As the conference room was filled with murmurs, Adrian took out a parchment from his storage ring and allowed it to float gently across the table, guiding it with a subtle thread of mana toward where Lysandra, Selena, and Mira sat.
The parchment looked ordinary at first glance, but the moment it unfolded in the air, the density of the runic diagrams inscribed upon it caused everyone in the room to instinctively focus.
Lines overlapped lines, geometric patterns folded through one another with frightening precision, and countless small connecting marks formed a structure so intricate that even the elders, who were not professional inscribers, could sense the terrifying depth contained within it.
"This contains the complete runic structure of the low-level divine spell for willforce recovery," Adrian said. "It is the exact schematic I used to create the ring artifact."
Lysandra reached out, her fingers brushing the edge of the parchment. Her sharp eyes immediately scanned the dense, impossibly complex layers of runes etched into the material. Selena leaned in closely beside her, her gaze tracing the pathways of golden essence.
"It basically contains my entire knowledge of the low-tier divine concept used for the recovery spell," Adrian continued, watching their reactions carefully. "Through this, you will have the exact blueprint to create not just the artifacts themselves, but the essence conversion formations required to automate the production of the specific divine crystals that fuel them."
He leaned forward, resting his hands on the table. "I know the precision required for this is immense, but I also know the three of you. I think it would be an easy task for you to master."
Lysandra's lips curved into a sharp, ambitious smirk. The Empress of Lexaria thrived on the impossible. "Memorization and replication," she murmured, her eyes gleaming as she studied the divine script. "It is a challenge, certainly. But it is merely a matter of mapping the logic. We have mapped entire planetary defense grids. This will just require more focus."
Selena nodded, "If we treat the divine concept not as a philosophical truth we must understand, but as a mathematical circuit we must construct, it changes everything. We can replicate this. We will replicate this."
Mira smiled warmly, already calculating the necessary workspace requirements. "We will need a highly controlled environment, but it is entirely within our capabilities, Adrian."
"Good," Adrian said, his tone carrying deep satisfaction. "Once the three of you are able to do it, I want you to select a highly talented, specialized team from among our own people. Teach it to them. The production scale we require cannot be handled by just three inscribers. We need a fully operational manufacturing division."
The three women nodded in perfect unison, their minds already turning toward the monumental task ahead.
Adrian then turned his gaze away from the inscribers and looked across the table. "Elder Varcain."
Varcain straightened immediately. After witnessing the impossible miracle of the Origin Ink, his reverence for the young sovereign had eclipsed all previous bounds. "Yes, Elder Adrian."
"While Lysandra, Selena, and Mira master the inscription and train their team, you travel to the Virelith Galaxy," Adrian instructed, "Take whatever materials, personnel, and resources you require, and establish a massive, highly secured manufacturing base."
"Remember, it cannot be within the Andromeda Galaxy. Not a single trace of this production line can exist within our public borders. Octaven and Kaelar are already stabilizing the Virelith Galaxy, and they will provide you with secrecy and whatever manpower you need. Find an empty world or a hidden sector within their territory and build the factory there."
Varcain nodded. "Understood. The Virelith Galaxy is perfectly isolated. Since it lacks a decentralized public network and is completely off the radar of the universe, it is the ultimate blind spot. I will establish facilities and secure the perimeter with the highest grade of spatial cloaking formations."
"Excellent," Adrian said. "Now, regarding the business strategy. We must build a massive, overwhelming stockpile of both the Willforce Recovery Artifacts and the specialized divine essence crystals required to fuel them. When this product hits the market, the demand will be extremely high. Every minor sect, every mercenary, and eventually every Major Sect in the universe will want them. If we launch with a limited supply, we will create a bottleneck that invites desperate attacks, theft, and extreme scrutiny."
Adrian pressed his index finger against the table for emphasis. "We will not open our doors until our vaults are overflowing. We need enough stock to flood the markets so rapidly and thoroughly that our competitors cannot corner the supply or trace the origins through scarcity."
