“It’s fine,” Kallus replied with a calm smile.

“That straightforwardness… that dominating presence of hers—that’s exactly why I chose her for this task. And clearly, it worked.”

A slow, knowing smile formed on his face.

“And soon… once our empire takes shape, we’ll have a few perfect pieces ready to act as our stepping stones.”

“Something that will make the entire galaxy aware of our might.”

The Red Empress smiled as well, her earlier concern fading as thoughts of the future took hold.

“Indeed…” she said softly, excitement flickering in her eyes. “They don’t realize it yet, but we already have a ‘gift’ prepared for them.”

She let out a quiet grin. “All we’re waiting for… is for them to take that one step into our domain.”

“And when they do…” she grins even more. “They won’t even understand what wrong they did and how they were wiped out from the face of the galaxy.”

“Let’s leave it at that… let’s focus a bit on the Grand Competition, shall we? Tell me, who won—and more.” Kallus waved it off and asked calmly, though there was a hint of curiosity in his voice.

As he had missed the Grand Competition during his breakthrough, which had taken far, far longer than he had hoped.

Hearing that, the Red Empress’s eyes widened for a brief moment, a spark flashing through them before it faded. A trace of sadness followed. She sighed before speaking.

“You missed so much out there, Kallus… so much. Every participant practically threw themselves into the competition, giving it their all. And I have to say, it was rather exciting. You really should not have missed it…”

She sighed again, as if feeling the loss on his behalf.

Kallus was left a bit speechless. Still, he couldn’t help but sigh as well. He had truly wanted to attend the competition—had even planned to participate, on a different side, of course. But things don’t always go as planned, do they?

“It’s not like I didn’t want to be there, Empress… it’s just that my breakthrough…” He paused, then continued more quietly. “And above all, making changes to the cultivation techniques and realms took far more time than I expected. And these delays… they cost me the chance to attend this event.”

He sighed once more, softer this time.

Hearing that, the Empress did sense his disappointment… but she chose to set it aside for the moment.

Instead, her focus shifted to the key point he had mentioned—making changes to the cultivation techniques and realms.

Her thoughts drifted back to a discussion they had shared about a month ago.

At the time, she had brought up the growing difficulty of advancing beyond the Paragon Realm. The threshold was simply too high. And to step further—into the World Building Realm—one had to rely on the Primordial Tower.

But operating the Primordial Tower came at a cost.

A cost that was rising at a terrifying rate… and would only continue to grow in the future.

It was then that Kallus had explained the true gap between the two realms.

“The difference between the Paragon Realm and the World Building Realm,” he had said, “is like the gap between two floors, Empress.”

“All the other realms are interconnected. They form a staircase—step by step—making the path ahead achievable. With enough talent and grit, one can climb.”

“But”. he paused and then continued with a deep breath. “But when it comes to these two realms… that staircase is broken.”

“There’s a big rift between the both realms.”

“One has to jump to reach the other side… and continue the journey.” He had paused before adding with a big sigh, “And that jump is far harder than it sounds.”

Realising something from his words, she had asked at the time with a flicker of something within her eyes, “Is that why there are so few World Building Realm masters… compared to the vast number of Paragon Realm cultivators beyond our fleet?”

“Indeed,” Kallus had nodded and didn’t denied . “I didn’t pay much attention to it before. Back then, our people possessed exceptional talent, and our numbers were small and limited. This gap didn’t pose much of a problem.”

he sighed and added”But things are different now.” He had looked ahead, his tone turning more serious. “With billions under our fleet—and with my intention of having every citizen cultivate in the future…”

“This gap will become a major problem to my ambition .” A brief silence had followed.

“So you plan to…?” the Red Empress asked directly, even though she already had a strong idea of where this was going. She only asked to be sure.

It didn’t escape Kallus’s notice. He knew her too well, and with the connection they shared, there was little he could miss. And indeed, he hadn’t.

He smiled faintly. “Just as you’re thinking…”

He rose from his chair, glanced at her for a brief moment, then turned toward the setting sun. Its fading light stretched across the horizon as his voice followed, steady and certain.

“I plan to fill the gap between these two realms… make them seamless. And create new stairs that remain connected to each realm.”

The Red Empress recalled every detail he had spoken before, and she couldn’t help but take a deeper breath.

“You succeeded?” she asked, anticipation clear in her voice.

Kallus smiled. “That, I have, Empress.”

Hearing that, the Empress recalled the expedition he had led about two months ago—the one where he discovered the Enlightenment Tree on the Evergreen World. Back then, the entire world had been overrun by powerful beasts. To claim it, he had gathered a force of a thousand high-ranking cultivators and cleared out the strongest of them before establishing control.

Only after that did he begin building around the tree—turning the Enlistment World into a system that amplified the Enlightenment Tree’s effects many times over.

“…Yeah, it was costly to secure,” she admitted, her tone softer now. “And at the time, I thought it wasn’t worth it.”

She shook her head, almost at herself. “I was wrong. Completely wrong. All that trouble, all those resources… it was worth every bit we invested.”

Kallus smiled at that, a hint of amusement in his eyes.

“Oh, don’t say that,” he replied lightly, then began mimicking her tone. “I don’t know why you’re being so wasteful. Instead of taking the Iron Star System, rich in critical tier four, five, even six resources that the fleet actually needs—you go chasing after what? A tree? Wasting time and resources when they shouldn’t be…”

Hearing her own words thrown back at her, the Empress flushed, caught off guard.

“W-what?! I was right to be angry back then!” she shot back, trying to recover. “It was a gamble. You had no idea what you’d find there, right? Right?!”

“Well, if you put it that way…” Kallus said, his smirk widening.

He looked at her before folding his arms , puffing his chest out and lifting his chin slightly. ” We didn’t know the Iron Star System was that rich either. It wasn’t even named back then—we were all going in blind.”

He leaned in just a little, eyes glinting with pride and bit of arrogance. “But I did have an idea about the Enlightenment Tree… the Universal Tree guided me.”

Hearing that, the Empress’s eyes went wide. “You talked with that Great One?” she asked, grabbing his collar with a sense of desperate urgency.

” That I… I did,” he stammered, before beginning to explain the encounter.

About three months ago, near the inner region of the Endless Forest, he had been sitting in his usual spot atop a boulder not far from an enormous lake. Kallus was deep in meditation, comprehending the Laws of Life and Wood.

As he reached the completion stage of the Law and master them at there peak, a phenomenon erupted around him. A wave of energy washed over the area, boosting the growth of the local flora and fauna, enlightening some creatures and promoting them to higher levels of existence.

It was then that a voice reached him from nearby.

“Oh…” it spoke directly into his mind. “A child of… Hmm. A primordial dragon? No, you aren’t exactly that. Though you are a dragon, your essence is far superior to theirs… even to that of their ancestors. Interesting…”

Kallus was taken aback by the sudden voice ringing in his head. He was speechless; he had expected a being of such power to be prideful or distant, but this entity seemed genuinely confused, eventually settling on a simple, “Wow.”

“Who’s there?” Kallus shouted.

Instead of a spoken reply, green particles—like falling leaves—began to swirl in front of him. They slowly took the shape of a middle-aged man with vibrant green hair and matching eyes. He radiated a mysterious aura of limitless, infinite vitality.

Kallus felt a jolt of alarm. This wasn’t just a “hint” of a threat—it was a real, overwhelming pressure. He knew instantly that the person standing before him was a mighty, transcendent being.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep