Gol D. Ace In Coiling Dragon

When they returned to their home in the Gol Empire, Ace and Milianna introduced Bluefire to everyone aside from Ismarelda, who, as another of the five kings, was already acquainted.

It was then that everyone learnt exactly how monstrous both Bluefire and Ismarelda were. Leylin (Bluefire) was an expert of the laws of fire and earth, focusing predominantly on the laws of fire, like his Grandson. As for Ismarelda, she focused on the laws of water.

Leylin, despite focusing more on the laws of fire, had also finished fusing three profound mysteries of the earth and was a mere step away from completely fusing his fourth. But whether it was Leylin or Ismarelda, when it came to their preferred law, both had completely fused five and had long since begun fusing the sixth. In fact, both were only a step away from completely fusing all six mysteries of their respective laws and becoming paragons.

The only real difference between them lay in the fact that, while Leylin was already a High God, Ismarelda was still only a Full God.

Looking at Ismarelda, Leylin sighed in amazement because although they had achieved similar levels in terms of accomplishments, Leylin had already lived several hundred thousand years, whereas Ismarelda was only a little over 10,000 years old.

In response, Ismarelda shook her head and openly admitted that in terms of raw talent, she was definitely far inferior. The only reason she was able to achieve everything she had at such an age was because of her family's teachings, allowing her to begin fusing as many laws as possible as soon as possible. She then said that she had heard the tales of Bluefire's unstoppable rise to dominancy and that had Bluefire followed her family's teachings, there was a good chance that he would have broken through to become a Paragon by now.

She finished by admitting that In terms of raw talent, aside from the ancestor of my Qingya Clan, the Yulan Plane likely hadn't given birth to anyone who was as talented as he was.

In response, Leylin shook his head and said that had he followed her family's teachings, he may have reached his current level of comprehension a lot sooner, but she should understand as well as him that there was absolutely no guarantee that he would've become a paragon. That final spark of insight could come today, or it could come in another million years, or it may never come at all; there was simply no way of knowing.

He then added that, as far as his talent being unmatched, that wasn't quite right. After hearing about the accomplishments of this current generation, Bluefire admitted that there were several in this era who had talent rivalling and surpassing his, especially his grandson and his master, Aiden.

It was during that conversation that Ace went on to reveal that during his time in the upper levels of the Necropolis of the Gods, aside from his [Blazing Glaive Art] reaching the Full God level, his insights into the Laws of fire went as follows:

Individual Mysteries: Profound Mystery of the Essence of Fire – Completion Profound Mystery of Fire-Body – Completion Profound Mystery of Heat – Completion Profound Mystery of Explosions – Completion Profound Mystery of Mirages – Completion Fusions: Two-Way Fusions: Explosions + Fire-Body – Completion Essence of Fire + Fire-Body – Completion Fire-Body + Heat – Completion Mirage + Explosion – 25% Three-Way Fusions: Essence of Fire + Explosions + Heat – Completion Fire-Body + Heat + Essence – 50%

Aside from Leona and Amira, who already knew just how far Ace had come, everyone else stared at him with their mouths wide open, including Ismarelda and Leylin, who were effectively old monsters with more experience than the rest of the room combined.

Hearing that, Ismarelda could only sigh and admit that not even her ancestor would be a match for Ace as far as talent went.

After that, Linley and Yunaia announced that at the end of the year, they would be getting married and that everyone present was invited.

For the remainder of the year, the whole continent was peaceful. Everyone went back to focusing on their training and enjoying each other's company.

During that time, Ace taught Leylin about the use of Concepts. And Arianna did the same for Ismarelda.

Leylin also trained Ace in the laws of fire, and Ace had to admit being guided by someone that powerful was definitely an excellent boon for Ace.

At the end of the year, Linley's wedding went off perfectly. After that, the newlyweds decided to slowly travel around the continent, exploring their homeland whilst continuing their training.

Not long later, Beirut summoned Ace, Milianna, and Leylin to his castle for a chat. Whilst there, Beirut revealed that he had been debating whether to tell them this now or later for a while before ultimately choosing to let them decide how to proceed for themselves.