Hestia, who had been sitting quietly beside Adrian, nodded in agreement. "A sudden, massive saturation of the market," she noted, her pale golden eyes gleaming with approval. "It masks the source. If the artifacts appear everywhere at once, in quantities that defy logic, no one will be able to pinpoint where they are being manufactured."
"Exactly," Adrian said, turning back to the elders. "And remember, for now, this product cannot be openly used by anyone within the Crimson Vital Sect. If a single Crimson Vital disciple is seen using this artifact in the Andromeda Galaxy before it is commercially available, it will destroy everything."
"Therefore, absolute discipline is required. The artifacts do not exist to us until the rest of the universe already has them."
Torvain slammed a fist over his heart. "It will be strictly enforced, Elder Adrian. Any disciple found possessing or speaking of such an artifact prematurely will be treated as committing high treason."
Adrian nodded. "Only when this product is available in countless galaxies and traded openly within Andromeda's own UNI-Hub by independent merchants, only then will the Crimson Vital Sect be allowed to publicly purchase and use it. We will buy our own product through the markets just to maintain the illusion that we are nothing more than customers of the mysterious Origin Sect."
It was a strategy woven with so many layers of deception that even if a Major Sect devoted hundreds of millennia to unraveling the supply chain, they would only find dead ends, hired fronts, and untraceable spatial drops. The Crimson Vital Sect would remain perfectly insulated, hiding in plain sight as just another satisfied consumer.
"Then the path is set," Hestia said, her voice resonant and final as she looked out over the gathered leadership. "The supremacy war is over, but our true work begins today. Varcain, prepare your departure for Virelith. Lysandra, Selena, Mira, the resources of the sect are at your complete disposal. Torvain, Lara, Maelis, Caelum, maintain stability and discipline among the disciples."
Hestia rose from her seat. "Meeting dismissed."
The elders stood as one, bowing deeply toward Hestia and Adrian. The heavy, paralyzing tension that had filled the room at the beginning of the meeting was entirely gone, replaced by a fierce, driving energy. They had been given a purpose that transcended mere survival. They were building the foundations of a sect that would one day eclipse the heavens themselves.
With murmurs, the elders turned and began to file out of the grand conference room.
Even Adrian's companions from the Milky Way began to depart. Draven stretched his arms, yawning loudly, while Kael clapped him on the shoulder, steering him toward the exit. Thomas caught his wife's eye, gesturing toward the door, but Elara subtly shook her head, giving him a look that clearly communicated he should leave without her.
Recognizing that particular glint in her eye, Thomas wisely decided that self-preservation was the best course of action. He offered a quick, silent prayer for his son and slipped out the door alongside Sentinel, Aurelia, and Aerin.
Soon, the massive, vaulted conference room was entirely empty, save for three people.
Adrian stood near the head of the table, exhaling a long, quiet breath as the weight of the strategic planning lifted from his shoulders. He turned toward Hestia, intending to discuss some of his future plans, when he noticed that his mother was still standing near the viewing port.
Elara turned around slowly, her hands clasped elegantly in front of her. The harsh, imposing lighting of the conference room seemed to soften around her.
She looked at Hestia, who was standing beside Adrian.
With a smile, she took a few graceful steps toward the head of the table, her eyes twinkling with a mischief that completely ignored the fact that she was in the presence of two Astral Stage titans capable of erasing star systems.
"You know," Elara began, her voice smooth and conversational, "I have listened to hours of talk about galactic markets, hidden sects, proxy merchants, and avoiding Major Sects. It is all very impressive, Adrian. Truly. You have conquered a galaxy and built an economic empire."
Adrian frowned slightly, a sudden, inexplicable sense of dread creeping up his spine.
"Thank you, Mother," Adrian said cautiously. "But we still have much to do before—"
"Yes, yes, the universe is very busy," Elara interrupted pleasantly, waving a hand to dismiss the entirety of cosmic politics. She stepped closer, her knowing smile widening as she looked directly between Adrian and Hestia. "But despite all this brilliant planning, there is one rather crucial detail you both seem to have left off the agenda."
