GREED: ALL FOR WHAT?

The stark difference in the time it took to achieve the same thing is just overwhelming. He thought about the records of the realm lord which made him shake his head in resignation.

The realm lord spent less than an origin cycle to become a sovereign, he became an origin god an origin cycle later. Now he is about to become a world god in less than 100 origin cycles. For comparison, some sovereigns are almost 1000 origin cycles old and have not been able to become origin gods. The fact that the ancestor of the Ghastorix is about to become a world god in about 10,000 origin cycles becomes mediocre when compared to the achievement of the realm lord.

"Just how does he do it? High elves are not that talented." He asked out loud. He couldn't fathom how such a thing could be done. The realm lord is an enigma

"Maybe it is because his soul is special or something. If there's anyone that can do what he did, it has to be you. Your soul is special too." Hadrick tried to explain.

"My soul is not that special. Let's just forget about the realm lord and return to your situation. If your Partner succeeds in becoming a world god he will come to take you away right? Will the city disappear with you?"

"The city will not disappear. An artifact will take over my job. It's not like anyone will miss me here. I can't wait to leave this place and go with my partner. He will have his world, it will probably be bigger than this entire plane. I'll be able to follow him and be of help to him once again."

Soverick suspected that the relationship between Hadrick and the Ghastorix ancestor is far more than a simple friendship.

"Those are all good things, but they don't change the fact that you're lonely right now. I can help you to solve that."

"How so?" Hadrick asked, his tone dripping with suspicion. He was instantly on guard. He had seen Soverick make sketchy deals in the past with his father and Soverick would always rip the man off.

Soverick smiled. "I'll help Ghaster train so that he can awaken his soul early. Then he will be able to communicate with you quickly."

"Sounds good, but what do you want in exchange? I don't think you are willing to do this for free." Hadrick asked.

Soverick's smile became wider. "It's simple, I'll just ask him to make you break the barrier so that I can get the life force that I need. I'll be able to convince him either through reasonable or violent means." Soverick explained patiently.

Hadrick immediately understood that Soverick was threatening him using Ghaster. "Gee, thanks. Your help isn't really needed but I suppose that even if you don't help him to contact me, you will still force him to help you."

Soverick shrugged. "It is what it is. The strong take what they want and the weak just have to bear with it. There is a middle ground, Ghaster and I can share the life force."

Hadrick became silent, he began to think. Soverick returned to his meditation. He didn't want to threaten his friend but he had to. In the past, he would have been content with going slow if he didn't receive help. Ghaster and Litori could leave him behind but he wouldn't have cared, but the information about the realm lord created a sense of urgency. His main body is currently unavailable because of the ongoing chase, and legion nine, the life tree clone will not be ready for at least the next 100 years. If he had the support of legion 9 then he will be able to get all the life energy he wants. Too bad that life trees grow too slowly.

"I'll think about it." Hadrick finally said.

"Take your time."

Soverick didn't have much hope even with the threat. The tree might care about Ghaster but it is also incredibly stubborn. It wouldn't want to bend to someone's will, but soverick doesn't mind. As long the tree isn't able to assist Ghaster with life energy then he will count it as a win too. If Hadrick can risk danger just to give Ghaster life force because of his bloodline and refuse to give Soverick because he doesn't have the bloodline, then Soverick can be petty too.

Hadrick finally gave in. "How long do I have to brave the danger to my life, if I decide to help you?"

Ghaster is like a cute baby that it cares about and Soverick is a predator set on devouring that cute baby. It just had to save the baby.

Soverick smiled. "Just until I have my vitality core. I promised earlier that it will be completely safe."

"Will you be able to make lightning tribulation unable to sense me as you said? The last time I tried to cross the barrier it caused lightning to target this house. It was on the day of your birth, I wanted to get a closer look at your brother." Hadrick still wasn't sure about his safety.

"You can trust me on that. Nothing bad will happen."

"Hmm, you win." Hadrick gave up. The ground in his room split apart and a plant shoot grew out of it. The shoot grew into a flower stalk, and the petals of the flower fused to form a jug.

"It's your fault if I get hit by lightning and die."

Soverick's lips twitched. "How can you even die? You are more like a cowardly turtle than a plant. At most, you will lose this shoot. Even if lightning does come, you can easily abandon this outgrowth and be safe. So stop complaining."

He approached the stalk and sat beneath it, then he placed his right hand on it. Elves are stealthy in a forest because of their ability to blend with the forest. He intends to protect the tree from being detected by its tribulation by utilizing a high-level application of such an ability. He would make the tree blend with him instead, a method that elves use to safely delay the tribulation of trees. It is usually done to allow the tree to get older so that the lightning tribulation will be stronger. High elves consider the tribulation as a good thing.

Seconds turned to minutes as he used his ability in the stalk. There was no thunder or lightning. The sky was free of any sign of a tribulation.

"That worked." Hadrick was elated.

"Yes, but it will only work as long as I maintain contact."

"This is good enough. I'll be able to reach Ghaster better."

"Sure, you do that. I will only allow contact with him once a week, for now, I want my payment."

"You're just stingy," Hadrick said, then he transferred life energy into the flower jug. A small spring of liquid life force appeared within the jug.

"There you go."

"Thank you very much," Soverick said before he reached into the jug with his divine sense. His divine sense solidified and grabbed some life energy. He brought the small sphere of liquid closer to him then he swallowed it. The liquid diffused immediately into his body and was absorbed. The incredible amount of life force was then channeled into his brain where he was constructing the vitality core to speed up its growth.

The location of the vitality core is heavily affected by the divine ability of a species, hence it is different for each species. The divine ability of battle sage is focused on their eyes so the vitality core is located within the head, between the eyes, and behind the forehead. The vitality core will evolve to provide the heavy power requirement needed for the eyes to function and for the brain to process the information from the eyes properly.

"Not bad," Soverick said.

Just the small amount of life force he swallowed shortened the time he needed by a week. If he hadn't been a high Elf in the past, he would be impressed. But he had experienced better, so he wasn't moved. Baby high elves are fed life force like this in the place of milk that some other species feed their young. This is because high elves can't produce milk but they have access to a lot of life force from trees. High Elves don't differ in physical form, they will assume the role of male or female as needed for reproduction, but there is no specialized organ to cater to their young. The act of feeding their babies pure life force ensures that they grow up quickly and that they will remain pure. The effect of this upbringing is why high elves are also called Eternals, they have a very long lifespan. The lowest limit of the lifespan of high elves is one origin cycle, the same amount of lifespan that transcendents have.