To a mortal, five hours is a lazy afternoon. But for Sunny, trapped in the isolation, those five hours were a agonizing and glorious hours of reconstruction.

He had broken through not once, but twice. His mana core had expanded into a nebula of SS-Grade magic, dense enough to warp reality with a thought.

His physical form, refined by the fires of his own potential, had hardened into an SS-Grade vessel, a body capable of destroying stars.

He stepped out of the isolation realm, the air around him shimmering and distorting, unable to bear the sheer weight of his new existence.

But while the Emperor had been refining himself, his empire had not been idle.

The seeds of potential he had planted were blossoming into terrifying flowers of power.

In the heart of Veridia, two pillars of the empire had ascended.

The first was Thalorax. The King of the Dragonborn, having survived the brutal duel with his son and unlocked the Sovereign's Authority, had finally crossed the threshold.

He was no longer just a powerful mortal; he was the Demigod of Protection.

Sunny, using his God's Eye, inspected the new talent that had crystalized in Thalorax's soul.

[Talent Name: Heart of a Protector]

[Grade: SS]

[Description: Your strength is not derived from pride, but from burden. You are the shield that guards the realm.

The more beings you are actively protecting, the more your physical and conceptual strength increases. There is no upper limit to this scaling.]

Sunny stared at the description, a cold chill of realization running down his spine. It looked ordinary on the surface, a standard paladin ability. But Sunny's mind, sharpened by his own recent battles, saw the terrifying truth.

'If I had possessed this talent while fighting Edgar…' he mused. 'I was protecting Veridia. I was protecting the Small Universe. I was protecting six billion Gods and trillions of lifeforms.'

If he had channeled the weight of those trillions of lives into a single punch? He wouldn't have needed to split his soul.

He could have swatted Edgar out of existence like a fly.

Thalorax had become a being whose strength scaled with the population of the empire. As long as the empire grew, he would become invincible.

The second ascension was quieter, but no less profound.

Anaske, the first King of Humans, had stepped down from his throne. He had left the leadership of the empire to Vel and his own descendants, choosing instead to walk the lonely path of the sword. And the sword had answered him.

[Talent Name: One with the Sword]

[Grade: SS]

[Description: The sword is not a tool; it is an extension of your soul.

As you wield it, the boundary between flesh and steel dissolves.

Continued pursuit of this path grants access to the Law of the Sword. Mastery of this Law leads directly to Godhood.]

"A talent that guarantees Godhood simply through practice?" Sunny exclaimed, a smile tugging at his lips. "That is… efficient."

Anaske did not need fancy tricks or complex spells. He just needed to practice his sword, again and again, until he cut through the concept of mortality itself.

But the evolution of the empire wasn't limited to muscle and steel.

Thea, the nervous system of Sunny's domain, had hit a critical bottleneck.

She appeared before Sunny's clone in his hall of blessings, her form flickering.

[Master, we have a failure in the afterlife protocol.]

Sunny's clone raised an eyebrow. "I thought Uranus and Astraea solved that with the Soul Siphons?"

[The portals work for planetary deaths] Thea explained, her voice clipped.

[But we are entering the Interstellar Era. Ships will be traveling between worlds. If a lifeform dies in deep space, far from a planetary portal…]

[The automated system fails. The soul is lost to the chaotic currents of the void, returning to the natural cycle of reincarnation instead of our controlled Heaven or Hell.]

Sunny realized the danger immediately. If a key figure; a scientist, a general, a loved one died in transit, they would be gone forever. The safety net had a hole.

"So, we need portals on every ship?" Sunny joked.

[Inefficient, The energy cost to maintain billions of micro-portals on moving vessels would drain the reserves. I propose a different solution. I require… an upgrade.]

She presented a request for a new talent, one she had designed herself.

Sunny didn't hesitate. He etched the newly made talent into her being.

[Talent Name: Lifeline]

[Grade: SS]

[Description: Establishes a permanent tether between the system and every being registered within the System.

Upon the death of a linked entity, their soul is instantly seized and teleported to a pre-designated coordinate, regardless of distance or location.]

It was a cloud-storage system for souls.

With this, the afterlife became fully, perfectly automated.

The Grim Reapers no longer needed to scour the universe for stray souls; they became wardens of the Netherworld, focusing entirely on the intake and punishment of the wicked.

The Angels and Valkyries transformed from retrieval squads into administrators, managing the vast, golden cities of Heaven and preparing souls for their next reincarnation.

Even Astraea, the Demigod of Justice, evolved. She began to select apostles from across the six billion worlds; mortals with an unshakeable moral compass.

She blessed them with a fragment of her Judgment talent. These apostles became the judges of the dead, processing the influx of billions of souls daily, deciding in a heartbeat who went up and who went down.

The bureaucracy of death was now a well maintained machine.

But if death was handled, life still needed guidance.

Light Celestine, the first demigod in Veridia, had taken his role as the "Divine Teacher" to heart.

He was no longer just wandering villages; he was weaving a web of knowledge across the worlds.

He had gained a new talent, one that perfectly suited his nature.

[Talent Name: A Strong Teacher]

[Grade: SS]

[Description: The act of teaching is a two-way street. The more souls you enlighten, the deeper your own understanding of the Law of Teaching becomes.

You can instantly perceive the flaws in any student's technique and provide the perfect solution.

Furthermore, as your students use your teachings to improve the world, a portion of their comprehension feeds back into you.]

It was a pyramid scheme of wisdom.

Light conquered through education. He traveled from world to world, establishing grand academies.

In each world, he chose the brightest minds to be his apostles; the Deans and Headmasters. He gave his knowledge into them, and they, in turn, taught the masses.

As millions, then billions, of students across the multiverse began to learn magic, science, and martial arts under his curriculum, Light's power exploded.

He didn't need to study in the Divine Library anymore. Every time a student in a remote world had a breakthrough, Light felt it. Every time a mage invented a new spell, Light learned it.

He was becoming the collective consciousness of all academic progress in the empire.

Sunny watched this unfold from his palace, a sense of satisfaction settling over him.

Anaske was mastering the sword. Thalorax was mastering protection. Thea, and the demigods of life and death had mastered life and death. And Light was mastering the mind.

The machine was building itself. His empire was no longer just a collection of planets; it was a living, breathing organism that was growing stronger, smarter, and more efficient with every passing second.

And at the center of it all, feeding on the faith and the glory, sat the Emperor, waiting for this beast of an empire to grow to the point where they can face even the mightiest of the demons.

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