Hestia blinked, her pale golden eyes reflecting genuine confusion. Her mind immediately raced through the meeting's topics. Had they forgotten a supply line? Had they overlooked a potential retaliation from a subsidiary sect? "Lady Elara," Hestia said politely, "If there is a flaw in our strategy, please, enlighten us."
Elara's smile blossomed into delight. "Oh, it isn't a flaw in the strategy, dear Hestia. It is a flaw in the timeline."
Elara folded her arms, looking the Sect Leader directly in the eye, and then shifted her gaze to her son, who had suddenly gone remarkably still.
"Tell me," Elara said, her voice ringing clear and unabashed in the quiet room. "When exactly are the two of you going to get married?"
Absolute, paralyzing silence crashed into the conference room.
It was a silence so heavy that it made the crushing pressure of a micro-dimension feel like a light breeze.
Hestia, the sect leader of the Crimson Vital Sect, a woman who had stared down Hazel's intangible roar and sliced the head off her greatest rival without a tremor in her hand, completely and utterly froze.
The elegant, commanding posture she had held for a million years evaporated in a single heartbeat. A sudden, violent flush of color erupted across her pale cheeks, spreading rapidly down her neck.
She opened her mouth to speak. She closed it. She opened it again, but the vast wisdom of the Astral Stage completely failed to provide her with a single coherent word.
Beside her, Adrian looked as though he had forgotten how to breathe.
For the first time, Adrian was genuinely, completely speechless. His mind, which had just flawlessly calculated a multi-galactic economic monopoly, stalled entirely. He stared at his mother, his jaw slightly slack, completely stripped of his usual calm, impenetrable facade.
"Mother..." Adrian finally managed to choke out, his voice sounding entirely too mortal. "What... what are you talking about?"
"Oh, please, Adrian," Elara scoffed softly, her eyes dancing with amusement as she watched the two most powerful beings in the galaxy turn into flustered statues. "I am your mother. Do not think you can hide behind your 'Supreme Emperor' mask with me. The two of you practically communicate without opening your mouths."
Elara stepped closer to Hestia, her expression softening into genuine affection. She reached out and gently took Hestia's trembling hand.
"You have protected our family," Elara said softly to the flustered Sect Leader. "You took us in, you guided Aerin, and you stood by my son when the entire galaxy wanted to crush him. You are already family to us, Hestia. I am simply asking when we get to make it official."
Hestia stared at the warm, maternal woman holding her hand. For a million years, Hestia had been the protector. She had been the master, the leader, the untouchable shield. No one had ever spoken to her like this. No one had ever looked at her not as a sovereign to be feared or revered, but simply as a woman they wanted in their family.
The blush on Hestia's face deepened to a brilliant, burning crimson that rivaled her own divine concept. She looked helplessly toward Adrian, her pale golden eyes silently screaming for a rescue that her own legendary battle instincts could not provide.
"Mother, we are... we are in the middle of preparing for potential Major Sect envoys," Adrian said, "This is really not the time for—"
"The universe will always have envoys, Adrian," Elara interrupted smoothly, her smile triumphant as she released Hestia's hand and began to walk gracefully toward the exit. "There will always be wars, and there will always be artifacts to build. But if you make me wait another century for grandchildren, I will personally see to it that your Origin Sect faces a true crisis."
Elara paused at the door, glancing back over her shoulder. Her eyes gleamed with pure, unfiltered joy.
"Think about it," she sang out lightly.
With a swish of her robes, Elara exited the chamber, the heavy doors sealing shut behind her with a soft, final click.
The silence returned, but this time, it was awkward and heavily charged.
Adrian stood at the head of the table, keeping his gaze firmly fixed on the far wall. Hestia stood beside him, her hands clasped tightly together in front of her, staring intently at the floor as though it held the secrets of the cosmos.
For a long minute, neither of them moved an inch.
Finally, Adrian murmured, "Well," a soft, genuine smile touching his eyes as he looked at her. "That was... an ambush."
Hestia slowly lifted her gaze to meet his. Her lips curved into a small, radiant smile that completely eclipsed the light of the twin suns outside.
"It seems," Hestia replied softly, her voice carrying a delicate, teasing edge, "that even the great Origin Emperor has opponents he cannot defeat."