAKOOM!

At that moment, the various crazed Semi-Origin Gods arrived and blasted the area where the Morningstar family had been with full force, unleashing their might. When the dust settled, they were naturally shocked and dismayed to find out that there was nothing there, and their attacks had hit nothing but air.

Immediately, these dignified fellows who were lofty and aloof on normal days roared to the sky like wounded beasts, their fury boundless but nowhere to send it. This feeling was truly painful beyond measure!

Back in the Inner Universe, Draco returned to his 'workstation,' which was the dead planet now turned 20% into iron. With his 5% complete mental power consolidation, he only needed to spend around 17 days nonstop to reach the threshold of 10% and naturally achieve consummation in the mortal stage of Refinement.

No more distractions, let's go!

Seventeen days could be said to be long when you were made to perform a religious fast, but could also be very short if you were to spend it on a luxurious island resort after a long year of working.

For Draco, it was neither here nor there. In the previous timeline, do you think he rose just by being lucky? All his talents and benefits were sealed away, so he built his goddamn foundation with endless hard work, sweating in the after-hours to make up for what he lacked.

He might be quite distracted in this timeline, but he was never lazy!

On the final day, around 40% of the entire planet had turned into iron, which was a horrifying thought when you considered that it was around the size of our moon on Earth. Its mass and density had increased exponentially, and interestingly, its value to a level 1 and below civilization was inestimable.

For a civilization that had just begun asteroid mining, this half iron planet was already worth billions, able to supply them with metals to build space stations, starships, and more to expand their space exploration. If Draco managed to turn the whole planet into iron, that was theoretically enough metal to start building a Dyson sphere!

But the more valuable thing in all this was his progress with Refinement.

Today heralded a very important day for him, as he had finally converted around 10% of the huge gaseous cloud of mental power that he possessed into fine liquid with the help of Refinement.

Draco watched as the final drop entered the small pool, which was around the size of what would be in a small villa, and caused it to ripple endlessly. Usually, when a drop entered, the pool would ripple more and more as the quantity increased, but today, the ripples were growing stronger and stronger, becoming more violent than ever.

Draco felt a slight headache, and externally, one could see his usually fair-skinned forehead turn as red as a hot coal, with steam emerging from his scalp that was as black as the bottom of a pot. It surged upwards, above his cranium and hovered there, forming the visage of an evil creature that would scare any child into silence.

Internally, Draco's newly expanded pool began to condense instead of expand as the ripples became thicker and much more violent.

No, these weren't ripples…

Draco noticed that as the pool shrank further and further, the ripples looked less like disturbances on the surface of water and more like a rapid sonar wave on a radar, with the ripples going not only outwards but coming inward as well.

The heat his forehead radiated extended to his entire head as it became comically red, causing Draco mild discomfort, but he was still focused on the internals. The evil creature forming above his head grew endlessly bigger as it was nourished with more of the black mist, forming eyes, a nose, and a mouth.

The pool haphazardly condensed further and further until it took the shape of a… crystal?

Specifically, a double-terminated crystal that hovered where the pool had previously been, which was at the center of the gaseous mist. Its size had shrunk to the point where it was barely fist-sized, but the moment it perfected its shape, there was a shockwave that was released from Draco's mental space that spread outward at a crazy fast speed, causing entire planets in this part of the Inner Universe's starry sky to tremble.

Draco felt a strong sublimation of his mind, his eyes opening and releasing a powerful light blue glow that caused space to tremble. The creature that formed above him shuddered in fear and gasped as the black mist was suddenly cut off, with Draco reaching out an evil claw to grab it.

The creature screeched in fear and agony, trying to break free in futility. When it saw that there was no escape, it even cruelly tried to self-detonate and drag Draco down with it, but the fellow easily suppressed the fluctuations with his mighty mental power.

No, it cannot be called mental power anymore.

Draco decided to call it Mind Force.

Draco sealed this black creature in an empty Aether Crystal, watching it smash the edges repeatedly to try and escape. He placed it within his inventory and focused on his new changes and discoveries, marveling at the truths he had inadvertently found out.

Firstly, the Mind Force. Mind Force was a higher form of power that was one of the pathways to becoming an Eternal. Draco knew this because when his scattered mental power was consolidated to a certain point, it was compressed not by his will but by fundamental universal rules, evolving into its current state.

It was like a major realm breakthrough in cultivation. What constituted that fist-sized crystal was an elevated power that had incredible fundamental closeness with the fabric of reality, being a peculiar emulation of the connectivity of all beings.

Or in simple terms for you fellows to understand, it was an entirely new power system that led to the top.

Draco didn't know whether to laugh or cry. In trying to avoid making his collection of abilities more chaotic, he abstained from exploration and acquiring a new power system to consolidate what he already had, which inevitably led him to discover a new power system anyway.

However, this power system was amazing. The more he explored it, the more shocked he was at the sheer amount of things it covered, and that it shockingly formed the fundamental basis of many other well-known power systems. Experience new tales on mvl

It was precisely because of this that when Draco lowered his guard, two malicious claws emerged from the other side of him, trying to pierce into his mental world and seize his Mind Force crystal.

"Hmph, audacious!" Draco snorted arrogantly, reacting immediately.

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