The light surrounding William slowly faded.
For several moments...
There was only silence.
William stood in the middle of the empty space, his clothes still carrying the traces of the countless battles he had endured inside the mountain.
Fifteen years.
Five years spent connecting his abilities.
Ten years spent gathering the energy necessary to cross the final barrier.
Fifteen years...
And yet, to William, it felt strangely short.
Perhaps because every year had been filled with something.
Every moment had demanded something from him.
His strength.
His patience.
His understanding.
His endurance.
And now...
He could finally feel the difference.
His two abilities no longer existed as isolated powers.
They had become connected.
Not perfectly.
Not yet.
But enough for him to understand the direction he needed to walk.
The Galactic Domain.
William slowly raised his hand.
For an instant, the surrounding space trembled.
He stopped.
He did not continue.
There was no reason to display his power here.
His eyes turned toward the distance.
The path ahead remained unclear.
But for the first time in a long while...
William was not searching for a purpose.
He had already chosen one.
He wanted to build something.
Something that belonged to him.
Not a family that had existed for generations.
Not a sect whose rules had been established before his birth.
Not an academy whose demanded that every member follow the same path.
His own force.
His own people.
His own rules.
But the thought did not make him smile.
Because William understood something now.
Building a force was easy.
Building one worth following...
Was not.
He turned around.
The mountain behind him remained silent.
Then...
The space distorted.
William's figure disappeared.
Outside the mountain...
The enormous crowd was still there.
Although fifteen years had passed within the trial...
The outside world had barely experienced any time at all.
The moment William appeared...
Hundreds of gazes immediately turned toward him.
Some cultivators looked surprised.
Others looked confused.
A few recognized the disguised figure known as Roman.
But several gazes were different.
They were calm.
Deliberate.
Observing.
William noticed them immediately.
The same powers that had investigated him before.
They were still watching.
He did not react.
He simply walked through the crowd.
No announcement.
No explanation.
He had no interest in showing everyone what he had obtained inside the mountain.
The people outside could speculate.
Let them.
As William disappeared into the distance, one of the representatives watching him quietly spoke.
"He's changed."
The person beside him looked at William's disappearing figure.
"Stronger?"
The first man shook his head.
"No."
"More troublesome."
Neither spoke again.
William traveled alone.
For several days...
He moved from one region to another.
He did not hurry.
He did not search for treasures.
He did not challenge famous geniuses.
He simply observed.
The Golden Era had changed the universe.
Everywhere he went...
New faces appeared.
New powers were rising.
Old forces were becoming nervous.
Young cultivators who would have needed centuries to become famous before the Golden Era were now breaking through at astonishing speeds.
Ancient inheritances were being discovered.
Hidden realms appeared.
New conflicts erupted almost every day.
The universe had become...
Restless.
William sat in a small restaurant one evening, quietly drinking tea.
Across from him, several young cultivators were discussing the latest events.
"Another ancient inheritance has appeared."
"That makes seven this month."
"Seven?"
"There were nine. Two were already destroyed."
"Destroyed?"
"Yes. Three major forces fought over one of them."
A young man laughed bitterly.
"Three?"
"That's nothing. I heard six forces fought over the Ancient Star Ruins."
William remained silent.
He listened.
Informations.
That was what he needed.
Not power.
Not yet.
He needed to understand the world he was about to enter.
A voice suddenly came from another table.
"All of you are thinking too small."
The conversation stopped.
An unfamiliar young man sat alone.
His clothes were simple.
No insignia.
No family emblem.
No sect symbol.
He looked perhaps a few years younger than William.
Yet there was nothing childish in his eyes.
One of the cultivators frowned.
"What do you mean?"
The young man placed his cup down.
"You're celebrating the number of inheritances appearing."
"So?"
"You should be asking why they're appearing."
The room became quieter.
The young man continued.
"The Golden Era didn't simply make the universe generous."
"It changed the balance."
"Every ancient force knows that."
One cultivator laughed.
"You're talking like an old man."
The young man smiled.
"Perhaps because I've buried enough people to think like one."
The smile disappeared.
"My village was destroyed three months ago."
The room became silent.
"The force that destroyed it wasn't looking for revenge."
"They weren't looking for territory."
"They were looking for an inheritance."
He looked down at his cup.
"They killed everyone because it was easier than searching for who knew where the inheritance was."
Nobody spoke.
The young man continued.
"That's the Golden Era."
"Everyone keeps talking about opportunity."
"Nobody talks about the people who will be crushed beneath it."
William's eyes narrowed slightly.
He had heard enough.
The young man stood.
"I've had enough of this place."
He walked toward the exit.
As he passed William's table...
Their eyes met.
Only for a moment.
The young man stopped.
William looked at him.
Neither spoke.
Then the young man continued walking.
William watched him leave.
Something about him...
Was different.
Not because he was powerful.
But because he had an opinion.
A belief.
A wound.
Something that had shaped the way he looked at the world.
William remained seated.
He thought about his own path.
If he wanted to build a force...
He would eventually need people like that.
People who did not simply obey.
People who could disagree.
People who possessed reasons to remain.
The thought was uncomfortable.
But perhaps...
That was precisely why it mattered.
Two days later...
William found him again.
Not intentionally.
At least...
Not entirely.
The young man was standing in the middle of a ruined town.
Several buildings had collapsed.
The streets were empty.
A group of cultivators surrounded him.
Their clothing carried the emblem of a powerful force.
William stopped on a nearby rooftop.
He observed silently.
"You should have given us the location."
The young man looked at them.
"I don't know where it is."
"You expect us to believe that?"
