Darian was completely euphoric. In his memories, he recalled with nostalgia that magical, incredible power. After all, he had been inside that world for years, and he had spent way more time without the white power than with it.

He had learned to live without it, always relying on lots of pills and potions in his inventory just in case. Now, he could feel both his rings on his fists again. It was like they had never left, only hidden away by the complete darkness of his soul; now it had returned to a state of balance.

That white ring was empty, but it wouldn't take long to find karma to devour and make the white power flow again.

After calming himself and taking a deep breath, Darian pulled out the souls of Eleri, Awel, and Tir from his inventory.

Without delay, he took all the soul-powered resources he had stored. Since the rookie tournament back on Earth, he had always carried this type of resource for emergencies.

It was simple to nourish the three souls, but he did it with the utmost care.

When he finished, they stayed unconscious. Darian had done that on purpose because, thanks to that book, he knew about the world's strict rules.

They were now only souls, without bodies, and they couldn't remain in this world like that. If they woke up, the laws would force them to leave and reincarnate. So Darian had to solve this problem first.

Luckily, he didn't have to think too much for the solution. Soon he grabbed a scroll with detailed notes from his inventory.

Back in the first high-level ruin he had visited in the desert, the main reason he had gone there was to save the Heavenly Elemental Spirits that were being turned into weapons. In that city, the Primordial Beasts had discovered the method inside the ruin.

After destroying everything, Darian had stored that knowledge away without giving it much thought. Now, that was the fastest and simplest solution. If the three wanted to stay close to him, they could become his partners, and that way they would never be separated again.

At that moment, Darian felt someone approaching. When he turned, he saw Remira and motioned for her to come closer.

She looked at the three restored souls and then at him.

Darian nodded: "These are the three Heavenly Elemental Spirits I told you about before. That bastard actually captured their souls and wouldn't let them leave… well, I can't really complain."

Seeing the clear joy on his face, Remira gave a faint smile. Over all those years, she had talked, learned, and listened a lot to Darian. She knew about his life on Earth and almost everything he had gone through, truly feeling like she was a close friend of his… though she didn't really like that feeling.

She had a vague idea about those three, since he didn't like to think or talk much about them. Still, he never lied and spoke about himself without hiding anything.

Seeing him genuinely happy made Remira feel glad too. But right after, a sting of pain hit her chest. Because, even though he trusted her, sadly… she couldn't tell him anything about herself, besides what she had done since arriving in that world.

It was a rule of Heaven's Will. If she dared to reveal anything, she would be forbidden from ever going home or even seeing her parents again. In the first universe she returned to, she would lose almost all her power, being stuck in her current state forever. She'd basically become a normal mortal, unable to travel between universes.

Even though she wanted to get closer to him and match his trust, she couldn't. She thought about throwing it all away, thinking maybe it wouldn't be so bad… but she instinctively felt that he only saw her as a friend.

Inside his heart, someone else had already carved her existence there permanently. As for her, she was destined to forever be just a friend to him.

At first, Remira hadn't believed that. He was a lonely man, and she was considered a beautiful woman. All she had to do was take the first step…

…but even when she tried to push it a little with her charm, he just turned his eyes away and ignored her, quickly distancing himself. Then, by his aura, it was obvious he didn't like it at all.

From the stories Darian had told, she knew he had been forced to save a universe almost completely destroyed by corruption… and in that place, he met another woman, one who was wild and way too bold. At the same time, she had immense purity, kindness, and willpower.

Darian missed her as much as he missed his family back on Earth. She wasn't an outsider anymore—she had taken her place in his life completely and wasn't going anywhere.

Remira scoffed, pushing away that frustration and pain with all her strength. She had never thought she'd feel this way about someone, much less be rejected so mercilessly. Maybe that was her destiny, after all the harm she had caused others with her foolishness.

When she turned to him, she saw Darian pull out his three daggers and immediately understood what he wanted to do.

"That won't work."

Darian heard her words and looked at her, surprised.

Remira continued: "Those daggers were made from a Primordial Dragon, an immortal existence tied to the world's laws. It's impossible for mortal spirits to connect to those daggers and become their weapon spirits."

"What? Damn it..."

