Chapter 53 – Dream (2)

"Huff...Huff..."

Kieran's figure could be seen on his knees as he tried to catch his breath, his whole body twitching violently, and the layer of crystal essence around his body had become extremely thin.

Above him, the Heavenly Tribulation Cloud was still there, but it was shrinking visibly. From a size of 50 meters, its size was gradually reduced, reaching soon five meters.

His gaze was still fixed on the Heavenly Tribulation Cloud, not because he had successfully withstood the Heavenly Tribulation but because, at this moment, even though the size of the cloud was rapidly shrinking, he could sense that the pressure inside the cloud was also increasing.

Putting a hand on the ground to help his body up, he stumbles back slightly before standing up straight.

Eventually, the cloud stopped shrinking once it reached 5 meters, and another water dragon head slowly emerged from the cloud.

"It's the 9th..." whispered Kieran.

The water dragon's head was entirely different from any other before it. Every single scale could be clearly distinguished as if an actual dragon was standing in the sky before him.

The dragon looked at him as a god standing above all things.

"Come over here!!"

As Kieran shouted with all his might, the dragon's head roared before descending from the sky as it fell on top of him.

Kieran used all the crystal essence he could find in his spiritual world to form a final layer of protection around himself.

The impact of the dragon's head was forceful, causing his body to crumple to his knees under its immense power.

"Kuf..."

He tried to get up slowly, but the force he felt behind the 9th Water Dragon's attack was not at all like the ones before.

His bones made loud cracking sounds as he tried to stand up. A small gap formed on his layer of crystal essence to let a small part of the water dragon be absorbed inside his body before closing the space behind him.

He tried to absorb the part of the water dragon, but he had greatly underestimated its power. As soon as a tiny part entered his body, it began to ravage him from the inside before he could even start to try to control it. A trail of blood ran down his mouth caused by his internal wounds.

He quickly used the Heavenly Sun Body technique to regain control of this intruder who was ravaging his body.

As time slowly passed, the crystal essence inside his spiritual world diminished further and further. The protective layer around his body began to weaken and let in more parts of the water dragon inside his body.

Kieran gritted his teeth tightly before taking the crystal essence back inside his body to form a shield over his organs, leaving his skin, muscles, and bones uncovered.

It only took a moment before tears started to appear all over his body, causing bleeding.

His legs gave way under the pressure. His body fell to his knees, unable to move.

*crack*

A cracking noise sounded as his hands broke under the force of the water dragon.

Even in such pain, he made no sound, not that he didn't want to scream in pain, but the pressure on his body prevented him from even opening his mouth.

'I... Can't... Continue... I have to... Find... A way...' Kieran thought, but even this was hard for him due to his concentration taken by the Heavenly Sun body and the control of his abilities.

Runihoril could see how much Kieran endured under this pressure that he even had to give up his flesh to be able to defend it.

"Kieran! Bring a part of the water dragon inside your spiritual world to be absorbed by your proto-sun, the burden on your body will be less important, and you will be able to allow yourself to breathe a little."

Runihoril's voice echoed in his mind, and although he could communicate with him directly in his mind, he couldn't separate some of his concentration to answer him in his situation.

Following Runihoril's instructions, he directed part of the water dragon inside his spiritual world to be absorbed by his proto-sun while he continued to circulate another part with the Heavenly Sun body inside its body and keep the rest out of it.

The pressure he felt on his body lessened greatly, but the concentration he had to maintain had now increased several times over.

The water dragon attempted to move freely inside its spiritual world but Kieran forced it closer to the proto-sun. Soon the water dragon began to fuse with the cloud of golden crystal essence that surrounded the proto-sun before being, in turn, absorbed by the proto-sun itself.

Suddenly the crystal essence cloud around the proto-sun began to spin faster and faster as the proto-sun greedily absorbed any crystal essence that came into contact with it.

The proto-sun began to compress as the crystal essence cloud quickly disappeared around it. After a few seconds, no more crystal essence clouds could be seen. The size of the proto-sun looked like a nut when suddenly it increased in size, becoming several times larger than its original size.

A slowly pulsating pale yellow sun replaced the proto-sun.

The moment the yellow sun appeared in his spiritual world, the Heavenly Sun Body's absorption rate increased drastically. Within less than a minute, the remains of the water dragon that moved inside Kieran's body were absorbed, leaving nothing behind.

A look of shock appeared on Kieran's face before the corners of his mouth quirked up.

'You wanted to crush me under your power and destroy my body. Come!'

Kieran lowered his protective layer of crystal essence as the water dragon entered his body, but before the water dragon could even begin his attack, a powerful attraction pulled him in without him being able to resist.

Five minutes later, the last cry of a dragon echoed through his body as the last vestige of his presence disappeared.