He then explained that, as everyone knows, when you finish fusing two separate mysteries, the raw power of your elemental essence multiplies and that one of the differences between High God Paragons and High Gods who had fused five mysteries is tenfold.

Most believe that to be the only difference, but that's just a minor difference between them. If that were the sole difference, although not loads, there would still be a significant number of creatures who could battle against paragons as an ordinary High God. Forget apex-level Divine Beasts like myself or Leona; even ordinary Divine Beasts like Dylin would be able to close that gap.

What truly separates Paragons from ordinary High Gods is this. As he said that, Beirut raised a hand and coated it in a seemingly invisible energy that made the eyes of everyone present bulge in disbelief.

The difference was that whilst Bluefire looked at Beirut in awe at that overwhelming power it radiated, Ace and Milianna looked at it in disbelief over how familiar it felt.

Seeing the shock on the faces of the mother and son pair, Beirut nodded and revealed that when one becomes a paragon, one awakens the ability to use what is commonly referred to as "Willpower", which was the same as their Gol Bloodline's [Conqueror's Haki].

He then explained that every living creature is born with a small amount of "Willpower", which grows stronger the further their cultivation progresses, but usually, one is only able to utilise their "Willpower" once it reaches what you could think of as a whole unit of "Willpower". To give you some more context, the ordinary progression of "Willpower" is as follows:

Mortals, be they magical beasts or humans, have a total of 0.01 units. When one becomes a saint, their Willpower increases to 0.05 units. Demi-Gods have 0.1 units. Full Gods have ¼ units. High Gods have half a unit of Willpower. And it's only when you become a paragon that your Willpower reaches one whole unit, allowing you to truly utilise it.

Beirut then went on to say that what he just explained was the metric for ordinary beings like himself and Bluefire. But because of their Gol Bloodlines, not only are they able to use their Willpower as mortals before it reaches a whole unit, the amount of Willpower they have in their body differs as well.

When they were mortals, both Milianna and Ace had a total of 0.05 units, similar to the average saint. And now, as saints, their Willpower jumped all the way ¼ of a unit, equal to that of a Full God.

Hearing that, Ace couldn't help but think of his little sister. He had already scanned her body and soul to ensure she was healthy. As such, he knew that, like his mother and his, Mercurielle's soul took the form of her, but unlike theirs, her soul form wasn't wearing a crown.

In fact, after consummating their marriage, Mira's soul had also transformed, taking the shape of her angel form, but like Mercurielle, her soul also lacked a crown.

Beirut quickly looked up towards the Gol Empire's capital before replying that although it had surpassed that of an ordinary person, it wasn't as exaggerated as his or his mother's.

In response, Ace sighed but still nodded in understanding. It was clear that for those with the Gol Bloodline, your soul would take on your image, but if you were born with [Conqueror's Haki], your soul form would wear a crown.

 It was a shame, but even without [Conqueror's Haki], just [Observation] and [Armament] are enough for most to suppress those in their realm.

Beirut had come to the same conclusion as Ace, but he wasn't finished. He then explained that the reason he had called them today and the options he had been deliberating over had everything to do with his future as well as Bluefire's future.

He explained that, in truth, he wasn't actually a paragon like most believed him to be. Becoming a Paragon as an Apex-level Divine Beast was simply too hard. In actual fact, he was a sovereign of Wind.

As he said that, both Milianna's and Bluefire's eyes widened in disbelief. Only Ace was able to somewhat keep his calm, having come to that conclusion some time ago.

He then went on to explain that, millions of years ago, he was lucky enough to stumble onto a fortuitous encounter. Specifically, he was fortunate enough to get his hands on 4 Sovereign Sparks, one of which allowed him to become a sovereign himself. Unfortunately, in doing so, he angered another Sovereign, one far more powerful than him.

After that, he was forced to hole himself up here in the Yulan Plane, as Sovereigns aren't allowed to descend onto Mortal Planes unless it's the mortal plane they originate from.

Since then, he had been slowly biding his time, hoping that he'd be able to find a worthy successor for the three remaining sovereign sparks of Fire, Water, and Earth, and they'd be able to help him regain his freedom.

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