Chapter 1148
Reaching a tremendous breakthrough during a time of crisis was a time honored tradition among cultivators… and Anton thought that it was about time for that to be done away with. The lower realms, at least, did not need to be associated with such things. It could already be seen in the names they chose.
Assimilation and Enrichment versus Augmentation and Domination expressed quite different ideas. The Scarlet Alliance in the upper realms was not the origins of Augmentation or Domination, of course. They merely accepted the names as already established. There was nothing wrong with that, but names had meaning… and Anton didn’t want to start off on a bad foot.
He didn’t want to be an emperor, or a god. What would even be the point?
Besides, having killed a Domination cultivator, the latter felt especially arrogant. It was just asking to be proven to be nothing more than an old and powerful mortal.
Given the ideas of cycles and tying things back together, ‘Mortal’ almost fit. But Anton didn’t like it because it was still missing something. Many people, in fact.
There was no chance Anton would have reached his current level based solely on his own talent and insight. What brought him high were the people he knew… and people he didn’t. When Anton had first learned about devotion he hadn’t been entirely enthusiastic, but it was impossible to get away from. At some point he had decided he merely had to be worthy of what was coming his way, and that meant paying it back to those who shared their devotion- even if it wasn’t directly.
It hadn’t actually required any changes in what Anton actually did, just his attitude. He wanted to make the world a better place, and his definition of the limits of said world merely expanded as time went on. He wasn’t some sort of benevolent force, he was merely paying people back for what they did for him. Sometimes his efforts came before the devotion, but he had no reason to have such a limited concept of cooperation that he should be bothered by that.
A new stage would have to have a name. Since Domination didn’t fit and merely calling it More Enrichment or something was a bit lackluster, Anton discussed with other Enrichment cultivators first, consulting on what common factors they could see in the next stage. Out of his discussions with Devon, Lev, and even some others on different paths, a single word stood out.
Unity.