"I don't care what you believe."
One of the men stepped forward.
"You've already caused enough trouble."
The young man smiled faintly.
"Then kill me."
The man raised his hand.
A wave of power erupted.
The young man immediately moved.
The battlefield exploded.
William watched carefully.
The young man was not weak.
His movements were precise.
He fought as someone who had learned through survival rather than formal training.
But there were too many enemies.
One against seven.
Then...
One of the attackers struck his blind spot.
William moved.
The attack stopped inches away from the young man's head.
The attacker froze.
William stood between them.
The atmosphere changed instantly.
The surrounding cultivators stared at him.
The young man looked at William.
"You..."
William released the attacker's wrist.
"Leave."
The man frowned.
"Who are you?"
"Someone telling you to leave."
The man's expression darkened.
"You don't understand who you're interfering with."
William looked at the emblem on his clothing.
"I understand enough."
The man attacked.
William did not move.
His domain spread.
The surrounding space suddenly became different.
The attacker's power was suppressed.
Not destroyed.
Controlled.
The man staggered backward.
The other cultivators immediately attacked together.
William raised one hand.
The battlefield changed.
The attacks that had been aimed at him were redirected.
Some collided with each other.
Others were forced away.
Within seconds...
All seven were lying on the ground.
William did not kill them.
He simply looked at them.
"Leave."
This time...
They obeyed.
The young man remained silent.
William turned toward him.
"You were lying."
The young man's eyes narrowed.
"About what?"
"You said you didn't know where the inheritance was."
"I don't."
"You know something."
A pause.
"Maybe."
William looked at him.
"Why didn't you tell them?"
The young man laughed.
"Why should I?"
"You could have saved yourself."
"That wasn't the point."
"Then what was?"
The young man's expression changed.
He looked toward the ruined town.
"People died because those people wanted something."
"Not because they hated them."
"Not because they were criminals."
"Simply because their lives were inconvenient."
He looked back at William.
"I refuse to become the kind of person who survives by deciding whose life is convenient."
William remained silent.
The young man studied him.
"And you?"
"What?"
"Why did you save me?"
William looked toward the road.
"I don't know."
The answer seemed to surprise him.
William continued.
"I didn't like what they were doing."
The young man smiled.
"That's a dangerous reason."
"Why?"
"Because someday you'll have to choose between two people."
"And then you'll have to decide which one deserves to live."
William's eyes became colder.
"I'll decide when that happens."
The young man laughed softly.
"That's exactly what I mean."
They separated soon afterward.
William continued his journey.
But the encounter remained in his thoughts.
He had once believed strength existed for one reason.
To prevent himself from losing people.
But now...
He was beginning to understand that strength could not answer every question.
Sometimes...
It only gave the person who possessed it the responsibility of making harder choices.
William stopped on top of a mountain.
Below him...
An enormous city stretched toward the horizon.
He looked at it for a long time.
Then he spoke quietly.
"If I'm going to build something..."
"I need people who can tell me when I'm wrong."
The words sounded strange coming from him.
But he meant them.
He would not build an army of obedient puppets.
He would not create another ancient power where individuals disappeared beneath its name.
He wanted something different.
Even if creating it was harder.
Even if it meant allowing people to disagree with him.
Even if one day...
Someone who followed him might become his enemy.
William turned away from the city.
He continued walking.
Unaware...
That somewhere far away...
Someone had already begun planning around him.
In an ancient hall...
A man stood before a vast projection.
William's figure appeared within it.
The man watched silently.
Behind him stood several others.
"He's beginning to move."
One of them asked:
"Should we eliminate him now?"
The man shook his head.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because he hasn't built anything yet."
He turned away from the projection.
"Let him build."
"Let him gather people."
"Let him create connections."
His eyes became cold.
"Then..."
"We'll cut them."
Silence filled the hall.
One of the people behind him hesitated.
"You're certain this is necessary?"
The man looked at him.
"You disagree?"
The other person lowered his gaze.
"No."
The man turned back toward the projection.
"Good."
But another voice came from the darkness.
"You're making the same mistake they did."
Everyone froze.
The speaker remained hidden.
The man frowned.
"Explain."
The voice answered calmly.
"You're treating William as a problem that can be removed."
A pause.
"He isn't."
"He is a variable."
"And variables..."
"Can change the entire equation."
The hall became silent.
The man stared into the darkness.
"Then we'll see what kind of variable he becomes."
Far away...
Beyond countless regions...
An extremely old structure stood untouched.
Its walls were covered in markings no modern cultivator could understand.
An old man sat before them.
He had lived for an incomprehensibly long time.
A young disciple stood behind him.
"Master."
The old man did not answer.
The disciple looked at the markings.
"Why are you staring at them?"
The old man finally spoke.
"The Golden Era has begun."
"Yes."
"And the younger generation is becoming stronger."
"Yes."
The old man remained silent.
Then...
His fingers stopped moving.
For a brief moment...
One of the ancient markings flickered.
The disciple noticed.
"Was that supposed to happen?"
The old man's expression changed.
Only slightly.
But enough.
"No."
"Then what was it?"
The old man stared at the mark.
"I don't know."
The disciple looked confused.
The old man slowly closed his eyes.
But before doing so...
He whispered:
"Don't investigate it."
"Why?"
The old man did not answer.
Because somewhere in the depths of his memory...
There was something he had been ordered never to forget.
And never to speak about.
Something that did not belong to this world.
Something the oldest powers had known about...
Long before the Golden Era.
The old man opened his eyes again.
"Not yet."
The words were barely audible.
"Not yet..."