Darian muttered in surprise, but he trusted her words, since Remira knew beings far greater than Primordial Dragons. So, he pulled out some other regular daggers with rune seals. After thinking for a bit, he sighed and put them away.

"These daggers are good, but the material sucks. In no time, they'll be useless for me. After binding them, it'd be really hard to switch to something better later. But these three draconic daggers… they were perfect..."

Remira thought for a moment and then said, "It's not completely impossible... maybe, if you find draconic cores from ordinary dragons but with pure Bloodlines, it might work."

Darian turned to her, eyes shining. Remira was pleased and added:

"You need to bind them to the draconic core first; since it comes from mortal dragons, there won't be rejection. After that, if it's a core from higher-level creatures, since they share the same origin, it'll be easier to connect them to the daggers. Of course, there's still a chance of failure if it's not done perfectly. In the end, it'll all depend on the blacksmith's skill."

Darian listened carefully, taking a deep breath as he reflected. When he got back to his universe, Haruto would probably already have grown and become a great forger. And about the draconic cores...

"!"

He remembered Niara and the planet she had gone to. There was a really high chance those beasts had something like that... he needed three, but with some luck, maybe he could get them all in the future.

"Thanks," Darian said, grateful for the info. If Remira hadn't told him, he would've tried to bind them directly to the dagger, which probably would've been a disaster.

"I'll owe you a huge favor when you finish this Trial," she said lightly. "By the way, you should start absorbing right away. I've been in this realm before, and just resources aren't enough. Unfortunately, your veins need to mature by being slowly nourished, and you'll have to focus on them for a long time..."

Darian let out a heavy sigh. He had already heard that from her before. In this realm, it was necessary to nurture the veins and make them thicker and stronger. The process was painfully slow, impossible to speed up. It demanded extreme skill, tons of resources, and time.

And worse...

"Now I've got two Primordial Cores and two different types of veins... I guess it'll take me twice as long."

Darian muttered, and Remira's eyes widened.

"Well... for now, we don't have much to worry about," Remira said, looking straight into his eyes.

"Once the Trial is complete, everyone in this world will be freed. Everything here will vanish. So... I'll spend the time making people gather all kinds of resources and valuables, storing them. It'll be a good reward for you freeing them, don't you think?"

Darian nodded, excited. He needed to focus on leveling up, something that would take practically all his time. Leaving and letting everything be destroyed would be a huge waste, but Remira had committed to helping him with that.

***

Days crawled by.

Months flowed like a current.

Then, years skipped one after another.

Soon, counting the time in the desert and in the Wild World, Darian's tenth year inside the Devil and Celestial World was completed.

A few days later, Darian opened his eyes.

[Congratulations! You've reached the maximum power of the Devil King realm!]

[To break through the final realm, you must find balance and master all the power of this world.]

Darian read that and snorted in understanding. If it were easy, Dohans would've completed everything a long time ago.

This didn't come out of nowhere; he remembered the system tutorial he had read when he first arrived in this world: To complete the entire Trial, you must finish everything.

That was the clue, highlighting that he not only had to reach the peak of the Yin realm, but also the Yang realm, and anything else beyond.

To achieve that... it was essential to complete the special missions and earn the special skills. And still, he would need extreme ability to master both types of Primordial powers together. All of that in a single lifetime.

The creator of this world hadn't gone easy. To pass the Trial and take everything, the person had to be truly exceptional and worthy of it.

According to Remira, in the past, the special missions were basically about helping the world and its people. So, accepting and fulfilling them was already a huge test. If the person wasn't smart and kind enough to go all the way with the missions and help solve the problems, they would never pass.

In the end, to beat the Trial, he had to: have both Primordial Cores and reach their Celestial level. At the same time, reach the peak of the Yin and Yang realms together.

After that, Darian kept going, now focusing on the Yang veins. He was almost done with them too.

...

Days later.

[Congratulations! You've reached the maximum power of the Radiant King realm!]

Reading the screen, Darian took a deep breath... then felt the two Primordial Cores in his body heat up and start vibrating.

An intense pain took over him. He realized those two cores inside his soul were moving and touching each other, then they fused into a single core.

[Primordial Core Celestial level achieved!]

[Congratulations, all prerequisites to attempt the final realm and complete the Trial have been met!]

[Do you wish to begin the final challenge?] [Yes / No]

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