The following events conducted themselves swiftly. The binding process with the Origins and Legacy Bearers was far less flashy than the one with Maryam.

And compared to the fact that he had obtained "everything" from his mother because of the love she held for him, Noah was granted only the right to obtain one thing from each of them.

It was a difficult decision, Noah realized, for each one of them was unique in their own way, possessing multiple skills and aspects he wouldn't mind hoarding for himself.

Not for use, honestly. Just for vanity.

Yet he couldn't. And all because their devotion to him was nearly zero. And even that was Noah being generous.

Still, without further dragging the process, Noah chose from the King in the North his talent, called Singularity.

From the Queen of Hearts, he took one of her Innate Skills: The Progenitor's Call.

That was something he already had a nasty plan for.

When it came to Tiamat, the Prince hesitated far longer than usual. The Mother of Ouroboros was truly one of a kind. She was a being with so much uniqueness that he wondered how he had dared to send Emmie and Aphasia to this monster.

She was far stronger than all of his wives. Even combined.

He gave an awkward smile, inwardly thinking he might need to apologize to the two of them.

Coming out of his wandering thoughts, Noah snatched away from Tiamat a Blessing.

Now, that was something Noah had never seen before. The blessing was unique, for it was not given by the Records, judging by the name it bore.

LOGOS Blessing: Touch of Time.

He briefly wondered what it could mean, but then wafted away those thoughts away. That was for later.

For now, Noah simply noted it and decided to ask Gaia about it afterward.

Continuing on, he repeated the same actions with all the others who agreed to bind themselves to him.

The Prince was not the only one gaining something in this process.

If he had the right to obtain something from them, then those who bound themselves to him encroached upon his own existence.

That was the greatest gain.

The meaning was simple, yet harrowing. The binding process meant that a part of their existence was now in Noah's hands.

In exchange for such a loss, they gained something called [Spark], which was the manifestation of their bond and their image of Noah.

[Spark] materialized physically as a tattoo on the chest, where the heart lay, of the bound. The shape and color were unique to each of them.

And it was the new Sigil of the Ataraxia bloodline, shaped like hundreds of hands forming one gigantic hand that seemed to grasp…nothing.

It was colored in crimson-gold.

In terms of power, [Spark] was an unlocker of potential.

Binding themselves to Noah granted them a boost to their talents, and the degree of that boost depended on their devotion to Noah himself. The higher the devotion, the greater the enhancement.

With that, they could reach beyond universe-level talent, making them capable of attaining a level of power they could barely begin to comprehend.

But the price of such power was complete devotion.

Not something all of them were willing to pay.

And that was not all.

Beyond that, [Spark] also contained within it the fundamental aspect of Evolution. Meaning that, under the right conditions, [Spark] could ignite the evolution of a skill, a talent, or even the person themselves into a superior state.

Once all of them grasped the significance of what they had obtained from Noah, their eyes undeniably began to glow differently when they looked at him.

It was a mixture of raw awe and unfiltered fear.

Because if a being could evolve their talent — and everything that they were — then the station of such a being was far above them.

Only then did they begin to glimpse the nature of Noah. Only a glimpse, yet even that was enough for some of them to struggle to come to terms with it.

And one could only wonder what would happen if they knew he was the very son of Will Eternal. The Son of Reality itself.

Some knowledge was not meant for all to know. Just as some truths were not meant for all to hear. And even more so, just as some roads were not meant to be walked by all.

[Spark] was also something Maryam possessed. And something all of Noah's wives would have once he bonded with them.

Finishing the binding — without sparing even a glance at those who refused his proposal, making them gnaw their fingers in pure dread — Noah now focused on his next task.

He looked at his mother, his mouth already smiling before he was even aware of it. "I have a favor to ask you, Mother Maryam."

"Which is?" She tilted her head.

The others listened closely.

Noah swept his right hand, encompassing the whole Hall of Fog they were in. "I would like to bind myself to all the beings in your Dominion, and to the Dominion itself."

"It's for my advancement. And also for yours to be born."

His request was answered with a lazy wave of Maryam's hand. "You are my son, and thus the heir to whatever I have obtained."

She said, her voice holding a distinct note of contentment,

"So you can take it all."

The wives smiled at this.

Selene was smiling as well, but it quickly stiffened when Maryam glanced at her from the corner of her eyes.

The Soul Ruler was smirking.

Selene's right eyelid twitched. She smacked her lips together in slight irritation and snapped her head away, refusing to look at Maryam's gloating face any longer.

Noah watched the interaction and said nothing, except to thank Maryam with a light kiss on her forehead.

And so it began.

The Hall of Fog was the central place of the Dominion, where Maryam — the Soul Ruler — resided. It was situated at the very end of a structure that resembled a gigantic tree.

The Hall of Fog lay at the root.

It was there that Noah bonded himself to the core of the Dominion, earning control over it.

And moving upward through the Tree-like Dominion, one would see multiple blobs of fog at the ends of condensed branches that formed the shape of a tree.

Each of these held a specific number of souls and types. The souls inside those spheres were imprisoned.

And the higher one went, the greater the number of souls in each sphere, yet at the same time, their dangerousness lowered significantly.

From what Maryam told him, at the very tip of this Tree-like Dominion lay a metropolis of cities linked together in a mesmerizing fashion, all under her rule.

The souls roaming there were those allowed to remain free, granted the right to work. The people there could marry again.

Clearly, it was an entire world unto itself.

But that was not Noah's interest that day.

The Prince convinced each soul to accept his binding. The method of persuasion was a matter for another discussion, but any who refused after some gentle talk found themselves added to a growing group of the disobedient.

A group that reeked of fear-born souls, unaware of what fate awaited them.

Soon enough, they reached the very summit, where the least dangerous souls resided. There, Noah faced no opposition at all, obtaining the willing consent of every one of them.

At that moment, the Prince completed one of the requirements to step into the next rank with the far reaching help of Maryam, the Soul ruler of the Dominion: Duke of Cloud.

Providence chimed. Yet her chime was accompanied by the sudden arrival of a new soul within one of the foggy spheres.

A soul that screamed relentlessly the instant it arrived.

"AIDEN! AIDEN! AIDEN! BROTHER!"

At that name, Noah and his wives halted abruptly, their heads snapping toward the source of the cries. There, they saw a woman shedding searing tears, fear and pain soaking her face.

A woman most of the Vaelgrim knew all too well.

"This is…" Noah began, suddenly feeling a rising sense of dread threatening to choke him.

<The LOGOS has acknowledged your readiness.>

<You have received your Ascension Quest.>

"…Patricia Stoneheart?"

—End of Chapter 463—

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