The Heavenly Tribulation Clouds above his head began to vanish, and a small, barely visible transparent orb containing a huge concentration of Heavenly Tribulation energy fell from the sky before merging into Kieran's body. The clouds then disappeared without a trace as if they had never appeared to begin with.

Sensing a warm feeling all over his body and finally being free from all that pressure, Kieran felt dizzy all over his body. He just had time to grab a healing herb potion from his spatial gem before his vision went black, and he fell unconscious.

Runihoril stared at Kieran's bruised body with an incredulous expression on his face.

"This boy... I thought his proto-sun would buy him enough time to catch his breath, but who would have thought he would benefit from the Heavenly Tribulation so much that even his Heavenly Sun Body reached the second level, the Yellow Sun."

As Runihoril talked to himself, he could see the wounds on Kieran's body slowly regenerating on their own. Even though the process seemed long, that kind of regeneration speed shouldn't appear on a cultivator who just breakthrough to the bronze rank.

"Looks like he's really benefited from this experience... He fully deserves this reward after all his efforts to endure the Heavenly Tribulation."

A proud smile appeared on his face as his eyes were fixed on Kieran.

"Congratulations on your breakthrough to the Bronze rank, Kieran."

***

Kieran woke up slowly. When he opened his eyes, he found himself sitting in an assembly consisting of thousands of people from different races.

'Where am I?'

He tried to get up, but his body did not obey him.

'Is this a dream again?'

He looked all around him, but he had trouble discerning people’s faces. All he could see was that there were too few humans around him.

A loud voice echoed through the assembly.

"I refuse to accept him. He is just a simple Celestial. It’s not even sure if he’ll support the process, much less if he’ll have intact memories after that," said a man about 20 meters tall, sitting on a huge seat.

"I disagree with you. Kieran is a double awakened, so he has good potential," said a human woman sitting close to Kieran.

"He is not the only double awakened here! And even though he possesses great potential, according to the records, his family was poor, coming from a weak planet that couldn't provide him any cultivation resources, let alone techniques or evolution paths for his crystal trees that would allow him to reach even the Ethereal rank in his life."

A man dressed in scientific clothes suddenly stood up.

"Even if it is not certain that his memories can remain intact, it should be possible to target specific memories so that he remembers the techniques he has learned as well as the evolution path he had and could take."

Another scientist stood up to speak.

"You must consider the highly probable possibility of a butterfly effect that will greatly alter his body, potentially deviating from his previous evolution path and rendering previously learned techniques useless. Perhaps nothing he possesses today will be of any use to him."

"I'm tired of your stories. Let's just vote. Everyone here who wants Kieran Arvost to be one of the 1,000 participants of the Primordial Project vote for him, those who disapprove of his participation in the project vote against him."

As the assembly members began to warm up about the vote, Kieran's head suddenly turned in one direction.

Kieran could see a figure he recognized from his nightmares. The woman who accompanied him across the plain was sitting quietly as she stared at him in silence.

The eyes of the Kieran in his dream seemed to be lost in her gaze, but he still couldn't see anything about her. All seemed to be blurred in his visions.

He could see her slowly shaking her head from left to right as she stared at him as if trying to send him a message but the Kieran in his dream pretended he hadn't seen her.

As the vote began to end, Kieran suddenly rose, drawing the attention of everyone present. Some of the elders present who lead the assembly frown at his action.

"How dare a mere Celestial interrupt this assembly!"

"Do you humans not know how to hold your younger generation in place, or are you all as arrogant as this kid?!"

Loud voices rise among the different races in the face of Kieran's action to interrupt their assembly.

"Since you dare to be so arrogant in front of this entire assembly, there is no longer any need to vote!! Kieran Arvost will not be part of the Primordial Project. Now sit down before we begin to take action against you."

A small smile formed on Kieran's face before he let out a laugh.

"I'm arrogant? Don't make me laugh. You are the ones who judge me by my cultivation rank. If you were at the same rank as me, I could wash the floor with most of you present here."

"Arrogant human!"

"I refuse to let him participate in the project!"

"I refuse!"

"I refuse!"

Several voices rose in the assembly as Kieran slowly advanced towards the middle of the room under the gaze of the thousands of people gathered in this room without flinching. Each of his steps seemed to echo in their hearts.

He looked up, staring at the elders of the assembly who were standing on the highest seat in the room.

"All I have to do is prove to you that I'm worth joining this project, right?"

"Nothing you say now will change our vote, human!"

A smile was still on his face as the woman who was with him on the plain shook her head.

"My soul has fused with the Fragment of Origin."

A great silence filled the assembly, which had until then been noisy, as if time had suddenly stopped.

No one was making a sound. All their eyes were on him. Even the elders of each race had a look of shock and disbelief on their faces.

Soon Kieran's vision began to darken. All he could see was the Kieran in his dream standing proudly in the middle of the assembly with that smile still on his face as he looked at the woman who was with him in the plain.